A/N: I'm really dense. I've just realized how many people I've had pass out. Anyone know how much? I'm having people pass out practically every other chapter… siiiigh. Oh well. Hope you enjoy Chrome!

Future – 10th Generation Timeline

Chrome knew that it was foolish to hope. Everyone had told her that when she was in the hospital but… she let out a small squeak of pain as she tripped and lay, sprawled on the ground,

She had been chased by the mafia for days now, and she was too exhausted to do anything. She had become so weak… no, she had always been weak, always protected by Mukuro-sama. I want to get stronger… be able to protect…

But it was too late for that now. Because she'd soon be dead, courtesy of the men who were after her.

"No…" She muttered, fighting hard to escape the fatigue that had been constantly plaguing her for the past month or so. "I have to find them… for Mukuro-sama… have to…" She wrapped her weak fingers around her trident. She had to find Ken and Chikusa before the mafia caught… up… to… her…

The world in front of her blurred, just as the yelling voices screaming for her to stop running stopped, and she head a triumphant yell of, "I found her!"

It's over… She managed to think weakly as she felt the cold barrel of a gun press against her back. I'm done for… I'm sorry… Mukuro… -sama…

Chrome was just about to give up when there was a loud screaming sound and the gun slammed against her back, as though dropped.

"Oh, kami, she's in a really bad condition…" She heard a voice whisper fearfully. "What do I do now? Oi, are you okay? Hey, girl? Hey, Ryohei, Gokudera! Get Tsuna and Lambo! I found a girl her…"

"Is she the one that they were chasing?" Chrome heard a hushed voice ask, which was quickly followed by a sigh of relief. "Good, so we haven't been found yet. That was scary for a moment. Come on, let's bring her in. Hayato-kun, can you make sure those men are sent somewhere far away?"

"Sure, boss. Should I get anything for the girl?"

"Y-yeah. How about some bandages and disinfectant?" The words started to seem to crackle, as though they were speaking through a bad connection on a radio. She barely heard the words, "Oh, kami, stay with us…" before everything turned black.

0o0o0o0o0

Tsuna bit his lip, turning to look at the strange girl every so often, the quickly looking away. Please be alright… His hands fisted, and he tried to shove away the worry that was beginning to gnaw at him, only to find the feelings of concern swell.

"It's going to be alright, Tsuna." Takeshi laughed and placed a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, 'kay? Ryohei's already helped to heal her up and we've gotten her injuries taken care of. She'll be fine, okay?"

"But…"

"No buts." Hayato cut in sternly. "You're always worrying about others, Tsuna-sama, and you need to stop. Just worry about yourself for now, okay?"

"But—!" Tsuna started to protest but was cut off as Lambo gave him a tight hug.

"No more worrying, okay, Tsuna-nii?" Lambo asked gently as he held Tsuna's hand in his own and blinked up at him with wide, worried green eyes. "Tsuna-nii just needs to stop worrying about others and worry about himself for a while, I think." The child gave him a warm, soft smile. "You always do everything for others. Trust us, okay, Tsuna-nii?"

Trust us…

Had he been doubting them this entire time? Had he underestimated them and shoved them away as he did everything by himself?

Trust us, okay, Tsuna-nii?

How could that voice suddenly make him feel as though he had somehow betrayed them by not allowing them to do these things that he kept forcing himself to do?

I'm such an idiot. He realized.

With a sigh, Tsuna gave Lambo a light smile and patted the seven year old on the head gently. "Alright, Lambo." He agreed as he allowed his sight to blur slightly. He crossed a hand over his face and gave his friends all a sleepy smile before sinking to his knees and promptly falling asleep on the ground.

Lambo smiled as he rushed to get a pillow. "Lambo-sama's just looking after his nii-san." He replied quietly as Takeshi brought over a pillow. "After all, if nii-san keeps worrying about other people he won't have time to get candies for Lambo-sama after all!"

Lambo laughed weakly before curling up beside Tsuna and falling asleep as well. After all, when he was with his nii-san, he was safe.

…right?

0o0o0o0o0

Chrome awoke to the busy chatter of strangers.

A pair of fierce grey eyes met hers, before they disappeared and she caught the face of a white haired boy smiling.

Panic instantly rose inside of her. Had she been caught? She had passed out… what would happen to her now? Chrome closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable torture that was sure to come as they tried to find out her connection to Mukuro-sama.

I'm so stupid… how could I? Idiot, idiot, idiot…

"She's extremely awake!" A loud voice shouted before the grinning face popped back into view. "Don't worry, you're safe now. We're friends, okay?"

Friends? Chrome wondered wearily. Like Ken and Chikusa? Surely not… these people were strangers. They must have just been pretending that they weren't going to hurt her to catch her off guard… Safe? Chrome laughed bitterly at the thought. Nowhere was safe… not for her… nowhere could possibly be safe…

A loud, excited shout of "Really!? That's awesome!" reached her ears before a loud crashing sound echoed into the room, and then a loud shriek and the thump of a body hitting wood reached her ears.

A worried "Are you okay?" came from a rough, yet concerned voice, followed by a soft, kind "I'm alright…"

Rough and yet concerned at the same time… Chrome felt tears well up in her eyes as she thought of Ken, chained up in Vindice, eyes shut in pain as Chikusa's screams came… No! She couldn't think of things like that! One day she'd help to free them…

As though the Vindice could be opposed…

She would do it. She had to… despite what they said, Chrome held them dear in her heart. They were friends… or at least, Chrome was pretty sure that they were…

"Omigosh, you're awake!" A voice yelled happily, before a brunette raced in and slammed into the wall opposite to the door. There was a yell of pain before the man peeled himself at the wall and turned to face Chrome with a sheepish smile.

Chrome gasped, eyes widening in shock as she realized who this man was. "You're— you're—" She whispered, shrinking back fearfully until she was pressed up against the wall, her heart hammering so loudly that she could practically hear the loud beat thumping in her ears.

No, she hadn't been caught by the mafia. She wouldn't be sent to Vindice.

But this was much, much worse. Chrome was dead. She may as well have sacrificed her life…

In front of her stood one who was even more infamous and feared than Mukuro-sama.

Tsunayoshi Sawada.

The boy blinked at her in surprise, before a slightly sad, crestfallen expression crossed his features. "Yes, I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, once heir to Vongola, now the fated destroyer of the most bloody famaglia in all mafia history. And you're Chrome Dokuro… an acquaintance of Mukuro Rokudo, I'm assuming?"

Chrome let out a small squeak of fear when as she quickly unfolded her trident. "Stay—stay away from me." She gasped out, shaking.

Tsunayoshi stepped away, hands up as he gave her a worried smile. "I won't hurt you." He told her softly. "I promise. But I believe that we could help each other…"

"Help each other?" Chrome repeated. "How?"

Tsunayoshi held out a slightly shaky hand to her. "A deal." He replied carefully. "I help you free Mukuro Rukudo and his… comrades from the Vindice and you will help me to destroy the Vongola. Deal?"

It was against her better judgment. Logically, she knew that she shouldn't have done it. Yet something about that warm, accepting smile had pulled her in…

Chrome took the hand and nodded hesitantly. "…Deal."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Past – 1st Generation Timeline

Daemon liked to think that he was an agreeable man. Sure, he would slaughter someone on a whim and constantly seeked stronger opponents, but, still, he was an agreeable man.

Or at least he was when he was around Elena, he was.

Unless she was with another man, of course, in which case he would instantly slaughter whoever dared to attempt to flirt with his dear Elena.

Where was he going with this?

Ah, yes. Daemon was of the mindset of a typically agreeable man who was polite and didn't try to pick fights, put at the moment the blond man and company in front of him were making even he wish to resort to violence.

Come to think of it, that wasn't exactly a rare emotion…

Ah, well. He'd deal with any violent urges later… probably…

Daemon squished down the urge to hit the man before him, cocked his head to the side and gave the man a puzzled smile. "Me?" He laughed. "Join something as petty as a vigilante group opposing a noble? Hah—amusing, I'd admit, I suppose, but boring considering who those opposing little puppies are…"

The redhead man standing to the right of the blond bristled and the ring on his middle finger lit up with red flames. "I dare you to say that again, Daemon." He snarled.

Daemon's smile stretched even wider. "I would, but speaking to you insects seems to be a bit of a waste of breath."

The black haired man standing behind the seated blond narrowed his eyes and fingered the pistol hanging under his coat threateningly, but said nothing, eyes blazing in disgust.

The Japanese one, the one who had smiled hatefully at Daemon, the one who had barely tolerated him, now stretched his smile even wider and made it even more pleasant. "Please refrain from such rude insults, Daemon-san." He said, his voice soft with forced sweetness.

Daemon raised an eyebrow and slouched in his seat. "Insults?" He repeated as he flashed the entourage a charming smile. "Why would you claim such a thing? They aren't insults—merely the truth."

"That's the worst to the limit!" The loud one who had oddly stayed silent until now spoke up as he glared at Daemon. "If you turn to God then he shall forgive your dark words, though! And you can be politer to the limit!"

The green haired teenager, the youngest of the group, cracked open an eye. "Ore-sama doesn't see why he's worthy of our time." He sniffed. "Ore-sama thinks that Giotto shouldn't associate with someone as creepy as Mr. Spade."

Daemon chuckled. "Thank you."

Giotto met Daemon's eyes firmly. "I want you to join." He repeated. "Please be our mist."

"I'll consider it…" Daemon replied casually, before smirking and raising an eyebrow. "If you get on your knees and bow down to me, then beg me to join."

To his everlasting credit, the man didn't even hesitate before he kneeled on the ground and touched his head to the floor. "Please." Giotto pleaded. "We were friends before, weren't we? Why can't we be now?"

"Friends?" Daemon repeated in amusement, and gave a bitter laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He allowed his mist flames to finally break free and fire began to rain from an ashen sky as the earth beneath Giotto cracked before turning to dust and breaking from beneath him.

The blond's eyes widened in shock before he fell down a chasm of flames. For a moment he just gaped, hand stretched to the sky, before he laughed and activated his own sky flames. "Did you really think that I would get caught by that, Daemon?" He asked cheerily as the room refitted itself to normal.

Daemon gaped at the man. "You broke my illusion." He said, dumbfounded. How?

How?

He was stronger…

Giotto held out a hand and smiled. "So, are you going to join?"

Stronger. And if he was stronger… then for now, Daemon would follow him.

He reached out and grabbed the hand. "Sure." The mist said nonchalantly with a shrug as a smile found it's way to his lips. "Why not?"

A/N: This was sooo hard! The mist are just so… hard to catch. It should probably be the clouds, but the mist's personalities are just so… argh! I could just scream in frustration!