Alrighty~ In this chapter we'll be deviating a good bit but you'll definitely enjoy the change~
Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.
-Steve Jobs
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat?
-Chuck Palahniuk
The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present.
-Bill Watterson
She had only met the older girl so many times that she could count on one hand and still have fingers left over, but the impression that Kurokawa Hana got from the eldest Sawada daughter was that she was someone really cool that she could look up to along with Gokudera's half-sister, Bianchi.
It was at Bianchi's June wedding that she got to learn a little about the girl. She had decided to ask the Sawada Matriarch mainly because Tsuna was busy with the cute blonde male that she had overheard was the girl's boyfriend. A good snag even if the man was a klutz. Hana figured that was part of his charm that attracted the Sawada female in the first place. But anyway, she decided to ask the brunette woman because if anyone knew the girl best it would be her mother.
Standing beside the smiling Matriarch she pointed to the girl in question. "Sawada-san, I've only seen her a few times and I can't remember if I ever learned her name or not..."
"Oh? You mean Ashlynn-chan?"
"Does she live with you?" Hana asked. Because of the noise of the crowd around them as they made their way to the reception hall she was only able to catch the end of what the woman had said and never realized that she had misheard the name. 'So, her name is Rin? Huh, Sawada Rin...even her name is cool...'
"Oh no, she lives in an apartment not too far away and she comes over to see Tsuna and the kids from time to time bringing some things she makes at the bakery she works at. You know, Fukano's Bakery in the shopping district?"
'She lives on her own and supports herself but goes back to visit every now and then? And she has a boyfriend...amazing...she's really responsible; she's like the polar opposite of her brother who looks like Nana-san. Rin-san must take more after the father...' She nodded. "Wow, she's such an adult."
Nana smiled pressing a hand to her cheek and opened her mouth to reply. Hana tilted her head when the crowds cheering drowned the woman out. She shrugged not too bothered; it was probably a generic reply anyway like how the woman was so proud but wished that her daughter wasn't so independent to leave the house so soon. She switched her attention to the main table where the bride and groom sat down as the crowd cheered, 'Evviva Gli Sposi', whatever that meant.
If she had heard what Nana had said then she would have learned that 'Rin' was not Nana's daughter, not even related actually and not even from Japan.
"I wonder, if Iemitsu and I had another child together would we have had a daughter like Ashlynn-chan?"
After walking away victorious from the Kokuyo Arc, Ashlynn had become relatively certain that she would get one to two weeks minimum before the start of the next major Arc. Unfortunately for her that 'relative certainty' was sadly incorrect and was actually just wishful thinking on her part. Sure there was the party celebrating their win against the Varia the day after the Sky Battle. Sure that Sunday morning she had slept like the dead. And she had fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow that very night. But she wouldn't have the minimum week to rest herself before being launched into battle. Nope. And so she found herself right into the beginning of the next Arc the very next day. I would have been more, but then she just had to go and talk to the very person who was (Would be) a great importance to the next part of the series because she hadn't seen him for a while. Needless to say she was greatly unprepared and ended up falling face first into the Future Arc.
Literally.
She figured that if she didn't do anything impulsive next time then maybe she could have that nice full week off to rest and actually be in school when the Shimon Arc comes around. But that was a long ways off and she was getting ahead of herself. When she took the moment to remember the story line as she soothed the bump on her head, she realized that the time line was where it should be and there was really no complaining about it. Except, of course, her forehead hurt from smacking into a bed post from her failed landing.
And the day had started off so well too. She had breakfast with Dolly, Fon, and Birdy then went to school and hung out with Ran for a little while...But then on the way home after splitting ways with Ran:
"Rin-san! Rin-san!"
Ashlynn kept walking and would have kept doing so if someone hadn't tapped her shoulder. She hummed and smiled when she found Kurokawa standing behind her. "Aa, Kurokawa-san?"
"I was about to head over to Sawada's house and drop this off but then I saw you. Can you give it to your brother for me? He left his stuff in the student duty folder again and never took it back."
Ashlynn blinked as Hana pressed a folder of papers into her hands. "My brother?"
"Oh, I mean Tsuna. I guess you could be confused because that little brat that dresses as a cow shows up from somehow ditching elementary, and there's the other young, but more polite boy as well. So could you take it for me? I have to run back to the school to finish up my own class duties."
"Yeah, sure thing but-"
"Thank you very much, Rin-san!"
"Tsuna's not-"
"I'll see you around, okay? Bye Rin-san! And thanks again!" Kurokawa unknowingly talked over her then waved and ran back the way she came.
Ashlynn's face fell, her hand still outstretched to try to explain but the girl was already too far away to hear her. "-my brother...and my name's not Rin..."
"Ciaossu, Ashlynn."
"Oh, Reborn." She turned back around to find the hitman. She handed over the papers when he nodded to them and explained out of courtesy what Hana had just said they were.
"Aa, thank you Ashlynn. I will be having a talk with Tsuna about these. Ciao."
"Oh, okay... bye then..." She waved and continued walking then paused. A few streets over when she saw someone familiar that she hadn't had the chance to see or talk to for a while. So she stepped behind the boy who was holding a darker shaded bazooka and huddled over a piece of paper. Not immediately seeing what was wrong with her sudden action she sang just behind him. "Shoichi~!"
"Aaaahh!" The boy squealed turning quickly around to see who was behind him, accidentally pulling the trigger and firing at the girl. He fell on his bottom on the ground staring at the smoke that had enveloped the high school female in shock. He gasped looking at the instructions written to him and began to sweat. "Oh no, oh no...No no no...I- I fired it too early! A-Ashlynn-san! Wh-what am I going to do now! She was supposed to be one of the last ones to go! Aughh, It doesn't say anything about what to do if I mess up!"
...
The lesson she learned from the encounter was: 'Do not sneak up on someone who has an important plot device in his hands.' Especially if said person was a skittish and easily freaked out person. Namely the present Irie Shoichi.
She sighed rubbing her head again as she glanced about the room she was in. It's very tasteful, she eventually decided. 'The yellow almost looks the same shade as my apartment...and the matching brown furniture is nice too. The bed is huuuge and-' She stopped in her tracks and paused her admiration of the interior of the bedroom her gaze caught by the folded piece of paper on one of the many pillows with her name written on the top.
"Well, hello there." She greeted slipping her shoes off her feet before flopping onto the bed with her feet kicking lazily into the air. She unfolded the page and began to read the message left to her.
'Ashlynn,
Before you do anything go into the top drawer of the nightstand of the master bedroom (the room you should be in right now) and find the Mammon chains. You must put this over the Vongola ring and Claddaugh ring IMMEDIATELY!'
"Oh shit!" Ashlynn cursed scrambling to the other side of the bed and pulling the drawer out, digging through a few files and finding two green weapon boxes and a single yellow one that she set aside on top of the wood before she got her hands on a small bag of chains. Fumbling with the zip lock she slipped a chain over each ring on her right hand, the Vongola ring on her middle finger that she wore when out of school and the ever present Claddaugh on her ring finger. "Crap, I can't believe I forgot that they could be traced! And I was taking my time doing nothing while I was probably being tracked down!...Okay, there on now...but why does the Claddaugh ring need to be chained?" She sat back down onto the bed and continued to the next lines of the message for answers.
'Now that has been taken care, I am writing to you in preparation of our switch through time and hope that this message finds you in good health and the Vongola ring on your finger. There are a few things you need to know before you do anything else and you should understand that you MUST destroy this letter the very moment you have read and understood its contents.
For simplicities sake I have listed them in order:
1. Also in the nightstand I have left my box weapons and two sets of each graded ring for Lightning with Mammon chains already in place (Grades D-A). There are also two hand guns in the bottom drawer along with their holsters and ammunition. Please equip yourself with everything right now and keep these items with you at all times from this point forward (Even when you go to sleep). You should go ahead and take my wallet as well which you'll also find in the top drawer.
Now, I'm sure you're wondering about the rings: I've broken a good many of them when I channel my flame into them. Not as many as Kyouya has broken, but enough that it became a joke among the Guardians and our allies.
Next the Claddaugh ring. A few years after first using the rings and boxes we figured out my secondary affinity. By the color of the extra weapon box you've no doubt noticed, my secondary is Sun. I can't say why the Claddaugh ring can channel that flame (and not break in the process). I'm afraid that's something you have to learn for yourself.'
"Because you can't give me all of the answers..."
'2. You were not switched a full ten years but actually nine years and ten months; just as it was in Canon. If there is any confusion just chalk it up to and be happy with the explanation that you are in the future for a purpose and keep it at that.
I am Twenty seven years old, happily married, and six months pregnant...you can take a moment to imagine that...(If it was known to anyone in the past that I was pregnant, and I'm sure there is, and the number of months I am along don't match up; well there's another time explanation about choices in the past or rather your present that changes your future which is my present. Bottom line: A decision can change everything...but don't worry about it.)'
"Six months? Seriously?" Ashlynn did take that moment to imagine what it might have looked like but shook her head before she continued on the next lines.
3. Tied in with number two, and the reason for the safe house (the house you are in right now): As I was getting along in my pregnancy it was decided that I go into hiding for mine and my child's safety. I understand the necessity but I wasn't really happy about it. There is no need to be worried about seeing anything you shouldn't about the future (i.e. relationships and whatnot). Anywhere else is debatable but when I came to this safe house in particular I hardly brought any personal affects with me.
4. There are only four people who know where I am. These people are Tsuna, Kyouya, Xanxus, and Squalo. Recently this group lost one of its numbers. You know who I am talking about.'
Ashlynn nodded. 'Future Tsuna...'
5. I was not keyed into the 'Plan'...Didn't stop me from hinting and passing on information that was relevant to help them. I also told Tsuna, on the last day that I saw him, to make sure he wore clean underwear. The look on his face was funny until he understood what I was implying.
6. Now, really important this next part:
Because of the protections around the house you need a pass worded phrase to get in and a different one to get out, among other precautions that were set up. One of the remaining three is set to check with me sometime this week. I'm sorry, I do not know who or when so you'll be stuck in place for a little bit. Please, I cannot stress this enough, please do NOT attempt to leave on your own. This is not a challenge. You are in Italy, not Japan. You will get lost. And that would be bad.
The Best of luck to you, Ashlynn.
Niamh'
"This...This is bad. This is not where I wanted to be when this Arc began." Ashlynn rubbed her temples as she thought out loud. "Tsuna has to gather all of the Guardians and their rings together in one place so when they go for Melone they'll have a barrier to protect them from the transportation that Byakuran activates. They won't have that barrier unless the Vongola Lightning ring is in Japan. I'm not any good to them if I'm half the world away!"
Ashlynn patted her cheeks. "Okay, I can't do anything about the fact that I'm in a country with a language I only know a few words of. I can't do anything about the fact that I have to wait here until someone comes and gets me. Whether that person is one of the three or an enemy tracking down the unchained rings is yet to be seen. If I can't get to Japan in time for the raid...then...there's always that castle siege...And...I should probably stop talking to myself. And I need to destroy this.
She hummed and did as instructed, destroying the letter with a snap of her fingers and the page burned away into ash over a conveniently placed garbage can. Ashlynn then decided on a little snooping. Not for anything that might give her an idea of whom her husband was. But rather for clothes in her future self's closet and hoped as she paused at the door to the walk-in space that there was something put aside that would be close to her size. While the boys may have been okay fighting in their school uniforms, Ashlynn wasn't and she didn't want to fight in it if she could help it. She exhaled a grateful breath as she peeked passed the maternity clothing and found suit pants, nice button up shirts, vests, and ties.
"Score." She grinned pulling out a short sleeved, soft grey button up and a pair of black slacks that were closest to her size and tried them on. "Perfect." She declared at the nice snug fit, then took them off and laid them on top of the dresser for later. She then looked into the drawers of that dresser and pulled on a baggy shirt and a pair of shorts. Her uniform went into her school bag then in a corner in the closet. The holsters went around both thighs with both guns within them while the small boxes of bullets were placed into a pouch then strapped to a belt on her right side and on her left she chained the three box weapons around the decorative holes and on the belt. Then unclasping the one regular chain from around her wrist she slipped it through all eight green, Mammon chained rings then reclasped the chain of rings around her wrist. Not the greatest place to have them but so long as she didn't have to keep them around her neck she was fine with it.
Now dressed to the teeth she slipped her shoes back on her feet and opened the door out of the master bedroom to explore her current residence. There were five doors total on the second floor: The Master bedroom, a light blue guest room, the guest bathroom, a linen closet and a study. The last room she found more interest in than the other rooms besides the Master bedroom. Done in charcoal gray and a single red wall the room was impeccably clean with four book cases, two lining the opposite walls. And in the middle was a dark brown wooden desk with a black swivel chair. Ashlynn hummed an old tune as she leisurely ran her hand gently across the spines of the books and found a few titles she knew and liked; the Avalon and Goosebumps series being the most notable. But since there wasn't anything she could see on the shelves that may give her a little more insight about the situation in the future she moved to sit in the swivel chair and leafed through papers she couldn't even begin to read. Since the letter hadn't said anything about hiding places for information she left the room to map out the rest of the safe house.
From the stairs she stepped into the room that had the front door. White walls with a few landscape paintings spaced along one of the walls, wooden floors, and two leather couches facing another in the middle of the room. While the letter had stressed that she shouldn't leave on her own it didn't say anything about how far into or out of the property that required a phrase. But to be safe, she decided to stay within the house and peek through the windows for her surroundings and the only thing she could was that it was dark out. Nothing caught her eye so she moved along to the next room which turned out to be a fancy dining room done in sea foam green and more brown furniture. Again nothing popped out to her and so she moved onto the next room.
Now dubbed the 'Ocean room' it was just it was named. A deep Ocean blue colored the walls, white leather couches and a white coffee table in front of it looking straight to the entertainment system. Paintings lined the walls showing shells, ships, and lighthouses. And her favorite part of the room; the large fish tank that took up the expanse of an entire wall next to the door that lead into the cream colored kitchen where she found the time being midnight.
The next favorite had to be the garage, or rather, what was being kept within the garage. The hot yellow 9-3 convertible. She didn't even bother smothering the fan girlish squeal that emerged from her throat as she crossed the space between the door and the shiny car she had dreamed of getting. And on the far side of the wall besides the awesome car there were two futuristic versions of the Yamaha TW200 dirt bikes with their helmets sitting on the seats, one red and the other green. Ashlynn grinned happily at the vehicles: Her dream car ant the kind of bikes that she had only been allowed to ride with her distant cousin's permission (that was rarely ever given). Even though her future self was in hiding, she had really cool stuff!
"And the tour is over...I should try to go to sleep to get used to the time change...But first some food. Hungry~."
"Reborn? Reborn, where are you!" Tsuna called looking around the street in case the hitman was about to surprise him from a hiding spot. But nothing appeared no matter how many times he turned around looking. "H-he..dis...disappeared...? No, with the bazooka you switch with your future self for five minutes...from what the Future Ashlynn and Lambo's explained, if no one appears then it means...No! I don't really understand everything...I shouldn't worry so much!" Tsuna decided resuming on his way. "I'm probably just over reacting and He'll be home by the time school ends and he'll probably also have something crazy planned, I'm sure."
With a little difficulty Ashlynn had gone to bed but because of the new place she wasn't able to fall asleep until the clock showed her the time, two am in Italy, in bright blinking red numbers. She managed but ended up waking up more tired than she was when she went to sleep. It was obvious by the way her face almost fell into her soggy bowl of cereal.
Ashlynn grumbled under her breath using the water in the sink as it's hottest to clean out the icky remains before putting the now dry dishes back where she found them. A shower afterwards only made her more tired and dressing into the clothes she had set out the night before (really, a day before), her shoes, the holsters, rings, boxes, and guns became much more of a bother than they should have been.
'I wish I knew who was coming...actually no...Hibari's definitely in Japan. Tsuna's dead...Xanxus doesn't seem the type to go fetch someone so it's got to be Squalo... Wasn't there some way that Future me could contact them? Even if she was in hiding what if there was an emerge-...!'
She jumped at the sudden alarms sirening throughout the safe house, before it was cut off in the middle of the third bell. Her sleepiness vanishing in place of the sense that something was very wrong now.
'Those shouldn't have gone off. If they had the correct phrases to get in then those shouldn't have gone off!' Ashlynn set out of the study room bypassing all the furniture and closets that could be potential hiding places had she been playing a non-life and death game, but instead as quietly as she was able she booked it back to the first floor and into the kitchen for a place that had always caused ungodly amounts of frustration whenever someone thought it was a good idea to play hide and seek with her. 'It's perfect. And it's a place where no one would ever think to look for a six month pregnant woman.'
So she opened up the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink and began to move bottle of cleaners to the side before crawling into the low space, careful of the guns and weapons on her person, and softly closing the door behind her, turning around so that her back was resting against the very back of the cupboard, she started moving the items back into place in front of her and her hands found a few washcloths (thankfully clean) that she draped over the front of her shoulders and on top of her head.
'And now the only reason they might look in here is if someone made a mess and wanted to clean it up. Unlikely but then again someone could have OCD and everything would have to be in place regardless if this is a raid or not.' She raised an eyebrow as she heard bangs from doors being kicked open and stomping on the stairs. 'They're not being very quiet...' She froze as she heard steps into the kitchen. Heels. There was the sound of one of the chairs being dragged against the tile. A woman sighed. Then a few minutes later the door opened again and someone else stepped into the room.
The woman spoke. "Any sign of her?"
"No." A man this time. "Though for a moment we were able to find a signal from two powerful rings at this location, it seems that we just missed her. The ring was most likely used to get past the protection they set up." Something was dropped on the table. "But we found this in the closet of the master bedroom."
'Crap, I forgot about my bag! C'mon, think nothing of it and get the Hell out of here...' Ashlynn mentally swore at her forgetfulness, but she was grateful the two trespassers were speaking in English.
The woman hummed opening the clasps. "This looks pretty old, and these papers...are dated back about nine years and more ago...Perhaps she grabbed the wrong bag when she was first moved here, or by the looks of the clothing she might have wanted some sort of memento of the time before joining a mafia family. They are very well taken care of...but not something a six month pregnant female can fit easily into..."
'Same with a kitchen sink. And yet, here I am.' The corners of her lips twitched.
"Even so, she still might be here. Are your men being careful with their search, Cameren? Even during her pregnancy she is still a Vongola Guardian with a very powerful resolve. And that resolve could only be stronger with protecting her unborn child."
"As much as we are able ma'am. What do you suggest we do now? We could torch the place."
Ashlynn held her breath in the dark. 'I don't like that idea.'
"No." The woman replied sternly. "We know where this place is now and how the protections work despite initially tripping the alarms. Let the Vongola and its allies believe that it was a malfunction or as you said, the ring may have been used to get past the alarms, and that this location is still safe. I will report this back to Byakuran-sama then return to my post."
"...Ma'am."
"I can't be away for too long otherwise they'll become suspicious and it is imperative that I keep my cover. They hardly trust me as it is even with my father and grandfather associating with them."
"Of course."
"Now," The woman stood up pushing the chair back in. "We'll leave for the camp to the east and have a small group report to the one in the south. Have one of the technicians put in something so we know whenever someone enters the property lines, preferably without setting anything else off. And start having someone staked out to watch the house starting this afternoon."
"As you wish."
"Let's go Cameren."
Ashlynn stayed within the small confines of the cupboard, breathing as silently as she was able, trying to keep her heart from racing, counting backwards from six hundred which would be about ten minutes in total. 'It shouldn't take too long for them to search the place since there aren't any hidden passages that Future me told me about...Okay, Six hundred, five-hundred and ninety-nine, five hundred and ninety-eight, five hundred and ninety-seven...' She counted silently trying to focus on the sounds of the house and not the fact that her legs were beginning to fall uncomfortably numb. She steadied her breathing as people came in and out of the kitchen twice but did not open anything besides the fridge, one of them commenting on the absence of cupcakes and an expectation that there would be a mountain of them even if they would not work for them. Another commented on how cool the fish from the Ocean room were.
'Five hundred and forty five, five hundred and forty-four, Five hundred and forty-three...' Hurry the hell up and get out of here...'
Another two people entered the kitchen. One male spoke as the fridge was opened again. "Jeez what's up with all the weird stuff? There's a Tupperware with pickles, broccoli, and ketchup in it, there's two drawers filled with potatoes, four jars of jelly, and...dried mango slices?"
"Well, the chick that was here was really pregnant right? Pregnant women get cravings."
'Don't touch the mango slices, they're amazing.' Ashlynn silently warned.
"Huh, they have soda here. You want one for the trip back?"
"Sure. Thanks." Another male. He sighed. "Why do we have to speak in English? My mouth feels dirty speaking it."
"Orders from up top. Usually when we're in a certain country we speak a different language. Like that one time we were in India and we spoke Russian throughout the entire stay."
"So a precaution, but what if someone overhears and happens to know the language?"
"Just a risk we have to take...Alright, this is everything. Lucky you, once we get back to camp you get to stay there. I have to come back here within the hour."
'An hour's all I get? Go ahead and take your time buddy. Take a couple scenic detours while you're at it. I could use all the time I can get right now and hopefully an ally will notice that the ring was uncovered here too.' She silently begged as the doors opened and closed once more and she waited, moving the dish towels off her head, and began slowly moving the cleaning supplies to the side again. She pushed the cabinet door open a crack and peeked through the opening and when she didn't see any feet she pushed it open all the way and crawled out of the low space. She sighed grabbing her bag that was left on the table and quickly made a beeline to the master bedroom, pulling up the comforter and slipping out the box of the graded lightning rings and the small bag of chains and packing it into her bag. Then into the closet to one of the higher shelves where she spotted a bigger bag. She snatched it down and threw it on the bed followed by two shirts and pants from the closet.
"No way am I going to let them get a hold of anything they could use here. So that means the rings and the chains. I've got the guns on me. I now have two changes of clothes that I can take with; four including the one I'm wearing right now and my uniform..." She counted everything out loud as she packed it tightly into the bag. "I've got mine and her chakrams, the boxes, my dagger..." She patted her pockets and with a decided nod she hefted the bag over her shoulder, slipped her shoes on and stepped down to the second floor and through the Ocean room.
"You! What are you doing here!" There was a click of a gun. "Very slowly, turn around."
Ashlynn froze, standing at the side of the fish tank just about to go through the doorway to the kitchen. she slowly, so slowly, turned about to face the male who was holding a gun pointed at her chest with shaky hands. It was the man who had complained of having to come back to stake out the house.
"Why are you here?" He demanded in English.
"It's my job to feed the fishies." She blurted out jerking her head at the tank.
That quick motion set the brunet to swivel the gun to the aquarium and fired three shots into glass shattering it into miniscule pieces and flooding the wooden floors with water, small rocks, decorations, and flopping fish. Ashlynn looked down at the mess then back at the jumpy male ruefully (and more than a little nervous) as she used one hand to brush her hair over her should while discreetly using the other hand to grasp the gun strapped to her thigh.
"Dude. You're a dick." She stated drawing up her gun and shooting the man in the chest sending him down to bloody the water with his blood. She let out a shaky breath lowering her now quivering hand. "I'm sorry. When this Arc is over with and I go back to the past...this will never have to happen..."
She turned away pressing her hands to the nearest wall, closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply. Inhale, hold then exhale.
"Agostino...Agostino...check in Agostino...Are you there? Report Agostino. Over."
"Dammit," Ashlynn cursed turning eyes back on the man, now named Agostino. She carefully knelt beside the corpse and gingerly took away the communicator.
There was a sigh on the other line. Ashlynn froze as she realized that the person had heard her. "Tamerune, is that you? I thought I told you not to let Agostino to shirk his duties off on you."
"I...I'm sorry." She apologized. 'He thinks I'm one of his men...?'
"Do you know where he went? He's in the town further south, isn't he?"
"...Yes sir."
The man sighed again. "Well since you're already there, can you stay tonight and the next at the house? Rest assured that I will have a stern talking to with Agostino. He should know better than to take advantage of you."
"I will...and thank you." Ashlynn mumbled.
"You've got it Tamerune. I'll call again when I have someone switch out with you. Over and out."
Ashlynn released another shaky breath. As the line turned off and she made sure to find and press the small button to make sure that it was turned off correctly before throwing it in the garbage. She looked at the body on the floor and shook her head wearily. "What to do with you..."
One dead man in a dumpster later, Ashlynn washed her hands and after a quick look at her clothing she decided it was best to change, again, so she wouldn't bring too much attention to herself with the blood that had seeped through when she carried the man out back to the garbage. So now in a white shirt, another button up with a black vest over with black pants she stepped the kitchen for some snacks and water to bring along with her then moved into the garage. While she had a basic knowledge of driving a car she didn't want to risk making a mistake or even being pulled over so she instead moved to the dirt bikes. She could keep her bag on her back and wear the helmet. A more thorough glance around allowed her to find a jacket that she immediately shrugged into and a container that had fuel inside. Ashlynn made sure the top was completely sealed before stuffing it into the very top of her bag. She didn't think she'd need it thanks to the electrical engine; she could channel her own electricity but she wanted to be prepared just in case.
She walked the bike out through the side door of the garage forgoing opening the larger automatic door, pressed the on button to start the bike, put on her helmet then braced herself as she sped through the fallen leaves on the property lines into the surrounding forest area. She was taking a big risk, and more than one. While she didn't set off any seeable alarms as she weaved in and out of trees towards North. 'The woman had said setting up something to track people coming in...but not going out...I hope...and I hope that North was the way to go. And, dammit, I should have thought this out better!'
So long as I don't accidentally ride into a Millefiore or any of their allies camps then I should be fine. 'It'd be like, "Hey, I know I was hiding from you before but here I am ready for capturing! Happy smiles, everyone! If I don't run into the Varia or one of our allies then I'll get myself over to Japan-!"'
She swerved nearly hitting into a cluster of closely grown trees as the bark of the trees she passed were blown off. "Shit!" She cried regaining her balance and picking up speed before she could eat dirt. She chanced a glance behind her shoulder. A rider with the red helmet on the red Yamaha from the garage was hot on her tail with an automatic crossbow attached to the arm with blue flames licking the weapon.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! How long has he been following!" She cried keeping her head down as low as she was able and kept the bike steady with one hand while she used the other to slip her chakram bracelet into her fist. Just as she passed one of the larger trees she channeled her flame into a single point on the circular blade and sliced through the trunk like butter. It gave her a few seconds to get ahead of her pursuer but she'd need more.
Especially now there was a blue flame burning through the cloth of her arm where she had reached out.
Ashlynn growled reverting the chakram back into its default form as it became obvious that she couldn't channel through that limb anymore due to the tranquility effect of the rain flame. She'd have to ditch the jacket just in case but she didn't have the time to stop to take the bag off then get rid of the heavy cloth. Even now her pursuer was catching up despite the small detour the rider had to take to keep from crashing into the fallen trunk. The person went up the incline of the hill with the arm with the crossbow trained on her but when no opportunity to attack showed the rider moved the bike to close the height distance between them by jumping off the ledge and nearly crashing into Ashlynn.
She swore again steering more to the right so she was going North East jumping off little ramp like hills and trying to keep out of range of the rain bolts. She glanced back again to see how much distance she had between the other rider.
It turned out to be a very bad mistake when the bike suddenly dipped down, throwing her falling forward and over the handlebars and wheel as she tumbled forty feet down the sharp decline covered in leaves. The bike landed on its side a few feet away from where she laid panting from the struggle to gain any foothold. She groaned battling against the tingling of shock the hard ground gave to her limbs and she dragged herself over onto her hands and knees. Slipping her sore arms out of the loops of the bag she let it fall and didn't pay any mind to the contents that spilled out from the top. After struggling a moment with the clasp on the helmet, that too was dropped to the ground followed by the bulky black and green jacket. She shot her head up when the motor of the other rider roared from atop of the hill and the bike sped down with much more care and balance than her less than graceful tumble.
Ashlynn released the form of her other chakram and dug her heels into the wet ground, bent down for a split moment to grab onto the helmet to hurl it at the rider. It was shot down and Ashlynn dove slightly to the right and slammed the large bladed wheel into the front of the bike launching the rider over the heap of her bike. She bolted for the rider who ripped off her own helmet, revealing the person top be a female, and readied the crossbow at her again. Ashlynn slid across a patch of mud just narrowly being shot in the chest with the sharp bolts; scooping up the container of fuel, she unscrewed the top with a single twist and splashed the liquid in the face of the fast approaching female who thought to come in for closer combat.
The dark brunette shrieked clawing at her eyes with one hand while the other with the crossbow began pressing the trigger as she flailed that limb about in the hopes that there would be a hit but before she could regain herself and her sight Ashlynn stepped into her guard and landed a high kick against the girl's unprotected neck, snapping through the bone and flesh, instantly killing the girl.
Ashlynn fell to her knees panting and her adrenaline gone as she looked away from the girl's misshapen neck. "...That's four." She murmured mournfully. Ashlynn glanced back at the body, there wasn't a dumpster that she could lug the body to, but it wasn't like she could just leave it out where anybody could find it. She spied a cluster of trees a little up the slope that had a few bushed growing steadily around it. She nodded standing up and grabbed the body by the ankles and hid it along with the ruined remains of the other Yamaha bike, both helmets, and the jacket she had used beneath the brush and a couple armfuls of leaves. Before fully covering the corpse Ashlynn gingerly patted the girl down taking the pistol, mammon-chained ring, and box weapons off the girl and also took care to crush the communicating device the woman had to the Millefiore camp. It was stealing, yes, but it was also making sure that the opposing side had one less ring and box weapon to their disposal. If she found one the Vongola's allies she'd give it to them since she had no use for Rain attributed weapons. Gokudera could even use it for System C.A.I.
She picked the bike off of its side and happily found there was nothing wrong with it and while she had used the fuel to blind her opponent she still had plenty of flames to power the bike when the electricity went dead from the battery which was still a long while yet. Ashlynn slipped her arms back through the loops of her now secured bag then swung her leg over the bike and continued to ride north.
After thirty minutes of no other attackers following her Ashlynn stopped the bike to a full halt beside a large tree and turned the engine off. There was something white...running through the forest ahead of her and was coming in her direction. She tensed moving off the bike as the thing jumped closer and closer to her position but sighed in relief when a familiar long white haired swordsman in the Varia's future uniform leaped from one branch to another and when he was jumping from tree limb to the next one just a few feet away from where she was she chirped out happily.
"Squalo!"
The man's visible eye widened as he landed on the branch above her then dropped down to the earth in front of her. He opened his mouth, no doubt to yell but she beat him to the punch by throwing her arms around the assassin's waist, careful of the sword attached to his right hand. She had barely been in the future for barely a full day and she had to deal with being alone in a different country and having to kill two people made her so damn happy to see someone familiar even though he had been an 'enemy' not a full week ago in her present time.
"Ve, you're not crying are you, brat?" He placed a hand firmly on the top of her head and pried her face off of his chest.
"Not yet I'm not. I haven't even been here for an entire day yet and I've already killed two people!" She rubbed her eyes to keep away the tears and the weariness from adrenaline rush and lack of good sleep.
"A full day?" He nudged her back. "Voi! You mean to tell me you've been here longer than five minutes! What the hell! Is the Ten Year Bazooka malfunctioning! How long exactly have you been here?"
She stared up at him. "I've been here for more than ten hours."
"Shit. Definitely a malfunction."
"Must be. I was in a safe house where I found a letter addressed to me from my future self...I'm sorry, I don't have it anymore, Squalo. She said to burn it when I understood what was written."
He frowned at the almost glazed look in her eyes. "Before you pass the fuck out, sit down and tell me what else happened."
"The letter said to put Mammon's chains on my rings and told me I was to wait in the safe house until someone could come get me."
"Then what the hell are you doing out here, you stupid girl? You were put in there so you could hide and be safe!" He growled.
"The safe house has been compromised." She argued with narrowed eyes. "The alarms went off when they shouldn't have and I did hide! I hid in a place where no one would ever look to find a heavily pregnant woman!"
Squalo crossed his arms as he leaned against the trunk of the tree. "And just where the fuck would that be?"
"Underneath the kitchen sink."
"..."
"Yeah. I bet you wouldn't have thought to look there either. So I hid under the sink and overheard to two people talking in English. One of them was named Cameren."
"A high ranked Millefiore Captain...and the other?"
"A woman. I didn't hear her name, just that she had to leave soon otherwise her cover would be blown over and that the people she was staying with didn't trust very much in the first place despite her family associating with them."
"...Keep going."
She nodded. "I stayed underneath the sink until the last few people left and because I only had less than an hour to get out of there before a sentry came back to stake out the house, I packed a bag with clothes, food, and other things...the sentry came back earlier than I thought he would. Confronted me in the Ocean room and he shot the fish tank and then I shot him...then right at that moment one of his superiors wanted him to check in and thanks to a bit of insane luck the man on the microphone thought that I was one of his team members or something. He thought that the sentry had dumped his duties on another person and the guy asked if I would stay for the next night. I crushed the communicator thingy then dumped the body into the dumpster behind the house. Then I took this Yamaha from the garage and left the property without any alarms going off but within ten to twenty minutes some chick was following me on the red Yamaha" She explained unable to stop her rambling now that she had started. "She had a blue flame like Basil's and she shot this crossbow at me and for some reason my chakram lost its spark. I fell over forty foot hill and when she came down I threw my helmet at her then destroyed the bike and when she was about to shoot me again, I unscrewed the bottle of fuel and threw it in her face then I kicked her in the neck...and she died...I...I hid her and what's left of the red Yamaha in the bushes then I started riding again and I didn't know if I was going the right way cause I really had no idea where the fuck I was going but I figured if I could find civilization I could find my way back to Japan or something-."
He lightly punched the top of her head to interrupt her. "Voi, I've heard enough. How much gas does this thing have left in it?"
"About more than half? And the battery's at full charge."
He nodded briskly hauling her back onto her feet then moving the bike away from the tree and pointed it in the direction he just came from. "I'll drive. Hang on tight, brat."
Reborn shook his head. "I can't go outside. So Yamamoto here will help you because he is much more familiar with how battle with the rings and boxes work. Yamamoto, all the Guardians in this time are still alive, correct."
The Older male nodded. "There hasn't been any word on any of us being captured or killed. But there may be a slight problem with gathering our Lightning."
Tsuna frowned. "Why? What's happened to Ashlynn?"
"We couldn't afford to risk her so under your future self's orders she went into hiding." The older Yamamoto rubbed at the scar on his chin and explained before the question could even begin. "It's because she's about six months pregnant-"
"Six months?" Gokudera interrupted. "But we saw her not a few days ago and she was definitely not six months along! If anything she was about two or three."
"Aa. But you have to keep in mind that a decision in your guy's present can change the entire future. No pressure, huh? So right now she's in hiding and there are now only three people who know where she is...Tsuna used to be one of them..., and I don't know who the remaining three are." Yamamoto looked away.
"But seeing as we three are here already we can assume that all the Guardians will eventually switch with their future counterparts." Reborn nodded.
"Until your present Ashlynn switches then we'll have to get our Lambo."
Gokudera scowled. "Really? We have to depend on the stupid cow?"
Ashlynn sat with her knees tucked into her chest staring at the fire between her and the future Squalo. Her hand was held in front of her with the light shining on the Vongola and Claddaugh rings. They had driven in mostly silence throughout the day with very little breaks.
"Even if Tsuna of this time destroyed these rings, everyone still relied very heavily on them...Kind of defeats the purpose but I understand that Tsuna wouldn't want to had fuel to the flames if everyone was making such a big deal out of trying to steal them. Oh, yeah, I should give these to you. I also have a box of lightning rings that future me had with her."
The man raised an eyebrow when she tossed the blue ring and box weapon from the red rider.
She fidgeted under the searching stare. "She used a blue flame."
"And you figured that I could use it?"
"You were competing to be the 'Rain Guardian' ten years ago. I'm sure you have a rain affinity in you somewhere. If you don't want it then you can give it to someone else. I can't use it so I don't want to lug it around with me."
"Then why did you take it?"
"Because then that's one less ring and weapon the other side has."
Squalo smirked. "Good to know that even when you panic you still think of the bigger picture. Crossbows aren't my thing but I'll hold onto for it now…You have your future self's boxes?"
' Well, the bigger picture is all I have to work with...' Ashlynn nodded pulling all three off of her belt.
"Start with the Vongola ring and light it with your resolve."
"Resolve? And are you sure it's a good idea to take the chains off? The letter said I should keep it on…" Ashlynn questioned. 'I didn't try using the ring before because I could already channel lightning to my chakram...but it was also because I figured that being able to light the ring was plot-controlled and wouldn't work until someone other than myself explained it to me.'
"I'm more than enough if they bother to send someone this far out. And your resolve, it's your will to fight and other such bullshit."
"Aa." She pulled the chain off the ring and thought back to her meeting with the Ninth. How she wanted to keep them safe…
Squalo raised an eyebrow when the ring exuded a green sparking light. "Well, what do you know…most trash need thirty hours to be able to light their rings. Now put that spark into the hole on the box."
She did as instructed placing the Vongola ring into the hollow space of the box. She waited a moment before pulling her hand away and holding the box away from the fire and at the very last moment she remembered to say, "Who's that Pokemon?"
The box opened and two light green lights flew into the air above them before landing on the ground on either side of her. She gaped.
The swordsman smirked. "What is it, ragazza? Didn't think you'd get something so girly?"
'Mute Swans. My box weapon is two mute swans.' She closed her mouth and opened it again as she reached a hand slowly to the one on her right and the white bird leaned its, her, head into her hand. "No, I wasn't expecting something that can genuinely fuck you up."
"Ha! The future you said the same exact thing." Squalo snorted.
"They are very pretty." Ashlynn petted the other when it, he, she corrected herself butted his head at her free hand. The female on her right ruffled her feathery plumage. "And very territorial if I remember and thus very able to fuck you up."
"Now try the other box." Squalo nodded to the yellow cube.
She nodded allowing the two swans that she'd name later back into the box. She placed the Mammon chain back over the Vongola ring then pulled the chain off of the Claddaugh ring and made the same visualization as she had for the previous ring.
Nothing happened. Ashlynn pouted.
"Heh, got the lightning on your first try but it looks like you'll have to get used to the fact that you can channel sun flames as well."
Ashlynn tilted her head. "Bianchi once said that Reborn was sure I had another affinity…I guess sun makes sense…it's the healing one right?" Man, it was hard to ask questions she already knew the answers to.
"The sun attribute is activation and yes, simply put it is the healing factor. Lightning has the solidifying factor. Cloud is propagation, Rain is tranquility, Storm is disassembly, and Mist is obviously illusions and real illusions…." He stopped then suddenly put out the fire and hauled her closer to the trees.
Ashlynn gulped as she heard footsteps over leaves walked closer and closer to where they were camping for the night. She looked up at Squalo as he scowled and stalked away from her towards the bushes opposite of them. He disappeared into the dark for a few minutes; there was a noise of someone being hit and there was a male voice quietly complaining before Squalo came back with another person in tow.
Varia uniform. Teal hair. Froggy hat.
Fran.
The boy raised his hand in greeting. "Hello Nee-san~. Unn? You look younger and not very pregnant-y."
Ashlynn blinked. Squalo scowled harder smacking the top of the boy's hood. "VOI! I thought I told you to wait until I got back, you rookie trash!"
Fran flopped down on the ground next to the ashes of the fire. A quick strike of a match and a piece of paper and it started slowly back to life. Ashlynn crept forward curiously. He had called her his sister. The boy tapped where his ear was being covered by the hood. "Taicho, I don't like waiting and you weren't answering when I tried to talk to you."
"Because every time you used the line it was about something stupid!"
"Ehh? Taicho doesn't like small talk? I'll try to think of something more meaningful next time, okay?"
"Not 'okay'," Squalo growled.
Fran turned back to her and poked her flat stomach, his facial expression not changing at all ever since he appeared. "Neh, Nee-san, where'd your preggy belly go?"
"Um, because I'm not pregnant. I'm from the past." Ashlynn explained.
"Oh. Time travel?"
"Yeah."
Squalo scoffed. "Ashlynn, this is Fran. Mammon's dead so he's the illusionist we got to replace him."
"Is that why he has a frog hood? Because Mammon had a frog as a familiar?" Ashlynn pointed to the large hat.
Fran nodded. "The deranged prince is forcing me to wear it. I'd take it off now but he somehow know whenever it's not on my head. And When I do he stabs me with his stupid looking knives."
"Poor you." Ashlynn smiled sympathetically.
"We'll stay here for the rest of the night." Squalo announced sitting with his back to the closest tree a few feet away. "Because you abandoned your post, Fran, you get to take two guard shifts."
"What? But you're the one who didn't answer when I tried to contact you, Taicho."
"You take the first and second watch and I'll take the third. Ashlynn, go to sleep." The swordsman ordered closing his eyes.
"Um, okay then. Good night, Squalo. Fran." Ashlynn called laying down and using her bag as a pillow and within minutes fell asleep.
A tapping on her cheeks woke her up and the first thing Ashlynn saw the next morning was the color teal. "Fran?" She murmured rubbing her eyes when he pulled away.
"Good morning Nee-san. Taicho says to get up even though it's really early. I told him it was too early and he said that we have to make it to at least one check point today. So hurry up and eat so we can go. You should also go to the bathroom before we have to leave. You can sleep again in a little bit but you should get up right now."
"Okay." She yawned sitting up. She reached into her bag for the dried mango slices and chowed down on a handful. She noticed that Squalo was gone and the Yamaha bike was missing.
"Even when not pregnant you really like those." The boy rested his chin on his hand. "I tried them once and didn't like them."
"Different tastes. I really like them though at it was easy to pack with so little time. Looking at the kitchen where I was it seemed like my future self was living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, broccoli covered in ketchup, potatoes, pasta, honey mustard, hot dogs and tortillas. There was other stuff but that was the stuff that was stocked in bulk." She shrugged "Where did Squalo go?"
"There's a town nearby. He's going to put the bike in storage and come back with a car because we can't fit three people on the bike."
"Makes sense to do that." She swallowed the rest of the liquid from her water bottle.
"He's the strategy commander of the Varia so he had good ideas."
Ashlynn stood up and left a little while to do her thing before coming back. Fran was poking at the ashes of the fire. She sat across from him. "You called me Nee-san last night."
"Because the older you lets me."
She nodded and the two looked up when a car horn was honked. Fran nodded taking the lead through the trees with Ashlynn following behind with her bag and the two walked until they found the road and Squalo waiting in another convertible, a dark blue one this time. Fran took the front passenger seat while Ashlynn climbed into the back.
"Go back to sleep Ashlynn."
"Mmmkay."
She ended up sleeping through the ride even with the sun shining on her face through the window. She missed out on the colorful scenery. Also missed out on Squalo using a communicator to tell someone else that it was her from the past and that she was fine.
However she didn't miss when Squalo suddenly slammed on the brakes, jolting her awake, and thankfully unharmed thanks to her seat belt. She rubbed at her eyes and took a second to remember where the hell she was. She pressed her hand against the back of Squalo's seat.
"What's going on? Are we stopping?"
The man grumbled pushing crouching before a bush and brushing away the foliage. "There's small checkpoint right here that has a password to it."
"Oh." Ashlynn said then blinked as Squalo began singing, pausing every line as if to ask why he was being subjected to this, but singing nonetheless a song she remembered from her childhood.
"Fighting evil by moonlight...Winning love by daylight...never running from a real fight...she is the one named Sailor Moon...she will never turn her back on her friends...she is always there to defend... she is the one on who we can depend... She is the one named Sailor Moon."
Ashlynn and Fran looked at each other then back to the swordsman and began to applaud for him.
"That was a good performance, Taicho. You paused a lot though…" Fran critiqued.
Squalo brought his fist down on the boy's head. "Shut up, Fran."
There was an amused chuckle from a woman that made Ashlynn look out the window. The scenery around them was as green as ever and they were surrounded on all sides by trees, but Squalo was parked right next to a speaker like one would find in a drive thru.
Squalo scoffed. The woman giggled. "Everything okay, Squalo?"
"I've got Fran and Niamh."
"Oh." The tone of voice changed. "Then I won't keep you. I'll see you later Squalo."
He put the car back into drive and pressed on the gas pedal "Alright. We're in the clear for now."
"...So what was-?" Ashlynn asked.
"To get into this place and a few others there are certain requirements you put." Squalo growled irritably. "Some have you sing a stupid shitty kids song, one of them has you do god damn interpretive dances that I'm sure you were drunk when you came up with them, and stupid ass phrases along with the thankfully normal boring shit we already have to do."
"Like?" She fished for an answer.
"...the very first one was the Poke rap of the first hundred and fifty original stupid ass Pokémon."
She snorted. 'And it worked?"
"..."
"Squalo?"
"A hell of a lot better than it was expected to."
Ashlynn laughed.
A bit of a cliffy but I don't want to compile the whole future Arc into one chapter. As it is, a lot has happened in this chapter alone.
I had previously planned that Ashlynn would have her animal box weapon to be a bear. It was even considered that her box weapon animal would be a cat just for a Thunder Cats reference. But when I researched more into swans, Mute swans in particular I fell in love with their spiritual symbolism and it fit so perfectly with Ashlynn's character.
Note: Dried Mango slices are freaking amazing. Shame they are like twelve dollars a bag, and so not exactly worth buying too many.
Ragazza: 'girl' in Italian
