Tsuna froze. The name of his parents and the gun in front of him made anger flow through his veins. How dare he, Reborn , point a gun at him? How dare they, everyone, try to compare him to someone he doesn't even know? How dare they question he-
"Well boy, are you going answer me?" the baby pressed the gun's muzzle against his forehead and something in him snapped. The small thing that kept his temper restrained snapped and shattered. He had enough of these people.
If the Tsuna from a day ago could only hit him at this point, they would probably throw him far far away but enough is enough. The same glances he used to receive from his siblings. The same sad mourning looks he would receive. The same whisper of Soras in the hallways whenever they would think he hasn't slept.
Enough is enough.
Even if the voice in his head is screaming at him to stop what he is about to do. Banging against the inside of his head to warn him not to do it. But Tsuna never listened to that voice, Sora's voice , so why should he start doing it now?
And so he did the very thing the voice warned him not to and took matters into his own hands. Fingers holding the gun by the barrel and stared at the baby's eyes. Black abyss like orbs stared back at him and for a moment, he regretted doing what he did.
He confronted a beast that looks like he's about to shoot him and finish him off. The baby arched an eyebrow at his courage. He can't back off now. If he does he will regret it for the rest of his life.
"Who are you to question me?" he asks, his mouth suddenly dry and he took small measured breaths. "I am a student of this Academy," well he really doesn't wish to be one but he'll pull all possible guns against this… baby. Against Reborn . "How dare one of their teachers to endanger one of their student's life?"
He could already see his funeral. His brothers grieving as the same flowers he saw on the stained window of the woman, Sora , were tossed on top of his closed casket. It was odd that he could imagine the headmistress and Reborn there too in all black. Yuni and Byakuran are there, holding each other's hands while Yuni cries herself sick.
It was odd. That he envisioned that scene particularly. The tight feeling in his chest appeared again and the overwhelming urge to cry almost made him drop his guard against the agitated baby in front of him.
She watched the funeral from the side, her figure ghostly and translucent, and tears streams down from her eyes at the sight of her family grieving.
"How gutsy," the baby sneered and to Tsuna's shock, he watched as the gun glowed before transforming into a lizard, a chameleon, on the baby's fingers. "If it weren't for the contract, I would have already shot you," he growled and Tsuna thought it was funnier than threatening because a baby's voice just ruins the whole thing.
"I'm keeping my eye on you," he warned Tsuna, eyes glinting darkly underneath his fedora. "Even if the others told me not to, you are dangerous Sawada Tsunayoshi," Tsuna couldn't help but clench his hands, fingernails digging in his palms.
The Academy is bad for his heart. The countless emotions this place brought him. Sadness, grief, sorrow, and finally anger. A sharp searing anger that is so unlike him her . Anger so strong that Tsuna didn't notice how the baby slightly raised his hand at the sight of glowing orange eyes.
Tsuna knows that he's dangerous by association. He attracts Ruins like how the cries of a child attract their parents. His parents were proof of that, the people who were on the same tour as him were proof of that, the accident in the plaza that got him into this mess is proof of that. He does not need to be reminded that there are deaths caused by him.
He has blood on his hands. Not his. Not even caused by him. But it does not change that their deaths were caused by him. Tsunayoshi Sawada, a murderer a survivor.
"I will not let you, a mere human," the baby spat out, venom lacing his tone and disgust in his eyes. "Ruin what Sora has died for."
Sora. It's Sora again. Tsuna's life is always revolving around Sora. The name his brother whispers in the dead of the night. The name he is called accidentally by the headmistress and Yuni. So-chan, Sora, Sora, So-chan, Tsuna.
"Considered yourself warned Sawada Tsunayoshi," he stared when the baby jumped back to the edge of the opened window. "I will not hesitate to end you," he knows. He knows that the most. The memory of just moments ago is still fresh in his mind. He could still feel the coldness of the metal of the gun against his forehead. The same fear still coursing through his veins. The only difference was that there is also anger.
A wave of anger that no amount of love that he she held for the child in front of him can change.
"If you prove yourself as a danger that not even Luce can defend for," the baby said before finally leaving Tsuna alone in his room. The windows closed magically by a gust of wind and Tsuna sat there on the floor.
On the floor, trembling in an emotion that he does not know whether or not it is fear or anger. His heart beating loudly in his chest and he slowly crawled backward nearer to the bed. Far far away from the window. When his back has hit the hard frame, he blindly reached for the top of the mattress and weakly pulled himself up. Still staring at the window, he waited for something else to appear.
A part of him still waiting for the baby to appear. To finish him off but after staring at the window for a long time, he finally laid down. His heart palpitating and his palms sweaty. The screams in his head dying down but the slow simmer of anger was still there.
He raised his hands to the sky, watching his tremors carefully and the realization hit him. He wasn't trembling because he was scared. He's trembling out of anger. Anger at the baby at Reborn. At the man who dares put a gun at his her face.
Who does he think he is? To point a gun at him, the person who doesn't even want to stay in the Academy. At her, the only child of the one who commands the fallen.
Tsuna clutched his throat, his voice gone as he screamed in silence. Just like how he always did. He couldn't make a sound. If he makes a sound, the Ruins will come to get him. Get him and take him away from his family, his brothers. Get him and take him to that man.
That man with the sorrowful eyes. Papa. The same man who touched his face with too cold hands and cried out that same fucking name.
"Sora, my child, I'm here."
Sora. Sky. Sky Flames.
Tsuna wonders who she is to tie a lot of people together. His brothers, the headmistress, Reborn, and the two Skies who accompanied him. Who Sora is and what she has done to be loved as she is now. To be held in the thoughts of so many even after for so many years. To have the Academy be build after her.
Despite having so many achievements, Sora is nowhere to be seen. No matter where he searched for her, in their library back at home, the internet, he couldn't see a glimpse of her name. Not even a mention, a memoir. Not even in the ancient books hidden in the rooms, his brothers thought he didn't know exists.
Sora just doesn't seem to exist except in the hearts of those that know her. A fragment of a memory and nothing else but that. But Tsuna couldn't understand why. What do they see in him to be reminded of her? He is nothing but an ordinary human who can even barely protect himself and others. But they keep on seeing this beautiful and powerful lady in him and hates him for it.
It's not his fault. It's not his fault but why does the world think it's his fault. Sora who is loved eternally and Tsuna who is hated for a crime he didn't commit.
He finds it quite funny, his body curled around himself and he could feel tears falling down from his eyes. To think he'll be in the same position he is as he was back then. Years ago after his parents died, in the hospital room. Alone and cold. Screaming without making a sound. Begging for someone to listen to his pain.
'Good night,' he thought to no one, the sun rays' falling down on him as he drifted to sleep. Exhaustion making his eyelids flutter down, his bed wet from his tears and the darkness carried him off to bed.
The being from before covered Tsuna in his blanket, a hand carefully tracing his cheeks and brushing away his tears. Ignoring the growling lion in front of them, at the other side of the bed, they hummed the same song Tsuna would recognize if he was awake. It was the same song he heard during his episode in the hallway.
"Why are you here?" The lion growled, now curled around the small fragile boy. Bright feral orange eyes staring at them with hate and distrust that they couldn't help but laugh. Laugh at the guts of this child in front of them. The child who dares questions and growls at a god who can easily kill them with a wave of a hand.
'Cub of that man
The sky who barely has a plan
You are nothing but a child in my eyes
And yet you dare proudly rise'
They say in rhymes. A curse in exchange for their power. They are not as tightly held by the chains of their duties like their siblings. They are to free to roam the lands, unseen and unnoticed unless one is gifted with their blessings and the sight.
The lion, and his yellow fur and orange mane, recoiled. Bowing down as he rightfully should. The metal plate on his head touching the bed of his brother while a paw carefully laid itself right in front of the sleeping child. Covering Tsuna with his own body, like those moments whom the past that reminded Mare that these two will always stay close.
Even after years of separation. Even after death and reincarnation.
'Tell me child of past
On why is it that beside him you last?
This child who barely reminds you or I
The fallen everlasting Sky'
They wonder why truthfully. They do not understand the pain of a loved one's death. Their children, whose corporeal forms are nothing but a fragment of their powers, will never experience death, the same way their sister's daughters will not die.
They do not understand it. That brother of their's actions. His rage and hate for humanity and spirits alike turning all those under him into unrecognizable monsters that no one, not even their mother and father dare touch. Lest their holy bodies will be tainted by the darkness their brother has cursed the monsters with.
"A god like you will never understand," the lion snapped, his voice awfully familiar to Tsuna if he was awake. "The sorrows of your people is nothing but childish things in your eyes."
If they were a lesser god, like their brother or sister, they would have smite them on the spot. Rules are damned. But they are Mare. Mare of the Present who remains unmoved by what they see and the sins of humanity.
"You think what we have done is a joke and nothing but a pass time," the lion spoke, eyes glowing with Sky Flames. Just like his sister before him when they confronted her about her choice of remaining by the humans. Just like Sora.
"But do not underestimate humans Mare," they arched a brow at the guts of the Lion in front of them to call them by their real name. "They are tenacious little creatures who survived years without the Gods' blessings."
'And who do you think you are?
To defend such disgusting beings that far
The very beings that killed your sister, my niece
Who by their crimes ceased!'
They shouted angrily, orange flames sprouting from their feet. Their purple eyes turning gold once more and the Lion hunched up, preparing to strike. They are a God. A God is not supposed to feel. But at the sight of the child cradled in the embrace of the Lion, tears were brought out of their eyes.
Gone is the child who would call them by their name without hesitation. Gone by the hands of the kind that this foolish lion tries to protect from what can be concerned his brothers and sisters. Monsters made out of the flames of the person that brought life into his soul.
'Gone is your sister
Her legacy and her name turned into mere whispers
By the very beings that took her away from us
And you still make a fuss?'
The lion stares at them. No fear in his eyes can be seen and in his shadow, they can see her. Sora. Sora who told everyone in their council that she will save the humans and the spirits if it's the last thing she does. And it did become the last thing she did.