Bwaha, a week chappie and it's long. Dies. My language is formaller than before. Sorry, I think it's because I stared at essays all day... =='
Please enjoooooy
Reborn blinked up at me.
"Although I can't read your thoughts as clearly as the others, you're depressed. Why?"
I only stared back at him, not saying anything. Reborn only sighed and tilted his fedora. "You don't need to face the others right now; I'll tell them you have intense training."
I nodded, and he nodded back before walking out of my room. Locking the door, I picked up my chopsticks and practiced jabbing with them again.
My guns weren't flame friendly, but that made me realise why Jack had specially made these chopsticks. They sustained the flame well, and when I jabbed at my pillow, it went through like butter and nearly went through the mattress. Which gave me a weapon I didn't need, since I wasn't going to be in the Choice battle anyway, but maybe this would help Tsuna and the others protect Uni…
Should I do some training? I hadn't run for a while.
I sneaked out of the room and followed my blueprints to where there was a small gym. Going to one of the random treadmills, I jogged as I thought and thought.
There were six days until the Choice game, and six days I had to get myself together. Yamamoto had been kidnapped accordingly, Dino had gone to Hibari, and everyone had already started training seriously. But before I do that, I had to myself out of this… spiral down to depression. I knew there was something wrong. Even if I knew I was pessimistic, I have never sunk this far.
Why? Why, I had to know why. I was a why person. I closed my eyes and thought, what was so different this time? Then something clicked, as I thought about Tsuna and his stress.
I opened my eyes in realisation. Maybe it was because this was the first time I had no-one to lean on. In the past, even if I was loaded with problems, I knew that a call away would be Jack, or Liza, or someone that knew about me, and could sympathise.
Now, I couldn't contact the Brighteyes, and surrounded by people that woulnd't be able to understand my problems even if I told them. It was so much easier to cope when there was someone I knew would always be there to support me. Even if I didn't tell them, they would still be there whenever I got into trouble.
They weren't there anymore.
I thought about Kyoko's hug, and wondered when the last time I got comfort from a hug.
Nine years ago? By my mother. In my first life.
So long ago…
I continued jogging, trying to remember what it felt like to be in a family of your own, without secrets, without mystery, only to find they were nearly too blurry to remember.
"Kyo-san," Kusakabe respectfully said with his ever present piece of grass in between his teeth. Hibari glanced his way. "Aren't you going to read the letter your future self-wrote for you?"
The sun hid behind a cloud as Hibari idly took out the rice paper out of his pocket, a wind blowing across the roof. To Kusakabe's horror, he ripped it.
"I don't need any herbivore warnings," Hibari said blandly, "I am strong."
"But, Kyo-san!" Hibari sent a glare from the corner of his eye.
Kusakabe could only watch and sigh as the person he put first in his life just continued to lie on the rooftop. How could he make him see that it wasn't about strength, but about relationships? If this continued… Kusakabe nearly chewed his grass stalk in half, history would repeat again.
He knew what it was like to love someone, when he met his wife, the first woman to accept his pompadour the way it was, and his loyalty first and foremost to his cousin. He couldn't bear to see the future Kyo-san where he was the perfect leader and fighter, but distant in… anything that required human contact at all. It saddened him to think that the only reason he kept the Vongola close to him was because it had been important to… her, and his healthy respect for his fighters.
Kyo-san didn't deserve that. But… Kusakabe watched with a sweat drop sliding down his face, his past self didn't care at all. He forgot that about the past Kyo-san. He had grown more expressions as time went on.
Meanwhile, Hibari just continued listening to Hibird chirp. He didn't show it, but it confused him.
He understood himself, so he didn't have to understand others. But writing a warning letter? To him?
He was not an herbivore. So therefore the letter might've been important, or he didn't understand himself at all. The second was out of the question, the first just raised a smirk on his lips.
A challenge?
Bring it on.
I was jogging and jogging, quietly as the treadmill was, of course, top of the range and whisper silent. The steady thump of my feet as one of my feet landed, only to take off again, trying to fly to a better place.
I had been going at it for… two hours? Now I had to drag my breath in a bit harder, but still fine. My endurance had improved, I guess. It had been silent for those two hours, reminiscing or just dazing. The thoughts whirling in my brain had needed an overhaul, so I blanked out for two hours, another something I hadn't been able to do for… ages.
If there was time for depression, there was time to get out of it. Though I didn't need the slap-across-the-face-what-are-you-doing treatment every anime seemed to do to depressed characters, I needed to sort this by myself. I couldn't help that my thoughts drifted into darker areas until I lifted myself up again. It was hard, trying to answer my questions, for I didn't know the answers.
Then to my surprise, Kyoko came in holding some heavy-looking shopping bags. I looked at her in surprise, before blinking and nodding at her in welcome.
"Kyoko," I said, stepping off the treadmill and walking towards her while trying to adjust to the feeling of walking on solid ground again. "What's the matter?"
Kyoko was silent, staring at the bags before sitting on an unused seat, her hair blowing slightly from the air-conditioner behind her. She stood out, with her colourful clothes and hair, from the white and grey room.
"Alice-chan…" she said looking up at me, "did you know all along?"
What? Oh, mafia. I was technically one myself. I nodded.
"Tsuna-kun said that you came from this elite underground information gathering family. Can you tell me… more about it?"
I blinked at that, surprised, before dragging a chair and sat facing her, my eyes trained at her face. She didn't even flinch. I gave a small smirk. I knew she had guts. The first person to ever openly ask me that question.
"What do you want to know?"
Kyoko looked at me with her big eyes, so much like Tsuna, yet so different. Hers had a different desperation than Tsuna's… though for what, I didn't understand.
"Was everything you told us a lie?"
I shook my head immediately. "Many of the things I have told you about myself are lies, but I truly feel that you are all my friends."
Did I really though? my mind whispered cunningly, and I slapped at it.
Kyoko smiled. "I know that, Alice-chan. I was wondering what sort of past you really had. I want to know you, Alice-chan."
Should I tell her?
Well, many of them were rumours anyway. Better tell her the Brighteye cover story before she got any ideas.
"To become a Brighteye, you can't have any connections and be younger than eight. If you fit those criteria, the drip a chemical into your eyes to see if they turn like," I waved to my eyes, "this. If they do, it means you have potential. After that, at eight the child is officially accepted into the family and start training. At twelve, the training should be complete, and is sent on a mission, and when that's finished, another. My mission was Tsuna, for reasons that you know now."
Kyoko was silent, but she had always been a good listener.
"That's so…" I looked at her curiously, wondering what she would say. Unbelievable? Strange? Unexpected? "…sad." She concluded.
Huh?
"Why?" I frowned in confusion.
She looked up, and I was surprised to see that her eyes had tiny tears in them. "Doesn't that mean you haven't really had a family before?"
Oh. I smiled then. Kyoko was just too compassionate. "Yes, I did, before I became a Brighteye. I loved them, and they loved me. Circumstances changed, but I had another group to belong to. Now I have you lot."
"But why did you become one? Couldn't you have refused?"
"No," I replied thinking of Bill. "I was taken away from my family. They think I'm dead now but," I said, now repeating the thing that I've been chanting to myself for years, "if I continue and succeed as a Brighteye…" I looked straight at Kyoko. "I will be able to see them again."
Kyoko stared at me, before blinking away her tears and breathing deeply. At that, Kyoko got up and hugged me. Two hugs in two days. I hesitantly hugged her back.
"You're strong, Alice-chan," she mumbled into my hair. "Going through so many years of loneliness by yourself…"
I shook my head. I wasn't lonely. I think. It was just that all that accumulated stress just exploded… I decided to be honest with Kyoko. "No I'm not. It's just that I don't know when I'll break," I said bluntly.
"You won't ever break, Alice-chan," Kyoko said fiercely, "because we'll glue it all up before you even notice. Me, Tsuna-kun and the others, we're all your friends, aren't we?"
As I sat in stunned silence, Kyoko let go of me, gave one of her pink sparkle smiles as if we didn't just have a serious conversation and walked out, telling me how they were going to make those hash browns that I really liked.
And I only looked at the door with surprised look. Kyoko… Kyoko cared for me more than I thought.
She said the others cared as well. I had never thought about that.
Walking back to the treadmill, I slapped my forehead. I was more self-centred than I thought…
When I went to dinner early, Haru wordlessly hugged me and a look at Kyoko told me she had blabbed. But strangely, I didn't mind.
"We'll be here, Alice-san, so whenever you need us just call!" she said cheerfully. But I noticed her red eyes and hugged back (my third hug in two days).
"Are you okay?"
Haru blinked, before smiling again. "Yes, Bianchi-san comforted me!"
I gave a small smile and patted her head. "Good. Now where are those hash browns?"
After that, all there was to do was train. Six days passed quickly, and soon I was sitting next to Chrome in the girl's locker room. I frowned in confusion at my suit compared to the others. Chrome and I had gotten black suits, Kyoko and Haru had gotten a maroon and gold one as they were watchers. But the difference was…
"Why did Bianchi give me pants? Not that I'm complaining, but does she secretly think I'm a guy?"
Chrome was half-changed, pulling up her skirt and tying her tie. "N-no, Alice-san. I'm sure Bianchi-san doesn't think of you that way…"
"You always complained about being stereotyped as a girl when you had to fight in this type of clothes," a smooth voice came from the door, "so I prepared pants for you this time, just like the guys."
"Bianchi-san!" Haru squeaked as she hurriedly buttoned her shirt, "Close the door!"
"Yes, yes," Bianchi said, laughing a bit as she went in and closed the door behind her. "It matches you anyway, Alice."
Having pants were much more practical than a skirt. Of course, it wasn't as if suits were designed for battle either. But these had good mobility, I thought as I wheeled my arms about. I felt better with my jacket unbuttoned though, and loosened my tie a bit so it wasn't strangling me.
Bianchi watched this process with distant eyes.
"You still do that even when you're so young…" she said, and I raised an eyebrow at her. She only grinned in response. "Girls! Today is it! Are you ready?" she asked.
"Mhmm!" Kyoko said, nodding with a smile. Haru similarly nodded, with a huge smile.
"Yes," Chrome said timidly, her hands fidgeting around her trident. There was a pregnant pause as they waited for me to answer. I scowled instead.
"Let's just get to the room without all these talks…" I grouched, and the others just laughed and followed me out of the room.
As we walked towards where the guys were gathering, I closed my eyes and breathed.
I cannot help what I am, or what they are, or what I'm doing, or what they're doing. Even though I don't know why… I have to do what I have to do.
Opening my eyes and hearing the greeting I hadn't heard for nearly a week, I brought up a smile.
"Tsuna," I said hoping my smile wasn't as constipated as I thought it was, "how're you?" I ruffled his hair, even as Gokudera was fussing over Ryohei's tie.
"Alice!" He exclaimed, smiling widely. "You're wearing a suit too, huh?" He self-consciously poked at his own suit with a small blush. "I've never worn one before…"
"You look very cool," I assured him. Strange, being with Tsuna chased away the bad thoughts. He just looked at me and accepted me without any thought at all.
I sighed. I knew I thought too much. Gokudera saw me patting Tsuna's head and immediately roared, "What are you doing to Juudaime, freaky-eyes? Have more respect!" He stopped fussing over Ryohei and practically teleported to where I was.
"Haha, Gokudera," I chuckled, pulling a Yamamoto, "It's fine right?"
"No, it's not you–"
"Now, now, we've just met each other after nearly a week, so don't fight you two, okay?" Tsuna said, trying to calm us down.
I blinked at Tsuna. "I wasn't arguing."
"Don't rebut Juudaime!"
"Huh?"
"Y-you!" Gokudera choked out, his arms flailing as if he wanted to claw me while Fuuta held him back.
Tsuna just sighed to the screams of Ryohei going EXTREME over tying his tie.
His crazy family…
"Whoa!" We all looked over to where Shouichi was standing in the doorway, shocked.
"Irie-san," Tsuna greeted happily.
"You're late, freak," Gokudera said disgruntled as he looked at the doorway in irritation (partly caused by me).
"You guys… You look so sharp!" He said, waving his arms around.
"It's actually pretty embarrassing really," Tsuna said with that small blush again, looking down at the floor. At that, Reborn's eyes gleamed. Probably taking Tsuna's comment personally about his fashion sense.
"I had them made to order for this fight," Reborn said to Shouichi. "The Vongola Mafia started as a vigilante group to help protect the people. Each generation of the Vongola Family had donned this attire when risking their lives to fulfil that duty." Everyone stood silent to listen to Reborn, except for, of course, Tsuna.
"Wh-what's with that?" Tsuna asked with his eyes deadpanned. Reborn looked at him, "Making the Mafia sound all good and cool…"
Reborn immediately rebutted though. "The Vongola Family started as a model organisation, though they might have dabbled in unspeakable things later on," he added with a little smirk.
I watched Tsuna as he turned to face Reborn. "That's the problem!"
"But there's nothing wrong about this fight!" Irie started before something else captured my attention. Haru was pointing at me standing a little off ways from the rest of the family, whispering to Kyoko, who nodded and then marched surreptitiously with Haru towards me.
"You should be standing next to the rest of the Family, Alice-san!" Haru whispered, pushing me towards Ryohei. "You're one of the main fighters as well!"
"But I always stand there," I said flatly, pointing to my position near the wall.
"No," Kyoko said firmly.
I sighed and gave in, standing next to them just as Tsuna finished putting on his headphones and turned around.
"Gokudera-kun."
"Yes, Juudaime," Gokudera nodded, smiling at Tsuna. He smiled back.
"Onii-san."
Ryohei grunted an affirmation, smiling confidently back at Tsuna.
"Lambo."
Lambo on Ryohei's shoulder punched the air. "Going to do this!"
"Alice."
I looked at Tsuna blankly, before giving a thumb up. He smiled and nodded at me before turning to the other side.
"Chrome."
"Yes, Boss," she said gently, holding her trident close to her chest.
"Basil-kun."
"Sawada-dono," he only said, his ever present smile on his face.
"Fuuta. Bianchi. I-pin, Giannini, Shouichi-kun, Spanner," he said with all of them saying some type of affirmation, giving their support (with Shouichi miraculously changed into a suit at the back). Then he paused, and looked back the other way, his eyes a bit more gentle. "Kyoko-chan, Haru."
"Yes, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko nodded, smiling as support.
Haru bounced, giving an exuberant "Yes, Tsuna-san!" Tsuna smiled at them, before looking forward at last, his smile gone.
"Let's go."
And we all yelled our support behind, in varying levels of loudness, and I was strangely moved that I completed the triangle of Guardian fighters behind Tsuna, since Yamamoto was still training with Squalo.
I smiled too, before frowning as we started walking towards the exit of the base. We could do this. I wouldn't let anyone get in the way.
Even if I was sending another to hell.
I walked next to Chrome, going through the morning of Namimori and up the shrine's steps. We just stuck close to each other, drawing comfort from the other's presence even if we didn't talk. I-pin in her arms was serious as well, adding to the solemnity of the occasion.
The people in front of us were steadily going up the stairs looking only forward, but I looked at the forest occasionally. Where did Hibari and Yamamoto leap out from again?
When we reached the top of the stairs, there was this strange thing in front of Namimori Shrine. We caught up to the other girls. Kyoko looked at the thing strangely. "Is that a festival float?"
Lambo, transferred from Ryohei to Haru, immediately went hyper. "Festival! Yipee! Lambo-san loves festivals!"
I ruffled his hair. "There's no takoyaki here, Lambo." He looked at me curiously before making to jump out of Haru's arms.
Gokudera suddenly shouted. "No, wait! Don't get too close, it might be a Millefiore trap!" Everyone tensed before Shouichi at the back saw what the commotion was about and jogged next to me and scratched the back of his sheepishly.
"Aha, sorry about that. I forgot to tell you. That's going to be our base unit." Spanner looked at him from the other side, before looking at me.
He peered at me curiously, before I blinked at him and waved. He nodded. Oh yeah… I have never talked to Spanner properly before. I was always either knocked out, training, or him busily working next to Shouichi. But as he was a talented engineer, he should know I was a Brighteye from my eyes.
He might have been wondering why two of the 'same' family members were supporting different sides of the fight.
Everyone else on the other hand was inspecting the base.
"It better not be a piece of junk inside," Gokudera said, looking at the cover doubtfully before looking back at Shouichi with deadpan eyes.
"We did what we could!" Shouichi said defensively. I patted his shoulder consolingly and he had to massage the bridge of his nose. Poor stressed Shouichi.
On the other hand, Tsuna was worrying about Yamamoto and Hibari. But since I wasn't overly concerned… I yawned, and the two other girls immediately looked concerned over me. Chrome had already drifted a little bit away to look at the base unit closer.
"Alice-chan, didn't you sleep well yesterday?" Kyoko asked in concern.
"Ah, yeah," I said.
Haru frowned and waved a finger at me. "You should have eaten more at dinner yesterday, Alice-san! You all need your strength!"
I was about to tell her that I didn't need my strength since I wouldn't be fighting when Tsuna started shouting Yamamoto and Hibari's names. "Where are they?" Tsuna cried worriedly, looking around at the forest.
Giannini added his own coin to the mix. "It can't be that… they don't plan on coming?"
"What?" Kyoko and Haru asked in unison.
I yawned as Reborn appeared.
"It could also be that they failed their training."
Hibari? Fail training? Impossible.
Everyone else was getting more solemn by the second though, though Basil tried to get morale up Byakuran's huge face started to appear in the sky.
"Yah, peoples," he said as his face radiated white light onto us little people.
"Ah! What's that?" Tsuna said in his 'hiie' scream voice. I only raised an eyebrow.
Byakuran had vanity issues.
And yes, blah blah, hill getting eradicated, the light fading, tension…
Oh shoot, I was getting back into the habit of watching at a distance. I banged my head on Kyoko's shoulder. This was real life, not a plot, not a plot. Get that into my head.
Then Yamamoto and Hibari jumped out of the trees last second ninja-style, box out and ready and everyone did the same except me. They would be fine, and I didn't see the point of wasting a huge lump of my life on doing this. I only opened my box for appearances and stood near Yamamoto.
"Shouichi, look at the reading," Spanner said with wide eyes. Shouichi looked.
"Ten million Fiamma volts!" he exclaimed in surprise and wonder, and everyone watched open-mouthed. Reborn only smirked though, and when he saw me not surprised at all he only smirked all the wider.
"So I wasn't mistaken," Shouichi murmured, looking back at us, "I wasn't mistaken bringing them into this world!"
And my box weapon preened into my fingers. Both of them. Yamamoto looked at me with surprise when he saw two animals, like himself before shooting a smile.
"Man, you guys are late," Gokudera grouched specifically at Yamamoto when it was obvious that the teleportation system was working. Yamamoto just looked at him from his crouched ninja position with a smile.
"Sorry about that."
Hibari had to make his opinion clear around then. "I am here for personal reasons," he said with his eyes closed. "It's got nothing to do with you." When Roll affirmed it, I smiled.
Yesyes, he had to make it clear he wasn't with us or fighting with us. We got it.
"But how did you know they were coming, Sawada?" Ryohei wanted to know.
The coolest, most shounen style answer would have been 'I trusted my family!' and be in-character for Tsuna, but instead he just stared calmly to the front and answered instead, "I just knew that we needed everyone together to defeat Byakuran."
And everyone was obviously touched (except for Hibari, who obviously got annoyed at being lumped together with us herbivores) and Ryohei looked stunned for a moment, Garyuu's arm over his shoulder.
Byakuran's face, which had blown away, collected again and I listened disinterestedly, more interested in stroking the feathers of my box weapon, grabbing onto it for stability when we started floating.
My face grew grim.
Choice was starting, the origin of all this mess.
I rubbed my head, trying not to breathe too much of the dust. Looking around, I recognised Chrome near me and I scooted over just in time to hear Lambo start a tantrum.
"Sorry," Chrome said quietly with her brows furrowed gently wondering what to do. And with that Fuuta immediately ran over.
"Here, Lambo." Lambo opened his mouth and Fuuta dropped a grape candy into it. I looked at Fuuta blankly.
"As expected of Lambo's carer of seven years. You would make a really good mother."
"Aha, Alice-nee, I'm male…"
Picking up my box, I shrugged. "The same."
All the while, the dust was clearing and shadows appeared a bit farther away from our group. "Welcome to the Choice arena," an annoyingly familiar voice said.
"Byakuran," Tsuna said, facing him fully before widening his eyes fully. "What?" He exclaimed, suddenly seeing what was beyond the dust.
We were on the roof of a high-rise building in a sea of sky-scrapers. "We're in the middle of a bunch of sky-scrapers!" Basil exclaimed. I looked at him. Obviously.
Byakuran just smiled on the side. "It seems like we've met many times, but is this the first time we've met in person, Tsunayoshi-kun?" he said and smiled as we all tensed and focused on him for the first time. Flanked by all his high-ranking six Funeral Wreaths, with one that I didn't remember being there.
A beautiful tall woman was standing at the back next to Torikabuto, and her gold eyes told me all that I needed. She was Belle. She was tall…
I didn't like her already. (Of course, that didn't stop the guilt of needing to eradicate her plot, but I was at least relieved I didn't like her on first glance).
"Th-there they are! Byakuran and the real Six Funeral Wreaths!" Tsuna yelled, taking a step back. Kyoko and Haru, who already had a notion on who Byakuran was immediately shrunk into themselves and Bianchi, I-pin and Fuuta took a defensive stance over them.
"Wah!" Lambo said eyes wide, "they're scary! I'm on this side," he said as he leaped out of Chrome's arms and behind Giannini (who looked like a very unwilling meat shield).
"This is where we'll be fighting," Byakuran just continued.
"Huh? Here?" Tsuna said in surprise.
"That's right. Don't you think it's such a fine location?"
Tsuna frowned in worry. "W-we can't possibly fight in an area with so many people!"
"I thought you might say that," Byakuran said over a disdainful sniff the Brighteye behind him (Belle?) made, "so I got rid of all the people."
"Now that you mention it," Yamamoto said in front of me, "this place is awfully quiet."
"Especially is you consider that we're in the middle of a metropolis," Bianchi added.
Byakuran only smiled. "We're the only people here," he said, carefree.
"What–" Gokudera started before being interrupted by Shouichi.
"A battlefield specially made for Choice," he said darkly, nervously, as he stared straight at Byakuran. I looked at Belle instead. She was looking impatient and annoyed. Probably wanted to kill Tsuna right there.
At that sudden thought, I moved closer to Tsuna. I won't allow that.
I watched Belle closely as they went through the explanation process. She didn't even move, only flicker her hair over her shoulder a few times, and inspected her nails. I frowned; maybe I was wrong?
Or was it that there was something that made her sure of her victory?
Byakuran walked forwards with the gyroroulette, and that was when she smirked. I immediately narrowed my eyes at her before flicking to Byakuran. He had projected out what the gyroroulette was showing, and I immediately understood why she had been so relaxed.
The pink columns in the air had everything as normal. Sun, cloud, mist, rain, thunder, storm – and that's when it stops being normal. Under storm was one that I hadn't expected to see.
A single star, shining innocently in pink light, in a column that wasn't supposed to be there. I didn't question Byakuran's taste in colour and just stared.
So what now?
Participate?
Sort out facts. Now.
Crawling into a cupboard and disappearing. No chance.
Participate? No chance.
Belle smirking. She participating? Probably.
She participate I participate?
Yes.
I growled, ticked, but watched avidly as Tsuna and Byakuran turned the roulette… Only
Millefiore: 1 Sun, 2 Mist, 1 Cloud, 1 Star
Vongola: 1 Rain, 1 Storm, 1 Sky, 1 Star, 2 Null
I cursed.
Participation confirmed.
… I wonder if there was a cupboard in the base unit I could hide in. I slapped myself. No! No wallowing in misery! I forced myself to tune in to what Shouichi was saying.
"Byakuran-san, since I don't have a Ring, I can be considered as Null element, right?" He was asking, and they looked at each other, Byakuran unusually serious until he smiled again.
"Well, I can make an exception."
In the background, I saw Belle frown and mutter something like, from what I could hear, "he's… his special Sho-chan privileges again…"
…Was Belle jealous of Shouichi?
That snapped me out of my bad mood immediately. The very thought of something as pretty and tall as she was, jealous over dorky Shouichi!
Shouichi, on the other hand, was much more serious than I.
"Then, Tsunayoshi-kun," he said with his eyes shadowed, "we know the line-up already. The participating Vongola members will be Sky, Tsunayoshi-kun." Tsuna listened seriously. "Storm will be Gokudera-kun. Rain will be Yamamoto-kun; Star will be Alice-san. Null element will be represented by Spanner and me."
Ha, I laughed in resignation in my mind. That clinched it even more.
Why was I always getting dragged into fights I didn't want to be in? Mukuro was the same, Varia the same, and now this. I gave a 180 mood swing and sighed.
We were helping Yamamoto fix up his suit when he turned to me.
"Alice, you have two box animals like me! Those birds suit you," he flashed a grin. I nodded back at him.
"Yeah, I found out a few days ago."
"Eh? You have two box animals, Alice?" Tsuna turned away from the screens and looked towards me. I nodded.
"Yes, Hawk and Falcon. They're good kids."
At my words, Tsuna's eyes grew deadpanned. I raised an eyebrow. Was there something wrong with my naming choices?
"Err, by any chance, Alice," Tsuna approached slowly, "is your box weapon a hawk and a falcon?"
I nodded. "Of course."
"Ahaha!" Yamamoto laughed as he struggled to tie his tie, "that's so cool! What's the difference between a hawk and a falcon anyway?"
Gokudera grew irritated as he watched Yamamoto tie knots with his tie. "Baseball idiot, I'll show you how to tie your tie so come here."
Yamamoto looked at Gokudera with surprise before smiling widely. "Okay."
"There are many differences between a hawk and a falcon," I started lecturing, "and the first deals with body size. For you see, the falcon is smaller than the hawk…"
"Put it through like this, and then this…" Gokudera slowly tied the tie.
"Like this?" Yamamoto confirmed, tightening it.
"So therefore the falcon is slightly faster. Also, the falcon isn't primarily a glider unlike the hawk…"
"Man, you should be able to do this! It's knowledge every man should have!"
"Not my fault, I never wear suits." Yamamoto said as he smiled down at Gokudera.
"…It flaps its wings to fly. Hawks kill its prey in its talons as well, another difference between the falcon since the falcon kills in its beak…"
Tsuna tensed his shoulders in the corner. "I didn't know how to tie a tie either…"
The computer beeped and I gave up.
"What's the matter?" Tsuna asked, looking at Spanner.
"They've sent us a map," Spanner said calmly, looking at the monitor. "This appears to be the south-eastern area." We all walked closer to listen. "Buildings of all sizes around the area and plenty of obstructions to vision."
"I see, not too bad," Shouichi said leaning over Spanner's chair.
Tsuna frowned in worry. "Shouichi-kun, are you okay?"
Shouichi straightened out, smiling back at us. "Mm, so don't worry. Anyway," he asked us, "how do you like the base we made?"
"I was amazed at how nice it is," Tsuna smiled brightly, "how were you able to build it in such a short time?"
Shouichi made to answer, happy about answering anything about engineering when a voice from to monitor stopped him. "Three minutes have passed," a Cervello's voice came through a speaker, "are both Families ready for battle?"
There was a chair next to Spanner, and it was there that Shouichi made to now, sitting and grabbing a small microphone. "Yes," he said quietly into it.
A pause, before the Cervello's voices were heard again. "Then Choice battle… Start!"
Instead of coolly running to our motorbikes and foolishly driving around so that we could look, well, cool, like what so many other people did, we had that chanting ring again.
"Vongola… FIGHT!" Yamamoto shouted happily.
"Yeah!" Tsuna shouted with Shouichi and Spanner.
"I haven't felt so hyped up in a while!" Yamamoto exclaimed happily. Tsuna sighed as he wiped his sweat.
Gokudera massaged his temples with one hand.
"I haven't felt so down in a while," Gokudera mumbled.
"Guess this isn't a Japanese thing then," Spanner said blankly. I, who stood next to him, matched his blankness.
"That was sudden," I said.
Shouichi recovered. "Anyway, for our strategy, we can only locate the enemy from the Flame radar," he said calmly, "so Spanner and I will stay here, analyse the data and tell you what to do…"
I looked at the screen, where flame readings were all bunched up at where the Millefiore base was supposed to be. They were preparing, I see…
"Based on your fighting styles, I believe it would be best to put Gokudera-kun on defence, Tsunayoshi-kun and Yamamoto-kun on attack, and Alice-san as a scout and back-up."
"I'm on defence?" Gokudera burst out, as Yamamoto gave a happy pointer.
"If your defence isn't good enough, you'll end up losing no matter how many points you score," he said happily.
"Stop comparing everything to baseball, you baseball freak!" Gokudera yelled at Yamamoto. That was, of course, before Tsuna stepped in.
"We'll be counting on you then, Gokudera-kun."
Gokudera snapped up, smile on his face, happy blush on his cheek.
"Yes! Of course!" Gokudera leaned over to Tsuna. "I won't let anyone lay a finger on him," he said shining a bright smile upon Tsuna.
I watched all this with a raised eyebrow before frowning. Me as back-up? I shook my head at Shouichi. "Sorry, Shouichi, I need to do something else. I'll try to listen to you though, and I'll try to be where I'm needed."
Gokudera turned on me. "Oi, freaky-eyes, you can't do that."
Shouichi looked at me with a contemplative "hmm"
He clapped his hands. "Okay, when you're doing that, please try relay information on what the others are doing. That's all you need to do."
"…That's fine," I acquiesced.
"Okay, let's go," Yamamoto said, already starting to go towards the back where the motorbikes were stored.
"Yes," Tsuna said seriously.
And then we started the 'cool running' and motorbike leaping. All of us (except Tsuna) ignored the helmets set beside the motorbike and stared at the door as Shouichi and Spanner blabbed all the technical stuff to get the doors open.
Staring down the dark corridor, I revved the engine and tried to calm myself down.
Where would Belle be?
Or more specifically, what was Belle's target?
Tsuna…
I opened my box weapon and stared into Falcon's eyes. It screeched as it understood the message.
"Good Falcon. Remember to follow from a while back so Tsuna's position isn't obvious, okay?"
It screeched again, and I nodded. The door in front of us opened, letting light in and with a muted roar, the motorbike leapt forward, Falcon following me before wheeling into the air towards Tsuna's exit. I smiled, before opening a line to Shouichi.
"Shouichi, I'm going to open my box weapon. It's okay, Star Flames are harder to track."
"Alice, Tsuna is starting evasive pattern F and engaging the enemy. Do not obstruct him."
"Yes."
I opened my box again, to let Hawk out. He spread his brown wings, flecked with black and stared at me with eyes as yellow as mine. I had found this out in training, useful for mobility at least.
In training, I had been having a headache about how I would travel. Tsuna shot around with his gloves, Yamamoto with his short swords, Gokudera with his Sistema C.A.I. If I had to have at least some use, I had to shoot around like a rocket too.
But how?
As I was dazing off into space, I forgot to stop the flow of my Flames into my box weapon and voila.
One huge Hawk and Falcon staring at me. Huge enough to let me ride.
I grinned at it. Awesome.
"Tsunayoshi-kun, you'll engage the enemy in five seconds," Irie's voice said quietly into his ear. Tsuna muttered affirmation. "Three… Two… One…"
Tsuna braked hard, flinging his helmet aside and popping two Dying Will Pills into his mouth, flying around the building even as his decoy got shot through. He sped, turning a tight curve and narrowing his eyes at the back of a cloaked figure.
"Torikabuto, behind you!" he heard faintly from a speaker somewhere on the cloaked man, and he put on a little burst of speed, and the man seemed to be turning in slow motion.
"Too late," he murmured before driving his fist into the man's back, using his other glove's acceleration to make it stronger. The masked man curved backwards around his punch, before flying forward and hitting flat against the side of a building.
Tsuna widened his eyes. The building wasn't damaged.
"The buildings in the Lightning arena are covered with the hard factor of lightning flames, and twenty times harder than normal buildings." He looked over his shoulder to see the Cervello flying with their Sun flamed boots.
"If you crash into one at high speed it will feel like crashing onto the ground after falling from the roof of those tall buildings," the other informed.
Tsuna immediately looked back at Torikabuto as he slowly slid down the glass of the skyscraper. "This can't be…"
"Simpleton," a deep voice said, the mask looking back at Tsuna without one crack at all before the whole man exploding into writhing black strips flying towards Tsuna.
"These are…" Tsuna said, looking at them, focusing until the black strips turned into snakes with a crackle of green flame on them.
"Weakling…" Torikabuto said slowly, his eyes trained on Tsuna.
High above, a bird call sounded loudly in the empty sky.
I perched on top of one of the buildings, arms half wrapping around Hawk's huge neck. It gazed around with me, and I closed my eyes. My vision immediately split into two as I concentrated.
Half of my vision was what Hawk was scanning, much clearer than I would ever hope to have. It could see clearly even to the end of the city. I was focusing more on the other half though. Through Falcon's eyes, there was a spiked ball in the sky, which soon collapsed into Tsuna holding Natsu's Cambio Forma Modo Defensa: Giotto's cloak.
Good, no use in worrying about Tsuna now. Falcon now turned started wheeling, scanning the whole city for my main enemy and gave a loud call.
Falcon and I narrowed our eyes, and there she was, jetting about on grey-coloured Flames.
I snapped my eyes open, and paused to readjust my eyes.
"Let's go, Hawk." It screeched, and unfurled its great wings. Then it dove, and I had to squint my eyes against the wind. Then it got its current and started to glide. We wove around a couple of buildings. To my surprise, Belle was in front of the Vongola's spectator's box.
Through the glass I saw all the people exclaiming over huge Hawk. But Hawk wasn't really made to hover, so we wheeled about instead, our eyes trained on Belle.
She turned around, a smirk on her pretty lips.
"So you're finally here… Alice-chan."
I nodded.
"Yes."
"There's something here. Sorry, we'll talk later," Yamamoto's voice came through the speaker to Shouichi, and he narrowed his eyes in understanding.
"Roger."
Yamamoto stood with his sword at the ready, staring intently at the sun-flame decoy. Nothing. He tensed, gripping his sword tighter. Still nothing.
Narrowing his eyes, he saw a spark. Yamamoto immediately ran forward, widening his eyes and trying to see the target, but just as he approached the decoy, it exploded into huge vines that grew in seconds, reaching up to the sky to an impossible height.
"What–" he exclaimed as vines came out of the ground to lock his legs, and another hit his hand. His Shigure Kintoki flew and landed blade first into the cement, where it changed back into its original bamboo form.
"This isn't good," Yamamoto said, eyeing his sword a few metres away without a chance of running. But his attention went to a few arrow-shaped vines that shot at him, which he dodged, but then locked him into a position where he couldn't hope to even move.
"Good dodging," a slightly muffled voice praised, and Yamamoto looked up from the floor. And in front of him, Mist flames dispersed to reveal the masked subordinate of Torikabuto, Saru. "But you can no longer move. I shall finish you now."
"You're that… Saru guy," Yamamoto said, staring at him.
"But I find it ironic," Saru continued, ignoring Yamamoto, "you barely escaped with your life the first time only to find you're facing the same foe again, Yamamoto Takeshi."
"Huh? Once again?"
"Will this help you understand?" Saru spat out angrily, his mask also disappearing in a burst of Mist flames to reveal a familiar face, with more scars than last time but the yellow eyes were the same.
"Genkishi!"
Gokudera started, and Tsuna widened his eyes even as he continued speeding towards Daisy. Shouichi looked at the monitor in disbelief. "Impossible! Didn't Tsunayoshi-kun defeat Genkishi?"
In the spectator's box, all of the people looked shocked, only two who didn't understand. "Wh-who is that dangerous looking person?" Haru asked, gripping Bianchi.
Outside the window of the spectator's box, Belle smirked as Alice nodded. For both of them, it was still going towards the plot.
"We don't really need introductions, do we," Belle said even as she flew lazily upwards, "since I've met you at least thirty times."
"Bill told me about you."
She raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? That's interesting. He didn't tell me anything about you though, probably because I've already known you for technically the past sixty years…"
Sixty. She didn't look a day older than twenty-four.
"Really?" I said doubtfully even as Hawk started wheeling upwards to match her. She smirked.
"I don't look it, do I?" She boasted, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
"Yeah." I nodded.
She frowned. "You're not supposed to agree, you silly little girl."
I shrugged, before tuning in to something Shouichi was saying to Tsuna.
"Tsunayoshi-kun, this is our chance! You've defeated Torikabuto, Alice-san is currently facing Belle, and Genkishi disguised as Saru is currently battling Yamamoto-kun. That leaves Kikyo, who hasn't discovered this base unit yet because of the decoys." Irie said, "You should head for the enemy target now while their guard is down."
"Got it," Tsuna replied.
Belle had been fiddling with her earpiece all the while, and her face brightened. "What's this about heading towards our base?"
I stared at her, before checking her earpiece and hurriedly making contact with Shouichi.
"Shouichi, switch our communication lines or scramble it, Belle has hacked into our line."
"What?" came the startled exclamation, and Spanner's voice came through faintly.
"I'm on it. Give it half a minute."
"Yes," I replied back, eyeing Belle as she stopped fiddling with her earpiece and winked at me. The she shot away, and Hawk immediately gave chase. I used my right hand to ride the jolts as Hawk flapped its wings hard. We rose immediately by a few metres, and we had already gained on her. "Currently pursuing Belle, who is heading for their base unit."
"Detain her as much as you can," Shouichi's command came through a bit garbled, but still coherent. "Tsunayoshi-kun is heading there, and Yamamoto-kun can't move right now."
"On it."
Hawk was flying really fast, but Belle just looked over her shoulder with her smirk and just shot faster. Hawk, though large and really good for attack and defence, wasn't fast enough.
I activated my box weapon's special ability before jumping forward. I couldn't be touching Hawk to do this, or I would be swapped with them.
"Swap, Hawk! Falcon!"
There was a slight shimmer of grey flame, before Hawk was replaced by the slightly smaller Falcon. But it was much faster.
I landed on it, and Falcon gave a bird cry before flapping its wings hard and catching up with Belle. We were side by side before I lunged sideways, a flame enhanced chopstick in my hand. In a flash, another weapon with a grey sheen was blocking my attack.
Groaning internally, I wondered why the world was so unfair. Belle's weapon was a trident.
Oh great.
And what did I have? I stared at my two pairs of chopsticks. And sighed again.
A crackle from my earphone got my attention. "Yamamoto! Yamamoto, you won!" Tsuna's voice came over. Belle used my second of distraction to attack, flipping her trident around and stabbing it with a precision that came only with years of training.
Maybe that sixty year comment wasn't a lie after all.
"I'm much more skilled that you, Alice-chan, and have a much better weapon," she said mockingly. "You can't have a split of attention."
I couldn't focus on what the others were saying, or what Irie was trying to update me on. Her jabs were too fast, and I backed away, jumping off the side of a building where Falcon swooped to catch me. We wavered a bit in the air, as I landed a bit heavily but after a few wing strokes we stabilised and I caught my breath.
"Irie," I panted, "Engaging Belle in combat. She's much stronger, I don't know how long I'll last."
"Okay," came the confirmation from Shouichi, "Tsunayoshi-kun and Yamamoto-kun are already heading there by air. Just hold out for a little longer."
Belle flew towards me, her trident pointed straight. Her range was much larger than mine. Shoot.
"Okay." I replied Shouichi before ordering Falcon to fly up to the sky. Belle didn't follow me, but that was fine. Calculating where she would go, I dived. Seeing me coming, she just held up her trident straight up, waiting for us to impale ourselves on it.
As if we were stupid enough to do that. My chopsticks were strong enough. I jumped off Falcon's back at exactly the right moment, whacking her trident away with all four of my chopsticks and it was Falcon who ploughed her over and caught me yet again.
I stroked it, and it called back to me. Belle had hit one of the buildings, though not very hard.
The Star-flame powered boots flared up again, and she flew towards me, rubbing her side.
"Again! You attacked me again! Why, forty-six out of forty-six times do you have to attack me? We're fellow Brighteyes! I haven't hit you properly yet, have I?" She said with her gold eyes narrowed.
She was going easy on me?
From the chaos in the control room, it seemed as if Tsuna had already slipped into Torikabuto's illusion.
"Why are you always so into your mission? They won't ever understand you anyway. You don't need friends in this world." She jetted away, looking at the Flame Radar on her wrist towards where, I presumed, Tsuna was.
Falcon had automatically followed, his speed picking up ever the faster. But the off-hand words (had they been calculated) struck something in me. I gritted my teeth as I sped after her to be neck to neck again and yelled at her.
"Tsuna needed friendship, Yamamoto and Gokudera needed acceptance, and I thought I didn't need them both but I do," I said to Belle defiantly, "even if you say that they won't ever understand me, I realised they would try their best."
I scowled at her. "And that's all I need."
She only sniffed, tossing thick black hair over her shoulder and raising an eyebrow even while turning a tight corner. Falcon flapped hard to change, and I stroked his neck. Hang on. "How cute. That's what you've said to me twenty-six times in other worlds." She suddenly stopped, hovering in the air and Falcon had a hard time braking, and instead wheeled backwards and perching on a lamp-post.
"This is the first time I have said it," I rebutted instead, wary of the trident she was twirling with one hand. "This is the first time I've believed it to be true." The polished metal of her trident gleamed as I continued talking.
"That's good and all," Belle yawned as she continued twirling, "but I really have to get going."
She suddenly twisted her trident and held it on an odd angle, and suddenly the glare was on my eyes. I shielded my eyes on reflex. That was when she acted.
Her boots gave an extra boost of fire, and she shot away. Trying to blink away the spots Falcon immediately gave chase, giving an almighty screech that echoed against the hollow buildings. It became apparent.
She was getting close to Tsuna. And I remembered something that I had momentarily forgot.
She was trying… to kill Tsuna here, wasn't she? I narrowed my eyes at her determined face. So be it.
"You won't hurt Tsuna, I won't let you!" I yelled, glaring at Belle as fiercely as I could even as Falcon flew at his fastest speed to try and catch up with Belle. I tried calculating when we would reach Tsuna with the speed we were going.
"Just try," Belle smirked, "I've been waiting too long for this." Then she paused and smiled. "And anyway, he's just a character, why get so bothered over it?"
How could she say that such, emotional people aren't human? For some reason, I grew angry on my friend's behalf.
"Tsuna isn't just a character, he's a human!" I yelled over the whipping breeze that were threatening to carry my voice away. "And that's why I won't let you hurt him!"
"You're yet again too into your mission," Belle dismissed, her eyes already on the vaguely shimmering area of the city, where I could see Sky flames in the sky, and Tsuna floating and trying to escape the illusion with Hawk wheeling over him dodging attacks as well. We were getting close. "Getting too close to your mission is just stupid. Just protect him as per mission rules."
I squinted against the wind. The dot with orange flames was slowly becoming bigger and bigger. Not good. "It's not because of my mission, that I protect him!" I yelled. Then I stopped. What?
But my surprise couldn't last long as my eyes had to squint again and trying to make the scramble of my thoughts in order. But in a battle, there is no time to think. In my earphone, Shouichi was already retreating, which relieved me.
The Choice game was nearly at the end. I only had to protect Tsuna for a few more minutes…
In the background, Yamamoto was yelling, putting his all in attacking the enemy base, while Tsuna was breathing hard into his speaker. Irie was muttering about gaining time, and I, eyeing Belle, needed to do my job as well.
I couldn't let her interrupt with the plot.
Belle in the corner of my eye just sniffed. "Definitely too into your mission," she said, even as she reached for her unopened box. "I've wasted too much time, now that I can see him…" She lighted her flame and a trickle leaked into her box. "Open special box! TELEPORT!"
And suddenly she wasn't there but near Tsuna, and it took a split second to register what happened.
"Damn it," I cursed, before closing my eyes and focusing. Think of my box weapon's special ability… "Swap, Falcon, Hawk!"
Two simultaneous screeches, and suddenly I was being squished, air pressed out of my lungs and I was above Tsuna, with Belle only a few metres away charging an attack with her trident held at the ready. Torikabuto was out of sight but obviously affecting Tsuna, who was dodging attacks I couldn't see.
"Die, VONGOLA TRASH!" Belle screeched, and in her hand was her trident pointed straight to where Tsuna was flying to and I panicked.
I thought about what I just said and what it meant… I wasn't protecting Tsuna because it was my mission, but because I care… I didn't have to worry about belonging to the group or not.
With that thought, I jumped off Falcon and fell right in front of where Belle would have attacked Tsuna.
With Tsuna behind me sensing something with his hyper intuition, I was facing him when his eyes, so different from the warm brown I was used to, widened as he turned and saw me. I grinned weakly and waved, before looking down to where his gaze wasn't wavering, watching as a steady trickle of blood seeped through my shirt and trickled to the ground fifty metres away.
But it was okay. I finally got my answer. I wasn't doing this because of my mission anymore, I didn't need to fear not being understood because I had friends, and I was doing all this because I cared. It was a yelling contest with my enemy that got me on the right tracks, ironically enough, but true, and I smiled because now that I realised my purpose I felt so much lighter. I smiled at Tsuna's horror-filled eyes.
Yes, I was doing this for them.
With a big heave, I twisted myself while gripping the trident that was sticking out of my stomach tightly. She was tugging on it, trying to get it out but my hands were firm even with the blood. I twirled my chopsticks in my other hand, getting the correct angle before lunging backwards and stabbed Belle straight into the eyes but missed and instead struck her temple. But her eyes were drooping, and I knew I was successful in at least knocking her out. It paid not to be human at times. Belle's boots gave a splutter before failing without flames.
I watched as the ground hurtled closer and closer, before closing my eyes and smiled.
"ALICE!" I heard Tsuna scream above me and he dived under me to try and catch me without making the injury worse. But no matter how gentle, there was still a slight jolt. I didn't even have the energy to wince.
"Alice, Alice, can you hear me, Alice!" Tsuna started frantically calling me, and I knew from the tone of voice he was losing his dying will. "Alice, answer me! Please answer me!" He broke down into sobs. "W-why are you always protecting me Alice? Please answer me, answer me, please answer me…"
I ripped my eyes open with sheer force of will. That's dying will for you.
"Tsuna," I scowled as normally as I could. "What are you doing here? Shouichi needs your help."
"B-but Alice," Tsuna said, his eyes flickering from orange to brown and back to orange again, "I saw her stab you, h-her trident right through…"
I closed my eyes and ripped the trident right out. Ack, blood under my suit. And the PAIN. "It just grazed me. The jacket made it seem like it stabbed me right through." I quickly amended my statement when I saw how much blood I was leaking. "Okay, deep gouges through my side, but it wasn't anything fatal. Go to Shouichi. The sooner we end this game the sooner the first aid." I breathed in heavily, only to stop when I realised that I did that I wanted to start coughing.
Coughing probably meant coughing blood. Coughing blood in front of a distraught Tsuna not good. So I didn't breathe deeply.
"Go!" I shouted, and panicked when I saw Tsuna's eyes turn orange and him trying to pick me up. He wouldn't be fast enough this way!
"No, I've got Falcon and Hawk, so go. Please go and win this game." I shot a half-attempted smile before moulding back into the blank face. It was the only face I could hold.
Tsuna shook his head, and I immediately whistled. A still giant Hawk pushed Tsuna aside and flung him into the air while Falcon shielded me.
"You can't do anything here, so go to Shouichi where you can do something. Go." I said through a crack in Falcon's wings and Tsuna still hovered staring at Hawk and Falcon until, with tense shoulders, reluctantly shot away.
I sighed in relief and closed my eyes slowly…
Sorry, I'll leave it at that. Gaah, please review? *puppy dog eyes* (only they're not, because my eyes are bloodshot right now) I hope it wasn't too awkward sounding. I'll be probably abandoning you all for a week or two.
Physics is annoying...