Past Excursion

Chapter 9

05/26/16

Past; Unknown

The tang of blood, ash, and smoke were still fresh in the air. Bodies of different states of health were haphazardly strewn all over the rubble. The silence was prevalent. The tension was suffocating.

-The disgusting stench of death filled the air. Burned and mangled bodies littered the ragged earth. Dried blood was splattered across the area indiscriminately. Eerie silence enshrouded everything. -

None tried to draw any kind of attention to themselves. None dared to even breath so loudly nor to move an inch from their position. Not a gasp of surprise nor a gulp were heard when they entered the fray.

-Everyone was dead or dying. Their enemy - deceased. His famiglia - dead. His friends - gone. There was no one else who could have seen their arrival. -

His body - wounded, aching, and tired - leaned heavily against a fractured wall. The battle was over. Yet, as his dark eyes roamed to see what was happening from his slumped position, he felt the need to renew his strength.

-Only he, who was already dying, saw. Even as he felt more of his strength and his remaining warmth bled out of his body, the rattle of something metallic took his attention. He found his resolve leave. -

Chains had sped toward a young man and braced into his pale neck. Pity took over his countenance. Why would they take that boy? Why would they take someone who wasn't even involved in this whole mess?

-Chains shot through the air and clamped into a man's neck. His mind darkly hailed divine retribution. Yes, drag him to the pits of hell. He was the reason his family died. -

The boy tried to yank the chains back, fighting back against the hellhounds of the mafia. Brave. And stupid.

-The man's limped body gave in without a fight. There's no fighting against them because no one would ever win. -

The boy suddenly gave and they hauled him into their darkness. Frustrated cursing came from somewhere else he couldn't identify.

-Another chain enclosed unto his own and he was soon helplessly dragged into their darkness. Cries of anguish soon followed his descent.

Orbs of deep blue peeked through half-lidded eyes. She was barely conscious and disoriented at this point as she wont to feel after every vision she had. But it was worse than usual this time, even more so than her last few visions. Visions of which two different concepts had fought for dominance.

This troubled her deeply. It could only mean an Aberrant had come to impair the careful Balance of their world. As one of the few dwellers of Before, she felt an overwhelming protectiveness to the equilibrium. They had cared for this world since the Inception, after all; millennia before birth of the first human.

She hums to the winds, whispering her plea.

The scales had already been tipped and this could not continue any longer. Any more would wreck the already fragile stability. For her fallen brothers and sisters, the Aberrant must be stopped immediately.

Warden, make haste. Bring me the Aberrant.

Past; Trapani

Durante narrowed his eyes to the person who sat across him. The man, – because despite being so young of age, he couldn't have possibly lasted any childish notions in their world, the poor child – with his dark eyes narrowed in focus and lips drawn tightly to a line, could have looked intimidating to any ordinary man.

But Durante had faced far more terrifying sights before him – including the rare livid image of a Don Giotto de Vongola. Other than the other's façade, he wasn't any more intimidating than the next thug off the street. The only difference he could observe was the variation of power and the clean, slick suit.

The other mob boss could have looked convincing enough with his serious demeanor if only the defiance and arrogance from the younger man couldn't be seen as well. His shoulders were drawn closer and tighter, his chin jutted up a bit, and his eyes twinkled in a barely-restrained mischief.

How more obvious could he have been? The inexperience of the other clearly showed. But that was to be expected since the third boss of the Malvagio famiglia was fairly new.

He internally sighed. They already knew this was a ruse. The Malvagio and Bertesca had already been in rivalry for a long time. Still, he had held hope that with the old boss gone and this new one offering some sort of cordiality, maybe the two famiglie would at least stay civil around each other. After all, if the semi-alliance with Vongola – that wasn't even mafia, his mind still boggled at the thought sometimes – had somehow worked out liked sorcery, then why not this as well?

But it seemed he had hoped far too much. Perhaps Giotto had, indeed, infected him with his optimistic justice. Foolish. Yet, he couldn't stop himself from believing. The sheer intensity of will, the overwhelming charisma, and those tantalizing words – and maybe the small dash of alcohol, too – had reached out to his then-desperate self, drowning in blood and sin.

Durante sighed in his mind again as he compared the two leaders – a younger Giotto against his current company. The difference was staggering. But it wasn't fair to compare anyone to Giotto. His blonde friend was one-of-a-kind.

Ahh, Giotto. You're far too righteous for your own good, he thought whilst in reminiscence of the past before he shook his mind back to focus. Now was not the time for sentiments. Especially since he was still in a meeting with an enemy famiglia in a badly disguised discussion for an alliance.

As the meeting went on, Durante became even more convinced that there's not any chance of an alliance to be had. The discussion had gone into some useless banter he didn't even bother listening to, not that it showed outwardly.

The other was definitely stalling for their ambush, he thought idly. And he was getting bored waiting for it to happen. They were already prepared for this. The whole famiglia was just waiting for this 'ambush' to ensue. Malvagio wouldn't be able to contest the strength of Bertesca, he was sure. There wasn't anything to worry about.

So, when the 'ambush' finally came, he didn't even try to look surprised and just raised a brow as he calmly sat. The minute hadn't yet ended until the rest of his own men had come out of their hiding and attacked their enemy. The following chaos was expected. As did the quick defeat of over a third of the enemy famiglia in under ten minutes into the bout.

What was not expected though, was the sudden appearance of the Inafferabile combattente with his own army of men!

The man had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. With a growl of contempt and self-assured victory, the man sped into crowd without preservation. The army behind this newly-found danger charged right behind his heel.

His own men had been taken by surprise. Bertesca had slowly lost their edge in battle. They had accounted for Malvagio's number and they had been confident to take them down. Perhaps, far too confident it seemed. But these additions to the numbers and the element of surprise had brought more of his men down than it would have normally been.

But he trusted his men to handle their own. He had to. Because if not - he'd rather not thought of it.

He had to look for the Inafferabile combattente and defeat the man himself. He owed it to his famiglia. Durante had heard enough to know what kind of danger the man was, after all. But as he finally found the said man, he couldn't help but stop and reconsider.

The man was strong, enough to challenge some of his best, perhaps even his own person, but not enough to possibly defeat Alaude. He looked the part in accordance to the description he'd accumulated – brown eyes, brown hair, lithe physique – but not the presence he had also heard. None of the kindness and the firmness Azzurro had admired.

Not to mention, Durante was sure the Inafferabile combattente worked solo. So, where did those men with him came from? And why were they fighting along Malvagio? Had Malvagio entered a new alliance with another famiglia?

He took a moment to look around. Then, gritted his teeth in frustration as he slashed his knife into an enemy's chest and drove his heel to the other's gut, the man gritting his teeth and curled to himself in the ground in pain. Half of his men were down and in states he could not discern from his current position.

He wasn't the religious kind but he hoped and prayed for some kind of help as he rushed to battle against the Inafferabile combattente.

With his bright, raging flames and whole being set in determination, Giotto swerved through the sky like a man on a mission. He was an unstoppable juggernaut, ready to crush anyone who dared stood on his way. His Will focused on getting help for his friend. Help he could provide if – no – when he arrives on time.

Alaude was just moments behind him. His Cloud guardian's presence at least took off some of his apprehension. Hopefully, the rest of their men would be able to catch up. Though he had to remember to apologize to them once this was over, their worried exclaims after he jumped off the carriage made him feel guilty.

But that would be for later, right now he had a friend to help out. He had to hurry. He was worried sick for Durante.

He wasn't usually this troubled when it came to Durante and his famiglia. Bertesca was no pushover and was a powerful force of their own right despite their smaller number compared to other mafia. Not to mention both Durante's and his right hand's recently growing abilities in using their flames, which was more than any other man – save for a very scant few - could attest to even within the mafia.

Flame users were rare, after all. One or two flame users within a famiglia was a huge deal. And there were none outside the mafia who were even aware of the flames. Other than Vongola, of course – but they had been an anomaly right from the start.

That was why he would have confidently and assuredly declared Bertesca's victory against any other. That was, until Alaude torn through his office three days ago and caught onto some unsettling information. The Inafferabile combattente was sighted in a meeting with Malvagio, of whom always had something against Bertesca in one way or another for a very long time. The offered alliance – traptraptraptrap – was foreboding enough, the appearance of the enigma that was the Inafferabile combattente was even more so!

They've sent a message to warn Bertesca even though they were sure it wouldn't be able to reach the intended recipient in time. And so, they've gone through preparations at once. He had every abled man they could spare ready.

The rest of Vongola's upper echelon were out and about save for himself, Alaude and Lampo, though, unfortunately. Lampo was still too young and so had been tasked to hold their headquarters until Cozarto's return. As for Alaude, he hadn't need any convincing and was already arranging for his own preparations. The other blonde was far too invested to the Inafferabile combattente to let this opportunity of a confrontation go. While he, himself, was too apprehensive of the brunet to not wish to interfere.

With the Inafferabile combattente's skill, Bertesca would surely fall. No flames may have been involved between Alaude and said man's feud, a soundly defeat against Alaude was still a huge accomplishment - he could attest to that himself. And with that man's capability, Alaude had been sure he had potential to be able to combat with flames. Alaude had grudgingly admitted - in private - that he'd felt the underlying potency of the man's flames, carefully and firmly held in control.

His fellow blonde had been far too experienced in combat to not be able to tell the signs of a flame user. It was unfortunate - at least according to the Frenchman – that Alaude hadn't been able to use his flames at the time, or he would have tested the theory otherwise. That was why the Cloud flame user had been doggedly hunting for the brunet.

The brunet was an unknown and a danger. He had information the Vongola had jealously guarded against others. Most of his abilities had yet to be discovered, the rest of what he'd shown was worrying enough. And he was a flame user. There was no one else they had been warier of – sans the Vindice, but everyone was wary of them, anyway.

Giotto dashed through the sky in a lane of gold and burnt orange. His sights set toward the angry uproar and conflagration ahead of him. With a frightening howl of the wind, Giotto screeched to a halt midair. The crowd below him stopped at his arrival, some in dread and some in relief.

Not a moment too soon, he had left the sky and had joined the land with fists clenched, ready to retaliate against the enemy of his friend. It wasn't a battle from then on of one end of a side against the other. It was a steady bludgeon from a side too powerful.

His fist crashed into the face of an unknowing enemy, who was immediately thrown into his back with another and hit the ground, air knocked out and unconscious within a second. One other's gut met his knee, another behind him received an elbow to their temple and one more choked as the heel of his palm hit his throat. All three fell to the ground, defeated.

Giotto easily moved from one opponent to another. Not one a contest to him.

It wasn't long before he reached his friend, his eyes immediately scanning both the man and his foe. Durante was coated in sweat and soot, his body was littered by small cuts and bruises while his head was covered in blood and he was heavily favoring his left foot. The brunet against his friend looked better but wasn't much too far off with a broken arm and gash on his side, most likely caused by the blue-haired man's knife.

And much more perturbingly, as he had feared, the brunet's fists were covered in flames. The two had battled with their flames, his friend's chilling blue against the brunet's angry red. Despite the mostly even match of the two, he would have to interfere for his friend was clearly losing.

Without any more thoughts, he rushed to the brunet and slammed his sky flame covered-fist to the other's face.

Future; Vongola Headquarters

Tap. Tap. Tap.

His shoe-clad foot repeatedly hit the floor in annoyance and impatience. With his arms held across his chest and his eyes dangerously glinting even beneath the shadow of his fedora, Reborn looked on the harried-looking folks within the lab and the tenth generation guardians hovering over the edges. Not to mention that suspicious – and familiar – shadow lingering within the confined space, trying to be inconspicuous.

He could have rolled his eyes if it weren't unbecoming of his reputation to do so. But he couldn't really blame anyone for drifting about during the process. They were worried just as much as he did.

The rest, though, had scurried to their positions, each tasked to monitor certain aspects of the data. Preparations were made. The time-and-parallel-world-travelling machine was ready to test of its functionality.

Had it been any other time or any other circumstance, he wouldn't have bothered showing to a trialing of any kind for a machine. No matter the outlined hypothesis and intended use it would become, as far as he was concerned, if it's not functioning then, it's worthless. Why show interest to something that's not even proven to be fully functional - unless, of course, it meant its result was hilarious bodily harm to someone else, much preferably if it were one of his students.

As it were, though, the situation was delicate and every possibility of a positive - no matter how obscenely low a percentage it was - performance was important. Even if this was the first trial for the machine's operation, if it functions properly the first time then they could perform the procurement of his idiot student immediately.

Because there was no guarantee the machine would work again; if it doesn't even operate a smidge, then, the probability of it working at all was severely low. And if it would, the question of when was up in the air. Not to mention, the right conditions they would have to scour from the other world in order to reach dame-Tsuna was atypical. That was, if Shoichi's theory had even been right.

Reborn does NOT like these odds. At. All.

Once the wormhole opens, the moment his eyes caught dame-Tsuna was the moment he'd drag the troublesome boy back to their side. If he had to pass through the wormhole himself in order to do so, then he would. And it seemed that the rest of his student's guardians – shadow included – were just as much as in the same page as he was. Dame-Tsuna better be still alive and in one piece, or else.

Click.

A/N: So… uhm. Okay. The delay was huge. I promised only about a month of delay but, well, life happened. We moved so, that was a lot of hassle.

Plus, I had to rewrite this for so many times and deleted several things. So, if you happen to find something awkward, that may have been the reason. Also, I know this chapter is really short, but other than the deleted scene that I just couldn't write properly (namely, Giotto's and Durante's first meeting and/or development of friendship), I thought it'll be good to stop here. I have the next scene written out but it's not done yet. I figured I'll post this one now instead of making you people wait for who knows how long.

And yes, I know. There wasn't an actual fight scene. It's kinda rushed, the way I hyped it up to this point, but this wasn't really the climax of the whole thing. The important bits would go to the next few chapters. So would an actual fight scene that I'm definitely going to give myself a headache writing with. But if you think I could have expanded on it more, you're free to convince me to do so with your reviews.

Btw, question (and indirect spoiler): If anyone from the present were to follow Tsuna to the past, who would you want it to be? Why?

I'm just curious. I already decided who it would be but your answers might be a good cause for inspiration. I do need inspiration. And I could be swayed if it sounded interesting enough. Nothing about this fic had been planned so, why stop now to plan every single detail? Reviews would forever be nice. Insert happy face here.

Ciao.

ANNOUNCEMENT (10/07/16): I'm working on the next chapters, don't worry. But, anyway, I'm just here to delete the last two chapters occupied by my A/Ns and replace one by this actual chapter. Notification might not work if I update the next chapter so, just give me a bit more time and patience so I could make a double or triple update. I'll do my best to get this out by December. Thanks~!