Chapter 49: not what it seems
"Hmm? Chrome?" The stranger blinked in surprise and slight confusion when Chrome opened her eyes and scrambled backwards. This was not where she fell asleep, she realized as she tried to stand up. She remembered that she fell asleep on a couch, not on slightly yellowed grass that grew on a patch of land, connected to water with a cliff. She didn't remember falling asleep when the sun was setting, nor did she remember leaving the hideout and meeting this stranger.
In other words: it should be Chrome who should be surprised and confused, not the stranger in front of her. Chrome acted on the advice she once got from both Zero and Mukuro and materialized the weapon she was most familiar with when she was standing. The trident calmed her nerves a little and allowed her to think more clearly about her actions now she knew that she had something to protect herself with.
"Who are you?" Chrome asked with a soft, but calm and collected voice. Once again, she acted on the advice she once got from both her teachers and refused to look away from the unfamiliar honey brown eyes with the familiar warm, but tired look. A soft and almost inaudible laugh escaped the stranger, a sound which startled Chrome because it triggered vague memories. Chrome's determination to hit the stranger with an illusion and to run immediately afterwards wavered once she noticed that. She knew the stranger, or at least she knew someone who resembled the stranger, but she couldn't make a connection in her mind.
Her mind refused to make a connection, but it still gave her the empty memories that she should have gotten. What did the stranger do to her to cause that? Or was it that her own mind didn't want to make the connection?
The stranger blinked again, this time with the confusion more visible than before, and noticed a few strands of the dark blonde hair. The stranger frowned and brushed the strands away, before the honey brown eyes widened in realization and the stranger barely stifled a soft, surprised and disbelieving laugh.
"Well... this is an unexpected turn." The stranger muttered in an unfamiliar voice which once again was so familiar to Chrome and the girl grasped the illusionary metal in her hand a bit tighter. She didn't like how she felt so at ease around someone who could possibly hurt her without anyone noticing. A person who could have kidnapped her, for all she knew. "Welcome to the cliff, Chrome. I guess that you can call me Alex for now."
"Alex?" Chrome muttered, frowning at the unexplainable feeling that she wanted to connect a different name to the face of the stranger. A name that she couldn't recall, no matter how much she tried to remember it. The name 'Alex' simply didn't sound right… and yet, 'Alex' didn't sound like a fake name to the stranger.
Chrome observed the person, who she could only call Alex for now despite the protests of her uncooperative mind and took a wary step backwards, towards the deep cliff that separated the patch of grassy land and the crashing waves. Who was this Alex and what did the stranger want from her?
"I… didn't know that I still identified myself as… this, even after all these years." Alex sighed.
Chrome got the feeling that she wasn't meant to hear those soft and almost sad sounding words.
Alex tugged hesitantly on another strand of hair and smiled a melancholic smile at the dark golden color of it before brushing it away. This time, the blonde looked down at the yellowing grass before beginning to musing in a language that Chrome couldn't recognize. No, wait. She did faintly recognize the language.
Italian.
After living in the Neo Estraneo household for a little while, it was almost inevitable that Chrome learned some Italian words since almost everyone who lived there used to live in Italy. A few words from the Italian musings were recognized, but it didn't make a lot of sense to Chrome.
"-Interesting…...Miss them…. Would have a field day…Messed up again….time-"
From what Chrome could understand from the gibberish, Alex was interested in something, missed some people, someone would have a field day, someone messed up and time was running out.
"Hmm, maybe I just unconsciously know that I don't have a lot of time and chose to take the form I recalled first? That would explain this nostalgic appearance." Alex decided in Japanese with a defeated sigh. "One would think that someone would identify themselves as who they are now after all those years."
"This is not your real appearance?" Chrome asked, raising her illusionary trident in an offensive stance.
"Calm down." Alex shushed while slowly raising their hands in the universal gesture of harmlessness or unwillingness to fight. Chrome indeed calmed down a little, but didn't like the fact that her emotions were starting to betray her. She shouldn't feel so at ease around this Alex. "But let's put that aside. How are you doing Chrome?"
"H-how I'm d-doing?" Chrome stuttered, almost completely caught of guards by the simple question.
"Yes. How are the people in the future treating you? And has Kyoya given you the box yet- that was a stupid question, of course he has. You wouldn't be here if he didn't. You're pretty early though."
"…They have been treating me nice, I guess?" Chrome sweatdropped to stop the questions. Something about this Alex reminded her of someone, but her mind still refused to make the connection between this stranger and the person she was reminded of.
And she was early?
For what?
Alex gave Chrome a bright and sparkling smile, successfully distracting Chrome from her thoughts. The trident in her hands was almost forgotten as she almost dropped it out of her weak grasp, but she noticed in the last moment and clutched the now warmer illusionary material tighter. Was this the goal of Alex? Distracting her and letting her drop her weapons on her own volition?
"Great." Alex nodded in genuine satisfaction and relief, Alex ignored the clear confusion and wariness on the face of the eyepatched girl in favor of looking towards the setting sun behind chrome. A sun which was already halfway hidden by the vast amount of surely illusionary water, creating small and haunting shadows on the rocky surface behind the blonde. Suddenly Chrome realized that everything around her was illusionary. The landscape, the small breeze of fresh air and even the person in front of her.
Alex was an illusionist.
The trident was now the only thing which allowed Chrome to breath normally, the weapon was her only support. This stranger was an illusionist and this place was undoubtedly the playground of the said illusionist. Chrome was trapped. The girl unconsciously took more steps backwards and looked for a way out, but the cliff had no entrances or exits she could find at the moment.
"I was afraid that the recordings would have given some… reactions." Alex muttered.
"The recordings?" Chrome frowned, she found herself caught off guards again and took another step backwards. She didn't like how Alex could calm her down enough to let her forget about her troubles with a few simple words.
"Are you telling me that you haven't seen it yet?" Alex frowned back. "I did give Kyoya the right box, didn't I?"
Kyoya? Who?
"Sorry, you probably still know him as Hibari-san." Alex smiled sheepishly, barely concealing a shiver at small memories.
Hibari-san… oh, Cloudman. Didn't he give a box? Or…
"A box with a parachute."
"…Parachute?"
Chrome's eyes widened when she realized that she said it aloud and prayed that the stranger wasn't an enemy. If Alex was, then the chances of finding Zero would become even smaller than it already was… And yet, Chrome couldn't help but feel that this wasn't the case.
"…But I didn't- Wait, describe the parachute."
"It is a white one with a small indigo flame in it instead of a normal flame?" Chrome answered hesitantly with eyes that widened even more at the realization that she was willingly giving the information away. Another step backwards was taken and Chrome looked for a way out again, but once again it was in vain. The only way out that Chrome could see was the end of the cliff behind her, which she approached with every step she took backwards, but she wasn't planning on jumping.
And yet, if she didn't have a choice…
"I gave the right box then, fortunately enough." Alex sighed relieved at the fact. "H- the… parachute should have delivered a video, but I guess that you simply haven't seen that yet."
"But there is no one who can decode the parachute to get the information out of it." Chrome almost whispered half unwillingly and half willingly, which made her take another step backwards. She shouldn't be saying this, but why did it feel… right to? "Not anymore because I'm here."
"Have you tried asking the parachute?" Alex asked.
"Asking?" Chrome was caught off guards again.
"Yes, try to ask the parachute."
"It doesn't need a code?"
"A 'please' would suffice, I guess." Alex stifled another laugh and smiled at the confused purple haired girl with a warmth that almost made Chrome remember who she was reminded of when she looked at Alex. Almost, her mind still refused to make the connection for some reason. "Hope might be a bit fickle right now, considering that this parachute is your only hint that I intended to leave behind, but things will be alright. I promise, my dear Chrome."
And Chrome couldn't help but to believe the promise…
No.
It couldn't be.
"We're out of time." Alex- no. Zero admitted with a small apologetic smile. The small and haunting shadows started to come closer and almost reached the feet of the stranger. A stranger who despite the unfamiliar appearance simply couldn't be a stranger anymore.
"No wait-" Chrome tried, but she was interrupted by a gentle shove of the dark blonde who was suddenly in front of her.
"I'm sorry, Chrome." Zero whispered as her unfamiliar figure was engulfed by the shadows. "Everything will be fine."
"Zero-"
"I promise, my dearest daughter."
And Chrome fell from the cliff.
…
"Zero!" Chrome shouted as she shot up in the couch she was sleeping in. The girl looked franticly around and almost jumped up in shock when she saw the worried stare. The memories of what happened rushed through her mind and Chrome's eyesight started to become blurry without really knowing why.
Why did the dream give her hope that she wasn't actually supposed to have? Or was it worse and did the dream show what actually happened to Zero?
"Are you alright, Chrome?" Reborn asked when he saw the tears falling down the cheek of the eyepatched girl.
"Y-yes." Chrome sniffed. "Everything will be fine… won't it?"
"…It will be." Reborn promised in a reluctant attempt to prevent more tears from falling.
"What's the time?"
"It's almost morning." Reborn admitted. "I was trying to think of ways to dispose of Mu- I mean, you looked like you were having a nightmare and you simply wouldn't wake up when I tried to shake you awake."
"Not a nightmare." Chrome answered as she looked down at the box in her hand. "Maybe…"
She wasn't sure why she opened the box and summoned the parachute again, but she was allowed to have hope, right?
"Could you please show me what Zero-chan wanted to show me?" Chrome asked the floating object. "Please…"
Everything went black as the last word left her lips.
…
"Test, test." The words echoed through the darkness.
"Camera three and seven are still malfunctioning, but the microphone is working just fine." Another voice added and more voices joined the echoes in the darkness.
"Camera two to five are at their posts, how is camera one doing?"
"Camera one is low on power, can someone pass me a screwdriver?"
"Here you go."
"Camera three is fixed."
"Seven is done too."
"Wait a minute… one is ready and on its post. We're ready to test them all now."
"Test, test." Something made a whirring sound and suddenly, a blinding flash of light disappeared as fast as it appeared. Several men and women were looking up at something invisible and wrote on notepads in an almost furious speed about what they saw. Or rather, what they didn't see.
"All fixed." One of the men nodded as he checked the air… or something in the air.
"Is everything working?" Another man asked.
"All the cameras are stable and working." A woman grinned. The grin was quickly adapted by the others and soon, the inventors were cheering.
"Kufufufu, alright guys, good job." A white haired woman laughed, her voice barely audible between the cheerful claps. "let's see if Verde can beat invisible and soundless camera's."
"Zero-sama, please don't jinx us." A brunet in the group reprimanded fondly.
"Hmm, you're right, uncle Seth. I really shouldn't have jinxed it." Zero smiled sheepishly before turning to the grey haired man. "What is the next thing on my schedule, uncle Chris? After making sure that we'll beat Verde this year, of course."
"I don't think that you've the time for that." Chris informed. "You have a meeting with the Vongola and the Gesso later today."
"Perfect, I don't think that they would mind it if I take the cameras along for some test-runs." Zero grinned. "Not that they will notice a thing if the cameras stay invisible of course. Aren't we lucky that this year's theme was spying?"
"Are you sure that we can simply record a meeting between mafia bosses, Zero?" Chris asked.
"Well, maybe it isn't the smartest thing." Zero admitted. "But what is more important? Risking being found out that I recorded a meeting between bosses who could easily be described as friends or beating Verde in the annual inventing contest for once?"
"…Beating Verde it is."
"Good luck, Zero-sama." Joseph laughed.
"Kufufufu, count on me to record everything and not to be noticed."
…
Omake: annual inventing contests
"…How did it end up like this?" I sighed when yet another robot joined in to extinguish the fire. It all began as a simple conversation between Verde and some of my Famiglia members, how could it have ended up like this?
"In my defense, I wasn't the only one who went all out this time, Nemo." Spanner informed, not really sounding like he was feeling guilty for almost destroying half of the town where he lived in. He probably felt less guilt than me, the person who didn't destroy anything but also the person who could have stopped this madness if the paperwork was done faster.
"Do you want to add something to that, Verde?" I asked the baby on the shoulder of the blonde teen.
"We should do it more often, it was fun." The green haired arcobaleno nodded.
"Robot battles that threatens Silicy are fun?" I asked incredulously, though I was probably using the improper words to describe this madness. I would have used 'terrorizes' instead of 'threatens' if I could, but the people who lived in Silicy absolutely loved the show they were provided. Sometimes I wondered what went wrong with this town.
"The annual robot battles sounds like an interesting event." Spanner nodded.
"No." I frowned. "No robot battles, unless we have a reason to use robots to fight each other."
"Isn't 'fun' a good reason?" Spanner shrugged.
"Not if it destroys half of the place we practically seen live in." I deadpanned.
"Then what about something less destructive and equally fun?" A passerby who coincidentally heard our conversation asked.
"I'm listening, Taddeo." Spanner nodded to the old man.
"What about an annual inventing contest with the townspeople of Silicy as the judges. Less damage will be done, but everyone can still compete with each other and have fun."
"Taddeo… I think that you sparked the competitive spirit that I've been trying to tone down in all my years as the boss of the Neo Estraneo…"
Hey guys, doubleyy here.
Now my exams are finally over… my teachers decided to give me more projects which are due in this month… which is almost over. Why school? Why? But in the end, I somehow managed to write this chapter. It was really difficult to write and even then, it was a short chapter. I don't know why this chapter ended up like this, but I suspect that this chapter is kind of a bridge to the next chapter which will give a lot of hints of what happens/happened to Zero in the future arc ;).
Because I'm actually supposed to work on one of my projects at the moment (even though I took a 'break' to finish this chapter), I will respond to most of the reviews as compact as possible:
Pairing: not telling kufufufu, I have a lot planned though :P
Love rival: it was Daemon as explained in one of the earlier chapters ;)
School/exams: I truly hate it and wish that they would stop giving me more projects.
Anyways thanks for reading and please review.
Doubleyy out.
