hakaze- I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL. So yeah. After almost four years of dawdling, here's the final chapter. And thanks for the extra push. :)
To the loyal readers who waited for this story to end, please brace yourselves. The finale is really long. And… there will be losses involved. Prepare for the plot twist I've already planted in chapter one.
TIRO FINALE
We dance inside this tragedy.
~X~
Future?
It stands, that nothing is constant in this world.
It must have struck Haru's mind, once she and Gokudera set foot in the outskirts of the shopping mall she had bidden promise to return to three years ago. She stares at it in wonder. Her thoughts though, betrayed the notion once she sees a person with a tattered brown coat enveloping his or her body. The eyes were hidden in red goggles that lit up in different colors. The dark blue hair was mangled and seemed to be cut in haste. The look signified how much this world had changed since she remembered.
"From where have you come from?" there was a certain briskness in the husky yet womanly voice of the stranger who greeted them. Her tone bade them no welcome.
"The Crimson Castle," said Gokudera breezily, almost arrogantly that Haru had to elbow him sharply. This was bad.
"We came to see Timoteo-san," she adds, but the woman cuts aside and has her sights only at Gokudera.
"So you won then. Like Timoteo-sama," she says, the next sentence almost sounding like an epithet. She then takes off the goggles. Haru was aghast. The skin to her left almost looked like rotting flesh. Her eye was almost reduced to a crackly bulge.
"Where is Timoteo-san?" Haru asks again. But she didn't seem to be listening as she walks up to her partner.
"Your name," she says.
"Gokudera Hayato," he replies.
"Lal Mirch," said the girl, looking at him from head to foot. "I suppose then that you have met them?"
"The rulers of the castle? I have," says Gokudera. Haru was looking at them fumingly. Why the hell weren't any of them even paying attention to her?
"Where is Timoteo-san?" she tries to sound polite again. Lal Mirch didn't even twitch.
"Hmph. Judging from your appearance, you must be immune. Timoteo-sama, the clan leader here, didn't last in the end. He died two years ago. He was one of the people I met who was released, aside from you."
"Any others?"
"There's four here," said Lal Mirch, still wearing a frown. "Get inside. It's amazing how you managed to journey here. How did you find this place?"
Gokudera just looks at Haru.
"I told him, dammit!" Haru now tries to holler at her. "Hel-lo?! You shouldn't be deaf!"
"She told me," Gokudera says, thumbing at her.
Lal just looks at Gokudera's direction, and for the first time there was a look of surprise in her face.
"I thought you were an uptight kind of man. Turned out you have a funny side in you too," she moves her lips sideways, as if to smile.
Haru looks at her rather irritably, not getting the joke.
And then she understood.
~X~
-Past.
It wasn't funny.
He didn't understand why Yamamoto had to try joking about her sister's death. Of all people, why did this idiot have to fucking say she was meant to burn into his arms? Why the fuck did he say because of the fires of love? It didn't make any sense. It made no sense and yet he sat and did nothing about it.
The Tenth was watching.
"I can fry Yamamoto-kun if you want to," said his Boss, now taking a seat beside him and pouring his small glass more of the last ale.
"He's just asking for it," said Gokudera. "He probably wants me to burn him. I don't really care anymore. This is the natural order of this world. He's a goner as well. I saw the right hand and leg he's hiding with his extra clothes before he hit the sack last night. He might not make it till next year."
"It's getting to me too," said Tsuna, now looking at his cloaked body. "In a year's time, I'm afraid we have to disband."
"A shame," said Gokudera as he takes a cigarette from a passing clan mate. "Our family was one of the first ones ever founded. Your father might not have wanted this to happen."
"We can't help it. He didn't have a gene immune enough to counter this disease. Like what your mom and dad gave you," he smiled serenely.
"If you guys kick the bucket, I don't think there's a good reason enough for me to stay," Gokudera said before puffing out a cloud.
"We're just victims of chance. If we were born in the same era as our fathers, our lives would have been different. We would've done a lot of things. Seen each other have wives, kids…"
"That's quite a homely future you wanted Tenth. What about seeing the world? Achieving something beyond our wildest dreams?"
"That would be nice," Tsuna murmured. "Or maybe if I really became the Sawada Tsunayoshi from the manga our great uncle made…"
"Then we'd be living in a world where you're really a Mafia Boss… that would be really cool."
"Yeah," Tsuna just nods as he looks at the cloud-ridden sky. The Crimson Castle was visible. "It would be nice to meet my Sasagawa Kyoko or my Miura Haru."
"Who would've you chosen in the end?"
"What about you, Gokudera? Your character there had a really good time arguing with Haru."
"I was arguing with everyone!"
"Still," said Tsuna, now grinning broadly. "Wouldn't it be satisfying if you managed to end up with the person you least expected?"
~X~
Present-
Was that how love works?
Gokudera stands up and looks at a deeply slumbering Haru. That question suddenly popped into his mind then and there.
His heart didn't spark nor did he tremble in delight when her eyes gazed at her half-parted saccharine lips. It makes him wonder if the question really was directed at her.
He tries shaking it off when he steals a final glance at the window before opening the door. It was still night time. The guards usually didn't patrol this area during the night. They had many cameras to compensate. Or so they thought.
"Yo," Gamma raised a hand in greeting once Gokudera closes the door. "A good hour for a clandestine get-together, don't you think?"
"Quit the wordplay. It pisses me off," he snapped as their soft footfalls slid past the hall.
"It's a good thing you agreed though. Mukuro-san's illusions do come in handy, am I right?"
He said nothing as he looks at the cameras, silently wondering why the fuck the guards like that stupid shark didn't even think a Flame User would be clever enough to use illusions to mislead them.
"They had that mindset since they were chosen to guard the castle that we must be way below their league. It's a good thing they have a big ego. Add also that Mukuro also covers his tracks as an immune flame user like you."
"Stop the mind reading, dammit," Gokudera sighed once they stopped at the door.
Gamma knocked and he heard M.M's gruff voice again.
"Password?"
"Kufufu~ open the door, little one. This is an urgent affair," Mukuro says as the door swings open. "Come in," he says, bowing his head in respect as the two obeyed.
"I'll agree to this if you give me the complete details to your plan," Gokudera says once the door opens. He plops himself on Mukuro's armchair to M.M's outrage.
"You fucking bastard-"
"Hush, M.M. Please leave us be for a moment," Mukuro waved his hand at M.M, who hastily left but not before attempting to throw an empty antidote bottle at Gokudera's head. He winced as the glass shattered, leaving a small bump visible from his scalp.
"I'll have M.M. treat it later," said Mukuro brusquely. The place lit up immediately once he raised his trident ("Special effects," mumbled Gokudera) and a higher chair was there to cushion his hiney. Gamma now sat with the same kind of chair as Gokudera. "I know you prefer the prison light over candlelight."
"Good thing you were listening to that hag then. I thought you were a savior for show," Gokudera grunts, now unfurling the tattered pages he took from the diary and piecing them together from the middle. His scarlet flames were visible there. "I attempted to make a map from what I remembered. I haven't visited in years since. There's a thirty percent chance that they changed some areas though."
"Hmm…" Mukuro rubbed his chin as his eyes scanned the drawings earnestly. Gamma just presses his hands to the knees of his crossed legs, deep in thought.
"You already know that there are passages used by guards to fly from the Crimson Castle to locate people who committed the only mortal sin in this world: taking the life of any living thing. Now, there is a chance," Gokudera said, pointing to the bottom-most of the pages. "That the guards have blockaded the passageways accessible to us. The one below this hall- the one on the second floor and the other three floors below us. I've stolen their statistical data quite easily since it's the idiot kid or that homo in charge of our cell (the perks of being a good prisoner and having a weak flame user as a roommate). Compared to two years ago and the years before that, the number of prisoners have taken a steep decline: either it's because people are more cautious or there are just not many people to take away."
"How does that have to do with the plan?" asks Gamma.
"It just means that there's no more reason to use these passageways," Gokudera impatiently points at the three he mentioned earlier, leaving burn marks on each. "So their only way out is here," he points to the topmost part of the map, in one of the left turrets. "It's a floor below to where the real inhabitants of the Crimson Castle live."
"How did you find out about this?" Mukuro asks, smiling.
"It's a possible hunch, since I've been in that turret. Three years ago," he answered, the memories of an aged Kyoko holding his hand still playing in repeat inside his head. "It's also the least possible one to be used by the prisoners to escape, since there the elite guards- called the Millefiore- in every floor of that damn turret to defeat before you reach the place. Even if you defeat them, there's still a fat chance for you to get killed. Assassins keep watch on the clock, hiding near the entrance."
"How can we defeat them then?" said Gamma, sweat trickling from his brow.
Mukuro's smile widens.
"Kufu~ I presume you have another way then? You don't have to tell us how impossible that way out is. There is another exit door, isn't it?"
Gokudera smirks as he points to the bottom-most right side of the drawings. "Not even the guards know this way exists. The only bad thing about this passageway is the lack of a ride for you to use though."
"Oh… what makes you sure that the guards have no knowledge of this?"
"I'm sure they know nothing," said Gokudera, who shreds off a blank page, rolls it and then lights it up. "I made this passageway myself. I began digging it since I landed here (using my flames, of course). It was supposed to be for my ex-roommate, but I never got to finish it since she died," he couldn't mask the melancholy from his voice. Why was he even telling them this?
"How were you never caught?"
"I killed the small fry who patrolled. It was normal back then for the likes of them to disappear. People were more rebellious during those days," Gokudera said. His memories were never hazy of the questions Kyoko kept pestering him from the dirt and blood he gets at night. Most of the time he has to burn his clothes and asks for new ones, using the excuse that he was getting mad during his first few months. After, he found out the ability he can even burn grime or blood from his clothes if he controlled the heat well enough.
"Hmm…" Mukuro thinks deeply as he looks at the map. "If so, you have a plan regarding this then?"
"I will tell you on two conditions. If you agree on these two conditions, I'll even lend you a hand in executing it."
"Kufufu~ Then tell me."
"One: You'll let Miura Haru escape with you."
"Naturally," Mukuro shrugs.
"Two: You only choose five from your circle to come with you."
By this, Mukuro raises his eyebrows.
"The second one wasn't based on a whim. There's a tendency that the passageway would cave in if more than five come with you. It was originally for two people only."
"Then do you want to be one of the five, Gokudera Hayato?" said Mukuro. "I already know the ones to escape this Hell are a chosen few. Let the rest be part of your plan then, if you want."
Gokudera merely looks at Gamma and chortles as he closes his eyes.
"Unfortunately, for you to escape, I have to be the bait. Along with a few of your comrades, they have to think we're gunning for the other escape routes. I can go for the one in one of the turrets. There is something I need to ask from the owners of this castle."
Gamma just stares at Gokudera incredulously, his throat suddenly dry.
"KUFUHAHAHAHHAA! To think-" Mukuro says, between titters. "That you would choose to satiate curiosity than escape after all these years… you are a strange man, Gokudera Hayato. A strange man indeed."
"You can be blunt and call me an idiot, pineapple bastard," Gokudera corrected, chuckling slightly.
~X~
-Past.
"UOOOOHHH! A MAN DOESN'T NEED FOOD TO SURVIVE. HE CAN RELY ON HIS SPIRIT AND HIS RESOLVE!"
Little Haru stares at him with her dead dark eyes.
"Don't mind onii-chan. He's been like that ever since mum and dad died. Here," said Kyoko as he hands her a biscuit.
Haru's hand brushes to her chest, where she hides her revolver before taking the biscuit from Kyoko's bony hand.
"What's a mum and a dad…?" she asks placidly.
"Umm… we have called them that since we were little…" said Kyoko lamely, now thinking hard.
"OOOOOOOHHH! THEY MADE LOVE AND MADE US, THEIR CHILDREN!"
"Children…" Haru echoed. His superior had called her his child. So his superior was a mum or a dad?
"Onii-chan meant that… umm… mom and dad are people who love each other so much that they made children too."
"Made… children?" Gosh, she was getting more confused. "What is… love?" She had never heard her superior use that word.
"I can't explain it, wahh! Onii-chan!"
"KYOKO! A WOMAN MUSTN'T CRY! YOU ONLY CRY WHEN YOU'RE REALLY HAPPY OR REALLY SAD! THAT IS ALL! YOU CANNOT CRY ON SIMPLE THINGS, TO THE EXTREME!"
Ryohei now patted Haru's head.
"Love is a word," his voice softens as he pats her head further. "That has many interpretations. You will one day have to find your own interpretation as you grow up."
"Onii-chan..." Haru then says in her toneless voice as she tugs his torn shirt. "What is love, to you…?"
Ryohei smiles softly at her before ruffling her hair and now looking at Kyoko.
"Well, it's when you're ok that a person is ok, even if you're really not ok."
"Onii-chan… doesn't make any sense at all," Haru said, making Ryohei roar with laughter.
~X~
Present-
The only way Haru could communicate with Gokudera was read his thoughts every six hours. Gamma had said it was the only way for her to reserve her strength for the next few weeks ahead. It doesn't help though, that each talk lasts for only two minutes.
But it does help that Gokudera has a lot to talk about.
I decided to help Mukuro. I told him the plan last night. You'll be coming with him, along with Gamma.
"Really? That's great! You're coming too, right?"
Yeah… I will. Man, I really want to see your clan. That Timoteo person seems nice.
"Oh but he is! I hope you get to see him. I hope we do escape. It's a good thing you're going. I hope you have fun, Gokudera-kun." I'm sorry.
Yep. I'm sure it's going to be fun, Miura. I can't wait.
"Haha, if these weren't your thoughts, I wouldn't have believed I was talking to you Gokudera-kun!"
Our time's almost up. Until later…
"Ok!"
That time, Haru wistfully wonders if she can have a better interpretation than Kyoko's brother.
~X~
Gamma also notices the change in Gokudera's treatment of Miura.
"You've been nicer to her the last couple of weeks. It's supposed to be normal but from what I also hear from Miura, it's getting suspicious."
"I can't stand giving her the silent treatment though," Gokudera says as he looks at the scribbles he made from the paper he had been ripping from Kyoko's diary. "I don't want to regret treating someone well again."
Yes, the memories were getting hazy. The pain though was unbearable as ever.
"I hate to admit it, but the thought of her seeing the earth before passing away gives me strength."
"You seem to be in a better mood," noted Gamma.
"Maybe," said Gokudera, the uncertainty genuinely present in his voice. "It sucks though that I have to lie to her."
He looks at the pages and scribbles more with his forefinger. Their footsteps were the only sounds that rang from the corridor.
For Gamma, it sucks that both of his friends were liars. It sucks more, that Mukuro was a better one.
And what really, really sucks? None of them won't make it out the Crimson Castle alive.
~X~
"It is indeed ironic that none of them would ever leave," said Mukuro quietly. "Add to the fact that not all of us have a chance to escape."
"Yet you chose me," interjected Gamma with disdain. "Out of all your loyal followers, you had to choose the one who had the greatest doubts about you."
"Another irony, kufufu~" Mukuro cackled with delight. "But oftentimes you have to sort your feelings and reasoning. You have the likeliest chance of outliving the others by a long margin, Gamma-kun. You are aware of that."
"Is M.M. coming with you?" Gamma snorted.
"She is the only one left from the original Kokuyo Clan. Ken and Chikusa have already died in the hands of Miura. So has Chrome."
"For the sake of revenge you've gone so low-"
"It's not out of revenge!" Mukuro thunders, his voice whipping Gamma completely silent. "I do not blame that weak flame user nor that bullheaded storm for killing them. It was their choice for going to their deaths. I already asked even that foolish Miura to join us-"
"Because she thinks Gokudera would escape!"
"It will go the same way even if she finds out the truth! Or is it because… you want her to escape? With you?"
"You fucking-"
"You can tell the both of them the truth. Isn't that what friends are for, kufufu~"
"You already know I can't do that. Gokudera will back out and it would be for nothing," Gamma gnashed his teeth in frustration. He stands up. "And even if the three of us chose to escape by ourselves, I doubt you'd lift a finger to help."
"Precise as ever," Mukuro chuckled lightly. He paused before asking, "I've been wondering, Gamma-kun. Why did you chose to join me?"
"I was bored," Gamma said.
Mukuro tittered.
"And I thought you were a better man than me. That maybe I would look up to you."
"And you were wrong then?"
"I was, but not in the way you imagine. We're still two fools who can't forget our pasts."
"Kufufu, only we learned from it rather differently."
There was weariness in his voice.
"Maybe later you can tell me what you're really feeling, Mukuro-san."
Mukuro looks up, his half-closed eyes blinked for a moment before he turns at the window. His grip from the trident didn't slacken one bit as he leans to the arms of his chair.
"You're never alone, you know."
That last sentence made him look back at the door, making him wonder where that brief moment of vulnerability came from.
~X~
"How many members do you have in your group?" asked Gokudera.
"Thirty-eight. The membership's exclusive. I do not like sneaks, kufu," replied Mukuro twirling his hand as he crossed his legs.
"Good enough. We'll be dividing the numbers between the remaining passages. For the real one, you'll have to be on your own to not raise their suspicion."
"As you wish," Mukuro said.
"Have you made sure to provide false info to some prisoners?"
"Who do you think my comrades are? So far, none of the guards have caught wind of our operation."
"And also, the next time you conduct the meeting for your cronies, make sure to tell them to bring their antidote bottles and pierce their prison bangles too."
"Why?" asked Gamma.
"My ex roommate saw it one day while they were punishing a troublemaker. Sharkface pushed a control button and the body just ignited from his own flames. Made a couple more investigations myself and found out that this-" he hoists up his own antidote bottle. "-this just makes your body all the more flammable."
M.M. drops her bottle to her lap in horror.
"Does it apply to us too?" said Mukuro with interest.
"We're lucky it doesn't, since our body wasn't flammable to begin with," said Gokudera.
"Kufufu~ What do you intend to do with the bottles and bangles then?"
Gokudera looks at the illusionary castle Mukuro made in the middle of their castle. He raises his finger and the others present gasped as scarlet flames burst from the castle itself.
"To make Rome burn," he answered, his gleaming eyes betraying his vapid expression.
~X~
That last sentence took a toll on Gamma. Gokudera's cold-blooded brutality was unprecedented. He wished he could tell Gokudera that one of the victims would make him ultimately regret this plan.
"Sacrifice is necessary, Gamma," said Gokudera. "And that pineapple bastard already said they're willing to die for him."
Including Haru. Gamma realized the inevitability of Gokudera becoming a more diabolical villain than Mukuro ever was.
"You can say I'm doing this to cushion the blow," he said further. "And it's better this way."
He looked on ahead.
"Who does Miura remind you of?"
Gamma doesn't answer. How long was it since someone tried asking about himself? He was often the one doing the talking, even before he ever landed in the Crimson Castle. Never was he the one being talked about.
"I've just been wondering. Since the day you asked for extra blankets, I've never even had the guts to ask you. I'm sure you're a family guy, with how you act around her. Did you have a kid?"
"I did." His voice was hollow. He stopped in his tracks. By this time, Gokudera now looked at him.
He was trembling.
"Haru-chan reminded me of my daughter, Yuni. She also reminded me of the love of my life, Aria," he continued speaking mechanically.
"If you don't want to talk about it-"
"No," Gamma gave him his unfazed smile. "Maybe it's better if I told you. I had never told Haru about my past. You were the first friend I had within these crimson walls, and you might handle it better than her."
"Gamma-"
"No. It's about time I told my story. It might be the last time I'll speak to you. Don't forget the operation will begin in two days," he beckons him to his doorstep. They were just two steps nearer. He manages to control the shaking as he opens it. From there, he opens the drawers near his bed and procures a faded photograph. A sunglasses-wearing Gamma was stoically posed side-by-side with a beautiful dark-haired woman. She was cradling a small child.
Gokudera just peered at it.
""My own child never knew I was her father," he murmured as he carefully returns it back. "I was never even a part of the family. It was a good thing that she was the spitting image of her mother. Otherwise I- I would've been found out.
"Aria- my lover-" he hesitated at the label he called her. He sat on the bed and fit his fingers between each other. "We had an affair which was known to her family. It was necessary since her husband was sterile. The product was Yuni- my daughter. She was my roommate."
By that time, Gokudera fixed his gaze at Gamma. He seemed to be smiling so hard he forgot how to stop. The little girl with the sunny smile. How can he forget when Gamma had to face her in a Flame Charade?
"During that time, I wasn't able to truly control the progress of my disease. There were times that I was hallucinating. I imagined Aria there even though she passed on before we came here. I always imagined her. And I think it took a toll on my sanity. I do not show it when the three of us are together but when Yuni and I are alone- She looks so much like her…" He inhaled again. "I-"
Gokudera closed his eyes. There were times during Haru's erratic moments before he faced Ryohei that Haru was talking to imaginary people. It was normal.
"I did it with her. I did it to her, Gokudera."
"How many times?"
"More than five. She- she- I could never look at her the same way since. She was often smiling. She didn't say no to everything. Never."
Gamma now bit his lip to stop himself from smiling further.
"I feel like the worst scum. I don't even deserve just the hottest place in hell for what I've done," a tear was silently rolling down his left cheek. He wipes it quickly away. "I never thought- since that time I killed my daughter- that I could ever be happy again. And then she had to prove me wrong. It scares me. It scares me everytime when we're alone. What if it kicks up again? What will she think of me? But then the more we met, the more I realized how not much different I was from her. Our pasts sucked."
"But instead of running away from it, you could learn from it," Gokudera cracks up a grin. "Just like what she did for me."
"It wasn't just Miura. We also learned to accept it by ourselves, Gokudera. No matter how hard it will be to ever pay it back."
Gokudera now leans at the wall and starts to snicker at the syrupy rightness of Gamma's words.
"I hate to say it, but couldn't have said it better than your preachy statements."
Gamma now had to look at his feet. In the end, he really couldn't help it. He has to let him dig deeper for the truths he burrowed.
"Gokudera, Mukuro's planning on leaving Haru-chan behind."
"I know, idiot."
Gamma looked at him protuberantly.
"You were looking troubled for days. Even an ostrich could tell something was up," Gokudera sat cross-legged on the other bed.
"T-Then do you have a plan B-?"
Gokudera shook his head. "I'm not that smart to think of another possible plan. You already know Mukuro doesn't tinker with the cameras there."
"Isn't the passageway secluded for us to-"
"If we don't plan this ahead, we could get caught. You already know security's tight at night around that area. Besides, she's not complaining or telling me the truth. It's her choice that she wants to die."
"And you're letting her be an idiot?" Gamma said indignantly, almost miserably.
"I doubt she can make it to that Timoteo's place. Even you know how much time she has left," Gokudera said as he procures a letter with a Dying Will on top. "Besides in three days, this will happen. Might as well suck it up till the end."
"Is that hers?"
"No," Gokudera said, blinking rapidly and rubbing his eyes for good measure. "Ours."
~X~
Future-?
The kids' eyes from inside the mall were simply focused on him. Not her.
Even Lal Mirch was addressing her questions to him. Not her.
"You can sit here," Lal said as she pointed at two empty seats in a room that seemed to have held a dermatology clinic back in the day. Haru immediately plops into the seat while Gokudera bade his time. "I'll be fetching him and the current boss, Coyote-sama."
Gokudera simply nods as she turns at the swish of her patchy coat and walks back. Haru merely looks on at her. Gokudera merely sighs as he stares at the light.
"I now remember everything," Haru murmurs. "Even how we lost the earrings."
"Took you three days of walking for you to find out," Gokudera snorts as he closes his eyes to doze off.
"There's no need for me to stay here, is there?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Gokudera, I know-"
"Kufufu~ Fancy us seeing each other this early."
Gokudera rolled his eyes as Mukuro walked near the seat, examining him thoroughly.
He however stands at the wizened figure of Coyote Nougat. Haru notices the wrinkles and white hair has increased since the last time she saw him.
"You know each other then?" he asked.
"Will you do the honors of telling, Gokudera?" Mukuro smirks.
"Might as well. In case you forget something," he said curtly.
Haru looked at Mukuro, whose gaze was set on her, with lips pursed in a smile.
"Kufufu~ I think it's better if I tell the story. You have come a long way and…" Mukuro's smile became more pronounced. "You might be the one forgetting something on the way."
And with that, their tale begins. For her, it continues.
~X~
Present-
"Gokudera-kun, have you received the Flame Charade letter? I think it was addressed to you."
It doesn't matter. Our mission begins tonight. You should begin preparing the stuff you want to bring.
"I don't think it's, umm, ok?" Haru laughs nervously. "I don't need anything."
You might forget this then. Stay still. With that Gokudera carefully pins the dewdrop earring on her right ear.
"What are you putting, Gokudera-kun? I'm really sorry I can't-"
It's Kyoko's earring. I'm sure she'd want that. I'm also putting on the other. With that, he also begins to insert it on his left ear.
"Yay! We match!"
I'm sure she'd want us to wear it. You look… good wearing it.
"Umm I'm sure I'd say the same thing!" Haru said brightly.
Gokudera looks at her. The tears streaming from her face was flowing nonstop. He bites the inside of his cheek.
You're crying.
"Yep, ahaha!" she tried laughing, but her mouth just couldn't handle the weight and finally gives out. "I'm sorry, it's just… I don't think I'm going to see you ever again. Mukuro-sama… S-said I c-can't come with y-you g-guys-"
He looked at her, mustering a smile invisible to her. So that's it.
"I-I should've t-told you sooner b-but I-I- w-w-was s-s-scared…." she trails off as her sobbing got even louder. "I-I-I'm s-sorry w-wah-!"
By this time, Gokudera put a hand onto her mouth. Can I ask you something Miura?
She nods. Gokudera then presses his left hand on hers, and gently raises it. With his free hand, he nudges her other hand to her right shoulder before lowering his hand to her hip. He pulls her closer, his lips barely touching her nose.
Can you listen to me for more than the two minutes? I just want to hum you the rest of the unfinished melody.
By that time, Haru began bawling in earnest. He just shakes her head and lets her head run past his shoulder. Though it began to dampen in just a few seconds, it never before had made him feel so alive as he lets her soundless voice flit to her deaf ears.
"Gokudera-kun I-"
She immediately stops crying. Her head now touches his chest. Gokudera spins her once more.
What?
"Nothing. It's… no longer important. Thanks for being the best roommate a stupid hag could ask for."
He after all, didn't even had any reaction when she told him she wasn't coming with him. He didn't beg her to come, nor did he volunteer to stay. It just means… that she didn't mean that much to him to even risk his life for.
To an extent, it was painful. Much more painful than how her tears could express.
It took him a long time to respond.
And you were the best room mate I will ever have.
His one statement was enough to prove her wrong. Gokudera, after all, never lied to anyone. Including her.
~X~
It surprised him that he didn't need to lie as he uttered those last words to her.
Gokudera looked at the many, many pieces of papers he had rolled up like fuses in every nook and cranny of the hallways in his areas. Was it out of inspiration, from Haru's strings? He couldn't find any other explanation as he walks past them, letting the large antidote container run its contents onto the papers. He looks at the last sheet of paper from his hand. It was ironic that it bore the last entry from her diary.
And yeah, tell Gokudera-kun I'm in love with him! Hope you don't mind.
He touches the earring with his free hand as he folds it into a paper plane and lets it fly across the hall. He prays that this time, Kyoko would hear his apologies as he lets one storm flame from the tip of the airplane ignite.
The show should begin with a bang.
~X~
The explosion from the inside set the other people in Haru's area to a near-panic as they frantically tried their best to break their bracelets to no avail.
Haru was one of them. She still hadn't figured out that she was put along with the weaker users in one of the passages near the underground. It was also difficult for her to communicate with the others. She wasn't able to practice focusing if more than one person was talking. She was nearly going to break down at the thought of not accomplishing anything. She tried reaching out her hand as she walked past the throngs of frantic flame users, trying to puncture their bracelet, unknowingly bruising and bleeding from their flames when-
"Haru-chan."
The tears wouldn't stop flowing as she tries to turn around to the direction of the voice. It was the voice she didn't expect to hear amidst this sea of dying flames.
"G-Gamma-san-" she hiccupped as Gamma embraced her, his lightning flames now puncturing and eventually shattering her bracelet. He then continued to let his billiard cue run past his bracelet. "Why did you stay?"
He now thrusts a piece of paper in her right hand as he slowly lets her go.
"Because you deserve better," he whispers, just in time before he heard the maniacal screams of Squalo and the rest of the guards.
"LET THESE SHITHEADS BURN!"
He then lets his right fist cruise through her stomach, as her left hand touches his cheek.
If only she could feel his tears.
~X~
"Squalo-san. We've succeeded in burning the bodies."
He continues to cover Haru's facedown body with his own, trying to mask her shallow breathing with his. He could still hear the moans of those who managed to wrench free their bracelets in time and merely got burns. The putrid smell of burning flesh nauseated him greatly.
His survival, after all didn't mean that the battle was over.
The footsteps of the guards clacked closer and closer. Gamma braced himself as he tries moving his body further to Haru's back.
"VOIII! WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS WAITING FOR? STAB EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"
Gamma's blood ran cold as he heard Squalo's voice and the unsheathing blades.
The gushing bloodspurts and the screams that echoed from the dingy hallway. Gamma let his hands extend under the remaining bodies to hide his cue.
He has to make this count.
Soon enough, he heard the heavy breathing of a guard just behind him. Suddenly, he felt the excruciating shots of pain as one, two, three- more runs of the blade rushed past him. He had to make sure to bite his lip to prevent himself from crying out. He lets the lightning flames ignite his heart to keep on beating despite the pain, the rupture- and for his hands to move the cue and protect the woman lying just below him.
He has to fight it! That sense of drowsiness. His hands and his body was growing numb. He had to make sure his nerves get to feel the pain. It was necessary. Pain was necessary for him to know he was alive. This was for Gokudera. For Haru. For. For.
For them.
"Squalo-san, we've killed them all."
"Voiii! Then why are you assholes looking at me? Move to where Bel is! That idiot's having a hard time on his front! Step on it, you motherfuckers!"
He waited for everyone, even if the perpetrator stabbed his throat one last time, to finally leave.
Slowly, slowly, he rolled his head and his body to prevent his blood from continuing its downpour on Haru. He slowly extended his mangled hand to touch her earring and cracking the pearl.
He cannot even breathe anymore. He wonders how Haru must have looked like right now. To see how beautiful she has blossomed from the first time he met her until his Lightning struck him blind. He regrets to not have seen her at this dear moment.
He looks up and recognizes the light. From there, he could see the smiling faces of his wife and daughter. Both were wearing the same clothes he remembered in their better days.
The two of them extend a hand at him, much to his surprise. He looks to his right, and instead of a half-dead Haru he sees the marbled floors of their home back in Italy.
Are you real? Gamma mouths at them. They merely look at each other and further extend their arms to him to lift him up. Their warmth finally takes hold of him. He shakes his head. Everything he had experienced, from the day Aria died seemed like such a bad dream. He then takes their hands, ready to stand, the smile now pressed to his lips.
Well then. Time to wake up.
~X~
Future?
By the time Mukuro ended his tale and they discussed the rest, Haru finally decided to open her mouth. Only the two of them remained in that dusty room.
"What will happen now?" she asked, unable to contain the memories of what happened that time. "What are you gonna do?" She stood against the wall. Gokudera remained sitting down.
"I honestly don't know."
He remained looking at the soles of his raggedy leather shoes.
"In the first place, I never wanted to be the one left alive," he replied, smiling weakly. "And being here just gives me more questions than answers."
"What do you know," Haru snorts as she looks at her pale, translucent hand. "It makes me wonder as well. Why I'm still here." She closes her eyes. "Why I still don't let go, even when it hurts so much."
~X~
Present-
The end was nigh. Gokudera knew that, as he walked leisurely past the burning bodies he passed. The rings of the fallen were tightly clasped between his fingers.
He stopped to wipe the soot from his face once he sees his next opponent. He throws the rings to the person's face.
"Your pals weren't much trouble," he said almost indifferently as he lets his dynamite sticks ignite from his hands. "For former victors of the Flame Charades, you can't even beat one little Storm flame user?"
"Really now~" his opponent replied in a cutesy voice as he takes hold of the four rings. "I bet Zakuro-chan, Daisy-chan, Torikabuto-chan and Ghost-chan weren't prepared to meet a Storm flame user as strong as you are, Gokudera Hayato-kun~"
Gokudera gnashes his teeth. The slashes in his chest from that Zakuro was still getting to him. He throws his dynamite sticks to his next opponent, who just brushes it aside into a cloud of smoke.
"You know, I quite idolized you from the tales I heard from those guards," Gokudera said as he releases a large amount of flame that morphed into a roaring leopard. "Byakuran, the first winner of the Flame Charades. Why didn't you guys just leave?"
"The same reason most of the prisoners haven't left. Maybe it's the same reason for you too, Gokudera-kun~" Byakuran said as he continued to walk forward, letting the flames from his hand encircle his body, letting out sparks that reminded Gokudera of the fireworks his boss makes years and years ago. "There is nothing else for us to come back to."
His skin prickled. A gut feeling tells him he obviously cannot win from the power of his Sky flames.
But he knew he ought to try.
~X~
It was almost like an eternity when Haru finally opens her eyes and sees for the first time in a long while.
Instead of the room she remembered to where she'll see a smiling Gokudera, the body of corpses as far as her eyes could cater nearly made her sight go dull. Much more, was the body of a smiling Gamma now trying to bar her feet from standing.
"G-Gamma-san-" she hiccupped. The sound of screams and groans continued to pollute the air. By then also, aside from the sticky liquid called blood she can feel-
She holds up her hand and looks at the crumpled piece of paper, now half-soaked in Gamma's blood. She tries smoothing it to first notice Gamma's scrawl.
It's up to you now, Haru-chan.
She looked at Gamma's corpse one more time before giving him a nod. She tries cupping the earring but feels nothing. So that was it.
The paper was from a Flame Charade announcement addressed to Gokudera. On the back was a map of the entire castle, with names hastily scribbled in some parts. He noticed Mukuro's name just two floors below and Gokudera's name a couple of floors and a turret above.
She didn't need time to decide where she'd be going next. Quickly, she lets her forefingers touch and produce the lightning flames she had long believed she won't see again. Their light was far brighter and warmer than anything she had ever made. She smiles as she closes Gamma's eyes and prepares herself.
Give me strength to see this through. Gamma-san. Kyoko-chan.
~X~
The person Haru eventually comes to search for looks at her in surprise. She was alive and, much more, well.
"Mukuro-sama," she now said as more of the castle guards buzzed and whirred their weapons at her to no avail. Instantly, she let her strings weave themselves more and more into a cocoon of reinforced lightning, just enough from letting the passageway be uncovered. "I'm staying to save Gokudera-kun."
"Kufufu~ And you came here, expecting me to help you?" Mukuro snickered as M.M now beckoned him forward.
"No, I just came to tell you that," Haru grinned. "We might not make it in time to come here, but we promise we'll escape and see you again, Mukuro-sama."
"That naivety will cost you your life, Miura Haru," Mukuro snorted as he took M.M's hand. "Then go. I'll await you below."
"Yes, Mukuro-sama!" chirped Haru, turning to face the guards and now raising her hands, as if to embrace someone. Immediately, the weaved cocoon came undone and extended up, up before the entire web covered the place. By the time the explosion from her signature move dissipated, Haru had gone.
Mukuro keeps looking the way, before letting go of M.M's hand.
"Mukuro-sama!"
"She got to me," Mukuro laughed as he steps from the hole of earth and brick. "I'm sorry M.M, but you have to go without me. Follow the others or do what you want for yourself. You are now free."
"I can't have that, Mukuro-sama. We can't have that," she replies, now pushing Mukuro back. His bejewelled eyes just stare at her. To think that she would defy her orders at such a crucial time-
"I'll go, Mukuro-sama. It's best you live, honestly. You are far more needed than you think. Take it from me," she now grins.
"Does the idea of losing me come at the cost of your own life?" Mukuro said, now extending his hand to help her out.
"I refused your offer not to die in vain, Mukuro-sama," M.M said as she leaves the passageway. "My desire to see you again exceeds my desire to die for you. And-" she presses her lips against his.
Mukuro closes his eyes as she lets go.
"I just want to tell you that," M.M said as she now takes out her clarinet. "Take care, Mukuro-sama."
"Even before Chrome and I met?" Mukuro touches his lips. "You foolish woman, kufu~"
M.M smiled before turning to follow Haru.
"Always."
~X~
When Gokudera had the chance to regain consciousness, the sky flames chaining his hands and feet made him think twice before letting his flames lose control.
His eyes quickly adjust to the surroundings. So far, he was in an oval room, standing in the center of a circular table. The yellow lights seemed to be coming from behind the metal chairs around the table.
There was also that irritating bubbling sound coming from behind the lights and what seemed to be cylindrical tanks. The grey skies were visible from the outside. It seemed to be early morning.
"Ciaossu, Gokudera Hayato," the sound from the chair in front of him made him jump. It turned out that something tiny was sitting on it. He turned around. There were seven chairs all in all. This must be it. This was the place he dreamed of being in.
The place the rulers of the castle dwelled.
The thing talking to Gokudera earlier tottered up to the table, which immediately burst into light. He immediately shielded his eyes.
"Reborn," Gokudera muttered. He then heard mutterings coming from the other chairs out of disbelief.
"Oh? So you know my name? Good. That will make things simpler then," the baby wearing a fedora hat said as his dark eyes peered at his. "You already know defying this castle is futile and the only option is death."
"I am also aware," Gokudera quips. "That you cannot kill me because I am immune."
"Hmmph, the man knows too much." he heard a reedy voice scoff from behind. The baby stepping out had green hair that reminded him of canopy. He snickers.
"Be quiet, Verde. This man interests me," Reborn said.
"Kora! Know your place, Reborn! You aren't the leader! We have agreed Fon will be the one in charge until-"
"Now, now, Collonello. Let Reborn have his fun. Gokudera-kun has also piqued my curiosity," said a baby from his right, stepping out to reveal a dark-haired one donning red chinese clothes. The other baby folds his arms and reveals himself a blonde, blue-eyed army-clad sergeant.
"Show yourself, Skull and Mamon," said the baby called Fon, hiding his hands by putting his sleeves together. "Don't be rude to our unwanted guest."
"D-Don't order me around!" said a helmet-wearing baby in a high-pitched annoying voice (according to Gokudera).
"He's just a pompous brat who won't give us any profit whatsoever!" said the other baby, entirely cloaked in purple velvet.
"Well then, Gokudera Hayato. We are generally known as the castle's leaders, but you can also call us the Arcobaleno, the cursed babies who are foreigners to this world," said Fon in his slow and calm speech.
"What do you want to ask us?" Reborn asked curtly.
Gokudera looked at the tiny rulers, all most probably aware of the killings within the castle walls.
"I want to ask three questions to confirm my suspicions," he said, trying to instigate his confidence.
"Ok then. In turn, we'll also ask you three questions," said Reborn with a leer.
"I'll start then," Gokudera agreed as he tried breaking the chains, to no avail. "Where is the seventh member?"
"Oh, Luce?" said Collonello. "She died a long time ago, kora."
"All Sky Arcobalenos are cursed with a short life," said Verde, adjusting his glasses.
"I'll ask the next question then," said Reborn, putting his hands to his hips as he examined Gokudera closely. "How did you come to know about our existence?"
He took a deep breath before answering. "Twenty-six years ago, Basil, a co-founder of my clan got to meet you. He left a journal chronicling his experiences before and after you arrived."
"Oh, that snotty kid?" sniggered Skull. "He was even brave enough to ask us if we could cure him of his disease, the fool!"
"Skull, he was a good lad," said Fon before turning to Gokudera. "He asked us an array of questions. Luce tried to answer them the best that she can."
"It's my turn to ask," Gokudera said. The other Arcobalenos were coming closer to him. "What is the purpose of painting the castle with our blood?"
"Oh that," Verde smirked. "Nothing in particular. We just wanted to test how far your obedience would take you here. It's amazing how many would obey and believe they were just obeying orders, even when they're mutilating their own kind."
"It's better than those wars you do since you know firsthand what evil you're doing to your fellow man, kora," said Collonello darkly. "Now you know how traumatic it is to kill your fellow humans."
"You sons of bitches," Gokudera said immediately. "You f-fucking psychos, sitting pretty in your high chairs and making us-"
"You blame us, when you mechanically do what we tell you to? You could've refused, kora!" Collonello snapped back.
"Now, now, now," Fon calmly pushed Collonello back. "Reborn, continue your questions."
"Alright. Gokudera, why do you continue to exist? None of the people we have been observing so far defied fate as you had. Why, when you know once you come down, there is nothing worth coming back to?"
"Do I really need to think about that?" Gokudera beams. "Living is better than dying, no matter how you think about it."
"Pfft," Reborn snickered.
"My last question then," he now said, putting on a serious face. "What reason do you have of giving us the disease in the first place? Basil-san asked you the same question and he didn't get to write your answer in the journal. Did you come to destroy us because of our… sins? Or save us from ourselves?"
Fon was the one to answer. "Nay Gokudera-kun. We are not gods. We are just babies who want to come back home." His small smile didn't leave his face. "We needed the seven immune bodies to provide us enough fuel to return to our world."
"Sorry for interrupting, everyone~" Gokudera turned to see Byakuran now perching on one of the chairs. "Hope my chains don't hurt you too much, Gokudera-kun~" he says squinting and trying to give a cat-like expression. "Reborn, it seems like someone's coming here too. A really cute girl."
Gokudera's eyes widened for a fraction of a second. That idiot-!
"Hmm, don't worry about it Gokudera-kun. She's a sun flame user and not your precious Haru~" Byakuran said happily.
"Y-You bastard-" Gokudera said through gritted teeth.
"See to it that she's dead, Byakuran," Reborn said as he tilts his fedora.
"My pleasure~" he nodded and skids off.
"Now… onto the last question…" he says as he twirls the grin pistol in his hands. The tanks from below become filled with light. Gokudera lets a howl of surprise escape his lips as he sees bodies leisurely drifting, oxygen masks the only thing enabling them to breathe. He sees a dark-skinned man with feathers adorning his ears struggling in one while a child in golden-brown curls under a witch hat drifts in another. "Gokudera, what do you think will happen to you now?"
~X~
She ignored the burning bodies strewn in front of her as she skids on. She knew she hasn't got much time. Gokudera must be here somewhere…
"A-han, I didn't expect you to be here earlier."
She stops midway, her strings lassoing her arms as a man with flowing sea-green hair and lids donning a heavy helping of the same-colored eyeshadow comes to meet her. He bows slightly.
"My name is Kikyo. I'm one of the Millefiore elite guards who've given their lives for the Arcobalenos, the rulers of the castle."
She lowers her hands as the strings from her right hand unravels and slowly twirls to the floor.
"I'm Miura Haru. I intend to save a Gokudera who came here earlier," she said with eyes darting to the surroundings. She still hasn't seen his flames. So far, her strings could reach the right area. She can jump to it before-
"You are quite a polite girl," the man said, nodding at her in acknowledgement. "That Gokudera killed the rest without introducing himself."
"Let's just get on with it," Haru said as the lightning surged past her fingers and onto her strings. The energy she received from the earring made her flames stronger a hundredfold. She wanted to test them out, and time was taking its toll.
"Alright then. I'll make sure your life ends in the most beautiful way possible," he said giving her one last respectful bow before his hand ignited in cloud flames.
Suddenly then, she felt the ground rumble. She jumped just in time, to see the jaws of a dinosaur snap to where her feet would've been. She tries letting her flames entwine her right hand, forming a colossal spear that bathed the hall in green light. The strings also bound her feet, enabling her to run a couple of feet above ground and onto Kikyo's throat-
"Sorry, but your attack's completely predictable, Miura Haru," he sighed regrettable his his clawed hand throws her aside, sending her rocketing to the ground and baking a few bones to boot.
Her flames managed to cushion the landing in time before her head was affected. Haru immediately stands.
"Sorry, I've been getting rusty since the disease got the better of me," Haru said, flicking her fingers. The dinosaur head exploded and the flames dissipated.
"MIURA HARU!"
Haru turns around and ducks in time, before the sound of M.M's clarinet nearly got within her range and made her melt. It hit Kikyo's chest instead, sending him howling in fury.
"You idiot! Get in here!" M.M said as she finally yanks her within reach and pulls her away before three more raptors appear and sent the ceiling crashing down.
"M.M-san, you can't be-" Haru didn't get to finish her protest when M.M placed a finger to her lips.
"On my signal, you must run ahead to fetch that stupid octopus," she told him briskly. "I'll stay here to keep you covered."
"B-But M.M-san-"
"Listen to me, you stupid bitch. You don't have much time. In three seconds, that guy would recover and attempt to chop off our heads. We have to make sure that at the worst case scenario, he'd be only getting my head. Got it?"
"W-Why didn't you go with Mukuro-sama?"
"It's either me or him. Ok Miura, on my signal. One-" she now roughly pushes her to the right.
"M.M-san don't die-"
"Two- don't be stupid- THREE! GO!"
Haru made sure to embrace M.M before letting her strings envelop her body completely.
"A-han, so that's your plan!" yells Kikyo triumphantly before M.M comes from the left and lets her clarinet, now a pair of nunchucks, miss Kikyo's head by inches.
"Not that good in hand-to-hand combat are you, you flamboyant bastard?" she yelled. "I'll be your opponent!"
Haru pressed her lips together before breaking into a run to prevent herself from making a scene. She couldn't give out now, she said to herself as she runs straight ahead to the wall behind her, one fist ahead to do the talking.
SMASH! Immediately, the wind began rushing through the hall. The armor around her right arm unwinds and she lets it lasso outside. With a strong yank, she let the string claw and make contact upwards.
She figured that it was now or never. She had to look for him in every window in the turrets without getting caught. This was the only option she had. Like a grappling hook, the claws pull her in, sending her flying out in the grey clouds of the morning sky. Quickly, she then let the bindings in her left hand fly out like climbing vines out into the cracks of a brick just farther ahead before continuing to soar upwards. It was only a matter of time until-
"What a pleasant surprise, Miura Haru-chan~" said someone behind her, making her blood run cold. She hastily brandished a lightning dagger to pierce the throat of the unknown assailant only to hit nothing but air. Just a few feet above her, effortlessly standing on the scarlet walls was a grinning porcupine-haired man.
Instantly, the hairs in her hand up to her neck stood up. Her eyes narrowed. This guy was dangerous. She brandished more lightning strings at her left hand. The first thing she needed was to not let this guy get close to her.
"Oh, right. I'm Byakuran, the head of the Millefiore guards," he continued in a pleasant voice, grinning broadly. "I didn't sense your flames there," he holds up a ring with decorated with silver wings and a smooth white stone in the middle. "Normally, this would glow depending in the intensity of the flame user. It seems you are quite a special one, Haru-chan~"
"Out of my way," Haru said assertively, now letting the strings encase her feet to form glowing green boots. She let more of her flames cover her arms. Time was running out.
"My, my, Haru-chan. It seems Gokudera-kun's temperament's rubbing off on you. Do not worry. He's safe for now. They have no intention of exterminating him," Byakuran continued, as if discussing the weather.
Haru had to buy time. The strings under her boots were making their way through the cracks under the bricks and onto Byakuran's feet.
"I don't want to hurt you," Haru murmured. It was almost at hand. One false move from him, and the thing would explode.
"Tut, tut. Even his arrogance is getting wind of you, Haru-chan. Do not forget that I won the first Flame Charade," said he, now wagging his forefinger in a warning gesture, moving a step forward.
It was what Haru was aiming for. She moved her her left little finger and the place where Byakuran had been became shrouded in puffs of black smoke.
It was a good thing, her ears easily picked up the sound in time, but just as she raised her left arm to block the blow, the armor cracked and she felt a burst of pain as she quickly jumped back. Blood was gushing out from the stricken arm. Instantly, she let the flames cover her injury.
Byakuran was walking up to her with barely a scratch. He snapped his fingers and a spurt of flame suddenly appeared in front of her, which she evaded in time. One, two, three and more white dragons entwined in orange flames began attacking her left and right, to which she dodged as she began her descent, her boots the only source of foothold as she brandished two strings from each hand. The wind howled, stinging her face, as if bidding her to go back.
A larger dragon now flew straight at her, opening its jaws and poised to bite her head. Haru turned right to evade, letting the strings from the left go under it. The flames from her right also wrapped itself onto the dragon. She screamed as she pulled. The dragon was sliced in two.
But it wasn't over.
Another dragon surged from behind her. She ducked by a hairs breadth, but not before she felt a chill from her left. Byakuran was speaking directly to her ear, also twirling her hair almost innocently.
"Impressive, Haru-chan. Unlike Gokudera-kun, you know how not to rely on the strength of your flames alone. With that, you don't have to charge aimlessly at me. However-" she felt his hands now clawing her neck, making her cry out weakly. Her flames seemed to have no effect on him as she whipped his body almost nonstop. "-that's not enough to beat me," he whispered almost amorously before letting her fall under the mercy of gravity. She barely lifted a finger as she felt a fist crack her chin and sending her now flying outwards.
Byakuran was not finished. A colossal ball of Sky flames now began to form behind him as he slowly raises his arm as if to hold an invisible crystal ball.
She tries forming her woven shield to protect herself.
"Now as the strongest flame user ever born," he said, as his lifted hand curl up into a fist. "Allow me to enlighten you."
She caught glimpse of a large burst of light, and then knew no more.
~X~
It was only when she realized someone was sponging her face did she actually open her eyes and didn't believe what she was seeing.
A child, no, a baby(?) was slowly soaking her face with a yellow sponge that managed to fit its tiny hand as it hummed a peaceful tune. It was a young boy who wore red flowing robes that was a miniature version of what the traditional ones worn by older men. Her mouth, now open nearly got stuffed with a sponge that she had to cry out for him to open his eyes in surprise.
"I'm sorry, young one," he said as he jumped from her left shoulder and onto the ground. It was only then that she realized her hands were bound upwards to the ceiling, with her feet, though bound was dangling almost five feet from the white floors. "I was too enamoured with the song and nearly suffocated you. Please accept my apologies."
The idea of being younger than the dude made her shudder.
"A-Are you an Arcobaleno?" she said, trying to confirm her hunch.
"I am," the baby smiled. "I am Fon, the original holder of the Storm flames. Nice to meet you, Miura Haru."
"Y-You know who I am?"
"We have been keeping an eye on you," he said in the soothing voice that seemed to drug her. "We know all about the prisoners inside."
"S-So you know about the plan of escape…" she trailed off, secretly wondering how much a fool she had been to think they'd turn a blind eye to their grand escapade.
"Oh yes. It greatly amused us too," he said with a light chuckle, now folding his sleeves. "Not one human for twenty six years tried to escape the palace walls with an elaborate plan such as yours. It was quality entertainment while it lasted."
Somehow, the tactlessness from Fon's last statement made her shake in anger, no matter how serene his voice was.
"W-Were you also the one who made the diseases happen and wiped the majority of us out?"
Fon nodded hesitatingly.
"Why?!" WHY DID THEY HAVE TO MAKE THEM SUFFER SO MUCH?
"We needed to find what humans we can use as fuel for our castle and return back to our original world," he said as he cranes his head to look at her hate-filled eyes. "So far, we only need two more people for the Mist and Storm fuel."
"Didn't you think that a lot of people would die because of that wish of yours? D-Do you honestly think we'd be ok with that?"
"We know, Miura Haru," he said, continuing to smile serenely. "We know the consequences of wiping out this world just to get back there. Unfortunately, once you are struck, you cannot all be cured. Much more presently, since Luce, the Arcobaleno who could undo the disease has now left us."
"S-So all along-" Haru hissed.
Fon looked at her with soft, sorrowful eyes. "I'm sorry. But we really want to return back to our world. It was her wish before she died."
"Y-YOUR SORRY DOESN'T CUT SLACK, GODDAMMIT!" Haru screamed in pure fury. "NO MATTER HOW MANY SORRIES YOU GIVE, NO ONE WILL COME BACK FROM THE DEAD! I'M NOT THE ONLY FUCKING ONE WHO'S SUFFERING OUT HERE! YOUR SELFISH WISH CAN ERADICATE US COMPLETELY!" Screw it if they had sinned. It was still unfair.
"Haru, please calm down. Even you people are aware that the pain of one is the pleasure of another. You people are already doing it in every Flame Charade you go into. You know that in every battle you win, you take the chance of living for the other. It is a dichotomy that cannot be undone in every era and world we tread."
"BUT YOU FORCE US-"
"We do, but you relent," Fon said. "It just shows how selfish you humans are. No matter how noble your reasons are for living, you are still willing to rob the dreams of another to accomplish that goal."
"D-DON'T-" Haru said now both wheezing and crying at the same time as her lightning flames crackled in every cubic inch of her body. She still remained there, her head bowed and sobbing uncontrollably. He had utterly beaten her. She no longer desired to form statements and counter his words.
Fon looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry it has to end like this. The Flame Charade begins tomorrow. It will be your last shot to be free."
"What point is there… when you know you'll eventually die without achieving anything?" she said emptily, bowing her head in defeat. She already knew who she'll be facing. She already read it in that damn piece of paper Gamma gave her. So they got him then…
"If you win, you can still stay here with Byakuran and the other guards," he said with a small smile. "Until you find a place where you can belong."
"That's a cheesy way to put it," she muttered. "So in a way, you Arcobalenos are good guys too."
"It depends on the context," Fon emphasized. He then turned away. "Good night then, Haru Miura. Prepare yourself for tomorrow. Make sure you kill your opponent. It will be easy. He is… no longer the man you once knew."
And with that, he leaves her in the darkness, leaving Haru to understand the content of the last sentence he uttered.
They brainwashed him.
~X~
The arena reminded her of her dreams.
It was replicated like the room she and Gokudera shared. The whiteness. The glass windows that emanated the grey animated clouds. Even his antidote bottles were reassembled and filled in painstaking detail.
She was chained to the other bed. Her opponent was covered in white sheets in the other one, looking like an ominous blob she still prayed wasn't the person she thought.
The person then sits up, and the sheet falls off him almost in slow motion.
Haru couldn't look away as she sees the ever-familiar visage of her roommate. He looked much cleaner than she had ever seen him, his hair a clean combed cut that made him look utterly girlish, and his clothes were a pristine white. The only thing different from him was his vacant expression and his iride-less eyes.
She smiles weakly as the chains disappear and Gokudera stands up, his vermilion flames forming a giant spear in his right hand. His face contorts into unbridled fury.
As she dodges his spear and releases her Lightning bolts, screaming to stifle the fear and grief, she tries to remember how she came here inside this castle in the first place. As she throws each unceasingly, aiming his heart, she also tries to remember the sacrifices she made just to go here with the possibility of dying in the arms of this deranged being.
Oh right. I chose to go here. To find Kyoko-chan and Ryohei-niichan. She lets her bolts be cut through by his spear, only to split further and further into strings and wrap themselves to his throat, lifting him higher and higher until he coughs and wheezes and whimpers like a trapped animal. Scarlet flames then burn and disintegrate it completely, making him land on all-fours. He snarled and roared at her in blind aggression. She readies herself for another assault.
Then I lost the real reason I was here. But I still stayed. Haru twirls in the air to let the flaming ropes fly in all directions. Instantly, the whole arena became her web. She then climbs on one and snaps her fingers. I still stayed, because I met people who'd actually care about me aside from them. She then remembered the grinning body of Gamma and Gokudera's last sentence. Can I still…? The entire arena bathed itself in the explosion she made. She turns. Gokudera was gingerly standing up from the damage he received, badly burned but still alive.
The smile on her face didn't leave as her flames now morphed into a long cue in her left hand and levitating billiard balls. She shot the balls at him before lunging at him fully with the cue.
He was waiting for her. He also ran, full speed ahead, and bent at piercing her heart. He howled as he continued forward.
Haru closed her eyes as she remembered the times they bickered, the times she cried over his cruel treatment, the time she found the diary and the other consequences she had to put up with in having him as his roommate. I stayed, even though it hurt so fucking much because-
Her eyes stung as she uttered his name, the first name she remembered to have heard in her dreams, as the possibility of collision came ever so closer. She stole one last glance at his left ear, smiling as she found what she was looking for before facing the inevitability.
In the end, she now realized why she continued to love even when it hurts so, so much more than she ever wanted it to.
"H-Hayato-kun, I l-"
~X~
Past|Present|Future
She was the last person he wanted to see.
Gokudera looked up. The cloudless sky hovered above him washing him over with a serene peace he never thought he'd ever receive. The ground was also beautiful with the different palettes that eased his eyes from getting too fed up with one color. The butterflies and birds that flew now and then was enough for him to sarcastically conclude this was it. The end of the line. The world after his.
She was there, giving out an expression that stirred the very depths of his troubled soul. After all, she was the first woman he had ever really loved.
She smiled at him, tears welling up in her eyes as she pulled him into a tight embrace. It has been a long time since he returned it.
"Mother," he croaked.
"You did well, my valiant boy," she murmured in her warm voice that somehow calmed his hammering heart.
"I missed you," he said, now pulling his mother ever so closer. "I'm so sorry it took me so long."
"I missed you as well, my child," she said. "I'm so proud of you. So very proud."
Gokudera looked at her mother's slender shoulder. Was she always this small? Had he really changed this much?
"But," he said as his grip slowly loosened and he let his mother move back. "I guess you have to wait awhile. I have to go back."
Lavina smiled at him benignly. Instantly, his father appears from behind her and moves forward to ruffle his hair.
"Then go, you little bastard," he grinned as he shoves him away. "Make sure you have plenty of stories to tell us once you return."
"And don't whine a lot. You're not a kid anymore," said his sister exasperatingly, appearing from behind his mother.
"Don't forget about us ok, Gokudera-kun?" beamed Yamamoto, who appeared behind Bianchi along with Sawada Tsunayoshi.
"Make sure you keep on living, no matter how many difficult and painful things the world hurls at you," he reminded him.
"Gokudera-kun." His heart jolts as he looks at Kyoko who suddenly appears behind his father, her face more beautiful than he remembered. "Don't forget it's fine to fall down and cry, ok?"
"Kyoko I-" he wanted to finally apologize, but Kyoko just shook her head.
"I've already forgiven you even before you gave me that finishing blow," she said reassuringly. "You should go now, else we'd want to take you back."
"Hayato," his mother said as she walked up to him and touched his face. "When you go back, life will make you question, complain, grieve, give up but remember that bad times come with the good. It's what makes us human. Your mistakes may never leave you, but it will change you. And others too. Do not ever doubt yourself for long."
He let his eyelids fall as he touched his mother's hand. It was warmer than any flame he can concoct.
"Thank you."
~X~
Present-
The last traces from his earring blew away and the light of a yellow flame enveloped his body completely. By this time, Gokudera opened his eyes, hair in disarray, clothes in tatters but otherwise, unhurt. He adjusted his eyes, only to see that familiar, contemptuous color splashed across the floor.
"What-" his words betrayed his hands as he sees the person in front of him, being held by his bloodstained hands. Her cheeks were fully swathed in tears. Her hand reached out to his face, up to his temple and attempting to cover his left eye. She tried to breathe, only to cough more blood as she tries to raise her head to his face.
"Miura…" he whispered, now biting his lip. "Please don't die on me. I'm sorry. I-"
She tried to tie up words, but she just ends up shaking her head.
He leans in closer to her, muttering the words he had long dreaded to utter, the liquid now visible and falling down to her face, like the drizzling of rain.
She just continues to stare at him, looking utterly content until her eyes could no longer see, and her chest could no longer rise. She was gone.
Gokudera clawed tightly to her clothes tightly before finally closing her eyes and also his. Only.
"OCTOPUS! MIURA- NO!"
He looks up and sees M.M, face utterly pale as she now falls down on her knees once she sees Haru.
"I-I'm too late-" she moans, wiping her face and then quickly hoisting her body up. "Quickly, you fire a hole to that damn wall, Gokudera. It will directly lead us outside. We're inside one of their damn turrets. I'll just make sure my flames are enough for us to land. WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING WAITING FOR?!" she now screams. "DO YOU WANT HARU'S SACRIFICE TO BE IN VAIN?" she then attempts to pull him out. "I FUCKING HAD TO GIVE UP EVERY LIMB JUST TO DEFEAT THOSE MILLEFIORE ASSHOLES, AND NOW YOU'RE GOING PUSSY JUST BECAUSE SHE DIED?! SHE CAME HERE TO SAVE YOUR ASS AND YOU WON'T GRANT THAT STUPID WISH OF HERS?! GET UP AND AT LEAST GIVE HER A PROPER BURIAL GODDAMMIT!"
"VOII! IT'S THEM! KILL THE WOMAN AND CAPTURE THE OTHER IDIOT!" Squalo's voice trumped from the smoke of the blast M.M made.
She gasped when Gokudera grabbed hold of her hand. "Give me your flames then. I need as much ammo as possible to burn this place sky high."
"Y-You can't fucking possibly-" M.M gasped, to which Gokudera grinned at her, looking almost like he had lost his mind.
"It will buy time for us to escape," Gokudera explained further. He then turns around, up at the imaginary windows and opens his hand. Immediately, wind attempts to suck them both in as the hole, big enough for three men becomes visible in the horizon. Gokudera immediately jumps, letting the flames from his feet make him firmly rooted to the ground.
"HURRY YOU IDIOTS, THOSE SHITHEADS ARE ESCAPING!"
Gokudera held out his hand.
"Trust me!" he hollered amidst the gale.
"WHATEVER, DAMMIT!" screamed M.M as she took his hand and firmly held onto Haru's with the other, her Sun flames spurting out from her feet. She then quickly throws Gokudera a ball of flames. He lets his own also coalesce with hers and lifts it high up, as if to pitch a ball.
"Time to strike it out," he said as he throws it to the wall near to where Squalo and the others were just about to jump out from.
And they weren't happy.
~X~
It was raining really hard by the time they had finished finding a rock big enough for Gokudera to carve into a gravestone. He quickly got to work, whittling it down amidst the downpour and M.M's derogatoriness over them not finding enough shade.
"They're lucky it rained," M.M huffed as she looked up at the castle. "At least those assholes aren't out to find us if we don't stamp a stupid plant. Say, how did you know the castle was flammable?"
"Our blood was flammable to begin with," Gokudera said. "Only it needed enough spark to fully ignite. Even my flames needed a boost."
"Did those rulers tell you that?" M.M asked.
"I asked them other relevant stuff. I just found it out for myself."
"Kay, whiz-kid. Just get to work already! We should find shelter before nightfall."
"I'm working as hard as I can, damn you!" he retorts as he now carves Haru's name.
"Then work harder!" said M.M testily. She then heaves as she looks to her right, where an abandoned pen for sheep stared back.
"How did you save us?"
"I volunteered to get you assholes. You left two of those Millefiore alive, so I had no choice but to beat them right? With Kikyo, you just had to compliment his gay hair long enough to pin him and make it grow long enough to strangle him. Byakuran's was harder. I had to lose my arm and my left leg," she wiggled the supposed-empty limbs. "Just for him to get a moment of weakness. He seemed to not have encountered a person with Sun flames that are strong enough to help regenerate a limb, like mine. Got him cornered in the end. I'm sure the rulers won't be happy if they find out I amplified his Sky disease, hahaha!"
"That's a relief," Gokudera sighed as he now heaved and ho-ed to lift the gravestone up on top. "So what are you gonna do now?"
"Obviously, follow Mukuro-sama," she said matter-of-factly. "What about you? Wander until you starve to death?"
"Maybe I'll go see the ruins of my old hideout," he said as he carved the last words in the gravestone. "Or find Miura's old clan and see if I can still find a home there."
"Knew you'd never want to follow Mukuro-sama," she sighed and peeked at the words Gokudera added. She laughed. "The fuck did I just read, haha!"
The rain had stopped pouring. And the two just stared up, startled at the new addition with the rainbow.
Light.
Light continued to peer from every cloud. By then, M.M's and Gokudera's mouths widened.
The ground was green again, littered with rosemaries and daisies.
"Honestly though, I can relate to what you wrote," M.M said, now dusting her clothes. "Later then," she raises her hand in farewell as she turns left.
"Tell Mukuro I'm going to kill him!"
"Like hell I would let you!" M.M screamed back before breaking into a run.
Gokudera smiled as he looked at the words.
"Gokudera-kun, can you read to me what those words mean? Whose grave is this?"
He felt a chill go down his spine as he turns around. Haru Miura was smiling brightly at him, looking right as rain. The earring was no longer present from her ear.
~X~
Future?
"I think it's about time I told you what the words were," Gokudera said as he stands beside her.
"And what do they mean?" Haru raises her eyebrow, but also using her nose to nudge Gokudera.
"You know how many times we continue loving even though a lot of people say it must hurt a lot?"
"That's a cheesy way to put it-"
"It just means that. True love endures the hurt," Gokudera said.
Haru looks away.
"Then you really meant what you said to me before I caught my last breath," she murmured.
Gokudera looked at her, his translucent skin getting paler and more transparent by the second. She was smiling at her in a way that reminded him of his mother. He just nodded back.
"Uhuh," he said.
"I guess we can continue it later then, the next time we see each other?" Haru said, her peals of laughter fading away along with her body.
"Maybe you'll see me there when barely a minute has passed," he said. "Just wait for me."
"I'm putting my faith in you, ok!" Haru beamed, now waving her hand as the last traces of her continued to disappear. "I'll always be watching."
"I love you, Haru."
Gokudera said those words just in time before she faded away. He sits on the empty chair, looking at his right. Did she hear it? Would he have to say it for the first time again to her someday? He sighed.
Lal Mirch came to him.
"Lunch's gonna be ready in twenty minutes. Do you want anything before that?"
Gokudera looked up at the sunlight now attempting to sift through the floorboards just above him. Looks like she must have heard him. He then looked at Lal, a kind of determination suddenly flooding to every corner of his body.
"Can I have a cigarette? It's been five years since I got a whiff."
~X~
Future.
"Are you sure about this?" Gokudera asked as he looked at the others behind him.
"Oya, Coyote and I already asked the aid of ten other clans and only now you're backing out?"
"You already know a lot of us might not make it out alive," Gokudera said, the dynamite in his hands poised.
"We are perfectly aware of that," said Coyote. "But we might as well try."
"This is the only way for me to reach out to the elders and ask why they left me out here for dead," grunted Lal.
"And then slit their throats, kufu~"
"They deserve it for deserting me," Lal said testily. "Besides, I like it here."
"Ok, fine," Gokudera said finally, lighting his dynamite sticks and tossing it onto the sky. Instantly, the others- no, his allies- no, friends, raised their fists and let out a roar. He looked up at them. "Know what, Mukuro, just give them the speech. I'm not really good at swaying people with words."
"They no longer need the words, kufufu~ They just want to go and instigate a revolution. This time, you should pave the way."
"To end bloodshed and make sure the others after us won't have to worry about getting their food. With this, we can start over," said Coyote. "Timoteo would want that. Haru Miura would want that."
"We can straighten out our mistakes," Gokudera corrected. "And Coyote-san, the only thing Miura would want is to see more flowers. Once we return, we should make rules to make sure none would get stamped on." He looks up at the castle. The clouds were already dissipating and the blue sky was peeping from the grey swirls.
The bow was radiant and as visible as ever.
"Let's go then," Gokudera said, his entire body ablaze as he beckons them up to their final battle. Watch over me, Miura. Everyone.
For the rainbow will end.
These broken lights, they shine on us tonight.
WRE: FIN.
Back in the summer of 2011, I was obsessed with Deadman Wonderland, especially on the part where Minatsuki and Ganta fought. It inspired me, along with Paramore's 'Turn it Off' to create this setting that was never truly established up till the end. Gamma's demise (which originally was supposed to end with him fighting Haru in a Flame Charade) and others more (Mukuro's appearance) were altered from the first plotline I conceived. I also had to add backstories of the others (e.g. Gamma, Mukuro, M.M) by the last minute! Maybe that's why Gamma's past is so, uh, appalling (He deserves another chance though! Right?). Thank goodness that I didn't get to change the ending. XD
In April, I will be posting a prequel (I don't think a sequel's already necessary) regarding to how the world ended up like this in the first place. Compared to this angsty piece, it'll be more realistic and mature with lots of mature themes I've already dropped hints regarding Giotto, Basil and Gokudera's mom and they'll be the protagonists of the story. I still wish I added the other characters in the Reborn fandom, so I might include the other characters I didn't add here to there. I will be a oneshot (I promise!) since I have other stories for KHR I want to complete and for some other fandoms too (hopefully).
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! It's already 2 AM in the morning, and I spent two weeks in polishing some parts. The ending was typed in a rush because of a trip today (urk). I'll edit the other chapters once I post up the prequel.
Anyway, thanks a lot for reading! I hope you liked it! Even if it was, uh, dark (I miss writing stuff like this ok).
