He was going to die.
He was going to die.
He was going to die.
A scream tore from Tsunayoshi's voice to be snatched by the wind rushing past him. Everything seemed to be happening at a hundred miles an hour and simultaneously as slowly as they possibly could. And still Tsuna was entirely too aware he was rushing towards his death. The ground rushed forwards at an alarming rate, and thoughts rushed through his mind like water – entirely too quick and gone before he could fully grasp them. But there was one thing, one thought that pre-occupied his mind; one desperate, achingly yearning thought that refused to be put aside.
'I don't want to die.'
Tsunayoshi kept up the steady mantra of rejection, a constant stream of 'no's and 'not yet's and so caught up in his panic, his utter refusal to meet his end as a smear on the pavement he didn't register an odd, curious feeling of being filled with lightness, and neither did he see sparks flying off him with increasing frequency. Instead he focused all his heart and soul into his one wish, his one regret, with all his dying will.
Just over a metre before Tsunayoshi hit the ground, he burst into flames.
He hit the pavement with a resounding boom, small bits of concrete flying from the crash-site. Tsunayoshi had his eyes screwed shut, unable to process – for a moment – both that he was still conscious and very much alive and the complete and utter lack of pain. He had absolute certainty that it would hit all at once and he would black out, never to awake again.
A moment, passed, then another. Through all the panic and ringing of his ears, Tsunayoshi could vaguely hear shouts, and gasps. There was some unmistakable feeling of something wrong, as if something was going to happen and hadn't already happened and if people came near him things would suddenly become very, very bad.
Tsunayoshi quite suddenly wanted to be far away from there.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the same strange feeling of lightness overcame him, and nothing – not having fallen out of a window, or the impromptu gunfight, or being in Japan – nothing mattered. Instead the thought encompassed his mind, his every thought, and Tsuna was overcome with the irrefutable task of getting the hell out of there.
Without realising he was alight once more, Tsuna rose from the ground, and ran. Nothing else crossed his mind, and even so, he would have never been able to predict the shockwaves his actions were already making in the underground community.
— X —
His phone cracked under the pressure of his fist, before igniting in a rush of storm flames. Gokudera paid it to attention, even as the ashes fell from his hand. It didn't matter anyway, nothing mattered right at that moment besides his violent all-encompassing rage.
The Tenth's coffin had been defiled.
Gokudera had blanked when the report had first came in, white noise filling his ears as he had refused to process what was being told to him. But on the second time, and the one after that, Vongola's storm guardian had fully understood what had happened. Tsuna's coffin was empty, the flowers crushed, lid strewed off to the side and scratched up. Leaves and bits of tree had fallen into the open casket, and the white lilies had wilted in the open air. The faint impression of a body was still left behind, even long after Tsuna's resting place had been pried open and dirtied.
It was utterly despicable. Tsuna hadn't been laid to rest more than a few days earlier, his body had barely time to cool before someone had come along and taken it. Well, Tsuna's life had been taken from him too, snatched while still in its youth and Gokudera would be damned if he let Tsuna's afterlife be stolen as well. No, those fuckers would burn.
Gokudera's anger was explosive, always had been. He was a throw-the-goddamn-dynamite-before-thinking guy, and after ten years with Tsuna that reaction had only tempered the slightest to make it less dangerous for him and deadlier for his enemies. But this time, there was nobody immediate to explode on, nobody he could blame for this issue. He too had failed in protecting Tsuna's coffin, and now there was nowhere for his anger to go, no target to direct his explosives at.
But not for long.
Gokudera grabbed another, identical phone from his pocket and flipped it open. He sent a quick, text-based message to everyone on the system before calling up some of the best people he could use to track down whoever had dared cross them like this.
"This better fucking be good."
Mochida's voice came out pained, and Gokudera barely had time to open his mouth before he was interrupted.
"Hang on!" The phone seemed to be put down, and the distinct sound of gunshots rang out, loud and harsh. Gokudera's rage immediately quieted in the face of his worry.
A moment later the voice spoke again, even if Gokudera could faintly hear some shouts along the line of 'ten stories up' faintly in the background noise.
"I hope you're calling to say you're on your way," Mochida said, voice tight. "Because we could really use some back-up right around now."
"Where are you?" Gokudera asked, already gearing up and readying himself to leave. He hoped it was nearby.
"At Hana's Hotel. Hurry."
With that the line went dead, and Gokudera barely took a moment before calling up someone else.
"Takeshi, we're needed at Hana's five minutes ago." He snapped, waiting long enough to hear an affirmative 'got it' before hanging up and making his way as well. With any luck, Yamamoto would get there quickly, and nothing bad would happen.
Gokudera couldn't shake the feeling that it already had.
— X —
Yamamoto had gotten there before him. If it hadn't been obvious by the rain flames peppering the fight scene and sword wounds on some of the scattered Millifiore, then it soon become so when the rain guardian jumped out of the second story with a body in his arms. Gokudera rushed forwards.
"Is he-?" He asked, gesturing to the prone form of Mochida.
"He's fine, just blood loss." Yamamoto gave a slightly strained grin. "But we should be going right about now, before they catch up. Can you catch Hana?"
Yamamoto dashed towards the car Gokudera had come from, and the latter man was left stranded for a moment before a shout from above caught his attention. Hana was hanging out of the same window Yamamoto had come from, the signs of fight present in the scrape on her forehead and tears in her clothes.
"You better catch me," she warned.
Gokudera nodded and refrained from commenting, instead adjusting his stance and spreading his arms. A few years ago, when things hadn't been so dire, maybe it would have been different, and they could have spent time on their back-and-forth banter but he could already hear the shouts of the assailants behind her and the time for such childishness had long past.
"Come on."
In a show of trust that really reflects on how far they've come, Hana jumps without looking back. A few shouts and shots ring out behind her, and Gokudera is worried for a hot moment that they managed to hit, but not a moment later she landed safely in his arms, and was up and dusting herself off in no time.
"Thanks."
Gokudera snorted. "Ryohei would murder me if something happened to you on my watch."
With a roll of the eyes, Hana tugged his arm. "Let's go, before it goes to waste."
Already there were signs of pursuit, and no matter how bad the damage was already, it would soon become a lot worse once they were trapped into fighting and sitting ducks for bigger, stronger members of the rival mafia to show up. And really, that was the last thing they wanted.
With a nod to each other, they both hurried over to the car Yamamoto had up and running. Gokudera had parked it a little out of the way so it didn't get damaged or blown up. He cursed, stumbling on a stray bit of rubble as he ran, to notice a large hole in the pavement. Hana was already a few metres in front of him, so he went quicker to catch up when he felt it.
Flames.
Sky Flames.
Gokudera choked, and stumbled to a halt. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible. There was no way–
Hana shouted at him to keep going, but Gokudera was lost in the feeling of warmth and home, that he was sure he'd lost forever. He was being dragged along, manhandled and shoved into the car. And even if it was absolutely ridiculous, with no way it could possibly, in any way be real–
Gokudera felt a small, painful ball of hope grow in his chest.
Tsuna.
