(Careful.)
The warning brushed against the back of his mind, like smoke whispering in the air.
Tsuna looked up from where he'd been drawing idle circles on the floor with the tip of a finger.
The only door of their room − of their cell – swung open.
Amadeo and Jenoah walked in, the former carrying a plastic box in his arms. If Tsuna's rumbling stomach hadn't already told him it was time for their meal then the sight of that white container would have tipped him off. He perked up, sitting straighter, the silent warning momentarily forgotten.
The plastic box was deposited at Amadeo's feet. The man rummaged inside for a second, then stood up. A scowl came over his features as he took in the cluster of children staring up at him with dark eyes.
"Well?" he barked. "What are you little shits waiting for? Get in a fucking line!"
Kids − boys and girls, big and small − jumped to their feet at the order. They scrambled forward, falling into a neat line along the way, and not a single word was spoken.
There was no struggle between the nine of them. The pecking order had been decided long before that moment, well away from the all-seeing eyes of their keepers and their potential interference. In this world of white walls and artificial lights, each child knew exactly where they stood on the food chain. The results were clear cut, the endgame simple enough – either you were strong and were left alone, or you were weak and got to be bossed around. No one really cared about fairness or kindness. Those were concepts that belonged to Before. They didn't mean anything anymore, hadn't meant anything from the moment someone in a white coat had strapped them to an examination table and told them you can scream.
Tsuna quietly slid in his attributed spot, the eighth one, right behind Number Seven. The only reason he wasn't dead last was that the girl who stood behind him was so painfully skinny she could barely stand on her own. Even now, Tsuna pretended not to notice when a small hand landed on his back as she swayed with the effort of staying upright.
The girl – she had never offered her name, and Tsuna had never pried – leaned heavily against him. Bony limbs dug into his shoulder blades, sharp and insistent. He could feel her breaths brushing the back of his neck, quick and warm and speaking of bone-deep exhaustion.
He should shove her away. Push her so hard that she would collapse and be unable to grab her meal. There'd be an unclaimed ration then, and perhaps he would be lucky enough to snatch it before anyone else noticed.
His stomach growled at the thought of more food. Hunger twisted his insides, a vicious monster that was always there, prowling at the back of his mind, stalking him even in his dreams.
But no.
Just – no.
Tsuna planted his feet a bit more firmly on the floor, grounded himself to support the additional weight, and pretended that the girl didn't exist. It was easy. He'd had much practice.
His eyes swept along the line in front of him, taking in the queuing children, the guards' positions and the shadows of guns strapped under their suits.
As usual, Amadeo had gone to stand by the door, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at his charges with sharp suspicion as if he expected them to make a run for it at any moment. He didn't need to worry, though. They all knew how pointless it would be. The few guards patrolling the long hallways beyond the door ensured that any runaway wouldn't make it ten steps outside before being taken down. And their collars dispelled the very thought of escaping before it could even take root in their minds.
Tsuna absently fingered the band of metal wrapped around his neck.
It was cold and heavy, but he barely noticed its presence these days. Tracing the smooth surface, he wondered what had caused the earlier spike of heat in his chest. The scene unfolding around him was mundane enough that he could get through it out of muscle memory alone. There was nothing unusual about it. Just a routine event that repeated itself day after day after day.
So why?
(Now.)
The door opened again.
A man – a brunet, unknown, not one of their guards – stepped inside the cell, pushing a boy in front of him with uncompromising hands.
Tsuna risked one quick look at the kid. He was small, had wavy blond hair, and was very skinny. His expression was set in a deep scowl, one that dared the world to come at him and do its worst.
I don't care, that look seemed to say. I don't fucking care and you can't do anything about it.
"Huh." Amadeo's eyes snapped to the newcomers. "That's the replacement? Little twerp's not looking all that fresh."
Tsuna blinked.
The replacement.
Of course.
He should have seen it coming. A couple of days earlier, the youngest girl in their group had been taken out of the cell and had never made it back. It wasn't all that unusual, and everyone else had taken it in strides, expecting another kid to show up and fill in the vacant space soon enough.
"Do I look like I give a single fuck?" the other guard drawled, shoving his charge forward. The boy stumbled, barely managing to keep standing. "Here you go. Package officially delivered breathing and kicking. My part's done."
He threw a lazy salute, turned right on his heels, and walked out.
"Fucking dick," Amadeo muttered, showing his middle fingers at the retreating figure.
The new boy was still standing in front of them all, swaying slightly, as if every moment threatened to send him toppling to the floor. He was glaring a hole in the side of Amadeo's head.
The man seemed to feel the burning look aimed his way. He grabbed the boy's shoulder and whirled him around so that they were both facing the rest of the room.
"So," he said, "everything's pretty much the same as in your last cell, but while you're here there's one rule you've got to carve into your brain. No blood. Ever. I don't care how much you shitheads fight among yourself. The very first drop of red I catch you spilling on my watch will get you zapped so hard you'll feel it in your sleep. You get me?"
Tsuna twitched at the word zapped.
The band of metal hugging his neck seemed to tighten. To grow heavier. Colder.
The new boy kept his mouth stubbornly shut.
Amadeo raised a single eyebrow. And brushed a finger against the control bracelet on his left wrist.
The boy immediately yelped, both hands flying up to his neck, a flinch of pain washing over his face.
"I said, you get me?"
"Yes," came the growled answer.
And then, abruptly, Tsuna couldn't see what was happening with the new boy anymore. Black filled his sight, obscuring everything. He startled, eyes jumping up to the face that had appeared inches above his own.
"Wakey, wakey," Jenoah crooned, smiling wide and white. "Don't get lost in your daydreams and forget to eat, Tsuna-kun. You need to keep up your strength."
The other children had already grabbed their allotted food for the day, Tsuna realized with a spike of alarm. They had all retreated deeper into the cell, huddling in groups of two or three as they started to eat in silence. Even the newcomer had been given his share.
"Come on," Jenoah continued, pulling Tsuna's attention back to him. His eyes creased as his smile went even bigger. "Aren't you hungry?"
"S-sorry." Tsuna hastily grabbed a piece of bread from the box and blinked in surprise when two lumps of sugar were pressed into his other hand.
"Don't forget these." Jenoah closed Tsuna's fingers around the little cubes. He beamed. "Enjoy the sweets while they're on the menu."
"Yes, sir."
A hand ruffled Tsuna's hair, and it was a struggle to resist the urge shrink and slap it away like a wounded animal. But that wouldn't do. Tsuna locked his knees before they could start shaking and endured the patting, counting the seconds as they crawled by.
Jenoah didn't seem to notice anything was amiss. "Sir?" He let out noise of protest, his mouth pulling down at the corners. "I told you to call me Oni-san!"
And now Tsuna did flinch away.
Jenoah was always enthusiastic whenever he saw Tsuna. The man tried to engage him in conversation as often as possible, spouting words of Tsuna's Before as if it could tempt him into having an actual conversation with Jenoah.
But it had never worked, would never work, because Tsuna remembered all too well that Jenoah had been there that first time he had awakened far from his home – how easy it had been for the guard to hit him and kick him until something inside had snapped and his Flames had come roaring out. The resulting scar was still there. Tsuna had seen it. A wrinkled mess of thick and dark skin that spread from Jenoah's wrist almost all the way to his elbow.
A small part of Tsuna was waiting for retaliation, even years later.
It'd never happened, though.
Jenoah came and went, chatting and laughing and joking, without showing an ounce of resentment.
It was terrifying, really.
A light tap on his forehead.
Playful. Harmless.
"Try to say it," Jenoah said, leaning down to peer more closely at Tsuna. "Oni-san. Just once?"
Tsuna's lips remained stuck together as if cement had been poured over his mouth.
"Come on, repeat after me. O-ni-san –"
"Hey," Amadeo cut in flatly. The other guard stood a little to the side, staring at his partner with a frown. "You done yet?"
Jeanoah grinned. "Yep!" Then, to Tsuna, "Duty's calling. See you later, Tsuna-kun!"
Later would be far too soon.
Tsuna quickly shuffled away while Amadeo and Jenoah collected the box on their way out. The door closed behind them with the sound of a lock sliding into place. A high-pitched beep-beep echoed in the ensuing silence, indicating that their little cage had been sealed from the rest of the world.
Tsuna sat down in the corner the farthest away from the door.
It was easy to monitor the rest of the cell from there, and nestled as he was against two walls, his back was never left exposed to anyone.
The weak girl soon joined him, sitting close by. She had picked the habit of always orbiting around Tsuna during meal times, most likely because he'd never tried to steal from her. He didn't really mind. And it felt nice. To be around someone who wasn't out to hurt you.
Tsuna watched the small girl from the corner of his eyes, making sure that she was actually eating and not just going back to sleep. She tore a small bit of her piece of bread and started munching.
(Good.)
Tsuna's stomach twisted painfully.
It let out a loud rumble, reminding him that he was hungry, too. He dropped the bread on the floor, eyes zeroing in on the two lumps of sugar in his hand. The other kids had already eaten theirs without taking any time to savor the unusual treat. Suspicious glances were thrown around as they chewed. Temptation was a dangerous thing after all, and even if it didn't happen often, kids had fought before to steal food from others.
Tsuna quickly popped a white cube in his mouth. It melted on his tongue, sweet and thick, and he shuddered. How long had it been been since he'd last had the chance to eat something that did not taste like wet cardboard?
Minutes ticked away and the group of children around him slowly grew more confident the longer the door remained closed.
A hum of soft voices started to pick up. No one engaged in full-blown conversations, but even a murmured word here and there sounded loud and ringing in the silent cell. One girl whispered something to a boy. Another one leaned close and talked fast into his cellmate's ear. Even the loners like Tsuna were gradually relaxing, the tense lines of their bony shoulders dropping with weary relief.
Safe for now.
Tsuna swallowed, and immediately put the other lump of sugar in his mouth.
He tried not to think about what those unexpected treats could mean – about how the last time something sweet had been given to them it'd been to boost up their systems because the searchers had needed the kids to keep up.
No, he wasn't going to think about that. At all.
Tsuna's eyes drifted back to the front of the cell.
The new kid was still standing exactly where Amadeo had left him. His lips were pulled into a thin line, his whole body rigid, as if he were waiting for something to happen.
Which, if nothing else, proved that he wasn't an idiot.
Because something was definitely going to happen. Or rather, someone.
A long moment passed as the boy simply observed his unfamiliar surroundings. Then he sat down. Slowly. Warily. The long strands of his matted hair couldn't quite hide how his eyes kept darting all around the cell.
The wait wasn't very long after that.
Another kid soon stood up from a group of three sitting on Tsuna's right. It was a boy, pale and painfully thin. He made a bee-line for the newcomer.
Tsuna sighed.
Living in a cell did strange things to people. There were those who couldn't stand the constant pain and exhaustion. They withdrew into themselves until nothing was left but the empty shell of a person, always alone and silent and numb, like shadows made of shattered memories and forgotten dreams.
And then there were those who hated.
Emotions were a double-edged blade. They could cut you open like shards of glass or they made you strong. Hatred – bitter, rotting hatred – was just like that. The fire burning in those kids was like a great void – a greedy, all-consuming black hole of nothing that desperately needed to be aimed at something. It wanted a target, an outlet, and the results were never pretty for the poor suckers who attracted that sort of attention.
Vito belonged to this second category.
He was a tall boy of around eleven years old, blond and blue-eyed with a fierce temperament everyone had learned to fear. He radiated hatred, was consumed by it, and sometimes it almost felt like you could be set on fire just by standing next to him.
Tsuna avoided him as much as possible. He was mostly successful. Others were less so.
Vito crossed the cell slowly, staring at the smaller boy with a hint of hunger on his face.
"So you're the one we get to keep this time," he said. "Huh. Can't say I'm impressed."
Tsuna licked the last bit of sugar from his fingers. A frown settled on his face. He squirmed a little, unease eating away at his insides.
Vito kept talking, "What's your name anyway?"
No response.
"Fine. I'll just call you Dumbass. Or Dipshit. Yeah, I like that one. Dipshit."
The new kid didn't answer. He pinned Vito with an icy stare, bit into his bread without breaking eye-contact, and started to eat.
Tsuna winced.
Bad move.
Vito's attention zeroed in on the food. A calculating glint appeared in his eyes.
He stopped in front of his target and immediately reached down. "I'm hungry. You don't mind sharing, right? We're all going to be friends after all."
The tips of skinny fingers brushed against a lump of sugar.
The new boy slapped Vito's hand away with a resounding smack and bared his teeth.
"Yes," he hissed. "I fucking mind, you big waste of space. Get out of my face and leave me. Alone."
Vito blinked. "Ouch. That's kinda harsh." He shook his hand a little in the air. "Hit me right here in the feels."
One second of silence – and then Vito leaped.
He tackled the smaller boy, and it was like watching a great cat pouncing on a juicy mouse.
The new kid let out a yelp as he found himself pinned to the floor, crushed under the weight of a much bigger body. He struggled, but it was no use.
"Let me ask you a question, Dipshit," Vito said casually, slowly wrapping his hands around the smaller boy's throat. "If I'm a waste of space, then what exactly does that make you right now?"
And maybe it was a trick of the light, maybe it was just his mind imagining things, but Tsuna thought that Vito's eyes had started to shine unnaturally. Just a bit. Like a spark of electricity flashing in the dark.
Gasping breaths.
A weak gurgle.
"Yep, you got it right. It makes you nothing. Just an idiot messing with the wrong person."
The boy glared. There was a spike of heat in the cell, a subtle hint of smoke and back off.
Vito's eyes narrowed. He squeezed harder.
The other kids in the cell watched quietly from the sidelines as Vito basically strangled the newcomer. No one spoke up to stop him, to try and diffuse the situation. It wasn't worth the risk to put themselves in harm's way, not when there was nothing to be gained from it. A cloud of cold indifference hovered around them, one that was reflected in the darkness of their eyes as they stayed silent and put. It was easy to guess at the thoughts running through their minds.
Better him than me.
Warmth flared in Tsuna's chest.
Vito was taller, heavier, and without fire to fight back fire, the skinny boy would get hurt.
Tsuna didn't like it.
He was up and walking before he'd realized his feet were moving.
Meanwhile, Vito had leaned down, his expression thoughtful. "What should I do with you now, Dipshit?" he asked. "They keep telling us that blood's off limit but I think broken bones are still okay."
Small hands clawed ineffectively at Vito's wrists.
The sound of frantic panting echoed in the room.
"Hey." Tsuna came to a stop behind the pair. He was shaking. "Stop it."
Vito looked up, distracted, and the other boy used that opportunity to ram a leg into his side. Vito jerked back with a grunt while his prey slithered out from under him, spitting mad and looking ready for murder.
"Don't touch me again," the kid snarled, all but vibrating with fury. "Don't you ever touch me again!"
"Oooh." Vito also stood up, his lips stretching into a small smile that was all ice and jagged edges. "Fighting words," he taunted. "Don't stop, then. Come on, Dipshit, no point in waiting. Show me what you've got."
The new boy's eyes started to glow, a hint of yellow bleeding into their depths. "You asked for it." The air around him thickened. Detecting the change in body temperature, his collar let out a warning beep. It was completely ignored.
Vito's smile widened.
Tsuna took another step forward even though it made him sick to his stomach, and said again, "You need to stop."
The metallic band around his own neck felt so heavy – a physical reminder that said, we're watching you, always.
"Oh, shut up." Vito glanced at Tsuna – then made a curious double-take. He grinned, lips curling in a mocking line. "Or maybe you want in on the fun too, half-breed? Never took you for the bloodthirsty type before."
Half-breed.
Tsuna flinched at the insult, acutely aware that his eyes were too almond-shaped, that he was too small, and that his accent – despite years and years spent in different cells – remained strange and choppy and unpleasant.
Vito took note of his reaction, eyes glinting with amusement. A shark, detecting blood in the water.
The new boy stood silently on the side, wary and tense, but at least his collar had stopped beeping. That had to count as a win. Tsuna watched Vito from under the hair falling over his eyes. Cold sweat ran down his back in long rivers of horror. He sort of wanted to throw up.
"Stop already," he whispered, shifting from foot to foot. "Leave him alone. Amadeo and Jenoah are going to be angry if you make them come back so soon after they've just left."
That was the wrong thing to say.
Vito's face abruptly twisted, changing into something dark and ugly.
"So what?" he snapped. "You think I'm afraid of them? You think I care?"
He took a step forward, planted both hand on Tsuna's chest and shoved.
"Don't tell me what to do!"
Tsuna stumbled back.
Vito laughed.
Clamping down on the urge to cower, to turn tail and run and hide, was almost impossible, but Tsuna did it anyway.
Somehow.
And even though he couldn't burn outside of the searchers' supervision – the collar was coldcoldcold against his skin – that didn't necessarily make him helpless either. He took a deep breath, braced himself, and reached inside.
Down and down and down Tsuna went, plummeting to the center of himself like a rock falling into the depths of a pit-less well.
And then he felt it. A gentle caress against his senses. A greeting that seemed to say hello, and welcome, and it's been a while.
Warmth. Comfort. Protection.
Tsuna blindly reached for it –
– and the great beast of wild fire slumbering deep inside of him opened one lazy eye.
Tsuna looked up and stared straight at Vito.
The blond flinched.
"I told you," Tsuna said, an echo of Flames underlying his words, "to stop it."
Vito's lips pulled back over his teeth. He took a step back, face pale, his eyes two black holes standing out against a chalky white complexion.
There was a moment of absolute stillness.
And then,
"Fine," Vito bit out. "Whatever."
It was – it was a struggle to just stand by and let him leave.
A firestorm had started in Tsuna's veins, and it wanted out.
Show him true fire, it seemed to whisper in his ears as Vito stomped back toward the back of the cell. Show him Flames. Do it. You want to. Do it –
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The high-pitched signal brought Tsuna back to reality faster than a bucket of icy water thrown in his face.
He sat down heavily on the floor, squeezing his eyes shut, focusing on soothing the intense heat back to harmless embers before his collar would knock him out.
It took a full minute, longer than the last time he'd called on his Flames, and even longer than the time before that. It was becoming harder and harder to reel them in, as if each time Tsuna summoned his Flames they rose a little closer to the surface, grew a little stronger, rebelled a little harder.
The storm quieted down. Slowly. Reluctantly. It fell asleep.
Tsuna opened his eyes.
His sight was normal again, he noted with relief. The world had turned back into something that wasn't sharp and full of stark contrasts and blinding colors and –
The new boy was staring.
At him.
"Ah!" Tsuna let out a startled squeak and clambered away.
The boy's expression twisted, caught somewhere between incredulity and what the hell. There were red fingermarks already appearing around his neck, and his entire body was shaking. The confrontation with Vito had obviously taken its toll.
Tsuna paused mid-move. He kind of wanted to tell the boy to go to sleep and rest until he stopped looking so exhausted.
The kid glowered. Tsuna fidgeted.
The drawn-out silence was starting to feel really awkward.
"Are you alright?" Tsuna blurted out when he couldn't stand it anymore.
"None of your business," the boy shot back.
Then he swayed to the side, as if the floor had started rolling beneath him like giant waves. Tsuna reached him just before he collapsed and helped him to sit down.
"You don't look alright," Tsuna mumbled. "Maybe you should –"
"Let go." The boy found his bearings and jerked out of Tsuna's hands, a scowl on his face. "What do you want anyway?"
"N-nothing –"
"What? You think that now I owe you one because you told Big-And-Stupid to go away?"
"That's not it!"
But how could Tsuna explain that he'd involved himself because of a whisper in his mind? Because of a flash of orange pushing him forward?
"I don't need your help," the kid continued, spitting the words as if they were venomous. "I don't want it. I could have dealt with that jerk without you. I was fine."
"Oh, huh. Okay." Tsuna cringed away, cheeks burning. "Sorry."
The other boy stared at him with dark and accusatory eyes. Go away, the look in them was saying. Just go.
Tsuna glanced down and started picking at the frayed hems of his pants.
A strained minute of silence passed.
"So," the boy eventually gritted out. "Aren't you leaving?"
"Hm." Tsuna chose a thread of grey fabric and pulled. "No?"
Leaving meant crossing the whole cell to go back to his usual spot, an action which implied walking right by Vito. Tsuna didn't feel up to another confrontation just yet. He didn't want to have to summon his Flames back to the surface so soon after they'd already been awakened. He wasn't sure he could put the monster back to sleep a second time that day.
On the other hand, the deadly glower focused on the side if his head wasn't exactly reassuring either. It felt hot enough to blister.
Tsuna peeked up through his lashes and grimaced.
The boy was glaring at him, hard. The expression on his face clearly showed how much he was starting to reconsider Tsuna's intelligence.
"No?" he repeated. "I wasn't asking, you know." A shove. "Go. Away."
Tsuna started to get up, his heart thrumming loudly in his ears.
He hesitated.
"I told you to move." The boy pushed him again. "Leave me alone!"
"But." Tsuna blinked. "You're lying."
"What?"
"You don't really want me to leave. And – and you're afraid."
"I'm going to hurt you –"
"No." Tsuna sat down again. "I'm not leaving."
The kid gaped at him.
And before he could snarl another threat, before he could hit him again – Tsuna reached out and put a hand directly over the boy's chest.
He splayed his fingers wide, pressing his palm harder over the wild thump-thump of the boy's heartbeat, feeling the adrenaline and anger coursing there like poison, black and ugly and burning.
"What the hell are you doing?" The boy sputtered, disbelief painted all over his face.
He started to pull away, to reach up toward Tsuna's hand and –
Tsuna called.
There was a choked gasp in front of him, but he was no longer paying attention to the outside world.
Tsuna had never sought out someone else's Flames before.
It was like gathering his own. But not.
Warmth immediately rushed toward his palm, eager and lonely. It brushed against his skin, a shy whisper of a touch, a skittish animal timidly peeking out from the dark. It sang of fear and it hurts and please, and Tsuna thought that this right there was the reason why his own Flames had perked up with curiosity in the first place.
He smiled.
"See?" he said, looking up. "You don't really want to be alone."
The kid had gone as still as stone. His eyes were wide, his lips parted open, and he'd sort of stopped breathing.
That reaction … wasn't what Tsuna had been going for.
No problem, he thought, somewhat hysterical. He could improvise just fine.
Tsuna focused and summoned a single ribbon of his own fire, instinctively making it bright and gentle. It leaped up at his command and flowed from his core down to his arm before pooling into his hand. Tsuna felt the exact moment when his tiny spark touched the boy's Flames. They fluttered away, radiating suspicion and surprise, flickering with something that felt like sunlight.
Tsuna pushed harder still.
A thought and his Flames spread like a warm blanket, playful and curious instead of violent and destructive.
(It's okay. Don't fight. You're safe.)
And the yellow fire –
It melted.
Tsuna dropped his hand back onto his lap.
"I'm Tsuna," he said. "What's your name?"
A blink, slow and dazed.
The boy shivered.
"Nero... my name's Nero."
.
.
"Oi, Dumbass."
Tsuna absently glanced toward the door, only to feel as if he'd been electrocuted when he made eye-contact with Amadeo.
The guard was scowling at him from the doorway. Jenoah stood right behind him, waving cheerfully with both hands.
Tsuna gulped.
Going by the impatient glare Amadeo was aiming his way, he quickly deduced that he was the Dumbass being spoken to this time around. His stomach twisted, dread welling up in his throat like vomit.
Tsuna stood up. Took a wobbly step forward.
A hand clamped around his left wrist.
Nero came to stand close behind Tsuna, his face set in a scowl, eyes narrowed into slits of powerless anger.
The two of them had taken to sticking close together during the week that had followed Nero's arrival in this cell. They slept next to each other, ate side by side, and when Vito threw a nasty glance their way he was met with twin looks of stony indifference.
Tsuna kept Nero within arm-reach at all times, and the Flames in his chest wriggled with contentment. There was now someone to hold his hand when he woke up from a nightmare with a scream stuck in his throat. It became natural to soothe Nero's panic attacks after he'd come back from a round of particularly rough tests that left him with shaking limbs and bloodless lips.
Nero didn't talk a lot, didn't like to touch, and it wasn't exactly a bad thing. Tsuna also needed time to get used to the idea that he could lower his guard around someone else, that he wasn't going to get hurt, that it was safe. It reminded him of Before, just a little, like a bunch of fuzzy memories that teased him from afar.
Maybe, just maybe and with a lot of luck, the two of them could learn to be friends.
Nero wasn't going down without a fight, though.
It was as if the other boy's understanding of the world was going through an earth-shattering shift, as if he couldn't quite yet comprehend why people would willingly gravitate around each other without causing pain or fear or anger. He was suspicious and skittish half of the time he was with Tsuna, and the other half was spent looking like he'd been slapped with something wet and slimy.
But he stayed.
Always watching from the corners of his eyes. Never going too far. Constantly revolving around Tsuna like a loose satellite.
In a way, his edginess was funny. Sort of sad, too, but mostly funny.
And now he was clutching Tsuna's wrist like a vice and showing no sign of relinquishing his hold.
"Hurry the hell up!" Amadeo barked from the doorway.
"Oh, give him a second," Jenoah interrupted with a delighted grin. "Look – Tsuna-kun made a friend."
Tsuna tried to tug his arm free.
"Quit it," he whispered frantically.
No answer.
"Nero, let go."
Frustration and anger flashed in Nero's blue eyes. His jaw clenched, his nostrils flared, and –
He let go.
"Hurry back," he said, but all Tsuna heard was pleasepleaseplease.
His voice stuck in his throat, Tsuna could only give a wordless nod.
He shuffled over to the two guards. The door slammed shut behind him the moment he was out in the hallway. Amadeo lead the way through a maze of corridors and staircases at a brisk pace. He regularly shoved Tsuna forward, muttering under his breath about a goddamn schedule and fucking shorties. Jenoah brought up the rear of their little group, a peppy contrast to his moody partner that constantly chattered away without a care in the world.
A left. Then a right.
They walked in front of a dozen doors. Screams and shouts could be heard coming from behind some of them. Others were eerily silent. They kept going.
Another right turn, a flight of stairs leading down – and suddenly, abruptly, Tsuna knew where he was being taken.
His heart rate kicked up into a frantic pounding. Adrenaline flooded his system, hard and fast. He swallowed, missed a step, and almost tripped on thin air.
Amadeo stopped in front of a familiar door.
"Go in," he ordered, unlocking the security system.
The room inside was wide and empty except for a single chair that stood right in its center, solidly secured to the floor with big bolts. Padded restraints dangled from its metallic arms, their leathery surfaces glinting under the harsh glare of a neon-white light.
Tsuna didn't move. His feet stayed rooted to the floor.
"We're on a schedule here." Amadeo gave him a little push. "Move it."
The walk to the chair felt a little surreal, as if Tsuna was somehow disconnected from reality. His body went on autopilot, his hands and feet moving on their own accord in the right positions so that Amadeo could strap him down. Small electrodes were put on his temples, their white wires hanging down his face like two strands of hair.
Jenoah leaned down in front of Tsuna, pursing his lips a little. "All good?" he asked. "Are you okay? Comfortable? Nothing's bothering you?"
Tsuna nodded, mute.
Amadeo grunted from behind them. "Great. Let's get this circus going, then."
They exited the room and Tsuna was left behind.
Silence.
Cold.
Fear.
He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, staring at the one-way mirror that was reflecting his blank expression back at him. He knew people were already gathered behind it, ready to observe and take notes. There would be no help coming from them. No compassion or pity.
A flare of heat in his gut.
Another whispered warning.
(Here it comes.)
Tsuna looked away from the mirror just in time to see a kid stumbling into the room.
He recognized her instantly, the small girl that was behind him in the cell's pecking order, the one that was often too weak to stand on her own.
She looked, if possible, even worse that the last time Tsuna had seen her. Dull brown hair fell over her sunken eyes, and the sharpness of her cheekbones spoke of severe malnutrition, as if she hadn't eaten for days. Her clothes hung limply on her frame, wrinkled and disheveled and far too big for her size.
Tsuna took one look at the girl and knew exactly how it was going to end.
Like all the other times. Like all the other kids.
She stepped forward, swaying, her attention glued to Tsuna.
Another step, unsteady, as if every motion could be the last.
Tsuna watched her slow approach, hoping against hope that she would fall. That she would knock herself out before she could get any closer and this whole thing would be called off.
She didn't.
The girl made it all the way to Tsuna and then collapsed on her knees right in front of him. A desperate expression twisted her features, like urgency and longing all mixed together into ravenous hunger. He could see the thin veins that had popped in the white of her eyes. This, too, was a familiar sight.
"Please," she whimpered, reaching up with shaking hands. "Please…"
Tsuna wanted to beg back, to plead for mercy, to implore the people in white coats behind the mirror to spare him just this once.
Skinny fingers wrapped around his shoulders. They tightened.
And a hurricane of scarlet Flames exploded in the room.
A raging inferno swept into him, seeking and prodding. It was howling with need, its fire an invading storm that devoured everything it came upon. There was something broken in those Flames, something mad and selfish, and it made Tsuna recoil on an instinctive level.
He shrank away from the intruding fire, retreating deep inside.
The crimson Flames followed, spiraling down in his trail. It called out an angry challenge at being evaded, frustration and determination making it stronger, faster. It wanted, it needed, it ached, and it would keep on pushing forward to find that connection it craved so much.
"No!"
Tsuna's struggles intensified, and the monster in his chest stirred.
It lifted its head, eyes narrowing, and growled a low warning. Orange Flames pulsed once, twice, then flared from the ashes of a dormant volcano.
The red storm fought harder, dug deeper, seeking contact and dominance and acceptance.
Tsuna's Flames exploded.
They grabbed the crimson fire by the throat, its fangs ripping and tearing, washing over the trespasser over and over and over again. It grew and spread, becoming a roiling firestorm of outrage and refusal and leave.
You don't belong here, it seemed to say, like a deafening rumble loud enough to tear the sky apart. You don't belong here because you are not mine.
The girl cried out, half collapsing over Tsuna's lap. Her eyes glazed over as she kept channeling more and more of her Flames into her hands. There would be no reasoning with that kind of starving determination.
And it hurt.
It really hurt.
Tsuna couldn't hold back anymore.
A scream tore out of his throat, loud and clear. Tiny sparks of orange crackled along his arms and torso.
"Stop!"
A wall of fire crashed into the girl.
She went flying, her body snapping through the air like a speck of dust caught in a gust of wind. She slammed into the mirror, the force of the impact creating a web-like pattern of fissures and cracks. A trail of warm liquid was left on the glass as she slid down to the floor.
And even though anger coursed through his veins like acid, even though he hated them all − Tsuna frantically tried to pull back, to soothe the raging beast roaring in his ears, to hold it in.
It didn't work.
His fire poured into the room, a swirling sea of golden orange, fierce and furious and utterly destructive. It grew hotter, stronger, and still it kept coming as if there was no bottom to be found inside of him.
The electrode attached to his temples melted, disintegrating within one heartbeat and the next. The collar around his neck started to heat up, too. It let out a high-pitched whine, and then −
A beep.
A click.
A puncture.
A needle suddenly pierced Tsuna's skin right in the hollow of his throat. Ice was flushed in his system, freezing cold where he'd been burning like the sun seconds ago. It spread from his neck down to his shoulders, and all the way into his heart.
The fire around him sputtered out, as if robbed of oxygen. It was extinguished, snuffed like a candle, and then everything was silent again.
Tsuna slumped back against the chair, head lolling to the side, the muscles in his arms and torso spasming and twitching. Darkness grew around him, closing in fast and hard.
The girl's body lied in front of him. She was very still, too still, and it didn't look like she was breathing at all.
Tsuna whimpered.
The door opened. A tall and slender man entered, holding several sheets of paper, his white coat trailing after him.
He was not smiling.
Tsuna opened his mouth. To curse. To cry. To scream.
He lost the fight.
(Darkness.)
.
.
When he woke up, he was back in the cell.
His head was throbbing, everything in his body ached fiercely, and there was a gaping emptiness in his chest where his Flames used to dance.
Tsuna blinked.
He was lying on the floor with his head cushioned on someone's legs. It was not clear if the sharp bones and pointy joins were actually more comfortable than the floor or not, but the warmth seeping into his frozen frame from the body under him felt nice enough.
Tsuna looked up.
Nero's face was right above him.
The boy's eyes narrowed as soon as he saw that Tsuna was awake.
"Oh," he said. "You woke up."
His tone was mildly accusing, as if Tsuna was being difficult on purpose.
"For a moment there, it didn't look like you would, so I wasn't sure."
What?
Tsuna's eyes rounded with indignation. He was opening his mouth to retort but Nero seemed to decide they were done talking.
He slapped a hand over Tsuna's lips and said, "Shut up and go back to sleep."
Tsuna frowned, hesitated, then thought it was alright, because even though Nero's expression was carefully blank, Tsuna could still feel the boy's Flames brushing against his skin. They shifted around him like an over-enthusiastic puppy that was all relief and clumsy limbs and you're back.
That sort of welcome couldn't be hidden under an emotionless mask. Nero was relieved to see him again.
Tsuna snorted.
Nero sent him a murderous glare that dared him to say a single word.
Eyes widening innocently, Tsuna pressed his lips together.
The other boy scoffed. "Idiot."
Tsuna giggled and Nero pretended he couldn't hear him.
Neither of them moved for a long time.
.
.
So. This happened. I started this fic because I wanted to write fluff about Tsuna and his guardians. Turns out I am going to write dark stuff, too.
We're probably going to spend another couple of chapters with the Estraneo Family (so no more about twin!Na-chan or Nana for a while). The plan is to have Reborn enter the story by chapter 7, though Tsuna will meet one adorable jerk with mismatching eyes before that. We'll see how it goes.
Thanks for reading and see you next chapter,
Rei.