Wow! I see a lot of people liked the last chapter, and I'm glad to hear it! I won't keep you waiting any further for this chapter, so just enjoy!
Chapter 25 Revelations
Meanwhile, in the sewers of Italy under the Vongola Headquarters, a small group of people were interrogating over an old man tied up with white hair that was surprisingly the identical of the Vongola Nono.
Earlier, they had invaded the Vongola Headquarters so that Iemitsu could talk to the Nono, but instead, the Nono had turned out to be a fake, and it was found out that his private jet, Feniche, had flown to Japan, making them conclude that the Ninth had left to Japan to oversee the battles while leaving a double, which was unusual. If the man had wanted to oversee the battles, he would have just come and show his face.
Iemitsu leaned on the brick wall, holding his bandaged waist with blood slowly seeping. Moretti, his spy, held up the light for everyone to see what was happening.
"Now, tell us what you know! Where's the real Vongola Nono?" a woman with blond hair named Oregano demanded.
A man with a stern looking face, Turmeric, held the old man in its suit, but the old man didn't seem to mind and just laughed like a lunatic. "It's too late…"
The man pulled him closer to face his eyes, "What's too late? Answer us or else!"
The man laughed again, "Do you really want to know? Then I'll tell you," he said, his sinister smile never leaving his face. "Did you know that Vongola was making the military's secret weapon?" he started. "An accursed weapon that was supposed to be lost in the shadows of history,"
It was then when Oregano remembered the notes that she, Turmeric and their Arcobaleno companion, Lal Mirch, had found in an abandoned laboratory a few hours before. "You mean the humanoid weapon that was sent to the Varia…"
"Yes, the Gola Mosca," the imposter confirmed.
Iemitsu recognized that to be present when he had announced the battles, "Mosca?"
"The reason why Gola Mosca was hidden, even though the military did all it could to erase it…I bet you don't know why," he taunted.
"What are you saying?" Oregano demanded.
The imposter kept smiling, "Gola Mosca is a weapon without a shred of humanity. The thing moves by eating human life!"
Lal looked at Iemitsu for clarification, "What is he saying?"
"Strictly speaking, it runs off the life energy of a special kind of flame that can be harvested from a certain kind of person…" he revealed.
Iemitsu realized what he was trying to say. "C-Could he mean…"
"Master," Oregano addressed him.
"What's the matter?" Lal wondered.
Iemitsu tried to stand up, "We need to cancel the conflict over the Cloud Ring right now!" he said.
But the man continued to cackle, "Oh, and one more thing," he said, gaining their attention. "It has come to me that the Varia had planned on expanding the cockpit of the host, making it a space enough for two people to fit in, to strengthen the power of the weapon…"
Iemitsu looked at him, "Who's the second host?!" he demanded.
"Xanxus has found that person quite powerful ever since he has acquired that person," the imposter said.
"H-He didn't…" Iemitsu trailed off.
"Yes. The second host was proved that she possesses an even stronger flame than the Ninth and your son. The second host is none other than your precious daughter." He revealed.
All of them could see the color drain in Iemitsu's face. His only thought was, 'No, not Tsuna!'
…
Natsuki stared at the unmoving humanoid on a crater. Everyone was guessing when the humanoid would start to move and attack again.
"H-He beat that monster!" Ryohei stated.
"You did it Natsuki," Yamamoto praised.
"Splendid work Tenth!" Gokudera seconded.
Alaude stared at the scene, "Is it over?" he wondered. "That was pretty rough,"
Kyouya looked at Natsuki, with interest.
"As expected, a mechanical weapon is no match against Natsuki-dono!" Basil exclaimed.
But Reborn was not convinced. "But there's one thing I'm hung up on," he stated. "They could have unleashed Mosca's power and defeated us, wiping us out. Xanxus…why did he act in this roundabout way?" he started to wonder.
Natsuki stared, pretty much glared at Xanxus. "Xanxus, what is this?" he demanded.
Suddenly, Mosca's propellers activated again, and Natsuki saw it. As it reached him, Natsuki stopped it by its shoulder with one hand, making him slide back, but he held his ground and used his other hand and emitted his flames, and sliced the humanoid in half opening its insides. The robot lost its energy and it kneeled on the ground.
But what Natsuki was looking at inside the Mosca made his eyes widen. Two figures fell on the ground, coming out of the inside of the Mosca. Natsuki's eyes widened as he saw the two figures.
One was a man with white hair and mustache, pale skin, of Italian descent. The other was very, very familiar to Natsuki. It was a girl with long brown hair, and pasty complexion.
"N-No…" Natsuki muttered. "Nono…Nee-san!" he said as he kneeled to the ground, the flames on his forehead disappearing, and his eyes returning to that caramel color.
"W-What?" the others muttered under their breaths.
The Hibari twins stared, "Tsunarumi…" Kyouya murmured in shock.
"The Vongola Nono and Hime-sama…" Gokudera muttered. "They came out of the Mosca!"
Basil was also awestruck, "Why…why are they here?!"
"What…in the world is going on?" he wondered. "Why were they inside Mosca?"
Reborn went to the two, "Hey, hang in there," he looked at the expanded Mosca. "I've seen Mosca's structure once before, but it has been expanded so that two people would fit in. It seems like Nono and Tsuna were being used as Gola Mosca's power supply…"
"Why…?"
"This is no time to be asking why," Xanxus interjected. Natsuki stared at him, "You attacked Nono and your sister,"
Natsuki's eyes narrowed in shock. He had hurt his sister and the man that he had treated as his own grandfather.
Reborn took off the binds off of Nono, "There's no wounds on him…" he said. "Nono is fine, but…" he looked at Tsuna who had a wound on her. He took off her binds to find that there was a wound on her stomach. "Tsuna must have taken the blow, seeing that Nono had some slight wounds, but her wounds can't be dealt with using first aid."
In a matter of seconds, Kyouya and Alaude went to Tsuna's unconscious body. "Tsunarumi!" Kyouya shouted in concern.
"It's bad. She needs medical attention immediately," Alaude stated.
"That's…"
"Who mercilessly punched her?" Xanxus began to question. "Who scorched Mosca into two, along with the old man and the girl?" Natsuki involuntarily looked at his hands with guilt written on his face. By now, Kyouya was suppressing his rage.
"T-That's…" his eyes were narrowing, "I…Nono and Nee-san…I…"
"No," they heard the old man say. Xanxus was also shocked at the awakened man. As for Natsuki, he was feeling something else. The Nono that he knew had a warm feel around him…but this time, it was pretty creepy, as creepy as a certain illusionist's…
"No…I'm not the Nono," he admitted. Then a smirk crept on his face. Everyone shivered at thte sight of the Ninth maing that kind of malicious face. It was then when mist covered the whole place. It started to fog up making some of them unable to see through it.
Alaude glared at the mist, "You're late!" he complained.
"Nufufufu, I had to disguise myself and infiltrate the Varia base here in Namimori you know," Daemon's voice stated. The figure that was once the Ninth that was lying down stood up, changing his form. "I've got to say, looking like an old man is too much for me, and it could scar me for life if I ever looked like that when I wake up," he reasoned.
"Sheesh, of all the people you have to imitate, why him?" Lampo's voice said.
"Stop the complaining brat, it's under orders," G.'s voice said.
"Maa, there's nothing to get pissed about," Ugetsu was heard.
"All we have to do is the job that Regina ordered us," Knuckle's voice stated.
"That's enough, we are here on an assignment, and we have work to do," finally, Giotto's voice was heard at the same time the mist cleared.
All looked at them when they suddenly appeared in the battle field. To say the least, they all looked in shock when they saw the Ninth under the support of Knuckle and Ugetsu, wearing some formal clothes.
"N-Nono…" Natsuki muttered.
Xanxus looked like he was about to explode, "You…" he seethed.
G. smirked, "Surprised to see your battery number one out of the humanoid?" he taunted.
Alaude stood up and looked at Xanxus, "It was a good plan, replacing Vongola Nono with an imposter, so that no one would suspect that he is the battery of the Mosca, and making sure that everyone thinks that Feniche is still in Italy for maintenance. Then you requested Sentinella to help out on your quest for power," he stated. "But you didn't know that Regina had already decided upon the successor of the Vongola before she even contacted you, because someone had sent a request letter before you,"
"Regina ordered you to acquire Tsuna in order to see what you will do to her to be of use, and when you noticed that she carried such immense flames, you immediately ordered the expansion of Gola Mosca's cockpit to fit in two so that Tsuna could have room," Ugetsu continued.
"You planned on framing Sawada Natsuki by using Gola Mosca so that the moment he destroyed the humanoid, he will be framed of killing Vongola Nono. Then you found out about Tsuna and added her into the mix, thinking that if the others learn that Natsuki attacked the two of them, you would be having an advantage to avenge what happened to your father and his sister that he had tried to kill," Knuckle continued.
"You know yourself that winning the conflict was not enough, because the ones who were aware of the truth of the Crib incident would decide against you becoming the Decimo. So you formulated this plan. If you avenge Nono, they would turn into your favor and do it nicely," Lampo supplied.
Giotto stared at Xanxus, "You are exposed, Xanxus," he declared.
The others did not believe on what they were saying, let alone believe that they were actually aware of the whole affair. Xanxus merely glared, "What is it to you? And why are you going on in the affairs of the Vongola when your relatives are the only ones involved?" he demanded.
"Nufufufu," Daemon chuckled, "You still don't get it don't you?" he said. "You asked Sentinella to decide upon who will be the successor of the Vongola, and now you ask why we are meddling?" they noticed something glint on their collars with a black shiny pin with an unfamiliar insignia to those who had no idea concerning the inner workings of the mafia world.
Natsuki looked at them, "Then…!"
Gokudera was the one who answered, "Tenth, they are Sentinella, and before you offered all of us to be your guardians, we were members of it," he admitted, his face showing guilt. An expression that he has never seen marred on the boy's face. When Natsuki looked at his other guardians, he could see that they were all guilty of being involved in Vindice's spy branch.
Reborn, Basil, Natsuki and the remaining Varia members were shocked at the revelation, most especially Natsuki. He had never thought that the Sentinella organization was just under their noses the whole time, and they had worried themselves in knowing who the agents are. He felt like he was made a fool.
Reborn stared at the unconscious Tsuna, "What about her?" he wondered.
Giotto shook his head, "She is not a member," he confessed. It was the truth. Tsuna was not a member, but their Regina della Sentinella. "We had used Tsuna to be the main bait of everything that had to do in the Ring Conflict, and she has approved of being one."
Natsuki stared at his twin, "B-But…why would Nee-san do that…?"
Lampo sighed, "You still don't know?" he wondered. "The moment Tsuna found out about this, she didn't hesitate to become the bait so that she could ensure that you become the Decimo," he explained.
"Oh, and one more thing Xanxus," Alaude said, "You were not eligible of becoming the Vongola Decimo, so why die trying?" he wondered.
Xanxus' hands glowed dangerously, "You…"
Alaude merely smirked as he held up his hands and handcuffed Xanxus' hands by the gold handcuffs that came out from the ground. When he looked at Alaude, he was holding the chains that had came from underground. "No use destroying my handcuffs Xanxus. This is made to neutralize your Flame of Rage," he warned.
Giotto nodded in thanks to Alaude, "As he was saying, you have no right to inherit Vongola, Xanxus, because you are not a Vongola," he revealed.
Natsuki looked at the old man that was being supported by Knuckle and Ugetsu, "Nono…is this true?"
"True as the day it was discovered," a new voice said. All turned to see Squalo being pushed by Romario, and beside him was Dino.
"So you're alive," Xanxus said with disdain. He then looked at his so-called father, "Well go on, and tell the truth. Prove that you are not the person people think you are!" he demanded.
Timoteo had no choice but to tell it. "Xanxus is not my son by blood," he explained. That got the attention of everyone. "His mother went delusional after she saw Xanxus emit the Flame of Rage. She believed that I had fathered her child. But I hadn't seen him before in my life. But because the child believed what his mother had said, I had decided to take him in as my son. I treated him as such, until the day that I had to decide on who will be my successor. I chose Federico, since he was my most favored son, but Xanxus had protested. It was not until he had come across my diary did he find out the truth about himself…"
"That reason alone created the Crib incident, and I had done everything so that the fact that Xanxus was the one who started it under wraps. His time stood still for eight years because…I froze him myself," he admitted.
"By the use of the Zero Point Breakthrough," Natsuki supplied. "That would explain his scars…"
"Correct…and now because of my weakness, Xanxus awoke once again…" Timoteo finished.
Xanxus scoffed, "Now that everyone knows, what are you going to do about it?"
"We won't do anything," Giotto answered, "But Regina will,"
The Cervello then started to intervene, "We have received orders from Regina della Sentinella about this matter," they revealed. One of them carried a large laptop. "She would like to talk to you all," they announced.
The screen flashed and showed the insignia of Sentinella, and in no time at all, a girl's figure was revealed, sitting on a throne-like chair, her legs crossed. She was wearing a white turtleneck sweater and a black skirt, and black stockings, and it was supplied by a pair of brown leather boots. Her long black hair was slightly curvy, and when they looked at her, she was wearing an obsidian black mask that covered her upper face, leaving only her lips.
"Ciao, Vongola," she greeted in a mature voice. She was wearing a black voice alteration choker. "As you may know, I am the one they call Regina della Sentinella, the leader of the Watchers." She introduced. "It has come to my knowledge about the multiple conspiracies and the conflict of succession of the Vongola that has been on for quite a few weeks now, and as requested, I am now revealing myself to choose the formidable successor of the family. Do excuse my casual clothing though," she said with a small chuckle.
All watched as the woman, or girl, explains herself, "Since now that Vongola Nono had finally shed light into the matter of the Crib incident and the ineligibility of Xanxus as a successor, it is only proper that Sawada Natsuki be the proper Vongola heir as the Decimo," all expected this answer, "And thus, all of the Vongola Rings must be given to his family, yes? But that will not be the case though," she said. "It's my time to turn the tables. As the one privileged to choose the successor by official right and request, I have sent an official order to the Cervello to confiscate all of the Vongola Rings and are to be in my possession as soon as possible,"
The others couldn't move an inch when they heard that. Confiscating the rings? Did she even have the right to do that?
Reborn looked at the screen, "But why, may I ask?" he asked.
"A good question, Arcobaleno," she said. "I have seen the worth of the guardians as I watched over the battles, but I am still yet to see the worth of the ones who are supposed to inherit the title itself," she explained. "Now that the heir has been narrowed into one, I must test the potential of the very person, which is Sawada Natsuki. Therefore, within a week, Sawada Natsuki is to prove himself if he has the right to succeed the Vongola while fighting against me," she explained.
"What?" Dino said in surprise.
"What if he fails?" Reborn demanded.
The woman showed a smile, "Should he fail, then we have to make the older twin the Decimo," she said. "After all, it was her birthright, and it was deprived from her, in favor of the boy in the family," she stated and clicked her tongue, "As much as I hate sexists, I had voted that she has every right to be one. And she had already showed potential when she had powered the Gola Mosca, proving that she has more flame reserves, does it not?"
All were silent at this. "Please don't let Tsunarumi know of this little talk hmm? Or else she would go on an unnecessary rampage about it. Well then, enough chit-chat. I will contact you to tell you where to go, but for now, use this remaining week to recuperate, Sawada Natsuki. I will be expecting a good fight from you. Ciao," she bid and the screen flashed back to black.
"Now that the terms had been announced by her," the Cervello woman started, "We are to confiscate all of the rings, and send them to Regina della Sentinella immediately," they said.
They all complied as they gave out the rings. Daemon had asked Mukuro's earlier, knowing of the outcome, and all the rings fell into the possession of the Cervello and left.
After the whole thing, Giotto spoke, "Now that the announcement of Regina has been done, the order given to us is to release the Varia and are to be deported back to Italy under base arrest. Nothing must come in or out of the base unless there is permission with the ones stationed in Italy." He announced.
"Wait," Gokudera said, looking at his cousin especially, "Why were we not told about this assignment? Does Regina not trust us?" he demanded.
G sighed as he answered him, "Hayato…she especially wanted you six to be kept in the dark about this," he answered.
"W-What? Is she serious?" Yamamoto trailed off.
Kyouya looked ready to kill. "Why?" he demanded.
"Regina knew that you were one day going to become the guardians of Sawada Natsuki," Alaude explained. "She knew that, just like that guy did. You were meant to become the guardians of the Vongola Decimo,"
The four of them stayed silent. Then they remembered what the Parallel Lambos had said when they met them. They didn't know Natsuki, but they knew them. They were the guardians of the Vongola Decimo no matter who that Decimo is.
"I'm sorry if you guys are kept in the dark, but it has to be this way," Ugetsu said apologetically.
"We better get going," Knuckle said as he went to Dino so that he could hold the old man instead. "He still needs some rest and it is advisable to take him to the hospital," he informed.
Dino took him with the support of Romario.
"We have to go now," Daemon said as he slammed the end of his trident on the ground. Soon after, the Varia members were all in the custody of Giotto and the others, and just like when they appeared, they disappeared the moment Daemon had conjured the thick mist.
…
Tsuna was sent to the hospital for a wound in the stomach because of second degree burn. Nana had been told that there had been a little accident, which she had bought, but she was required to rest and stay in the hospital or some much needed rest because of showed body weakness.
Giotto had lied to Nana that ever since she had gotten over being sick, she kept pressuring herself which had caused the accident and the fatigue, but in truth, she had been exhausted by the Gola Mosca for taking most of her flame reserves. Reborn explained that the reserves would return to its normal level after some much needed rest, but Natsuki was not purely convinced.
"I wonder when Nee-san would be awake…" Natsuki wondered, staring at his sister worriedly. It had been a day since she was admitted, and since Reborn started to train him again to prepare for his final trial.
"It will take at least two days for her flame reserves to return to normal, so just be patient," Reborn stated. "By the way, Mama was just here, and now most of the time, Hibari had been watching over her." he informed.
"Hibari-san did what?" Natsuki demanded.
Reborn turned to the window, "Nevermind. Well then, I need to take care of some things, see you," he said as he jumped out of the window, out of his sight.
The door slid open revealing Giotto entering the room. Giotto was carrying some tiger lilies. "Ah, Natsuki…" he greeted. Ever since they had revealed of their involvement in Sentinella, things had been quite awkward for all of them. He even acted that way towards Fran, and the others, and he could see that he had offended his guardians greatly, sans for Kyouya, Lambo and Mukuro. He had never thought that they would get involved in a dangerous organization, but that's what Sentinella is, unpredictable. He could only guess what their leader would be like.
"Hey…you're visiting Nee-san?" he wondered.
Giotto was finding his words, "Um, yeah, I am, but I'll leave right away," he promised.
Natsuki shook his head, "No, take your time. I know how Nee-san means to you," he stated as he grabbed his bag to leave.
Giotto stopped him, "Natsuki," he called. "I want to talk to you about something…since the secret is out..."
Natsuki looked at him, noticing his pleading look. "Okay…"
Giotto nodded as he closed the door. Natsuki stayed seated beside his sister while Giotto sat on the couch. "Natsuki, I know that you are upset about finding out that all of us are aware of the mafia and your family's involvement on this," he started.
"I'm not mad," Natsuki denied. "I'm just a little too…upset and shocked at the same time…" he admitted.
"Natsuki, we were the reason why Tsuna found out about the mafia," he confessed.
The younger blond snapped his head to look at Giotto, "What?"
"At first," Giotto began, "It was Kyouya. His and Alaude's family had come from a long line of mafia related men, being in an intelligence agency for generations, and when he had saved Tsuna when they met, she had found out everything about the Vongola," he explained. "No matter how much we tried to deny her allegations that we are somehow involved, she showed us proofs of the involvement, and we had no choice but to shed light on her questions…I'm sorry, but Tsuna had been too insistent…"
Natsuki stayed silent for a while. He had known of his sister to be a knowledge seeker, and he understood it very well. "I understand," he said. "Nee-san had always been the one who wanted to know everything, and her interest in Dad's work alone is enough drive to make her want to know more about it, to know the reason why he prefers to work away from the family," he said. "What upsets me is that you guys were all involved in the most notorious spy organization in the mafia, and you never told us," he said.
Giotto sighed as he twiddled his thumbs, "Well…you see…we have only been involved in Sentinella for two years. And we are forbidden to tell anyone of our involvement, so we couldn't tell you, and by the time you arrived…we were already doing the assignment that Regina had ordered us involving the Vongola successions. I'm sorry about all of this, but this is what it has to be. There are ups and downs on being undercover you know," he explained.
Natsuki rolled his eyes, "Tell me about it…" he then shifted to another subject, "So, how is Nono?" he wondered.
Noticing that he has been forgiven, he decided to answer, "He's resting. Daemon did take his place under an illusionary disguise, but the only source that Gola Mosca had taken was Tsuna's reserves. Nono will be eligible for travel in two days, and he wanted to talk to Tsuna anyways before he leaves…"
Natsuki smiled as he looked at his sister, fast asleep, "I can understand that. Nee-san has helped us out a lot…" he stated. "What about Hibari-san?" he wondered. "I hadn't seen him at school,"
"He'll be here when he comes. You'll know when he commands you to get lost," he merely replied. No one knew that the person they were talking about was just outside the door.
"I dare you to repeat that, Kaichou," he addressed.
The two cringed in fear. "No, I don't think so Kyouya,"
"Then I will do it. Get lost," he commanded. The two stared. "Well?" he pressed.
It took approximately five seconds before the two left the room. Closing the door, he looked at Tsuna, peacefully asleep, like she was in no danger at all. Sitting down beside her, he took her hand where her ring was placed. He gave it a peck and held Tsuna's hand, for the first time, worry filled his eyes. He has never been worried about her like this before, and it was stressing him. Even so, he knew that it will all be worth it once she opens her eyes to show its caramel glow soon enough.
"Tsunarumi…" he held her hand tighter, "Please tell me this is only part of your plans…"
Ooh, an unconscious Tsuna! Didn't expect that did you? I figure this is a good time to stop the chapter, and I hope you would anticipate the next one!
REVIEW~!