Disclaimer – Don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Amano Akira's.
I've skipped the Mukuro Arc plainly because Dino had nothing to do with it. It's time for Varia Arc…it's time. Christmas soon...wow time flies.
Warning for Oocness, I try my best. Did not copy or plagiarize in any way.
Chapter 29
Separation Again
Yano left. Elsa could safely say. It was the most celebratory moment in her life…right after her acceptance into the Cavallone family. The effed-in-the-head girl had left in a very paranoid state. Before leaving them through the departure gate, she gave Dino a big sloppy kiss which was completely out of her character and she also triple knotted a red string around his wrist and told him never to take it off for as long as they were together – which SHE assumed would be for eternity. She dropped all the 'eto' and 'ano' remarks which was good in a way, but this new side of her neither belonged to the fake nor the real, she was having a mental breakdown for some unknown reason and thus this new personality was born. That aside, as long as she was across the vast seas in another country, Elsa was fine with it.
It had been months since that day, and strangely enough Yano had not called Dino even once during her absence; Dino's attempts to contact her had always been met with a voice-mail. Although on one occasion, he'd received a voice message from her, apparently her mother had a severe case of whooping cough and the reception in the countryside was not particularly the best. Well, setting that aside, Elsa had more important things to worry about. It regarded the parcel Dino had received the day before Yano was rostered to leave, it contained exactly two 26 carat Alexandrite gems in a metallic capsule. It was the first time Elsa had ever seen something so rare and exotic, she imagined the thing would have been worth millions, it was amazing what the mafia could get their hands on. She thought Dino had intentionally bought it, but apparently he hadn't, so she was given the job (as his messenger) to fly via helicopter all the way to the Vongola headquarters with the gems. You could imagine how ecstatic Elsa was, she almost choked the Tenth Generation Cavallone Boss to death. To avoid any unnecessary danger, Elsa was to go only with Luciano (as always) and they were not to say a word about this to anyone in the family or outside. The whole thing felt dubious to Elsa; it was as if Dino knew those Alexandrites held a bigger meaning than just money.
He gave her a letter to pass on to the 9th Generation Vongola Boss Timoteo, a man she did have high respect for – although nowhere near the amount she had for Giotto. It was almost too good to be true…she was finally able to see the Vongola up front! She had been running around as the messenger girl on a daily basis, sending unknown packages here and there; she thought this job would be dull but man was she wrong. She'd met a lot of new people these past few months, and although still vulnerable and weak, low-level mafia from around the country recognized her as the 10th Generation Cavallone Boss's Feisty Female Lapdog. They tried to avoid the word bitch as much as they could. She had no idea how she earned this title - maybe her frowning eyes had finally come to use. Little did she know having a title as intimidating as this would put her in great danger. Elsa had been lucky not to have encountered any ambushes or assassination attempts, she was still terrible in combat.
"Remember to keep your phone with you at ALL times." Dino said.
"Yes Boss" Elsa replied, rolling her eyes.
"And don't break it this time, try to restrain yourself from throwing it on the ground when you're angry, please?"
"Yes Boss."
"Don't do—say anything stupid, and if you do get into trouble, please don't bluff your way through, we're not dealing with local punks anymore."
"Yes Boss…"
Dino was becoming more and more like a mother these days, Elsa thought, but whatever, it was because of him that the most exciting event in her life was about to happen.
The wind was gusting around her. This was in fact, her first time riding one of these big things. She and Luciano hopped into the private helicopter, her hair was beyond fixable by the time she got in, and Luciano sniggered at it. She put her headphones on which somewhat helped the flying cowlicks settle down. Before steering into the sky, Elsa looked out the window and watched as Dino left the venue without glancing back. This was good, things were really changing for the good between them, soon she'll have lost any lingering feelings for him, just a little bit more and everything would have evaporated into thin air, and then becoming the ideal, sole female member of the family would be possible, that was something to anticipate. She wouldn't let Dino down, she'd deliver the Alexandrites and letter without stuffing up and he would acknowledge her. He would. Even though she hadn't stuffed up even once since her change in jobs after the racketeering incident, she still felt Dino doubted her in many ways. She trained on a daily basis, although still scrawny, she was getting the basics of fighting and handling a gun quite smoothly.
It was hard to say when she'd get over him completely, but hopefully very soon, besides, it wasn't like before, she did (kind of) restrain herself much more – ironically it was taking months to forget him. Unlike her past self, she didn't ask to see Dino every day, she didn't stalk him whenever she got the chance, she didn't snoop around his private life, and she definitely not once—heck…why was she even dwelling on this bullcrap? Why did she always do this to herself? – angst about the things she didn't want to think about the most.
Elsa looked out the window, Dino and his men had become tiny specks. Might she add, Dino was a rather nicely shaped speck.
She cringed. Shut up Elsa.
The sound of the whirling propeller and choppy engine dulled into the distance, and then finally, Dino turned around. He lied big time, sending Elsa off with those gems to the Vongola was only an excuse to keep her safe, as cheesy as it sounded, by all means that was his intention. He crumbled under his fear that Elsa would be hurt because he had let her into the corrupted world of the mafia, if only he had realized earlier she was not mentally compatible with all of this. He regretted it so much, hosting that useless audition for the Mafia boss's wife. He should have just gone with an arranged marriage. He sighed, now wasn't the time for that. Things were becoming hectic over on the Vongola side, Mukuro Rokudou had caused a big ruckus over in Namimori, and now there was a feud between deciding the legitimacy of Tsuna becoming the 10th Generation Vongola Boss. Apparently the Ninth had a change of heart and decided upon Xanxus on becoming his heir, now why would he do that? Something was up.
On the Cavallone's side, things were just as bad. The Cadavere family had always been ready to take the Cavallone down, thus they were indecent enough to send their family heirlooms (which happened to be those Alexandrites worth a net price of millions – possibly billions) anonymously. With this, they could accuse Dino and his family of breaching their alliance and shifting to the enemy's side (those that dealt with drug trafficking and slave trade). And that was why, for the past few months, Dino had been forced to deal with a load of accusations that were staining the Cavallone name. It wouldn't be long until the Cadavere launched an ambush on their turf, and what made things even more distressing was that they had dragged three other prestigious families into the chaos. The weight of anxiety grew heavier by the day for Dino. For the Cavallone to be at war with a total of four mafia families would mean certain annihilation for them, and finding a way around the mess would be difficult.
"Boss, you've received a call from Reborn," Romario said.
"I'll be right there."
He just wanted to get Elsa away from all this, he figured letting her under the Ninth's wing would keep her in good hands for a while at least, he trusted Luciano as much. Dino felt the possibility of seeing her again would not be for a long, long, long, long time; maybe he should have said a more meaningful goodbye to her. It was too late for that.
xxxx
Elsa checked the time: it was exactly 7:45 late evening. They were almost at the Vongola base. She wondered what Dino—uhh Boss was doing right now…and by all means this was just natural concern for the man she served under, no romantic feelings involved or anything. She pressed her hands against the window and looked out at the sublime sight. The moon was full today, a luminescent ball that shone its light upon the vast land of emerald green, a current of wind pushed through the sea of trees, Elsa found herself gazing upon the sight in a mesmerized state, just as she would whenever she fell in love—
Shut…up…Elsa, she growled at herself for the lack of discipline. Discipline. Why was is so hard to forget about LOVE?
"Els we're going to land!" Luciano cried, steering down towards a widespread mansion Elsa could barely see through the darkness. She nodded, and the helicopter drew closer to the rooftop of one of the many spacious buildings. Glowing white signals rocked back and forth, the chopper landed safely on a platform, and the propellers ceased to a thumping noise. Elsa took her headphones off, and as she stepped out she was apprehended by a swarm of men-in-black armed with heavy rifles. She froze.
I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'M GOING TO DIE! She was panicking big time.
"Drop your weapons! We're from the Cavallone family!" Luciano stormed out of his seat and stood his ground protectively in front of Elsa.
"The Ninth is currently not seeing anyone!"
"Under the Ninth's Dying-will Flame we have the right to, " Elsa held out a documentation with a bright, orange fire, flickering brilliantly. Her hands trembled as she did.
The men looked at one another, and wondered what to do. They lowered their guns and two of them catered to Luciano and Elsa, leading them inside the entrance. They were lead down a coil of stairs, it all felt too fishy for Luciano and Elsa to relax. The walls were chipped limestone, and as they passed several wooden doors, Elsa began to feel as if they were not even in the Vongola headquarters. The deeper they went the darker it became, and the vintage lamps that hung on the sides barely made out the steps. At the end of the long walk, they came to a sturdy, metal door. The thought of going in quelled Elsa as much as it did for Luciano. The metal wings were opened for them, and inside revealed a line of empty jail cells.
"Hold on, what is this—" Luciano swirled around on his right foot and head-butted his cater. Before he could make another move, a handgun was pressed against his temple, and he was forced to keep still. Elsa directed her own gun at the perpetrator, she deduced he was the ringleader of the bunch.
"Girl, do you think it's wise to point that thing at the Vongola?" his voice was gnarly, almost frightening.
"The…T-The Cavallone Tenth will hear of this!" she stuttered, her hand quivering in fear. So this was what the real menace of the mafia was like.
"You have no proof that you're from the Cavallone family, we've contacted the Ninth. He tells us the document you presented is a phony, therefore you're both imposters!"
Luciano began furiously, "What? This is ridiculous, we—"
"Confiscate their weapons," Gnarly-voice man clicked his fingers, "and lock them in separate cells, the Ninth will see to them once the meddling it over." Elsa was stripped of her precious handgun and thrown into the murky cell, as was Luciano five cells away.
Elsa slammed her fists against the iron bars, "Hey, you can't lock me in here! This is outrageous what the hell? I demand you call my Boss!"
"I'll cut that tongue of yours if you don't shut it, Girl."
She slumped to the ground in terror, the apparent 'Vongola' men left the underground and locked the metal doors behind them. So that was it? Elsa thought, she was this much of a coward? She turned around and saw a bed with white sheets located at the corner. There was a small cubicle on the other side and a tap beside it, but other than that the cell was pretty damn stark and desolate. The floor was covered with bits of dirt, and the ceiling looked as if it would collapse any minute with all the cracks shooting from the edges. But now wasn't the time to be whinging about the state of her cell, what on earth was going on? Dino could definitely…definitely not have planned this could he? But the Vongola would never offend their allies in any way unless necessary, and frankly, the Cavallone were more like brothers to them than any other mafia family. Well…according to her years of research and her experience since being in the Cavallone.
"Els, are you alright?" Luciano called from his cell.
"Yeah…" she replied meekly.
"Just remember, Dino won't let this go!"
It was reassuring for him to say that, and she thanked him for it, but she had her doubts. She never imagined she would be so vulnerable and reliant. What were these past few months of training for in the end? This was reality, a death versus life situation, and she wasn't going to let Dino become her superman again. She'd get out of this…she'll get out somehow, and the first step is keeping those Alexandrites and the letter she hid in her shoe safe.
"Luciano, got anything on you we could use?"
"Nothing much, they took all my guns."
"Think domestic items. Don't you have a bobby pin or something? You always do my hair."
"I'm bald Elsa, I only use bobby pins on my wigs. Why do you need a bobby pin?"
"I'm going to pick the lock."
Luciano raised an eyebrow, he searched around his pockets for something, "I found a paperclip." He stuck his hand out a gap between two bars and slid the tiny thing across the floor, it halted exactly in front of Elsa's cell. She took it and began twisting the thing into all kinds of peculiar shapes.
"I didn't know you knew how to pick locks," Luciano said.
"I don't," replied Elsa.
Questions
Anjeriin Fujioka: What happened to Dino when he got the file that told him more about Elsa?
Answer: He opened it, he read it and he kept it. That's all I can say.
