WINTERTIDE

000

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sleep was not easy to shake off. It was heavy, cloying and kept trying to suck her back down into comfortable darkness. Her whole body ached in that distant heavy way that she couldn't... seem to muster the awareness to acknowledge, or even feel. Her limbs were heavy and her head felt fuzzy. She lost the fight and faded away again, dimly aware of something small and warm on her cheek.

The second time, she knew something was wrong.

She couldn't feel her body, couldn't move. Her mind felt sluggish, heavy but less woolly than before. The taste in her mouth was musty and foul, she'd been sleeping for some time. That, more than anything, told her that her sleep had not been natural. Having been forced since early childhood to get up and go upon awakening, the difficult struffle into awareness was very telling – and it lacked the telltale pins and needle tingle that a Stunner would have given.

Ariah groaned as she forced her eyes to crack open. A blurry unfamiliar ceiling greeted her and through her drug induced haze, she couldn't even find it within herself to be worried. The bed was warm and soft. She was losing the battle to stay awake. Green eyes slid shut as vaguely familiar smells filled her nose. Sandalwood, wood smoke and Vanilla. Who... who did she know who smelt... smelt like that? She definitely knew someone who smelt like that. It smelt nice.

Sandalwood... Sandalwood... Smoke... Fire... Burning...

She opened her eyes, blinking against the dry gritty feeling of her lids. She was missing something. Inhaling deeply, she grit her teeth and struggled to sit up, her eyes squeezing shut as she not only struggled against the drugs in her system but also the weight of her own body trying to pull her back down.

"Easy, young miss." Unfamiliar hands were suddenly there, catching her under her armpits and pulling her forwards, gently cradling her head. She wrinkled her nose as the smell of expensive aftershave and sweat filled her nose, making it tingle and itchy uncomfortably. She felt herself being propped against a masculine shoulder as her blankets and pillows were arranged and moved. "You must be feeling very groggy and confused," the male voice continued as he began to move her up against them so she would be sitting up comfortably. "Boss," he called over his shoulder in Italian making her cringe a little at the volume of it hammering through her skull like an ice-pick, "she's awake."

She could hear footsteps rapidly coming from somewhere else, a floor below, getting higher and closer. She rolled her head over, feeling rather drunk with the almost boneless movement and how the whole world kind of swayed and swam with the movement, her eyes unable to focus on any one specific thing as a distantly familiar blond man came hurrying through the open doorway. She could hear him talking to the man who had helped her but everything sounded as though it were very far away, underwater almost. She did recognise her surroundings though. The low table and cushions around it, the popular anime posters, the school books and uniform that were discarded on the floor in an abandoned kicked aside pile. This was Tsuna's bedroom.

Dino sighed, running a long fingered hand through his hair, "He really dosed her up," he muttered as he watched her from the corner of his eye.

When Gokudera came pelting into the Great Hall, they had all feared that the Shimon Famiglia had returned to finish the now severely weakened Tenth Generation off. Dino could have sworn his blood ran cold with the very thought of his cute little brother and fellow Reborn-Victim meeting such a horrible end. But then the Storm Guardian broke into a relieved grin at the sight of him and the Boss of the Chiavarone Famiglia knew that it wasn't as grim as his mind was making it out to be. Tsuna needed him to take his young Lady friend home. She had badly injured herself and Reborn had been forced to drug her to keep her from joining them in the fight against the Shimon Famiglia. He had to bite back a snappish retort at Reborn's order, feeling bitter at the lack of trust he was being shown, he didn't like the idea of Tsuna and his kids being forced into such confrontations with such dangerous people. He knew it was all part of the Mafia life but it was a Life that Tsuna had never wanted, one that he was very ill suited for.

His negative feelings over the not very subtle 'This is Vongola's Fight – Stay out of it' that Reborn had given him died as his cute little brother reluctantly passed him the girl's unconscious body. Fussing slightly and looking Dino in the eye as he pleaded with the other Boss to keep her safe and to be careful of her broken ribs.

Tsuna was trusting him with something a lot more important to him than this whole Shimon confrontation.

"I can't really blame him." Romario shook his head and poured a glass of water from the jug that Sawada Nana had left them when they brought the young Lady in. Thankfully the mother had been more than happy to change the young Lady's clothing and wrap her ribs – she commented on how awful the bruising was but didn't seem worried, apparently Tsuna's fears over broken ribs had been just that. Fears. "Did you see the way she fought against the Shimon? She's too much like her father. Fighting even at the cost of her own health," he snorted as he carefully tipped the glass so the still very drugged girl could drink. Surprisingly, she was very neat and didn't spill the water at all. Awareness was already coming into her eyes. She was a tough one alright.

Dino couldn't really argue with that observation. It would be rather typical for the Arcobaleno's daughter to fight just like him, with her Dying Will and the determination to get the job done regardless of destroying her body. It would be a pleasant kind of revenge for all the hellish training and anguish the Hitman put both him and Tsuna through to have to sit back and watch his own daughter do the exact same thing. Dino knew quite well how Reborn treated girls and women, he was guilty of it as well, but unlike the little Hitman, he wasn't going to blind himself to a girl who could kick him around like a football and look good doing it. Clearly his daughter was one of these people.

"No, but given how Shimon handled Tsuna they could use all the help they can get," the blond stated, unable to keep the edge of bitterness out of his voice.

Romario just laughed, "You're just upset you weren't invited along."

"I'll fucking kill 'im!" the girl in the bed suddenly ground out, cutting off whatever reply Dino had for his Right Hand Man's very accurate comment.

There... was no word in the English language that accurately conveyed how furious Ariah was at that moment in time.

She'd been drugged! By her own father! She expected something like this from Dumbledore – fuck, she knew the man had drugged her, more than once. Just like she knew Vernon had poured Anti-Freeze into her drinks as a child, just like she knew the one time she'd been taken on a family holiday and gotten lost in the city that her Uncle had abandoned her for the perverts and the criminals. But from her own Dad, who seemed so happy for her to have found him. It... it hurt.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Dino told her, paling in alarm as the girl roughly tore the blankets aside and tried to get to her feet. If this had been any other situation and any other girl, he probably would have allowed himself a brief moment to admire the long pale shapely legs that the nightdress Nana had put her in did little to hide, but this was Reborn's daughter, she was badly injured and she was still drugged up to her eyeballs. She shouldn't even be able to move right now.

"I will not calm down!" the dark haired girl snarled as she staggered, limbs still rubbery and weak from whatever drugs her father had fed her. Green eyes were clear and bright, she was shaking off the affects of the drugs a lot faster than any of them had expected, or should even be possible. Unbeknownst to Dino, the only reason she hadn't passed out immediately upon the drug hitting her system, or indeed, why it had come on so abruptly and suddenly was because her Magic had been in a constant state of agitation until she received her repaired Wand from Mr Flamel when it calmed down significantly, thus allowing the drug to hit her and hit her hard.

Now though, she was angry. So very angry that the drug was being burned out of her system by her simmering magic.

Dino exchanged a look with Romario, unsure of how to handle the young Lady's absolute fury as she staggered out of the room, her footsteps becoming surer and more purposeful the faster the drug left her system. To stop her, that would mean having to lay his hands on her, something Dino was exceptionally nervous about because not only Reborn would kick his ass, but he was pretty certain she would do it as well. Not to mention it would be extremely impolite to touch a girl while she wore nothing more than a night-shirt. Did he mention she would kick his ass?

But Tsuna would kick his if he let her get hurt.

"Damnit!" the blond growled as he wheeled around and followed her. "Miss, really, you can't just go gallivanting off after them! Do you even know where they are?" he demanded catching her around the waist just before she fell head over heels down the stairs. "You're not even fully recovered," he scolded.

"Let me go!" she hissed, kicking out.

"No! Tsuna would never forgive me if you got hurt," he told her as he began to haul the younger and worryingly thin and light girl back to his younger brother's room. She didn't make it easy though. He was going to have some truly spectacular bruises on his shins to match the ones on his ribs from her elbows, to say nothing of the split lip he got when she headbutted him.

"He won't live long enough to regret it!" she screamed still writhing like a wild-cat.

"Romario! Give me a hand here!" he called desperately over his shoulder as a pale hand somehow managed to get into his hair and pulled. At the same time a foot found its home, rather violently, in his crotch.

It must have looked rather comical to anyone watching, two grown men having so much trouble with one mere tiny slip of a girl. She punched, kicked, screeched, snarled and thrashed. They tried to restrain her without harming her, grunting and swearing, trying not to touch things that ought not be touched.

But had anyone been watching. They would have realised that the small wooden ring on her right hand was glowing.

000

She felt a little guilty for Stunning the blond and his friend, they were just doing as they had been asked, but she was in no mood to be considerate right now. They were in the way and she wasn't going to let this shit fly! Tsuna trusted the wrong person. They betrayed him. She wasn't going to let him end up like her parents or Sirius. She wasn't going to give Shimon the chance to move onto Hayato or Lambo. She wasn't going to let them even touch her father. They had already proven themselves capable of murder after Yamamoto – like FUCK she was going to let them touch her boys!

Dressed and roughly cramming her Moke-skin bag full of Healing Potions and other Potion based Weapons and a few of the Weasley Twins' more interesting bits and bobs that they'd left behind in Gryffindor Tower she turned and marched into the garden. "Hedwig?" she called, allowing a small, tight smile to cross her lips as her ever faithful friend fluttered to her arm. Still visibly sleepy due to the daylight hours. "Hedwig, I need a favour of you," she told the owl gently stroking her breast feathers.

The white avian puffed herself up proudly and hooted imperiously, of course, her human didn't even need to ask for her help!

"Hedwig, don't agree until you know what it is," she scolded unhappily.

The blond had been right when he asked her if she knew where Tsuna was, she didn't, but Hedwig could find him quite easily. The problem then was how did she reach him. Her father must have returned briefly because when she went looking her Firebolt was missing and she couldn't find it. Which left Hedwig as her only means of not only finding them but also getting to them. Her first thought had been to use a feather-light charm on herself and have the Owl fly her there, but then she remembered that at that kind of altitude the wind got pretty strong. And while she make have been light, she was large and provided a lot of wind-resistance. It would strain and probably injure poor Hedwig's wings and she didn't want that. Which left pretty much just one option left.

"I'm going to need to... enlarge you," she explained. "Dad hid my Firebolt somewhere or took it with him, I don't know. But I need to not only find him and Tsuna but also get there. If I lighten myself and have you carry me, it'll strain and hurt you because of how much the wind'll pull on me and you. But, if I make you bigger and stronger, you won't get hurt," she explained quickly to the Owl who clicked her beak uncertainly, clearly thinking it over. Hedwig was very smart, she understood what was being asked of her. Ariah had never enlarged her before, she'd done it in class, but never to the scale she was about to attempt, add to that, a teacher had always been on hand to prevent accidents and deflate the animals afterwards. There would be no such help or guiding hand in this endeavour.

Hedwig barked an affirmative. Fluffing herself up and glowering at her human with indignant amber eyes.

Ariah couldn't help but smile wryly. "I guess pets really do take after their owners. Though, I suppose this would be the other way around," she said, resting her forehead against the proud avian's head. "Thank you."

Hedwig hooted and fluttered to the ground, spreading her feet in preparation.

000

"We got schooled by a little girl."

"I know."

"Did you see what she hit us with?"

Dino shook his head, feeling very uncertain and guilty, "No. But..." He shifted in his rope bindings, face grimacing. "I really hope Mrs Sawada shows up soon. I really need to go."

Tied together, back to back in the middle of Tsuna's bedroom, the two men sighed and fell quiet. Hopefully Mrs Sawada would come home soon.

000

Flying with Hedwig was... amazing.

She couldn't describe it! With Buckbeak, the steady beating of his wings, the way they caught under his legs and the way his shoulders dug into his thighs were all just very uncomfortable. Harry was comfortable in the air but he didn't think he could actually trust his safety to the Hippogriff.

With Hedwig, it was very different.

All of her anger fell away as the owl launched herself into the sky. Her great wings beating down at the air as they went higher and higher into the cold. She could feel it whipping at her skin and the wind raking through her hair with a vengence. But none of the discomfort came. The slow rise and fall of Hedwig's wings filled her ears, nothing more than a whisper of air and pressure as they soared. Her back was too broad and her wings set too far forward for her to sit astride, so she lay down and burrowed herself into the soft white down of her owl's back. Fascinated by how warm it felt when she ran her fingers down the white spines of each feather. How they throbbed with blood.

Complete trust.

Even when they went out over the ocean and the wind became harsher and colder, the salty wind beginning to flay her bare skin. A quick transfiguration of her glasses turned them into flight goggles and her hoodie into a fleece lined light jacket which she promptly snuggled into even further as the sun began to set, casting fiery highlights across the sky. It looked like they were flying over an ocean of blood, and all her worries came crashing back.

Her fury returned at the sight of the island and the several very expensive looking ships surrounding it.

She could see the Noveno watching her approach from one of them, his mouth rather unattractively agape as the gargantuan owl swept over head and towards the island.

Hedwig hooted softly, angling her body slightly and Ariah looked down, her eyes narrowing as she spotted them. They were climbing an ancient stair-way heading up and around the mountain. But... Ryohei, the white haired teenager, wasn't with them. So, they had left him behind as well, or had he declined?

"Let's go," she growled and the owl bobbed her head briefly before her wings folded.

Ariah clung to her back, unable to stop the fierce grin that split her face as her blood sang. The wind whistled around them, screaming in her ears as they plunged through the air, straight down at them.

She heard Lambo scream and then Hedwig's wings snapped open and they struck.

000

Lambo screamed and the three looked up, yelling in horror as something huge, white and fast lunged at them. Then suddenly a blast of air forced them down to their hands and knees as the, whatever it was, spread out massive pure-white and black speckled... wings?

"Hedwig?" Juudaime spluttered, staring agog at the massive white creature that landed with a ground shuddering thud on the stone ahead of them.

Hayato stared and realised, he had seen those markings before. It was Hedwig. And on her back was – oh shit.

The figure casually slid down the monstrously huge owl's back, her clothing and goggles snapping back into their original forms without prompting. But she didn't stop moving.

Hayato's eyes widened as the dark haired girl stormed over, her face beyond livid. He wasn't the only one who paled.

"How dare you," she snarled as she got closer.

"Hiii!" Tsuna eeped as she bore down on them.

"HOW DARE YOU!" she screamed raising a fist, Tsuna squealed and squeezed his eyes shut, arms raised defensively to shield his face from her attack.

It never came.

He cracked an eye open.

She was still there, still livid, fist still raised but... she just couldn't seem to let it fly.

Her face was anguished as she wavered, teeth gritting as her hand twitched but... her eyes were shut as if she remembered something painful.

Tsuna swallowed.

"DAMNIT!" she screamed turning around and kicking a rock so hard it shot off over the cliff and made quite a magnificent splash in the ocean below. "I want to hit you. I want to hit you so bad for what you did to me," she told them angrily. "But I can't, I fucking can't! Goddamnit." If she did, that would make her no better than Vernon who lashed out in anger, lashed out at people who would never defend themselves from him. Because Tsuna wouldn't. He wouldn't fight back or stop her. And she hated him in that moment. She hated him so much she wanted to cry.

"A-ariah," Tsuna muttered, still more than a little terrified but yet also strangely comforted. And now guiltier than ever before in his whole life.

"You shouldn't be here," Reborn told her darkly.

Her whole body stiffened and she turned very slowly to glare at him. Tsuna felt a chill. He never wanted that expression to be turned onto him. "I don't even want to look at you right now," she told her father, her voice shaky with fury. "Don't... don't even talk to me," she warned tightly, the wooden ring around her finger glowing ominously as the trees around them rustled without a breeze and Hedwig, watching from the background, puffed up warningly, clacking her beak warningly.

"This is none of your business, Ariah," the Arcobaleno snapped.

A tree branch exploded, making both Hayato and Tsuna jump. Lambo began to cry.

"It is my business you bloody git!" the girl snarled, "It became my business when Tsuna became my friend. It became my business when my Uncle put his life on the line. It became my fucking business because I won't let this end the same way it did for me!" she shouted, slipping back into English as her temper got the better of her.

Reborn reached for his gun.

Ariah's ring glowed as she threw up an arm.

"STOP! PLEASE JUST STOP!" Tsuna yelled, jumping between the two. Ariah's ring immediately stopped glowing, Reborn however, didn't lower his gun. "What we did was wrong, Ariah, we know that! But you were so badly injured," he told her, staring at her beseechingly. "We didn't know anything about the Shimon Rings, their powers, just that they wanted to kill us, make us suffer. That meant they would have killed you too. But you just... you just wouldn't step back. You would've gotten hurt and I... I didn't want that," he admitted quietly.

Her face may as well have been carved from stone. Her scowl had yet to even twitch.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Tsuna," she told him harshly and he near enough wilted under the force of her anger. "I've spent most of my life getting drugged one way or another," she growled, causing all of them to sit up in worry. "If it wasn't my Uncle slipping Anti-Freeze into my drinks as a kid, it was my School Teacher spiking my food with Control Potions. But from you guys... I trusted you."

Reborn actually flinched.

This was going downhill far too quickly and it really wasn't the place for it. "Its getting dark," Hayato interjected, "We should set up camp and rest for tomorrow."

"Ariah should go home," Reborn repeated.

"I will kick you over this cliff edge if you say that one more time," the girl growled as she stalked past and picked up the still sobbing Lambo, hugging him tightly and wiping his eyes and nose with a conjured cloth. Hedwig barked in agreement and Reborn, for once in his life, gave up. Shaking his head in defeat he sighed and began to order Tsuna to get some firewood – it would keep whatever scavengers that lived on the island away.

"Here, you can have my sleeping bag tonight," Hayato said, offering his 'niece' the padded navy blue sleeping bag.

"No, you keep it Hayato," she told him, pushing it back into his hands with a small smile. "I've slept enough," she finished coldly, shooting a glare at Reborn who settled himself down against a small log to keep watch.

000

Viola! Hope you guys have enjoyed it.

Just a few things, someone made a comment about how Ariah was acting as though Tsuna and his friends can't do anything. Well, this is Harry's special brand of arrogance XDD We see it all the time in canon. But in this case, Tsuna and Co. have kind of brought it upon themselves, she doesn't know about their previous adventures. Add in the fact that they're very weak right now, she's understandably terrified for them and not about to sit back and let them walk into this alone.

This IS a plotpoint.

Next chapter: Ariah vs Raiju