The Sky that Bonds

by fantasy.x.nothingness

By a chance meeting, she was introduced to the mafia world without knowing the secret of her blood. Now older, a baby hitman claims to turn her into Vongola Decimo. But will the Sky accept its fate? Fem27

33. A song of seas and embers

Heya darlings ️3 Happy (late, late, late) New Year. Stay safe! Here's hoping 2023 is kinder to us all.

I'm writing my thesis, can you guess how many words I'm in? When the professor tried to scare us with the length of it, I was like: "well, the longest chapter I have written so far is 27k words, so… I have training?" LMAO

Monster chapter coming through~ enjoy! Take a break. Chapter's a bit of a Mess™, but so is Tsuna. She is not okay.

TW: mentions of suicide / emotional manipulation / teenagers (not) dealing with emotions bigger than them / blood / anxiety attacks / psychosis / mind games / mentions of death and murder / Unreliable Narrator /

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recap: The team just found out the whole Merone infiltration to stop Irie was a plan created by future Tsuna to train them. This is the aftermath of the hurt and how they move forwards.

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"Juudaime!"

As soon as the crystal chamber doors opened, Gokudera - wounded, still bleeding and scorched all over, rushed towards her without a thought for himself.

Tsuna knew better, though. She immediately held his face in her hands, stopping him from crashing into her and seeing the blood staining her back that was hidden by Spanner still towering behind her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, frantically searching for injuries but was relieved to see all that remained were small cuts and burns that could heal in minutes if he had stayed put inside the healing chamber.

"I'm fine" Gokudera reassured her, his eyes frantically searching her in return "Juudaime, are you alright? Are you hurt? You! Release her!"

Spanner had merely raised an eyebrow at the sudden attention and took a step back, still hiding her bloody back but at a good distance to duck down if Gokudera tries to throw a dynamite. Or bite him. Or something. The Italian bomber looked seconds away from combusting and committing murder at the same time.

"I'm okay. Hey" Tsuna brought his attention back, not that she needed more prodding. Just a call and Gokudera was back to staring. She didn't know how she looked but she could take a guess by the torturous look that appeared on Gokudera's face.

"Juudai-

"Signorina!" Basil halted next to them, panting in relief "You're alright! I'm so glad to see you!"

"Basil. How did you get into this mess?"

"It was terrible" The boy said with a pained gasp "We couldn't find you. You and Reborn-san disappeared, Master was beyond himself with worry, we searched the whole city for weeks! I was patrolling when suddenly, I found myself in this distorted reality"

"How long ago was this?"

"Two months ago"

"No, how long have we been missing?"

"...for two months"

"Fuck"

Tsuna didn't want to even think of her poor mother. How worried and heartbroken she must be… she just couldn't. Thinking about her hurt, not doing so hurt more, and just the idea of her mom waiting for her back home made her wonder and dread the possibility - the knowledge - that in a future not too far away from them, her mother was gone too…

No, stop thinking about it. As much as it made her feel like trash, she couldn't drown in her woes when there were pressing matters at hand. Everyone was right when they said focus on just one thing, otherwise she will go mad. So her mind went back to what Basil said, and it was enough to distract her from everything else.

She breathed out, ignoring the concern stares when it sounded shaky and breathless as she turned to Gokudera, who understood her silent question despite his obvious worry.

"I disappeared one day before you. The baseball idiot, three days after" He said, and the time discrepancy of their own disappearances was disturbing for obvious reasons. Haru disappeared a week after, followed a few days later by Kyoko. Despite having crossed time at different points, they all appeared within hours in this cursed future.

With no answers on their own, they all - but mainly she and Gokudera because she doubts Basil has a mean bone in his body - stared accusingly at Irie for an explanation.

"I- I couldn't bring you all at the same time. The plan, I- well, the plan was to have the future versions of you guide you in the challenges ahead"

Seriously, she was going to get a psychotic breakdown everytime she hears the word 'plan'. Already the voices were too loud, she couldn't hear herself think without her intuition getting triggered or her anger simmering.

So the broken versions of Gokudera and Yamamoto picked her up to cement guilt and determination on her, she was choking on Lambo's anger and grief, she was utterly charmed by Hibari's calm presence and resilience, and blinded by Ryohei's strength and maturity.

How perfect.

How perfectly cruel.

"Why haven't they changed?" She asked, nodding towards Ryohei-senpai, who was still sleeping inside the chamber next to the still unconscious Yamamoto. Chrome, wobbling and hurt, was helping Lal stand up while Lambo was avoiding Kusakabe's concern away from him.

"I don't know" Irie confessed, stressed and resigned "Sasagawa-san was meant to shift any moment now. His guidance through the base was vital, but Hibari-san was also supposed to be here by now, but… Mukuro is saving him for last, I'm sure"

And that was good.

That was good, right? Hibari-san was indisputably the strongest, most violent, protective guardian and person still standing in this desolated future. He could take down an army all by himself and defend their base simply because it was also his. If there was someone who could protect them in their weakest state, then it was him.

But knowing that seeing this version of herself was hurting him was cruel and spiteful. Mukuro was truly a vindictive bastard.

"And the stupid cow?" Gokudera asked, eying the older Lambo with contempt. He no doubtly rescued him and wounded his pride, but that was another can of worms she refuses to address at the moment.

"Lambo-san is a special case" Irie explained with a nostalgic smile. "I didn't want to bring a child here, all we need is the Vongola Rings united. So as soon as the other guardians gathered, I was going to shift Lambo for just 5 minutes to get the ring and send him back right after. But, well… I don't know when"

"Can't you do it now?"

"I'm limited, it's Mukuro-san pulling the trigger, not me. I'd rather not risk trapping Lambo-san here while not knowing where his younger version was"

At least they could agree on that. It didn't explain how or why Mukuro was acting out, but every action was a gamble and Tsuna really didn't want to play being lady luck.

"How are you going to take us back then? If Mukuro is disrupting our present, how can we trust your plan will work?!" Gokudera asked, shouted, still not trusting a single word from Irie.

"As soon as Byakuran is dealt with and the danger's gone, I assure you, everyone will be sent back to their rightful time. Whatever hindrance Rokudo Mukuro is creating, his endgame is to keep Tsunayuuki safe"

Even if it was meant to be reassuring, the doubt was clear in his face at his own words.

"THAT BASTARD IS TREACHEROUS LIAR!" Lambo shouted, making Tsuna wince at the loud volume and the venom in his voice "I will go to the past and kill him myself! Send me back! Right now!"

"I can't! It doesn't work that way" Irie raised his hands, backing away from Lambo angrily advancing towards him.

"Liar! You sent him there!"

"I didn't!"

"And the time misplacement? How are you going to send us back if we came from different periods?" Gokudera asked, not giving Irie a moment to relax or even breathe. And his mistrust and rage was justified, Tsuna didn't care about it anymore.

"When you return to the past, I'll send you all back to one single point in the timeline, the moment where Tsunayuuki-san originally left. Everything that happens after that time will be erased"

"You're splitting the timeline?!" Gokudera exclaimed; perturbed, confused, annoyed and a little bit impressed. He was going to make a lot of theories after today, no doubt. "You'll erase a portion of it!"

"Yes" Irie swallowed, and did his best to compose himself against the hostility around him "But it's a price we're ready to make"

"How villainous of you, Shoichi" The mechanic standing behind her said, calm and bored. He seems to be following the conversation better than Tsuna despite being an outsider.

"Spanner" Irie smiled weakly at him "You betrayed the order and allied yourself with the enemy"

"You send flying rockets and executioner squads after me too"

"I guess I did"

There was a pause after that, everyone just breathing and trying to calm down. It was hard, some of them were still railed up, others were too tired and too hurt to continue an argument, until the silence was broken by Kusakabe.

"It's best to go, we shouldn't linger" He voiced, lifting the unconscious Ryohei on his back. She wondered then if he was involved in 'THE PLAN' too or just going along with Hibari's whims as always.

Tsuna could only nod in silence when everyone turned to look at her for orders, as if she was the one leading the expedition back home when she failed the mission of keeping everyone out of harm's way. She didn't move though, she turned her head towards Irie instead, waiting for his next move.

He nodded at her and fumbled with the computer controls for a bit before a secret door opened on the wall by the other side of the room.

"Please, this way" Irie pointed.

"You're not coming with us" It was both a question and a demand. Irie took no offence to it, doing his best to ignore the glares as he approached Yamamoto to help carry him. His goodwill was ignored though, because Lambo hissed at him and stood in his way, making the double agent back away and nervously tug at his hair.

"No" He shook his head "I'll stay for damage control and go into hiding"

"You're keeping the real machine hidden, why?" Tsuna asked, because might as well she add more questions to the pile.

"In case Cervello turned on me, I had to move it" He said, eyes flickering between the glowing sphere and her nose. It wasn't his glasses frame that prevented him from meeting her eyes "You can see through the illusion"

Obviously.

"Is Cervello working for Byakuran?" Gokudera asked her silent question, ever present and following her thoughts. He was better at knowing and guessing than her, he didn't need voices to guide him. Did he hear voices too?

"They have his best interest, as the supreme party"

"And was Cervello fooled by this illusion? Or does your boss knew all along you were lying?"

"I…" Irie flinched, staring wide-eyed and shaking his head in quick denial. He was careful, meticulous evil in playing his part, and yet, once the seed of doubt was planted, Tsuna could watch all the confidence he built up till this moment fracture.

"Fucking figures" Lal grunted, not giving a fuck anymore and glared at him "Stop the Japanese raids"

"O-Of course. The command has been given. I'll try my best to do damage control. Please, evacuate this base"

They were still slow. Tsuna wasn't moving, she didn't want to be on the front and leave her back exposed, but because she was lingering, everyone else was too. They were clearly waiting for her to take the first step, but her irrational anxiety crippled her to remain where she was. They needed to move, it wasn't safe here and some needed medical assistance; her feet did not move.

"You'd be fine here on your own?" Spanner asked his superior. Ex-superior? Friend? Tsuna wasn't paying attention to their banter earlier but she figures that they knew each other before this mafia business maybe. There didn't seem to be any bad blood between them after practically betraying each other.

"I'll go into hiding if I'm compromised. If you stay, I'm afraid I can't protect you, Spanner"

"I quit" Was the simple response of the mechanic before Tsuna felt a finger poking her face "How about it, Vongola? Will you adopt me?"

"You shameless bastard! Who do you think you are?!" Gokudera roared, swatting the offending finger away from her and forcing Tsuna to move away once Spanner stepped out of his towering stance.

"We're nakama"

"You can't be serious! Juudaime!?"

Tsuna took a breath and gripped her elbows, thinking and considering the pros and cons of bringing an enemy into her little group of misfits. Reborn will approve of her decision anyway.

"Well, you attacked me with war machines, I almost drown and got hypothermia"

"You damn bastard!"

"Vongola-

"And then you handcuffed me and removed my clothes"

"Y-Y-YOU ANIMAL!" Lambo screeched, he would have jumped on Spanner to claw his eyes out if he wasn't carrying Yamamoto on his back. That didn't stop him from taking some of his grenades.

"But you helped me and rescued me, so you're not bad, I guess. And you gave me candy, so it's fine"

There. No matter how she sugarcoated it, it still sounded like a pervert took advantage of her vulnerable state. Gokudera was gripping the mechanic's front clothes, shaking him and threatening him while Basil tried to pacify the situation. At the back, Lambo was still trying to throw some grenades that Irie was trying to talk him out of. If Spanner was on board, he would need to survive the maniacs back home.

With the loud distraction, Tsuna shuffled her way towards her old mentor who has seen better days. Lal was already weak due to the exposure of whatever toxin was in the air, coming here and fighting clearly weakened her more than she was letting on. They shared that in common, at least she knows now where she learned it from.

"Lal"

"Sawada"

"Can you lend me your coat?"

Lal blinked tiredly, dizzy in her own pain until she saw red splatters staining her shoulders.

"Stupid idiot. Fuck!"

"It's fine"

"It's not fine! Shoichi!"

"Lal" Tsuna grabbed her arm and shook her head pleadingly "Lal, it's fine. Please, I just, I just want to leave"

"Are you drugged?"

"Yeah"

"God dammit"

"It's fine"

"Stop saying it's fine!" Lal exclaimed as she, somehow, struggled out of her torn cloak and threw it

"Boss" Chrome wobbled forwards, and knowing her intentions, Tsuna took a step back.

"No, don't" Tsuna muttered as she pulled the coat like an old blanket over her shoulders "Save your energy. Are your guts okay?"

"Fuck" Lal cursed, feeling more tired than a minute ago. "We're leaving, now!"

Nodding silently, Tsuna let Chrome grab a handful of the cloak to walk together towards the hidden exit. Gokudera was at her side the moment she moved, but refrained from helping her walk when she shied away from his hand. She was not going to aggravate his injuries when she could walk in a haze by herself.

"What concerns me the most is the silence." Kusakabe said as soon as they neared his post at the door's frame. "Byakuran must have heard by now of the destruction"

"I tried my best to cut communication-

"He knows" Tsuna said quietly, without knowing, and knowingly all the same.

The sad thing was this operation was supposed to be a catalyst for both sides. For them to gain something and for the enemy to lose something. It was executed with meticulous steps and expectations, but no matter how much he tried to play both sides, Irie's lies were transparent. Byakuran knew all along and was indulging him like a cat playing with a mouse. The doubt from earlier had not left his face, and her words were the stone for his belief to crumble.

It was in that moment that Tsuna felt without the guidance of her intuition, that Irie was truly on their side. She pity him. But that was all she was willing to give him.

"We'll deal with that later, let's go"

They will have to wait for Byakuran's move. Whenever, wherever, Tsuna can try and anticipate him but her head was a mess and she was not in the right state of mind to play oracle. Returning to their home-based was like a daze. One moment she was sitting on a minivan with a sleepy Chrome at her side, the next, she was being guided through illuminated hallways with hanging flowers.

For one second, she thought 'home', but then the coldness of the underground's base damp air hit her and it was like her mind cleared in one red focus.

"Sawada" Lal growled when Tsuna broke away from the group, ignoring worried calls and ducking away from hands that tried to pull her inside the infirmary room.

Whatever it was Spanner gave her was melting, reducing her to a ball of pain and fire. It was like she was being burned alive with every step she took, but she forced her way through cold hallways mocking her memories of a nightmare, childishly hiding the white walls with flowers and fairy lights from the prison it truly was in her mind.

"T̴h̸e̴y̸ ̶l̵i̸e̷d̷ ̶t̸o̴ ̴y̵o̶u̴"

She rounded the corner, the air felt fresher and colder as metal doors opened, and all the pain in her heart and body burned when she met steel eyes.

"You bastard!" She snarled, voice hoarse but loud and strong by the mere rage she was feeling. Her hands shot forward to do… something. Punch. Hit. Claw. Her hands were too numb they barely could clench her fingers on the black suit at her reach, but the intention was there. Hands held her elbows as her body fell forwards, unable to support itself when her back was tearing itself apart.

Hibari's hands were the only thing keeping her from breaking down, the only one still holding her back from sinking into madness. Gentle, cautious, like a mockery of goodwill after falling straight for his trap.

Was it revenge? She kept thinking over and over. Did he truly hate her and strung her along for dark amusement? Was his leniency towards her a lie so perfectly crafted she swallowed it like sweet honey intending to ensnare her. Did he plan to kill her with kindness? Was this the plan they created together?

"t̵h̵e̶y̵ ̶f̷a̶i̴l̸e̴d̴ ̶y̷o̷u̶"

"Why didn't you tell me?" She said, rambled "I knew of the plan! I knew, so why did you kept this from me?! We could have done something! Prepare better!"

"It wouldn't have worked"

"It would!"

It would. It would. Tsuna could have found an alternative, mapped a better route, negotiated, compromised or chalked things up with Irie without having to go there and get hurt. Without having to place her friends in grave danger. If she had known the man they were hunting was their ally all along she would have suggested a better plan.

Not this.

And it was the disregard of her own feelings and voice in the matter that made way for the rage to swirl and boil inside of her, darkening her thoughts at feeling used and betrayed. The rational part of her, the magical side that knew stuff and whispered facts knew that it was not intended to hurt. But the other part, the part that was still her, the wounded, tiny coward, scared-shitless Tsuna, felt hurt.

[Calm down]

"Why did you lie to me?" She asked, begging for a real answer. "We could have fought this together"

"No" Hibari-san said "The only way it would have worked was to fool him"

"He knows!" Tsuna screamed with wild, orange eyes, knowing perfectly well who he was referring to and detesting the reality of it "He knows everything! Did you honestly think you could fool him? He's been playing with you! Just like she did. And you let her!"

"It was a risk we were willing to take"

"Y̵o̸u̴ ̵d̸o̵n̵'̵t̴ ̷n̵e̸e̷d̸ ̷t̸h̸e̸m̶"

Tsuna shook her head, half in denial to his words, half to shake the voices in her head. It was getting harder to concentrate, she didn't know if her body was shaking due to her anger or the pain scalding her back. She wanted to scream and cry and throw up but there was a tight grip on her throat, choking her as she tried to put her emotions into words.

"Was getting hurt part of the plan too? There was no point in sending u-us to a suicide mission when it was fake from the start! I-Irie could have stopped the raids and switched sides! We could have protected him! Us!"

[You need to-]

"

"Shut up!" She snapped to the right, before turning back to a wide-eyed Hibari. "You could have told me-"

"Don't listen to her-"

"No, don't touch me!" She snarled and swatted the hands that tried to hold her face "Training? Experience!? What the fuck was the plan for?! You liar! You lied!"

But he tried. In a way. He told you. In a way. You didn't listen.

No, she argued back, her intuition didn't just pick it up.

You didn't listen.

[Breathe]

"T̴͔͛s̴͔͌u̸̦͂n̷̳͋a̴͓̚"

"Stop!"

"Listen to me-

"I don't trust you! I don't believe you! Just stop"

"Breathe, foolish creature" Tsuna had no energy despite the anger in her veins to stop Hibari-san from forcefully grabbing her face and making her stare up at his grey eyes. Maybe she was finally delirious in pain, but the crazy haze she thinks she saw in them made her shut up "Focus, don't listen to anyone, just me. Here"

And she tried, really, but she was feeling too much, she was choking on it. Though not rambling made her save her breath, her heart and spirit remained agitated, panting and gasping, with tears blurring her sight and pain fraying her thoughts, it was hard to even focus on the person holding her, let alone keep a grasp on her anger.

"You lied to me…"

"Yes"

"Why?" She croaked weakly "I trusted you. I… I almost died"

"You won't" He reassured her despite wiping the tears from her face that he caused "If you had known about the plan, you wouldn't have tried. You'd have given up, like you're now. The flame of resolution you would have created wouldn't have been enough to sustain the ring"

"Since when do you give a damn about it?"

"Your mind is a weapon of self-destruction. The Ring will save your life, but you need to deceive it. Lying is the only option to keep you alive"

"I hate you"

She regretted it as soon as she said it, but her heart didn't lie at that moment.

"Good" Hibari-san said without concern or remorse "If you're hurting, you need to say it"

"It hurts" She cried.

She closed her eyes, and felt her world shift. Maybe she fell to the floor or maybe Hibari was carrying her, she was gone after that. She had no recollection of what happened or was happening, but she remembers flashes. Like waking in a fever daze, words and broken whispers flying and swimming all around her, echoing loud and then fading along with her consciousness.

.

"...-with me"

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"...burn down"

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"She's going-... bleed out"

"...-ew shut"

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"Not enough-..."

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"- and heal"

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"Leave"

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"...-handicap my student!"

"You already did"

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"Get out!"

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"-not yours!"

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"Stop it!"

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"Sawada!"

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[Rest now]

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Waking, Tsuna gasped into awareness, was not a pleasant experience. There was not the usual drowsiness that accompanied her after a harsh beating and finding herself waking in the hospital with her wounds healed and no pain on her system. Gone were the sparks of soothing warm and numbness vibrating on her skin that left her laying on the bed wondering if she was still dreaming.

She was awake and she was in pain.

And instead of feeling disoriented as all the other times she has woken up to the smell of antiseptic and a well-rested sleep, everything felt…off. For one, she was laying on her stomach, her neck cricked to the side and her boobs squished uncomfortably underneath her as she breathed.

For two, her back felt cold but was burning too. Like freezing water sliding on her exposed skin and leaving a mark, it was uncomfortable and she wanted to shy away from the feeling but… she couldn't move.

And that last realisation sent a whole new wave of panic that disturbed whatever was happening to her back. Her toes instantly curled and her hands gripped the sheets at her grasp, but her body remained locked down to the bed. She wasn't restrained by anything, couldn't feel ties or chains but she couldn't move her shoulders or hips, or back and it was hurting-

"You look like a flying fish"

"Reborn"

"You're fine, Dame-Tsuna. It's just anaesthesia"

"I want it gone"

"In a few minutes"

"Reborn"

"Don't be a whiny, Dame-Tsuna. Turn your head, other side" Huffing with difficulties and pain, she shuffled her head on the pillow until she was facing the other side of the room, were the hitman was perched on the bedside table with Leon already crawling off his fedora to jump on the bed and joining her on the pillow. She took a deep breath, but it came out choked and breathless, making the hitman sigh. "Just a few more minutes and you can move, your back needs to absorb the soothing salve to reduce the swelling"

"My back…" If her breath was shaky before, then it was gone with that attempt at a question "It... h-how bad?"

"It will scar"

She nodded quietly. Not really paying attention to the weight of it, trying her best to stay detached to something that should have deeply perturbed her, but wasn't. Not yet.

No, not yet. Her mind was drifting instead to everything else but the gruesome mess that must be her back. She woke up paralyzed on a bed, her nose was stuffy, her head was pounding, her eyes were burning, her boobs were starting to hurt from being squished but most importantly, she remembers the mocking infiltration; her terrible leadership, the hollow feeling of dread and the blazing rage at learning the truth.

She remembers how she dealt with that… or didn't, and how she screamed and cried at Hibari-san. What does it say about her mental state that she cared more about not having the guts to face him again than the wound on her back? Gone was the simmering rage that threatened to set everything ablaze and throw a fiery tantrum, she was just… tired, and hurt and ashamed.

Worried sick about her friends theywerefine and restless at being stuck on the bed. Scars? That didn't matter to her. She's not vain. She has never considered herself a pretty girl or even cared about skincare and such, but the hysterical part of her that remains frozen though summer was going to be a nightmare with all the layers to keep her back hidden. Because if it was bad, and it must be terrible, then there was no way she was going to show it to anyone.

But she wasn't going to think about it, how or why.

"You're overthinking"

"I'm not even talking"

"You don't have to"

"Can I move now?" She sighed heavily, shutting her eyes and doing her best not to squirm when she felt tingling all over her back.

"Two more minutes." Reborn said before adding "You keep burning Leon's efforts. He won't clothe you anymore"

"I should have worn a bullet vest"

"Too heavy"

"Then make Leon create a lighter one! How is wool supposed to protect me against a blade?!"

"Don't take it on him"

"Sorry" She blinked her eyes open to stare at the green chameleon staring back at her stolidly "Leon, sorry"

If magical chameleons could purr, she was sure Leon would be doing that as he crawled closer to lick her forehead. She had resigned to her fate of being covered in slime but accepted the small affections with a throbbing heart. She was NOT going to cry again, she can't, especially not in front of Reborn while she was half naked. Bianchi - and she hopes that it was her and not Haru or god forbid, Kyoko - and wasn't that something else she was going to ignore - had put on her a string crop top to hide her modesty while leaving her back uncovered to whatever treatment they did on her, but she still felt too exposed laying like this.

While she had calmed down, or maybe that was the painkillers keeping her tamed, the anxiety, fear and indignation was still there, just dormant. Her heart was still beating broken shards, trying to stab anyone at this point in an attempt to get rid of the pain.

"Why didn't you come?" She asked in a whisper, knowing it was childish but that's all her heart was screaming at now, the blame shifted.

"You know I couldn't"

"And that stopped you? Giannini could have created a transport or a communicator or something!"

"It wasn't ready in time" He stated with a sharp edge in his voice, meaning he demanded one to be built and was dissatisfied with the slow results. She wanted to argue that Leon could have gone with her, but with how uncertain things were, keeping Reborn weaponized with a shapeshifting weapon while he remained trapped underground was probably for the better.

God, he must be going crazy too. At least Tsuna can go out to breathe without the air killing her…but now she was glued to a bed, they wouldn't let her wander anymore.

"I wasn't ready"

"No" He agreed "You were not"

"And you still let me go alone?"

"I can't have you depend on me forever, Dame-Tsuna" He sighed "I can teach you everything, I can give you everything, I'm your hitman tutor after all. Your success is mine, but there'll come a time where I won't be there to chose for you"

"I keep choosing" She mumbled with closed eyes "For myself, for them, but no one is listening. No one…"

No one is listening.

She keeps refusing, and talking back, stubbornly trying to maintain her integrity and choices hers, naively choosing the cowardly option of self-protection and wanting to run just run, run, run away from this, but her words were like grains of sand drifting in comparison to the solid stones keeping her down. Her choices had become muddled and wet and she was sinking in them. And not just that, but she was dragging her friends in it too.

Will they blame her for this?

"You're overthinking again, shut it"

How can she stop thinking? How can she stop worrying about everything and everyone? There was so much happening and so much yet to happen, she can't just ignore everything and everyone until the last moment. There was no warning for a last moment, this future was proof. She couldn't keep delaying stuff and conversations and truths when at any moment things could turn so bad and disappear from her reach.

She can't keep pretending to be fine when her mind was fracturing and her thoughts were floating like smoke and mirrors. Not even the pain and guilt can stop the whispers of knowledge or the what if's and maybe's and did's and does, nor can the dread and exhaustion silence the loud wails of what she became, might be becoming and can become if she doesn't do something.

"What is it, Dame-Tsuna?"

"I thought you told me to shut up"

"I meant your mental spiralling"

"Did you know it was a plan?" She started with the freshest wound that could not be healed, not even by magical flames "All this time, everything, it was a set-up, made by us. For us. I just… how could I do something like that? I have been trying so hard not to be- and yet I… How can I endanger them like that? Bringing them here when we are at our weakest I- I'm a horrible person"

"You're a Mafia Boss"

"That's even worse!"

And it was poetic in the most brutal way how she refuses to become Vongola Decimo; even still, despite knowing her future self gave in at some point in time, ruined the world, her friends and their lives, died, ruined the past selves of her friends and world twice over and yet it was Tsuna herself who got branded because of it.

Memories were easy to replace and eventually they could disappear the more she ignored them, but scars will forever remain engraved on her. How can she even try to escape the Mafia with a cross mark on her back now?

"I don't know what the entire plan was, but there's one thing I am sure of," Reborn said in a levelling voice, one she needed to hear before as much as she did now "You wouldn't have brought important people to a dangerous place if you didn't trust them to fight and survive on their own"

"I… But what if-

"It didn't" He cut her off with the same confidence in his tone "Good work out there, Dame-Tsuna. Although part of it was manipulated by Irie, you still brought everyone back in one piece and they did so by their own efforts too. Scars on the back don't mean cowardice. You were just too slow to dodge and we'll fix that. It's in the past now, you survived it. Now you move on"

She breathed in, and then out.

"…did you check Yamamoto's head?"

"Fuuta is monitoring his concussion. No fracture"

"Good. That's good. And Chrome?"

"Sleeping and will recover. I-Pin is lending her flames to keep her stable"

"A-And Gokudera?"

"With Bianchi" The need I say more? was loudly implied, and just like that a heavy weight was lifted from her shoulders. There was still so much more to unpack, the fear of what they all thought of her now that they knew it was a set-up made by her, for one, but knowing they were all safe and sound was tangible. Or maybe it was the anaesthesia finally running down, she just felt lighter.

"Spanner gave me a rundown of your fights. Good job recruiting him"

"...knew you'd approve"

"But your timing needs improvement and that air attack needs polishing"

"It's really cool, right?"

"It's a hindrance. You waste time to charge it and leaves you open for attacks"

"I can use a flame gun"

"No" He immediately rejects her idea "You're already copying Xanxus too much"

"I do not!"

"What inspired you to fuel your power?"

Rage.

Anger.

Acidic resentment.

Xanxus on a bad day.

Tsuna in a very bad moment.

"I also thought of my friends" She defended herself weakly.

"Hmm"

Whatever. Being compared to Xanxus was not an insult to her, and it's true she tried to channel him because that's her image of safety and victory. But it is also true that while she raged and burned, what was really fuelling her anger was getting her friends to safety.

"Does it get easy?"

"What does?"

"The missions, leading"

"I have never led before" Reborn confessed. It should have been taken as arrogance, that as the number one hitman of the world, he didn't need a team to lead and was the best at working alone. To Tsuna at that moment, it sounded lonely.

"As a tutor, you have"

And look at how that turned out. Dino, despite his clumsiness and whining and zero confidence in himself, turned out to be a proper and noble Mafia Boss. The irony was not lost to them, but both chose not to comment on Reborn's other student who failed miserably.

"Why did you want to be a hitman?" He asked her instead, and the question was enough to make her groan in embarrassment at her own stupidity.

"I just… Fuck, it's so stupid, I- I wanted to be strong and have adventures and fight bad guys, not this. I never- It's so stupid"

"Someone who kills, someone who lies. The difference between a Boss and a sicario is the one giving the orders and the one who acts on them. You can still be a hitman and become a Mafia Boss, but tell me, Dame-Tsuna, do you have the guts to pull the trigger when someone tells you to do it?"

Didn't she do that already?

She kept putting blame on others. In her future self, in Hibari-san, in Irie, Reborn… when in truth she alone was responsible for giving up and doing as told either out of fear or selfishness. Unintentionally, she had become the hitman of her future self, going according to plan, executing orders and hurting others for the sake of a bigger plan.

Then that thought opened a door she was not expecting, something that she should have considered, but hadn't. There were no thoughts when she blasted her way through the underground base, no remorse or guilt or fear that someone could get hurt. That someone could die because of her fire, of her destruction and rampage…

It felt easy, somehow. Daemon and Xanxus and Squalo had so long drilled a survival code into her tiny brain, to kill or be killed, to lie or be hurt, to choose or let others ruin you… There was no right and wrong in her mind so long as she survived. As long as everyone she cared for survived, she didn't mind becoming a hitman.

But as the supposed leader, what has she done to prevent others from getting hurt? She can keep lying, and pushing, blaming and taking the bullet, but…

"Should I tell them to pull the trigger instead?" She asked, knowing she will never do it.

"You are the Boss. What would you tell them to do?"

Hibari-san had asked something similar before he sent her to walk on a minefield.

"I want to go home" She confessed just as honestly as she did before. "Back before, before everything"

Before you. She didn't say, but knew Reborn heard it all the same by the silence that fell between them.

It was not, not-not, true. She hated how everything changed the day the hitman came knocking at their door. How he forced her to do things, fight people she didn't want to, made her talk, made her fly, made her cry and scream and breathe fire. But she has gained so much more too, it was dishonest if she didn't admit that she couldn't even have friends, real friends, if Reborn hadn't pushed her.

Albeit with a gun aimed at her head, bruised knees and constant passive-aggressive threats, her heart had mended just as much as it had been broken.

There was an apology stuck in her throat, she opened her eyes to see if it weighed him as much as it did her, but his attention was elsewhere despite his presence at her side. He looked on edge. Reborn after a battle has always been calm and snidey, reproaching her mistakes and letting her vent, indulging her rants and arguing back for the sake of having the last word.

He was letting her vent now, but it was one sided. She didn't know how the attack on their side ended. She knows the girls were alright and if they were back then the base wasn't destroyed, but it was the first time seeing him look so silent and distant, more like he was waiting to battle the grim reaper than waiting for her to wake up.

"Did you kill someone?" She asked jokingly, because she was curious, but didn't have the thick face to outrightly ask him 'what's wrong with you?'.

"Your dragon has become senile"

"My…?" It took her a long moment to realise who he was talking about and even longer to connect what his deal was. "You fought with Hibari-san?!"

"The punk tried"

Huh.

"Did you win?"

"Of course I did"

Of course he did.

Tsuna was not going to step over that mine. Even if she was curious as hell, it didn't surprise her if Reborn found out the truth and got mad, she was pissed too. And it made her remember her earlier breakdown.

"I said something I shouldn't"

"You do that all the time" His reply didn't make her feel any better, and he knew that because she sighed "They made their choices, Dame-Tsuna. They all did. You're here as backup, not their saviour"

"When we go back, we'll destroy this timeline" She said, trying to make him understand the guilt that was eating her at what they were forcing her to do "Reborn, we will kill this future"

"Good"

She swallowed, which was hard to do when doing it face down. But that, having that validation of her selfish feelings felt good in a twisted way.

"Do you wish to linger?"

"No" She said "Does that make me evil?"

"No"

And that was that.

Sighing deeply, she tried to move her body and was pleased to notice she had gained mobility in her shoulders and legs. Whatever they gave her was running out, and the good thing was that the pain was fading too.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"One day. You're taking less to recover, that's good"

She grimaced, not wanting that to become a skill to be proud of.

"Can I move now?"

Reborn sighed, and she took it as permission to wiggle around, testing the feeling of her beaten body. She deserved a hot bubble bath after this, and ice-cream. Lots of ice-cream, maybe some bubble tea and cake. As she was considering her consolation prize - more like a bribe from them to her for cleaning their mess - something orange sitting next to a kettle and cup by Reborn's side grabbed her attention.

"What is that?"

"It's yours" He pushed it towards her dismissively, and if it weren't for Leon sticking his tongue out to grab it, it would have fallen to the floor. "Irie delivered it, it's Vongola's secret weapons''

I have a box? Was her first thought as Leon showed her the orange box, followed by 'of course she had a box, stupid Tsuna'. She wasn't expecting it, although if Gokudera was using his future-self weapon and her bloody mittens still fit, it was only rational that they could use other stuff from the future

Fitting how they were rewarded with powerful weapons after the fiasco of the base infiltration where even a gun would have come in handy. She really wanted to punch Irie in the face again.

Feeling her legs still like noodles, she incorporated herself up with her elbows to grab the box and stare down at it. It was beautiful and different from the others she has seen so far. More expensive looking, majestic with ornate details in gold and colourful gems embedded at the top surrounding the ringhole. And branded at all sides was the Vongola crest to make it obvious who it belonged to.

She didn't know what was inside, but somehow, this orange box felt so different to the one she held oh so long ago. Where then it felt like clasping ice, this one felt like holding a little heartbeat in her hands.

"You won't open that unless you're under direct supervision, Dame-Tsuna"

"Got it"

She will break that promise eventually, and Reborn knew that too but they didn't bother to call out the lie. All Tsuna wanted was t e.

"Bianchi should be coming to put some bandages on you"

"Is Ryohei-senpai okay?"

"He's sleeping. He woke up to heal you all despite his exhaustion. He grew up well"

"Yeah"

She dropped the box on the pillow so that she could use her hands and push herself up. It was hard and a testament of how much control she had of her body, she was sweating by the time she managed to turn around and panting when she finally sat up with her back hunched. She was too tired to cheer her success and was thankful that Reborn did not made fun of her efforts.

With a tired sigh, she grabbed the orange box back in her hands and took a moment to just breathe. Not think, just breathe in this small moment of rest. Even if she could hear the wisps of her intuition at the back of her mind, she told herself loudly in her head all the sweet stuff she was going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner until the strong smell of berries invaded her senses and diverted her attention back to her guardian devil.

"Drink that"

Ah, it was the tea with gold sparkles again. Tsuna grabbed the warm cup with one hand and held the box with the other one. Although she was thankful not to wake up with needles pumping fluids to her dry body, she realised how thirsty and dehydrated she was as the warm liquid quickly soothe her entire being, sending a tingling sensation down her back as she gulped, and clearing the remaining fog the anaesthesia had her in.

Was the tea magical? She wondered as she finished the cup, feeling more awake and cognisant than before.

"Is that communicator ready?"

"Spanner addition is pushing Giannini to his limits, yes"

"That's good"

She placed the empty cup in her lap and her box over it, holding both objects that radiated warm despite being empty in her hands. There was something she wanted to do, stupid and reckless, and it spoke volumes that Reborn either knew her so well or he really could read minds. Both were scary notions.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"I need to threaten a nerd"

.

.

.

When Irie woke up that day, after puking his breakfast, lunch and half his soul, he wasn't expecting to see glaring orange eyes and a green gun aimed at his face so early in the morning.

"Start talking, Irie"

"H-How did you find me so quickly?"

"Spanner" Tsuna had no qualms of throwing the mechanic under the bus, who eagerly showed her his improved creation of some funky-looking headphones Giannini was working on to allow a visage of Reborn to go out.

Among the basic traits like communication and led-lights for night usage, they were connected to the contact lenses she was still wearing, how her eyes hadn't dried and infected supported the mechanic's skills as they also had the option to vocalise the level of flames she was using so as to not overexert herself.

Even the hitman was impressed by them. AND although they were a bit bulky on her, they had cute little cat ears. Tsuna had to give this round to Spanner as the winner. Giannini was left crying on a handkerchief when she walked out. It was ridiculous as much as ironic and a little pathetic that she felt like a little kid dressing up like a spy for an infiltration, only that instead of going in, she was going on.

She shouldn't even be walking, let alone out of the base but after Bianchi came by to wrap her entire torso with bandages and being crushed in a hug, she didn't want to submit herself to the smothering worry and relief the of girls however sincere and well-intended, so she escaped as soon as she could.

And no matter how much she wanted to see her friends first thing, Irie and his schemes were more important to prevent any other casualties on their part as soon as possible. So with Reborn's permission, Leon as backup, and her Vongola Ring heavily wrapped in chains, she sneaked out of their safeground and went to school.

It was like a simple Tuesday morning, taking the bus and going to Namimori. When she realised where her intuition was leading her she stopped multiple times and almost went back, afraid she was going to meet Hibari-san in his territory and feeling scared and ashamed because she was not ready to face him, but ultimately Reborn's ghost kicked her to keep moving.

The school had closed down, seeing as this was Vongola's marked territory. She was careful not to be spotted but true to his word, there were no patrols of soldiers as Irie had promised, her intuition could not even pinpoint a wary stranger when her paranoia was at her highest. It has been fooled multiple times now, so she couldn't rely much on it anymore. So she was careful and felt more confident when it was Reborn directing her to take shortcuts instead of her usual route.

She never thought she would miss school like this, but looking at the empty building, she felt a pang of grief by just staring at it.

If it weren't for Leon's slimy tongue urging her to walk, she would have stayed there like an idiot in an oversized hoodie and cat ears. If Reborn was tangible, she knew he would be pulling at her hair to get her to move too, so warily she sneaked through the back, right through the gym entrance that was heavily coated by strong mist flames.

Although not good ones because she slipped right through with ease.

First thing she noticed was that the abandoned school was not abandoned. There were dusted boxes and cobwebs everywhere, but there were shiny cables that led to the underground basement where Yamamoto fought Squalo for the ring and the latter was then eaten by a shark.

The ground was covered by more mist flames, like a rug hiding a secret tap floor. She knelt and peered bellow, now grateful that the hitman couldn't kick her down. Instead, Leon transformed into a ladder and she took her own time to slowly make her way down. The air was damp and dusty, the basement dark and cold. There didn't seem to be anything inside, not even the headphones led lights and Leon's in a flashlight showed any doors or secret walls.

Begrudgingly, she listened to her intuition, and it guided to the right side of the area, where after focusing on it, she was able to sense and feel stronger mist flames than the ones at their own base, but she recognized them instantly.

They were Mukuro's.

Keeping that discovery to herself, she let the cool flames brush past her as she trusted them and walked inside the void that led to the secret room hiding underneath Namimori school.

The metallic sphere was looming over them, casting a luminous shine on the room and every machine around it. It was a mess, with papers and gears and tools laying all around, but the important thing was that the sphere was real and the red-haired man who gave them so much trouble was dozing on the computer in front of her.

That won't do.

And so, here they were. Tsuna knew she didn't look threatening in her current state no matter how much she was holding back from doing something childish as kicking Irie's paperwork, but even if Reborn was a hologram, his unblinking black eyes were still ominous and staring down at Irie's very soul. It was gratifying seeing him flinch and become an utter mess by their mere presence.

"I owe you two an apology" Irie said, composing himself by being startled awake into fright before bowing to them "From the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry"

And he was sincere, but Tsuna was still pissed.

"No more lies, Irie" Reborn said at her shoulder, his voice carrying the same weight despite not being physically present "What the hell is going on?"

Irie, with ruffled hair, black bags under his eyes and baggy clothes that put hers to shame, took a deep breath.

"10 years ago, or rather, in your time, a few months before you came here, I met Lambo-kun and by some turn of events, I ended up travelling to the future myself. I didn't know you then, or anything about the Mafia. I saw myself studying something I did not want to, so when I returned, I decided to change it. And I did, a few times. I-I changed my future"

"Your past wasn't affected"

"No" Irie confessed with a sad smile "Nothing changed, until I met him. Byakuran"

"I don't understand" Tsuna frowned. "If you changed the future, and the past didn't, why are you making me change this one?"

As if expecting the question, Irie fixed his glasses in a nervous manner and took more time to answer. But when he did, both she and Reborn were listening attentively.

"I'm insignificant in the bigger scale of your fate. You are a fixed point in the multiverse. A Nexus so to speak. You may be different in shape, gender or age in other worlds, but your soul will always be directly tied to the Vongola Rings set. You are connected with Byakuran and the Sky Arcobaleno, the other Nexus points. Your actions influence and change one another, like gears of a clock. Working separately yet connected to a tune of the World" Irie explained, swallowed, before continuing "But I'm not connected to you. I can travel to the past and future and change my history, but my actions won't hinder yours, because we're not tied together"

This was more Gokudera's expertise, timelines and multiverses, Tsuna was barely keeping up with what he was saying. Should she have waited a day after she woke from being carved like a pumpkin?

"If you aren't tied to Tsuna, why do you know so much about us?" Reborn ask. He either knew what Irie was saying or he was too good at pretending and fishing for more information.

"Because my role has always been to awaken Byakuran's cognition of the multiverse, thus allowing him to travel and see beyond our current reality. Doesn't matter how many times I change the past, present or future, my fate is linked with Byakuran's only. Even if I stay hidden and never use the time machine, I will always meet him somehow and trigger his memories into power. That's why my actions didn't hurt you. My changes were minuscule to your axis, because they ran in different orbits"

"Then answer me this" Tsuna crossed her arms and stared at him "What does Byakuran want with me?"

"To answer that, I'll have to ask you a question. Tsunayuuki, what do you know about the tri-ni-sette?"

There was that word again that brought cold hands gripping her very soul.

She shook her head slowly.

"...Vongola, the Arcobaleno, and someone else. They protect the World"

"The Mare" Irie nodded and took another deep breath "As I said before, you, Byakuran-san and The Sky Arcobaleno, you three are so intricately connected, the actions of one influences the other two, like gears moving in synchrony. With the Vongola Rings holding the Sky, the Mare Rings the Seas, the Arcobanelo are the core that lights a path and connects the World's axis into the timeline it spins in"

"I thought it was seas, rainbows and clams?"

"In a way, all in name that's what they are" Irie gave her a wry smile before it slid off "At their core, they are so much more. Without one, the other ones can't function. Without them, the World can't exist"

"What does that mean?"

Irie paused, fixing his glasses again, giving a quick look at Reborn, before turning to look at her.

"The Mare holder has the power to travel between worlds. He knows that with both the Arcobaleno and Vongola rings destroyed, this timeline and World are on the brink of collapsing. Even with the rings reappearing, without the Arcobanelo pacifiers, there is nothing to prevent the erasure of this world. Byakuran intents to use you and the Sky Arcobaleno to power up the time-machine and travel to a specific point of the past, eventually breaking time and space to rewrite history"

"I get that, but why did he want me before? The future me, before the ring destruction"

"I wasn't privy to the relationship he intended with you-

"Of course you weren't" Tsuna hissed to herself, but Irie still flinched as he continued more meekly.

"He claimed the Sky Arcobaleno. The one who keeps all the pieces controls the tri-ni-sette. And so, they control the World. Byakuran-san has always wanted to control time, that I know. The union between Vongola and Gesso was to take over the Vongola set, most likely. Then you had the rings destroyed, and all the pieces fell there after"

"The Arcobaleno died before Tsuna did" Reborn stated, making both of them flinch for different reasons. "Why did Byakuran instigated the war?"

"T-There are some misconceptions that need to be addressed. Ahh… F-First of all, Byakuran-san was not the one that poisoned the air with the toxin, it was Verde"

"What?"

This was news to Reborn too, because he shared her incredulous stare to confirm the authenticity of Irie's words. Knowing he was telling the truth but being careful at also knowing he could fool her intuition, Tsuna nodded slowly, making Reborn stare at Irie to make him continue, who looked more nervous than before.

"When the Sky Arcobaleno was captured and the rings destroyed, both Verde and Viper took matters into their own hands. I really… I can't speak for them, forgive me, all I know is what I gathered by their actions but by creating the toxin, they removed themselves from the situation before Byakuran could get to you. Some went fighting, others weren't so lucky…"

"They don't know" Tsuna realized in new found horror, guilt and rage "Lal doesn't... Why did you hide this?"

"I truly thought it was Byakuran-san until recently too. It didn't make sense for him to kill them if he needed them. But after the Arcobaleno's death, he started desynchronizing. It took you dying for him to completely declare war on Vongola. But he didn't-... the one who killed you-

"I know" She stopped him from finishing that sentence for her own sake rather than anyone else's "It wasn't him"

Irie blinked. Confused at her words, their meaning, before realization hit and grief completely overtook his expression.

"I-I see"

Before Tsuna could poke on that, Reborn took over the interrogation.

"So, Byakuran knows you can mess with time. He made you build the machine to bring the rings and pacifiers back, why haven't you?"

"The machine won't work like that. To his knowledge, I'm still working on it. But I constructed it to work specifically with the flames integrated in it. I only took Vongola's and Reborn's samples. So other than you, the Arcobanelo won't return"

"You shut down his perfect utopia, and without the knowledge of time-machines or access to the multiverse, he relies on your information and effort to build it but you gained us time by putting it off. He must know by now it does work and that Vongola has returned. What other plans are in motion that we don't know of?"

"Just stop him" Irie said with grief still colouring his voice "Stopping Byakuran at this point will prevent his past version from gaining full power. It will not destroy his past self, rather it will seal his power as a keyholder of the tri-ni-sette because that's the Will of the remaining fraction. That's why we gambled by bringing you here. I knew it'd be hard and cruel, to force you to grow up so fast, but ironically, we're running out of time too. If the future collapses, so will your past and the World with it"

"How?" Tsuna asked "I kill him and just like that I fix the World from falling down?"

"Just as so"

Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Nothing made sense to her. Nevermind that she doesn't understand the time/space logic Irie was speaking of, but something wasn't connecting, just like Irie's villainous speech didn't seem right when he had her friends under gunpoint while actively healing them.

This is what she knows: Byakuran wanted to change the World. Why? Reasons. He needed the Arcobaleno pacifiers and Vongola rings. Somehow, this didn't appeal to some people to the point of basically committing suicide and killing others to prevent it, destroying any chances of paradise Byakuran was looking for. Then she died. She forced Mukuro to kill her to trick Byakuran that he had lost. Making double-agent Irie build the machine and kill any Vongola associates.

But this is what she doesn't know: If she didn't have the ring by then, why was her death the catalyst that started the war?

She had questions, so many, and secrets, but she couldn't trust Irie or herself to listen to the answers right now. Coming here was a mistake. She has a headache despite her wounds being healed and feeling no pain in her body. Truly, it was a very bad idea coming here. She imagined cursing and hitting Irie, not magic-jumbo big words her brain couldn't understand.

"So what now?" She sighed tiredly "We levelled up and gained equipment, when do we face the boss?"

"Varia is still engaging Byakuran forces. They will delay as long as it takes for you all to rest. Truthfully, I know you know that he knows but, his silence is keeping me on edge. I did my best for damage control here, but be alert. He will call at anytime to demand something under a threat"

"What will you be doing until then?"

"I'm finishing building a teleportation device for emergency escapades. When I'm too nervous I tend to just work until collapse or I'll puke"

Tsuna almost snorted at that, but she wanted to be professional and not make friends with people who were going to basically die because of her, so she crossed her arms, all threats gone from her system despite not making any. At least they managed to spook him awake, and he could tell they were righteously angry so his anticipated nervousness about what they could do to him should be enough torture for now.

But if there were any more hidden plans, Tsuna was going to quit.

"I would advise not moving much just in case we're being hunted" Irie said after everything was said "Spanner has my frequency, if something happens on both ends, we'll message. For now, rest as much as you can. And, Tsunayuuki, even if the stage was set for you, you can decide how to proceed next"

It's your choice how you kill a madman, it's what it meant and Tsuna bristled, feeling patronised. And just because she was feeling petty, she didn't hold back a sneer.

"What did Hibari-san do when you desecrated the school grounds and coated it with Mist flames?"

Irie then looked like the personification of misery and depression at her jab.

"He bit me to death"

.

.

.

The walk back was as easy as it was earlier. No one stopped her though some heads were turned, no one rose suspicion or followed her

The hoodie had pockets, and inside it she found some coins, so she treated herself to bubble tea. She stabbed the straw in and angrily chewed on the pearls as she considered murder. If these guys had given them so much trouble, a gun won't do. Why has no one considered Bianchi cooking for him and thus poisoning him baffled her, but it was on her list on how to kill the guy.

"Do you trust him?" Tsuna asked Reborn.

"He seems honest, and it connects with what we knew so far. Do you?"

"I don't know anymore"

What was so horrible that the Arcobaleno had to die? Why did Byakuran attacked Vongola if we didn't initiate the destruction? What killed Reborn? That last question she kept putting at the back of her mind suddenly resurfaced with new force. He was a prideful being, something silly as a toxin in the air wouldn't deter him from going out and fighting, but what if someone got him instead? Did she die first or was it the other way around?

Someone had the answers to those questions, but they were withholding the information intentionally. Lambo didn't know, Ryohei-senpai wouldn't talk, Hibari was out of the questions and the only one who could answer was currently MIA in some possessed body, so it truly was a guessing game at this point with her wonky intuition.

When they returned to the base, as everyone was either sleeping, unconscious or keeping the injured company, she had no trouble sneaking right in. It helped that Lal was among the unconscious, at which Tsuna immediately felt guilty. Lal has been fighting for their sake when it was their side that killed half the Arcobaleno… will she blame her? She was so scared of her reaction at finding the truth, she half hoped for it to never come out and just erase this whole mess.

And for some ridiculous reason, she still wasn't allowed near Chrome.

Now more than before, she was turned away by a shouting Lambo, who didn't know if he should scold her for being out of bed or give ridiculous excuses as to why she was not allowed to see her. Tsuna screamed back at him, and their shouting match was interrupted by Ipin gently leading her towards the other side of the base, where her other friends were resting.

She was still fuming when she opened the door of the med-room, Reborn having long disappeared from her side, so she was on her own when she walked inside as quietly as could, only to brighten when her eyes met sea-foam green.

"Hey"

"Juudaime" Gokudera exclaimed, perking up from his place in the bed and discarding an old book Bianchi probably left for him. He looked better, less ruffled although his entire body was covered in bandages, no doubt hiding healing burns. Yamamoto, Basil and Ryohei-senpai were all asleep in the other beds, nothing was beeping nor were cables connected to them, so it was a double sign that they were recuperating.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she closed the door gently.

"I'm alright. Juudaime got hurt too"

"... a little"

"I'm-

"Don't" She stopped his apology with an aborted motion of her hands. "If anyone, I'm the one who should say sorry. It was me who made this plan and set you guys on that mission while knowing the consequences"

"A future version of Juudaime"

"It's still me, someone I can grow up to be"

"Maybe, but I don't think you understand" Gokudera said in a soft voice "The future sometimes is set in stone, someone gentle can grow to be cruel, someone lost can be found, but in the end there's always a choice"

He raised a hand, beckoning her closer. Tsuna breathed before she took that hand letting herself be pulled.

"You can order us to take the fall, but at the end of it all, it is still our decision to act and follow. If right now you asked me to pull the trigger blindly, I wouldn't do it because the future version of my Boss planned it so, or well yeah, I would too! You have me, always! But…" He sighed and shook his head, looking down at their fingers "You lost them, and they lost you, and if there's a chance to be happy again, even if it means sacrificing our hearts like this, I'd do it in a heartbeat too, no hesitation"

"Silly"

She sat next to him, relishing the simple fact that she could do that. To be at ease with someone and have comfort after a nightmare without being judged, it was new but so very nice. It almost felt like she didn't deserve it, but those calloused fingers did not let go.

"If you want to cry, I promise I won't tell anyone"

She sniffed and shook her head, convincing herself that crying her heart out would be useless, instead she shifted closer to rest her head on his shoulder and just…. breathe.

"It's a mess" She confessed in a whisper "This future, what we did…"

"We are gonna get through this, and found our way to the past, I promise"

"Irie was talking about multiverses and nexus points. I'm so lost, I don't know what to do"

"That bastards deserves to grovel for forgiveness"

"He apologised, and he looks miserable eating cup noodles and sleeping underneath the school"

"Juudaime went out?!"

Oops.

"Reborn was with me"

"Reborn-san can't go out! Juudaime, that was so reckless! I should have been there! I should have-

"It's fine, it's fine, don't move your shoulder, my neck hurts"

"Please forgive my bony shoulders!"

"Why are you apologising for that?!"

"Ma… you guys… are so loud"

"Yamamoto!" She sprang from one bed and jumped to the other one to peer down at blinking brown eyes "Are you okay? Can you see me?"

"Tch, you had Juudaime worried, baseball freak"

"I'm fine. I'm fine, ahh. My head hurts"

"You almost cracked your skull, idiot!"

"No wonder" He laughed breathlessly and grinned tiredly at Tsuna "We made it back"

She was NOT going to cry.

Sniffing as quietly as she could, she covered his eyes with one hand.

"G-go back to sleep, I'll bring some food"

"Juudaime-

She should bring Bianchi or whoever was responsible for the patients, but she was out of the room before she could give another excuse and closed the door before they could even attempt to follow.

Shuddering in her hands, she closed her eyes.

Her insides felt like they were stuffed with cotton candy. It felt good and bad as she wanted to preserve the feeling but melt at the same time. Feelings suck, but they were nice from time to time she supposes. It's been hard, but she has learnt that it is okay to feel hurt, be selfish and cry. It was also okay to feel guilt, shame and anger. Her feelings and emotions were valid, and that was okay.

She was not running away from it, not really. She just didn't know how to deal with too many emotions at the same time. Seems like they were right to say to focus on just one thing, but how to choose what was more important? Her relief or her hurting?

All that mattered was that they were okay, against all odds they survived the first battle. And while she knows that even if she says no, they will still follow her into the unknown.

It cemented a resolution in her. She wanted to protect her friends and the happy space they had created back home, and if there was a chance, however small it might be, of never becoming her future self who so easily discarded that sanctuary for something as big as the world, then she was going to take it.

Even if it means fighting someone against her will, again.

Even if it means enduring and falling and hurting, for her friends, and their chosen future, she'll fight.

For them, she'll live, whatever it takes.

.

.

.

The night was tense but quiet.

Everyone woke up at some point, and although some needed more rest than others, there was a small feast in the med-room. Tsuna couldn't hide from the girls anymore by then, and she was so lucky that they weren't there to welcome them back until after the blood had been washed away. Seeing the volume of damage would scare them, Tsuna didn't have the energy to lie and say it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

But there were no questions asked about the infiltration, rather, they all bullied poor Basil into integrating fully to the group. It was endearing and funny, but the day caught up to them so quickly, as soon as dinner was over, she finally escaped to her room for her needed bubble bath.

She wasn't supposed to have one to prevent the bandages from getting soaked, but she deserved one. Nevermind the relaxing ritual, Tsuna thoroughly scrubbed the dirt and dried blood still glued to her skin. She did that mechanically with no thoughts other than scrunching her nose at the sudden smell of burnt sugar apples despite dunking half the bottle of strawberry lotion into the water.

She stayed in the water for a long time, with the odd thought that she should brood in a bigger body of water where she could sink and hide completely, like the sea… She shook her head, and sank lower. Was Irie able to brainwash her too? Ever since their talk, she hasn't been able to get her mind out of all the words and implications made.

Just one wisp was enough to weave a thread of thought, like a spider-web sticking in the corner, Tsuna was a mere moth unable to escape it.

Byakuran was connected to the sea, and Tsuna to the sky despite feeling like a broken mollusc floating aimlessly in the waves. She was supposed to be free and unchained, everyone said so but gravity was keeping her grounded somehow; by a ring, by blood, by fate…

How ironic.

Stop thinking.

Should she get drunk? Was she too young to get drunk? Xanxus used to drink a lot, but it only made him angrier. Sometimes it made him quiet. But it was mostly always silent anger. How can they keep the fire without it burning them? She didn't want to burn anymore.

Sighing deeply, it was only when her fingers were pruned and tingling did she step out with the new challenge of putting the bandages back on. Tsuna has not seen it, despite Bianchi's assurances that it had healed pretty well, she was terrified of even acknowledging what was on her back. If the bandages had to stay on, then they will stay. If she has to remove them for bathing, then she will not peek.

She closed her eyes as she did her best to wrap her torso, and she kept them half closed as she patted the sink for a hoodie to wear over, a new one. She has many fluffy hoodies in the closet for her to pick.

As it was late, and the chances of bumping into someone roaming around were high, she had half the mind to lock her door before grabbing another lotus candle she found in a drawer and sitting in the middle of her bed with her legs crossed to just… do something without doing anything. Meditating didn't work on her, but pretending to do so was a good way to pass time until sleep overtakes her.

It was also a softer version of torturing herself. She knew what she would think if she played with the candle, but she still chose to hold it in her hands and peer silently at the unlit wick. She wanted to apologise to Hibari-san, she didn't know how, when or why - she was still angry and felt like he didn't deserve it - but she didn't want to fight.

Not with him. Not like this.

Groaning softly, she pursed her lips and glared at the candle.

I should apologise, she ranted in her mind, but even if it was true, the candle did not light.

I want to kick Irie's ass, she thought next, a little annoyed and the flame pulsed weakly to life.

I want to go back home, she pleaded sincerely, home with my friends and the little flame responded.

I have to kill Byakuran, she tried to cement the thought but the flame died as if someone had blow it out.

Waving away the wisps of smoke, she kept chanting wishes and hopes of returning to her past, to her mother and lively house with the kids and clean walls and a simpler life. She wanted to forget this future even existed, wanted to ignore the pain and grief mudding her memories, to start anew, even if she knew things were not going to be the same anymore. She sighed and kept screaming wishes in her mind until she felt something shift.

"Hello?" She whispered with wide eyes and looked all over the room "A-Are you there, ghost?"

Silence greeted her, but she could feel the presence of something there. Maybe it was her imagination, maybe she has finally lost it, or maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her, trying to find consolation in an imaginary spirit rather than accepting the real version outside of her room, but as she breathed in the empty room, she didn't feel entirely alone.

"Can you tell me to breathe?" She asked a little louder but was met with the same silence.

She hummed, definitely losing her mind, she decided and looked down at her lap. Next to her knee was the orange box, she has been carrying it inside her pocket since she got it but despite her curiosity, she has not attempted to open it. Here in a room that was hers but did not belong to her, she could admit to the quiet that she didn't want her future's weapon.

Rejecting her persona was already hard, if she kept relying on her, she was scared to become her eventually.

No. No, she wasn't. She flickered the box to the side that did not show the Vongola crest before turning to glare back at the candle, berating herself loudly that just because she was wearing old bloody gloves didn't mean she had to become the person who used to wear them. It was a choice. And she chooses not to. Simple.

But the black wick refused to light up at her resolution of a peaceful, kinder, simple future. And that refusal annoyed her more than scared her, really it seemed like calling her flames had to do more with her anger than her real wishes but that simmering irritation came to halt by a sudden movement. It was small and fast, Tsuna wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't in her line of vision but when she gazed at her knee again, she was staring at the golden crest of Vongola looking back at her.

"What…?"

Slowly, as if telegraphing her movements, she set the candle down on her other knee without looking away from the orange box, waiting, but nothing happened. With another flicker, she pushed the box away from her knee. She watched it roll in the bed 3 times before it stopped and stayed like that for quite some time.

She released the breath she was holding and went to run her fingers through her hair in an attempt to relax. Maybe she really was losing it. Or maybe she already did and all of this was but a figment of her broken imagination. A wonderland she unintentionally fell to by following a black rabbit, stealing her time, wandering through distorted streets, finding riddles at every corner and losing her head to a game made by a mad queen. But ultimately the house of cards will fall and she will wake up and all will be well.

All will be well, she told herself and went to stare at the orange box again. It hadn't moved, and curiosity really was her weakness because eventually her fingers found the box and she ended up cradling it in her hands instead of the unlit candle.

"What kind of weapon are you?" She asked, not really expecting a response. It must be powerful, undoubtedly, maybe even dangerous but her intuition was quiet whenever she tried to grasp knowledge of it. Moaning to herself, she fell back to stare at the ceiling instead and contemplated the choices she will have to make.

It won't be long before Byakuran contacts them somehow, he will lay his terms and then they'll go to war. To save the future, all she has to do is kill him. There are many ways that can be done without an escalation. A sniper can shoot him from afar, an illusioned knife can stab him, he can even eat Bianchi's food and he'll be dead before the hour's done.

Why over complicate it? This wasn't a power monopoly anymore, Vongola Decimo was dead and so was the Famiglia. There was no need for dramatics and grandiose strategies. They just have to kill him fast while Tsuna keeps her friends on the safe bench. See? Easy, simple and clean.

Her fingers twitched over nothing, and the sudden emptiness made her look down at her chest where the box she was supposed to be holding somehow slipped from her hands.

"Huh?"

Her neck was still stiff from sleeping face down for a day, but she used her elbows to look better. But nothing happened, all she gained was a pinch in her shoulder blades. Huffing and giving up, she sat up to remove the covers from the bed so she could slide inside, but just as her body turned, the little box in her lap twitched.

"HIIIE! It moved" She threw the box across the room on instinct. It landed with a soft thud, rolling a few times before standing still. Tsuna stared intently at it, raising both hands in case it jumped at her and flinched back when the box flicked itself to roll on the floor."S-Stay put! don't come out!"

She stood on the bed for better leverage in case she needed to jump out of the room. But she screeched when she stepped on something warm and smooth that got stuck to her sockless foot and she fell down. She didn't feel pain when she crashed onto the floor, nor the stinging of the apparently melted wax glued to her foot. She just stared incredulously at the orange forcing its way around.

"Why are you moving!?"

[Stay calm]

"And now you appear!?" She shouted at the being haunting her, but her attention turned back to the little box that was attempting to crawl towards her. "No, I didn't mean you! Don't come closer!"

She scrambled to get up and grabbed the blankets with no real plan than to throw it over the box to stop it from moving. It was quiet as she panted and her body locked in preparation to bolt, she raised her hands again as if there was a frightened beast in front of her she needed to calm down but didn't know how. But if things weren't already crazy, she could do nothing but watch as a little sky flame burned the bed sheets from underneath.

"You gotta be kidding me!"

Whatever's hiding inside is supposed to belong to her, so it shouldn't be that hard to control, right?

.

.

*BOOOOM*

.

.

The underground base shook for a second time as waves of Sky Flames resonated through every nook and cranny. For the people unconscious due to medical reasons, they remain unaware save for a twitch at the sudden warmth enveloping the area. For the ones awake and alert, they all startled at the sudden rush of energy in some way. Some confused, some annoyed.

Tsuna was both. She gritted her teeth and glared at the mass of fire trying to devour her. Learning from past mistakes, she had kept the mittens in her hoodie for quick access. And like an idiot, instead of unlocking the door and running, she only had time to put the gloves on and yell at the fire to calm down before it exploded.

On a good side, her room was fireproof.

On the bad side, the door wasn't.

The lock didn't survive the explosion, it threw the door open, allowing anyone to walk in and see the spectacle.

"Juudaime!"

"Stay back!" She shouted and her arms shook.

"Look! It's the Vongola box"

"That thing is Juudaime's weapon?"

It wasn't a weapon, it was a beast. A fire monster with no jaws or claws but a ferocious bite worthy of a powerful creature and Tsuna didn't want it.

[Don't fight it]

Ah, the ghost was here. Tsuna shook her head and stressed her shoulders to keep her arms raised. She shouldn't be fighting, she should be sleeping for Pete's sake! The raw adrenaline she felt when fighting the phantom knight was still pulsing in her veins, already she felt drained and all she had done was stand and try to keep the raging beast from combusting her.

[Focus]

"On what?!" She shouted among the fire but tried to focus on one voice and not the cacophony of exclamations going on outside the fire.

"Nee-chan, what are you doing?! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Jiějie it's too high, you need to turn it off"

"What the hell are you doing up, idiot?!"

"I felt a pull?"

"Out of the way"

"Reborn-san, please don't shoot"

"I shall use my flames"

"No! wait, wait!"

[Centre yourself]

"I can't" She choked up.

If she lets go she fears the fire will consume everything and everyone with it. Already she felt her knees wobbling, her back was burning and her eyes were stinging but she couldn't do anything, she couldn't move without crumbling, she couldn't breathe without crying. It was suffocating.

"Don't attack it!"

"I'm trying to calm it"

"It doesn't work like that!"

"I can help-

"No!"

[I'll guide you]

"C-Can I trust you?"

The ghost has never hurt her, despite scaring the lights out of her before. It seemed gentle, strange but undoubtedly powerful in essence. Tsuna could feel a presence behind her and a force keeping her arms from shaking, as if hands held her own to move them to an invisible will, but rather than a puppeteer, it felt more like a mentor guiding a youngling hand.

[Steady now]

[Calm your heart]

"Tsuna, don't fight it!"

She couldn't-

[Breathe]

[Let it in]

It's yours. Her intuition agreed.

Ours.

She was scared, but with the protective embrace keeping her from crumbling, she had no other option but to trust it. It wouldn't be the first time. Once it told her to let it go, now, she took a deep breath, relaxed her shoulders, closed her eyes, and felt the fire trying to devour her. It was too much; raging and crying, it felt scared and angry and Tsuna realised she was scared and angry too. But not at it. And it wasn't angry at her.

They were just hurting, inside and out.

Trying to fight it was hard, trying to tame it near impossible, they couldn't do it now. Running without escaping was the best option to put a stop to the fire, so she knew what to do next.

[Good]

"Oh shit, everyone back away!"

"Kyoya-

Tsuna exhaled and opened her eyes to see the roaring beast snarling away from the ice that sprung on its ether as everything around her started to crystallise. It was cruel in its most selfish form. To evade the crystallised prison, the beast retreated to the confines of the Vongola box— sealed shut and silent, but safe.

Her arms fell down, and she stared at the ice prison she had made for herself in return.

Her eyes watered and she moved her gaze to stare behind her. There was no one there, but as her sight landed on the crystallised flame towering over her, she could see the reflection of something flickering on and off in the unmistakable shape of a person. But that could be her imagination as sleep was pulling her under.

"Who… are you?"

If fire could smile, then a grin would split from the embers that wavered into dust, she knew. She didn't have the energy to twitch a smile in return, but she was no longer scared of this ghostly being who wanted her to breathe. There was something there, something familiar, a phantom memory shifting in orange hues but it was gone the moment she blinked and legs collapsed.

But it was fine because Hibari-san was there to catch her as she fell.

She needs to apologise.

.

.

.

"What the fuck was that?"

"Nee-chan's weapon is a little monster"

"Lambo, don't be mean!" Ipin hit him in the shoulder before addressing Gokudera "What he means is, the box probably reacted to Jiějie's high emotions. You must be careful too, these box weapons, they're alive and connected to you. They feel what you feel and if it's too much…"

"They go boom"

Ipin sighed at Lambo's response and smiled wryly at a put-out Gokudera.

It was chaos after the flame explosion. The future people were vague in their explanations on how it happened, only that Juudaime's box weapon got out of control and that there was no danger but that no one was allowed to see her after that damned Hibari whisked her away. Again.

Gokudera felt as useless as he did yesterday and the day before that. There was nothing he could do to stop Juudaime's fire from burning, everyone kept saying that his Storm flames might fuel hers and that he should step down. The hell he was stepping down! It's not like anyone was doing something to help, they just kept their distance and kept yelling. Gokudera yelled too but his voice did not reach her. And then the Dino Cavallone from 10 years waltzed in and took charge. He practically benched everyone!

The scary thing was that he even turned Reborn-san away. Gokudera wasn't an idiot, he can see the tension everyone pretended to hide as they made distance between Juudaime, themselves and the hitman. If it weren't for Bianchi intervention, he was sure Reborn would start a fire of his own.

And not just that. Shortly after Hibari left and he was turned away, Gokudera saw Ipin leading a shaking Chrome out of the room while Dino and older Ryohei locked themselves inside with Juudaime. Gokudera didn't trust that girl either, but he didn't understand where the hostility was coming from. Lambo was not quiet in his antagonism, but just because they were older didn't mean they knew better. He has never been good at following orders from the seniors after all.

And so, here he was. Pacing the hallway behind the closed door of the room hiding Juudaime. It was late so after being dismissed, everyone retired to sleep. Some took more coaxing, but no one would move him away from the door. And when it opened, he bristled when Ryohei closed it behind him.

"You're still here"

"Move"

"Let's have some drinks, yeah?"

"Release me!"

He was forcibly dragged towards the kitchen, but he did not make the journey easy. The fact that Ryohei didn't even dodged the punches and threats irritated him even more so than the patience the man was ejecting instead of his exuberant self.

"What's your deal!?"

"You need to learn how to listen, little 'dera"

"As if! And don't fucking call me that!"

"I'm not looking down on you because I don't trust you, I'm just trying to EXTREMELY teach you that it's okay to let others fight for you"

"Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me how to fight my battles!?"

"I'm not just Sawada's older brother" Ryohei said as he offered him a can of orange soda as if it wasn't two in the morning "I'm the big brother of the group! Rely on me"

"Can we?"

Gokudera knew he was being a brat, but he hated how patronising they acted with him. Over and over, instead of letting him try on his own, they ordered and moved him aside. Having to be saved by both this man and that annoying, cry-baby teenager that was not that older than himself was crushing. Not humiliating, because he had triumphed on his own. He had beaten Gamma. That victory was his, the acknowledgment that he had overthrown that man was his alone.

And then he had to be saved like a damsel when the battle was over, and it got them hurt. They got hurt trying to rescue him when he didn't ask for help. But the thing that was the most infuriating of all, was the double-crossing these bastards were doing. All this talk about friendship and protection and trust, but where were they before?

"I read the letter my future self left for me. Big brother? You abandoned her too! Everyone left, and if you're staying here, it's out of guilt rather than loyalty!"

When things turned bad, everyone left. Some ran away and returned too late, others despite having more at stake came back, but it didn't erase the fact that they chose to leave. So no, these people have no right interfering with his life. And even more antagonising, what did that say about their current counterparts? The idiotic teens he has come to know? Was it right not to trust them now that he knew the length of their true loyalty?

"It's not loyalty. It's family"

Gokudera scoffed. But Ryohei was not ashamed of the accusation, instead he took a swing of the can of soda like one would a beer and exhaled loudly.

"I won't repent for my actions by being here and help as much as I can. I'm here because I want to, and I care because I want to" He said earnestly "Things happened and they got EXTREMELY messy, but we're family. It's suppose to be good and messy"

"Then why aren't you helping us?" Gokudera stressed with a glare "Why are you forcing us to fight, then pulling us back and hiding stuff!"

"It's not that we want to hide it, EXTREMELY believe me. But you more than anyone will understand this" Older Ryohei was not that old, he had no right to rub the wrinkles in his forehead. "Time is like a rainbow. Sawada said something about watercolours, whatever, the point is, Time can't be blurred. If a line changes, so will they. If a line is destroyed, so will they"

"What the hell are you saying?"

"There are many rainbows all the time, but only one will happen once" "Time can't be messed with. Already, the future will change when you go back. Sawada will change on a tiny scale, but if she finds more than she should, or if you find more and influence those changes, it will blur her line colour to the EXTREME, do you understand?"

He did, but Gokudera was starting to have the sinking feeling of realization that all this pretence and hidden tension wasn't because of broken friendships. How can he trust, let alone rely on someone who has hidden agendas? Trust alone wouldn't cut it, not unless he understood the reason why they were doing it.

"If her life is in danger, I need to know how to save her" He places his hands on the table, fingers long burnt by a silver cannon that weighed his arm but never his shot, and glared at Ryohei in the eyes "What is the truth she can't know?"

Sasagawa Ryohei was not someone he would call a strategist. He was loud and brash, often punching without asking, and yelling without thinking. But if there was one trait Gokudera could acknowledge, was that he was loyal to the core. And he can't ignore the fact that before he himself arrived in Namimori, before Reborn, before Vongola… Ryohei was already loyal to Juudaime. He cared for her, fought for her, lied for her; not as a subordinate, but as family.

They were family before they got tangled in all this mess, and they might have lost themselves, people can change when they break, Gokudera didn't doubt that. But when given the choice, they choose to fight back and erase the future for the sake of their past. The secrets they're keeping aren't malicious if it means sacrificing themselves in the process. And… he didn't want that to be in vain. He didn't want them to keep getting hurt when he could do something.

"We're fixing this future" Gokudera proclaimed, promised, stated. "So give us time to change it"

He can take being pushed and ignored but not her. Her life and safety matter more than his pride, so he held back a growl, clenched his fists but did not back down as he waited for a response.

And although he's been yelling and cursing, he was being heard and listened too. And in the quietness of the kitchen with yellow lights blurring shadows down on them, Gokudera knew then that the hesitation of the truth was not because they didn't trust them in return, but rather, because the truth was something that broke them all even when they had their own time to fix it.

Ryohei was quiet for a long while, but when he spoke, Gokudera heard and listened too.

"What do you know about the Arcobaleno?"

.

.

.

Dino felt old to his bones.

Gone were the summer days where he dreamt of working on a stable and managing a small house in a nameless town. The moment he met a tiny hitman dressed in black, there was no going back to a peaceful, quiet life. The ironic thing was that it all started at his lowest point and instead of getting worse, it got better. For almost two decades he led a successful life, steered a Mafia Famiglia that never fell to the shadows and kept his resolution firm and bright.

It was only when he had everything that things fell apart; irremediably so.

Just thinking about it was enough to feel thorns wrapping around his chest, he doesn't think he'll ever be able to breathe something else that wasn't grief. Though he tried to be positive, not even Reborn was able to prepare him for the end of the world.

But here they were. All of them. Ghosts in a time that wasn't their own anymore.

He was in France as part of the resistance to keep Millefiore from leaving Europe when he felt it. Her. A scorching wave of pure resonance that rattled his soul. He was battling with a very dangerous storm user when he faltered in shock and almost lost an arm because of it. He lost half his squadron in that fight and a quarter more when he made his tactical retreat. A Mafia Boss never runs from a battle, a royal bastard used to say, they move locations for a better angle.

And move he did. It was impossible, he was in denial and maybe a little hysterical in his delusion. Bianchi did not confirm anything, but the way her breathless voice shook in their last call was enough confirmation that a miracle had happened when they were at their lowest, and for the first time in a long while, Dino felt hope.

Aching and burning, he was choking on it when he landed in Japan and almost stopped breathing when he burst inside the secret base and was hit with Tsuna's Sky flames going on a rampage. There was no time for greetings or explanations when his mind was going tsunatsunatsunaohrebornishereshittsuna per second. He moved everyone away from the door, and why were they small? No, focus, tiny Tsuna was desynchronizing and here comes Kyoya- and of course she locked herself away from them.

He sighs deeply, herding the young-sleepy-how did they become tiny again?- teens while sharing a long look with Bianchi. God she looked as tired as he felt but on the pretty side. With how long she's been here with them, it was a wonder she hasn't cracked under the painful reminder of the tiny what-could-have-been.

But she was a smart woman, always thinking first before her heart. She silently nodded towards Reborn and easily led him the opposite direction as he followed his wayward (not)apprentice into the hospital room carrying Dino's treasure in his arms. Ryohei was awake and sombre when they arrived, most likely having felt Tsuna's allure and woken up from his nap. He looked rough, most of the kids did, actually. God, he hopes they haven't met any mishaps, they're too young.

Just as he was about to close the door, little Chrome stumbled in, gasping at the sight of the brunette and holding a stuffed owl in her arms. Wait. It just blinked.

Kyoya had sat Tsuna on the bed, whose orange eyes were open but not really seeing anything and the only reason he didn't strike was because he was still holding her. Dino held his tongue, his body tensed until his nerves hurt, but he let it play out as Ryohei used his flames to heal Tsuna's burnout, Chrome reached out with a shaky hand coated in mist flames.

Please don't kill her. He thought as Kyoya tensed by Chrome's approach.

Please don't kill her. He also thought when the girl grabbed Tsuna's hand.

Tsuna breathed a whisper, and something so simple as torturous it was to watch, had an instant effect. With three flames working together for the same aim; healing, stabilising and drawing Tsuna's consciousness back to the present was enough to calibrate her frequency to the right tune.

She blinked, the orange bleeding from her dazed eyes, but her gaze was still lost, seeing things that were not there as her gaze went past Kyoya, past Dino, and settled on the person standing at her right holding her hand.

"Boss" Chrome called softly, but everyone in the room knew there was another person Tsuna was seeing before she closed her eyes, finally giving into slumber.

"Can that bastard still possess you?"

"H-He just… I- wanted to help"

"Keep him away from her"

"H-he won't hurt her"

"That's an order" Kyoya snarled, making Chrome flinch back and for Ryohei to tsk loudly at him as he took command to settle Tsuna down on the bed.

"Kyoya" Dino reproached him too, but the volatile cloud stalked out of the room in condensed fury.

As was usual, there was commotion outside the room, with the younglings demanding to be let in but the grownups had the authority to kick them back to their rooms. The door only opened when Ipin peeked inside to gently grab Chrome to lead her to a different room. Poor girl, she must be so confused and hurt by everyone's hostility. He couldn't blame them, but it was still cruel to take it on her younger counterpart.

God, this was a mess.

"They time-travelled?" Dino asked as he sat on the chair next to the sleeping brunette.

"Yup"

"All of them"

"Yeah"

"Okay" He sighed tiredly. So there clearly was a plan he was not aware of. He will have to talk to Kyoya after he makes sure Tsuna is okay and beat the answers out of him if it was necessary. By the mood he was in, it was a given. Good god, Dino was not an alcoholic but he really needed some brandy. Maybe a strong bottle of tequila to survive the morning. "You can go back to sleep, I'll keep watch"

"She's EXTREMELY more stable than before"

"Must be the ancestors"

Ryohei patted his shoulder as a goodnight and walked out of the room, herding tiny Gokudera, if the loud protest were any indication, away from the room.

And just like that, Dino is alone in the room with the younger version of a girl he used to know, cared for, loved, and then lost. And he just… breathes an incredulous laugh because what the fuck? Was this a dream? It feels like a cruel miracle, one he hoped for but not like this.

In a matter of seconds he went from a grieving man to a half optimistic one. His midlife-crisis was replaced by his existential crisis at realising the timeline was going to be changed, if not erased, and a new type of grief hit him because while so many bad things occurred, there were so many good ones too. And they might never happen again…

Oh dear, what a mess. On one hand, this future was already collapsing, Dino couldn't find a solution that didn't involve more death and bloodshed. But to start anew… will they die as well? Will they feel themselves fading? Will it hurt? Or after all the pain, will it be merciful and painless, just ashes in the wind, gone in a blink…

He sighed. Because it wasn't his choice and even if it was, he didn't have the guts to pull it through. Tsuna was going to decide that, and knowing her; well, he knows her too well, otherwise she wouldn't be breaking like she is now.

The weight of the world seems meaningless when there is nothing left to protect, but it was heavy nonetheless.

He felt too old to guide them but they were going to be looking up at him for guidance now, he knew. He couldn't steer them wrong in their darkest hour. So even though it choked him to breathe past the grief, he had to gather all his remaining strength for one last bow.

Morning came too soon, it tore him apart but he left Tsuna sleeping in hopes of catching an early bird. He needed to drop to the kitchen on his way back anyway, though he doubts to find some cake. There were always some sweets stored there so he will try to find something small for the occasion. It's ironic how he arrived precisely on this day…

He didn't know what to expect after Bianchi's call for help, but never in his life did he imagine becoming a peacemaker between Kyoya and Reborn. It didn't help that the balance was clearly lopsided, but the discord ran deeper than just threats and attempted murders. If Reborn didn't suspect something before he arrived then he must know by now.

But Dino was not going to side with the hitman on this.

He found Kyoya in his little shrine, silent and surrounded by the cats that refuse to leave, still waiting for their owner that was never coming home.

Oh, he grimaced with a pang on his heart.

"I remember you said she was coming back"

"You're noisy"

"How are you holding up?" Dino asked but did not move from his place by the door. It had more to do with not stepping on a feline than poking at an already brooding Kyoya.

He stood still, watching the tuxedo cat rush between his legs with a handkerchief on its mouth that was quickly tugged by the somali cat in a tug-of-cat-war version. They probably stole it from the laundry room downstairs, Dino shook his head. Why the cats weren't down there with Tsuna was heartbreaking, and when the other man did not respond, Dino continued his one-sided conversation.

"Stupid question, I know. I wish you'd have told me though" But then again, he did tell him, and so he amended with a frown "I wish I had believed you. I'd have been able to help, do something, protect them"

"It's not your fight"

"I could have helped with damage control. Heard you fought with Reborn. Many times"

"He shouldn't be here"

"Kyoya" Dino sighed, too exhausted to even feel tired and start a confrontation he knew was inevitable "You already killed an Arcobanelo, what more do you want?"

"I want her. She has to live"

He sounded like a broken man on record, cold and detached but lost and delusional at the same time, it's no wonder Dino didn't believe him when the man who ranted that his Boss would come back was the same man who did not cry when she died. Dino felt pity, sympathy and empathy for him, but knew their grief was not the same.

"Killing Reborn won't save her" He stated, because the last thing they needed was more death. "What she needs is the truth. Not her family dying and being buried in more lies"

"She can't know the truth"

"It's not your decision"

"She didn't want to know"

"Your Boss is dead" Taking a step forward, he flinched slightly at the cat hisses but did not falter, his hand ready at his side for his weapon he did not want to use. "Her younger self is still alive, here. She has a chance to live again. Don't give up on her"

"Get out!"

These kids. They were still kids and Dino was still going to be older than them no matter how many years it's been. If violence was truly the only thing left to whack some senses into this black cloud of his, then so be it. Dino was really too tired to play nice with him.

.

.

.

Haru was a normal person.

She considers herself normal despite being loud and bold (it's called confidence!) as opposed to all the proper, ankle-crossed, nose in the air girls from her school. Haru stood out, so what? She was normal. She likes spicy food like your average food lover, was great at sports like her father and was not afraid to speak her mind when injustices were happening in front of her.

She grew up watching thrillers and trained with a hockey philosophy where you tackled the issues to protect others from stealing your goal and hit them when you wanted to make yours. So she was strong and she knew nothing could disturb her. Really.

Even when her normal was changed, she adapted.

Talking babies with guns and weapons? So what? Normal.

Pretty girl turning herself on fire? Just another Wednesday.

Ridiculous murder mysteries plots? She has popcorn.

But Mafia? Death? War? That… that was…

Before Tsuna-san, if she thought of Italian mafia she imagined the glamour parties, the cigarette filled room of old capos playing cards and drinking coffee. But that's as far as her imagination ran. When her friends were involved in fights in their own town, she thought it was the yakuza, because what else could it be? What else could beat her friends black and blue? And it didn't scare her, at that time, before this time magic, she wasn't scared, just worried.

But now…

Normal? Was it normal for a shirt to be so torn and red? Haru has never seen so much blood on one piece of clothing before, and she already had her period, so she knows how difficult it is to wash spots from fabrics. But this, this was different. They weren't droplets of blood. It was drenched in it, stained and impossible to wash away.

They were probably going to throw it away but somehow found its way into the laundry basket Haru was in charge of.

And all she could do was stare.

No one has really explained what was happening, just the basics. She started training with Lal-sensei in combat forms for self-defence, but it never occurred to her that someone could bleed so much. How? She wondered. Why? She wanted to cry.

Kyoko had more experience with bloody clothes, what with her brother and his endless fights. But her friend was reluctant to talk and so Haru did not ask. They have talked, of course, about the state of the world, about the future, but not everything. And for once in her life, Haru didn't feel confident to talk with someone about it. All she could do was leave the ruined shirt soaking in warm water and move to the next one.

Supposedly the danger had passed so maybe they will let them go outside. Haru really wanted some fresh air and to explore this future world. What type of restaurants there were, what sort of fashion everyone was wearing now, she wanted to hang out with Kyoko-chan and Tsuna-san and Chrome-chan and Ipin, a girls night out! That's what they needed!

She smiled to herself, planning already something relaxing for where all of them can have some fun when the basket at her feet suddenly toppled over.

Startled, she gasped, only to see cats stealing a piece of cloth. Oh yeah! She remembers there were cats living in the shrine above, Haru saw them once when she reunited with her friends, but hadn't had the pleasure to formally meet all the purring creatures. Tsuna-san would definitely love to hug one now, maybe she should catnapp one and bring it here to cheer them up. They all looked a bit gloomy last night at dinner.

Mind made up, she giggled and followed the playful cat, being quiet so as not to startle it. The cat ignored her, but Haru did not give up, she climbed the stairs that led to the secret door for the shrine, hands reaching out to grab the cat before it slide inside and-

She didn't mean to overhear.

She was just doing the laundry. It was the cute kitty's fault! And if she happens to spy on a handsome blond man talking to himself then that was their fault for not closing the door, not hers. She wasn't noisy, not really, and as soon as she heard future Hibari, she tried to walk away but she wasn't fast enough, and the door was opened, so she heard what was said and her body froze and she listened and… and… she bolted.

Haru has always loved mysteries. Playing Clue was her favourite board game when she was little, she liked to get creative with the plot and solve the crime on her own. But if there was one thing she has learned in this short period of time, was that secrets were deadly.

She didn't know what she was doing, only that she had to do something. Tell someone. Should she? She has to. But the options were too scary, it was going to be a nightmare no matter who she confronts this with. And she needs to tell someone. She doesn't know how Tsuna-san could breathe with all her secrets and still look pretty when she felt like she was on the verge of having a mental breakdown.

Which is why, when in her distressed state she found an unsuspecting Yamamoto passing by, she didn't stop and barrelled towards him.

"Yamamoto!" She shouted in hushed urgency "Yamamoto!"

"Oh, hey- Woah!" He let himself be tugged and didn't question when the girl pulled him inside the nearest room. He was only concerned when she looked around frantically, scared as if something dangerous was following her "Haru?"

"W-We're Vongola, right? We're the good guys. And Milly Flowers is the bad guys"

"It would seem so, yes" He nodded slowly, not wanting to say more in case Tsuna hadn't divulged the whole story to the girls, but Haru looked like she wasn't asking for answers, rather, she looked close to tears.

"Varia is crazy but good people and…. and the Arco-baleno, Reborn-chan and Lal-sensei, they're with us too, right?" She looked at him, scared and pleading "They are the good guys too, right?"

"Hey… Haru, are you okay?"

"I-" She shook her head and look around again for anyone else who might be in the small room "I think I heard something I shouldn't have"

Any other time she wouldn't be so worked up about a secret, especially one she did not have the entire context of, but things have changed. The stakes were not just hurt feelings or a nasty prank. It was life and death with Tsuna-san in the middle. So when she tells Yamamoto what she heard, saw his initial confusion turning into horror and utter fear meant she did the right thing at not keeping quiet and solving matters on her own.

But as they stared at each other in shared fright, the next question remained loud and heavy despite not being spoken out loud.

Should they tell Tsuna?

.

.

.

When Tsuna woke up, she wasn't expecting to be hungry, but she was starving. It probably had to do with the fact that she woke up smelling something sweet like honey and pancakes before her eyes opened, but now she wanted to eat no matter how cosy her bed was. Groaning, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned the delicious smell, looking around the spot where it was coming from.

"Morning" An amused voice said, and she sniffed before her gaze landed on a blond man sitting next to her bed, older, dishevelled, but so painfully familiar.

"D-Dino?"

"In all my glory"

"Dino!"

"Hey" He caught her as she all but jumped from bed and into his arms "Hey now, you are shorter than I remember. Tsuna"

It was hard not to cry, holding her so young and fragile, but more than sad he felt lighter. They stayed like that for a long while, but neither was willing to move away, and even when Tsuna pulled back, she held tightly into his arm.

"Why are you hurt?" She asked in worry at the purple bruises and scratches on his skin "Are you okay? Did you fight? When did you- how did you get here?"

"I'm alright, it was just Kyoya"

"Why is everyone fighting with him?" She wondered, forgetting that she also tried to fight him in a way too.

"He's being stubborn and stupid, don't worry about it" Dino said as he tried to fix her tangled hair "You can hug him if you feel bad about it"

"No!"

She refused, making him laugh. Once he made sure she was alright and sitting back on the bed, he moved to the nearest table before presenting her a plate with a tower of steaming fluffy pancakes drizzled in honey and a small, pink candle sticking on the top.

"Happy birthday"

"Huh?"

"It's October the 14th here"

"Oh" Tsuna breathed, detached at the pink candle and its meaning "Oh, I-... does it even count? I feel like I'm 40 already"

"You and me both"

He sat in front of her on the bed, and waited for her thoughts to detangle. She was thinking hard, biting her lip and staring at the pancakes with a small frown.

"Don't tell the others?"

"No surprise parties, I promise. But if they say anything…"

"Then stay here with me"

"All day?"

"All day"

"Okay" He smiled before waving his hand over the candle to light it up "Make a wish"

"I know that trick"

"You've been melting candles, haven't you?" He laughed at her scrunched nose, knowing that's precisely what she's been doing. "The trick is to find balance in your heart and mind. It's not real fire, it's energy. Yours, condensed in the air and transformed into a tangible view. Your flames are the emotion of courage and the energy rush that comes from that. You can't see it, but you can feel it. And you have to Will it together, shape it and bring it to life"

"So meditation" She said with dry dismay.

"Just imagine the flame appearing without thinking of anything else" He suggested with humour before nudging the pancakes closer to her "Make a wish, Tsuny"

"I wish…" She stared at the tiny flame that held a source of warmth on its own, kind and bright, still not believing or even feeling something other than indifference at the fact that it was her birthday today. It felt too weird and out of place; just like her, she supposes. Her past birthdays had been spent alone with her mom, Kyoko always brought her some cake and paper gifts, but there were never parties at home or big celebrations.

And this year shouldn't be any different, despite everything...

She held her breath before blowing softly on the candle. Dino didn't ask what she wished for, and she was not going to say it. Instead, she split the tower of pancakes between them and ignored the fact that this felt more like a pity party instead of a birthday.

"Tsuny, we need to talk"

"Later" She bit into the fluffy pancake, tasting butter and honey. It was too sweet and her teeth hurt by the sugar but she kept chewing and ignored everything else, that is until her eyes landed on a pinkish golden band on Dino's finger, and her brain rebooted. "Are you married?"

"No!" Dino exclaimed with a fluster "No, but I- ahh, well, you see-

"Who is she?! Do I know her? I know her! Dino! I know! Who is she?! Tell me!"

"I can't! Tsuny, you can't mess with the timeline"

"But why!?"

"It will be revealed in due time?"

"You suck! You can't do this to me! I won't be able to sleep! Dino, just tell me!"

"Nope"

She protested, bratty and loudly and it made him feel so lighter, he laughed from his chest, a huge contrast from the sombre shell she left them. He can understand why Kyoya was so determined to keep her, however selfish it was. Dino wanted to keep her young and free like that too.

Soon, their wistful memories were distracted by quips and easy banter, with Tsuna devouring the pancakes while she glared at him as he regaled her with funny tales that had nothing to do with the Mafia or spoiled the future. None of them would have minded staying cooped in the room, but as is everything in their lives, something always bursts the bubble.

It's been three days since the f̶a̶i̶l̶e̶d̶ infiltration, the wounds had been healed and everyone had rested their battles. They were warned to expect it, yet when their moment of respite was disrupted by a bug in their system, everyone tensed.

"Ran~"

Or not really a bug, but a malware that had hacked them despite Giannini's AND Spanner's best efforts in building a firewall.

"Ran~"

There was a sound coming from somewhere, Tsuna looked at the ceiling with a fork in her mouth for answers, but they didn't have an AI in the base that she knew of, and Dino looked as lost as her, so the only way to discover where it was coming from was to go out and investigate, much to her displeasure. At least she finished her pancakes.

She had forgotten why she was even in the medical room, nor did she remember how she got there, but she realised she was barefoot and in her pyjamas as she walked through the hallways. If it weren't for Dino lending her his big jacket, she would have met everyone in a sorry state. But it didn't seem to matter though, because when she walked into the control room where the sound seemed to be coming from, everyone was more anxious and preoccupied about other stuff than the state of her clothes.

"Irie is panicking" Spanner said as soon as he saw her and waved his phone that kept buzzing with quick messages "He's on his way, says not to make any deals"

"Deals?"

"Ran, Ran~"

Giannini was frantically smashing buttons with Lal breathing down his shoulder, but no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to take back control of their network. As Tsuna peered over, she saw what looked like dancing marshmallows on the screen congregating in the centre, and before anyone could do or say anything else, the marshmallows popped into confetti to reveal a sugar fairy.

"Ran, Ran, Ran, Byakuran~"

"Cute"

"Juudaime!"

"Greetings, Vongola Tenth Generation"

Not cute.

She tensed and gripped her elbows as she stood and listened to an unfamiliar voice practically purr through the speakers. There was no video transmission on the screen, just a white fairy with angel wings twirling over a parfait.

"It truly was sneaky of you to hide the Time Machine away from the Merone Base, otherwise it would be dust by now"

"That's Byakuran?" Basil asked.

"That's him" Future-Ryohei confirmed with his arms crossed and a hard stare.

"But you were very rude. I allowed you to play in my base, yet you destroyed it, obliterated my defences and stole my personal. It's only fair if I take my turn, no?"

"That bastard" Gokudera growled, readying himself to fight at the clear unspoken threat.

"We can't go to war, not here" Lal cursed, angry and anxious.

"Ne, Vongola. Let's play a game. I'll give you the Choice, you can fly to Italia, join the resistance and perish. Or you can run to France, aid the militia and surrender. My terms are simple, go wherever you want, take as long as you want. I just ask one thing of you"

She knew it was coming, yet he had Tsuna's entire attention since she heard him speak.

"Tsunayuuki, come find me"

The white fairy combusted into glittering dust before the screen turned black, and for a long minute they all stayed still and quiet as if waiting for a bomb to fall on them. When nothing else happened, there was a collective sigh in the room.

"Fuck, what the hell?"

"Italy… and France" Basil uttered "Those are Vongola's territories, yes?"

"France is upholstered in ashes by now, there's no going there" Dino stated at her side, grim and serious.

"Italy is no better" Lal mirrored his expression.

So once again, they were between a sword and a wall. No matter where they go, they are going to battle monsters one way or another and attempt to survive another suicide situation. It wasn't a mission or order, Byakuran didn't demand or threaten their lives, but Tsuna knew that staying wasn't an option. It showed what a terrifying man he was, to be able to light her intuition like a christmas tree at not doing what he oh so kindly suggested.

Damn it.

The girls were thankfully absent from this impromptu meeting, as was Hibari-san, Lambo and Chrome, but everyone involved was here, discussing but waiting for the final order. And it drew on her at the fact that it was, once again, her decision on how to proceed next.

Reborn, ever in tune with her thoughts, turned to look at her from his place at the table next to Lal and Giannini with a calculative expression.

"It's your choice, Dame-Tsuna"

"Vienna" She blurted without thinking "We're going to Vienna"

"But that wasn't even a choice!"

"Exactly. That's my choice, not his"

She didn't look at anyone, not wanting to explain - nor even knowing - why it was important to go to that place instead of the given options, but she had to. She needed to go there. And he will be waiting.

"He will be expecting you" Dino guessed with a frown, and she nodded silently, knowing.

"There's also the matter of getting there. We can't waste time travelling and we must be prepared for being tracked and attacked" Lal reminded everyone.

"We must also split" Kusakabe, who has been a great support for everything and everyone, suggested with concern. "If everyone goes, there won't be backup team in case of an emergency"

"What's Byakuran's goal with this?" Yamamoto asked, a little more serious than he was yesterday.

"He will try to EXTREMLY get the Vongola Rings"

"And whisk Tsuna-nee to his side"

"We're still missing three rings though"

"He knows time-travel works. He will no doubt try to bring the remaining pieces back too"

"There's one thing for sure…" Tsuna spoke with downcast eyes, because it needed to be said before any plan was made. "He wants me alone"

"Absolutely not" A new voice growled from the entrance, spooking everyone as they all turned to see a drenched figure with long grey hair and a glinting blade on his hand.

"Squalo!" Dino and Yamamoto perked up, Tsuna would have to, if her breath hadn't gotten stuck in her throat at the sight of her old nanny giving a giant fish to Dino.

"A gift"

"Thanks"

"Why a tuna?!" She cried in her head but shrunk back when those sharp eyes turned to glare at her, and despite preparing herself for it, she flinched back when the swordsman exploded at her.

"YOU RECKLESS STUPID IDIOT! DID I NOT SAY YOU COULDN'T DIE BEFORE ME? WHAT GOOD ARE YOU IF YOU DON'T FOLLOW THE RULES?!"

"...Y-You grew your hair…"

"MY HAIR WAS ALREADY LONG!"

"Ha-ha, you came just in time!" Yamamoto laughed, giddy and happy until Squalo turned his ire on him.

"AND YOU! YOU'RE IN TROUBLE TOO!"

Yamamoto found himself without a tooth as Squalo hit him unconscious, even Gokudera winced at the brutal beat down, but no one stopped the Varia assassin's violent treatment.

"We are talking later" Squalo sentenced her with a harsh glare before stalking out of the room with a bleeding Yamamoto on his shoulder.

And if the unexpected appearance of a ten-year-later Squalo was shocking, nothing prepared them when pink smoke suddenly engulfed the room in the tell-tale sign of a time-shift.

"I'M EXTREMELY HERE!"

"Oh for fuck's sake" Gokudera cursed at the sudden appearance of younger Ryohei-senpai. Tsuna was regretting leaving the medical room for this circus. So that just makes 2 missing rings. Irie promised kid-Lambo wasn't going to get involved, but some unholy being must be laughing at her misery and pulling the strings to ruin her expectations.

"Sawada"

Tsuna pursed her lips but stood straight at the serious tone the older boy addressed her with.

Between Reborn's upcoming training of hell, Squalo's scolding of doom and Ryohei's 'onii-san-is-disappointed' speech, Tsuna didn't know which was worse to choose as her birthday lecture.

.

.

.

She got punched in the face, and that was before Ryohei found out she had told Kyoko the trurth-truth. Apparently, their present was a mess and everyone's worried and it's been months and suddenly Kyoko disappeared too and Ryohei was on his own to search for them. So she got punched, which she deserved and didn't hold it against him despite Kyoko's loud scolding and Gokudera's hysterical threats. Tsuna wanted to punch herself too since the whole fiasco of trapping her friends in this nightmare started.

Still, the girls were ecstatic to be reunited with their Ryohei, but were quickly aghast that they were going to leave to another suicide mission without them again. Tsuna had been trapped in the training room with Reborn and Spanner to hone the X-burner attack for hours that she didn't realise they started a boycott to be included in the Europe team until she stumbled on the arguing siblings in the hallway.

She didn't got involved in that, she turned back and locked herself in the training room again, but forgot that no matter how loud and energetic Ryohei was, in the end, Kyoko was the most stubborn one between the pair. So while Tsuna was busy trying to become a supernova without actually burning herself, Kyoko managed to include herself and Haru in the mission without asking her permission.

To say she almost had a heart attack was a given.

She complained to Reborn, who nodded and told her to get stronger if she wanted to protect them. Then to Bianchi, but she was on the girl's side at not being excluded from everything. Tsuna was pulling her hair by the end of the day, and she got into more than one argument with them in the days after.

"You can die! Can't you understand that?!"

"Then understand me too!" Kyoko insisted "You can die there and I will never know! That's worse, Tsuna-chan!"

It went on like that.

Haru was certain that if she didn't go then a great calamity would fall on them leading to Tsuna's death. Which was ridiculous because Tsuna knew it wouldn't be quite like that, but Haru refused to see reason and was not shy to show Tsuna the new moves she learnt from Lal to prove she could fight.

Kyoko, on the other hand, kindly and stubbornly persisted that moral support was power too.

"Tsuna-chan, I can't fight. I can't even imagine myself fighting like you and brother, but please don't ask me to wait like a widow"

Tsuna had half the immature thought to show them the ugliest side of the Mafia to scare them completely, but couldn't. They would see it, eventually, and it wouldn't be Tsuna's choice, but until then, she could do nothing but grit her teeth.

She was under a lot of pressure, she didn't have the time to argue with stubborn girls when her training wasn't progressing well. Her box weapon had remained violent and out of control in the next attempts to open it while supervised. And true, she could unleash the inferno on Byakuran and burn everything, but that could have many repercussions too.

But then, ironically enough, Chrome won the argument by unintentionally revealing her training injuries while in the shared bath, which Tsuna has been avoiding for that very same reason. Again, she wasn't aware this was happening until she stumbled into a crying Haru being consoled by Bianchi in the hallway. Tsuna, once more, turned back and locked herself away.

She later found out that the girls were staying in Japan, but were clearly not happy about it.

In one of her breaks, when she was sweating and shaking in the kitchen post training, she was intercepted again, but this time, rather than starting an argument, Kyoko offered her a sports drink and some gummies with a quiet smile.

She accepted the offering, and they sat in silence for a long time, breathing and calming down. Tsuna has done a lot of thinking and reflecting, but her mind hasn't changed. It wasn't about trust, quite the contrary. She cared too much, the mere idea of losing her friends in a violent way because of her was terrifying. Tsuna was very scared, even if her intuition consoled her that they weren't going to die, she couldn't let go of that fear.

And they cared too much too, Tsuna knew that now, but their caring was painful too.

The silence was then broken by a soft thud. Tsuna looked down, not surprised to see the orange box trying to run away from her pockets. Any other time she would have kicked it, but she couldn't now that there was company.

"What is that?"

"It's a weapon, Kyoko. What else can it be?"

Her friend didn't take offence at her snap and watched curiously as she picked it up in her gloved hands, caging it from tumbling down again.

"It's alive?"

"Kinda? Its unstable, though"

"Why is that?"

"It's not working properly. Whenever I use it, it's overwhelming and hard to control"

"Can I hold it?"

"What part of unstable weapon did you not understand?"

"I think you're thinking too deep" Kyoko took the box from her despite Tsuna pulling back, and hovered close in case the beast exploded on her friend. The box shook, but did not show signs of lightning up "I saw onii-san playing with a box too, he kept going on about the power of love and his heart being the key"

"Well, my heart's a mess. No fixing that"

"I don't think that's it" Kyoko held the box in her hands and smiled down at it as it calmed down. "I think it's okay to be scared, I'm scared too. And maybe the box is scared too. But don't run away from those feelings, Tsuna-chan. You say it's a dangerous weapon, but it's also meant to protect you. If you treat it like a weapon, then it will show you just that. But look now. Its warm, like a sparkle"

Tsuna stared at it, at them, for a long while, thinking.

But things were moving too fast to stop and think about feelings. As soon as a dishevelled and anxious Irie barrelled through the base screaming about the Choice and battle games, they started constructing a strategy. This wasn't part of 'The Plan', so seeing Irie losing his mind was amusing to her.

There also seemed to be a one-sided competition between Giannini and Spanner on who could come up with the best - and more ridiculous - creation. Tsuna had refused to be on a plane, paranoid that they were going to be gunned down from up high, so the only way to travel to Europe was by boat and train. If the boat sank, at least they could swim. But if they fell from the sky… there was no going back from that.

They were saving Irie's teleportation device for an emergency escapee, so in less than three days, the mechanic team built a ship sturdy enough to ferry them to Russia, where they'll be taking a train to Austria.

They had made plan A to Z in many alphabets, Irie was just as paranoid as Tsuna so they had a back-up plan for the failed three back-ups plans. There was no point in overworking themselves too in training, so once the ship was christened as 'the sky pearl' (not Tsuna's choice!), all that was left was saying goodbye to the ones who were staying.

Irie was adamant that in The Choice, every player must participate. And that just because Byakuran didn't state that in his message, they shouldn't ignore it. It was always the small letters one should pay attention to. But Tsuna found the loophole to that after an agonising session of true and false guessing game with Reborn. Byakuran truly only wanted her and the Rings, everyone and everything else was collateral damage.

Taking the gamble, Lal, Fuuta, Giannini, Basil, Kusakabe, Bianchi, Spanner and the girls will stay in Japan to protect their territory and the time machine. As was Reborn. Albeit his solid form, that is. He was going to be astral projecting himself like a phantom on her shoulder through all their journey. The team will also be monitoring them via satellite and send Spanner's gola-moskas if needed. As for the rest of them, they were the Europe team. And they were expected to come back.

The plan was simple. It wasn't a rescue or infiltration mission. They were to meet Byakuran, hear his terms, and kill him. The last part was still in the working.

Due to Tsuna's destroyed room and intense training, she had taken to sleep in the medical room. It gave her the excuse to isolate herself at night and scavenge her room for things to pack on the day of the departure.

She had a feeling since she woke up, it wasn't dread or a bad omen, she just… felt sad. Like she needed to do something or it will be too late, and too late had gained a new meaning since coming to the future. No one was forcing her, but she was nervous. She could almost hear the mocking "do it with your dying Will, Dame-Tsuna" but it was ironic because Reborn wanted her away from Hibari-san as much as Hibari-san wanted her away from the hitman. It was stupid and so obvious when Reborn took over her training.

But she avoided Hibari for her own reasons, and now that they were leaving for another mission, she wanted… she didn't know what she wanted, but she's known for not thinking before acting, so…

"Hi" She breathed out.

She was supposed to be having breakfast and listening to Lal's final orders but here she was, just a lonely girl and a hollow man standing on opposite sides of the same room and staring from opposite sides of the same tragedy.

Hibari-san was brooding in front of the tea table, cats surrounding him, holding a red velvet box that he snapped closed the moment she walked inside and dressed in a loose yukata with all the air of staying inside.

"You're not coming with us"

It became obvious why her intuition was pushing her to talk to him before she left.

"Someone needs to tend the cats"

Since when did he make jokes? She looked down, and ignored the pang of hurt at knowing there was something here in Namimori that needed more protection than Tsuna herself. She might have an idea, but she wasn't going to ask and he wasn't going to answer. That's what their relationship had come to, where silence meant trust before, now it felt like blind faith.

"Is… there anything I should be aware of? Really, aware of"

"Don't give him the Ring" he stated the obvious "Whatever he says or do, don't"

"Okay"

Talking has never been hard, at least not with him. There were a lot of things she wanted to say, but she couldn't find the words. It would also be a lie if she wasn't hurt by him not tagging along to an even more dangerous feat. His strength. His protection. His determination. She felt safer with him, almost invincible. Without them, she had to walk the single plank bridge on her own.

"You'll be fine, little animal"

Will you? Tsuna wanted to ask, but didn't have the courage to. Instead, she knelt to pat the cats that approached her, cowardly using the distraction to gather her thoughts and using the excuse of looking down so that he couldn't see her glassy eyes. The cats purred and rubbed all over her, comforting her, and Tsuna pretended like they were wishing her good luck too. These cats that were hers, but also weren't, have never judged her. Despite her age and looks, so different from their real owner, had accepted her for what she was.

"I don't hate you" She confessed "Whatever happened between you and her, whatever plan or secret, I don't care, they're not mine. So I- me, right here. I don't hate you. I, ah… I guess, I just, what I'm trying to say um… I… T-Thank you. For staying"

"I wanted to"

Tsuna looked up, meeting grey eyes that have never once looked away from her, and she knew then that it was never about duty or Vongola or even part of a plan that made him be who he was and do what he did. It was his choice. And he chose her. All forms of her. It was selfish, for him and for her, but heart-warming too. There was nothing to forgive, or even promise, but the hope that there will be a better future was unbinding.

"When I come back, I'll duel you. And I'll win. The cute animals won't stop me this time"

"You haven't won once against me"

"I promise I will" She smiled, feeling a little braver at what her words meant for both of them and stood up, giving the cats one final pat, knowing it was time to go "See ya later, Hibari-san"

.

.

.

Hibari watched her leave, young and free, taking his heart with her.

And the bittersweet thing was that it was going to be the last time they see each other.

.

.

.

Sleeping beauty is a tale as old as time itself, and despite the multiple variations and versions of it, its storyline remains engraved in stone. Where a young maiden cursed at birth fell deep into slumber by the touch of a blighted artefact and could only wake with true-love-kiss to then live her forever after.

It was her favourite fairytale growing up, one she would dream of over and over as she grew older but it never ended with a kiss. Her story derived from the tale. She was born, cursed, and has long forgotten if she was waking up from reality or falling asleep in a dream. Her true-love-kiss will never be, for her fate was to forever sleep.

Time has lost its meaning and the spindle wheel which kept the World's thread woven to everything was barely tethering her to life. It wouldn't be long until the Skein of Fate was cut and the World with it, as much as she tried to nurture it into gold from the blackness it had been tainted with, she does not have the power to save it.

All that was left was dream of slumber.

She had lost hope so long ago, had let the blackness infect her heart too into numbness, her heart withering at being alone. Nothing new awaited her, until she felt it, a sudden awakening not her own but familiar that brought some clarity to her soul. Was it her imagination? It wouldn't be the first time she fantasised another life instead of her dreams. But the feeling persisted, warm and scorching.

Her dreams did not change, but a string had come loose from the thread. She could see it, small but unravelling and weaving a Will of its own. The more the warm presence grew, the more she felt resonating deep in her core.

Her eyes opened, dazed but more keen than before.

Sawada Tsunayuuki was coming.

And Yuniknew it wouldn't be to save her.

.

.

.

Leaving Japan was nerve-wracking.

Knowing the ones that were staying behind would be sitting ducks was worrying, but if they tagged along they could turn into shooting ducks, so Tsuna didn't know which was worse. The mere concern and stress was enough to make her want to throw up, so she remained leaning on the steel railing, especially when everyone kept wondering why Hibari-san was not coming and it was Dino and Squalo taking the kids on a field trip across Europe instead.

Oh, and Irie was tagging along too.

The team was better prepared this time though, dressed in kevlar suits Giannini had been working on with Leon and that were enhanced by Spanner's tinkering, as well as armed with new equipment and weapons that they knew how to use. They had an idea what to expect, but knew Byakuran was a wildcard in his plans and intentions. They were running with the motto: expect the unexpected, and with Tsuna knowing what to know, they were mentally prepared if they faced against powerful opponents.

They had to explain the situation to Ryohei with drawings, but he understood quite quickly. He was excited and wanted nothing more than to kick the ass of the bastards that made his friends cry. Tsuna was confident in their skills, but couldn't help but worry.

She's been in HDWM since they set sail, ironically enough that's the only thing she's gotten better at in her training with Dino's help. Entering the calm state without flaring the crown of flames but keeping her orange eyes seeing everything around her. She's been running every worst-case scenario in her mind for her intuition to light if it was true when a figure leaned on the railing next to her.

"Hi"

"Brat"

They haven't talked much since he arrived, both busy with training but she felt his glare whenever they crossed paths, so she's been avoiding his lecture too.

"How mad is he?"

"Don't even ask"

She grimaced but followed his advice. Varia was supposed to be entertaining Byakuran in Italy during the Merone infiltration, and after Byakuran's call and Squalo's arrival, it was clear the squad came out unscratched, but just thinking about future-Xanxus knowing she was back like this made her shiver.

"Here"

She turned to see Squalo handing her a small dagger, and it made her smile at the memories it brought. It was not the same dagger she used to wave like a magic wand, that one was long gone, but the nostalgia hit her nonetheless. Tsuna wondered if this is what they felt when they looked at her now, a memento-mori or a ghost in different skin.

"If you couldn't stab him, what makes you sure I have a chance?" She asked to break the silence and turned the dagger around to feel the grip of the handle.

"Bat your eyes at him and he won't see it coming"

"That's... No! I'm not doing that!"

"VOOI! DO AS YOU'RE TOLD, SHITTY BRAT!"

"YOU'RE NOT MY BOSS!"

"I OUTRANK YOU, SO DO IT!"

"NO! IT'S MY CHOICE NOT YOURS!"

"JUST SHUT UP AND STAB HIM"

"I AM NOT GOING TO SEDUCE HIM!"

"STUBBORN FOOL!" Squalo growled loudly but Tsuna glared back until the hitman scoffed and turned to the sea "Do whatever you want, but don't forget your failures and victories are ours too. We're living and dying together this time"

And there was a bit of truth in that last phrase. Be it their memories, lives or innocence, in a way, they were all going to live and die. Tsuna could do nothing more but stare at the ocean and hold the dagger closer to her heart.

On the other side of the deck, Dino walked towards Yamamoto, who was leaning against the railing.

"Yo"

"It's funny seeing them" He motioned to the arguing pair in front of him with a wry smile, at which Dino laughed too.

"He tried to turn her into a hitman, but he became her nanny instead"

"You guys grew up together?"

"Not always, no" The blond sighed and leaned against the railing too, but with his back facing them "I was busy surviving Reborn at that time, I visited when I could, but she spent more time with them in that summer house"

"But after everything, you were the one that stayed" Yamamoto pointed out, because after Tsuna was kidnapped, Xanxus 'died' and Squalo broke all forms of communication with her. But Dino, who was powerless at that time too, found a way to stay connected, even if it was with a long-distance once a year phone call. "How did you find that devotion?"

"You're asking the wrong person" Dino said with old humour as he stared at the water below. "When my father died, I had to become the Boss. Rather than being scared of the position, I ran from the idea of leading something so big. The pressure of not being strong enough to protect someone, it was suffocating. But I grew up. Mafia… you can say we were groomed to survive it. Bullets for breakfast, conspiracies at dinner, blades and fire at night, we grew up in that. Tsuna became my family, one of mine. I wouldn't call it devotion or loyalty, I just cared. And protected her in the only way I could"

Yamamoto pondered, before mirroring Dino's posture and stared at the waves too.

"My future-father died and I ran. And future-Tsuna blamed herself for making me choose, instead of blaming future-me for leaving her"

"Don't beat yourself too hard" Dino bumped their shoulders to try and make him relax "You, Tsuna. You're human. I can tell you that you would act differently next time; you can make promises, Tsuna can make choices, but when a moment in time shatters your heart, there is no guarantee that you'll react as you thought you would. What matters is what comes after. After everything is said and done, will you return or will you keep running?"

"I want to protect her, more than anything"

"Then that's all the strength you need"

"Even if it hurts us both?"

"Even so" Dino said gently "But you know, heartbreak also means the opportunity to heal anew"

The ocean turned dark with the horizon setting into night. It should take them another day to arrive at the Russian shore, the air turned colder and the mood became a bit tense with it. They will be in unfamiliar territory with no backup once they land, and the train that will take them across Europe will be unprotected.

Tsuna all but threw leadership to Squalo at the first opportunity, who despite screaming and shouting threats and orders, they felt firm and more reliable than Tsuna's unprecedented choices. She got an earful from Reborn for abandoning her responsibilities that night, but the phantom could do nothing but keep her awake with his scolding. Leon had tagged along with her, but the little chameleon pretended to sleep while the hitman ranted about duty and the punishment that awaited her when she returned to Japan.

She somehow slept with no nightmares.

But if things were tense before, they were more quiet when they landed; even Ryohei, who despite looking around in cultural shock, was also looking for enemies. Chrome had never let go of her trident, Ipin and Lambo had scouted the area thoroughly and Tsuna was never left on her own.

They boarded the train with no problem, they were greeted with smiles and free coffee that did nothing to alleviate the mistrust. Not for the umpteenth time did Tsuna wonder what was worse, going somewhere while knowing something bad would happen or having to sit while not knowing if something would. She was starting to dread not the what, but rather, the when.

It was eerie watching families and tourists boarding the train; laughing, taking pictures, and having fun. No one tried to pretend this trip was a holiday, not even as they started to move and both the landscape and transport was something new to most. It was going to be a long day of travelling, but no one seemed relaxed enough to read a book.

Ipin tried to lighten the mood as she somehow managed to cook on site ramen bowls for lunch. It was ridiculous watching her cook on a portable stove, but it paused their nerves as they ate her delicious food. Tsuna later realised Ipin was probably scared that the food on the train was poisoned and didn't want to take any chances.

Exhaustion won over them though. Yamamoto and Ryohei, both trained sportsmen, knew to rest before a big challenge. They were both sharp, Tsuna has proof that if someone barged in and started a fight, they would wake alert and ready. Chrome followed suit. She was using half of her mist flames to support her organs while cloaking them when they boarded. It was a risk to her health, one Tsuna couldn't convince her to drop the further the train went.

It made Lambo more paranoid and kept his entire attention on her, but not out of worry for her health. He was ignoring Tsuna's disapproving stares, but she didn't scold him. She would if he acted on his antagonism, but just let him brood and whisper secrets to Ipin for now.

She noticed during the start of the trip that everyone seemed to be deeply musing about one thing or another. It seemed Tsuna wasn't the only one being haunted by her thoughts, even Gokudera seemed hesitant in his own mind.

"You seem jumpy" She whispered as she sat next to him. He's been tinkering with his box belt for most of the trip, breaking it and putting it back together. She doesn't know what they held, she doesn't know what sort of box weapons the others had, actually, other than their success at opening theirs.

"Juudaime" He mirrored her quiet voice. They had managed to secure a compartment for themselves, but being confined in the same space meant anyone could see and hear them if they were loud. Even now, with half the team sleeping, she could hear Lambo's mumbling about stun grenades over Squalo interrogating Irie to spill every secret he had on Byakuran at the end of the cart. Following her eyes to that scene, Gokudera frowned. "I don't trust anyone"

"Me either" She confessed in a quiet voice "But I don't feel any death on us, we should take advantage of that"

"What if that's what they are doing to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I feel like everyone has a different agenda, but Juudaime is the ultimate goal"

"...yeah, I know"

Gokudera looked like he wanted to say more, but held back. Tsuna was curious, but let it go too. They sat in silence after that.

The sky was turning orange, the ambience was warming up as light entered through the window and touched her face. The blurry landscape looked like a watercolour of perfect serenity, a total contrast to the oppressive feeling that was brewing in her chest. She basked in the picturesque scenery until she got lost in it.

Her eyes open.

Time had passed. The train was still quiet but shadowed by the twilight light. Blinking, she looked around, seeing people she knew sleeping peacefully in an equal peaceful setting. There was nothing amiss, no danger or warning but a flare of hot awareness made her sit up straight.

It was a feeling. A thought. A heartbeat. A tune. Calling.

He's coming

"h̷̩̉e̸̓͜'̵̯͝s̷͓͋ ̸͇̓h̴̟͛ĕ̴ͅr̸͉̈́ē̸͕"

"Juudaime?" Gokudera murmured, waking up with her movement.

She stayed silent staring at the door for a while until her heart started to slow but the sound of roaring waves stayed in her mind. Beckoning. Slowly, silently, she stood up and started approaching the door that connected to the next compartment.

"Tsuny?"

"Juudaime"

But Tsuna wasn't there anymore. She just walked the thin line between dream and reality that blurred the more she neared the door. Her fingers reached out slowly towards the handle, but before they could grab it, it rattled and turned on itself.

Squalo and Dino were at her sides in seconds, pulling her back with Gokudera not far behind them. Everyone startled awake with the movement, all alert and readying their weapons, holding their breaths, staring and waiting.

But all her attention was on the white canvas in front of her.

And oh,

her soul sang.

There you are.

"Byakuran"

"It's so good to see you, Tsunayuuki"

Like a dream within a dream, a kaleidoscope of colours crashing on the shore hit her full force. Something broken inside of her shifted, like a puzzle finding its missing piece to complete the artwork long abandoned. It was nostalgic and he was familiar, as if she knew him before she met him despite meeting him for the first time. They looked at each other not as strangers, but as ghosts tasting the waters of what the other knew.

His fingers twitched, and Tsuna knew he wanted to reach out to her too, hold and touch her. For some reason that thought didn't disturbed her, and not feeling perturbed was what unnerved her into awareness.

"My~ how nostalgic, seeing you young like this" He smiled with fox intentions to hurt "Last time we met, you were drowning in your own blood"

"You sick bastard!"

"Ne, do you know?" He leaned down to whisper to her despite the sword and gun pointed at him. He had Tsuna's whole attention as she stared at his purple eyes that shone in mirth "There's a world just like this where you became Vongola Decimo too. Makes me wonder why you're fighting for this one"

"Byakuran-san" Irie stepped forward with courage he lacked before and stared at his ex-friend without flinching.

There was a loud noise outside as the train started to stop, but no one moved to disembark. They all just stood on edge for the next move.

"You're here too, Sou-chan" Byakuran greeted him with a placid smile "You broke my heart, betraying me like that. Then again, that was always part of the plan, no?"

"Why are you here?" Dino questioned pushing Tsuna further behind him.

"To pick you up, of course" He smiled at them "I have been waiting a long time"

"You said it was Juudaime's choice"

"Yes" He nodded and his eyes landed on hers again "And you chose right"

"What happens now?" Irie asked, fixing his glasses and calculating what was going on in the other's mind. "You instigated the Choice and we responded"

"Why, Sou-chan, you must know how the game is played by now. But you all look prepared for war though, did you lie to them?"

"You-

"If it's a choice, then can I choose?" Tsuna cut in before the argument escalated.

"By all means"

"Let's have some tea"

And Byakuran smiled in content before offering his arm like a gentleman to her.

While learning how to attack mid-air, Reborn beat some essential Mafia etiquette they haven't covered in their lessons, like what to do when your potential murderer offers his arms to walk you towards an unknown destination while surrounded by Famiglia and enemies alike.

Refusal could be seen as starting a war.

Acceptance too, for the other side.

But all those lessons went out of the window when she linked their arms together under the watchful eyes of her friends.

"Nee-chan-

"Tsuna, wait"

It was instinctual, it felt right. She couldn't say if it was her intuition moving her along or why she did not fear as he escorted her out of the train. They had the perfect opportunity to shoot him, slice him, attack him in the narrow space of the corridor before they reached the exit, but even Squalo was surprisingly quiet. She did not look back, and trusted in her heart that this was the best choice for everyone.

Vienna was beautiful, but empty. It became clear this city was once under Vongola territory and whatever clash happened here devastated it. Not one tourist stepped out, it was like a ghost city no one dared enter. It was a surprise the train even stopped here, when there was no public transport. But then again, Tsuna thought as she glanced at the man walking cheerfully at her side, he clearly was waiting for her arrival.

It wouldn't surprise her if he had taken over this territory and controlled the masses.

Their walk was quiet with just Byakuran's humming accompanying them. Was it offensive he all but ignored the armed teens behind him? Or was that luck? Tsuna tried to focus on her surroundings, alert at any movement and listening to her intuition that had remained quivering a soundless echo, all while her senses flooded in Byakuran's presence.

He guided her at an unhurried pace towards Schönbrunn Palace, and it was then only when she stood in front of the imperial palace her intuition started unravelling. There were 4 guards waiting at the gates, rough looking and wearing black cloaks. Not even Irie was privy of Byakuran's inner circle. He thought he knew, but he was played in turn.

Staring at what felt like the four horsemen, Tsuna knew they were guardians to Byakuran's Mare set. Powerful. Deadly. Cruel. They were once again battling forces beyond their current strength, and she felt a wave of fear at that thought, even more so when her eyes landed on a demon mask she knew hid the ghost knight that marked her.

"This is as far as I'll allow you, Reborn-kun" Byakuran's comment startled her, if it weren't for his grip on her arm, she would have jumped in surprise at being found out. She was wearing the headphones with the headband resting at the back of her neck, and just because he wasn't projecting his presence didn't mean the hitman wasn't listening and talking in her ear. "Turn off the communication and no harm will come to your student"

Tsuna paused, hoping against all forces that the hitman would find a loophole, but all she heard was a short order before the call disconnected.

"Don't forget yourself, Dame-Tsuna"

Under twinkling eyes, she removed the headphones. She will be cut off from Spanner's orientation too, despite wearing the contacts lenses, she will be entirely on her own. Leon stayed though. Wrapped around her wrist like a hidden bracelet, ready to turn into a gun, a shield, or anything she might need. If the chameleon leaves her, she might start shaking.

"Shall we?"

She took a breath, and only looked back to hand the headphones to Gokudera, who stared at her in complete confidence. She breathed out and let Byakuran walk her inside the palace grounds. The gates closed behind them, locking them together and away from their guardians.

She has a dagger hidden in her arm, she hasn't removed her mittens from her hands, Basil had given her a handful of Dying Will Pills in case she can't access her own power, not to mention the poisonous bombs and dynamites in her pockets along with her Vongola box. By all means, she was prepared, yet all thoughts of murder halted when she spotted a tea table in the middle of the plaza that led to the palace.

It was filled with colourful pastries and freshly-baked cakes that filled the air with sweetness and soft warmth. He either knew her too well or they had similar tastes for him to prepare a spider-web made from honey.

He pulled a chair out for her to sit, and she did so quietly, staring as he rounded the table to sit across her.

"Younger you has not tried the Austrian wild berry strudel, correct?" He asked as he started piling sweets upon sweets on two plates "I'm glad I'll be your first one"

"You make it sound like its a date"

"Do I? Sorry. I can't help it"

He was not sorry, rather he was amused as he set the plates down and started filling two cups with what looked like black tea. They were pretty far from the gates to hear anything, but she could see from her peripheral vision rather than hear both sides starting to argue. Byakuran offered her a cup before throwing a tower of sugar cubes into his own cup.

"So"

"So" He echoed back, relaxed and stirring the sugar in his tea with a spoon.

"What's our story?"

He smiled wickedly, and for a moment she thought she wouldn't get a straight answer as he set his spoon aside and took a sip of tea, but he surprised her when he set the cup down, and rested his chin over his interlaced hands.

"I was but a man until I became a ghost in my own body." He started to explain "The Mare Ring allows me the power to transverse the lines between worlds; see glimpses of other realities and even sometimes cross them. I knew who I was, who you were, and what role we played. But then we became disconnected from our World"

There was a loud explosion from outside the gates that rose dirt and heat but she just curled her fingers inside her mittens that rested on her lap and did not move her eyes away from Byakuran.

"Disconnected?" She forced herself to ask.

"Tell me, have you heard of the term Butterfly Effect, Tsunayuuki?"

Was it possible to choke on a heartbeat?

"The future changed?"

"Our future was destroyed!" He snarled, and for the first time since she met him, he showed anger instead of glee as he slammed his hands on the table and made the tea set rattled, but that anger was not aimed at her "Gone. One flutter and time collapsed, wrapped reality and changed everything"

He breathed out, and Tsuna sat still as he composed himself from the darkness brewing inside of him. The sound of battle increased on the outside of the palace grounds, yet none of them spoke until the crazed haze faded from his eyes, and when he moved, it was only to pick up a strawberry creampuff.

"I was able to trap my memories of the singularity in a cocoon of flames before the Worldline split though" He continued his story mid bites "And so, when I re-awoke my powers in the breached timeline, I remembered you and the old line"

"...what do you want from me then?"

"The stars and skies, your heart and soul. Tsunayuuki, you're living in a garden of shadows. You're so lost its almost impossible for you to understand"

"Then make me understand" Tsuna placed her hands on the table and leaned forwards slightly. While it was true she couldn't understand the entirety of Byakuran's words, they rang heavy and true in her mind to an almost desperate cry "Why the war? What changed?"

"They took you from me. Once upon a time, we belonged. We were happy, safe. Living. And in a blink of an eye, you were gone" He tilted his head and stared at her with a far-away longing Tsuna felt but couldn't explain "There are many worlds, and so many yous. Some Sawada Tsunayuuki's. Some Sawada Tsunayoshi's. Yet my soul, this wretched thing in this precise moment that exists in this broken World, yearns yours. Can you hear it?"

It was Tsuna's turn to breathe out. She's been considering her hyper intuition like a siren song, haunting but voiceless, an otherworldly tune only she could hear, influencing her and pulling her along a written score for her to follow. But the voices were there too, some chanting to a different note and tempo while some whispers remained in sotto voce, barely heard under the symphony that was her psyche.

It couldn't possibly be… but she knew

but if it was… what it was

"Your choice was tea, now it's my move" Byakuran whipped his hands before he stood up and offered his arm once more with a devilish smile "Let's waltz"

Tsuna was really choking with her heartbeat on her throat. She's been on edge all this time, despite not feeling threatened or endangered in his presence, a part of her couldn't relax. She couldn't even try the food with how tense she was, but she found herself accepting his arm once more despite him sequestering her further inside the palace, away from the noise and distraction the raging battle of her friends and his guardians were causing.

Leon tightened on her wrist as a reminder that she wasn't alone, but she barely felt it, too busy picturing everything Byakuran said and validating it with her intuition.

The inside of the palace was another indicator of how desolate the place was, as there was no light illuminating their way; it was dark, cold and dirty, even the oil paintings that should have been proudly displayed on the walls were covered in dust. They passed some anterooms and salons, some still portraying the history on the walls that was long forgotten. For a moment she wondered why this place or at least, the territory used to belong to Vongola, but she quickly put it aside when she remembered something else.

"You didn't answer my question" She side-eyed him and curled the fingers of her free hand where Leon was resting. "If you want me, why did you attack my family?"

"For the simple reason of changing the narrative" Byakuran looked ahead with that same far-away longing and cold smile. "For you to live, Vongola needs to die"

"W-What do you mean by that?"

"I think you know"

He pushed some doors open and it took her breath away. What was supposed to be the great gallery room had been cleared of any splendour and gold as there, in the centre of the room, floating with a gravity of its own was a stone tablet; crumbling.

For months she had dreamed of flowers. She had subconsciously sketched and doodled in pages a pattern so instinctual by then, one she couldn't remember drawing or find a meaning to. But it was always the same, with one of them withering and the petals fading in the air. And now here it was, her three flowers with seven petals engraved on a stone. But they were never flowers to begin with, and her imagination was cruel for making her believe otherwise. Or maybe she was still too naive for ignoring the significance of what it truly was.

The tri-ni-sette.

"It's broken" She whispered.

"Mn" Byakuran hummed softly at her side as they both stared at the crumbling tablet. "This World is collapsing. Without you and the Vongola Rings, the tablet couldn't support itself. The Arcobaleno were not enough, without them, my Mare Ring couldn't keep it stable for long. There is no magic strong enough on this Earth to prolong the inevitable. That is, until you crossed time"

There was something important. She knew what he was saying without really understanding, knew that if the stone crumbles to dust then all hope was lost. What her role was in all of it, however, remains an enigma she needed to uncover right now.

"How?"

"There's only one chance for the convergence to occur. We can fix this World, Tsunayuuki. Save it and us. All I need is your Ring. No blood or death is needed but that of the spare"

"Spare?" She asked, remembering hearing that word before.

"The one that condemned the World"

It wasn't me? She almost asked, but held back as she tried to process what was happening. Things are going very smoothly, almost too good to be true. She truly felt no lies or deceit coming from him, but then again, it wouldn't be the first time someone fooled her intuition into a sense of security.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Am I?" He laughed at her clear mistrust but was not offended by it. Instead he leaned down as if to share a secret despite being the only ones in the room "You know I didn't kill you"

At this height, she could see the sincerity in his eyes. But was it a lie? She knew he wasn't the one that pulled the trigger, she saw, and was constantly reminded who the murderer was. But just because he didn't kill her, doesn't mean he couldn't harm her. Tsuna felt safe now, yes, but so in danger too. Like anything she says could tip the balance and make her sink into uncharted waters. He wouldn't. But could.

"Knowledge is our curse, Tsunayuuki" He continued, and despite having let go of her arm, he remained standing close to her. "I have seen how this story goes. In a world just like this where the you from that world and the me from that world clashed in a war to save the future. You rewrote the timeline by making a wish, but it didn't change the core of your fate. That's what's different about us. We don't want to save this fake reality, we want to go home. Our home. To a time we were the happiest in the perfect Worldline of ours"

"What are you… saying?" Tsuna tried to take a step back, but found herself rooted in place by an external force. Be it Byakuran's allure. The tri-ni-sette's gravity. Or her own fear. She could do nothing but stand still.

"I've seen you die a thousand deaths, in a thousand worlds. And in every single one of them, you're murdered. Except for this one" Byakuran tilted his head, shrewd amethyst eyes gleaming knowing they held her entire attention. "There is something wrong with this World, don't you think?"

And she…

She knew there was something wrong for a long time now. The feeling of wrongness since she woke up in that coffin. Just one breath, one look at the sky and she felt disconnected from it. As if a part of her didn't belong there. Here. In this world. But why wouldn't she? This was her future. Time was linear, why wouldn't she belong? But… but didn't she felt wrong before too? Before this time-travel. Before the battle with Xanxus. Before the fight with Mukuro. There was something wrong before.

She shuddered.

Everything he's been saying was true, but if this future was already a rewritten version, then what exactly was Byakuran attempting to unravel? Irie was right, he wanted to travel to the past to change history, but he had it wrong too.

"Byakuran" She whispered "What do you want?"

"I will not end. Nor will I have you end"

Purple eyes stared at her with an intensity she couldn't comprehend. She realised then, with a stranger who wasn't a stranger and a stone tablet that wasn't a sketch how small her perception had been. Byakuran didn't want to take over the world like the madman dictator everyone was painting him as, and while he was, in fact, attempting to destroy this world by erasing the timeline and changing this current reality, it wasn't for power, but for the simple wish of going back home.

She was barely following his explanation before, how can she even fathom that someone so utterly twisted and insane in their own conviction could carry total annihilation to an entire world just to be with her?She's only 13. Or was it 14 now? She was young and naive and stupid and a little girl. What does she even know about love? About devotion and life? She loves her mom, possibly the only person she could kill for and die for without hesitation.

But to love someone so much, you'd destroy the World and its people, their decisions, and memories and future just for the sake of that one person, was shattering.

Hibari-san's faithfulness felt engulfing, Byakuran's devotion on the other hand, felt overwhelming.

"I don't understand…" She whispered.

Tsuna didn't realise there were tears gathering in her eyes until warm fingers wiped them gently.

"Stay with me" He asked just as quietly.

A part of her wanted.

A part of her screamed.

A part of her cried.

This was right.

This was wrong.

This was madness.

The dagger felt cold in her arm, Leon was silent in the other.

And Tsuna...

She knew she couldn't kill him.

She didn't want to.

---

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Tsuna: Watch me deal with my trauma

Tsuna: *don't feel, conceal, don't let them know*

Xanxus: Let it burn.

Tsuna: *Bursts into flames*

Reborn: *throws bucket of cold water*

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Tune in next chapter for: Back to the Future II

I had to break this chapter in two otherwise it would have been 50k lol. It's a shame because I liked how it was supposed to end before. But I like this cliffhanger too. ( ˘ ³˘)

Look, I know the future ARC is a mess and there are A LOT of mysteries but we're seeing it through the eyes of our present character's as they go, so if they don't know, you guys can't either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That's how narratives work~

Fun (evil) fact: Originally, Tsuna was going to be conscious while they stitched her back on the first draft, but she's been through enough so I made her sleep the pain away in the end. FlameLore: no stitches involved, just Sun flames gluing her skin back in place. But the nerves were already too damaged and raw, so the flames left the X burn-like scar instead of healing the open area entirely.

Ciao~