A Royal Capture
Chapter Fourteen
The sun had just cracked over the horizon. A beautiful shine broke out over a bloody battlefield, highlighting the fierce battle between the Vongola and the Spiaggia. It was a clear day. No clouds, no mist, nothing but a wide, open sky.
Tsunayoshi had gotten to where one of the bomb sites was, and he stood inspecting it with calculating brown eyes, Reborn watching for enemies beside him. "Perhaps two doors this way?" the Tenth decided after a few moments, soon stepping over to the door and lightly rapping his fist against it. "Hayato! Fran! Are the both of you all right?"
"Boss!" came the muffled response of his trusted Storm guardian. "Yes! The code is twenty six!"
"Code?" Tsuna noted the lock on the door, and tried to punch in the code, only to have it fail on him. "... Are you sure that's it?"
"It worked for me!" Hayato protested, clearly growing nervous at the apparent failure.
Reborn's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he noted the door. "That system... I don't think it's what's really linked to the lock. That looks more like a voice activation code."
"What?!" Gokudera spluttered. "That's impossible! I opened it, I swear!"
"You were fighting each other," Reborn noted. "Torikabuto and some Spiaggia, right?"
"I... yes, I was fighting Torikabuto and their Rain guardian, Non," Gokudera murmured.
"Did they say anything while you were fighting them? Anything that might've caused the door to open?"
"Not that I remember!" the bomber replied. "Tenth..."
"Gokudera... do you have Uri with you?"
"... Yes...?"
"Can you do Cambio Forma?"
"Of course, sir!" Gokudera answered. "We can do that easy! But... what good'll it do?"
"I'm going to bring out Natsu. I want you to attack the left side of the door - your left, not mine."
"Yes sir!"
"Don't hold back!" Tsunayoshi added. "We're going to get you out of here!" He turned to Reborn. "Stand aside, Reborn."
The hitman gave a faint smile. "Don't have to tell me twice," he whispered, stepping to the side, watching as Natsu left his box, looking at the door like it was a rain-class mouse that needed to be put in place. Nuzzling Tsuna's shoulder for a moment, the little lion hopped down and moved to their left, standing before the door as well now. "All right, Gokudera! From ten! Ten, nine, eight-" As the Vongola boss counted down, Natsu gathered his strength in Deathperation flames, while Tsuna placed one hand behind him and one forward, preparing for the X Burner. "Operation X."
On the other side, Gokudera had Uri undergo Cambio Forma, switching his weapon into the 'G's Archery' form, before proceeding to gather his strength to launch 'Ultra Tornado Flame Arrow,' an enhanced technique of the original that was nearly twice as powerful, but took a lot more energy.
"Three, two, one!"
"X Burner!"
"Flame Arrow!"
CRASH!
They got the door open, all right. In fact, the two of them had completely disintegrated it. It wasn't long before two ash-covered Mafiosi looked at each other, and laughed. Gokudera stepped out, and smiled at Tsuna, quite happy. "Good thinking, boss. You're the best."
Fran stood on shaky legs, his hands still cuffed behind his back. "..." Slowly, he walked over to the two, and looked from Tsuna to Reborn, before turning his teal gaze on the ground.
"The brat doesn't remember much of us," Gokudera muttered as he looked at Fran. "But at least he's safe."
"That's all that matters," Tsuna replied, reaching out to place a hand on Fran's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll have you reunited with your teammates soon."
"I don't believe so."
The group turned, soon seeing a young boy with white hair, glasses, and amber eyes, wearing a black cloak, several box weapons locked around his waist. Gokudera tensed. "Boss, that must be him," he growled. "The brat who started all of this."
"Now, Gokudera...," Tsuna stepped towards the Spiaggia leader, giving him a skeptical glance. "... Are you Andrew Spark?"
"Just Spark," the younger male muttered. "And are you Vongola X, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"
"Yes, but I simply go by Tsuna. Titles don't suit me," the Vongola boss replied, frowning. "You've hurt a lot of people. How did your heart grow to be so black, Spark? Attacking my guardians - my family - in such a way, when you should be in a warm home being taken care of."
"My heart isn't black," Spark replied, frowning. "I never had a heart to begin with. If ever I had a chance to have that, it was snuffed out by none other than the devil you have in your suppose 'family.'"
Tsuna frowned. Really, that could be most any of his guardians. Gokudera, Hibari, Mukuro, Xanxus, Squalo... or, perhaps... "Are you referring to Byakuran?" he asked. "No, that doesn't matter. If your anger was directed at one of us, then you shouldn't have challenged all of us. But as you seem to know at your young age, a lion will use all of its strength even against a mouse. The moment you touched a single hair on the head of even just one of us was the moment you doomed yourself."
"You tell him, boss!" Gokudera cheered.
The Vongola boss stepped forward, surprised to find that Spark only came up to his shoulders. "How old are you anyway, kid?"
"...eleven...thirteen...nine... does it really matter?" the boy muttered, clenching his fists. "You should be able to recognize that if I can dominate most of your family, you'll be no match. You've always been the weakest link in the Vongola. You only seem to win when you've been prepared to push yourself past your limits. That won't happen this time. You came here recklessly - you ran in. You didn't prepare. You have no idea what I have on my side. You don't know my strength. I can crush you as easily as I crushed each and every other one. Kikyo!" He looked around, waiting for his second in command to join him. "... So your little maggots took out Kikyo. No matter. I can defeat you solo." He took a fighting stance, eyes dark as he lit the twin rings on his fingers, one of Lighting, the other of Sky. "Ready to lose, weakli-"
The sudden, harsh sound of bone hitting bone rang out suddenly as Tsunayoshi stepped forward and flashed a fist out, hitting Spark hard across the jaw with a surprisingly fierce punch, sending him to the ground. Spark looked up at the Vongola boss with shocked eyes, a hand moving up to touch the rapidly-bruising wound, when Tsuna growled, "You think I'm weak? You hate to fight alone, you tackle as many targets as possible with as many people as you can in order to get to one person. You can't even develop your own attacks! Your resolve is too weak! You're insecure, and incapable of ever being a worthy opponent to me! You're much better off just stepping away and letting me take back my guardians, you worthless little creep! Instead of always pretending to have strength that will never be yours, just right the wrongs you've already brought on yourself and move on! You had a chance at a normal life, why don't you take it?! If I had had a choice not to be the Vongola boss at your age, I would've leapt at it! And instead, you threw yourself at this fate without a single second thought... what is wrong with you?!"
Spark's eyes blazed with anger at the words, and he got to his feet shakily. "... I am not you...," he hissed, "And you can not win against me!" he snarled, before his ring lit, twice as powerful as before. He immediately called out the 'Sky Lion B' box weapon, bringing out a beast twice the size of Natsu, adorned with skulls and large claws. The beast gave a threatening growl, but Natsu, as always, didn't back down obediently.
"Natsu... we're winning this battle," Tsunayoshi said, anger clear in his voice. "The boy before us has created the worst darkness we've seen so far. He's tortured and starved our friends. He's brought back the reign Byakuran wanted to set forth, and he's tried to destroy the love so carefully cultivated in our bonds. We... we have to get rid of that evil! Whether we have to get rid of Spark along with it or not is up to him!"
"Gao!" Natsu roared in agreement.
"Cambio forma, Natsu! Modo attaco!" the Vongola boss called, and his box weapon formed the upgraded spiny gauntlets that had once been Vongola Primo's weapon of choice. As the gauntlets lit with powerful Sky flames, Spark took his own attack stance, and soon the Sky Lion B was racing forward, ready to lock its powerful jaws around Tsunayoshi's arm.
"Tsuna!" Reborn shouted. "An uppercut to disperse the lion, then go after Spark! This won't take long, he's too weak!"
The Vongola boss did as ordered, whispering an apology to the mindless weapon as he hit upwards, the force stronger than an X-burner, and all too capable of destroying the lion completely. Upgraded weaponry didn't matter. What mattered was what Spark had done to his friends. What mattered was that this boy had threatened his entire family. That, and that alone, mattered. With one fluid movement, he slammed a gauntlet into Spark's stomach, sending the boy to the ground. Without his famiglia and weapons, Spark was frail. As feeble as the little brat he was.
"Reborn... go farther in," Tsuna muttered. "I'll keep Spark here. Go make sure everyone's okay. This has all been a colossal charade, and too many people have been dragged down into Spark's game. It's time for it to be over."
The older male nodded, and turned to Gokudera. "Get Fran out of here," he muttered. "Bring him back to the Varia base. Kusakabe, Hibari, and Mukuro should all be back there."
"Yes, sir!"
As Gokudera and Fran left, Tsunayoshi turned to look down the halls, eyes widening when he saw Takeshi and Byakuran limping their way. On closer inspection, it seemed that Byakuran was even carrying Shouichi on his back. "Oi, are you two all right?" he asked.
"Better than ever," Byakuran sighed, seeing the body of Andrew Spark on the ground. With a huff of annoyance, he stepped over the unconscious boy, soon starting to make his way back to the base as well. As the boss continued to wait, one by one, his forces retreated. Ryohei seemed to have done well in the way of destruction, though that was pretty much it. Colonello and Lal made their way back, explaining that they'd managed to find Torikabuto and Non and handle the two. Chrome and Spanner headed out after a long while, as well, leaving the Varia and Reborn the only ones left. Finally, Squalo's loud voice could be heard across the way, and the Varia started to make their way out, all rather beaten up.
"Voi, brat! Thanks for taking care of the brat!" Squalo shouted as he walked past Tsuna, the boss only smiling and nodding at him. Xanxus paused to smile at Tsunayoshi in thanks, but only managed to scare him a little. Lussuria and Mammon both grinned and received grins back, while Levi brought up the rear, grumbling that he was a dog either way.
Reborn followed, and patted the boss's shoulder. "Good work."
"Wait a moment. Where's Belphegor?" Tsunayoshi asked, concern flickering through his features.
"You didn't see him?" Reborn asked, frowning. "... He may turn up. But we've turned this base inside out. He couldn't possibly still be inside."
The Vongola boss sighed and leaned against the wall. "But that doesn't make any sense... how could he have possibly gotten out without us noticing?"
"He is a genius," the Arcobaleno reminded his student softly. "I'm sure he found a way."
Thinking for a few moments, Tsunayoshi suddenly stood upright, eyes wide. "What if he was in that tunnel that caved in?" he gasped. "We've got to go check that out!"
"Tsuna-," the older male started to protet, but his pupil was gone before he could finish.
"Everyone!" Tsunayoshi shouted to other Varia. "Come with me for a moment! We aren't sure where Belphegor is, but we think he may have been in a tunnel that was recently collapsed!"
"A collapsed tunnel? What would Bel-chan be doing in there?" Lussuria asked, before clapping his hands on his cheeks. "Oh no! What if he's hurt! Let's go after him!" The group followed Tsuna to the collapsed tunnel, and started to help him clear away rubble. Xanxus wasn't convinced, however, observing the scene in silence for a few moments before noticing the crucial detail Tsuna had missed earlier. "Footprint," was all he said, pointing to the area. Slowly, the Varia stopped their work, and got up to glance at the bloody footprint in the earth.
"Well, we can't know for sure that it's Bel's," Lussuria clucked. "But it certainly makes me less certain we'll find him under the rocks. Are there more?"
Xanxus slowly walked forward, following the direction the print moved in, finding another a short distance ahead. After continuing for a short amount of time, he saw a body ahead, and ran towards it, only to balk when he spotted a splash of red hair, and a pool of blood beneath the unmoving body. He walked back.
"Just Zakuro. Looks like someone beat the hell out of him. Keep looking," he muttered. The Varia gave a disappointed nod and got back to searching, Tsuna looking the most concerned of them all. Finally, Squalo found something, and he held it up. A bent, bloody knife. "Well here's proof that he was here," he muttered. "But still no sign of a body."
Xanxus groaned, reaching up to rub his temple. "Stop, stop," he called finally. "If the brat's alive, he'll find us. I feel like I'm going to fall over, so you scum better get me back to the base." The Rain immediately ran to Xanxus's side and slipped an arm around his shoulders, soon starting to walk back towards the Varia base. The others followed, all but Tsuna.
Had he lost one? Despite his efforts, had he lost a famiglia member to fate? Hanging his head, the boss bit his lip and closed his eyes, trembling. This wasn't fair. He wouldn't wish death on a single one of the Varia, and that certainly included Belphegor. If the Storm guardian was dead... Tsunayoshi wasn't sure he'd be able to forgive himself.
"Tsuna," Reborn called. "Come here, Tsuna. You saved all of your guardians, and did a damn well job with the rest. Stop sulking and come along to help the others."
The boss got to his feet slowly, nodding as he started back to the base with the rest.
Meanwhile...
Soro watched as they rushed away his friend on a stretcher, relieved that the prince would get good treatment for his injuries. The Spiaggia Sun guardian had carried Bel to the hospital, having to put him down only once to fight a very angry Zakuro. He knew that Belphegor had several broken bones and had lost a great deal of blood, but the people here would take care of him, and when he recovered, he'd undoubtedly remember home and head there.
He knew his work was done. There was nothing more to do but to go back to an orphanage and hope they'd take him. But first... he'd return to the Spiaggia base one last time. Find Kei, Urn, Eve, Non, and Juniper. Though they were distant from another... they'd all come from orphanages. In a way, he kind of felt like he owed it to them to help change things. Make things better again - make things right. In the end, they were all still children who'd just gotten caught up in a dream - even worse, someone else's dream - and maybe things could be made right again.
Soro left the hospital, a sad smile tugging at his lips.
I'm sorry, Vongola.
-End Chapter
Who's ready to go back home, and back to the mad fluff I usually write? I sure am! I don't like writing action scenes, and so far that's been, like... the whole story! XD
Review for princes and frogs, and all that fun stuff~!