I have no excuses for the time it took to get this uploaded. I've had it written for forever- it just took forever to type out. I am truely sorry. The next one or two updates should come quickly, I hope. No promises after that.
Thanks to everyone who's supported me thus far. I hope to be more consistent in the future.
I also want to apologize for all OC behavior and discrepancies with the actual happenings in the anime.
It took Alex almost two weeks to wrangle an invitation home from Sawada. He didn't think it was because the other boy didn't like or trust him. On the contrary, Sawada was very friendly to him, and to Cammie once they met. Instead it just didn't seem to be something he thought about, inviting friends home. His closest friends, Yamamoto and Gokudera, didn't seem to worry about little formalities like being invited. Finally, after two weeks of scheming, Alex decided he would have to do the same. He waited for the opportune time, and, on a day when Sawada arrived at school particularly distracted, he decided it was time to strike.
It surprisingly didn't take much. He simply showed the other boy their most recent maths tests, with equally abysmal scores (though Alex's was intentional) and suggested that to avoid the same thing happening in the future they should study together. Sawada nodded, though Alex was fairly sure he was so distracted he didn't even realize what he was agreeing to. While Alex was grateful for this he couldn't help but frown. Such distraction was dangerous. If Sawada was truly being groomed to be the tenth Vongola Boss then he had a very long way to go. Alex couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.
Their walk home, or rather, the walk to Sawada's house, after school was pleasant. The sun was bright, and both Gokudera and Yamamoto had things to do, so it was peaceful, quiet. Sawada wasn't the most brilliant conversationalist Alex had ever met, but he was happy and funny, though his preoccupation did limit the conversation a little.
They had just reached a neat, two story house with several clothes lines strung across the yard, when a high pitched wailing split the air. It was definitely emanating from Sawada's home and it sounded like the voice of a little boy. Funny, Mr. Walker had said Sawada was an only child. So who did the voice belong to? Perhaps Mrs. Sawada ran a daycare of some sort. Alex thought he could hear another voice, just as youthful, shrieking what sounded like "Lambo" when something , a big, purple, something, came flying from a first floor window- headed straight for them. There wasn't even time to duck before the thing hit them and the world exploded.
The first thing he became aware of was colour. He was spinning through a pulsing, kaleidoscopic whirl. He couldn't tell is Sawada was still with him or if he was alone. He couldn't tell anything much at all. It was simply spinning, twisting colour, making him almost nauseous as he watched. He closed his eyes. And then everything stopped. The sound of birdsong reached his ears, a warm breeze wafted across his face, bringing the scent of lilies to his sensitive nose. There hadn't been any birds singing a second ago. Lilies weren't native to Namimori, and there hadn't been any planted at Sawada's place. Not that he'd noticed, anyway. Alex opened his eyes.
He was sitting in a clearing, surrounded on all sides by a beautiful forest. Beside him was a sleek, ebony coffin with a gold crest adorning the shining surface. And there was a thumping coming from inside. Later, Alex would wonder where he had misplaced his common sense. It didn't take a genius to know not to open a coffin in the middle of the woods, especially when there was obviously something alive trapped inside. But that was exactly what he did.
"Adam-san?" Alex backed up in surprise when he saw the equally confused Sawada lying in the coffin. "What happened?"
"I was about to ask you the same question." Alex was not happy, and didn't bother trying to hide it. "That thing, whatever it was, came from your house."
Sawada nodded, an understanding light dawning in his eyes. He muttered under his breath, words Alex was sure he wasn't supposed to hear. It sounded like something about "ten year bazooka" and that word, "lambo," again. Whatever it was, he didn't understand any of it.
"Sawada," he snapped, his patience drawing thin. "What happened?"
The other boy blinked, staring up at him, He'd sat up, but otherwise made no move to climb out of his coffin. He opened his mouth, presumably to answer, but before he could a rustling came from the forest behind Alex. The boy dropped into a defensive crouch while Sawada rose to his feet, pulling on a pair of mittens of all things.
A few seconds later a tall man with shoulder length white hair was revealed. Despite the colour of his hair the man seemed quite young- in his early or mid twenties probably. He reminded Alex much of Gokudera in that respect. In fact, much about the man was reminiscent of the temperamental mafioso, particularly when the first word out of his mouth was a stuttered "Ju-Juudaime."
The man stumbled forward, falling to his knees beside the coffin. Sawada scrambled away from him, almost falling into Alex before he got a good look at the man and asked, "Gokudera-kun?"
His voice was hesitant, but the man nodded eagerly. Alex raised an eyebrow at that. Was this man Gokudera Sr., the father of the Gokudera he knew? Or an older brother maybe, as he seemed too young to be the parent of a fourteen year old.
"Gokudera-kun?" Sawada asked again, "Why am I in a coffin? And why is Adam-san here?"
Tears entered Gokudera Sr.'s eyes. "Oh, Juudaime, it's all my fault. You were shot. You were shot and killed. Alex was watching over you for the time being, even though it should be my burden to bear alone."
"Alex?" Alex asked, just as Sawada asked, "I was shot?"
The story that Gokudera told after that was so outrageous Alex almost expected it to be true. But how on Earth did he expect the murder of a regular boy like the one in Gokudera Sr.'s picture (Alex had seen him a couple times, walking the streets of Namimori and he could guarantee the kid was perfectly ordinary) to stop Sawada from getting shot? And what was that supposed to mean, anyway? Sawada was fine. It was like Alex had been dropped into an episode of that television show, Twilight Zone, one where Sawada had mysteriously been assassinated, but not, and Hayato Gokudera's much too young father knew him by his real name.
Gokudera Sr. was about to explain more, but he was interrupted by a strange popping sound and a flash of purple smoke. When the air cleared Gokudera Sr. was gone and in his place was the younger version Alex had grown to know over the past few weeks. The boy looked around, blinking ins surprise. As he caught sight of Sawada he threw himself forward, arms wrapping around the smaller boy as he stretched uncomfortably over the empty coffin. "Ju-Juudaime!" Again Alex was struck by the similarities between Hayato Gokudera and Gokudera Sr. It was uncanny.
"Where were you, Juudaime? We were looking for you!"
"What? What do you mean, Gokudera-kun?"
And he was off, explaining in great detail all the things that had happened in the supposed two hours that had passed since he and Sawada had disappeared. He was surprised to hear about how "Walker Emma" had interrogated Gokudera and Yamamoto on the whereabouts of her "baby brother." Alex knew he was forgotten when Gokudera went on to explain their search for Reborn and Juudaime. Alex filed that knowledge away. Reborn was definitely in Namimori, or at least he had been, and Sawada definitely knew him.
When Gokudera finally finished Alex took it as his cue to finally get some answers. "Sawada," his voice was full of forced patience. "Now that you've had a chance to catch up with your friends can you please explain to me what is going on?"
The other two boys looked up in surprise. They'd forgotten, not only that Alex was there, but that he wasn't privy to the mafia secret. Tsuna repressed a groan. He had hoped to keep at least one of his friends away from the madness that was his life- though why he'd expected that to work he had no idea. He glanced at Gokudera but the other boy simply shrugged at him, clearly indicating that explanations were up to him.
He gulped down his nerves unhappily. "Um, Adam-san," he gulped again, "that, the thing is, that- thing- that hit us, it, um, it sent us into the future. Ten years into the future." There was no way he was telling Adam he was hit by a bazooka. For one- he would never believe him, and two- when they finally found Reborn he might just take that knowledge as a reason to tell the other boy everything. And that was something Tsuna wanted to actively try to avoid.
The choice was taken out of his hands, however, when Adam asked, in the tone of one confirming a suspicion, "The ten-year bazooka?"
Tsuna gaped at him, speechless. Gokudera had no such problems as he whipped out and lit several sticks of dynamite. "How did you know that?" he growled. "Who are you? Who sent you?"
Adam took a few quick steps backwards, hands raised placatingly, but before he did Tsuna was sure he'd almost dropped into that crouch again, the one he'd adopted when Adult Gokudera had shown up. If Tsuna's intuition was correct Adam knew self-defense. Knew is so well that it was instinct. He found himself wondering if Adam had studied Judo or Karate or something as a child. He resolutely blocked the budding thought that it meant something far more sinister.
"Whoa, slow down, Cowboy," Adam said slowly, taking another step backwards, just in case. "I wasn't sent by anyone. Sawada mentioned it earlier. He was muttering under his breath. I'd thought he'd gone round the bend. I mean seriously, what is a ten-year bazooka? I'm not here to spy on you or anything, so you can go ahead and just put those things out. Before you blow somebody up."
Warily Gokudera lowered his hands, glancing at Tsuna as he did so. It was clear he didn't trust Adam, but his story was plausible, and Tsuna wouldn't take it kindly if he blew up his friends for no reason. Now that Tsuna thought about it, he did remember muttering about the twice cursed bazooka, or at least, he thought he had. It was all so confusing- everything was happening so fast. But even as Gokudera returned his weapons to his pockets, or wherever he kept them, Tsuna found himself beginning to doubt his newest friend. Not his story, but the words that came just before and just after it. Adam had lied. Tsuna wasn't sure how he knew it, unless it was that Vongola Intuition that Reborn kept banging on about, but Adam had lied when he said nobody had sent him. Suddenly something that Adult Gokudera said returned to him.
"Adam-san? What did Adult Gokudera mean when he called you Alex?"
The blond boy froze. "I have no idea what you're on about," he said, trying to cover it up. "Who's Adult Gokudera?"
"He's the man who was here before Gokudera showed up."
"And how exactly did Gokudera show up? And us, for that matter. What's going on, Sawada?"
Tsuna sighed. "We were sent here by the ten-year bazooka." He realized Adam, or was it Alex, was changing the subject, though he did so well. But Adam did deserve to know something about what was going on. "When you're shot by the ten-year bazooka you switch places with the version of yourself from ten years in the future."
"So you're saying that ten years in the future, all three of us will be in this clearing. And you will be dead."
Tsuna winced, but nodded. He really didn't like being reminded that he woke up in a coffin. "Yes, that's what I'm saying."
"Okay. So how do we get back?"
And that's when Tsuna started to panic, though he tried to do so quietly. "We're supposed to be sent back automatically after five minutes." Adam raised an eyebrow in that skeptical way Tsuna was quickly beginning to associate with the other boy.
"Five minutes?" He looked between them both and then down at his watch in an exaggerated fashion. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we've been here a lot longer than five minutes."
Tsuna glanced at Gokudera, who'd been uncharacteristicly silent while he had been speaking, looking for an explanation. "I don't know, Juudaime," he confessed apologetically. "It's possible the Stupid Cow broke it. But I don't know if even he could break it that badly."
"Um, Stupid Cow?" The confusion was very evident in Adam's question.
"He's a kid who lives with me. He's the one who owns the bazooka." Tsuna visibly flinched at the consternation in Adam's eyes.
"You gave a kid a bazooka?" Adam was furious; Tsuna couldn't be quite sure why, but seeing the rage shaping in the other boy's suddenly cold brown eyes made him sure he didn't want that anger focused on him.
"I never gave Lambo a weapon." Well, except the Lightning Ring, but that was beside the point. "His family gave it to him before he even came to live with us. And nothing can take it from him. Believe me, we've tried."
Gokudera had a sneer fixed on his face as his hand twitched towards his dynamite again. "Don't presume to know Juudaime. The Stupid Cow isn't his responsibility, even if he does take care of him out of the goodness of his heart. It's not like the ten-year bazooka is even dangerous." Lambo's grenades were a different story, but Adam didn't have to know about them.
"I think I would beg to differ on that." The scathing anger was still heavy in Adam's voice. "Who knows what could have been going on here, that we would have popped into completely unprepared for?"
Gokudera scowled at that, an indignant retort ready on his lips, but he was interrupted by a faint noise coming from the bushes. "What now?"
"Maybe the changing of the guard?" Alex murmured, falling into his customary crouch next to Gokudera, who's hands were now full of explosives. He glanced at them quickly, uncomfortable with them so close to him, but he quickly pushed the feeling aside. This was not the time.
Sawada hid behind them, mittened hands up in a parody of a defensive stance, and a terrified look in his eyes.
Out of the foliage stepped a woman, tall, with wild black hair and a gleaming red visor covering most of her face.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi." Her voice was deep, angry. It made Sawada tremble just to hear it.
"Y-yes?"
The woman tched in disapproval. "Follow me."
With that she turned on her heal, departing as suddenly as she'd come. Sawada hesitated for a few seconds and began to follow.
Gokudera mad a disapproving sound, but Alex beat him to the punch. "Sawada! What are you doing?"
"Following her." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You don't know anything about her." Alex's voice was thick with exasperation. Really, could one person be so foolish?
"I don't know anything about you, either." He had a point, not that Alex was going to acknowledge that. "I feel like we can trust her. I don't know why, but I do."
"You feel like we can trust her?" That eyebrow rose again. "Really? We've been thrown years into the future, according to you, where we have no idea what is going on, except you've supposedly been shot, and you have feeling that we can trust her."
"Don't question Juudaime's wisdom," Gokudera snapped, which was a bit hypocritical, really. "If he says we can trust her, we can trust her."
"Don't you ever trust your instincts, your feelings?" The look in Sawada's eyes was wiser, older than Alex had ever seen it. "In your life life, Adam-san, aren't there ever times when you have to make a decision based solely on your intuition?"
That made Alex pause. He examined Sawada carefully, looking for any doubt. "You're sure we can trust her?"
"Yes."
"Okay." It wasn't something he was used to- trusting someone he didn't know to make decisions for him; he didn't even trust those he did know. But there was something in Sawada's eyes, something that said he could trust Sawada's instincts. He didn't like it, but there didn't seem to be many other options. If the other boys were to be believed he was stuck in the future for an indefinite amount of time, and from the ways things looked they might just be in the middle of a mafia war. He didn't have a clue what to do, so he would have to take a leap of faith and trust Sawada to know what to do.
It was in that moment, looking into Adam's eyes and seeing understanding, acceptance, a bit of panic, and that same world weary look that had plagued him since Reborn stepped into his life, that Tsuna knew. When Adult Gokudera called Adam Alex he had not made a mistake. Adam- or rather Alex- was not who he said he was. But that was okay. Because he knew he could trust him. He wasn't sure how, but just like the woman, he knew Alex meant them no harm.
