Xanxus' pain at losing Enrico was briefly lost upon realizing he was looking at the earth from space. Actual space.
"Shishishi... Good call, Nanoha-chan," said Belphegor.
"Is anyone else creeped out by him or is it just me?" asked Yuuno, staring at Bel.
"That's normal. Just humor him and he'll leave you alone," said Nanoha dismissively.
"You only say that because he calls you the White Devil," said Tsuna snickering.
Nanoha slapped him lightly.
Xanxus grinned, and he looked more like himself for the first time in days.
"Mu. It is very impressive," said Mammon.
"Voi. Where's Signum and the others?" asked Squalo.
"Takamachi Tsuna? Captain Lindy would like to speak to you for a moment. Reinforce as well," said Chrono tightly.
Xanxus walked with the kid. Chrono thought about telling him Tsuna was supposed to speak to Lindy alone, except Xanxus did technically qualify as Tsuna's legal guardian, or close enough.
Besides, the blond "prince" and the silver haired man with the prosthetic left hand worried him. He didn't want to give them reason to start something for the hell of it.
Lindy's choice of drink made Tsuna cringe... for roughly the same reasons as Nanoha. Green tea with milk and sugar was a bit weird.
Xanxus however, was a coffee drinker. He could care less.
"So... you're the current master of the Book of Darkness."
"Reinforce. She really hates being call that now that the book was forcibly purged."
Lindy had a tight smile. Apparently Nanoha wasn't kidding when she said they might have lost someone last time.
"Reinforce then. I'm sure you understand that we can't just take your word on it that the cause was purged. I'm also concerned about these... Flames, she spoke of."
"I can't go into too many specifics. We operate under a strict set of secrecy laws for multiple reasons."
"Fair enough."
"How long until she starts twitching when she finds out what you do?" asked Nanoha.
"Shishishi... I give it two minutes, tops."
"Five," said Squalo.
"I give it three, and she yelps when she figures it out. Usual odds?" asked Nanoha.
"Deal," said the boys.
"WHAT?!"
Chrono's head whipped to where his mother's yelp came from. Nanoha snickered and accepted a credit card from Belphegor and some cash from Squalo.
"Pleasure doing business with you," she snickered.
"Mind explaining why my mother yelped like that?"
Nanoha smirked. Yuuno had a bad feeling about that.
"Who wants to break it to him?" she asked.
"Mu. You can do it, if for no other reason than I'm holding the camera," said Mammon.
"Xanxus-nii and his people are with the Varia. An organization of skilled assassins...and he's training Tsuna-nii because he's one of the heirs of a mafia family called the Vongola. Though because of an agreement with someone we never talk about, he's not allowed to know more than the bare bones," said Nanoha.
Chrono twitched.
"Mafia as in..."
"Organized crime, brat."
His twitching was only getting worse.
"And you had us bring them onto our ship."
"They don't kill without a contract, though we have to keep Belphegor on a leash for various reasons."
"Shishishi..."
"You convinced my mother to bring trained killers. On our ship. Where help is unlikely," said Chrono, twitching.
Yuuno was still looking at Nanoha like she had a second head. How the hell was she so calm about this?
"You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. Besides, they grow on you. Eventually. Just don't give Mammon-nee a reason to gamble against you. She likes to cheat and gouge you of all your money."
"Said the only one who's ever managed to beat Mammon at poker and black jack," said Squalo irritated.
"Shishishi... Relax, little peasant. We'll behave in front of the White Devil."
Nanoha scowled.
"I told you to quit calling me that!"
Lindy came out, twitching rather strongly.
"You neglected to tell us their...occupation... Nanoha-san."
Nanoha smiled.
"They won't cause trouble, and Tsuna has nothing to do with their job anyway."
"Then why is Xanxus-san training him?" said Lindy.
"Because it was either that or Nono would never heard the end of it from Nonna," said Tsuna.
"Nonna?"
"His great-grandmother. She found out her son sealed Tsuna-nii's linker core when he was five and she got really mad. So Nono agreed that if the seal were removed Xanxus would be the one to train him, partly because that way it would be kept quiet and to show that Nono trusts him despite being adopted," said Nanoha.
Lindy paled.
"Someone actually sealed a child's linker core?! Who would do something that barbaric!"
Tsuna winced. He didn't want to hear the name, much less be reminded of the sealing. Nanoha hugged him and covered his ears.
Lindy blinked at the reaction, but found Xanxus' angry aura more telling. He had a directionless rage, but was keeping it in check.
"Nanoha, take the brat to find the Knights. Belphegor, Mammon, go with her."
"Mu. Understood boss," said Mammon, floating to where Nanoha was and sitting on her shoulder.
"Come on Yuuno, let's go find where they took Reinforce for her check up," said Nanoha firmly. Tsuna timidly followed her, his body shaking. Belphegor stood at his other side, offering silent support.
Lindy found it very strange.
Xanxus took a calming breath, though it was clear the mere mention of the subject royally pissed him off.
"For multiple reasons, we don't talk about Tsuna's birth father in front of him. And we definitely don't mention what that idiot did to him."
Lindy blinked before a dawning horror came upon her face.
"His own...?"
"Iemitsu claimed he was keeping his wife and son away from the underworld by staying away from them, but in reality he just wanted to keep Nonna off his ass about getting married and continuing the bloodline. He would stay away for years, only to show up for a week or so to remind his wife he was still alive. He didn't even leave proper contact information in case of emergencies. And when his son manifested the gift of our family, he had Nono seal him rather than have him trained like he should have been, claiming it was for his safety," said Xanxus with barely contained rage about the subject.
"The idiot didn't know the first thing about what sealing does to people, and it's never been done to a child that young, or with those Flames. The poor kid would have been screwed up for life," said Squalo almost spitting in disgust.
"Why is Tsuna-san so terrified of him?" asked Chrono. Sealing a child was bad enough, but it didn't inflict this level of trauma. The boy had looked terrified out of his wits at the mere mention of the subject.
"Because the brat's greatest fear is that Iemitsu will show up and take him away from the Takamachi family," said Squalo. Not that he really blamed the kid, but the mere idea of it happening sent him into a downward spiral and he was impossible to deal with for an hour at least.
It was a major weakness, but one that could be avoided with the simple act of keeping Iemitsu as far from his son as possible.
Xanxus growled.
"Bastard didn't even show up for his wife's funeral, much less answer the many, many letters I know the Takamachi sent to tell him of his wife's condition," said Xanxus.
Lindy eyed him for a moment, before a strange, sad smile on her face appeared.
"It would seem we have nothing to worry about with your people on board after all."
"Captain?" said Chrono baffled.
"No one who cares that much about their family would be a bad person. Just please, don't do anything we would be obligated to arrest you for while you're here?" she asked.
Xanxus blinked, before a smirk appeared on his face.
"Fair enough."
"So Reinforce is missing a few programs?"
The cheerful girl in the repair dock grinned at him.
"With your authorization we can replace the missing programs and make her better! Good thing we always keep spares stocked!"
"Uh...how do I do that?"
As Tsuna was walked through the process, Nanoha was looking over the Wolkenritter. They looked tired, but resigned to their fates.
"How did it go? The interview I mean?"
"We're on probation. If we step out of line then Tsuna has to bear the brunt of our crimes, but for now Lindy-san said she wasn't going to tell her superiors that the book was active again. It's almost a clean slate..." said Signum.
Vita didn't look happy, but then again she was there when Lindy explained that she wasn't going to hold the actions of their last Master against them...even if the book was responsible for the loss of her husband.
Hearing the door open, Tsuna spotted someone there.
"How did it go, Xanxus-nii?"
"Since they don't have jurisdiction on our planet, they can't exactly complain about what we do for a living. But keep the prince trash on a leash. Until then, spend time with your sister for a while," he said shortly.
He would have left...except the technician happened to spot something that had her eyes gleam.
"What are those?"
Nanoha blinked, then looked at what she was staring at.
"Are you talking about Xanxus-nii's X-Guns?" she asked baffled.
The girl nodded.
Xanxus looked at her oddly, before a grin appeared on his face.
He let her look at them, and she squealed with delight.
"She really likes unusual things," said Yuuno staring.
"Are these modified Cartridge Units?" she asked excitedly.
Tsuna took one look at Xanxus and sighed.
"Come on...maybe we can get something to eat while Xanxus-nii talks shop with Mary," he said.
Nanoha nodded.
Xanxus could get really into it when it came to talking about his guns.
"Shishishi... the boss is having fun," snickered Belphegor, joining them.
Squalo spotted them ten minutes later.
"Voi! Have you seen the Boss?"
"He's talking about his guns with Mary in the repair area. I think she's interested to see what adding a Belka cartridge system to his X-Guns would create, and he was still talking to her," said Nanoha.
"Voi. Thanks," said Squalo.
"Care for a match?" asked Signum. Squalo grinned.
Xanxus came to eat something with a much more relaxed smirk than he had on his face since Enrico died.
"Did you modify your guns?" asked Nanoha, passing the strawberry milk without a word to Mammon.
"Apparently I was only missing one or two parts, and it was a miracle the gun still fired correctly."
Chrono, who overheard that comment twitched.
"Those guns are amazing! I can't believe you managed to create something almost identical to a Belka-style Device without any of the technology!" said Mary excitedly. "And that metal you used for the guns are more conductive than any I've seen!"
"Wait, what?" said Chrono, looking at Mary in shock.
"His guns were practically devices already. They just needed some minor corrections," said Mary. "The metal alone is highly conductive to magic, and the bullets are practically identical to Belka-style ones, except they have a different sort of kick to them."
Tsuna blinked, before an idea occurred to him.
"Hey Yuuno-kun, you like archaeology and rare books, right?"
"I'm an archaeologist and historian, why?" he asked.
"Well there's a lot of rare books and other areas controlled by the mafia...I bet if you could help show Xanxus-nii how your magic works, the Varia might be willing to fund or at least act as guards for some expeditions on our planet. I know the Varia headquarters has a lot of books in multiple languages, since you have to know seven different ones just to join up. And Xanxus-nii would know how to contact whoever helped give him the metal to make his guns with."
"Who made those guns anyway?" asked Lindy.
"I did. I make all the fire arms in the Varia for those worth making them for," said Xanxus bluntly.
Lindy saw an opportunity. At least one for the future.
"Who controls this metal?"
"The mafia do, or at least certain Familigias. It's not like there's much opportunity for Flame Users outside the mafia... and it's too dangerous for them not to be regulated. You either become a hit man, or if you're really lucky a Guardian," said Tsuna.
"Who started this?"
"Our ancestor and the one who started the Vongola Familigia, Giotto," repeated Tsuna duly, as if reciting something he had drilled into his head. "If you want to know more ask Xanxus-nii. He's the one who's making sure I remember this stuff since I'm descended from the Primo and one of the potential heirs."
Keeping him out of the underworld didn't mean he couldn't at least learn his family history.
Lindy spared at look at Xanxus, who despite being relaxed was already drinking...
"Is that alcohol?" she demanded, eyes narrowing.
"Voi. You really don't want to confiscate that from the Boss. He gets extra pissy if someone disturbs his drinking," said Squalo.
Tsuna winced.
"The Varia goes through so many glasses... and that was even after Mammon-nee switched them all to metal..."
"Don't give any to the children," sighed Lindy. Though she would be inquiring as to where he found that.
"Che. I'm not that shitty trash who doesn't know what family actually means," said Xanxus. Tsuna barely reacted, knowing exactly who his big brother meant.
"Language!"