Amaya looked away from Squalo when she noted the appearance of the Cervello at the other end of the hallway, once they had grabbed her attention the pink haired women pointed to their wrist and nodded their head. Amaya's eyes widened significantly and her breath hitched when she realised what that meant. It was time for the bombs to detonate, the fifteen allocated minutes had passed and neither Vongola or Varia guardian had yet been successful. If she had time to think straight, she might have argued that Gokudera had clearly won already and so this shouldn't be happening but right now all she could think about was Gokudera being blown up in a matter of minutes.
"What's going on?" Although Amaya had stopped watching Squalo, he never took his silver eyes off of her for a second and had watched her face turn grim. She didn't turn to look up at him.
"Boom." She spoke in barely a whisper. It was as if she was trying to convince herself that it wasn't going to happen and if she was quiet and still the bombs would not start their detonations.
"What?" Squalo asked a little louder this time after not really hearing what she had said. Her head snapped toward him, ready to repeat what she had just said when an explosion shook the building making her fall into the wall opposite the room the Varia were in. Squalo stabilised himself using the door frame whilst Levi stumbled slightly before the latter recovered and looked to the blonde woman outside.
"Hey what's happening?" Levi shouted to the panic-stricken judge who was currently looking around to find where the next explosion was going to come from like a cornered cat looking for an escape route.
"It's been fifteen minutes, the bombs in the turbines are activating," She spoke quickly, managing to move away from the wall when the second bomb set off and she was becoming used to the movement. "If Gokudera or Belphegor don't get the rings in less than a minute the library bomb will explode." She stopped then and looked in the direction of the library where she could hear the panicked cries of Gokudera as he also realised what was going to happen soon.
"Win or die, eh?" Amaya turned her head back to Squalo who was now watching the monitor as another bomb exploded. "Awesome." He ended with a wicked grin and before Amaya could even think about what she was doing, she knelt down to pick up a bit of rubble and with unusual accuracy, threw it through the infrared beams and straight at the Sharks head. "VOOII stupid Woman, I'll kill you when I get out of here!" Squalo bellowed as he rubbed the back of his head.
"If I last that long." Amaya mused before turning to walk to the library. Squalo saw her take the first few steps and panicked for some unknown reason, it must have been because if she were to die in a battle that the Varia would win they would be eliminated from the competition. Yeah, that must have been the reason.
"Hey Bitch! Get back here!" Squalo shouted at her as she walked towards the library, just as smoke from a nearby bomb engulfed the hallway they were in and she disappeared behind a dark cloud. "Hey!" She ignored him.
Amaya reached the library in time to see Gokudera pinned under a ravenous Belphegor who's only goal was to get the ring. It broke Amaya's heart when she decided what she was going to say to Gokudera, especially when she knew how loyal he was to the Vongola and how much he wanted to win. But she would not lose someone else, not tonight.
"Gokudera leave the ring!" She shouted loudly into the library, tears pricking at her eyes both from the emotion and the black smoke biting at her. "We need you alive and well, not dead!" She shouted again.
"Shut up! You sound just like him." Gokudera seethed as he pushed Belphegor on the floor again and started to wrestle.
"It's stupid to die over something like this." The speaker in the room emitted the words of Dr Shamal. Amaya was sort of happy he was here now, at least he would be able to treat Gokudera's wounds and help with her smoke inhalation. "Both of you get out of there." The command was meant for both Gokudera and Amaya but she would be damned if she left without him. He wouldn't be able to get out of the blast zone quick enough with his injuries.
"Do you want to watch me lose?" Gokudera yelled accusingly. "One win and three defeats mean we'll lose, it'll be over for us!". He managed to choke out as Belphegor got a strong grip on his white hair.
"It's not even a fight anymore." Shamal shouted from his observation area. Amaya looked to Belphegor then and fully took in the state of being he was in.
"Look at him, Hayato. I pity him." Amaya well and truly did pity the animalistic creature that Belphegor had become. All he knew was snarling and biting for the one thing he craved above everything else and that was the ring.
"I can't return empty-handed!" Gokudera suddenly exploded scaring Amaya slightly as she gripped on to the door frame. It was her way of preventing herself from intervening. "If I go back now, I couldn't call myself the boss's right-hand man."
"If you don't go back now then you won't be able to call yourself anything because you'll be dead!" Amaya screamed back to him, beginning to get angry now at his stupidness. Another explosion sounded off nearby shaking the library, it wouldn't be long now.
"Trust me, I can do this." The bomber tried to still persist. Amaya swears if this weren't some trial for something so important, she would have knocked him out and dragged him out of there ages ago with no arguments. Amaya heard the shouts of the other Vongola kids before another bomb went off.
"Twenty seconds until the library explodes." The Cervello spoke through the sound system alerting the two boys and their companion judge about their impending doom.
"I won't leave this place, even if I die." Gokudera said one last time.
"Cut the crap!" Unexpectedly, Tsuna was the one to shout at Gokudera this time. It was what broke Amaya out of the trance she had been in a few seconds prior that had somehow resulted in her sliding down the door frame to sit on the floor when she realised how quick her death was coming. "What do you think you're fighting for?!" Tsuna started again. "We've gotta have a snowball fight together again, Amaya wasn't there for the last one!" As if on cue, Amaya and Gokudera looked at each other over the rubbish scattered throughout the room. "We've got to watch fireworks! That's why you're fighting! That's why you're getting stronger! I want to have fun with everyone again and that won't happen if you die!" Amaya knew in that moment that everything was going to be fine, if anyone could change Gokudera's mind it was Tsuna and she relished in the relief she felt knowing she wouldn't be dying yet.
"That's my boy." She murmured out with a small smile.
"Amaya." Gokudera said her name as he took of the ring which made her react immediately. She stood up from her space as the bomb started to count down to detonation. In that moment she had tunnel vision, she ran to Gokudera not caring when she 'accidentally' kicked Belphegor, and scooped the teenager up like he weighed nothing before running like a mad woman out of the room just as the bomb detonated. She wouldn't be penalised for intervening right now because Gokudera already forfeited the ring but it was hilarious that the thought of what the Cervello might do was running through her head as she felt an intense heat on her back and fell forwarded due to the impact. Amaya kneeled once the explosion dissipated and turned to Gokudera who was breathing heavily.
"Come on Gokudera, you aren't dead yet." She joked as she offered her hand out to the injured boy. Gokudera was still a bit dazed but managed to grasp Amaya's hand enough for her to sling his arm over her shoulder to help him walk.
"Thank you." Gokudera choked out as he stumbled with her down the hall.
"You pull shit like that again and I won't be saving your ass next time." She spoke sternly before smiling to herself. "And you're welcome." The duo walked a bit more before emerging from the smoke to see the Vongola stood there watching them. "Delivery, one stupid teenager, extra crispy." Amaya said before buckling under the weight of Gokudera and falling to the floor in a way that wouldn't injure the boy.
"Gokudera! Amaya!" The guardians yelled as they came running toward the both of them. Amaya put her hands up to show she was okay before shuffling away so that the Guardians could check on the missing Storm. She stood behind them, Shamal next to her and watched as Tsuna kneeled in front of Gokudera.
"I'm sorry, boss." Gokudera managed to speak. "I told you I'd get the ring but, I came back to see the fireworks."
"I'm glad, I really am." Tsuna spoke calmly but even then, it didn't stop Gokudera from looking up in complete and utter shock.
"But I lost." He argued.
"Thank you, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna smiled towards his friend which in turn made Amaya smile too.
"Gokudera escaped with his life, he sure matured at the end there." Shamal commented with a small smirk.
"He sure kept me guessing." Amaya added with a small cough as Reborn landed on her shoulder.
"Are you okay Amaya?" The baby asked her only for the blonde to shake it off.
"I'm fine, it's just smoke inhalation. Besides he is the one who need the medical care of a doctor." She side glanced Shamal he appeared to ignore her. She was brought back to looking at the Vongola when Gokudera shakily stood to his feet and proceeded to grab Yamamoto's shirt.
"Yamamoto, I leave it to you now," He said seriously before becoming embarrassed. "It's not like I want to ask you, you of all people..."
"Gokudera are you really in a position to insult those who can probably beat you up right now?" Amaya asked the white-haired teen before Yamamoto looked to her with a smile then back to Gokudera.
"Don't worry, Amaya. I've got it, Gokudera." As soon as the words left the baseball players mouth the bomber teen fainted but the rest of the boys managed to catch him before he did any real damage.
"Hey be careful!" Amaya yelled at Gokudera before running to the side of Ryohei who was managing to keep the boy held up.
"Excuse me," The Cervello broke the tender moment as the smoke disappeared revealing both the pink haired women and the Varia. "The storm ring has been given to Belphegor." They announced. "He is therefore the winner of this match."
"I'm surprised he survived such a blast, especially with his pre-existing wounds." Amaya mused as she looked to the Varia robot who was holding Belphegor under him arm.
"What a hilarious ending!" Squalo shouted over to the Vongola side when it became clear enough to see him. Amaya glared at him, ignoring the way his eyes quickly scanned over her, in favour of simply hating him for that statement. "Your lives are as good as blown now." Did he just make a joke? There is no way that word choice could have been anything but deliberate.
"Not only that, your Guardians of the Mist and Cloud rings haven't appeared yet, have they?" Mammon continued after Squalo. The Vongola kids took in a gasp of breath as the woman standing amongst them suddenly stood very straight.
"What did that baby just say about other guardians?" Amaya asked in a sickly-sweet voice as she looked between the three conscious boys. "You mean to tell me that you have not seen the two other people who will be a part of your guardians?" Her voice rose slightly higher, scaring Tsuna to stand behind Yamamoto slightly who as usual had a smile on his face to try to calm her down.
"Well no b-"
"What the fuck is happening right now! When the hell where you going to tell me about the fucking situation we are in?" Amaya suddenly erupted like Mount Vesuvius on the boys, screaming like a hysterical woman as she looked between them all, one hand raised to her forehead to try and calm down.
"Now now, calm down Amaya." Yamamoto tried to ease her down only to have her turn on him in an instant.
"Don't tell me to calm down when I've just been given the shittiest news of my life, your life might not depend on this Yamamoto because there is probably some fucking ancient mafia law but if everything goes wrong here, I will most certainly die." Amaya told him, the severity of her situation only just being realised by the boys. "This news has just made the odds much worse than they already were." There was a moment of silence, a very grim silence before Amaya raised her head to the Cervello and nodded once as a way of telling them to continue.
"We will now announce the next match card." The pink haired woman started, sending Tsuna into a small panic which Amaya tried to ignore as much as possible because the topic was the one, she had just had a breakdown over. "Tomorrow night's match will feature...Rain."
"Yeah, I've been waiting for this!" Squalo shouted sending a wave of dread of Amaya as she looked to see which one of Tsuna or Yamamoto was the raid guardian, after all the other two weren't present. "Better not run off because of how I wiped the floor with you last time, sword boy." He continued in an intimidating way that made Amaya look up to Yamamoto once she deduced who it finally was. This could only spell trouble. Also, when was the last time that the two of them had met each other and fought? No one had ever told Amaya that before and to be honest it annoyed her slightly, you'd have thought they might have given her some back story about that incident.
"You battled against him before?" Amaya spoke quietly to Yamamoto who was standing near her.
"Yep." Was his simple response as he kept his gaze focused on the shark who seemed to notice that both of them were talking to each other.
"I'm guessing it didn't go too well." Amaya replied again as she crossed her arms over her chest, her hand absentmindedly going to the two cuts that were made by the shark.
"Yeah it didn't go how I wanted." Yamamoto admitted to her with a slight down casted look.
"Promise me," She started before grinning. "This time you'll give him hell." Yamamoto grinned with her, turning to her before placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Promise," He spoke to her before releasing his hand and turning to the others. "No need to worry about that, I'm so excited I'll be up all night." He spoke loudly with determination which stopped Squalo glaring at the blonde woman to turn back to the baseball fanatic.
"Cocky, huh?" Squalo spat out in annoyance.
"I'm sure he has reason to be," Amaya started with a cocky grin in order to back up her favourite baseball boy. "I mean I'm sure he can deliver cuts better than these ones." She lifted her hand in order to gesture to the two cuts that he had given her. She didn't know how she got into this position, this is what happens when you are raging with anger but can't quite back it up, you just do things that are going to put you in even more shit.
"A-Amaya when did you get those!" Tsuna squealed. They did look very red but they didn't hurt that much now, although if she was to rub the bottom one that Squalo made today it would probably start to bleed again. Amaya ignored Tsuna's fussing and the look of worry from the others, instead her gaze was locked with that of the hungry, bloodthirsty, shark who was currently glowering at her.
"VOOII is that a challenge, bitch!" Squalo shouted at her after a few moments of intense eye contact. His eyes were glowing with excitement and they matched her mischievously glowing ones in some weird mismatched way.
"More of a statement really." She shrugged back with an amused tone, thoroughly enjoying pushing his buttons a bit although she knew that she would think about the consequences later and regret her decision. Just as Squalo was about to take a step forward and reply, a black figure dropped down behind the Varia making them turn to him.
"Captain Levi, someone has infiltrated the school." The figure said quickly. Amaya turned to the Cervello with a quizzical look before looking to Shamal with another look of puzzlement. "The lightning strike squad has been taken out one-by-one." Those words shocked Amaya. Who was powerful enough to obliterate an entire squad of varia guards? Furthermore, would they also try to harm the Vongola while they were at it.
"Is this a mutual enemy?" Amaya shouted over to the Varia, trying not to sound concerned but rather trying to sound like she was just trying to gather information. She wasn't surprised when the Varia didn't answer her and so turned to the Vongola instead.
"I told you your guardians will be here." Reborn told the Vongola with a smile on his face.
"Tsuna has a guardian who is strong enough to do something like this?" Amaya asked him in wonder as she gestured out towards the Varia Guardians. Once Reborn nodded to her question she turned back to face the Varia, her eyes wide at such a revelation. Perhaps her odds weren't going to be that terrible at all. Squalo watched her face and deducted the good news from the expressions before telling the other Varia Guardians.
"Damn it, who is he?" Levi began to seethe as his lackey kept him up to date on how the mystery guardian was progressing. "Don't let him escape with his life! At this rate, we won't be able to face the boss!" Amaya's eye twitched at the sheer mention of the word 'boss', this man was literally Gokudera but 1000 times worse and even more scary.
"I wonder who it is?" Basil asked the group as Amaya and Ryohei lay Gokudera safely on the floor so that smashed glass would not cut him.
"He's back from his training." Reborn elaborated which even made Amaya more quizzical.
"Wait, you told me you didn't know who the guardians were?" She asked them now very confused. Her confusion seemed to be contagious as Ryohei also gripped his head complaining that he was also confused.
"We know one of them...but not the other. Sorry we didn't say that earlier." Tsuna told her while scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Go on then, tell me who this other one is." She demanded, astounded that if this hadn't of happened, they probably wouldn't have told her who the other guardian was. Tsuna opened his mouth to give her a name but was interrupted by the sound of a body falling limply to the floor. Amaya turned quickly to see a familiar face walking into the corridor, tonfas in hand in the most malicious way she could have imagined.
"Hibari Kyoya." Amaya said with a large smile across her face. Hearing his name, the raven-haired disciplinary leader looked up to see one of his old school pupils.
"Tokudome Amaya." She nodded her head to him in greeting which he responded with. Before Hibari joined the school, Amaya was part of the disciplinary committee, quite high up in the ranking, but upon seeing him and his personality she stepped down to create an opening. It's not something she thought too much of until Hibari took it out of control, what can she say, she created a monster. He then turned to the Varia with an annoyed look. "Trespassing on school grounds, damaging school property, you're collectively responsible." The conclusion he drew made Amaya groan and roll her eyes. "I'll bite every person here to death."
"Are you a Guardian of the Ring from Sawada's side?" Shorts asked Hibari who only turned to her with a blank look. "If that's the case, such behaviour cannot-."
"How dare you hurt my men!" Levi interrupted the Cervello to stand in front of Hibari. Amaya held back a laugh, she was so looking forward to Levi getting what he deserved and she had a front row seat.
"Guardians cannot fight for personal-." Shorts started again only for Levi to punch her into a wall and out of his way. Amaya saw red and unsheathed her hammer just as Hibari tripped Levi towards her. She quickly put a foot on Levi's back, hooked the handle of the hammer under his neck and proceeded to pull his neck back while forcing his body to the ground. The man was chocking in seconds, if she did this long enough, he would pass out and if she applied just a bit more pressure, she would snap his neck.
"Y-you can't...do this." Levi managed to splutter out. He was having a terribly hard time doing anything other than trying not to pass out.
"It's outside of the ring battle times and may I remind you," Amaya started before applying a bit more pressure. "You're being a dick! Now apologise." Amaya had never heard an apology leave anybody quicker and so now that she was satisfied, she removed the hammer from his throat and walked to check on Shorts.
"He's Gola Moska's opponent." Mammon said, as always narrating for those who did not know that much. If the robot was Hibari's opponent then there were no worries at all, Hibari could smash that thing in his sleep.
"Mammon what do you think?" Squalo asked.
"Levi is the slowest among us and he's not in top condition at the moment, even so he displays considerable skill." Something about how Mammon phrased it made Amaya think that they were trying to play it down when in reality they were very worried about the impending cloud battle.
"That's enough to impress you? You're better off judging sorcery." Squalo responded to Mammon, making Amaya glare at him after assuring Shorts was okay.
"There is always a cynic." Amaya sighed audibly earning her a glare from Squalo before he continued. Meanwhile Yamamoto was trying to coax Amaya back to the Vongola side in case one of them, mainly Squlao, went to attack her. For the Shark's speed, they were too close together.
"From a swordsman's perspective, he might as well have been standing still." Squalo jabbed at Hibari just as Yamamoto finally got Amaya's attention and placed her between himself as the head of the disciplinary committee. Amaya knew what Yamamoto was trying to do and smiled at him in thanks, it was her job to try and keep the boys alive but that didn't mean they couldn't stop her from getting herself killed every so often. "VOOII, how many times do you want me to cut you!" Squalo shouted to Hibari who only began to smirk as he raised his tonfa toward him.
"You next?" Hibari teased much to Amaya's amusement. The woman raised an eyebrow toward Squalo, daring him to try and take on this person who she somehow seemed to know. He was going to fight the newcomer anyway but now that this woman had made it a game, he was going to make sure she regretted challenging him.
"Please stop." Dress spoke up. "Fighting between guardians outside of the arena will leader to disqualification." This statement of course sent Tsuna in to a panic, he turned to Amaya for help but the woman just looked at him apologetically while shaking her head, she knew better than to stop him.
"Now, now..." Both Amaya and Tsuna were shocked to see that Yamamoto had made his way over to Hibari to try to calm him down. Amaya wanted nothing more than to yell at him to 'ABORT MISSION' but she wanted to see what he was going to do. "I know you're angry."
"Move it." ABORT YAMAMOTO, ABORT. "Don't get in my way." Hibari made a move to swing at Yamamoto but before he could the taller boy had grabbed hold of the tonfa and was holding it behind Hibari in a move that was too quick for Amaya to see. Amaya turned to Shamal, a man she knew was very well versed in the mafia, hoping he would look as if what just happened was normal but he too had a look of surprise on his face.
"The long-haired guy is my opponent, bear with me." Yamamoto spoke softly. He wasn't even breathing like he had just done some sneaky ninja move, it was as if it was something, he did regularly. And that had Squalo's blood boiling.
This wasn't going to end well. Squalo now had a glimpse of what Yamamoto could do and if his face was any inkling, the baseballer had improved since the last time they went head to head. Not that Amaya thought Squalo was going to pull his punches in the fight, but now she especially knew he wasn't just going to put his all into the fight, he was also going to be cruel and malicious about it. The fact it was Yamamoto worried her, if Yamamoto were to fail in the battle tomorrow then Squalo would no doubt slaughter him, just to spite her, and would parade it everywhere. She wasn't sure she could hold the Vongola together if that happened.
She just hoped it wouldn't come to that.