Chapter 3 – Three Ways, One Destination
„Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the on less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." ~Robert Frost
Tsuna had had enough of planes for a lifetime, he decided as he went with a yawn out of the airport. Spanner at his side, who moved the suitcases. For the most part, it were Sanner's things that housed in the suitcases. The man simply did not know what lightweight luggage meant.
It was still pretty fresh outside. Tsuna held a hand over his eyes as he looked up at the sky. At least it was good weather was here.
Spanner put down the suitcases and sat down on one of them. "And you're happy to be back home? In Japan, I mean."
At home. Tsuna smiled. Funny, earlier he had felt always out of place here and wanted to go back to Italy. Well, after all these years, Japan has become his home.
"Stand up," ordered Tsuna, "the cases don't bring themselves to the hotel."
Three days until the meeting
Sand, sand and sand again. More Adriana couldn't see as she looked through binoculars over the countryside. Somehow a pretty depressing sight, but nothing she hadn't seen before.
"How far is the salvage work," she asked a man standung next to her. A man named Brunner. He was one of Checkerface more trustworthy people.
"As good as done. We have located the secret chamber, but stone slabs are blocking the way, and slow the progress."
Not good. They are enough behind schedule as it is. No reason to give Checkerface something further to complain about.
"Well, let's go," she says, throwing Brunner the binoculars in his hand.
They went through a small town of tents, where work was on high mode. Everywhere people were running back and forth or stooped over their table and tried to make the ancient texts readable again and translated them.
Well hidden in the sand, in the midst of the tent city, led a flight of stairs into the underground. From the heat above, Adriana soon felt nothing anymore, the deeper they went down. Once at the bottom, a hallway opened in front of them that stretched seemingly for miles. They ended up in a large room. Richly decorated pillars supported the ceiling, which held back the almost endless amount of sand.
Where above, people worked atwith tables and paper work, below they were building a mini-tech laboratory at the same time. Remains of one impressive wall paintings were scanned and analyzed walls about cavities and secret passages.
Her path ended in front of several fallen stone tablets. Adriana knelt before them. Some showed beautiful scenes of people, hand in hand. Other natural disasters. But the last panel held Adriana's full attention. A world black as the night, with still darker shadows that buzzed around people like bees to honey. It was a disturbing image.
"What is it?" She heard Brunner murmur beside her.
Adriana rose and brushed the dust off her pants. "Centuries ago, these stones have been used to predict the future," was all she said.
"Out of the way!" Was her only warning before she pulled out her gun and bundled mist flames shot up the charts. The panels broke into small pieces and opened another passage that lead down. Ignoring the shock or surprise in the eyes of her colleagues, Adriana went on.
In contrast to the room before, this one was relatively small, but all the more dangerous. Over time, parts of the floor had broken off so that everywhere in the soil were cracks and partly deep chasms have emerged. An altar stood in the center. And hovering above it was, shrouded in rain flames, a blue pacifier. Their goal. But until now, the whole thing was way to easy.
Adriana ran a hand over a painting on the nearest wall. The blue pacifier was depicted therein, and incorporated by rain flames. But he was held by a person, who was stood in blue flames. Right. Only people that have a rain flame can touch the pacifier.
Just as she was to demand to bring a rain flame user, she heard a shrill scream from the altar. She quickly turned around. Her eyes widened. One of her men had tried to touch the pacifier of the rain. Now he held it in his hand, although the pacifier no longer shone, but the man was now set on fire.
He screamed. No one dared to come too close to him while the fire engulfed him like a living body. The man staggered back, until he finally stumbled across one of the cracks and fell upside down into the abyss. He let go of the pacifier, so that it flew through the air and also threatened to fall into the depths.
NO!
But the shock quickly gave way to a big surprising breeze.
Adriana's eyes widened. Someone hovered over the abyss, the pacifier in their hand. Slowly, the figure fell to the ground.
The stranger wore a long coat, a hood hiding his face. He played with the pacifier in his hand, looking at it from all sides.
The agents of Checkerface pointed their weapons at the stranger, despite the fact that he has saved their target just a few seconds ago. But the stranger did not seem to bother. Adriana, however, was far from being pleased with this surprise visit.
"Take the guns down! Weapons down!" She shouted at her men and went to at the stranger. "He's one of us!"
Slowly, the weapons were pulled down, even though many of their wielders were not too happy about it; the instruction they still followed. Reluctantly, they went back to work.
Adriana heard a giggle behind her. Now the guy also had the nerve to giggle.
"You think that's funny, Byakuran? " Adriana hissed at Byakuran, who dropped the hood from his head.
"Of course, dearest Adriana~ " Byakuran had that smile on his face again that made Adriana insane. Aggressively insane.
"Shut up," she hissed at him. "And give me that." She tore the pacifier out of the albino's hand.
But Byakuran laughed on. "Oh, someone's in a lousy mood today."
"Oddly, this is only so when I see you."
Ever since their first meeting, the blonde couldn't stand Byakuran. Normally she was a quiet woman, always concerned for the right moment to strike. Byakuran, however, she could not see through so simply. And though she has shown her dislike of him many times, he decided to run into her again and again. Once he had even almost run her over. An accident, Byakuran said. He probably just couldn't drive.
"I thought you were in Europe," she noted annoyed.
"I finished earlier. I wanted to see you."
"Why?"
Byakuran came closer to her. And all at once that clearly warmer, if somewhat crazy grin, was replaced by a smile that it made it clear to Adriana how powerful this man really was.
"You're different, you're new." She looked at him questioningly. "In all worlds to which I traveled so far, you were never there. You were never with these two." He went back a few steps. "I want to see what change you bring. How this play is about to end. And believe me, it will end one way or another."
Adriana clenched her hands. "So this is just a game to you?"
"What else could it be?~" He was his pesky self again.
"The cruel reality," she grounded out between clenched teeth.
Adriana then shook her head briefly and called to one of the men on the right of her. Brunner came running to her.
"I'm now going to the meeting," Adriana announced. "See to it that everything is completed as planned."
Brunner nodded and went to work.
Adriana turned to Byakuran. "I suppose you want to come with me?"
The albino grinned like the cat from Alice in Wonderland.
Two days until the meeting.
"My jacket."
A black jacket was handed to him.
"My hat."
Immediately came a likewise black hat, with an orange stripe on it.
"My weapon."
Hesitation.
"My weapon! Immediately!"
The young nurse winced noticeably, holding her hands protectively over her face. She shivered slightly.
Just as she felt the man coming towards her, she was fortunately rescued.
"Enough, Reborn."
Reborn looked over to the door. He nodded at the older man, albeit with fierce look. "Nono."
Timoteo looked at the nurse and told her to go. She didn't need to heaar it twice.
Finally alone, Reborn irgnored Nono, in favor of his jacket. "My weapon." But the older man simply walked past him and sat on the bed. This is a hospital Reborn. You should be more sociable." He sighed. "It's been a long time since we were able to talk and you not having to threat me with a gun."
"It could have been a shorter time, hadn't you decided it's time to kidnap Tsuna."
"It was the quickest way. Vongola need an heir. You know that, Reborn . If we fall, in the underworld, a bloody war for supremacy will inflame."
"This doesn't justify that you wanted to kidnap my brother," growled Reborn.
Nono raised his head and looked Reborn in the eyes and continued talking as if Reborn had said nothing. "I have a guess where Tsunayoshi is now. I want you to find him and safely return here."
"Forget it!," cursed Reborn. "If you care about finding an heir ... "
"At that time, yes," interrupted Timoteo. "But now it's about much more than just an heir. I fear something much worse than the last events is about to happen. With your mentor in the middle."
"Adriana?"
Timoteo nodded and spoke with grave eyes. "Does the name Checkerface mean something to you?"
Reborn pulled his hat lower. The temperature seemed to drop. "Oh yes, quite a lot. Let's just say, he and I have some unfinished business."
One days until the meeting.
"Are you sure?" Tsuna heard his own voice. It was loud and clear. He himself, however, seemed to be far away.
"I'm sorry, but the coma patient is still unconscious. His condition remains unchanged."
Tsuna felt a lump in his throat and a pain in the head. It started hours ago. Something told him that very soon something big will happen. That combined with the date of the meeting already in range didn't help. To exclude one or the other nasty surprise or even avoid it, he wanted to call the hospital. But even now Tsuna's bad feeling was still there.
And now here he was, on the balcony of their room and discussed Reborn's status with the nurse.
"Are you sure that you are a family member?," asked the woman on the other end of the line for the umpteenth time. Tsuna groaned inwardly. No matter how many times he told her that Reborn is his brother, she asked the same question in five-minute intervals.
"Yes," Tsuna replied annoyed. "And thank you for your time." Then he hung up and looked for a while at the phone. Finally, he sighed at the lack of information and put the phone away .
"Well, it's not long now," muttered Tsuna , more to himself , but Spanner heard his little soliloquy anyway.
"And what will you do if you find Adriana and face her?," asked Spanner. Tsuna still turned his back to him and did not seem to make the slightest institutions to respond to him. "This is not a game, Tsuna."
"I know!," shouted Tsuna, who quickly turned and thereby almost broke a vase. He stared his travel companion for a few seconds in the eye. Then he turned back to the balcony. His hands clamped so tightly around the golden railing that they trembled and his knuckles were white. "I know," he whispered, barely audible.
However Spanner seemed unaffected by Tsuna's sudden outburst. "And what will you do?"
Tsuna breathed deeply in and out several times before he felt ready to respond normally. "You're right. This is not a game nor are we in any of those movies, with their perfect and happy endings. Let's just say: Fate will already know what it wants."
Spanner huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You're making it pretty easy for yourself."
"No, on the contrary," Tsuna replied immediately. He let his eyes wander again over the rooftops of the city. "It's even more difficult."
Six hours until the meeting.
On a short note, I edited the other chapter a little, but no changes to the general storyline. Thanks for all your reviews, fav's and follow's. I really appreciate them.
Preview: The Meeting begins and Tsuna learns a cruel lesson.