Author's Comments:
Yaaay! Probably the last time I'll update before Disney. D:
A note about Byakuran's house: IT'S AWESOME. You see, it rearranges itself every time a person enters a different room. It could be two stories, three, one; it could be really big or, like, only two rooms (never less than that). Either way, it changes every time. Of course, Byakuran can control how it rearranges (if he wants to). A select few others can do it, too. Also, things likes chairs (or the refrigerator and counter from last chapter) and tables and stuff appear whenever he wants. Yeah. Awesome house. I want it. D:
On to other things, though:
Masuda-san Nah, it isn't gonna be 10059. For some reason, that pairing kinda scares me... XD Anyway, Byakuran is just gonna use Gokudera as a sort of bait for the angels.
Bookworm1994 Thanks! I will have fun, I hope. Last time I went, I was about two or something, so I don't remember anything. D: I better have a good time when I go. :D
Tuna Kat Thanks, but I had to learn a lot to get where I am. It helps that English is my best subject in school, I guess. I'm sure you could be a good writer, too! It takes practice like everything else. :3
--
Lal was striding along the sea of clouds impatiently when a watcher angel appeared before her. She stopped abruptly at the anxious look on the girl's face.
"We've been monitoring angel Yamamoto Takeshi on his trip down. He was heading for the portal when he stopped and turned in the other direction. Somehow, we hadn't noticed it before, but there was a demon present in the vicinity. Angel Yamamoto went toward it and seems to be interacting. The thing is, it had a strange energy signature."
"What do you mean by 'strange'?" Lal asked, dreading the answer. Usually the only demons with 'strange' energy read-outs were strong ones, like DiTs. She couldn't understand why Yamamoto would talk to one of them.
"Well, you see... It, um, sort of mixes. It's hard to explain. You might want to come see for yourself," the younger girl said.
Lal sighed and followed the other to the monitoring space. A few angels sat watching machines that resembled televisions. The screens were filled with weird shapes and many colors. The watcher angel walked to an empty seat and sat down; she pushed a few buttons to bring up an image.
Lal stared at the monitor clearly showing the human town far below them. There were blobs of color moving haphazardly. Most of the screen was covered by a solid, pulsating green mass: two small blotches of color stood out in the bottom right. One was a vibrant white outlined in blue. The other was strange, just how her fellow angel had described.
It was shining like Yamamoto's energy signature, but it was black. The outline consisted of a dull gray and many bright colors mixed into a rainbow. These two continuously twisted and swirled around the black core.
"It's a demon, we're sure by the core color. But the outer energy field confuses us. It should tell us the element of the angel or demon, but it is... It contains every color in the spectrum, and gray has no element attached. It is null. Oh, and watch." She pointed to the screen.
Lal observed quietly. Nothing happened for a few minutes; she was about to ask what the girl was talking about, but shut her mouth with a snap as the screen changed.
The bright dot that was Yamamoto had moved closer to the demon's signature: it was obvious he had touched the demon in some way. Instantly, the demon's energy flashed. It turned bright –almost white– blue for a couple of seconds. Then Yamamoto moved and it darkened.
"It happens every time the demon is touched."
"Who's the expert on this?" Lal asked the angels. They shrugged.
One angel raised his hand tentatively. "Risen Angel Spanner. He was the one who created these."
"Well, someone go get him!" Lal snapped.
Another angel scurried away to retrieve Spanner.
They all waited silently. Lal kept tapping her foot and flapping her wings irritably until Spanner popped into view. He hurried toward her.
"What?"
"This." She pointed to the monitor, where the demon's blob of color was glowing again. "What does it mean?"
Spanner moved closer. He watched the interaction as everyone held their breath. After five minutes, he pressed a button and the colors changed. Yamamoto was now a dark blue ringed in a green that almost blended with the rest of the screen. The demon had turned light blue on one half of the core, black on the other. The outer was a bright yellow. Spanner shut the screen off after another minute of studying.
"It's not a demon," he said finally.
Lal didn't answer; she expected him to finish.
"At least, it wasn't always one."
The other angels gasped. One of them spoke up, voice shaking.
"So... Are you saying t-that energy is Fallen Angel Sawada Tsunayoshi?"
Spanner nodded.
--
Byakuran entered the room to find five new demons crowding the human, who still wasn't awake. They were conversing loudly, staring at him like human was a disease they might catch. Byakuran plopped down into the chair he'd sat in earlier and laughed.
Immediately, the five demons turned to face him, all shutting their mouths.
"I see you're back," he said, lazily reaching into the air and withdrawing a marshmallow from a bowl that appeared on the arm of his chair. "But you've missed all the fun."
They glanced back at Gokudera.
Byakuran smiled. "No, no. Not that human. That was just a – business venture. The real fun," he put the marshmallow to his lips, licking it before taking it into his mouth and chewing slowly; after swallowing, he continued, "is the angel that happened to wander down here."
--
"Yamamoto, what are you doing down here?"
The traffic past with honks and beeps and chatter, but nobody bothered them. They were in there own separate dimension. People went strait through them without being any the wiser. Yamamoto looked extremely happy to see Tsuna; he was smiling wider than Tsuna had ever seen.
"Lal sent me down to go save a human who got captured by Byakuran."
"A human?"
"Yeah. This human who was able to see Spanner–" Yamamoto started, but Tsuna cut through his story.
"What was Spanner doing down here?" he asked worriedly, clenching his right hand tightly. Short nails left crescent-shaped marks in his palm.
Yamamoto shrugged, smiling. 'Lal sent him to scout around."
Tsuna nodded, uncurling his fist.
"Anyway, he found this human who could see him, but Byakuran showed up. I took them from the human realm and trapped Byakuran in a barrier. He got out, though, and he took the human with him."
"Did anyone identify him?"
"Lal said his name was Gokudera Hayato," Yamamoto answered.
For some reason, the name rang a bell, but Tsuna couldn't remember when or where he'd heard it.
Yamamoto leaned his elbow on Tsuna's shoulder as they started to walked aimlessly down the street. An odd shiver past the Fallen, and he shrugged the arm off. Yamamoto was unfazed by this behavior.
"So, what're you doing up here?"
Tsuna looked up. "I was just... I wanted to see the sky again. Hell isn't exactly the best place for that. Plus, just staying in a house all day gets boring."
"But you're safe, right?"
"For the most part."
They walked in silence for a while, turning to head back the way Tsuna had come. It suddenly hit him how awkward this situation should be. Yamamoto was part of the reason he fell; if he hadn't been talking to some other angel and watching Tsuna like he was supposed to, Tsuna would be up in Heaven, safe and happy (not that he was horribly depressed or anything, angels were usually happy no matter what and he was still an angel... technically). But it wasn't like that. Tsuna didn't blame Yamamoto at all. It might have been partly his fault, but Tsuna had been expressly forbidden by Lal to go down to Earth unaccompanied. He should have listened to her.
Tsuna tuned back in as they scaled the hill protecting the portal. Yamamoto was still chattering away, but he wasn't sure what about. Anyway, if it was important, he'd have waited for Tsuna to say something sooner or later.
They stopped in front of the hole; it was completely black. No light, no sound. Nothing. But they both knew where it lead. Tsuna didn't want to go back, and Yamamoto's smile faded slightly. Tsuna shook his head and sat down with his feet dangling in the blackness. He shot a look over his shoulder before pushing himself off.
It felt like he was falling through water. The descent was slow and there were waves of energy crashing around him and washing over him, checking the Fallen. The waves stopped and he continued, falling steadily. A second later, he was in front of the gates to Hell, landing softly on the phosphorescent ground. Tsuna was about to press a hand to the gate, but stopped to wait for Yamamoto.
The angel fell rather harshly from the spot of black in the 'sky'. His wings popped into view gracefully, flapped a few times, and brought him safely to the ground. The wings gave off a bright glow that fractured the red light around the angel.
Once safely on the ground, Yamamoto's wings folded against his back, but did not disappear. He dusted himself off and joined Tsuna in front of the imposing gates.
Tsuna glanced at the bright blue wings. "Aren't you going to hide them?"
"Nah. They're like a cloaking device down here, like in the human world."
"Oh, okay..." He pressed a palm to the giant wall of iron and it creaked open. They entered the realm. Tsuna headed northwest, but Yamamoto turned to head east.
"I guess I'll see you later," he said in parting.
Tsuna watched him disappear in the red darkness gloomily.
--
Squalo idly sat on the couch, his head on the armrest. He had nothing to do. Xanxus didn't feel the need to go after the Fallen at the moment; he said it would be useless with Reborn guarding the 'damn thing'.
So he was left to lounge in the house and watch the gate. With watching the gate came watching the portal to and from Earth which he did not enjoy doing. It was boring work as only demons knew where to find the portal. The last time anything different made its way in was hundreds of years ago, when they still had a devil in the king's seat.
Squalo looked over to the tapestry hanging form the wall as it gave a low hum. A demon was coming back from Earth. Then a high-pitched shrieking started. Squalo shot up, staring at the trashy decoration in disbelief.
Something else had managed to get into Hell. And if he was assuming correctly, it was following the previous demon.
He ran out the door, grabbing his weapon from where it was laid out on the coffee table. The demon shot down hall after hall, eventually giving up running and gliding quickly along. Why did Xanxus have to stay on the other side of the mansion?
Finally, he burst through a set of double doors, walking in on Xanxus relaxing in a high-backed chair. Xanxus glared at him.
"You better have a good reason for this, trash."
"Shut up. We've got an intruder and as you rule over the damn entrance, it's your fucking problem," Squalo growled, the air in the room becoming dense with moisture.
"Then take someone else and get your ass out there," Xanxus said. "And take your stupid water with you." He waved a hand through the air, catching drops of water.
Squalo stalked out of the room, water following him, and slammed the doors.
He walked huffily down a few halls before banging violently on a door. It opened, revealing a rather flamboyant demon.
"Lussuria, we're going. There's an intruder. Get your ass ready," he said shortly.
Lussuria danced away into his room.
--
Author's Comments:
Oh, the Varia are perfect for going on a cursing spree. 8D Tsuna might seem a little OOC in this chapter. Maybe 'cause he's not being a wimp or something? XD Well, last chapter until... I think about two weeks... Yeah, something like that. Sorrry!! You'll get a reeeeally long chapter when I get back, though, so wait for it. :D
ONE MORE DAAAY and I'll be FREEE. School's almost out! And just one more exam to take. Yay!
MusicofFire
