Warning: Battle and violence in the first parts.

Piero looked one last time at the clock on the wall. To tell the truth, it wasn't that he needed to check the time; with the bustle that could be heard outside (even if he was far from where everything was happening), it was enough.

'We need to ask you a favor,' Giotto had told him. 'Sorry to keep getting you into this trouble.'

Piero inhaled, grabbed one of his coats, and strode briskly toward the main stairs.

"You're not going!" a small shout was heard, and at that moment, Piero felt someone grab him hard by the legs.

"Lampo!"

Lampo had gripped his father's legs tightly and was looking at him with small tears in his eyes. Although he was trembling, his expression reflected a particular childlike resolution.

"It's dangerous!"

"Sir!" the boy's tutor ran towards them, and after negotiating for a few minutes, she managed to get the child to let go of his father and hug her tightly, hiding his face between her shoulders. Piero felt a part of him hurt when he noticed that Lampo was crying. The woman carried the child in her arms and then looked at Piero. "He's also apprehensive about everything that is happening," she explained. "He has been watching Giotto and G come and go full of wounds and scrapes for the last six months. And now you have this nervous, grim expression, and you're going out at night just when people say there's a battle going on near the town. You can't blame him for feeling afraid."

Piero bit his lip and lowered his head. Trying to hide things from Beatrice was useless; she had been with them since he had found Giotto and G after that disastrous accident. She had been there when the Mafiosi had attacked the house during the night of the opera. (And had taken a heavy blow trying to protect the little boy). She knew what was going on, and yet she had decided to stay.

"I was commissioned to do something. And I can't take Lampo with me; it's too dangerous."

"It's not like we're safer here considering that those guys can escape and come here, don't you think?" Piero looked at her with evident fear in his eyes, and Beatrice couldn't help but let out a sigh that almost turned into a laugh. "On that assumption, let us accompany you. I'll take care of him, I promise."

The attack missed its target and ended up hitting the wall. Even with that, the ice was still there. The only thing the blow had accomplished was that tiny crystals, almost the size of a speck of dust, came off. What kind of ice was it to hold that? Rinaldo had hoped that the ice would break with pure impact. But it wasn't working.

Taking advantage of the fact that he was in a low position, Rinaldo launched a kick. He almost screamed out of sheer frustration when his attack was parried. Without the ability to use his two flames to the fullest, he was being defeated.

Before he could move and make the next strike he had planned, something in Giotto's mind screamed danger. Reacting in time, he let go of his opponent and stepped back, placing his hands in front of him to use the layer of ice he had set over them as a shield.

A series of shots echoed through the place, and the bullets ricocheted off the ice, managing to crack it. That was to be expected, Giotto thought. He hadn't used all the energy he needed when he created it, and it was weak compared to the ice he had used on Rinaldo.

Giotto looked up and saw Rinaldo running as a few men covered him. Subordinates. There were still a few. Giotto ran towards them. Though weak, some of the speed he still maintained was enough to avoid these men.

"Did you hear that?"

"It's a joke, right?" Cozzato dropped to his knees and brought his hands to his head. He was back to normal; the energy he had used had been too much to continue using the hyper mode. He felt his body ache like hell.

"Come on," G helped him up. Nearby, Matteo was unconscious due to the hard blow he had received to his head when he fell because Cozzato had finished that strange hole that sucked everything. He wasn't going to be like that for long, G was sure, but at least they had managed to tie his hands with a makeshift rope made of his own clothes. "Giotto is in there, and he needs us."

As more time passed, people began to be more curious than fearful. At this point, several of them had even dared to walk towards the castle to see what was going on. The crowd was moving.

The plan was entering its last phase.

The battle continued until they reached one of the main rooms. It was huge, undoubtedly used for hosting parties and dances.

Rinaldo had run there and then, making use of his skill at deception, had simply left Giotto cornered as he turned around and left him at the mercy of the remaining men who had run to his side after Giotto had knocked out the first two who had shot at him.

There weren't many of them. Twelve. But in Giotto's state, those twelve could mean losing track of Rinaldo.

Giotto dodged one attack, but before he could counterattack, someone else hit the man in the head with...

A piece of firewood?

"Now you understand how confused I was years ago when you knocked Marco out with a shovel."

"G!"

G couldn't return the greeting as he would have liked, as another person almost hit him. He dodged, and using his own body, hit the man with one of his shoulders in the chest, knocking him down.

"Should I be worried about what just happened?"

"Concentrate on the people in front of you!" G replied to Cozzato, who was a few meters away, still dodging attacks. They were taking the task of leaving Giotto a clear path. "Go! Don't let him get away!" G shouted to Giotto as he backed up and dodged another blow.

Giotto could only nod, thanking his friends with that simple gesture.

He walked out of the ballroom and closed his eyes. If he concentrated, he could make his intuition tell him where Rinaldo was.

Amid the chaos, he managed to perceive a series of footsteps and a gasp of breath. Giotto turned to the left. It seemed that corridor went to the back of the castle. There.

Using the flames in his hands as at the beginning, Giotto propelled himself, thus managing to gain ground quickly. When Rinaldo was a few meters away from him, he changed his position and concentrated his forces on his leg, which hit directly with his enemy's one. Rinaldo screamed as a crack sounded after the impact, and he fell helplessly to the ground.

"That's enough. You have been defeated, let-"

Giotto couldn't finish speaking because from one of Rinaldo's hands (the one that was still free of the ice), a large and solidified lightning bolt came out, directly from the ring still in function (he had forgotten to freeze it, how could something like that happen?).

The lightning was so sudden that Giotto could only move a little to the right. Even so, he felt it pass close to his neck and cut. He automatically brought his hands to the wound.

It was bleeding.

Even with his leg injured, Rinaldo took advantage of the situation and ran.

Giotto felt the blood begin to flow, and panic took hold of him. A wound in the neck was too dangerous; he could bleed out quickly, he needed to-

Then, he remembered another of the moments that happened in the opera accident.

'When you touched him. You also closed the wound.'

His flame was like Miss Sepira's, which meant...

Of course, his flame was like real fire. Hadn't he already discovered it before?

Without thinking, Giotto channeled a small part of his flames into his hands, still touching the wound to apply pressure. The feeling of something hot and his skin burning made him let out a small scream. It made him want to cry.

Trembling, Giotto pulled his hands away from his neck seconds later. There were traces of blood on them, but the flame had done its job: The wound had cauterized and closed instantly.

The sound of something breaking made him focus again. In the distance, Rinaldo had shattered part of the castle wall (of course, why risk continuing to run between that huge enclosure when he could make his own way out?), and with that, he could see the now clear path of the forest and, also...

He could hear people's voices.

Rinaldo had chosen the back of the castle because it was the quickest way to the town and the opportunity to escape. He no longer intended to fight.

Giotto tried to move. Noticing it, Rinaldo made the green flame that he could still use expanding not only to a specific point but also surrounding the castle's outer walls. From the hole where he had come out, only the electrifying aura of lightning remained. Then, he turned around and tried to run in the opposite direction. His pace was too slow because of his injured leg.

Giotto tried to hit and destroy part of the wall to avoid direct contact with the lightning in the hole made by his enemy, which sizzled every second with intensity. When he tried, he ended up screaming in pain.

The wall was more resistant.

Did that flame also have that property? Solidify things or something?

Anxiously, Giotto tried to hit another part, getting the same result. And another, and another. He even got too close to the source of the lightning and ended up feeling the lightning flash across him.

This couldn't be happening.

He couldn't turn around and run to the actual exit. It was too far away, and by that time, Rinaldo would already be out of sight. He had to try to use the same path as him if he was to have any chance of catching up with him.

Giotto brought his hands to his head and unconsciously dropped to his knees as his breathing became more agitated. Think, think. The plan had to go on.

Then, he remembered.

He had faced someone with green flames before. Not of Rinaldo's caliber, but he had. It was before his second encounter with Camillo. A man was shooting green flames, and he had dispelled them with his own.

That opera accident had left him with many lessons that he was now applying.

Giotto concentrated and felt how much energy he had left. Enough to try something.

Staggering, he stood up. He approached the wall that was surrounded by those green flames. He inhaled, exhaled. In one of his hands, he began to concentrate almost all the energy he had left.

It had to be in one spot. The energy couldn't go any further or disperse forward, or it would hurt the nearby people. It had to be a single concentrated attack.

In his hand, it seemed as if an orange glow was created; more intense by the second. He tried to brace himself well on the ground, got into the proper position, and moved when the energy was concentrated.

He released everything in a single stroke.

It seemed to the people that the earth shook again.

They could see it clearly from their distance: An orange glow came from a point, like a star. The light lasted for a few seconds before spreading out to the sides in a sort of path that made the sound of thousands of things breaking echo in the surroundings.

The outer walls of the first floor of the castle were shattered, taking with them the sound of lightning extinguished by an unknown force. Without something to lean on, the castle began to collapse over an extended area.

Dust flew. Debris fell.

Rinaldo stopped, and like everyone else, turned to see what was happening with amazement, and in his case, perhaps a little fear.

Still among the layer of dirt and dust, a figure could be seen. Amorphous at first, and then recognizable.

A teen.

He was standing. His breathing was agitated. His arms were shaking; one had threads of blood trickling down it. There was a flame on his head, glowing and flickering intermittently. His gaze was to the ground, where the debris made him seem to rise.

"It's impossible," Rinaldo whispered. "You're just a kid, damn it!"

At that moment, the teen looked up. Even in the distance, his orange eyes, just like the flame shining in his head, made people feel a shiver run through them.

"So..." the boy said. His words audible due to the eerie silence that followed the attack. "Have courage and face this kid without running away."

With the last of his remaining energy, Giotto used the flames to propel himself forward. Unable to move at an equal speed, all Rinaldo could do was block the blow coming towards him with his free hand.

Giotto's arm trembled, but his gaze showed fierceness.

"You are a nuisance," Rinaldo said.

"Coming from you, it's a compliment."

The people held their breath. The boy staggered. His head was spinning. In those few seconds, Rinaldo picked up dirt from the ground and threw it in Giotto's eyes.

Giotto held back an exclamation and tried to wipe the dust from his eyes as he heard Rinaldo's footsteps walking away.

"Coward!" Giotto shouted. "Come back here!"

He was finding it hard to move. He had used almost all his energy in the last attack, and he felt how little by little the hyper mode was fading away.

In a last desperate move, Rinaldo charged green flames back into his hand. Giotto, regaining some of his vision, moved into a defensive position but soon discovered that the threat was not directed at him.

Rinaldo smiled before launching the attack towards the people who had gathered to see what was going on. The flashes of lightning advanced towards a small group, where a woman could be seen covering another person, probably a relative.

Giotto didn't hesitate, and with what little strength he still had left, he stepped right in front of the lightning, taking the direct hit. The dust spread. People screamed.

The hyper mode disappeared.

Giotto fell forward. The couple he had protected caught him in their arms before he hit the ground. They were saying something, they were talking to him, but Giotto couldn't understand.

Giotto turned his gaze to the right. There, the figure of Rinaldo was fading into the shadows. He couldn't go after him.

Rinaldo had escaped.

"What happened?"

People talking around him.

"Do me a favor and let him breathe!"

G?

"He did all this?!"

Cozzato?

Giotto reacted. As he moved, a sharp pain throughout his body made him let out a slight exclamation.

"Are you okay?"

Giotto looked straight ahead, finding two unfamiliar faces staring at him with a mixture of concern and surprise. But before he could open his mouth, a scream rang out.

"My castle!"

The last phase had begun; Giotto understood that from the moment he heard Ignazio Giardenne almost crying for his property.

The Duke had moved there for the same reasons as the others: the castle being destroyed and nearby battles. And, of course, the help of Flavio, who pretended to cry, saying that he could see fire spreading. Elena had asked him the favor of trying to get their father out of their home and make him go there. The boy had done his part.

Ignazio turned and walked through the debris until he came close to someone. Two people. One stood in front of the other with a fierce look.

"Is there a problem?" G roared at him as he pulled Cozzato behind him.

"I know you..." Ignazio commented with a disdainful tone. "You're usually with... with Piero. You brat just destroyed my-"

"How quick you are to invent culprits!" G shouted. People's attention was now on him. "We were victims of those detestable men, and we only defended ourselves!"

"Close your mouth, you-!"

"You're not supporting the mafia, are you?" G questioned. Ignazio turned at that moment to look at the people, who were staring at him with such icy eyes as if they wanted to scream at him in that instant. There was no one that didn't know that word.

"Mafia?" Ignazio feigned surprise. "Do you believe those rumors that say such an organization exists? Poor kid, you need to-"

"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" G roared. "There were criminals. They tried to kill us. And everyone here saw it. Mafia or not, explain why there were such people on your property!"

"I..." Ignazio hesitated. People's stares were making him extremely uncomfortable. "I didn't know it was being occupied."

"Really?"

"Of course! I came here without understanding what was going on!"

"If what you say is true, you should call the police. There are several men here, after all."

"I'm going to do it!" Ignazio shouted. In his tone of voice, there was a slight tone of nervousness. "Of course, I'm going to do it!"

"Then you won't be upset that I went ahead of you," someone said. Amidst the bustle, people made their way to let several men pass behind one person. It must be said, Ignazio almost choked when he recognized who it was. Piero simply looked at him with exaggerated exaltation. "Several of the criminals are passed out, take advantage, and arrest them!

The group following him were policemen. And although some of them hesitated to move, an angry look from the landowner made them move. G looked at those closest to him, ensuring they didn't try to help the Mafiosi escape.

"You!"

"Dear cousin," Piero feigned concern. "I'm so glad you're well! As soon as I heard about what was happening on your property, I ran to get help. That these criminals have used your castle for their purposes is regrettable! But don't worry, since the authorities are here, they can take them away, so they won't bother you again."

G smiled. They had asked Piero to help them mobilize the policemen to the castle. Even if several of them were with the mafia, they couldn't refuse such a request when someone of high rank asked for it, and they were in the middle of an event where there were too many people watching.

Piero was playing his role well, managing to face the look of contempt from his legal family without flinching. Ignazio, on the other hand, looked astonished. He was aware that, if he said anything, he could be directly linked to the mafia, and with so many eyes witnessing the moment, his reputation was at stake.

That was the reason Giotto and the others had planned to draw attention. Ignazio couldn't help the Reale with his position with so many witnesses as that would mean losing his prestige. The Duke seemed to understand that, for he only looked at Piero with a feigned smile.

"I thank you for being so concerned," he said between his teeth. "You are right. These evildoers should be taken away."

"Giotto!" he heard a familiar voice. "Giotto!"

Giotto turned, feeling his heart beating too fast. Pushing their way through the crowd, Paolo and Maria came running towards him.

"Giotto!" Maria hugged him. She looked like he was about to cry. "We knew it was you since people started whispering. You're crazy!"

"I-"

"I can't believe you really did it," this time, it was Paolo who spoke. Through the hug he was also giving him, Giotto could feel that Paolo was trembling. "Look at you, you're hurt, and-"

"And you really did something dangerous."

Giotto looked up, meeting Franco, who was looking at him with an indecipherable expression. Giotto lowered his head.

"I did something risky," he admitted. "But... But I managed to keep my promise. It's all right now, isn't it? Now you can-"

Giotto fell silent as Franco bent down to look him in the eye, and a few tears trickled down his face.

"You're wrong," Franco shook his head. "The important thing is that you're fine. Material things like the store can be replaced, life... Your life can't be replaced." He smiled at him, faintly but comfortingly. "What are we going to do with you, Giotto?"

Before Giotto could answer, an unexpected visitor ran towards him with all his strength and ended up throwing him to the ground due to the force of the embrace. The adults recoiled a little in surprise and ended up laughing.

"L-lampo?" Had he followed Piero there?

"Giotto!" the boy shouted. He was pouting at him so much that Giotto couldn't help but smile nervously. "Why do you like to put yourself in danger! The great Lampo can't always be by your side so he can save you, don't do it!"

Giotto blinked for a few moments and laughed. He hugged Lampo as he stood up. A few steps away, there was Beatrice, who was watching them tenderly (so she had been the one to take Lampo). He could see G trying to pretend he wasn't embarrassed because Piero was hugging him. He could see Cozzato laughing nervously as his mom seemed to be scolding him but comforting him at the same time.

In the distance, hidden among the houses, he could also see Elena. She was looking at everything with a sad half-smile. Their eyes met, and Giotto asked her with his eyes to go with them; she was also part of the group. Elena shook her head and pointed to her left, where the authorities were taking away the Mafiosi.

Although they had made it out alive and part of the mission had been successful, she couldn't make herself known. Not while Rinaldo was still free. Giotto felt like screaming when he recognized that fact.

"Giotto! We did it!" Cozzato ran towards him, joyful. "We really-!"

"You're just stupid kids!" Matteo was heard nearby. Giotto took Lampo tighter in his arms, and Cozzato looked at him with a face of few friends. "You're going to perish!" the man shouted, trying to free himself from the cops' grip. "You don't know the trouble you've got yourselves into; you should be afraid from now on because-"

"With all due respect, that is, none coming from someone like you," Giotto interrupted. His eyes shone with determination. "We almost destroyed two big groups in a single night. You are the ones who should be afraid of us."

Matteo glared at him with hatred, and the expression of fury increased; however, he didn't utter another scream as he was taken away. He simply seemed to curse between his teeth as the people watched the exchange of words with bated breath.

None of them had dared to raise their voices before. To respond. To fight back. And now, in front of them, a boy (in their eyes that was) was doing it. He had fought back. He had stood up for them.

That was enough to ignite the flame in them.

"Dare if you can!"

"They beat you once; they can do it again!"

"And next time, they won't be alone!"

Giotto, confused, turned to look at the people. What did they mean by...?

"W-wait!" he exclaimed as he stepped back with Lampo still in his arms, who seemed to be enjoying all the attention that was suddenly showered on them.

"You guys are awesome!"

"I know you guys! I've seen you around town near the harbor."

A wave of people came over, asking questions and talking a thousand things at once. G looked from side to side, not knowing what to do as they began to bombard him with words, and Piero, to his right, laughed at his nervousness. Cozzato stood next to Giotto and tried to stop those who were getting too close.

"What's your name?"

"It's Giotto; I've seen him before!"

People surrounded him, and Giotto felt his body trembling. They had never paid so much attention to him. If it wasn't because Cozzato was helping him stand up, he had no doubt that he would have fallen from sheer nerves a few minutes ago. They were all talking, and shouting things, and -

"You're the one who destroyed the whole first floor?!"

"Let me join you; I want to help!"

His head started spinning.

"What's the name? Your group, what's the name?"

The question reached his ears even through the din. To tell the truth, Giotto hadn't thought of a name (perhaps deep inside, he was sure he was going to die for daring to oppose those men), but now...

"Giotto!" Lampo started pulling him by his clothes. "Are you going to have a cool name like that guy we talked about the other time?"

Giotto blinked, and after a few seconds, he smiled.

It would probably sound too weird (he could already imagine G's face when he heard it), but it was a name that represented part of what he believed in.

Clams must be strong to protect their treasure, don't they?

"We are Vongola."

One person watched it all, leaning against one of the houses now that its owners were in the middle of the crowd.

The result had been as interesting as his boss had predicted.

"Sir?" someone called him. "Are we still not intervening?"

Federico nodded. The orders had been clear: just watch. See how the Reale and their allies reacted to the possible 'war' between them that they had pretended to want to start. The arrival of another group had been a surprise (Giglio Nero? What a curious name), and more what was happening. Three teenagers had dealt the blow of their lives to two major criminal groups; even Piero had intervened.

"If I may..." the man hesitated. "We should at least try to recover the weapons."

"The boss said to leave them. Let the others find a use for them," Federico replied. Although that decision had been received with surprise, it had not been questioned. His boss was like that; he just felt like watching his enemies kill each other with the inventions he had made.

Though this time, he had acted beyond just wanting to see destruction. Pretending he wanted to go to war, letting the Reale steal some of his cargo. All just for that moment...

"Tell the messenger there is information to send," Federico said. "Giovanni has learned how to use his flames and even defeated someone. The boss will be happy about that."

Flavio was trembling, and the moment he saw her, he shook his head as if to tell her in that way to stay away. Elena had had to go all the way home (she even had to use a horse to get there quickly) before her father returned so that her family members (and the Reale's still remaining) wouldn't suspect her. She certainly expected things to be tense, but Flavio's look reflected a deep fear. She approached him, startled by his pale appearance.

"Flavio? What-"

"Elena?"

Elena stopped in her tracks. Looking at her with almost dull eyes, was her older brother, Giorgio, (had he returned from his trip just that night? from London?) and at his side-

"It's really you," Giorgio looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "Don't even think of shouting. We don't want to attract attention after what happened, do we?"

Rinaldo Reale.

The leader of the Reale family was at his side. Giorgio was holding him by the arm that wasn't frozen, helping him walk. Rinaldo turned to look at her curiously, and Elena felt a shiver run through her.

He had escaped to her home.

"How cruel. You see your sister after more than a year, and this is how you greet her."

"Get out of here," Giorgio commanded her. His gaze looked colder than she remembered. "Take Flavio too. These are not mattering that neither women nor children should know about."

Elena thought maybe she could go get a weapon and attack, or maybe get the attention of the police. Her mind was so focused on what she could do that she didn't know at what point Flavio had pulled her by the hand because she didn't move, pulling her to walk in the opposite direction to Giorgio. When she reacted, Elena looked at Flavio, who communicated all that was necessary with a single glance.

'Pretend to obey. Don't take any risks now.'

"Men are watching outside," Giorgio commented. Why did her brother's gaze look so menacing? "Don't even think of going out. If I see even one cop around, you two will be responsible."

You two. Giorgio was bringing Flavio into it too. A shameless but efficient threat.

Elena took Flavio's hand tightly and walked with him in the direction of his room. Her heart hammered. Rinaldo would have killed Giotto if he could, and now it turned out she had to hide him in her house.

"Finally, you come back. To what do we owe the honor?" Rinaldo mentioned in a tone somewhere between weary and sarcastic.

"The last favor they wanted has been fulfilled. My presence is no longer needed in London, and once they do as they planned, it will be their turn to help us."

"Corneille must be happy now," Rinaldo snorted. "His plan had better end quickly so that he keeps his word. I don't send you, my right-hand man, away so long for nothing."

"To tell you the truth, I'm very eager to know the outcome," Giorgio sounded amused. "The rumors circulating in the upper class about the person we were asked to investigate are most... peculiar. If they are true, he has power. Too much."

"That flame has always given me a bad feeling. It's like having demons near you, so, for me, Corneille and that guy can kill each other, and I may as well negotiate the alliance with the successor."

"Demons. How accurate you are," Giorgio's smile widened. "They call him that way. At first, it started because they were afraid of him, but now even those who don't know what happened, call him like that because they don't know his real name. Better, maybe if someone dares to pronounce it, he will curse them."

"Who is he?"

"A young heir of an aristocratic family. The only son," he explained. "The high-class whispers between parties that he almost killed someone when he was only nine years old. They say he summoned a terrifying monster to finish his victim's last breath."

"How true is that?"

"I didn't get the honor of seeing him use his powers, but his eyes have something strange. A spectral glow if you see them from the shadows." A pause, followed by a slight chuckle. "Part of me fears while the other craves to know what this Demon is capable of... No, lately, he's been using another variant. Daemon. Daemon Spade."

If Tsuna has the X Burner, Giotto has the Mintena di Vongola Primo, an attack where he concentrates his energy on a single point. In the series, it's mentioned that it's as strong as the X Burner. Here I put the beginning of that attack.

Wow, this was long. For a moment, I was afraid I would have to split it in two. With that, Vongola is officially created; I hope you liked it!