Sorry about taking so long for me to update this! School and other things. I was going to finish ch 26, which I started months ago, during March Break, but then I found time today, so I thought I might as well! My updates may be fast, or they may be slow, depends on how much free time I have. D:
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry if it's getting/was confusing... :/
Yuna furrowed her eyebrows, pondering what in the world Ghost could be.
"Hey, Kikyou!" Gokudera exclaimed. "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?! AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE HIS ALLY? WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BEING ATTACKED TOO?!"
Yuna frowned. None of this was making any sense! She noticed Basil throw his triangular blade but it simply went through. Yuna shrieked as she raised her scythe to block a ray that was sent in her direction. Her eye twitched and sweat rolled down the side of her face.
"Damn it, this thing absorbs flames at an alarming rate!" She hissed through her clenched teeth. After that one beam, she didn't think she'd be able to handle anymore. She collapsed onto the ground panting.
"THAT BASTARD'S HEADING STRAIGHT OF UNI!! WE NEED TO STOP IT!"
Yuna's head whipped up and she grew panicked.
"This isn't good!!" Mukuro said. "He's appeared here out of thin air. Almost as if he teleported."
"There's a chance that he'll use the absorbed flames to flee again."
"That means…!" Ryohei said.
"He could get to Uni in seconds flat!?" Gokudera exclaimed.
"He's already absorbed so many flames!" Yuna shouted. "This isn't going to be good!"
"I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!"
Yuna turned her head in surprise and looked upwards. A smile of relief drifted up to her face.
"Tsuna-san!" She sighed in solace. She noticed a few hand movements that Tsuna made with his hands. "The Dying Will Zero Level Break-Through!?"
Yuna watched with a worried expression her face as Tsuna drew closer to Ghost by the second. Her grip tightened on her scythe's staff. A giant blast and suction started as the two collided. She stabbed her scythe in the ground to keep it in place and held on tight, hoping not to get sucked in. A few moments after, Tsuna successfully managed to absorb Ghost. A smile etched its way onto her lips.
"That was great to the extreme, Sawada!" Ryohei said, approaching Tsuna.
"Stay back," Tsuna said. Yuna blinked. Dino helped with an explanation.
"Zero Level Break Through is a tactic that absorbs the opponent's flames and turns them into your own. But Tsuna's flames didn't grow, even after absorbing Ghost's flames…" Yuna blinked and started to understand the current problem.
"What's going on then…?" She murmured.
"Impressive indeed!" A horribly familiar voice said. Yuna's head twitched its way to look upwards, her face completely pale. "You defeated Ghost so easily!~"
"B-Byakuran…?" She said in disbelief. Not again!
"I'm honoured to be in the presence of so many notable faces," He said smiling. "The boss of the Cavallone family, Vongola's independent assassination group, Varia, Mukuro-kun and his followers." He paused and said the rest with a bigger smile. "A guardian from the Dimenticato." Yuna's eyes widened. "The Guardians of the Vongola and lastly, Vongola's tenth."
"Dimenti…wha?" Ryohei asked. The surprised expression didn't leave Yuna's face. How did he know about the Dimenticato!?
"The entire main force of the Italian Mafia Family, Vongola, is assembled before me."
"Hey scum. Whoever said I was submitting to him?" Xanxus asked blasting and attack at Byakuran.
"Kufufu, he's got that right. I'd thought that the only ones who would take my words and actions at face value would be an ignorant little girl, or foolish young boy, but I see you've put me with the mafia too," Mukuro said with a smile. A ring on his right hand lit up and shot out an attack. "How insulting."
Yuna sweat dropped at that comment. Her eyes widened in surprise once again at the sight of an unfazed and injured Byakuran.
"You're all running on empty right now," Byakuran said.
"Everyone, stay back," Tsuna said extending a hand. "I'll be his match."
At the moment, Yuna swore she blinked. Tsuna was suddenly kicking Byakuran in the head. An expression of awe etched onto her face as she watched Tsuna move at an amazing speed and strength, pummelling the white haired mafia boss. Shock soon replaced that amazement when Byakuran stopped Tsuna's fist with one single finger. Suddenly, Tsuna was shot to the ground.
"Tsuna-san!" Yuna exclaimed.
"Tsuna!" Yamamoto shouted.
"What?!" Kikyou asked in disbelief.
"You don't mean to say this is as much as you can handle, do you? I still haven't even used a tenth of the flames that Ghost absorbed!" Byakuran laughed.
"Flames.... Ghost absorbed?" Yuna murmured. She had a puzzled expression on her face.
"Ghost stole your flames and all those flames are inside my body!~" A pair of white wings appeared on his back with flashed with sparks.
"Absorbing others' flames without directly touching them...," Dino said. "I've never heard of that before!"
"Haha, Ghost wasn't 'someone'... He was me from a different parallel world." Byakuran stated. "This wing isn't any ordinary flame. It's a symbol that I'm a being above humans, proof that I am something more."
"Are you saying you're a god!?"
"Haha, god?" Kikyou asked. "Byakuran-sama would be better described as a demon worthy of worship."
"Well, you got the demon part right as least," Yuna muttered.
"That's not important," Tsuna said. "It doesn't matter what you are or what means you use... I'll defeat you here!"
"I admire your spirit Tsunayoshi-kun. I've been waiting for this fight for a long time...," Byakuran trailed off. "Though, there's some unneeded leftover that I need to get dispose of first."
"Unneeded leftover?" Tsuna asked. Byakuran's smile grin to a malicious grin.
"Of course." Suddenly, Byakuran was out of sight. Yuna blinked as he appeared right before her.
"How'd he move so fast!?"
"Kyoushi-san! Run away!"
"Get out of the way, he's dangerous!"
Everything was happening in slow motion. She once again, saw the baleful smile. She took one step back and shook in terror. People were about to react to her aid until-
SPLURT.
Yuna looked down, blood dribbling down from her lips, her eyes wide.
"You're no longer needed," Byakuran said with that disgustingly cheerful voice of his. Yuna coughed up blood.
"KYOUSHI-SAN!"
"YUNA-SAN!"
"WHAT THE HELL!?"
He pulled his hand out from her abdomen and Yuna collapsed onto the ground.
"W-why...?"
"As I had said, you're no longer desired," He said, licking the blood on his fingers. "Oh my, my white gloves have been stained with red."
"Y-Yuna-san...," Tsuna said in disbelief. I promised that all of us were going back to the past...
He watched as she coughed up more blood and then shook terribly. She looked at him for one moment and he stared back, terror written on his face. "T-Tsuna.....sa...n..." Her eyes slid closed.
Byakuran frowned for a second and then his smile returned. Tsuna's expression faltered. Was she... Dead...?
The battlefield was silent.
"Yuna...san...," Tsuna whispered in disbelief. His eyes filled with rage. I won't break anymore promises... "Byakuran..." He looked at Tsuna's shaking fists.
"I'LL DEFEAT YOU!"
--
Ugh... It burns... Yuna found herself standing in completely darkness. She wasn't floating like before; she could feel the ground, the floor, beneath her. She could see herself but not anything else around her. She glanced down and noticed that her wound was gone. No blood... She wasn't even injured in any way. She dismissed it and slowly took a step forward.
"You know... You keep wasting my precious time...," A female voice said. Yuna whipped her head behind her and saw only darkness. She shifted her eyes around, scared. She clenched her hands uneasily and took another step forward. "Every time..." Yuna shrieked when a hand wrapped itself around her throat from behind. "All my precious time... Gone... Because of you..."
"W-who're you!?" Yuna asked. She saw a glimpse of some hair behind her. She felt cold breath on her neck. She felt the nails of the person dinging into her wind pipe, but suddenly they disappeared. Yuna turned around but there was no one. Footsteps could be heard, they echoed throughout the area. Yuna stood completely still.
"Frightened?" The footsteps drew closer and until they stopped. Yuna heard them stop behind her. "Child. Turn around."
Hesitantly, Yuna turned around to be greeted with the sight of a female dressed in some white cloak and a white mask. The mask had a large frown and a blue tear beneath the right eye. Yuna notice that she had a lighter shade of brown, maybe hazel, for her hair. It went down under her waist. There were hardly any more noticeable features.
"Who... Are you?" Yuna asked. The woman did not speak. Silence ensued between the two. "... Where is this...?"
"This is your inner mind," The woman said, looking around. "As for whom I am, you do not need to know this now, but for the time being, you may call me Alba."
"Um... Okay... Alba-san... What do you mean by... my inner mind?" Yuna asked puzzled.
"I'm a fragment of your mind. Maybe imagination," Alba said calmly. "A smart girl like you should understand. I'm in your mind."
"I see... So you're kind of like a portion of my mind?"
"More or less."
"This is... Strange..."
"I suppose so; I've been watching you ever since I came here."
"Well, practically, if you're a fragment of my mind, you're pretty much me... If this is my inner mind, it's pretty empty."
"Everything's just been consumed by the darkness." Alba's voice had turned cold.
"There's... Darkness in my mind?"
"Somewhat."
Yuna paused to ponder something momentarily. A few seconds passed.
"Is there... Something wrong then?"
"Who knows?" Alba turned around.
"W-wait! Alba-san!" Yuna found herself chasing after her, though once Alba was surrounded by the darkness, she was gone. Yuna felt as if she was just running on the spot... Chasing after nothing.
--
She awoke with a start and then she stared up at trees.
"It's the Vongola's first generation boss, Vongola Primo!" Uni's voice boomed. Yuna was stiff and she glanced down. Her would was poorly taken care of... She sat up with a groan. She held onto her wound and leaned against a nearby tree. She looked at Tsuna fighting Byakuran. She noticed another person. She assumed that to be the Vongola Primo, as stated by Uni.
"Primo...?" Yuna whispered.
He had quite a similar appearance to Tsuna.
"Now Decimo," He said. "I shall remove those shackles."
"Shackles?!"
"The current form of the Vongola ring, is only temporary."
Yuna watched as the flames on Tsuna's glove increased at an alarming rate. The design of the rings changed.
"Decimo," Primo said. "Give that mare boy what he deserves."
He glanced once over at Yuna and she looked back surprised. He gave a sad looking smile and then disappeared. Yuna was puzzled at that, but watched Tsuna fight against Byakuran, firing Burning Axel. Yuna was growing weary as she was still injured. She endured it because she knew it was hardly anything compared to what everyone else has suffered.
"I AM ABLE TO FIGHT WITH ALL MY BODY'S POWER!" Byakuran exclaimed with a smile. He and Tsuna fought some more and Yuna gritted her teeth. He glanced at Uni. "You're really going to do this, aren't you, Uni..? You're really going to sacrifice your life for these pacifiers!"
Yuna's eyes widened. No matter how weary she was at the moment, the information was shocking.
"No way...," Yuna whispered. But she's still a child!!!
Many of the others tried to destroy the barrier and save Uni, but nothing seemed to be affective. Suddenly, Uni's flames grew smaller. She fell on her knees and held herself.
"Maybe... She fears death?"
"It's alright Uni!" Tsuna shouted. "Let's think of another way around this!!"
She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'll be fine... There's no other way. Thank you... Everyone." Her flames abruptly grew. Yuna's eyes were wide with shock. Yuna was about to cry. She couldn't move much anymore, but tears were starting to spring from her eyes and down her cheeks. She saw Gamma jump inside the barrier. He embraced her and soon, they were gone. Tears were flowing non-stop down Yuna's cheeks.
No... way... She thought.
Tsuna fired the X Burner and soon... Byakuran was gone as well. He even died with that smile...
Yuna was quietly gazing at Tsuna as he stood in the air.
Tsuna...
