Cracks of Light
The guardians couldn't believe their eyes. They had finally found Tsuna but he was just standing there in the centre of an unlit room, his head tilted downwards.
"Juudaime! You're alright!..."
"Tsuna?..." Chrome called out hesitantly. Something was definitely off.
Their boss slowly lifted his head, showing the guardians his dull brown eyes and made no effort of acknowledging them, as if his guardians were complete strangers.
"This... Isn't Tsuna." Yamamoto said quietly, drawing his sword. "What have you done to Tsuna?! Where is he?!" the swordsman yelled uncharacteristically, slightly startling some of the other guardians. It was rare of Yamamoto to get so worked up and when he did, the matter was definitely serious.
At this point, all of the guardians were ready with their weapons, eyes scrutinising every movement of the brunet.
"Oh he's the real deal alright," a low voice rumbled, echoing throughout the room. Everyone went on high alert, their senses heightening. "But now, he's your enemy. Either you kill him, or die by his hands. Have fun."
Suddenly, a flame erupted from Tsuna's forehead. But instead of the bright orange flame, a sickening black flame took its place. Said flames appeared on his gloves and when the Decimo looked up, there was only one look his dull eyes were showing.
The intent to kill.
I... I can't harm Juudaime... I can't! Gokudera thought, taking a step back. "Is he... Possessed?..."
"No, he's not." Mukuro stated calmly, "I think it's one of that black flame's abilities which is to lock up the mind and soul. It looks like we'll just have to wake him up then."
A slight grin formed on Hibari's face as he raised his tonfas. "Enough talking. Let's see how strong this herbivore is." With that said, he charged forward and swung his tonfa at Tsuna's face.
Tsuna sidestepped and caught the incoming tonfa but Hibari quickly threw an uppercut with his other weapon. That powerful blow threw Tsuna back but he quickly got back on his feet, dashing towards Hibari as if nothing happened.
"I would like to extremely fight with Sawada but not like this! How do we wake him up?!" Ryohei yelled as he watched the intense fight between Tsuna and Hibari.
"It will depend mainly on Boss himself..." Chrome muttered.
~~~~~~~.
"Where am I?" Tsuna said aloud as he wandered aimlessly in the darkness.
"Your mind." a voice said. Tsuna turned around but saw nothing. He was about to activate his Dying Will flames but found that he couldn't and when he glanced at his ring, he realised it was the Scuro Vampa ring instead of his Vongola ring.
"What have you done to me?! Where are my friends?!" Tsuna yelled angrily as he went into a battle stance. I remember I was in my time again... And I jumped through the black sludge thing...
"You think you're capable enough? Think again." Suddenly, mirrors appeared all around and reflected the image of Tsuna but the reflection showed Tsuna with a cold, chilling smile. "Your pathetic Armonia famiglia was useless to begin with. Creating a new family was a foolish idea. Did you really think it would work out that easily?" The reflection said, his voice sending chills down Tsuna's spine.
"Enough!" the Decimo growled. "I have my friends back, and there's nothing you can do to take them away from me!"
"At the expense of your new famiglia." the reflection chuckled.
"Wh-What?"
A smirk formed on the reflection's face as he said softly, "Just getting all of you here and out, they had to sacrifice themselves. Isn't that sad?"
"You... You won't get away with this!" Tsuna dashed off, turning round the corners of the mirrors, only to be met with more of the accursed glass where his reflection laughed. Everywhere he went, there were only mirrors, mirrors, and more mirrors. What kind of sick joke is this! Tsuna screamed inside, making extra effort to not look at the mirrors. All of a sudden, the reflection of him changed to a scene of his friends. Tsuna froze on the spot and turned with wide eyes. Gokudera was looking positively livid while Yamamoto was holding him back with a frown on his face.
"If only you had done something, then they wouldn't have to go through all that with Ryumin Kyohei, no?"
Tsuna kept silent as he watched on as the scene changed to Chrome, looking dejectedly at a small photograph.
"They were counting on you, you know that?"
Tsuna gritted his teeth, letting his hair shadow his eyes. "You don't know anything."
"That girl you trusted, she betrayed you. Miko betrayed all of you. And it was your fault." as the voice said it, the mirrors all turned back to normal, except for the one in front of Tsuna.
"There's was no other choice! I tried already! You think you can do it better?!" Tsuna seethed, his fists clenched tightly.
"You are the-"
"Shut up, shut up! Shut up!" he yelled, punching the mirror in front of him which showed a blurry figure. However, a sickening squelch sounded and Tsuna stopped, his hand feeling slightly warm and damp. W-What... Happened?... As he drew his arm out, he caught sight of ruby liquid coating his arm. Drops of blood dripped onto the black floor, the sound echoing in his ears. So much blood from breaking a mirror?...
Tsuna gulped, his head slowly tilting up to see the reflection of the broken mirror. Brown eyes widened with horror as he saw not himself, but Miko, in the mirror.
~~~~~~~.
Reborn made his way towards the mansion where Tsuna and the others were, despite everyone's warnings. "Idiot Tsuna," Reborn muttered. "You can't act like a hero all the time."
Upon reaching the entrance, he turned on his communicator. "Irie, I want a connection to Tsuna and the others but the priority is that idiot. Understood?"
"Y-Yes Reborn!"
The infant's communicator crackled for a bit but died off just as fast. "What's going on?" Reborn asked.
"It'll be difficult to connect to Tsuna, but we will be able to connect to Yamamoto and the others in a minute."
With that said, the communicator buzzed for a while before sounds of grunting and explosions sounded. "Yamamoto. This is Reborn."
"Ah! Reborn! Finally! We couldn't contact anyone at all!" another explosion sounded in the background.
"What's going on now?" Reborn asked as he quickened his pace.
"Ahaha... It seems like we're in a bit of a pinch... You see, we're fighting against Tsuna."
"What?" Reborn hissed. "Why?"
"It's the horrible power of that stupid flame!" Lambo shouted into his communicator. "It's making Tsuna attack us!"
"And... We don't exactly want to kill him." Mukuro added.
Damn it... "Irie, change of plans. I don't want you to find where the guardians are. I want the location of the damn Scuro Vampa boss. Now."
~~~~~~~.
Tsuna gulped, his head slowly tilting up to see the reflection of the broken mirror. Brown eyes widened with horror as he saw not himself, but Miko, in the mirror.
She looked equally as shocked when she saw the hand through her stomach.
"How... Could this... Happen?... Father... Why?..." she croaked, falling to her knees.
Tsuna immediately stepped and looked at his bloody hand. The Scuro Vampa ring had morphed into a spike, which was why his hand went through the body easily.
"M-Miko?..." he uttered fearfully. I... Killed her? What he didn't expect was for Miko to give a faint smile.
"I... Deserved it... B-Betrayal runs in... The family... To Kyohei... Then now me... I should have known... Your friends... They're incredible, you know? Your Armonia family... They put up a good fight... Didn't expect... Them to sacrifice..." She paused, desperately trying to catch her breath. Tsuna kept silent throughout, unsure of whether to comfort or to lash out. That means... Tsukiyo and the others?...
"This is your mind..." she continued, even though she was short of breath already. "The only reason why I can die here is because... I am the black flames itself. I am the years of experimentation my father has done and I can't say I'm fully human... My weakness would be the black flames which I myself am made of..." she glanced at the ominous ring and shook her head. All that I have done for the Family... It doesn't matter anymore... "Since I have no use left, I might as well tell you that to get out of here... You need resolve. Good... Luck... And thank you... For being nice... To me." With that, all the mirrors surrounding him disappeared an she disintegrated into dust, leaving Tsuna alone to digest what he had just heard. Resolve?...
~~~~~~~.
Gokudera threw his dynamites, not aiming directly at Tsuna, but at the ground a few feet away. He couldn't bring himself to hurt his boss directly. Even with the indirect attacks, he still couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt.
As Tsuna tried to avoid the explosion, Yamamoto came from the opposite side with his katana raised. Using the blunt side of the katana, he swung it at the back of Tsuna's knees, causing the brunet to fall.
Mukuro then quickly conjured an illusion to trap Tsuna but the brunet was too fast and managed to roll sideways and threw a punch at Yamamoto. The blow threw the Rain guardian against the wall, causing a large crater.
"Geez, I wonder what Reborn's going to do..." Yamamoto sighed. Fighting against a friend is really difficult. Hibari doesn't seem to have any issues though, he thought as he watched the on-going fight. Ryohei's punches were not as strong as they usually were and Lambo was definitely holding back, as well as Chrome whose illusions weren't as destructive as her normal. Suddenly, his eye caught on to something. "Gokudera! Behind you!"
The Storm guardian instinctively swivelled round and threw an explosive which blew up at its target. "Shit! Juudaime! I'm so sorry!"
Everyone stopped and waited impatiently for the smoke to clear. "J-Juudaime?..."
The smoke soon dissipated and Tsuna appeared, his left shoulder bleeding profusely but he didn't seem fazed at all.
"Currently, he's not affected by pain and other emotions but at this rate, Tsunayoshi's body will be in ruins." Mukuro stated, his trident raised. This definitely did not bode well. He didn't want to take over a broken body after all.
"Boss... Please wake up!... Don't let it control you!" Chrome pleaded.
"Come on, Tsuna! I know you would never hurt us!" Yamamoto added, stretching himself. Getting slammed into the wall is seriously no joke...
"Tch, herbivore. Looks like I have to wake you up the hard way."
~~~~~~~.
"Reborn! I have the location! I-It's in the east wing underground!" Irie said.
"Got it," Reborn affirmed, making his way there. You're not getting away with this. Reaching the room, he made no effort to be discreet and kicked open the door, startling the two occupants inside.
"What the?! T-That's Reborn! Why are you here?! How?! Alfon, get him!" the one seated in a leather chair yelled.
"Hmph, don't underestimate me. Did you really think you could get away with all this? Messing with time?" the infant hitman growled, his Leon gun at the ready, aimed at the Scuro Vampa boss. His right-hand man immediately protectively stood in front of him, arms outstretched.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to hurt the boss," Alon said monotonously.
Reborn just smirked. "You don't have a choice." Without hesitation, Reborn started firing at Alon who could barely dodge them, leaving grazes all over. Alon tried to fight back but the level between him and the infant hitman was still too large.
"As expected of the world's greatest hitman... Boss, please leave." There was definitely no chance of winning.
"R-Right!" Lorenzo quickly stood up and made a mad dash for the door.
Big mistake.
Reborn shot at the floor in front of Lorenzo's feet, causing the boss to shriek.
"For a boss, you're more cowardly than Tsuna."
Lorenzo snorted and stepped back. "Not that your Decimo will survive after all that! Hah!"
Now it was Reborn's turn to snort. "I didn't train dame-Tsuna to be that weak. As a threat to Vongola and its Decimo, I will have to get rid of you." Reborn raised his gun. "Chaos Shot."
The attack was so quick that neither men had time to react. The bullet got them squarely in the head and they collapsed to the floor in a heap. "I didn't think they were that weak after all the big talk about the flames... Unless they were seriously depending on a trump card..." Jumping onto the table, Reborn scoured over the files, flipping them through. All these experiments... Are failures? Even Miko? Seems like they didn't think things through before taking action... Such great minds yet this had to happen. Retrieving another folder which was found in a locked drawer (broken by Reborn), he scanned through it, pausing at one of the sections. The council... This guy...! Reborn immediately made Leon change into a phone and dialling a few numbers, he waited for the other side to pick up.
"Reborn?"
"Nono, the council-"
A soft chuckle was heard. "I'm already on it. All you have to do is send me that file about him. He made one crucial mistake that decided his fate. He forgot to clean his laptop of information. Even though he hid it well, it was found quickly with the help of flames."
The hitman felt slightly relieved at this but he had to remind himself that it wasn't over yet. It all depended on Tsuna now. "Thank you, Nono, I'll contact you when it's over."
"Of course." With that, they hung up and Reborn got off the table and headed to where Tsuna and the guardians were.
~~~~~~~.
Tsuna closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Resolve... Resolve...
I want to go back to my friends, I don't want to be separated from them anymore...
"Tsuna!... Snap out of it!"
"Baka-Tsuna! You haven't played with Lambo enough yet! Stop fighting us!"
"Dame-Tsuna, stop being such an idiot."
Wh-What? Guys? Is that you? Tsuna opened his eyes and saw a faint screen showing his friends hurt. Injured.
No way... All this time, I was fighting... Them? I can't! Get me out... I will protect my friends no matter what! I won't let them get hurt because of me! I won't let my precious friends suffer because of me!
The Scuro Vampa ring suddenly glowed and crumbled, revealing the Vongola ring. "It's... back!" clenching his fists tightly, he concentrated on his flames, willing them to activate. Slowly but surely, his Sky flames appeared but as wisps, which gradually grew stronger in intensity. The flame pulsated strongly on his head and Tsuna could feel the warmth of it. Relaxing his hands, he sent out bright bursts into his surroundings and the darkness was soon taken over by the orange flames.
His vision blurred for a while but cleared soon after, showing his friends in front of him. However, he saw a metallic weapon coming towards him, and when it collided with his chest, Tsuna crashed into the wall behind.
~~~~~~~.
Chrome dodged another blow from Tsuna, careful to avoid the black flames on his hands. Vines shot up from the ground, tying themselves around Tsuna's legs as they tried to pull him down. Tsuna leaned back to avoid Mukuro's swipe of his trident and sent a blast of black flames which were dissolved by the blue flames from Yamamoto.
"You okay there, Mukuro?" Yamamoto asked, wiping his sweat from his forehead.
The Mist guardian nodded as he sidestepped. "Ah, the infant is here."
Turning around, the guardians saw that Reborn had entered and some of them seemed glad to see the hitman.
"Dame-Tsuna, stop being such an idiot and snap out of it." Reborn said sternly, staring into Tsuna's dull eyes. Suddenly, for a second, there was a flash of orange. Finally.
Tsuna broke away from the illusion and tried to attack Chrome who was in front. Lambo quickly shot out sparks of lightning, forcing Tsuna to change his direction. The brunet jumped back but stopped all of a sudden. The black flames on his forehead and hands slowly turned to a pale orange and his eyes brightened again. However, Hibari had no intention of stopping his attacks, even when Tsuna was seemingly back to normal.
Tsuna blinked a few times before registering the incoming tonfa. Before he could react, Hibari slammed the tonfa into his chest, throwing the Decimo against the wall. "Ouch..."
Gokudera immediately rushed to Tsuna's side, crouching beside him. "J-Juudaime! Are you alright?! Of course not, what am I saying?! You're hurt! I mean you're back to normal right?! I'm so sorry! The wound on your shoulder was my fault! Please forgive me! I will kill myself if need be so-"
"G-Gokudera! It's really okay! I... I'm so, so glad that all of you are alright..." Glancing up at his guardians, some of whom were not exactly in tip-top condition, Tsuna added meekly, "Some of you, I mean..."
Everyone soon gathered round Tsuna, relieved that their friend was back. "Welcome back, Boss," Chrome greeted with a smile.
"I'm back..."
"And you're in trouble, dame-Tsuna." Reborn said as he kicked his student's leg with surprisingly little force.
Uh-oh.
"But first, the medic. Your shoulder is bleeding."
"Ehhh?!" No wonder I'm feeling a little dizzy...
"I think we should get out of here, the place doesn't seem very stable from our destruction earlier on." Mukuro interrupted with a chuckle. He then pointed to Ryohei, "Especially from that noisy idiot."
"Hey! I had to extremely break down the walls to get out of there!" Ryohei defended. Lifting Tsuna up by the arm, the Sun guardian patted his uninjured shoulder. "It's extremely great to have you back, Sawada!"
Tsuna smiled as he leaned towards Ryohei for support. Yes, it was great to be back with his friends. He hadn't felt so at ease in years and with that warm feeling spreading inside him, Tsuna promptly fell asleep.
Ahhh It's been so long! So sorry for the extremely late update! RL has been drain all my energy and it made me lose my drive to write :( As you can see, this story is ending... In the next chapter. I kind of felt that this chapter was slightly rush so I apologise for that!
Anyway just a quick question and I hope you'll answer it! A Varia fic or a dark fic with Tsuna and his guardians? For the Varia fic, AU or Canon?
Oh and to the guest reviewer, what did you mean by you were having trouble keeping up with the story? Which part is confusing? Just wanna know so I can make amends to it!
Thank you everyone! Really appreciate all the reviews, faves and alerts!