A/N: Alright, this is it people, the last chapter of this part of the story!

I'm not gonna drag this out much further.

Enjoy.

Scene 41:

The Truth

For the third time in less than forty-eight hours, that black car pulled into a stop in front of the log cabin in the middle of the woods.

As the engine died, Gokudera practically threw open the door, hurrying up to the passenger seat door with a collected yet worried expression on his face.

The others quietly followed him out of the vehicle.

As quietly as he could, Gokudera opened the door, revealing the sleeping figure slouching in the passenger seat.

Tsuna's exhaustion had caught up with her during the ride, gradually making it harder and harder for her to keep her eyes open as the adrenaline left her system. She was knocked out by the time they'd arrived at the entrance of the forest road.

"Take her inside," Reborn commanded, not even bothering to try and close the driver door quietly, she wouldn't have woken up either way.

Nodding, Gokudera carefully slid his arms under Tsuna's back and knees, slowly lifting her up in his arms with little effort. Her head slumped against his shoulder, her arms delicately folded in her lap as he expertly adjusted his hold on her, making sure she wouldn't be uncomfortable.

A small frown spread across his face.

He could still clearly recall just how heavy she'd felt in his arms that one time he had caught her falling off the ladder in the library, and more clearly after she'd saved Yamamoto, and she had been pretty light even back then on both occasions, but right now, it felt as though he was carrying a human-sized sandbag.

How much more weight was she supposed to lose?

But then again… she didn't look as though she'd lost any weight…

Slowly, the group moved towards the stairs of the cabin, Yamamoto immediately gravitating towards Gokudera's side, worried eyes scanning Tsuna's pale face.

By the time they'd reached the porch, the door was thrown open by a very happy, relieved, yet slightly frantic looking, attractive young adult with a thick head of blonde hair.

Dino looked over the group.

"Where did Kyoya go?" he asked, showing a surprising amount of worry for the eighteen-year-old that really had been nothing but rude to him.

Reborn narrowed his eyes at his previous student.

"Curb your hormones boy." he practically shoved the blonde out of the way as he stepped through the door. "He's dealing with the cleanup."

It was at that moment that the blonde noticed the passed out girl in Gokudera's arms, and his eyes widened.

"Is that her?" he asked in a small voice, looking absolutely shocked at the sight.

"What's wrong?" Reborn asked, confused at the hold-up.

Dino's hand rose up to gently brush the messy locks out of Tsuna's eyes, pretty much ignorant to the angry expression Gokudera was giving him.

"She's so tiny." in Dino'd head, the image of a muscle-bound man with short dirty blonde hair and either a dangerous scowl or a wide, bright smile on his face. He couldn't connect that image to the delicate figure in front of him.

Reborn raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes," he said slowly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "That does appear to be the first everyone reacts to when they see her for the first time." Dino awkwardly turned around towards the black-dressed man. "She's her mother's daughter too." he reminded him.

"I know..." Dino murmured, stepping aside to allow the group to enter the cabin. "It's just..." his eyes trailed after the sleeping figure for a moment before he snapped them back towards Reborn. "Her father-"

"I know." Reborn nodded in agreement, a look of understanding flashing over his features for a split second before he turned around and followed the youngsters into the building.

"Put her on the couch." were the first words out of Reborn's mouth as he entered the large living room, pointing towards said piece of furniture as he put his keys and gun on top of the mantelpiece, shedding his blazer.

Yamamoto put his bat on the table, frowning slightly at the flecks of blood speckled over the wood.

Equally gently as when he had picked her up, Gokudera moved Tsuna over to the couch, allowing her body to softly fall onto the soft cushions and pelts thrown over it, carefully adjusting her position as much as he could before he allowed his arms to slide out from under her body, taking care as to not jostle her too much.

Still, she shifted a little at the movement, but she remained dead to the world, already deep beneath the realm of dreams, her eyelids remaining motionless.

Making a few additional alterations to her position Gokudera finally rose from the ground, quickly disappearing into the kitchen. Spotting an opening, Yamamoto swiftly took up his silver-haired classmate's position.

Gently, the athlete took Tsuna's hand, reaching out another to brush her hair out of her eyes.

He'd wanted to do that for a long time now.

For a few long moments, he just stared at the entirety that was Sawada Tsunako's face, drinking in the sight of her relaxed yet pained expression. He ignored Bianchi peering down at the girl from over his shoulder as he turned to look at Reborn.

"What are you going to do?"

Before Reborn could answer, he was cut off.

"What's even wrong with her?" Dino asked, still quite shocked at the mere sight of the girl he had taken to calling his little sister. At the looks everyone was throwing at him, he quickly elaborated. "Aside from the obvious cuts and bruises of course." he waved a hand in her direction, eyes roaming over her face and wrists. "But I don't think someone would pass out from that."

"No, they wouldn't," Reborn replied removing the gun-holsters he'd had hidden underneath his blazer. He gave his students a long, thoughtful look, his pupils flashing yellow. "She's exhausted her flame core," he said slowly, moving those glowing eyes up and down her tiny frame.

Dino looked shocked.

"How did she do that?"

"She melted her shackled," Bianchi spoke up then, the heels of her shoes clicking against the floor as she walked up to her fellow twenty-something-year-old, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes pinned on the girl she had helped break out of the factory.

The blonde frowned at the woman.

"Why are you even here?"

Bianchi slowly turned towards the young Warden, her eyes sparkling with a mischievous kind of light that hinted on a murderous intent, along with her general thoughts about Dino's questionable sanity.

She flipped her hair dramatically over her shoulder.

"The princess and I had a moment of female bonding in her cell," she explained, vaguely. Her expression suddenly turned serious. "Say what you want about me," she said, holding up a finger in the air between them threateningly. "But don't you dare think I would ever willingly cause my brother any pain, physical, mental, or emotional."

It was that very moment that said brother exited the kitchen, a bowl of water in hand as he thoroughly soaked a rag in its contents.

The two twenty-somethings followed the silver-haired delinquent with their eyes as he shooed Yamamoto away from the couch, carefully settling down next to the sleeping. Settling the bowl down in his lap for a moment, Gokudera wrung the rag out of access water before placing the bowl on the floor, pausing for a moment before he lowered the rag down onto the cut on her temple, carefully washing off the blood marring her pale skin.

He cleaned her cuts with such a focused look in his eyes, but it was still one of the gentlest expressions she'd ever seen on his face, and she'd grown up with him.

She'd been there when he'd been brought home for the first time, no older than five months.

She couldn't help but smile at the memory.

He'd been a loud crier, but Bianchi had always had a knack for getting him to fall asleep. A big sister's proudest accomplishment.

Dino turned his eyes back to Bianchi.

"Why was she shackled?"

In his eyes, it looked as though the girl laying passed out on the couch couldn't hurt a fly if she so wanted to.

Bianchi sighed, crossing her arms again.

"For caution," she answered, shaking her head in exasperation. "They didn't know her physical abilities."

Reborn raised an eyebrow at her words.

"Her only real physical skill is ballet," he said, looking at the woman in thinly veiled disbelief. "The most combat she's capable of is the self-defense and basic fighting techniques which your brother helped develop from her dancing." he nodded pointedly towards Gokudera who had paused briefly in the task he had taken upon himself, obviously listening in on their conversation.

No right-minded person could look at Tsuna and legitimately believe that she would be capable of fighting her way out of a heavily guarded factory on her own.

A fact that he'll have to see to correcting as quickly as possible…

Bianchi scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically.

"Well, my "companions", were idiots." she pursed her lips together. "They even went so far as to pump her full of drugs as a third safety measure." she allowed herself a smile at how tense the men around her had gotten at this, her brother's hands wrung the rag more violently than strictly necessary. She waved a hand dismissively in the air. "Of course, she burnt right through those once she actually activated her core." she plucked up a lock of her hair, mindlessly fiddling with the strands. "Only idiots don't check up on what class their kidnapping victim belongs to." she looked up, sending a light smirk at the others. "Plus, they decided to put me on guard duty."

Reborn couldn't help but smirk alongside the woman.

Dino, however, looked confused.

"Her class?" he asked, glancing between his former tutor and Bianchi. "What does her class have anything to do with this?"

"Why don't I show you?" Reborn said, schooling his face as he stalked over and settled down on the floor next to the couch, sitting down right next to his student's side.

Dropping the rag into the bowl, Gokudera got off of the ground, having gotten most of the blood off of Tsuna's face. His eyes lingered for a moment on her sleeping features as he walked back into the kitchen to drop off his tools.

Straightening out his dress-shirt, Reborn took Tsuna's one hand into both of his.

Dino frowned at his ex tutor.

"What are you doing?"

Reborn brushed his thumb over the back of Tsuna's hand.

"Watch."

Slowly, a glow built up around Tsuna's hand, right underneath Reborn's palm, glowing brighter and brighter with each second he allowed their contact to remain.

After a while, Reborn shut his eyes.

The small group watched in shocked silence as the bright yellow glow seemed to seep into Tsuna's skin, straight into her veins where it began to slowly move up her arm, coating her skin with a pale, yellow glittering light that seemed to pulsate in time with either Tsuna's or Reborn's heartbeat.

As the glow passed under the bruise and cuts on her wrists, some of the glittering glow seemed to latch itself onto the affected areas, the rest continuing down her bloodstream, spreading throughout her entire body in a slow, but sure pace.

Every time the glow passed under a bruised or cut area, some of it remained. By the time it had passed through the entirety of her torso, almost the whole left side of her body was aglow, making several sets of eyebrows morph into angry frowns, though Reborn still kept his eyes closed in determined concentration.

Eventually, the glow extended to her face, the glow sticking to the edges of her cuts before it flowed back down her throat, sinking down into the center of her chest, leaving her biological heart untouched.

Probably a good thing too.

Slowly, Reborn removed his hands from Tsuna's.

The group watched in fascination as the glow spread over her cuts and bruises, slowly eating away at the darkened skin, the bruises aged several days in a matter of seconds, the red, irritated skin on her wrists faded back into the regular rosy pale, leaving nothing but clear skin in their wake. The cuts slowly but surely began to knit themselves together, forming small scars before they too faded away into nonexistence.

Along with the injuries, the glow faded away until there was no trace of them ever having been there in the first place.

During this entire process, Tsuna's face slowly grew more and more relaxed until she looked after she had collapsed onto the couch after a long work-out, definitely not after having just been rescued from her kidnappers and potential murderers.

The relief was almost contagious.

Obviously pleased, Reborn turned back towards the small group, taking in their wide-eyed expressions as they openly stared down at the sleeping girl.

Blinking fast, Dino gulped before finding it in him to clear his throat of the lock on his vocal cords.

"What just happened?"

Reborn shook his head, turning to carefully brush a few stubborn curls from Tsuna's sweaty face. Seeing her full face was a rare sight, and he was going to take every opportunity he could get. He had often wondered just how expressive her face was beneath her hair.

"What did you do?" Dino piped up again when he received no answer from his old tutor.

Reborn sighed, letting his hand fall to pull a nearby blanket over Tsuna's body.

"Tsuna doesn't need a medior," he answered slowly, glancing towards the two teenage boys to see the completely calm expressions on their faces. This wasn't any new to them. He looked back towards the two bewildered adults. "Her whole body is one."

It looked as though Dino had just been tasered.

"Phoenix..." he breathed, eyes wide as he stared at the tiny girl. Tsuna just turned around sluggishly in her sleep, pulling the blanket further over her shoulder.

Apparently, the lack of physical pain made her regain some of her energy to move.

"That was my reaction." Bianchi piped up, also looking at Tsuna, though her eyes held more fondness than shock over what Reborn had said.

Dino shook his head in disbelief.

"I never thought I would actually meet one..." he blinked, running a hand through his bangs. "And she's practically my sister?"

Deciding that enough was enough, Reborn rose from the couch to carefully gather Tsuna into his arms, wrapping her up in a blanket cocoon before lifting her up, slowly turning back towards the group with a no-nonsense look on his face.

"Tsuna's going to need some rest," he said, adjusting his hold on his student. "I'm putting her to bed."

July 19

Sunday 2215

After several long hours of well-deserved sleep, Tsuna finally blinked awake in a dimly lit timber room, her head and upper-back comfortably perched on top of and partially sunken into the many fluffy pillows on the bed.

For a long moment, she couldn't for the life of her understand just where she was. Comfortably tucked into a large, soft, four-poster bed in the middle of an even larger room with walls made up of logs, not a speck of paint on them.

It wasn't the bedroom Reborn had assigned her in the cabin… so where was she?

Still a bit groggy, Tsuna slowly raised herself off of the sickeningly soft mattress, her hands sinking into the… sponge? At her sides, as she tried to get a better view of her surroundings.

Looking down, she found that she was no longer wearing her singed, torn training clothes, instead her body was partially covered by one of her favorite nightgowns. A sleeveless, flowing, emperor waist article in the softest shade of sheer blue fabric layered at the skirt. It fitted relatively tightly around her bust area without causing any form of discomfort, fitted with a drawstring under her chest. Knowing that it was one of her favorites didn't stop her from wondering:

Who by all the blazing suns in the universe had changed her?

Surely, Reborn wouldn't…

Then again… she couldn't be entirely sure when it came to that man.

He kept too many secrets for her to fully trust him, even if her life and sanity was apparently something he considered to be sacred enough to protect.

To kill people over…

Shaking her head to free her mind of the thoughts she wasn't quite ready to mull over quite yet, she allowed her eyes to fall down at her hands.

And there they froze.

Her wrists…

Last she'd seen them they'd been bruised, bleeding from the few cuts the metal had given her and bright red from the lingering heat. But now…

Her eyes widened in shock, raising her limbs to have a closer look at them.

Her skin was flawless, only a few blemishes and scars on her fingers from when she'd helped her mother in the kitchen remained. Her wrists looked as though the whole ordeal had never happened. Like she hadn't been chained up by psychos that had admitted to having been hired to kill her and calling her Princess.

A thought struck her.

Quickly, she moved up her hand to the side of her face, carefully feeling for the cash on her temple, the cut on her lip, she even carefully pressed against her cheek, feeling for the bruise she knew should be there, the scratch marks…

Nothing.

They weren't there.

Just… how long had she been asleep?

"Good morning."

The sudden voice made her jump, her head snapping in its direction as her hands fell to her lap. Reborn was there, leaning against the wall in his usual casual way, his dark eyes pinned on her with his arms crossed across his chest.

How did he do that?

He hadn't been there just a few seconds ago!

The door was on the other side of the room and she would have noticed if it would've opened!

Just what was he?

Shaking her head, Tsuna pressed her face into her palm.

"How long was I out?" she asked, finding her voice to be gravely from the lack of use.

"Just overnight." Reborn immediately answered.

Overnight?

Then… how was she all healed up?

She shook her head again, that question wasn't the most important in her head at the moment.

She glanced down at the semi-sheer nightgown she'd woken up in.

Pointedly.

"Who changed me?" she couldn't help the accusing look that spread across her face.

"Don't worry." Reborn immediately replied, holding up his hands as though in surrender, but his face was still very much blank. "Bianchi was the one who changed you." his arms resumed their previous position. "She looked through your stuff in your room, this is a room on the first floor by the way, easier to keep watch on you."

Tsuna's eyes widened slightly.

"Bianchi's still around?"

"Yes." Reborn's face finally twisted into a slight smile spreading across his lips. "She's taken quite an interest in her brother's current like, and she wants to be a part of it." he leaned back against the wall. "Which really will make it better for Gokudera in the long run as he'll have a legal guardian around."

Slowly, Tsuna nodded in understanding.

She'd been rubbing at her wrist for a while now, realizing this triggered yet another question.

"Where did the marks go?" her fingertips traced over where the shackle-marks had been, still marveling over the unblemished skin.

Reborn smirked lightly, looking down at the ground as a chuckle escaped his throat.

"Yellow flames have many properties," he answered almost smugly.

Healing? Tsuna thought.

Slowly, she felt her irritation building up inside of her.

Just how many more things was he going to hide from her? Even when one of those secrets had just gotten her kidnapped and waiting to be publicly executed over video-call in front of a man who's name and title only felt the tiniest bit familiar, like Deja Vu.

She couldn't help it.

She glared at her tutor, the flames of rage seeping into her veins.

The man had the nerve to shake his head in exasperation.

"What is it now?" he asked.

"I just got kidnapped by people calling me "princess", you better start explaining." the glare never once left her face.

For a long moment, none of them said a thing, just staring at one another. Reborn was looking at her with a blank expression whilst she just kept on glaring, waiting. If he thought he could make her give up by keeping silent, he had another thing coming!

Finally, her tutor raised his hand after a long sigh, plucking his hat off of his head, running his fingers through his hair.

Tsuna was surprised to find that his hair was actually quite messy under his hat.

She did a double-take.

Had she ever seen her tutor without his hat on?

"Fine," Reborn breathed, snapping Tsuna out of her spiraling line of thought. "It's about time you learned anyway..."

Slowly, he walked over to the bed, sitting down next to her before he leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his thighs.

Taking a deep breath, he finally started talking.

"First, you must know one thing." he glanced at her from over his shoulder. "There is a world living in the shadow of this one." his hands fiddled with the rim of his hat, spinning it around in his grip as he seemingly tried to gather his thoughts.

Tsuna's eyebrows had risen at his statement.

A world living in the shadows? What was that supposed to even mean?

Still not looking at her, Reborn elected to just keep talking.

"This world is very much like the one you have grown up in, but it is also very, very different." his voice seemed to darken the more he spoke. He let out a long breath, straightening his spine. "The main difference..." Tsuna could practically feel the uncertainty coming from Reborn. But why was he uncertain? Did he think she wouldn't believe him? "Is it's connection to the spirit world." Reborn finally said.

Okay…

Tsuna could understand why he would wonder if she'd believe him.

She blinked at him.

Spirits?

What did he mean by that?

For what felt like the hundredth time, it was like her tutor read her mind.

"Not ghosts," he spoke up, raising a finger in the air between them. "Think… like lesser gods, fae, fairy tale or fantasy creatures and non-malicious demons." Tsuna nodded slowly, images of sparkly, misty figures with hair moving as though underwater appearing in her mind. Reborn kept talking. "They communicate in a special language who's every written word holds special abilities with just one character."

Realization shot through Tsuna.

"The glyphs..."

Reborn nodded.

"Quite right," he confirmed. "With the help of the spirits, this other world's development surrounding weaponry, communication, medicine, and overall technology has become a lot more advanced." the pride in his voice was almost palpable. "It's also a plus that we happen to have the best mechanics, inventors, chemists, doctors, and surgeons that can be found on this planet allied with us and expertly equipped for their professions."

Us.

He'd said 'us' that time.

He finally looked at her again.

"But there are also those of us who have chosen to dedicate their lives to arts such as infiltration, assassination, and interrogation among other things. They too, have become the best on this planet through our assistance." Tsuna's eyes widened, Reborn's overall demeanor took on an emotion hinting on a mix between guilt and… pride? Why? "The inhabitants of this world tend to grow up with a stronger build, more durable." he let out a sigh. "To be frank, the perfect candidates for professions like hit-men and spies." he shrugged.

This information was something he was long since used to, that was obvious.

Tsuna had to pry her lips open with her tongue.

"So, it's like the mafia?" she asked carefully. "But with a supernatural element?"

Reborn actually scoffed at her.

"No." he answered swiftly. "We're older, more powerful, more influential." okay, the pride was definitely back. "We are classified and – most of the time – confused for mafia by those that catch onto a brief hint of our existence, but we are something entirely different from those wannabes." he rolled his eyes at the mere thought of being a part of the Italian crime syndicate. "Our business is not easily caught." Tsuna narrowed her eyes, now it was like he was trying to sell this whole, Shadow World idea to her, making it sound as best as he could. "Our life is so secretive, so powerful, that we require our own prisons and special prison-guards in order to keep order on things."

Tsuna found herself just blinking again.

"Okay..." she breathed, trying to imagine everything he was telling her.

"Every legal inhabitant of this world is one way or another connected to one of the many Guilds that govern this world like kings over their kingdoms in fairytales and ancient history." a light smirk played on Reborn's lips. "We call this world… Ombra."

Tsuna really couldn't help the look of absolute disbelief creeping up onto her face.

The man just chuckled lightly at her reaction.

"I know." he nodded. "It's rather stupid," he said, turning fully towards her. "But it has been called that for as long as anyone can remember, so no one really has the heart to change it." his face suddenly became serious again.

Sighing heavily, he reached out and gently grabbed hold of her hand.

"Some of the guilds… the greedier ones." it was almost as though he was refusing to look at her. "Used the vast chemical and medical knowledge open to them, some even going so far as to break one of Ombra's biggest taboos and experimented with the spirits themselves in order to create illegal bionic weaponry or develop even more experimental abilities by performing..." he let out a long-suffering breath. "By testing these experiments on kidnapped children." a cold sensation ran through Tsuna's body, her eyes widened. "If they weren't desperate enough to use the children from their already existing guild members that are." he stroked gently over her hand. "Those are the worst kinds of the shadows, and are better off… eliminated."

Tsuna blinked.

Really, she should have been more horrified at the thought of… eliminating people, but truthfully… if they had been twisted enough to torture children to try and create biological weapons… they kind of deserved it in her eyes.

No, she reacted to something else entirely.

"Shadows?" she asked softly, looking intently at her tutor.

"It is what we call a member of Ombra," Reborn answered calmly, squarely meeting her eyes. "The members without a guild are generally called 'Walkers." Tsuna slowly nodded, trying to commit the new terminology to memory. "Wannabe Shadows are referred to as 'Roamers'." he waved his hand in a somewhat dismissive gesture. "And those few who are fully aware of Ombra's existence are known as 'Flares'."

"Then what are the outsiders called?" Tsuna asked, really just for the hell of it.

"Rays," Reborn answered immediately. "Living in Lumeria."

For a moment, nothing was said between the two of them before Tsuna finally found it in herself to say something.

"Of course they do..." she breathed, shaking her head slightly as she took her hand out of Reborn's grip, the unfamiliar touch having long since become uncomfortable. "What does all of this got to do with me?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"All of it." was his immediate response.

She didn't want to ask, she really didn't, but the question slipped through her lips before she could really stop them.

"How?" she almost felt as though she were signing her own death warrant when Reborn looked right at her with the most serious expression she had ever seen on him.

"You're a Shadow, Tsuna."

A/N: Alright! That is it for this act.

I am working on the sequel, I have no idea when it'll actually come up but know that I have begun planning it and have a few chapters planned out even if they aren't actually written in their entirety.

Until then.

This has been:

A message from Her Ladyship.