Seashells of the Sky
Summary: "Wait, what Family became the Black Spell of Millefiore?" Tsuna asked. Lambo sighed, eyes shadowed, "The Vongola Family." AU
Interlude: Of the Weary Thunder
He'd never forget this moment. However short it was, four minutes at best, the images had been burned indelibly upon his retinas.
The first thing he sees is the red fire, crackling like lightning and flames around his being as one. The heat caresses his skin, but he feels strangely… empty. Perhaps the atmosphere is affecting him? He felt a distant emotion – fear.
Beyond the fierce light of his lightning and flames, he glimpses the illuminated ruins of furniture and wall plaster around him. Had his future self tried defending this place? He glances around; there are no enemies in sight, so that must mean… his future self had done the demolishing himself.
And the more he looks, the more he can see that there are no other living beings around him. He sees the charred remains of a female corpse, and perhaps there is a child next to her, but he looks away – he doesn't want to know.
In his own present, one or two of the Guardians were always with him, taking care of him as he was the youngest of the Inner Vongola Family. However much he'd protested, it was futile as his boss was pretty darn determined to protect him.
Instead, he is all alone amongst these ruins.
He stared blankly at the ceiling now, trying to forget what he'd witnessed. Damn it, what the hell had happened to me in that future? He thought in frustration, turning over in his bed. He punched his pillow, trying to release the anxiety building up in him from the incident.
There was a soft knock on his door. Lambo quickly wiped his face with a sleeve to get rid of the small amount of tears that had gathered beneath his eyelids.
"Come in." He uttered, hoping that the person on the other side of the door didn't hear his voice break at the last word.
"Lambo-kun?" asked a soft, yet masculine voice. His boss's head appeared around the widening crack as he stepped into the room, his brown hair just brushing the top of the doorframe. Usually, Tsunayoshi Sawada, Tenth Boss of the Vongola, would usually wear a gentle smile or a gobsmacked, panicked expression on his face, but his features depicted only concern.
"Boss," Lambo greeted, trying and failing to cover up his beaten expression with a bright smile. "What are you doing in here?"
Tsuna gave him a slightly exasperated look, "You missed our Family dinner, Lambo." He stated, and the Bovino's cheeks heated. That's right, that's what I was doing before I got sent to the past… then to… there.
"One second, you disappeared, and your infant self replaced you… and after you came back, your expression…" Tsuna frowned, and Lambo avoided his gaze. The only light that shone was from the hallway, beyond the door Tsuna had just come from, and that cast bright rays that would have undoubtedly shown the unshed tears Lambo had.
"It's nothing, boss…" Lambo muttered despondently, turning away. "I'll just have something to eat later on, so…"
"Lambo-kun."
Crap, the teen thought, boss is using 'that' voice.
Tsuna continued, using a tone that conveyed his firm authority as the Vongola Don, as well as expressed his strong love and care for his Family, "Lambo-kun, tell me what happened." It was no request – it was an order.
"I… was sent twenty years into the future."
If it were any other flame, it would have wounded him critically, as he'd poofed right into the middle of it. However, the flames and lighting are undeniably his, proven by the fact that they don't hurt him at all.
The more he glances around, the more the horror grows in him. He hadn't noticed before, but beyond the ruins that surrounds him are…
An entire town.
Ash and debris floats eerily in the wind around the scattered remains of homes and half-obliterated walls and buildings. Corpses are charred and randomly positioned throughout the carnage. And, by the looks of it, his own flames and lightning must have done that.
"But why…?" He mutters to himself, unable to speak louder as the bile gathering in him will surely burst forth. His future self had done this, who is technically himself, and he cannot understand why. Why did he do this? How could he do this?
"You end here, old friend." States a voice coldly.
He turns and stops in surprise. In front of him, wearing clothes that an assassin would normally wear, is I-Pin.
He does not stop in surprise because he'd seen her twenty-year older self, he'd spotted her plenty of times when he'd used the Ten Year Bazooka. However, he stops in surprise because of her expression.
Her features are cold and unyielding as she glares at him, roughly cut, yet short hair shifting relentlessly around her hardened face.
However, he asks something of her that has nothing to do with this recent revelation, "What happened, I-Pin?"
"You used the Bazooka, Lambo?" Tsuna asked, frustrated. The brunet had taken a seat on Lambo's bed, opting to sit during the conversation than stand. "I thought you promised to never do that again! I don't want you to be in danger, like what happened last time!"
Lambo turned away sulkily, "I… was scared." He replied in a small voice.
Tsuna bit his lip, his anger dying down. "What happened, Lambo?" He questioned again, concern straining his voice.
The young Guardian replied wearily, "I was alone, Tsuna-nii." He replied, unintentionally letting that title slip.
Her eyes widen only a fraction as she gazes upon the younger version of her Lambo. Her features softens the slightest amount as she spots the anguish in his eyes.
He doesn't know what to think as she replies in a quiet, monotone voice.
"You changed, Lambo-kun."
"But how? Why?" He asks desperately, feeling panic rise in his throat."What could be so bad that made me…" He trails off, not knowing how to comprehend the situation.
She shifts forward, and her emotionless expression is highlighted by the flames and lightning dancing around her. He notices that she, too, is not affected by it.
She steps up close to him, far closer than what either of them dared to do in his own present, and lifts a hand to his cheek. He begins to blush, but her next words drain all the colour from his cheeks.
"The others are gone, Lambo-kun." She replies, and it is so casually said that Lambo feels the impact of what she has told him instead of processing it first.
He freezes, and stares at her, dumbstruck. However vague her answer is, he still knows what she'd meant, and it strikes so deeply that he almost collapses.
"I don't…" He began, a part of him ready to laugh it off, but he knows that she is telling the ultimate truth.
And he knows what he is capable of when he's full of vengeance.
"Alone?" Tsuna asked, concerned, "What… do you mean?"
When Lambo didn't answer, the brunet put an arm around the young Guardian. "Lambo-kun, we might have left you in that future, but never in the future we are going to sculpt ourselves."
Lambo knew that Tsuna wanted to comfort him, but all his words did was make him even more empty. He knew that Tsuna didn't know what he meant by 'alone'. The brunet had assumed that he and his other Guardian's future selves had left him to protect himself, but are still alive and well themselves.
Lambo didn't have the will to tell his boss the truth.
After a few more minutes of hugging the teen, Tsuna left. As he closed the door to Lambo's room, he uttered to Lambo softly, "I'm sorry, Lambo-kun…"
As soon as he was gone, Lambo clenched his fists, the tears he'd held back when Tsuna was in the room poured out now. But they weren't tears of sadness – they were tears of anger.
"Damn this…" Lambo whispered to himself, sobbing quietly, "Why… why did I have to end up being the last one alive in that future…? Why do they have to protect me so much…?"
"I just… hate that so much…"
"They left you, Lambo-kun…" I-Pin says softly, and there is no mercy in her voice as she throws the cold truth at him. "And you hated that fact so much… your only reason to live, from then on, was to avenge them."
"I…" He said quietly, his thoughts in turmoil, "I…"
"I'm sorry, Lambo-kun," she suddenly says, and her voice follows him as his internal alarm screeches at him that he will be getting sent back right at this moment.
"I'm so sorry for not saving you…"
A/N: Just a random background story of my AU!Lambo, haha~ This could also fit into canon as well, I suppose~ :O For those of you who are still confused, this is when TYL!Lambo used the Bazooka on himself during the Varia Arc in his battle against Levi-A-Than.
Please review~! ;)