Timoteo and his guardians were in the middle of a meeting when Ryohei burst into the meeting room, completely out of breath. They had been discussing a most pressing problem (their lack of an heir), but the younger male's arrival soon had all their attention.

All of the would-be tenth generation guardians knew never to interrupt a meeting, so something important must have happened for Ryohei to burst in here.

"Hayato and Takeshi…going to…Vendicare prison" panted Ryohei, trying to get air into his lungs. "Tsuna…innocent…"

The Ninth generation's reaction was immediate. The rain and storm guardians, Schnitten Brabanters and Coyote Nougat, got up out of their seats, and with a nod of approval from Timoteo, quickly exited the meeting room to try and catch up to their successors.

Once Ryohei had caught his breath, Timoteo looked him straight in the eye and said, "Tell me what happened."

Heavy.

Why do I feel so heavy?

Different.

There's something different today.

My limbs feel uncomfortable.

I don't like their position.

I feel cold.

There's a draft in here.

What's going on?

Where's all the water?

Wait…someone's touching me.

No!

Don't take off my mask!

How am I going to breathe?

I don't want to drown!

I have to get out of here!

I have to prove my innocence!

Warmth.

I feel warm.

Why?

The Vendicare isn't warm.

Arms.

Someone's holding me.

Impossible.

Who would hold me?

A whisper.

I hear a whisper in my ear.

Whose voice is that?

What are they trying to tell me?

I don't understand.

…I'm tired now.

Too tired.

And it's so warm.

I think I'll go to sleep.

Maybe when I wake up, it'll all be a dream.

Maybe I'll be back in the Vongola mansion.

It hasn't happened the last two thousand times.

But maybe I'll get lucky this time.

Maybe I can go back home.

Hayato held his boss delicately in his arms, as if he would break at the slightest touch.

He looked so weak, so vulnerable. How could this happen?

How could they have let this happen to their precious sky?

Clutching the brunet closer to him, Hayato whispered to him in a quiet voice, "I never should have stopped trying, Juudaime."

There was no reply from the almost lifeless figure in his arms.

The only thing that let Hayato know that Tsuna was still alive was the barely visible rise and fall of his chest that seemed as if it could stop any moment now.

Suddenly feeling a hand on his shoulder, Hayato looked away from his best friend's closed eyelids and up into the face of Coyote, who had, along with Schnitten, come with Takeshi and Hayato retrieve the young Decimo.

"Let me hold him," said the man, reaching forward. When Hayato pulled away, using his body to protectively shield Tsuna from view, the man sighed in exasperation. "Hayato, you're stronger than me, so it would be more practical to have you acting as a bodyguard, would it not? News of Tsunayoshi's release shouldn't have travelled yet, but in case it somehow did, we need to be on guard. It's better to be safe than sorry."

The silveret hesitated for a moment more but, not finding any fault with the man's theory, he grudgingly handed Tsuna over to the older male, his fingers lingering just a second longer than they should have, as if he was afraid that if he let go now, he wouldn't ever see his friend again.

When Tsunayoshi Sawada arrived at the Vongola HQ, all ninth and tenth generation guardians were waiting for him.

Chrome had thought that she was ready for what she would see, but she had severely overestimated herself.

When the girl saw her boss in the ninth storm guardian's arms, something within her broke.

Tsuna looked so weak, so vulnerable.

A thick black blindfold hid the upper half of his face from view, protecting his eyes from the bright lights they had become unaccustomed to these past years.

He may not have been excessively skinny or dirty or anything, but he looked so small in Coyote's arms, more like the sixteen-year-old he had been the last time they had seen him than the twenty-one-year-old he was now.

Over the years, his hair had grown much longer, until it reached his mid-back; now fluttering innocently in the slight wind stirred up by Coyote's walking.

"He was alone…all alone," Chrome heard Mukuro whisper quietly from beside her. "He didn't have someone like Chrome…there was no way for him to escape. Even though he was in as long as me, his sentence was so much worse…"

Chrome squeezed his hands gently when she heard these words, blinking back the tears that were threatening to take over.

Mukuro was right.

Tsuna didn't have anyone.

He had been in there all by himself, with no one, nothing, for company for five long, long years.

If only she'd tried harder.

News of Tsuna's release from the Vendicare spread like wildfire through the world of the mafia, with Dino Chiavarone being among the first to find out.

The blond had been on his way back to his office from the kitchens, a mug of coffee held in his hands, when Romario had run up to him with the news.

"Tsunayoshi is innocent!" was all he said, completely without preamble. Those three dangerous words came out of his mouth without so much as a warning, paralyzing Dino when he heard them.

The blonde's grip on his mug loosened, sending it crashing to the floor, shattering into a million pieces.

"W-what?" he asked in a quiet voice, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"Yesterday, the Vongola caught Agostino," explained Romario, "and found out that he'd possessed Tsunayoshi. He was the one responsible for everything. Takeshi and Hayato have retrieved Tsuna from the Vendicare and he is currently at the HQ. They're trying to keep this as quiet as possible until he recovers. Takeshi called me just now to let me know."

Dino stared at Romario, a little dazed, as his brain tried to make sense of all this information; he tried to reconcile with the fact that his little brother, his precious little brother, had been sent to the Vendicare for five years despite being innocent.

It just didn't seem possible.

And before he even knew what he was doing, Dino reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

The moment Reborn picked up, he shouted, "How could you?"

There was complete silence on the other end.

"How the hell could you let this happen?" demanded Dino in an outraged voice. "You told me! You told me that it was definitely him! You told me that all the evidence pointed to him! You wouldn't listen to me when I told you that Tsuna couldn't do this, even though you could have easily gotten him out right away if you'd tried! Give them back to him, Reborn! Give my little brother back the past five years of his life! Hurry up and take responsibility!"

Reborn remained quiet all through his rant, not saying a word in defense of himself because it was all true.

In the end, all he could force out of his mouth were just two words.

"I'm sorry…"

"I'm coming!" Nana said in a chirpy voice when the doorbell rang, drying her hands on a tea towel before going to answer it, a smile on her face.

The moment she saw who was standing at the door, though, the smile completely disappeared from her face, leaving behind only a cold expression that definitely did not suit the ever cheerful woman.

"Reborn…" she greeted with a nod. "And what business brings you here? Have you finally come to tell me the reason you people have forbidden me from seeing my own son?"

Reborn, the adult Reborn, just looked up at her through haunted onyx eyes, his mouth opening to form only two words.

"I'm sorry…"

Nana just sniffed before stepping aside to let him in, taking this as an agreement.

Reborn stepped into the hallway of the house that had once been his home, looking around with almost nostalgic eyes.

When he finally settled on the living room couch, Nana sitting facing him, he felt his throat suddenly close up.

"You can see your son now…"

SkyGem: Hey guys! So sorry that this wasn't up yesterday! I really tried my very best but the powers-that-be are very scary. I was so close to finishing, but she wouldn't let me. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please do leave a review telling me what you thought! Oh, and if you still haven't voted on the poll on my blog yet, you still have a chance to! I'll be taking it off at around…6 in the evening (EST). So hurry up and go be a part of the decision of what fic I write next! Ciao!