I thank MegaAnimeFreako, Blue Snowflakes, Guest, genghi2510, khr1410, Rue Emiko kom, NeraAssassina, Redthorn13, Thelittlesky, tsuna, Anisthasia, Dumti, Franzis-chan, Pure Red Crane, Angelic Fluffle. ilover145, Grisia, Kawaii Fruits, Bloodofvongola and wynos15 for reviewing my story :))
I thank Thrill-Pair-All-The-Way, PCheshire, rosso7, samira vangola, JusticeNine, Shirogane Mizuki, SkyTuna7227, Chicberry, CuteDork, genghi2510, ChibiNekooo, Uwaaah, 27, kiragoldenslayer, Kage2118, Narqissa, Rue Emiko Kom, , almakarma18, khr1410, CrimsonFeather24544, Chrome-chanXTsuna, Nera Assassina, Redthron13, Thelittlesky, KittyKitty101, Yanffit Ul, appleXberry, Koneko-sempai, Fenrirwulf, LacrimosaLily, MegaAnimeFreako, RoyalBlueDressXx, shoeinthekok, Aikawa-BL 14, Anisthasia, Ioeth, flyingchibisuke, luci-nana90, lionheart100, CrimsonSkyTamer, I am a fluffy pen, Mai96, Deathgirl-Chan, VongolaUndicesmo,shinayukihibari1990, Dumti, pinkbananas, Ichigosberrymix, fakemanneuin, Lonesome Personified, 14, Finrando, TheRedSquare, VongolaDecimoX, happytth, Kwerli, XxSilenceOfTheNightxX, Midnight Kismesis, alicegx, Rumu, Grisia, tanakayoichi, Angelic Fluffle, Lily Lauren, Mimi522, Slylark-san, Yuki28, thegreatandillustriousLEADER, liryla, Eliera Calvetti, Kamami, akafuri412, sharp1e, Naruka Uzumaki-Namikaze, Tsunayuki Takahashi, amiedu13, theskythatshinesbright, Aki Sou, Bleach-ed-Na-tsu, Hikage no Hana, Hoshi Yuhi, Meganlei and TaitZu-chan for following my story :D
I thank Thrill-Pair-All-The-Way, PCheshire, Caw-Raven, 7sheryl7, mpl3, ReaderxGirl789, Shirogane Mizuki, SkyTuna7227, ilovepie123, Chicberry, genghi2510, ChibiNekooo, TsukihanaYUE, cheLmay, Adelia-chan22, Devil-O-Angel, Rue Emiko kom, kazuri-yuko98, almakarma18, 07Eve, Redthorn13, Thelittlesky, bunnykins15, KittyKitty101, Fountainwind, Ciel Black018, Seithr-Kairy, appleXberry, Koneko-sempai, LacrimosaLily, MegaAnimeFreako, RoyalBlueDressXx, Aikawa-BL 14, luci-nana90, lionheart100, I am a fluffy pen, animeluver1827, Emo-bookworm123, DeathGirl-chan, SerenadePanda, shinayukihibari1990, Dumti, pinkbananas, Ichigosberrymix, fakemannequin, Silent,Snow14, happytth, Rhilliane, XxSilenceOfTheNightxX, Karen Fujiwara, Leva-nyan, Midnight Kismesis, alicegx, ilover145, rsxus, Kawaii Fruits, ShioriErz, Slylark-san, Yuki28, liryla, Eliera Calvetti, Kamami, Gallifreyan Annihilator Naruka Uzumaki-Namikaze, SoulNinjas, Tsunayuki Takahashi, amiedu13, heart44hayatolover, Hoshi Yuhi, Meganlei, PhantomsWorkshop, XxKatelynnexX and Yorutsuki-Lunia for favouriting my story :3
I'm sorry if I missed out your name or misspelled it.
Please review! :) it would help motivate me to write more!
This chapter came pretty late, because I got myself addicted on reading fanfictions instead of writing them. Ahaha… Hope you guys are still there *Sigh*
Anyway, enjoy!
I apologise for any mistakes I make in my chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, but I do own the plot story, or some OC if they appeared in the stories.
This is a G27 story, rating is T for now, but may rise accordingly to the story progress.
Chapter 17: Two Fears
Reader's POV
o0o
''Where are the others?'' G asked the pitch black darkness in front of him, and of course, he wasn't expecting any form of reply.
Brightness suddenly shrouded the room like a reply to his question, and he blinked multiple times to get used to the powerful spotlights that seemed to light up the room like a stage; G was the lone actor with a revengeful scriptwriter manipulating the story behind the scene.
''G huh? This would be interesting to see. He seemed like the really fearless type.'' Laudner said and leaned back further into the comfy of his chair and grabbed his white squishy popcorn, enjoying the movie titled 'Fear' in the seven screens in front of him. Empty packs of the white popcorn littered the floor around him.
A smile played on his lips as he savoured the feeling he get from the movie screening.
Tsuna didn't utter a single word as he watched Giotto in his fear landscape with unblinking eyes, the blond was screaming in that voice that would make your hairs stand on end and your blood curdle in the most painful way.
But Tsuna couldn't hear anything; he chose not to hear it.
By watching, it was just like another silent horror film at the cinema, except people would have rather threw their money in the sea than at the ticketing box office because of the same scene repeating in an infinite loop, over and over again, all the while complaining about bad service.
''Tsuna, don't you want to listen as well?'' Laudner asked as he stood up and strolled over to the metallic box that felt as cold as the deepest part of hell did. He slid his slender fingers over the lid, almost in a caressing and loving way. His eyes were expressionless as he stared at the box, almost as if he could see the angelic like lady in her peaceful frozen slumber.
''No.'' Tsuna replied in that strange robotic voice and without averting his eyes from the screen, he sat up straighter in his chair.
Laudner looked Tsuna over with a scrutinizing glance, temporary stopping his strokes before he let a smirk form on his face. ''Really?'' Laudner asked in a curious and innocent voice, but he didn't ask it for an answer.
''Yes.'' Tsuna said simply.
i) G
G walked the entire length of the room, seeing as there were no way back since the door closed with a dull thud and a click. There wasn't another way out, no windows, no vents, nothing.
He paced around the room, fear and nervousness rising up sharply in him. G folded his arms as he dipped into deep processing mode about his next few actions, what he can do to escape, to rescue Tsuna, to help the others. They were probably in the same situation, seeing that they were all separated mysteriously from the moment their feet stepped through the door Tsuna opened for them.
Without giving a chance to even think, the room was plunged into burning hot flames. G's eyes grew wider as he watched the rectangular area around him catch fire, the orange-red fiery monster licking the walls and the floor, enjoying their meal and moving on to their next part of their victim without looking back and quickly. Sweat, both from fear and the burning heat scalding his skin, dripped down the side of his face. His back felt sticky from the perspiration and his body was soaked like he just went under a heavy downpour without an umbrella. His shirt clung to his body uncomfortably. His legs trembled like jelly as his red dashing eyes took in the scene of trepidation he saw only once from his childhood.
Much contradictory to the flame pattern on the right side of his face, G was afraid of it. Just like how vampires were fearful of the dying will flame which was possibly the only weapon which could kill them.
G crouched down and rolled himself into a small ball, rocking back and forth, like a trembling small porcupine with its spikes all out in its last desperate attempt to defend itself. The fire that has started near the edge of the wall has inched closer to G around him like a ring of fire, enveloping him in the heat and the over-the-edge light. The flames were beautiful, swirling and dancing about in its definite elegance like a professional ballet dancer, but G wasn't going to be so appreciative.
The flames seemed to whisper to him in crisp, short sentences, which only made fear break out in G's head like splendid fireworks.
The flames licked the tips of G's sleeves and magenta hair teasingly with the playfulness of a little child. Advancing forwards daringly before pulling back immediately. The fire even seemed to smile at him as they advanced on him.
G let out a scream when the smell of slightly burned flesh filled his nostrils. His fingertips were being bitten by the ferocious fire. The fire was now piercing its sharp claws into every inch of his skin.
He was being burnt. Alive.
G breathing came fast and rough as his eyes reflect the images of fire surrounding him with no opening. His eyes felt itchy and painful from the black hot cinders, forcing tears out from his eyes. G didn't know whether the moisture were his own fear or from the smoke.
The pain shot through his nerves at the speed of light, alarming him that he was being burnt, but he had nowhere to run, not with his fear anchored securely to his feet like a metal heavy chain worth a few thousand tonnes and fire on all sides. He want to shut off the pain system he was feeling, which would give him a painless death.
I want to die.
Then the fire seemed to stop, after burning his limbs partially and his hair tips charcoal black, making G reek of burnt ashes.
He sighed in relief, his heart gradually slowing down as his breaths became steadier. His brain was still feeling fuzzy after smelling all the smoke from the wildly burning fire. His limbs felt numb after his nervous system were partially successful at shutting down at the extreme pain. He was almost on the verge of passing out if not for the fact that the fire was suddenly extinguished.
''Hmmmm.'' A voice in his head pondered deeply. ''Fear of fire? That was really unexpected. I was expecting something like fear of woman, seeing how shy you really are when you are near females.''
''You!'' G shouted in dismay. ''Laudner!''
''Oh yes indeed.'' Laudner cooed teasingly. ''I'm glad you remembered me?''
''Don't give me that shit. Where is Tsuna?'' G demanded ferociously, his damp eyes unwavering.
''Right here.'' Laudner said as his voice fade and the sound of hard knocking against something came along with static noises. ''Tsuna, G wants to talk to you.'' Then suddenly it was quiet. Funny how it was all inside G's head and not over the phone with the static noises.
''G.'' Tsuna acknowledged his recipient.
''Tsuna! Get away from him!'' G immediately shouted into the room, though it wasn't necessary.
Tsuna didn't reply.
''Tsuna?'' G repeated again, disbelieving. ''Did you, betray us?''
Tsuna didn't reply again.
''Tsuna…'' G pleaded. ''I had rather you say something than keeping quiet.'' He could still see the after images of the burning hell in his mind. G tried hard to shake it off. Tsuna was more important at the current moment.
Tsuna didn't reply.
The sound of static noises came again.
And then it was quiet.
''Seems like Tsuna didn't want to talk to you.'' Laudner said.
''You!''
''Please be quiet while I settle my stuff.'' Laudner said dismissively and the line was cut.
G felt a sharp pain in his legs and realised with a start that his legs were shot with a bullet in each thigh.
G gasped before he dropped to the floor, his legs twitching in pain. Each tiny movement sent a painful jolt to his brain.
''Yes that should do it.'' Laudner said before the voice system switched off.
''I swear, if I get out of the room… He's so going to regret it.'' G gritted his teeth so hard, he could almost feel his teeth being smoothened.
As much as he actually liked the flame pattern, ironically, he feared fire itself. He was actually born to a happy family, a rich one at that. His parents both loved him and their daughter very much. They were happy.
But one day, his town was set on fire, because there was rumoured to be a vampire in the town (Giotto), saying that everyone in the town was cursed too. Both his parents and sister died in the fire, along with many others in his town. But surprisingly, most of them were merely partially burned and had sharp deep wounds on their neck and chest area instead of a completely charred body. They were killed by Giotto who was on his uncontrollable rampage.
He couldn't remember much (Amnesia), and what was left of the official documents with his personal particulars was vague and mostly burned. What were left were only his birthday, and the word 'G' in his personal particulars.
Thus his name simply became 'G'.
Afterwards, he could only wander the remains of his burnt down town, not even remembering that he had remotely any form of a family. He didn't have any memories of what happened up till the fire.
He didn't know it was because of Giotto that his family was killed, but of course, it was a secret known only by us.
ii) Alaude
''…'' Alaude was quiet as he analysed his current situation, like he had always done every time he was in a tight pinch. If he was calm, he can always think of solutions, he was a brilliant detective that had solved many impossible cases for the police and earned himself high respect even from the police commissioner himself.
He walked forward with quiet footsteps. And he reached a door. He opened the door, and he entered a room with the light shining down on the floor like how the operating lights in the hospital's operation room was like.
He can't go back, seeing how the door was locked. The door closed behind him and he looked around. It was a room lacking in any furniture.
''Alaude? This would be intriguing indeed. It's Alaude after all.'' Laudner smiled to himself.
Alaude suddenly found himself in a small, cramped space, surrounded by three walls joining to the ceiling and a metal jail gate on the fourth side of the square room. It felt like he was an item for sale, and the cell he was locked in was simply something kept in boxes to save spaces in the store room.
''This is…'' Alaude said, looking around the room. ''From years ago… when I was still a slave. Unpleasant.''
The place was lit by a small bulb hanging and swinging precariously from the ceiling, and there were no guards, simply because nobody could escape on an empty stomach. Who would want to waste energy on escaping when they were already barely hanging onto the thin thread of life?
Alaude looked at his hands bound in hand cuffs. He was the only one to have it, because he had tried to escape numerous times, to no avail.
He had grown despondent enough to give up on trying and let himself submit to this cruel fate.
He was just a slave, and a slave should just obediently follow his master's order like a loyal dog. He had been sold back to the slave circle again because his master was sick and tired of his quiet and passive personality. He was a rejected merchandise.
Upon being returned, he was given even lesser food than what had even been enough to keep a human alive for more than a day because he was useless and he wasn't worth a penny. He was unwanted.
He was now being transported to his new master, an old and filthy old man famous for raping the slaves he bought, never mind the gender. He's known as the 'Demon', or at least, in the slaves' definition of Demon. The slaves would rather die than to be sold to him. Most of them committed suicide when they knew who their new master was going to be.
He had heard of many stories of young slaves biting their own tongue. Because the demon had so much power and fame, nobody dare to defy the strong pillar of power, not even the ring leader of the slave trade.
It was going to be over for him. He didn't have the energy to try to bite his own tongue. Everywhere in his body felt weak and not like his own body at all. It felt like a borrowed body. Cross that, the tattered and torn vessel he was residing in wasn't his, it belonged to the ring leader.
Alaude felt the vehicle stopped and he tensed up. Every muscle in his bodies grew taut as his hearing sharpen for any incoming footsteps. Any minute, and he was going to see the dreaded demon of doom.
The footsteps resounded in the narrow corridor. Alaude's eyebrows creased as he gazed tiredly into the cage gate. His heart beat mildly faster.
No, don't feel fearful. It's going to waste more of your energy.
That's what he told himself, but the panic in the back of his mind was growing proportionally to how close the footsteps sounded. He could hear his heart palpitate clearly in his entire body. He wasn't sweating cold buckets, simply because he didn't had a drop of water since he was returned.
But it didn't happen. His fear climaxed as the footsteps sounded like they were in front of his cage. However, nobody came. Instead, the metal cage enclosing him evaporated and was replaced with a scene of darkness. He saw the faces of many people that seemed vaguely familiar.
They were his old masters that had rejected him. Every time he was kicked out of his master's house just after a few days, because the customer complained about bad service, he would be given a good taste of how he would be punished for disobeying his orders personally by the ring leader himself. The sadistic man absolutely loves torturing his slaves, because they all belonged to him even without being written down in black-and-white. It was a known invisible rule.
They encircled him, and Alaude felt like a rabbit being preyed on and surrounded by starving tigers. They inched closer, their hands outstretched greedily at the little guy on the floor. He was reduced to his child self in this fear landscape.
''NO!'' Alaude screamed the moment the nightmares that haunted his dreams touched his skin. Alaude kicked out at one of the person but his tiny foot was grabbed and yanked violently forwards, dragging the platinum haired forwards.
His tear glands were overexerting themselves, what with the downpour of tears from his eyes making his eyes swollen as he was being touched with unruly intentions by unnamed people he had long forgotten.
He wanted to punch the nearest person who had his hands on his thigh. But he heard the familiar clattering sounds of metals and he found his hands and legs bound by invisible chains to the floor.
''NO!''
He was being engulfed.
His eyes snapped open to see a patch of whiteness.
''A slave? Ahh, one of the peasants from that dinky village.'' A memory stuffed at the back of his mind resurfaced again, sticking out like a sore thumb. It made Alaude's head throb painfully and it was enough to make the always stoic and cold face crumpled like a crushed paper.
He was a slave. Yes he was. He was sold to many different masters at a young age. He was sold, returned, resold and returned again like a vicious circle.
He was looked down upon by many since he was a lowly slave from an unnamed village.
But he was intelligent, really intelligent, but it was his fate to be a slave, born for the sake of being one to save his mother who could barely keep her head over the heavy loans she had incurred. His mother was a woman who had sunk to the bottom of the abyss known as gambling addiction after she suffered a mental illness from the loss of her husband.
Alaude wanted freedom, and so he fought, and he grew the obsession for handcuffs when he started using them to chain his captives up, restricting their freedom.
He grew a sense of justice after seeing so many other slaves suffer like him.
''The strongest guardian, was a slave.''
A vein popped in Alaude's temple when Laudner's irritating comment rang in his head.
''Oh dear, I think I would need a stronger drug to subdue you.''
o0o
iii) Lampo
''Eeek! Where am I?!'' Lampo whimpered piteously as he took small dainty steps forward. It was dark, and he could barely see his own fingers.
''Kya!"' Lampo screamed out, unable to bear it anymore when he heard a light squeaking sound, which was just… a rat. Lampo backed to the wall, feeling secured that something wasn't going to jump him from the back.
The room lit up, and he could see the metallic walls gleaming back at him.
''Giotto… Tsuna… Asari… Even G… Help me.'' Lampo sobbed into his sleeves.
''It's the cry baby's turn? Man, this wouldn't be interesting.'' Laudner said in a bored and flat tone. He was used to seeing the young green-haired lord get scared over nothing, so it was an everyday scene to see Lampo hiding behind Knuckle or Asari whenever anything pops out.
''Will you still continue the simulation?'' The computer asked.
''Of course. It's important.''
Lampo felt the room turned cold and he shivered.
The metallic room became a scenery portraying a beautiful ephemeral garden filled with an infinite number of flowers, all different in sizes and colours gathered from every nook and cranny of the universe. Everything was beautiful and perfect, and Lampo was standing alone, in this picturesque garden, gazing over them and into the crystal clear blue sky.
''Isn't this where my hometown was?'' Lampo asked himself as he breathed in the fresh and sweet aroma of the flowers dancing around him. It made his nose tickle a little.
''Hello.'' A voice whispered into Lampo's ear, sending a shiver down his spine.
''W-Who?'' Lampo stuttered as he spun around and he was greeted with a sight of a mirror image of himself.
''Have you forgotten about me?'' The other Lampo asked him with a sorrowful expression, holding his hand to his chest.
''Could you…'' Lampo started, as he realized it.
''Yes, that's right. I'm your alter ego, the you who you had been trying to forget all these years.'' The other Lampo replied without waiting for Lampo to finish.
''No… Get away from me…'' Lampo could barely hear himself as his throat felt dry and his tongue felt rebellious. A bead of sweat dripped from his forehead as he took a few shaking steps backwards, his legs trembling.
''Get away from myself?'' The other Lampo chuckled. ''Did you forget, how they tried to force you to forget yourself, how to kill yourself? I'm here to help you.'' The other Lampo said without a change in his mournful expression, stepping forward with each back step Lampo took.
''No… Noo… Get away from me!'' Lampo shouted without a second though and slapped away his alter ego's out reached hand, panting slightly and his eyes squinted shut.
''Lampo.'' The other Lampo said with a tremble in his voice, swallowing down the outburst he almost gave in to with great difficulty. ''Be a good boy. You know you need me.''
''No! It's because of you that I was alone my entire childhood!'' Lampo screamed at his alter ego as memories he tried to forget came rushing back to him again, as fresh as morning dew.
''Lampo.'' A low grumbling sound came from behind Lampo, and both Lampos standing face to face eyes widen twice their usual lazy eye size.
The top dogs from his home town were facing him, I mean them.
''Lampo, be a good boy like always and earn money for me.'' One of the guys said and reached out to dig his long sharp nails into Lampo's shoulder. ''You should know what will happen if you don't.''
Lampo cringed at the touch and pain.
''Leave my mother alone!'' Lampo burst out, slapping the unpleasant hand away.
''Lampo, see, you need my help. You need me, if not how are you going to save her, save our mother?''
''Shut up!'' Lampo pressed his palms against his ears, which did little to aid in silencing the low whispering sounds.
Suddenly, there were an army of alter ego Lampo around him. Lampo's eyes widen in shock and his legs gave way as he crash to the floor.
They gathered around Lampo, nearer and nearer, making the green-haired breathed harder and harder to fight for oxygen. This farce of a flowery land had thin air, like the place was located on the peak of a mountain.
''Don't!'' Lampo sobbed into his knees as the hands grabbed onto him, pulling him from his crouching position.
''Hah!'' Lampo woke with a jolt, staring glassy eyed at his environment. He was back in the metallic room again.
You may all think he's just a goofball, but no. Lampo was born in a place where most of the people were uneducated. He was really smart. His parents, who were rich landlords, had to tell their son to keep his head down and act stupid for the rest of his life.
His parents wanted to send their son away when the heads of the town caught wind of Lampo's intelligence, and captured his parents and made them their slaves.
After the capture, Lampo was forced to work for the leaders to expand their influence using his intelligence, and to become this goofball for the sake of not attracting any possible enemy's attention.
He realised that in order for him to survive, he had to be this stupid fellow that doesn't know anything.
That was how he grew to be afraid of himself, because he himself was the reason why he had to make his parents live like slaves to the leaders.
But his parents are free now, because Lampo had already paid back the so called debt, with Giotto's help.
''Ohhh, that was surprisingly interesting.'' Laudner laughed in Lampo's head.
''Laudner! Is that you?''
''Before you start asking me questions, can I conduct a scan on your brain?''
''Wh-!''
''Ohhh, an IQ of 197, what a brilliant score.''
''!'' Lampo took a few steps back.
''I don't want to be used again!'' Lampo screamed, his bottom lips trembling as crystalline tears caressed the pale skin of his cheeks, dripping onto the floor.
''You read my mind.'' Laudner smiled.
Darkness crept into Lampo's peripheral vision and felt his consciousness being released from his grip.
Lampo fell to the floor.
''End of simulation.'' The computer said.
''Good.'' Laudner smirked as he popped in the last of his sweets.
o0o
Extremely, ultra sorry at the delay in this chapter. I realised I went a bit overboard at the description, and that when the word count hit 4000, I had only went through 3 of the 6. I didn't delve into Knuckle, Asari Ugetsu and Daemon Spade's fear landscape. As you can see, I only went through the background story with the characters I liked better. I particularly adore G and Giotto XD.
Unless I have the time, I doubt I will write their fear landscape, or unless you guys want.
Khr1410, haha soon it will be revealed. Drink a cup of warm tea and cool down. Sorry for the late update :X
Tsuna, I was hoping that the manga would reveal more of Primo's family, though it did, but not much. Haha :D
Genghi2510, what's that dish? :O It sounds like a chinese cuisine. We shall wait and see :)
Guest, maybe not, maybe yes :D We shall know in the next chapter.
MegaAnimeFreako, I shall try to~ Though it's getting tougher…
Anisthasia, I realized I can spell your name even without looking O.o Haha, it's chocolates for your loyal support, go ahead and eat it XD. Haha, I know that feel. It's like I'm being pessimistic and emoish because I like this kind of stuff, but it's not true :/ Sorry for the late update!