A magician is a combination of three things: an actor, a scientist, and a witty bastard.
Chapter 12 - Smoke and Mirrors
One more day.
Just one more day.
That is when it will happen.
When the two sides will clash.
When the past shall be revealed.
When the mystery is unfolded.
A new saga will be born.
In just one day.
They will both fight.
They will both be forced to the edge of their lives.
The reasons will be told.
The past will never seem darker.
They will both tell of their pasts.
They will both decide their futures.
One more day.
When the real story starts.
And when one of them will fall.
"Wow..." Tsuna stretched his arms as he took in the scenery. They were currently in a clearing in some woods in the outskirts of town, setting up for their nice little picnic.
Or is it?
Yamamoto was laying down the little mat where they would eat on later, while Gokudera was carrying some of the baskets and food. Tsuna was being a lazy-ass and admiring their surroundings. Okay, okay, he was bringing some of the food. They placed the food baskets on top and started to dig in.
"Wow, Yamamoto," Tsuna complimented through a mouth full of sushi. "You're dad's sushi really is awesome!" Yamamoto, in turn, scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Haha, thanks!" The baseball player turned to Gokudera. "How about you, Gokudera? What do you think?"
The bomber simply huffed and turned away, but stuffed a piece of the sushi in his mouth. Yamamoto laughed.
"Haha, nice to know you enjoy it, too!" Gokudera just growled under his breath. Would that idiot just shut the f*** up? The sushi IS delicious though...
Damn, this is bad. Now I'm hungry.
Tsuna couldn't help snickering at his friends antics. They were just too amusing to watch for their own good. He reached out and grabbed a sandwich before biting into it, savoring the beautiful mixture of various cheeses, spreads and herbs.
"Mmm..." Tsuna hummed in satisfaction. He was the one who made the sandwiches, and was worried that it wouldn't taste that good, but it tasted just right. He bit into it once more, watching Yamamoto and Gokudera have another comical one-sided argument about some random topic.
"Baseball Idiot! Of course the creation of the universe follows in line with the Big Bang Theory!" Gokudera sighed exasperated.
"Haha, true, but it's possible for it to collapse one day, yea? Because of all the gravity being created by all the planets and stuff?" Yamamoto said.
"No, it won't! It's because of all the dark matter and dark energy in the universe! It won't collapse because of it! Not only that, but gravity isn't created, you Baseball Idiot! It is essentially an occurrence which happens when an object of high mass is placed on the fabric of space-time!"
"But eventually, the fabric might collapse on itself, just like when there are too many things on an ordinary piece of fabric, yea? And though that's how gravity works for planets and stuff in theory, isn't it being researched on how it is produced, or how it really works? Such as whether or not it maintains its energy due to some sort of minuscule dimensions which help keep its energy spread out?"
"ARGH!" Gokudera tore at his hair. "YOU'RE HOPELESS, YOU BASEBALL IDIOT!"
Tsuna snickered discreetly. Yamamoto turned out to be smarter than most people think, and actually understood what Gokudera was talking about. And yet, Gokudera continues to call Yamamoto a Baseball Idiot.
Way to go for accurate observations.
Woohoo.
Suddenly, Tsuna felt shivers run down his spine. His heart started to palpitate.
"EVERYONE, GET BACK!"
Upon hearing Tsuna shout, Gokudera and Yamamoto immediately reacted, just before several needles impaled the picnic mat and the food. Tsuna watched in shock, and then dropped to his knees.
"NOOOOOOOO! THE FOOD!" he wailed. He jumped forwards to dodge a few more needles, before narrowing his eyes dangerously.
"I'll kill you for ruining our picnic," he growled at the place where he sensed the experiment. He already knew who he was.
Out stepped the boy with the yo-yo.
"K...f..u...f...f...u..."
"Hey, ...k...o-s..., are you sure it's alright just to send K...p..i, ...?
"...u..f..., I'm sure Chikusa will be able to do fine. But...it's an interesting thought. Why don't you go as well, hm?"
"Alright, ...! Can't let ...p... have all the fun, ...!"
"K...f..u..., and there he goes..."
Tsuna gasped as the images faded away, and he was brought back to reality.
What...was that?
Tsuna didn't have time to think as the boy drew out another yo-yo and started unleashing many more needles. Gokudera had already taken out a couple of his dynamites. Yamamoto, unfortunately, was without a weapon. Gokudera started to throw his dynamite at the boy, but he simply lashed out his yo-yos, and the wires somehow cut the dynamite wicks, making them ineffective. Several slightly larger needles were thrown and struck the ground, exploded, and consumed the area in smoke.
This is bad! The smoke slowly started to spread, and Tsuna dashed into the forest, as did Gokudera and Yamamoto. The problem was that they were going separate ways, and soon, they were isolated from each other.
They were each on their own.
Against notorious criminal experiments.
By the time Yamamoto realized it, he was all alone, separated from the others. He glanced around warily just in case any attacker was nearby. It was already hard to see as it was due to the thick foliage. Not only that, but Yamamoto was unarmed. He didn't have any weapon whatsoever. He didn't even have his bat.
He was defenseless.
"Ahahaha!" An eerie laughter filled the air. He turned around, then as soon as he registered that something was lunging itself at him, he ducked, and the attacker passed over his head. Yamamoto jumped back, and took a gander at his attacker.
He had spiky yellow hair, dark brown eyes, abnormally sharp teeth, and a scar running across his nose, and just under his eyes. He gave Yamamoto a feral grin, and already, he didn't like where this was going.
"All alone, huh, byon?" The newcomer bared claw-like nails. "Well then, looks like you'll be my chew toy, byon!"
"F*** it!" Gokudera swore as he frantically looked around.
S***! I've been separated from Juudaime! If it wasn't for that stupid four-eyed freak, I'd still be with him, eating his awesome sandwiches, and that baseball bastard's admittedly good sushi. Gokudera grit his teeth, then tore at his hair frantically. What if he's in trouble?! I need to protect him!
Dude, the guy kicked your ass when you trying to kill him with landmines, dynamite, and nitroglycerine. If his attacker can defeat him, what makes you think you can stand a freaking chance?
A sharp pain shot up his leg, and Gokudera quickly flipped forward just as more needles impaled the ground.
Key word: MORE.
The bomber winced as he noticed several needles stuck into his leg. He gritted his teeth at the boy in the beanie, who had walked out from behind a tree.
"...I'm your opponent."
Tsuna clawed through the mess of greenery obstructing his path. Oh, how he simply wished that he could just somehow detect their whereabouts, pinpoint their location, so that he would be able to regroup with them. After all, he was the one who suggested the area where they would picnic in the first place, fully knowing what dangers may be in that forest. Unfortunately, he can only detect the whereabouts of experiments.
His friends weren't experiments. He knew that from the very start.
All he knew was that currently, in the forest, there were but two active experiments wandering about. And for some damned reason, he simply couldn't tell where they were.
It was as if there was some power blurring his senses.
It was as though there was something that wanted him to be lost.
Something that wanted him to be alone.
All alone in a forest with two experi-
No...Three!
Tsuna felt shivers rack through his spine as he sensed the new presence. The aura it emitted...it was just so...
...dangerous.
Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead as he frantically looked around, trying to get his sight to penetrate through the thickness of the forest, but to no avail. For once, he wished that he was given an additional experimental ability of radar or something.
"Let's make him fly like Superman!"
"Don't we have to attach giant wings to his back to support his weight? We have no means to make him defy gravity. And even if we were to give him wings big enough for him to use, we'd have to link his nervous system to it, and we'd have to get them to grow as the boy grows as well."
"Aww..."
"..."
"Can we give him whiskers?"
"THE F*** WILL THAT DO?"
"...He'll look cute."
"...That's debatable, but we can't. Why are you asking this anyway?"
"..."
"Did...you take too many of your painkillers again?"
"...Yes..."
"Ugh..."
Okay, maybe not. He has enough abilities as is.
Not to mention that they are completely weird psychopaths...
His ears perked up as he heard a set of footsteps steadily and purposely making its way towards him. Tsuna stood still as he heard the steps slowly getting closer and closer to him.
There.
Tsuna lashed a punch at where he heard the experiment come from, but found it to be blocked by hard, cool metal. Tsuna's eyes traveled from the said metal object, to its wielder.
"Hibari-san?"
"...Omnivore."
Yamamoto moved his head to the right, but the animal-like boy was able to nick him in the cheek. The baseball player rolled to the left, just as a clawed hand tried to rip his face off.
This isn't good! he thought. I don't have anything to fight back with, and I can't just keep dodging all his attacks...
The boy, who had introduced himself as Ken, lunged at him once again. Yamamoto had no time to move away, as Ken had lunged at him so quickly.
Time went in slow-motion, and Yamamoto was about to cross his arms in front of himself when he saw something black and slim obscure his vision. Reacting completely on impulse, he grabbed it, and used it to block the attack. He pushed Ken away, hard, flinging the feral boy into a tree. Yamamoto looked down at what he was holding.
Is this...a katana?
Gokudera swiftly ducked behind a tree, a cigarette clenched in-between his teeth. He cursed his luck. He had been fighting that boy, who introduced himself as Chikusa, for quite a while now, and he was getting increasingly anxious about Tsuna's safety.
Yamamoto's as well, though he'll never admit that.
He gritted his teeth upon hearing footsteps get nearer to him.
It's now or never!
He went out from his hiding spot behind the tree, and flung several more sticks of dynamite at Chikusa. The boy simply lashed his yo-yos at them to diffuse them as he had done so several times before as Gokudera quickly ducked behind a tree.
"Can't you do anything el-"
Just as the wires slashed the dynamite in half, it exploded fiercely, and it sent Chikusa flying back, until he hit a tree harshly, splintered wood flying everywhere. He fell to the ground with a loud thud. Just before he fell unconscious, he noticed that metal pieces were scattered everywhere, and they seemed to be scorched rather badly.
"Nitroglycerine..."
He blacked out.
Hibari slowly put his tonfas down.
"Hibari-san..." Tsuna allowed his body to go slack. "What are you doing here?" At first, Hibari was silent, and Tsuna was expecting a tonfa to his face anytime now.
"...I'm looking for the herbivore responsible for attempting to taint Namimori," he finally said. He held up a piece of paper. "I was given his coordinates by his underling. It appears he had a death wish."
Tsuna's eyes widened as he saw the paper. "That's like..." He trailed off as he fumbled for something in his pocket. After a little while, he pulled out a piece of paper similar to the one Hibari had.
Tsuna compared his paper to Hibari's.
"They're exactly alike..." Tsuna murmured. Scrawled down on both papers were the coordinates of the forest they were currently in, and an additional note on the bottom.
Written in a red substance which both males knew was definitely blood, the message was definitely sinister, and directed towards the two.
If you want to stop me, then I won't object.
I'll be waiting.
After recovering from his brief state of shock, Yamamoto unsheathed the katana cautiously. He held it up to what little light was streaming down through the canopy. Despite what little of it was going through, the blade glinted brightly.
But Yamamoto had no time to think as Ken got back up to his feet and growled at him. Yamamoto let go of the sheath, and placed both of his hands onto the hilt of the katana. He racked his brain.
What were the basics of using a katana again? Both hands on the hilt...Keep the sword aligned with the wrist...Don't try to catch a katana if it flies out of your grasp or else your fingers will get cut off...
Ken lunged at him, and Yamamoto sidestepped the attack. Just as Ken's body flew past him, Yamamoto brought the sword down on the back of Ken's neck. Ken fell to the ground, unconscious.
But there was no blood.
Because he didn't want things to get to gruesome, Yamamoto used the blunt edge of the blade to strike the animal-like experiment.
What a sweet guy.
He nudged Ken slightly with his foot. Never know if the guy is still conscious after you smack the back of his neck really hard with a katana. That was his reasoning, so Yamamoto decided to nudge the guy just in case.
Just in case.
He picked up the sheath and slid the katana into it.
Where did this sword come from anyway? Yamamoto looked around curiously, hoping to catch sight of whoever, or whatever gave him that katana at the right time.
But all he could catch was a fleeting glimpse of a black fedora, and coal-black eyes.
A large, dilapidated building stood before them. It was a sickly gray, and looked as though it had been badly burnt. It was also red-stained in several areas, which was definitely dried blood. Both Tsuna and Hibari were sickened by the sight, and the fact that such a building existed in the forests outside Namimori. However, there was one other unsettling thing about the building.
It was so familiar.
Hibari didn't know why, but he had a sinking feeling in his gut, telling him to get the f*** out of there. He couldn't explain why it was happening. I mean, come on, he's Hibari f***ing Kyoya. He's not supposed to be...unsettled by anything. But the familiarity and the dread that he was experiencing...It was too hard to not feel put off by the thing.
As for Tsuna, he knew the place. Once again he was reminded about it. Everything.
Blood and needles oh so nice,
In this world, cold as ice.
Essential so treat them fair,
Scream if you wish to, no one cares.
"Faster! Faster! We need to get out of here before it burns down!"
"But...It hurts everywhere!"
"You're stronger than this! Please!"
"I'll try!"
Blood and needles, in this lair,
Try and escape them if you dare.
Death and devastation are imminent everywhere,
And no one can help you, because no one cares.
"They're catching up!"
"I'll hold them back!"
"No! We're getting out of this together!"
"But...!"
"Quickly! The fire is spreading!"
"O-Okay!"
Blood and needles on the ground,
Do not make a single sound.
The greatest tragedy in this land,
All occurred by your hands,
Now ever so bloody, before white and bare,
That is why today, no one cares.
Tsuna shook his head viciously to get the images out of his head. He worked so hard to forget those memories, and he really didn't want to experience them again. He ran a hand through his messy hair, and gripped his head.
Did that experiment really have to stay here, of all places?
Hibari warily took a few steps forward towards the wretched building, and Tsuna, upon noticing his action, followed suit. As they got closer and closer to the building, they couldn't help but feel shivers start to travel down their spine. Tsuna felt his stomach start to churn, and his heart start to pump harder. Hibari tried to push down the feeling of sickening nostalgia. They got to the doors, and both men hesitantly pushed them open. It did so with an eerie creak, which they could hear resound through the long hallway stretching before them. After overcoming an uneasy tension in the air, they both stepped inside.
They walked on in dead silence, neither wishing to speak a word, not like they could. They were both too overcome by the feeling that they had been to that place before, one knowing why, the other not. They eventually came to the end of the dreary hallway, which had a metal door at the end. They both hesitantly opened it, and nearly threw up at what they saw.
Bones, some still with skin barely clinging onto them, littered the floors in abundance. Dried blood was evident on the walls, floors, and even the ceiling. The smell of death was in the air, assaulting their senses. Tsuna covered his mouth in disgust, and Hibari scrunched up his nose.
They cautiously continued forward, doing their best to avoid stepping on any of the bones. Tsuna's heart started to race, and he was able to detect the whereabouts of the other experiment. Whatever or whoever it was, it was spewing out massive amounts of killing intent, and pure blood lust. Tsuna shakily pointed a finger forward.
"He's over there," he said in a hesitant voice, slightly muffled by his hand. "The one who's been doing all of this."
Upon saying that, Hibari immediately headed towards the door at the end of the corridor, taking long strides, leaving Tsuna in his wake. He burst open the doors, his tonfas somehow already in his hands. Tsuna arrived a second later, and he immediately spotted the man they were looking for.
In the middle of the dreary and dank room, a man about Hibari's age sat leisurely on an old, faded velvet couch. He had navy blue hair which spiked up at the back, the style reminiscent to the shape of a pineapple. He wore a dark green jacket with pants of a similar hue. Underneath the jacket was a shirt with a design that would remind one of mist.
The doors shut behind the two boys, and they were immediately in defensive mode.
"Kufufufufu…" An eerie laugh resounded in the air, and both immediately recognized it to be the voice that they heard in their heads on that fateful day. The deadly experiment in the middle of the room slowly lifted his head, and the other two were shocked to meet the gaze of heterochromatic eyes. The left eye was a mischievous blue, the right a blood red, the kanji for the number 'six' in the place of a pupil.
"I had a feeling you would come soon, Project Vongola: Decimo, Project Discipline," he seemed to purr tauntingly as he got to his feet. The two boys flinched slightly at the mentioned titles, one knowing of their meanings, the other not.
"Why are you attacking Namimori?" Hibari demanded, quickly recovering from shock. The man in question simply laughed that strange laugh of his.
"Kufufu, I did it to lure the two of you in," he answered. Tsuna grit his teeth. What would he do to them?
"Why? Who are you?" Tsuna queried. The experiment gave a playful smirk, and then bowed like a gentleman.
"My name is Rokudo Mukuro. It is a pleasure to meet the two of you." Sarcasm dripped heavily from his last statement. He straightened his back, and faced the two.
"As for why I brought the two of you here, well, for two different reasons." He pulled out a trident from seemingly nowhere, but after all the magician's tricks he's seen, Tsuna knew that he simply pulled it out from somewhere behind the couch he was previously sitting on.
Mukuro pointed at Hibari with the trident. "I wish to recruit you into my cause. As for you…" He pointed the trident at Tsuna.
"I wish to kill you."
His words were heavily laced with acid as he said them, the playful smirk never leaving his face.
Hibari really didn't know what to expect.
When a mysterious note somehow appeared on his desk one day, he decided that he would go look for the culprit of the disturbances in Namimori. He eventually got Kusakabe, his faithful right-hand man (much like a certain albino puppy we know) to temporarily fill in for him while he did some digging. He got to the forest, and met the omnivore along the way. They somehow decided that since their destination and reason for going there was the same, they'd temporarily cooperate. They got to a creepily nostalgic building and decided to enter. There, they found a bunch of human skeletons, and some dude with pineapple-styled hair.
And here he thought he was just going to meet some useless Yakuza group.
"Like I would join an herbivore like you." Hibari brandished his tonfas. "For disturbing the peace of Namimori, I'll bite you to death."
The skylark lunged at the experiment, who blocked his incoming blow with his trident.
"Kufufu, as much as I'd like to play with you, I'm afraid I would like to settle a score with the young Vongola-to-be." Mukuro pushed Hibari away.
Tsuna, on the other hand, scrunched up his nose in distaste upon hearing the name. He never agreed to be the boss of that Mafia group. He just wanted to kill off the rest of human experimenters left on the planet. Or, imprison them, at the very least.
"For now, though, you can play with a friend I've picked up along my way here~! His name is Lancia. Perhaps he can help you change your mind!"
Chains wrapped around Hibari from the shadows, and pulled him into a separate room. Before the door from where they came out from closed, Tsuna caught sight of a pair of empty eyes.
As though their owner had given up on everything he believed in.
Tsuna redirected his gaze to Mukuro, whose right eye seemed to switch kanji. From the number 'six', it became the kanji of number 'four'.
"Kufufu, well then, let's get started, shall we?" Mukuro lunged at Tsuna and started slashing at him. Tsuna tried aiming a few punches and kicks at him, but none were getting through. That experiment, Mukuro, he seemed to be as good as, no, better than Tsuna in terms of combat.
"Geh!" Tsuna gritted his teeth as the trident was able to nick his cheek. He jumped back and glared at Mukuro, whose smile only seemed to get wider. The scratch on Tsuna's cheek quickly sealed up, nothing left to note that it was there in the first place.
"Kufufufufu…"
"What are you laughing about?" Tsuna growled.
Mukuro slyly smiled. "One of the 'special' abilities I gained as an experiment was the ability to control some super special particles. Ever heard of them?" His smile turned into an evil grin.
"They're called 'hallucinogens'."
Tsuna's eyes widened, and his world seemed to go all swirly, Mukuro the only thing that seemed to look normal. He noticed the head of the trident glisten brightly, as though it were thinly layered with some powdered substance.
"Kufufufufu…" His right eye changed kanji, from 'four' to 'one'. The atmosphere heated up as Mukuro lifted his trident high in the air. "You know, I was originally after the 'Ranking Star Fuuta', but when I heard that the next Vongola was in town, I decided to switch priorities. I have waited for this moment for so long." He brought the end of the trident down upon the floor.
"Experience hell, Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Pillars of flames erupted from the ground.
Hibari broke through the chains (remember, Hibari f***ing Kyoya) and spun around to glare at the one who pulled him in, his tonfas still at hand. The man seemed to be about twenty-five years old. He had spiked out, slick black hair. Two black stripes crept on his right cheek, and he was holding a large steel ball, with strange snake-like engravings, attached to a chain.
"…" The man hefted up the steel ball, then threw it at Hibari, who attempted to side step it, but found himself being pulled towards the ball. Just as the ball was about to hit him straight in the face, Hibari blocked it with one of his tonfas. He pushed the ball away, however Lancia pulled it back towards him. Hibari blocked it once again, the ball grazing his cheek slightly.
"Hn…" Hibari murmured as he jumped back and wiped the bruise he received from the attack. The bruise quickly healed, and soon, Hibari and Lancia were exchanging several blows.
Looks like I'll have to dance with this herbivore for quite a while…
Hibari smirked, and spikes appeared on his tonfas.
"Geh!"
Tsuna mentally swore as Mukuro started attacking once again, only the attacks were a little weaker. Regardless, the brunette was having a hard time trying to dodge the illusionist's attacks and the pillars of flame. An illusionist, he has labeled the man, for he is able to conjure up fantasies in a man's head, and mess with their perception of reality.
Though he knew the pillars to be simply a product of Mukuro's sick handicraft, he tried his best to avoid them. They wouldn't scar him in real life, but they would cause an overwhelming simulated pain. As for fighting back, well, he couldn't do much with his bare hands.
I can't fight properly if I don't have anything to fight with!
A strong kick sent Tsuna flying towards the wall, and coughing up blood. He slumped to the ground, and wiped the blood from his mouth.
I need some sort of weapon to use!
Elegant, chain-mesh gloves dropped onto his lap, and Tsuna widened his eyes in shock. He looked up to try and find where they came from, but he only caught sight of a retreating shadow. He slipped the gloves on, and they felt comfortable on his petite hands. He pulled himself up.
"Kufufu, ready for your death?" Mukuro pointed his trident at Tsuna.
Tsuna, in return, looked up, his left eye glowing a bright orange. He narrowed his eyes at the illusionist.
"I wish I could same to you, but that would only lower me to your level. Instead, I'll bring you to the brink of death."
They lunged at each other at high speeds, and started exchanging blow after blow. At one point, Tsuna was forced into a pillar of fire, but didn't feel a thing, thanks to a little support from Decimo. They continued to fight fiercely, and the kanji in Mukuro's eyes had shifted from 'one' back to 'four'.
There! Tsuna got behind Mukuro and elbowed him somewhere in the spine before driving a knee into his gut. Mukuro swung at Tsuna, but he simply dodged it.
"…Why are you doing this?" Tsuna queried.
Mukuro shot him a distasteful look. "To take revenge on those who are responsible for human experimentation, the Mafia." His words reflected the utter hatred he had for the very fact, for the very statement.
Tsuna shot a confused look. "But, Vongola was created to help protect those who were experimented on and make sure it never happens, was it not?"
"Ku…" A dark shadow covered his eyes.
"Kuhahahahaha!" The man laughed bitterly. "You really believe so? Why do you think Project Vongola has been running for so long?!"
Tsuna stood there in shock. He didn't know. It was an important question, and he didn't know.
"Vongola supports the creation of human experiments. You, me, and the skylark…we're all just products of their power lust, for their desire to become superior," Mukuro continued with a burning passion. "It was because of that power lust that I was subjected to such painful experiments under the Estraneo famiglia. Yes…a Mafia family, Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna bit his lip.
"But, they no longer matter," he continued with a casual wave of his hand. "They're all dead. I killed them all."
The brunette shivered, but Mukuro seemed to be oblivious to this and proceeded with his ranting.
"They made me go under such gruesome procedures…it was experience was akin to going to hell six times over," he growled. "Don't you understand?! They…They simply want to gain power. I would ask you to join my cause, if you weren't destined to become one of them. That's why I wish to cleanse the world of this evil known as humans. First, those who have supported experimentation, and then the rest of the human race will be wiped out, to prevent another such tragedy from happening, ever. And all that will be left will be us. We, th-"
"The product of experimentation?" Tsuna cut in.
"Exactly." Mukuro glared at Tsuna heavily. "Not like you will ever understand what pain I have gone through. Compared to all other types of experimentation, the Vongola project hurts the least."
At these words, Tsuna felt something snap inside of him as he remembered about the suffering he had gone through at the hands of them. He clenched his fists in a barely suppressed rage.
"No."
"Hmm?"
Tsuna looked up, both eyes blazing orange. "It is you who will never understand true pain. Going through hell six times over…hah, I wish that would've happened to me instead. I died more than a hundred times over, and the procedure pained my very soul, hanging on to my body just barely," he said in a bitter voice, full of contempt.
Mukuro, slightly taken off guard, tried to regain his composure and narrowed his eyes at the brunette. "I don't believe you."
"Ever heard of the Black Serum?"
"What?!" Mukuro's eyes widened in shock.
No…that's impossible…The Black Serum isn't supposed to be potent enough to use…
A gloved fist collided with his face, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"You will NEVER comprehend what kind of torture we have gone through!"
"The Black Serum," the white-coated man announced as he showed off a syringe which seemed to hold a colorless, yet ominous liquid. His colleagues currently in the operating room applauded politely.
"Now," the man continued. "Despite being called 'The Black Serum', the serum itself takes on no particular color. However, when it is injected into the subject, when travelling through the veins and spreading through the entire body, it will become a midnight black."
Meanwhile, little Tsuna, strapped to the operating table and hooked up to various machines, unconsciously listened to the man's explanations.
"It will give the subject a myriad of abilities, heightened awareness, and other such things we haven't been able to do to other subjects before. Since our test subject here was able to survive all the previous procedures, there's a relatively high chance the serum will 'accept' his body." He applied a disinfectant to Tsuna's bare and empty wrist.
"It took us a while to figure it out, but we were finally able to crack the recipe's puzzle, and will succeed where those in the past have not." He polished the long needle.
"But, sir," one man in the room spoke up, "if the serum works, won't we all be in danger? The last eight killed all those who worked on them, and they weren't even given the proper serum. What difference will it make?"
"What difference?" the man with the syringe chuckled. "We included a nice mix of weakened neurotoxins we took from a Hydrophis Belcheri sea snake. The boy will experience so much pain and agony, he won't be able to move, with the additional effects of the venom itself. It will tire him out and buy us enough time to put him under our control."
He put the gauze aside, and Tsuna gazed into the man's eyes with weak and empty ones. Despite the fact that he was wearing a mask, Tsuna could've sworn he smiled evilly, like those villains on television shows.
"Now, boy, don't worry. This will only hurt…a lot." The man stabbed the syringe into Tsuna's wrist, and injected the so-called 'Black Serum' into his bloodstream.
Tsuna's eyes widened as he felt his blood start to boil, an overwhelming sensation taking over his body. The man's eyes twinkled in satisfaction as he saw the fluid turn dark and clearly circulate throughout the boy's body. Intricate lines of black snaked around his arms, legs, chest, face, and made him look like a demon.
"AARRRGHHHH!" Tsuna cried out in pain as the fluid started to make his skin turn a pale white. Black crept up to his eyes, and his irises became dyed an empty black.
He thrashed about wildly, the people in the room only observing his vital signs. The man who had injected the accursed liquid into the young boy's body laughed.
"Hahaha! Yes! We have finally achieved what has only been done once four hundred years in the past!" He continued to laugh as Tsuna's lithe body was writhing in pain.
N-No! Stop! Please! It hurts! The young boy cried, black tears starting to form around his eyes.
I don't want to die! Please! Someone, help! He continued to scream in agony, slowly losing hope.
Do you wish to be free? a comforting voice inside his head asked him. Do you want it to stop?
Yes…Please! Tsuna pleaded.
Alright…Now sleep. I shall take care of everything for you.
And so Tsuna faded into black, the pain slowly leaving his body.
Tsuna awoke to find himself laying helplessly on the operating table, all his limbs heavily cuffed down. He barely looked like a small boy he was, much less a human.
They had just removed one of his eyes to work on the optic receptors in the brain. His left eyehole was red and bloody, and various injections were previously stabbed into it. The flesh on his forearms was peeled off, and the muscles and veins could plainly be seen. A large portion of his right forearm's muscle was removed, and the bone had a gash in it from the experiment. Stitches from some previous procedures snaked his legs. A long incision ran through the middle of his chest, starting from the neck to his stomach. Blood was dripping here and there. Attached to the cavity of his chest were large tubes and several wires. His lungs were conspicuously expanding and contracting as he was taking bated breaths. His heart was audibly pounding from pain.
Wires and tubes riddled his body and were connected to large, sinister machines. They kept him alive, but the pain was still unbearable. It came upon him from every part of his body. Pools of blood stained the floor. His gouged-out eye lay in a small tray on one of the many operating tables beside him. Presently, a few of the masked operators entered the room.
One of them walked over to Tsuna and proceeded to put his eye back. He sighed audibly.
"How much longer do we have to experiment on this boy? His mother will get suspicious."
"Just a little longer," said another. He picked up a chart. "Soon, Project Vongola: Decimo will be finished."
Another operator walked over to the machine to look it over. "Let's just hope this one doesn't escape like the others..."
Escape, huh... Tsuna thought as the eye was reattached.
Yes, Tsuna. Escape. We will do it together, but not just yet. We must wait patiently. Decimo's voice comforted.
"The Black Serum will settle in a few days' time, and then we'll be able to put him under our control," the first man said. "Now, as soon as you are finished with the boy, we need to get to Project Discipline."
"Alright." The first man left, and as soon as his eye was reattached, and an eye patch was placed, the other left as well.
Tsuna fell back into unconsciousness, the voice comforting him as he started to slip.
"Quickly! Hook him up to the machine!"
Tsuna slowly opened his eyes upon hearing a stretcher being shoved into the lab. He watched in silence as a young boy, about two years older than him, was put on the space beside him on the operating table. The other boy had raven black hair, and rather pale skin.
The doctors started attaching tubes and wires from the machine beside Tsuna to the other boy. After a few minutes, Tsuna heard one of them mention that the boy 'stabilized'. A few of the men left, while the rest stayed to monitor the other boy's vital signs.
He is like us. An experiment, the voice told him.
Really?
Tsuna turned his head slightly to look at the other boy. The other boy slowly opened his eyes, and saw the young brunette looking at him. Tsuna smiled at him.
"Hello," Tsuna greeted faintly.
"…Hello," the boy answered back.
"I'm Tsuna. What's your name?" At this point, all of the men had left after affirming that the raven-haired boy would stay stable.
"…My name…is Hibari Kyoya."
"Tsuna…" Hibari faintly moaned. After quite some time together, the two boys had become good friends. Not like they had any other company. They'd talk whenever they were alone, and now was one of those times.
"Yes, Kyoya-nii?" Tsuna answered using the adopted nickname he chose for the raven.
"It hurts…" he groaned. Tsuna pouted upon hearing his friend's statement.
"I know. But…don't worry." He turned his head slightly to look at Hibari. He smiled softly.
"I'll get us out of here. I promise."
"…Really?"
The surgeon poked at Tsuna's heart as thought it were road kill. He yawned as he examined the opened chest of the young boy.
Presently, another surgeon entered the room, bringing with him a plate of cake, complete with a silver fork.
"How's the boy doing?" the surgeon who had just entered asked.
"Just fine," he said, as though he hadn't taken notice of the fact that Tsuna's heart and lungs were plainly exposed. Either that, or he simply didn't care, or it was normal to him. He gazed at the diaphragm, finding the act of its contraction and relaxation very soothing. The surgeon who had the plate of cake handed it over to the other surgeon.
"What did you need the cake for, anyway?"
"I got hungry."
As they continued on with their discussion about the ethics of cake, and how one should not eat cake over an 'open' body (crumbs may fall in), little Tsuna stared at the fork in the surgeon's hand.
I'm getting out of here, for sure. He looked off to his left, where Hibari was fast asleep.
And I'm also going to free Kyoya-nii while I'm at it.
Tsuna lay upon the table, now dressed in a white shirt and shorts, all of the previously opened areas of his body now stitched up and healed.
"He'll be ready soon," one of the men said. "It's just a matter of time that both of them will become instrumental to us."
Just then, another doctor went inside the room, and whispered something desperately into the man's ear.
"Ah…ah…" His expression started to harden. "I see." He turned to the other experimenters.
"Project Discipline is a failure. Bring him to in to be disposed of."
Both Tsuna's and Hibari's eyes widened in fear upon hearing the statement.
"NO!" Tsuna cried as he struggled to free himself from his bonds, and Hibari was being brought away. "KYOYA-NII!"
"Tsuna…" Hibari mumbled as the doors closed behind him and the men bringing him away.
And that's when he snapped.
The researcher's head gave a satisfying crack as it was crushed against the hard, cement floor. His blood spilled, staining the ground, such as his colleagues' blood stained it. The machinery in the room was broken and falling apart, short circuiting here and there. Dead bodies littered the room, the floor dyed a bright red.
The boy put the man's head down after confirming that he was truly dead. He turned towards the only door in the gray room, and slowly walked towards it. Each step he took produced a soft squishing sound, which filled in the deathly silence. They were begging for it.
And so, he made them pay.
Tsuna felt himself start to come back into reality, the curtain of black slipping away. His eyes widened in fear as he noticed blood on his hands.
"Wha…?" He started to turn around, but something inside him stopped him.
Faster, Tsuna. Kyoya-nii's in danger of dying. Tsuna immediately opened the door and headed towards one of the rooms in the hallway, killing all those trying to stop him, his left eye glowing a bright orange.
"Kyoya-nii," Tsuna lightly shook Hibari by his shoulders. "Wake up! Please!"
Hibari's eyes fluttered open. "T-Tsuna?" He sat up abruptly, and looked around him. Dead bodies lying in pools of blood littered the floor, and he nearly gagged at the sight. "Wha…"
"No time to explain!" Tsuna insisted as he pulled Hibari off the operating table. "We need to get out of here, fast!" Just as he said that, a loud explosion shook the entire building.
"Let's go!" And so, they both ran off to find the exit, desperately dodging everyone who would try to stop them.
"Faster! We need to run faster!" Tsuna cried.
"I'm trying!" Hibari shouted back.
"Well, try harder! They're getting closer!" They came across a door at the end of the hallway.
"We need to force open the door!"
"You go ahead, nii-san!"
"What?!"
"I'll catch up to you!"
Hibari shook his head. "No! I'm going to help you!"
"Hey, kid! Get back here!" Two security guards lunged at them, and both children broke each of their necks. Tsuna crouched over their bodies, and started frantically searching their belts.
"Ah, here!" he announced. He shoved two, collapsible tonfas into Hibari's hands. "Use them to fight!"
"But…what if I can't…"
"I know you can!" Tsuna said with a determined look. "Nii-san is…nii-san is a strong carnivore!" Tsuna nodded to himself, as though affirming his own beliefs. Hibari smiled, and then nodded.
"We'll get out of here…together." The raven brandished his tonfa, and Tsuna clenched his fists. Both children glared at the incoming pursuers.
I am…a carnivore… Hibari thought.
"I'll bite them to death."
Both children gasped as they stopped deep within the forest, far away from the building. They looked back, and saw the building become engulfed in flames, cries of agony resounding in the forest.
"We're…finally free…" Tsuna panted.
"Y-Yea…" Hibari mumbled.
They continued on their way, until they reached the edge of Namimori. Hibari smiled in relief.
"We've made it, Tsuna!" He cheered, and looked back at Tsuna, who was biting back his lip. "Tsuna?"
Next thing he knew, he felt a thumb press against his forehead, and he blacked out. Tsuna looked down at him.
"I'm sorry, Kyoya-nii…But…it's better if both you and Tsuna forget…"
Tsuna fell to the ground, unconscious.
Mukuro gasped as he hit the door, ripping it off its hinges.
He put a hand to his head. What…I just saw… The sudden influx of images… Mukuro knew now, for a fact that those were Tsuna's memories. He shifted his gaze to Tsuna, who was glaring at him, heavily.
"You…and the skylark…" he mumbled quietly.
Just then, a body was flung across the room, and as soon as it hit the floor, Mukuro immediately recognized it to be Lancia. From the hole in the wall he had just created, he saw Hibari Kyoya step out in all his glory, and glare at him.
Mukuro stood up abruptly, and grit his teeth. "Both of your paths…nevertheless, I will…!"
He was cut off as chains wrapped themselves around him and Lancia, then pulled them into the darkness. Hibari was about to follow suit, but stopped when he saw Tsuna fall to his knees. He rushed over to him and caught him before he fell.
"Omnivore!" Decimo looked up at Hibari, orange eyes wavering.
"I'm sorry…Kyoya-nii…" Hibari flinched at the sudden pang of nostalgia, and was caught off guard when Tsuna pressed his thumb against his forehead, and a rush of images came into his mind.
"I didn't answer your questions, but I hope this does."
Both teens fell to the floor of the building. Hibari went out like a light, but Decimo remained conscious for a few seconds, long enough to catch sight of a dark figure loom over both of them.