Disclaimer: I do not own KHR.
Summary: When Tsuna's pride - his family - shattered, there really weren't anymore reasons for him to be the all-encompassing Sky. But when he was given another chance, to protect them once more, he didn't hesitate - even if it's in another parallel world where he is no longer Vongola Decimo but his twin brother, his Elements no longer his but his brother's... and Vongola is falling (quite literally in terms of ranks).
"Tsunayoshi."
Said boy paused in writing an essay that was due in a few hours, head turning around to the source of the voice. He watched in fascination as a small orange flame coalesced itself in the middle of his room, then growing until it was the size of an adult human.
The flames dispersed away, leaving behind a familiar transparent figure don in a three-piece black pinstriped suit and cape.
"Dad... no..." Tsuna frowned, idly noting that the pocket watch he always kept on his person was resonating with the new presence because their flame signature were similar. Although parallel selves were identical, there were disparages - some large, some small - that made them difference from each other. "Vongola Primo...?"
The Founder smiled warmly towards Tsuna. "He and I are essentially the same so call me however you feel comfortable. Besides, whether you are of the current or the past Tsunayoshi, you are still my descendant by blood, there's no need for the formalities."
Tsuna blinked owlishly before laughing and grinning. "You and Dad are really similar in this world."
"Are we?" Vongola Primo chuckled and shook his head lightly at the same time. "I have only been given my parallel self's memories through the crossing so that might have indirectly brought about some effect in the similarities."
"Dad worries too much," Tsuna pouted, not at all surprised at the news. "To think he would actually share his memories with his parallel self so that you can help me..."
Giotto's lips quirked in an amused smile. "A parent will always be worried about their child, Tsunayoshi."
"... Tsuna," The brunet corrected, then elaborated at the questioning glance he was given. "No formalities, right?"
"Right," Primo nodded in agreement, his expression all the brighter. "I seem to recall you have met G?"
"Oh yeah, he's as agreeable as the one I know." Tsuna answered blandly, thinking back to the morning he was trying to give Gokudera a hint of what he was doing wrong.
"You're G." Tsuna remarked lamely at the ghost-like apparatus that floated towards him from the direction of his house.
"Well, no sh** sherlock."
"... That was our conversation starter." Tsuna recalled helpfully to his ancestor, who was restraining himself from face-palming.
"... Lovely."
"Right?" Tsuna agreed. "But I was really surprised when he told me how you guys received memories from your parallel selves."
"It was..." Giotto flourished a hand. "Probably the most notable events that happened to us in the near two centuries that our Wills had been carved into the Vongola Rings. My guardians and I were quite curious about you but we never found the right moment to appear without unnecessary commotion." He paused before adding, "We do know that your Sky flames are comparable to mine for the Vongola Rings to react like it had done."
"... Why did it do that? It wasn't one of you guys' bright ideas right?"
"No," Giotto rolled his eyes at Tsuna's joke. "We may have the ability to unseal the Rings but we are still only Wills trapped within. The Vongola Rings are an entirely different set of entities of their own; hence, there are two possible methods of selecting the Rings' inheritors. One is for us to name our true successors, or two, the Rings will recognize their next holders themselves if the two parties are to ever cross paths while the Rings remain ownerless. Just like how the Mare Rings choose theirs."
Tsuna frowned. "But I shouldn't be - I can't be the holder." His hand went to clasp the pocket watch under his shirt. "I know for a fact that my... Time doesn't belong to this world to begin with so it's impossible..."
"That is correct," The Founder confirmed. "But there's a reason why the Rings resonated with your flames that time."
"... what is it?"
Giotto shook his head, not granting Tsuna a response. "In due time Tsuna."
"... fine, but you don't have to be so mysterious about it. A straight up 'I can't tell you' would do." The brunet sighed exasperatedly, slumping against his chair and hanging his head over the spine so that he was viewing Primo upside down. "So... what's the reason for your appearance tonight?"
Primo's lips curved up again, noting that Tsuna had taken his suggestion to heart by completely relaxing in his presence. He may look and act improper, but it proved that Tsuna'd already viewed Giotto the same way he had viewed his parallel self.
"You really are just a child at heart." Giotto mused.
"Daaaad!"
.
.
.
Both of them blinked, sunset-orange orbs clashing against each other. Tsuna decided to throw his hands up in defeat and grumbled. "Whatever, Dad. You said I can call you however I feel comfortable so there!"
Giotto only laughed as a response.
"It's not that funny!" Tsuna glared at the ghost apparatus. "Are you here just to laugh at me?!"
"Of course not, Tsuna - but I must to say, your actions were really careless this time."
"Dad!"
"Alright, alright," The Founder chuckled but coughed in his fist as a way of regaining his composure. "I won't nag any further."
The brunet grumbled indignantly and then lazily gestured for his ancestor to continue, but when Giotto's expression turned solemn, Tsuna couldn't help but straighten up and give an attentive ear.
"As you know, the Trinisette represent the Laws that govern the universe." Giotto started. "We, as holders of a part of those Laws, will be able to vaguely sense the constant presence of those Laws around us. As such, even if my guardians and I are only Wills carved into the Vongola Rings, we are still able to pick up the slight disturbances in the Trinisette."
"..." Tsuna's eyes slowly widened in realization. "You mean..."
Giotto nodded solemnly. "The Laws are becoming unstable, Tsuna. Someone outside of the Trinisette's chosen holders is tampering with it."
Tsuna entered a pondering phase. Something similar to what his ancestor told him had happened in his world. Being a holder (or a former one) himself, he and his guardians, his fellow Skies and their Elements, had detected the wavering disturbances in the air of their world. However, they couldn't find the cause even when they tried flipping over every single object they come across so they could only wait anxiously until the day the problem revealed itself.
... Who would've foreseen Tsuna and his family falling before that happened? (The brunet wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a blessing in disguise or not because he technically had avoided taking responsibility for his world's dilemma.)
"... The Simons," Tsuna mumbled, thoughts forming in his head and connecting together like dots. He remembered Enma telling him that the Elements of the Earth were the shadows of the Elements of the Sky; however, their roles were no less important than the main sets of the Trinisette. The Simon Rings acts as the counterbalance for Trinisette's powers. The Simon Rings had governance in space while the Trinisette solely focuses on time. There needed to be the existence of time for space to start expanding but the vice versa could also be true. Time cannot start when there is no space for it to exist in.
Hence, the Simon Rings can be considered as the sub-part of the Trinisette, which meant Enma and his guardians were aware of the presence of the Laws as well.
"Dad, the Simons, do you know how they are in this world?" The Simon Rings were the most compatible with the Vongola Rings - like brothers actually - so at one point, Tsuna and Enma had been able to tell each other's location through their rings.
"That's the other problem," Giotto replied, face morphed into concern. "The Simon Rings were supposed to be sealed away until the time they are needed again and well... the Earth Ring is unsealed as of now..."
"What?!" Tsuna exclaimed in alarmed but them lowered his voice when he realized it was in the middle of the night and the house was asleep hours ago. "But... but the Simon Rings need Sin for that! Don't tell me they somehow broke into Vongola's safe - not that I would be too surprised by that since I could hack into their database by accident - and stole Cozarto's blood?! And why only the Earth Ring?!"
Giotto let out a strained laugh, forgoing his image as a mafia don as of now. "About that... you might find a surprise waiting for you tomorrow."
"Eh?"
"That's all the information you need to know right now," The Founder concluded with a knowing smile.
"See you later Tsuna-nii!"
"Bye bye!"
"Gyahaha, Lambo-san is going!"
"Yeah, see you guys," Tsuna waved them off on his send off of the three kids to their elementary school. He hadn't walked them to school in a while and when the three kids brought it up this very morning (almost begging him), Tsuna couldn't refuse.
His shoulders sagged afterwards and he dragged himself to towards school. The conversation with Vongola's Founder was still fresh in his mind, particularly the one after the main issue was addressed.
"Wait!" Just before Giotto willed himself to return to the Vongola Sky Ring, Tsuna stopped him. "One more question."
"Go on."
"If... if I'm not your successor of this world..."
Giotto blinked and smiled ruefully. "The Laws work in strange ways, Tsuna. There may be infinitely many parallel worlds out there, each with their differences that makes them different from the other. Nonetheless, there are somethings that cannot be changed throughout."
"... oh."
"Keepers and Holders have their separate roles, I cannot force what is not meant to be even if our blood sings true." The Founder shook his head, flames starting to engulf his person.
"However, if you, of another vertical-time axis, the heir and only inheritor of my Will, can bring about a miracle... then you, alone, shall decide the path the next generation will take. Should Vongola prosper or perish, it will be up to you..."His voice echo'ed as Sky flames grew large, then diminish into nothing. "... Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna sighed, massaging his temple, and settled for crying on the inside. "... And I thought I dodged those responsibilities already."
Swoosh!
Tsuna sighed as he, once again, reflexively caught the flying tonfa that came attacking him the moment he stepped onto school grounds. "A 'good morning' would suffice, Hibari-san."
The demon Prefect didn't reply to Tsuna's comment as he caught the metal stick that the other tossed back. Even though he was silent, Tsuna understood what Hibari was trying to do.
He muttered something about worrywarts and how indirect they were replying out loud. "I'm fine Hibari-san - wait -" Tsuna only just now realized what the Skylark was trying to do. Ironically, it was also something that Kyouya took as a challenge back then when Reborn had dared the guardians to try to throw Tsuna's fully awakened Hyper Intuition for a loop for a set period of time. (Of course, the little game ended as a failure because nothing got past the Hyper Intuition that rivaled Vongola Primo's back in the days) "- Nice try Hibari-san, but you can't lure me into agreeing to a fight!"
Disappointment flashed across the Skylark's face before it morphed back into indifference. He then reminded Tsuna of their deal that was made recently.
"Ugh," The brunet rolled his eyes towards the sky. "You're always the battle maniac - of course I wouldn't forget that I agreed to spar with you every other day! But -" Tsuna had to block when Hibari suddenly attacked "-Not now Hibari-san! Didn't I also say that it has to be somewhere where people can't see us?!"
He sidestepped and bopped the demon Prefect on the head for good measures. "You need to learn how to control yourself, Hibari-san. Always charging head first doesn't help."
"I'm no herbivore." Hibari retorted, his face twisted in disdain. "Fight me."
And the Skylark finally decided to voice his impatience. Tsuna found himself missing the Hibari that learned to patiently waits for his prey to come to him (on good days.)
"No." Tsuna glared and if there had been other students around, they would have been scared to death because there was someone brave enough to glare at Hiabri Kyouya. "Not now anyways. Can't you see you're making me late for class?"
Hibari frowned but tucked away his tonfas. "After school then."
"... Have you thought of what I said before?" Tsuna said after the Skylark. "About giving Ienari another chance?"
Hibari paused and shot an annoyed glance over his shoulder. "This again." He turned back and continued walking to another part of the school - probably hunting for latecomers. "He has to prove his worth in a fight."
Tsuna blinked at the glance that Hibari cast him before chuckling with a shake of his head. (He idly noted that Hibari didn't give him a hard time even though he was now late for class - the bell had rung just a few minutes ago, when they had still been talking.)
.
.
.
"Sorry I'm -" When Tsuna had opened the door to class 1-A, he did not expect to see the familiar red hair of one Kozato Enma. "- late...?"
The Simon Decimo blinked and wondered if his best friend has finally lost it because one Vongola Decimo was currently banging his head against the desk.
"Um..." Enma wasn't sure if he should interrupt Tsuna's... whatever he was trying to do. "Did I visit on the wrong time?"
"... Enma!" Tsuna promptly stopped trying to lose more brain cells and practically flew towards the other as if the latter was the former's saving grace.
Now, Enma may not have Vonogla's Hyper Intuition but he has a bad feeling about this.
"Thank god for someone sane!" Tsuna took Enma by the hand and -
Click.
- handcuffed both his right and the Simo Decimo's left hand together.
"... Eh?" Enma has a really bad feeling about this.
"You're my best friend, right?" Tsuna grinned but there was something... strange about the way Tsuna just sparkled - that was usually not a good sign. "So if I going to hell, then you're coming with me!"
"What?!"
"Onward!" Tsuna pointed out of his office dramatically and dragged poor Enma along towards where all the chaos of explosions, screaming, animal cries, and strange weather patterns were happening. How did he even miss those neon signs of danger anyways? "We're going into dangerous territory!"
"No nonono...!" Enma realized what was in store for them... but he still very much want to keep his sanity even if Tsuna was about to give up his in order to deal with his sugar-high guardians whose Vongola gears had just been modified by Giovanni. "Dammit Tsuna! If you're going down, don't bring me along!"
"No way! Best friends stick together through thick and thin!"
"I hereby officially declare us no longer best friends from this moment on!"
"Then birds of a feather flock together!" was the other's immediate reply.
"Tsuna!"
Sunset-orange eyes locked with red - compass pupils being its distinct features - and somehow, both of them knew.
"You might find a surprise waiting for you tomorrow."
... At least he now understood what Primo meant by that.
The brunet stared owlishly (though it carried an underlying pleasant surprise), at a lost of what to say - But - how...? - and Enma only smiled sheepishly back, scratching the back of his head - Long story.
"Tsunayoshi," The teacher, the one who had replaced Dohachiro Nezu, interrupted what seemed to be a silent communication between two long lost best friends. "You're late."
Said teen blinked, confused as to why the man had stated the obvious. "Well, yes, I am."
"But... Hibari-san..."
Oh... Tsuna realized that even though he was late, he hadn't been bitten to death by the demon prefect. In fact, he looked perfectly health without tonfa-marks anywhere on his person. He could only laughed sheepishly and mimicked Enma's earlier movements. "Yeah... I guess I got lucky?"
"What?!" The class exploded at his words.
"I can't believe -"
"- was Hibari sick or something -"
"- How did Dame-Tsuna be so lucky -"
"- call Tsuna-san that one more time and I'll blow you up -"
"- maa maa, I'm sure he didn't mean it, right? Because that wouldn't be good -"
"... for once, I'm not going to stop you two."
"Settle down, everyone!" The teacher exclaimed then gestured to Tsuna's seat exasperatedly. "Please, Tsunayoshi, just - just go seat down."
"Hehe, sorry Sensei." Tsuna dipped his head as he went and was mindful of the silent laughter in Enma's eyes - which he shot back with a glare.
After that little commotion, Enma introduced himself, looking as timid as ever - though Tsuna saw the difference in stance from when he had met his best friend for the first time. Well, for one, he was louder so he didn't have to repeat himself.
... he was still called Loser-Enma though - because, apparently, according to his judgmental classmates, Enma looked like a loser. He has no idea what was going through his classmates' heads, but they were definitely narrow-minded folks.
"Take the seat in front of Tsunayoshi," The teacher helpfully pointed out. "It's the boy who came late just now."
Enma nodded obediently and walked towards the brunet. Both of them saw the foot that stretched out into the aisles, obviously in an attempt to trip Enma, but Enma only gave a shrug and decided to let their classmates have their entertainment.
"Ah!"
The class promptly burst out laughing when Enma tripped.
Tsuna make a face. Really?
Well... brings back memories, doesn't it? Enma discretely smirked back before standing up and successfully making his way to his desk without anymore mishaps.
Thus began another boring lecture in which now both Tsuna and Enma found hard paying attention to because they already knew the materials like the back of their hands.
.
.
.
The moment the bell rang, Tsuna stood up and bonked Enma on the head. The action startled Ienari and his friends while their classmates thought there was going to be something good to watch.
"Hey..." The other complained good-naturedly, rubbing his head. "What was that for?"
"You got a lot of explaining to do." The brunet scolded.
"Well, so do you." Enma retorted almost lazily. He cast a glance at Yamamoto and Gokudera, then tossed a look back at Tsuna. They're not like us, are they?
Tsuna rolled his eyes and did he introductions as an answer. "Guys, this is Kozato Enma. He and I met... two weeks after I came back out of the coma."
Enma's brows shot up but Tsuna waved him off with a 'later.'
"Enma, this is Yamamoto Takeshi, Gokudera Hayato, and... " Tsuna placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and grinned. "Sawada Ienari, my younger twin brother!"
"You - what?" Enma stared blankly and looked back and forth between the two. He then pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath before accepting everything that he was told because that was just life. (He learned the accept things easily when Vongola's nonsense was involved - not that his family was any better.) "Fraternal?"
"Obviously." Tsuna chuckled.
"I hate how you always drop bombs like this," Enma mumbled, making a face. "Did you pick that from your dad?"
"Eh... sorta." Only the two of them knew which father figure they were talking about.
Ienari looked back and forth between Enma and his brother, somewhat baffled. "Tsuna, if he's your friend, then how come we never see him before? And he just transferred to our school too..."
"Ah, that would be..." Tsuna started slowly, casting a glance at Enma, who, upon signal, helped the brunet come up with an excuse.
"I was actually just vising last time," Enma explained with a laugh. "I knew that I was going to move to Namimori later so... I just wanted to take a look. I didn't expect to run into Tsuna. We have a lot of things in common so we hit it off like two peas in a pod!"
"Tsuna-kun, Nari-kun!" Kyoko entered into the conversation with a bright smile.
"K-Kyoko... hi!" Ienari stammered and Tsuna saw his brother's cheeks heat up. He silently snickered. For the so-called always so cool athletic start to act like this in front of the school idol, that was something. Though the brunet couldn't blame his brother, he had been even more of a bumbling buffoon when he had a crush against said school idol. He had gotten over it though, seeing as more of a puppy-love than anything else.
"Sasagawa-san, Muira-san, Kurokawa-san, Dokuro-san!" Tsuna greeted, smiling politely towards the four girls. "What brings you girls here?"
Kurokawa scoffed. "What, we can't even talk to you monkeys now?"
"No no," Tsuna chuckled. "That's not what I meant."
"Nari-kun!" Muira got close to the blonde, eyes sparkling with hearts. "Do you want to eat lunch together? We haven't done that for so long!"
"Tch," Gokudera scowled in disdain and tried to pull the brunette off of an uncomfortable Ienari. "Get away from Juudaime you crazy woman!"
"Hahi! Who are you calling crazy?!"
Kyoko giggled at their antics before turning towards Tsuna. "I was wondering if you guys want to have lunch on the roof together. Like Haru-chan said, we haven't hang out with each other for a while now. Kozato-kun can join us too! We can all get to know him this way!"
"We're glad to," Tsuna elbowed Ienari forward, causing the latter the yelp in surprise. "Don't just stand there, let's go!"
The group chatted along the way to the roof, with Tsuna and Enma falling a few feet behind so that they can have their own conversation.
"Tsuna, coma?" Enma finally asked, brows creased in concern. He didn't expect his best friend to have encountered something as serious as that. Did something happen?
"It's not what you think," The brunet assured. "When I came to, I was already in the hospital. Apparently, my parallel self fell into a coma for about seven years before I came along."
"Seven?!"
"I know."
"Seven!"
Tsuna rolled his eyes and shook his head at the same time, then snapped his fingers in front of his best friend. "Stay with me Enma."
"Oh -" The redhead stopped gaping. "- Right, sorry."
"So, what's your situation like? How did you get here?"
Enma used several long seconds to organize his thoughts before giving an explanation. "As you know, I died before you - Tsuna, don't give me that look." The former Simon Decimo scolded the Tsuna when the other had a look a guilt. "We just didn't expect it alright?"
"I know... but..." But it still didn't stop Tsuna from grimacing at the memory.
Enma huffed exasperatedly and crossed his arms. He redirected the topic back before Tsuna could mope more about it. "Byakuran of our world - when he was still alive - was the one who send me here, but due to technical difficulties, I arrived later than you."
"... doesn't that mean your parallel self..." Tsuna pried hesitantly. He felt a weight on his shoulder but ignored it for now.
"Yeah..." Enma chuckled mirthlessly, tucking his hands into his pant pockets. And just like that, Enma seemed older and more tired. "I guess my death came later than yours in this world, Tsuna - And hello, Reborn, I guess Tsuna told you the truth?"
The hitman was startled for a moment when Enma just seemed to take it in strides when he suddenly appeared atop Tsuna's head. However, he nodded in response nonetheless. "You are... from the Simon Famiglia?"
He had heard of them before - or read about the Family from Vongola's archive. They have been allies since Vongola Primo's time but Reborn has never seen a member from the Simon Famiglia until now. He was also intrigued of the fact the Simons used a set of flames that were entirely separate of that of the Sky's, known was the Flames of the Earth. Unfortunately, there was too little information written down so Reborn's knowledge was limited in that area - much to his displeasure.
"Un. The Simons has and will always be an ally of the Vongolas." Enma earnestly stated where he stand to avoid any suspicion that may arise.
"Speaking of which," Tsuna creased his brows. "Where are your guardians? Even if they're not the same ones, why aren't they with you?"
Enma halted all of a sudden, frozen in his tracks with a wide range of emotions flitting across his face.
"... Enma?" Tsuna called out tentatively. He knew that something was wrong just by looking at how the redhead was now clenching his fist tightly. His Intuition had also spiked, telling him that he wasn't going to like what he will learn in this conversation.
"... L-let's save that for later, yeah?" Enma forced a smile. Tsuna couldn't help but notice the unshed tears at the corner of his friend's eyes. "It's... it's a long story and- and - "
"... It's alright," Tsuna squeeze the other's shoulder, showing Enma that he was there if his best fiend ever needed anything. "Why don't we catch up to my brother and his friends?"
Enma was glad for the change in topic, but found Tsuna's wording to be queer. "You speak as though you and them are just that."
"Because they are." Tsuna shot back with a shake of his head. "I may consider them as friends but they're not the same. Not like you Enma."
"Oi," Reborn tugged on Tsuna's hair. "Did you forget about my presence, Dame-Tsuna?"
The brunet sighed. "Of course not Reborn. But like I said before, you're not the same either - will you stop pulling on my hair? It hurts!"
The hitman scoffed but complied with his request. Enma chuckled at the scene, feeling a sense of familiarity with the situation.
"Some things never changed."
"Hey, I heard that!"
[PLEASE READ!] There WON'T going to be updates for the next TWO WEEKS because it's closing into my exam time (I don't think I need to expand anymore on that :P). Anyhow, this already caught up with the updated one on wattpad so what a coincidence!
So... Enma (Tsuna's partner-in-crime - at least, in my opinion) is officially here! :D And a bit more into what Tsuna's going to deal with in the future.
Also, if you any of you do find any mistakes, I welcome you to point it out! (Thanks to NAO-chan33 for correcting the Japanese vocab in the previous chapter(I ain't familiar with the language though I wish haha...))
Thanks to Nella Moonblood Royalle, Guest, reader, ShotaroxPhillip, TheSilverHunt3r, Yuki, Undertheskys, wildcat1144, The Whimsical Ermine, thor94, Lunapok, WildRosa13474, vampireharry the 2, Chew Chew, JustSome01, Shiroshi.2, sousie, Dark Elpis, Sora Rider X, D C JoKeR H S, NAO-chan33, Kiri Kaitou Clover, YokaiAngel for reviewing!
Happy reading and see you all in two weeks' time! ~ヾ(^∇^)
