Chapter 22

Isago poured his flames into the staff as he talked on the phone with his father. They were on the plane, Thadeka sitting across the seat and receiving a crash course about the Vongola from Adriano. Of course, Isago had already filled Thadeka in on his future plans so he was confident that Adriano wouldn't brainwash her into some kind of Vongola cult member. Bei Li was on the side, yawning as he checked himself in the mirror that he bought at some local store in Canada.

There were maple leaves on the frame that just screamed that the buyer of this thing was a foreigner. When Bei Li was satisfied, he continued to pull out his facial tool kit and started cleansing his face with a pad.

"What?" Isago's brows furrowed up when he heard of the disappearance of the Ninth. It couldn't be. Did the events get rushed?

"We're currently searching for boss right now. There is a fake Ninth in his place and every member of the Vongola has been alerted to treat him as the usual Ninth."

It was too early for the Ninth to be declared missing. Tsuna hadn't even gotten his guardians yet. This was not good.

"Understood, dad."

With that, he hung up then instantly turned to Adriano.

"Send Bei Li and Thadeka to Italy. I'll take the nearest airplane to my destination," Isago shoved his phone into his pockets and loosened his collar. Both of his guardians stiffened up on their seats before Isago started explaining their missions. Thadeka was to master the basic means of survival and boost her stamina. Flames were secondary in the motion unless they had enough time.

Bei Li had been tasked to start his flame training since he had already gotten the gist of channeling his flames. Adriano frowned deeper the more Isago talked and finally spoke up after Isago was done.

"Isago, you are the one that I have been assigned to protect," Adriano clenched his fists although there were deep creases on his forehead that indicated his worry for the ninth. "It is not safe."

"I agree," Thadeka said, nodding her head. "I believe Bei Li and I can find our own ways to the Vongola base."

Bei Li at the side shrugged.

"No, they won't let you in unless Adriano is with you," Isago tapped his finger on his leg. "Adriano, I need time to seek out the last two guardians. My hyper-intuition isn't clear this time. Meet up with me after you have dropped Thadeka and Bei Li off."

Adriano couldn't refuse. Isago knew that.

Other than that, Isago now had to plan carefully. Even though he was sure that he had time before the succession since Tsuna still had to find his mist guardian, things were starting to change because of his actions. He had to find his guardians quickly and make sure that they would at least survive in the battles.

He drew a long breath, preparing to get off at the nearest airport.

(⊙ω⊙) Ten years into the future...

"Byakuran," Isago opened his eyes after sensing the presence of a white-haired male. His flame was lambent even though Isago didn't want to sense that ridiculous thing of his. He sighed after hearing a cheerful hum from Byakuran's mouth, turning his head that shifted on the white pillows to look at the boss in charge of the entire Millefiore.

"What do you want with me?"

Byakuran closed his eyes soothingly, drumming his fingers on his knee before leaning forward with a beam that seemed to lighten up the entire room.

"You see, Isago-kun," Byakuran started off, opening his eyes. "I'm bored after playing with the same things over and over again."

"So?" Isago raised an eyebrow.

"So, I would like to play with you."

"Why don't you just play with Shoichi? Isn't he the one who entertained you the most?"

"Shoichi's tactics have been getting repetitive lately," Byakuran leaned back in his seat with his glittering eyes directed at Isago. For a moment there, Isago felt a shiver crawl up his spine but he didn't show it at all.

"How about you entertain me in his stead, Isago-kun?"

Isago released a long sigh, turning his head to face the ceiling before thinking about the chances that his past self would have gone for the Mare rings. There was a high possibility.

"Fine," Isago spat out after a long time, narrowing his eyes at Byakuran. "But in return, stop calling me 'Isago-kun.' It's getting on my nerves."

Byakuran chuckled delightfully, the smile dancing upon his lips incomparable to any other smile he's made in his life.

"I guarantee you'll find it satisfying...Isago."

(⊙ω⊙) Present

"So I see you have made an escape from your little group there," Verde's staff echoed out his voice and Isago raised an eyebrow at it, holding it in his hands as he sat in the hotel that he reserved. He was currently in London and it was quite early in the morning. There was some mist on the streets that made the whole city seem like it was covered under a layer of cotton.

"I'm surprised you reached out to me at 3 in the morning," Isago said, placing down the staff on the table beside his bed. He was in his robes, sitting on the bed and threaded his hands through his silver hair.

"You already know I can monitor when you input your flames. You've been choosing early in the morning no matter what country you are in. Insomnia, perhaps?"

"I'll survive," Isago brushed it off.

"You're also keeping the staff at full no matter how far it drops. Are you bored?"

"I never imagined Verde the mad scientist would be willing to have a chit-chat with me."

"That's mad scientist for you."

"Hn, so what do you want?"

"I'll give you the location. Go there and enter the Skytrain. Your mist and cloud guardians won't be showing up any time soon."

It was true, Isago hadn't felt any of his hyper intuition leading him anywhere. He would just have to walk from place to place in order for it to hit or to meet the right person. Hyper intuition was just weird like that. It would come and go whenever it wanted. It was just like roulette: you could spin every day and you either got lucky or unlucky- it was a measure of fate and skill.

Honestly, when choosing all the countries where he would find his guardians, he had to stare at the map for hours, pointing at each country and testing out his feelings towards it. Or he would just wait until a random country or city pops into his head at whatever time it deemed Isago worthy.

"Sure, I'll go there now."

Isago pushed himself off the bed, seeing that the moon was still high up in the sky and carving a crescent into the pitch-black darkness. Isago changed into a pair of comfortable pants and a dress shirt before taking his keys and leaving the building behind him. He walked according to the direction Verde had told him to go, flame state flared up high just in case someone attacked him on the streets.

Isago wasn't fond of walking around in the dark in the early morning nor trusted the instincts that told him it was safe with his powers. Even though Isago could kill a person without batting a single eyelash nor lifting a hand, it was still dangerous if a whole group came up and ambushed him.

There was a single weakness that Isago had right now. And that was that he knew how to stay in his flame state, but had no idea how to shoot out his lasers while being in that state. It was like he only had one concentration line and he had to choose between defense and offense.

Other than that, in the anime, Tsuna could fly up in the sky. Same with Xanxus, who utilized his guns to lift him up by shooting towards the ground. Isago couldn't do either of that. When he tried touching his weapons, they cut right through his fingers, chopping them off like mush. Mateo had to heal him up and give him two days to recover. Mateo's sun flame wasn't as intense as Reborn's so it took longer than Isago had expected.

That would mean he couldn't use the lasers to push himself up from the ground like Xanxus did. Isago's lasers would just cut into the ground. Talking about Xanxus, if the ninth had disappeared, that would mean Xanxus had broken out of the ice. Then wouldn't that also mean that Isago was in dire danger of being attacked by him?

But then again, he had made sure to tell Bel in the hallway that time, that he wasn't one of the successors that Timoteo placed his hopes on. Xanxus would probably get rid of the small fry first, which was his poor brother. Talking about his brother, how far had he gotten on his training?

Isago scrunched up his face before walking into a tunnel. He stood in front of the dead middle of the tunnel and faced a wall. There was nothing in front of him and Isago momentarily questioned whether Verde had tricked him into coming into this place just to get back at him for pulling the whole entire contract thing. Did he follow Verde's directions correctly? Maybe it was himself?

Before he could question any more, a door carved itself out of the wall, its crack seeping out light before the square pushed in, sliding to the side. Isago whistled, walking in with extreme caution of being attacked out of nowhere. He held his head up and his red eyes glowing in the dark before catching a train hanging upside down on the ceiling. The door slid open and Isago stepped on a deck that folded outwards.

After entering, he realized that the windows were made out of bulletproof material. His hand touched the window, flaring up his flames into them but nothing happened. For once, Isago felt trapped, like a lab rat.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Verde's voice broadcasted through the entire train as the transport started, going fast forward and making a sharp turn which meant that Isago had to grip the handles on the side for support. He felt his body lurch sideways and he clung onto it for his life.

"I'm surprised you had enough manpower to build this!" Isago called out as he felt the gravity slip underneath him. He screamed, body completely off the floor while he heard Verde's chuckle.

"I built this especially to bring you to my lab. After all, it was hard to track you down."

Isago couldn't believe the effort Verde made for his experiments. His face was turning slightly pale as he heaved, the train throwing him forward at a fast speed. If it wasn't for the bar at the side, Isago would have bulleted to his death. How much time did Verde take to build this? It was basically next-generation technology!

"They don't call me a mad scientist for nothing," Verde answered Isago's silent question.

"You-that name upholds you."

"Well, enjoy your next four hours on it."

With that, he heard the clatter of the phone being hung up. Isago gaped, feeling slightly nauseous as the train made another sharp turn to the left.

(⊙ω⊙)

"Welcome," Verde turned around on his mechanic seat that had a velvet cushion. Isago's mind was in circles as he stepped off the train, collapsing on all four of his limbs as he dry heaved. Verde observed the teen with his bored eyes, humming about making the train a bit more stable to get Isago in his top state.

"Despite the transportation," Isago breathed, plopping on his butt and laughed dryly. "I wholeheartedly give you my applause for building all that in a couple of months."

"48 days to be exact," Verde pushed his glasses up, green spiky hair tilting a bit to the side. "Can you stand, test subject?"

Isago pushed himself up and Verde's chair started rolling through the space and towards a large door. It was by now that Isago started to take in his surroundings. They were in a gymnasium space, the whole room was empty. Verde led Isago into a hall that was filled with dim lights. There were no windows and only contained rooms and rooms. Isago noticed that the corridor was empty, and seemingly all the rooms too. They moved to one of the doors and Verde opened the door, inviting Isago in.

The room was much brighter compared to the hall. There were multiple machines on the right side of the room, a wider space that was separated with a glass window before the machines. In the space, Isago could see another gym-like room. What was the most eye-catching though, was the machine on the left. It was being charged by the multiple cords linked to it.

The machine was six feet tall, having a human-like body that wore a suit and had multiple clothes strapped in place. The head was covered with a mask, stitched up with a beige-colored cloth and the eyes were a pair of red goggles. Its mouth had three tubes sticking out that made it look like a bug. All over the machine, there were hints of weaponry hidden in the clothes. The human-like fingers had holes at the tips of all of them. Just by looking at it, Isago knew that they were able to fire bullets out.

"That's the Moska," Verde hopped off his chair and walked to Isago's expressionless figure. "It was mainly used in the world war but was later on sold to the black market."

Verde's eyes were amused as they stared at Isago, "A client of mine ordered one to be made for him."

"I see," Isago said, removing his eyes from the robot. "Is the battery inside it yet?"

Verde's smile spread like wildfire on his face before he threw his head back and laughed. There was an evil glint in his eyes as he turned away from the robot.

"So you know what those batteries are," Verde's voice wasn't monotonous anymore. Instead, it sounded like it was delighted. Isago shrugged, not wanting to answer the question. "Do you know why the Moska had stopped developing, Isago?"

It was the first time that Isago had heard Verde use his name, and it was not directed at a very good question. Isago sighed, knowing that this would get nowhere if he didn't answer him.

"Because they used human lifeforce," Isago answered. Verde was satisfied. In the anime, there was only one Moska that appeared in the early stages. That was the one that Xanxus used as one of his guardians-Isago didn't remember which guardian, but inside the Moska was the kidnapped Timoteo.

"And do you know who my client is?"

There was really only one answer. But what concerned Isago was how did Xanxus reach Verde? Was it because of Isago's appearance in this timeline?

"Verde, should you really be disclosing client information to another client?" Isago narrowed his eyes at the scientist. But Verde only shrugged, still grinning when he took Isago's question as a 'yes' to his own answer.

"Are you just going to let it happen now that you know who's inside?"

Isago turned his eyes back to the Moska, before lifting the corner of his lips.

"It doesn't concern me, Verde."

Verde stared at the boy who was standing beside him with a mad look of glee. Both his eyes slanted into crescents while he turned his back to the weapon of death.

"Let's start then," Verde said and gestured to Isago who stepped into the gym under his instructions.

(⊙ω⊙)

Isago's flame was clearer than before while he raised his palm, engulfing his entire hand with his flame while Verde pressed a button on his side of the room. A table containing a box of sun flames levitated from the ground and the box released itself, opening its walls for Isago to touch.

"Do you know the specialties of the rain and sky flames?" Verde gestured to Isago to touch the flames. Isago did, and the flames didn't change or move. It was interesting, because flames only sprouted from a person's life force. It wasn't possible to contain it out in the open not to mention without someone flaring it from their body.

"The sky can harmonize with other flames while the rain can weaken the other flames and their attacks," Verde explained. "In theory, if they are one flame, then the rain would be able to weaken the opponent's flame and allow the sky to harmonize that flame to make it their own."

Isago smirked a bit, turning to Verde, "The name I chose was perfect for it, wasn't it?"

"Precisely," Verde nodded. "In history, the common problem for sky flames was that the opponent's will was stronger than theirs. Even if they could harmonise, they weren't able to because the users themselves were not strong enough.

Verde watched Isago's flame flickering boldly on his hand.

"But if your rain is able to weaken the opponent, then in any upcoming battle your sky will win," Verde's lips twitched. "Your sky will be the only one standing. What a messed up flame."

Flame of Eternity.

That was why Isago named it like that. He had already known about both abilities that they had and concluded that in the end, only his flame would outlast the other. That was why it lasted an eternity compared to others.

"The only problem is the way you channel it," Verde said nonchalantly. "Sky flames are already known to be the hardest to activate but dual wielders can hardly use their actual power."

Verde's eyes lifted to meet Isago's.

"Do you know the technique that Vongola Ninth uses? Zero point breakthrough? Try enlarging your flames then returning them to normal."

Zero point breakthrough was a technique used by Vongola Primo and the ninth. Later on it would be one of Tsuna's core techniques. The main technique that sealed Xanxus into his sleep until strong enough dying will flames melted it. Isago ran the facts over his mind before coming to the conclusion that the technique must have been the first steps of observing the flames.

"I can't stay in flame state for long," Isago pointed out and Verde gave him a sardonic smile.

"Try."

That was all he had to say before Isago started channeling his power in and out. A couple of times, the flames burst into small sparks, completely dissipating into thin air. Isago kept up with it though, sweat trickling down his neck as he concentrated only on his flames.

(⊙ω⊙)

It was harder than Isago had thought. In the anime, it was really a miracle for Tsuna to pick up the method and perform it flawlessly after just hearing how the technique was used by Reborn. It was already difficult to perform the enlarging and shrinking motion with his flames, not to mention it only lasted for a few minutes at the most.

But the thought flew into Isago's mind the moment he mentioned Tsuna. If Tsuna could perfect it, why couldn't he?

Isago's ragged breathing was displayed as Verde was sipping on his coffee on the other side. It had already been three days since he had come to Verde's place and so far, he was close to achieving the zero point breakthrough. Verde had instructed him that the moment he felt the technique start forming, direct it to the flames laid out in front of him.

Verde had provided a hefty amount of different types of flames, jolting down all the different reactions with Isago's sky flames. When Isago asked, Verde said that it was the first time he had seen a zero point so close. Verde was extremely interested in the zero point that Isago would create with his dual flames.

In the past couple of hours, Isago had received several calls from Adriano, and on the sixth call, Isago had picked up after Verde told him the ringing was getting annoying. Isago smirked at the scientist, answering the call and telling Adriano that he was in London.

The thing was though, Isago had no idea where he even was.

"We don't have enough time," Verde concluded after listening to the call. "Master the zero point before your secretary comes to London. I'll send you back and we can schedule a time after that."

And thus why Isago was desperately trying to master it within the time span of 18 hours. Sweat leaked into Isago's eye as he clenched it, feeling the sour and stinging sensation inside his eyeball. The problem he was battling right now was the time that zero point needed with his flames. The technique was like a computer loading its files from one side to another. It took time to start up and get to the perfect moment that zero point was charged. The moment that he was close to injecting his own flames into the unknown element, he ran out of energy.

Isago clicked his tongue in annoyance before firing up his resolution again.

(⊙ω⊙)

Flames were inherited at birth.

So it was natural that the Sawada twins would both have sky flames. What was not natural was how the rain flame would just randomly surface in Isago Sawada.

Verde watched the boy who was trying his hardest to achieve the zero point behind the window. On his computers, the boy's flame had risen and fallen at nearly the same numbers.

'43, 12, 49, 14,' Verde concluded that the boy was nearly finished with the technique. His stamina with the flame was also increasing. Verde's eyes swished to the stack of papers with research on the boy's background with a dissatisfied click of his tongue.

The boy's background was clean.

His mother was Nana Sawada, a sky flame.

Iemitsu Sawada, sky flame.

Ietsuna Sawada, his grandfather, sky flame.

Then going back to his ancestors, most of them consisted of sky flames. It was definitely not natural for this child to have another type of flame. Verde's eyebrows furrowed a bit, the information not at all matching with his theories. Unless there was a possibility that flames were not genetically inherited…

But that was impossible. It was a scientifically proven fact.

Verde had even considered the father of the boy cheating on the mother and giving birth to the child. However, the probability of that was near impossible since the information that he acquired from hospital records was that Isago and Tsunayoshi Sawada were born from the same womb, witnessed and permanently noted.

Not only that, the boy's eyes had turned red instead of the orange that was genetically inherited from Vongola Primo, Isago's ancestor. Did he also have to mention this boy's morals? Verde had expected someone from the Vongola bloodline to be extremely attached to relatives and blood just like every member of their family did. However, like how the boy displayed when Verde directly told him that he had the chance to free the ninth inside of Moska right now, the boy's callousness reminded Verde of his younger self.

It was like this child was not legitimately from the Sawada family but was also related by blood. However, that was theoretically impossible.

Verde's attention snapped to the glass where the boy fell on the ground, panting with his body sprawled out on the ground and limp. On the table, the sun flame that was placed in the middle of the box had crystalized into a large and sealed flame.

"Well done," Verde said into the mic that was in front of him, watching with amused eyes at the boy in front of him. It had been so long since Verde had found something that had interested him. In fact, he had buried himself in experiments with flames just in order to pass time. But this time, Verde was considering pausing his original theories with the boxed weapons for this mystery in front of him.

Isago Sawada, this boy had spiked Verde's interest.

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