When Tsuna came to, it was to find himself back in his bed, Gokudera sitting at his side. Brown eyes blinked before Sawada pushed himself into a sitting position, trying to work out what had happened.
Gokudera, upon noticing his boss' movements, moved to his side, his eyes wide with worry. "Tenth! Tenth, you fainted! What happened?!"
Tsuna's eyes filled with tears as he surveyed his best friend. He sniffed, reaching up to rub at his eyes. "G-gokudera-kun..."
"What is it, Tenth?" Gokudera bit his lip. "Should I find Reborn?"
Tsuna shook his head. "No, I... Gokudera-kun... H-how old are we...?"
The silver-haired boy frowned at these words as he spoke. "Fourteen. Why?"
"...And Reborn's... here...?"
"Tenth, what happened?"Gokudera reached out, grabbing the smaller boy's hands in concern. "Did you hit your head on the way down?"
"...This isn't right... You're supposed to be dead... Everyone... I-I..."
"Tenth..."
"Gokudera-kun, you... probably won't believe me, but... this isn't me... I-I... Future... I... Dead... Everyone... Dead..."
"What are you talking about, Tenth?" Gokudera's voice was soft, almost as if he was confused beyond belief by the smaller teen's words. "Did you get hit by the Ten-Year Bazooka or something?"
Tsuna shook his head. "I-it's nothing like that... See, I... I-I'm fourteen again when I... before I fainted... I was nineteen... The Vongola Decimo... Everyone was dead... I don't know what happened... I don't know why I'm here... I just..."
Gokudera moved to sit beside his boss, wrapping an arm around Tsuna's shoulders. "I don't understand, Tenth..."
"I don't, either!" Tsuna whimpered, his eyes widening as he reached out to grab the Storm Guardian's arms. "I just... I saw... everyone... dead... I was crying... And then this..."
"Time travel, perhaps?" An unexpected voice spoke from the doorway. Both Gokudera and Tsuna turned to find Reborn standing in the doorway, a solemn look on his face. The baby clarified himself as he noticed the confused expressions of his two students. "If what Tsuna is saying is true, then there is really no other force out there that could rewind time and revert the body to the age equivalent to the time period. It's a possibility we should keep in mind."
"But… how would that be possible?" Tsuna questioned. He felt like he was losing his mind here. "It's not…"
"By some standard, time travel is possible. Look at the Ten-Year Bazooka for example. I can't think of anything else that could have caused this. Can you?"
Both Gokudera and Tsuna shook their heads; it was true they were both clueless – but time travel?
"What do you think will happen…?" Tsuna asked in a whisper, his voice heavy with the tears he couldn't stop crying. "In the future…"
"I heard." Reborn was stoic, knowing that the 'everyone' Tsuna had been talking about included him – possibly all of the Arcobaleno. "I don't know what we can do, Tsuna. The only thing I can think of is to try and change the course of the future – but to what effect? What caused it? There's nothing we can do until things become clearer."
Tsuna's eyes closed as images of Ryohei Sasagawa, his Sun Guardian, lay strewn over Lambo of the Bovino Family as if he were trying to protect the young boy.
The brunet shook, never wanting to have to relive that trauma ever again. "…W-whatever it takes, Reborn…"
Gokudera looked from Sawada to Reborn, not sure what to say. He wanted to do whatever he could for Tsuna – but how could he help when he didn't even know what was going on?
"Tsuna, it's probably best we map out the major events in the future to try and get a lead on this." Reborn, as always, was on top of things. "From now to our deaths, what can you remember?"
Tsuna frowned as he racked his brain desperately, trying to recall anything vital – but the stress he had been undergoing had vanquished all hope of that. "…I… I can't think right now… Reborn… My head hurts and I can't concentrate… I just want to sleep…"
Reborn nodded in understanding; it wasn't fair to put this kind of stress on a fourteen-year-old, no matter how important it was. It could wait until Tsuna was feeling better at least.
"Gokudera, I'm going out to meet with the other guardians," Reborn said as he turned around to leave the room. "Keep an eye on Tsuna and if he mentions anything important, take note."
Gokudera nodded. "Of course, Reborn." Looking back at Tsuna, he was prepared to take care of the smaller boy as best he could. "I'm here for you, Tenth. Just rest. I'll stay with you."
Tsuna's eyes filled with tears once more, thankful for the friend he has – the agony of seeing him so lifeless in the future… It was something he couldn't live with, knowing they had all died because he was too weak to protect any of them.