Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Katekyo Hitman Reborn and I don't earn any money with this story.

Author's note: So... I disappeared for a while. First it was writer's block, then I actually finished the first draft of this story. Hopefully that means updates will happen more often now that I 'only' have to revise what I've written. My goal is to finish this sometime next year. Let's see if I'll manage, right? :D

Rating: M

Warning: Some violence, though nothing too graphic, I think?

Beta'd by the lovely NonchalantxFish, as usual! :)

"Get out of my head!" Harry shouted at Mukuro as he kicked at the monster's head. It had recuperated from the Flame attack and was giving attacking another try. He wished he had his hands free. Actually Harry wished that that damn Mist bastard would get out of his head, so he could try to get control over his own damn mind.

"What is this?" Mukuro wondered, completely ignoring Harry and instead sounding more put out that he wasn't the biggest bad around anymore. He jumped back and skewered one of the monsters with his trident, but as soon as it stopped moving, another one took its place and charged the Mist. Mukuro didn't quite manage to evade completely and hissed when sharp claws got him in the side.

"This is you damned Estraneo's fault!" Harry shouted bitterly from where he rolled out of the way of another clawed swipe. If Mukuro had one of the Estraneo's cursed weapons, then chances were high that he was one of the remaining members of the almost annihilated Famiglia. Right?

"Don't lump me in with them!" It was the first time Mukuro sounded angry, but Harry was too busy to revel in his accomplishment. Fighting for his life (or sanity, in this case) took precedence.

He had to get out of these damn metal bands! Taking a deep breath, he once again tried to push them away from his body. They tried to tighten again, but contrary to the first time he'd tried, Harry didn't give up. His determination grew even fiercer until the bonds, like his Sky Flames, finally bent to his will and cracked open. Harry uttered a relieved sigh, but it was short-lived. They were coming at him again, this time in a pincer formation.

He contemplated evading for a split second, but in the end decided on trusting in his Flames, imagined as they may be. He burned the monsters to a crisp. Like cutting off the head of a hydra, six more creatures shimmered into existence after Harry had burned the monsters to a crisp. This was getting worse by the minute and even more precarious than during his drug-induced nightmares. Back then, there'd only been a steady number of opponents. This multiplying trick was a novelty he could've lived without. He needed an alternative to fighting, before he was turned into minced meat.

A rocky desert was the backdrop of their little skirmish. Mist creeping ever closer from all sides added not only to the creepy atmosphere, but also Harry's annoyance. Where had the choice of location even come from? He squinted and finally made out a big, dark shape in the distance, hopefully a building. Everything was better than staying here, either way.

Suddenly, Harry felt a presence at his back, but before he'd completely turned around to defend himself, a body slumped to the ground and disintegrated.

"You should pay more attention." Mukuro had regained his smug grin. Too bad. Harry idly noticed that the Kanji in his eye had changed to the number four and was surrounded by Mist Flames. "As we can't seem to beat these things and leaving your body is out of the question, I propose a cease fire for now."

Harry squinted at him suspiciously, then killed one of the monsters about to slash Mukuro's throat. Chances were high the other teen would stab him in the back as soon as an opportunity presented itself, but having another set of eyes while they traversed through the fog could be useful.

"Fine…" Harry reluctantly nodded towards the dark shape, which slowly disappeared in the thickening mist. "We have to get over there, preferably in one piece."

And wasn't that the crux of the matter?

Their way was probably riddled with more monsters, which they wouldn't be able to see until it was almost too late. On the other hand, the creatures at their back had stopped attacking them. That would've been a relief, if it wasn't for their new plan of actions - fusing together to something bigger and no doubt even more dangerous.

Harry started to run, Mukuro dogging his steps. He skirted around the moving shapes as best as possible, only engaging in a fight when unavoidable. The mist clung to his skin like icy acid, freezing cold and excruciating. When Harry quickly eyed his hands, however, there was no change. It was all in his head. Everything was in his head, but that didn't change much. If he died here, he'd still be dead. His body would follow.

A terrifying roar announced the completion of the monster's new form. The ground vibrated under heavy footsteps. Harry picked up the pace. Their goal looked no closer, but turning around wasn't an option, if they wanted to survive. Mukuro cursed to his left and Harry followed his gaze to the giant multi-limbed shadow closing in on them. It was mostly instinct to grab Mukuro's arm and tug him out of the range of the claws longer than Harry's whole arm. The other teen stumbled, but quickly regained his balance and shortly after returned the favour by pushing Harry out of the way of another attack.

After what felt like ages, they finally reached their goal. Harry could barely believe it was Rose Cottage - the current base of his mind place and his best chance at getting out of this if only he could reach it.

Harry had almost reached the door, when a large hand wrapped around him. The grip was tight enough that he felt his ribs groan in protest. He struggled, trying to escape, but the monster wasn't even put off by the still active Sky Flames against it's skin.

The creature raised him higher, right to it's fang-filled mouth. Harry had to get out of this, or he was becoming monster chow. A fate he wasn't at all happy with. A quick look down revealed that Mukuro had disappeared. The door to Rose Cottage was open so it wasn't a big secret where the Mist had disappeared to.

Harry cursed him even as he closed his eyes, taking advantage of the still opened door. If he concentrated really hard, he could feel the connection again, the connection to everything beyond this nightmare.

As he'd hoped, several objects zipped out of the house and started to quickly orbit around the giant monster. Each was glowing in another colour of the rainbow and represented an important memory with his Guardians. The creature had ceased trying to eat him and was now swatting at the paraphernalia - Basil's dolphin keychain, a little picture of the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower, Spanner's robot plushy and a plain, white cushion that meant so much more than it looked like. Harry winced at it's outraged screeches, but didn't want to draw it's attention back towards him. The objects closed in, by now moving quickly enough to form a circle of colour. It finally squeezed one set of the monster's arms against it's body, and sank beneath it's flesh. For a long moment nothing happened, but then, with one last screech, it started to disintegrate.

Harry dropped to the ground, shaken but glad and he didn't waste any more time in running into the Rose Cottage.

"Oya, looks like you survived," Mukuro said from where he was perusing some shelves. He sounded vaguely disappointed. He had probably hoped to get rid of Harry the easy way, now that he'd found shelter.

"No thanks to you. Did you think you'd get free reign of my body if I disappeared? Estraneo or no, you're a right bastard!" Harry glared at Mukuro, who was just as riddled with deep, bloody gashes as he was, and threw a bottle at him. Unfortunately, Mukuro nimbly stepped out of the way.

"Didn't I tell you to not lump me together with them?" Mukuro said, his voice significantly colder. But then he laid one hand on his weird, creepy eye and chuckled darkly. "I guess you're not completely wrong. I was born into the Estraneo Famiglia. By then they'd already been in disgrace and hunted by the rest of the mafia."

Something niggled at the back of Harry's mind. Part of the Estraneo's but seemingly a deep-seated hatred for them, the eye, the age...

"You're one of the kids they experimented on, aren't you?"

Harry had done some research after the attack on his family by the few remaining members of the Estraneo. The Famiglia had first been destroyed by one of their human experiments - a little, terrifying kid. Harry didn't know their name, but he wouldn't be surprised if it were Mukuro Rokudo.

"Oya oya, you're better informed than expected."

"I just wish you'd done a better job killing all of them."

Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't planned on saying that out loud. It was a dark thought that he had never quite managed to silence. After his grandpa's death and the traumatic experience that had unlocked Spanner's Flames, he'd always wished the one who had eradicated the Estraneo had gotten all of them.

Mukuro was staring at him in silence, his face surprisingly blank. The Mist Flames had disappeared at the same time Harry had left Hyper-Dying-Will-mode and changed back to the kanji for six, which seemed to be its default setting.

"You had a grudge against the Estraneo for experimenting on you, so you killed them, right? I can understand that, I can , but-" Harry grabbed the other teen's shirt and pulled him roughly closer.

He didn't quite know what kinds of experiments had been conducted, but they must've been gruesome. He really didn't fault the other teen for taking revenge or fighting for freedom. But attacking Harry and subjecting him to all of this once again was a whole different matter. His anger wasn't about Mukuro's wish to apparently destroy the mafia. No, this was a lot more personal.

"But you're just like them. Did you think it poetic justice using one of their disgusting toys to try to take down the mafia? Newsflash, they tried to destroy me with this stuff once and it didn't work and you won't succeed either!"

Now in his domain, mostly cut off from the influence of that damn bullet, it was easy to activate his mental defense. Ropes wrapped around the other teen, just as tight as the metal bands had been. Harry watched Mukuro struggle against his confines with an air of satisfaction that bordered on smugness.

Then he went to the open cupboard on the other side of the room, studying the unlocked box inside. It was the place he stored his darkest memories, some of which had been set free by Mukuro's intrusion. It was time to put them back. He dragged the box to the front door and closed his eyes with a deep breath, trying to fill his mind with his happiest memories like he was conjuring a Patronus.

His eyes snapped open again, as he forced any unwelcome presence back into the darkest pit of his subconsciousness. They tried to resist, screeching and howling, but after a long moment of tug-of-war, the first bodies turned into smoke and were sucked in. More and more creatures followed until finally the mist disappeared as well.

After Harry closed the box, thick iron chains wrapped around it, getting rid of any remaining dark feelings. Harry's gaze drifted back to where Mukuro used to lie on the floor and gaped at the empty spot. Mukuro must have escaped when Harry was too busy to notice, but how ? He'd been incapacitated!

Harry had to get back to the outside world as quickly as possible. Who knew what Mukuro was up to now that he was probably back in his own body again?

When Harry's eyes snapped open, there was only darkness. He felt the weightlessness of water surrounding his body, but also thick chains robbing him of mobility. He took in a panicked breath, half-expecting for water to fill his lungs, but instead there was only oxygen.

Was he still imprisoned in his mind? Had he not won against the nightmare, after all? For a long time the only thing Harry heard was the quick drum of his heartbeat. Then a light flickered on overhead, blinding, but still welcome. He blinked the black spots from his eyes and could finally make out more details. He was submerged in a water tank of sorts, which stood in the center of a plain, grey room.

The one who'd flicked on the light resembled a mummy, each inch of skin was covered by bandages. Harry's heartbeat picked up speed. If the bandages weren't a dead giveaway that this was a member of the Vindice, then the black coat and top hat did the trick. Harry had seen pictures of them and they were unmistakable.

Was he in Vindice prison? What had happened? Had Mukuro done anything while possessing his body? Where the hell were his Guardians?

Harry started to struggle, but similar to his nightmare, he barely managed to move. The countless iron chains held him firmly in place. The Vindice had stopped in front of him and even though Harry didn't see their eyes, he felt stared at. Harry wanted to bang against the glass, to demand to be set free, but he could only helplessly return their gaze. A moment later they fiddled with something outside of Harry's field of view. He heard a clicking sound, followed by soft whirring, before he felt himself move through the water. Hope blossomed in his chest.

At the first hint of cold air, Harry's skin broke out in goosebumps. He could only feel relief. The Vindice member climbed the stairs wrapped around part of the tank to the top, where Harry was still suspended by the chains. His whole body hurt, made worse by the weight now dragging his limbs down. As soon as he was freed of each and every chain, he slumped to the ground. The last things to disappear from his body were the IV from his hand and the oxygen mask. Harry coughed as the stale air of the room hit his lungs intermingled with the stink of rotting flesh.

"Wha-" His throat felt like someone had put a grater to it and Harry idly wondered how long he'd been in captivity. He wanted to ask all the questions swimming through his head and shake the answers out of the creepy creature in front of him, but his body barely listened to him.

"Dry clothes are next to the door. Dress, then someone will bring you to your Guardians, Vongola Decimo. " The Vindice guard descended from the tank and disappeared from the room, completely ignoring Harry's attempt at questioning them.

The Sky started at the closed door for a long moment, cursing the Vindice out in his head, before he started his journey towards the dry clothes. He dragged himself down a step, then had to take a few minutes to catch his breath. Why the hell was this so difficult? Why did he feel so weak? Had they been drugging him or- A cold shiver ran down Harry's spine as he wondered about how much time he'd spent in that tank. Had it been months or even years? Had his body grown so weak in that time that it barely supported him now? Harry quickly checked his arms and legs, even traced his face with his fingers. Everything seemed normal, but…

Only one way to find out and that meant getting out of this room.

It took ages until he finally reached his destination. No matter what he'd done to end up here, this was no way to treat prisoners. A bit of assistance should've been the bare minimum. At least there were no dementors.

Just as he'd slipped on the plain, grey cotton trousers (everything was drab here, apparently) and downed a bottle of water that had also been left behind for him, the door opened again. Harry expected a similar mummy like the one who had pulled him out of the tank and he wasn't completely wrong. Every inch of the new person's skin was covered in bandages. There were a few startling differences however. This Vindice was not only clad in fancier clothing, they were also baby-sized and-

"You're a... former Arcobaleno?" Harry breathed out, wide-eyed and staring at the clear pacifier around the Vindice's neck. The notebook Hermione had found had never described the state of the pacifier after the ritual had taken place. Maybe it had been clear, too? But how was this person still alive ? "I thought nobody survived the separation."