Most people would panic if they woke up in an unfamiliar, dark, seemingly endless place. Finding yourself in a situation like this would be enough to make someone imagine the most absurd things in an attempt to explain what is going on. Perhaps they were kidnapped, and someone would be trying to steal their organs. Others may think they are just in a bizarre dream.

Sawada "Tsuna" Tsunayoshi is not like most people.

Compared to the events in his life, waking up in a strange place would be just another Monday. Murder attempts, kidnapping attempts successful kidnappings, being shot, stabbed, drowned, thrown off cliffs, planes, moving cars, lines of people claiming to be a distant relative, another line of women declaring they had his children. And these are just the most specific things; it's hard for something to be more absurd than time travel. But it happened.

Those would be just some of the downsides of being the head of the biggest mafia-turned-company in the world. Despite everything, Tsuna enjoyed his life. He had a big family, loyal friends, and a great job where he could help many people.

And then he died.

It would be easy to imagine that a person who has suffered multiple assassination attempts would one day run out of luck and end up in this situation. But Fate seemed to enjoy making Tsuna her plaything. To be murdered by what's left of the mafia in revenge for the decisions he made?

Of course, not

Being murdered by the orphan you saved from an illegal lab, who years later turned out to be a sociopath intent on world domination, is a more fitting end.

But back to the main point, waking up in a strange place is not something Tsuna would panic about. Maybe he'd sit on the floor and wait for someone to show up to find out if this was yet another kidnapping attempt, and if anyone did, talk with them about why that would be a stupid idea. It's not like he'd escaped every other attempt, and the perpetrators would maybe show up a few days later at a hospital door with a few broken bones. And a cracked skull, but that was just the one time.

The main point would be that Tsuna was sure he was dead. And possibly all of his family and friends. Tsuna was already at an advanced age, as were the people closest to him, so the idea that they would be dead didn't affect him so much; everyone had already made peace with the fact that their time was running out. No, the fact that they were all probably decimated at the same time, and considering the intentions of whoever planned the massacre, made a question appear in Tsuna's mind.

How did he appear here?

He knew exactly what was happening or had a good idea of the phenomenon behind it; the fact that he had the same appearance as when he was 20 was a good indication. However, the possibility of that happening was ridiculous. Years were spent creating plans to avoid the exact situation he was thinking of. Even though everyone he knew had been killed, several other measures had been taken in anticipation that something like this might happen.

So how was he here?

Unfortunately, Tsuna wasn't able to continue pondering his situation. A few meters ahead of him, a small light appeared in the middle of the darkness and, with it, some noises. Noises that Tsuna knew very well.

A boy, no more than seven years old, was sitting hugging his knees, eyes closed, and crying. From the crying volume and his position, he tried to be as quiet as possible about his actions.

Completely forgetting his previous train of thought, Tsuna entirely focused on the boy. Fortunately, Tsuna had some experience with situations like this, having cared for several children during his lifetime. The first thing to do is try to understand the problem from a distance; running towards a child in a bad emotional state is not a good idea most of the time, even more so when you are a stranger. This can make the situation worse and make the child panic.

A few steps forward without making any noise were enough to get a complete view of the scene. Dark green hair, unusual but something he'd seen before. Arms around the legs, hiding the head between them, arms position lower than someone would naturally place in that position, a good indication of injuries in the area. Clean clothes, pajamas, no visible marks on them. Messy hair, but naturally and in a situation that indicates someone has taken care of it.

Getting closer, Tsuna confirmed some bruises on his knees and a few more bruises on his elbows, reasonable indications of a fall. The wounds didn't look new or very old, a day or two at most, so they shouldn't be the cause of the crying.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much other information he could use, and the scenarios he could imagine with the little he had could point to straightforward situations or something completely insane.

Step number two, then initiate contact. Making sure he positioned himself at a reasonable distance, Tsuna crouched down and, making sure to use a gentle, low voice, tried to make conversation with the boy.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

The boy flinched a bit before lifting his head to look at whoever was trying to talk to him. A male early 20s, dressed in a black suit with a messy white shirt and a loose tie. His hair was brown and spiky, creating a specific contrast with his orange eyes. He had a small smile, just a slight curve to his lips, which somehow made the boy feel calmer.

Tsuna looked back at the boy as he waited for an answer, seeing his face now. Big green eyes the same color as his hair, a little red and wet. A cluster of four freckles on each cheek, somehow completely symmetrical, forming a diamond design. Looking at the boy would be enough to answer most of the questions Tsuna asked himself earlier, but those could wait.

Looking confused and a little scared, the boy shook his head up and down. A lie, but kids often do that sort of thing. At the moment, he also didn't seem to notice that he was in a strange place, which made this the perfect opportunity for Tsuna to do some damage control.

"My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. Tsuna, as my friends call me. What's yours?

The boy hugged his legs more, hiding part of his face again.

"Midoriya, Midoriya Izuku"

Tsuna's smile widens a little; no problem so far.

"Nice to meet you, Midoriya; I saw you crying. Is everything all right?"

"Ye-yes"

Stuttering, considering the situation, is not uncommon, but it might be something to watch out for.

"Are you sure? I noticed some marks on your knee. Did you fall?"

The question made him squeeze his legs a little tighter.

"Yes. I j-just fell wh-while I was playing."

Lie.

"Does it hurt? Did you show it to anyone?"

"Ye-yes, my M-mom said it will get better soon."

Also a lie; probably did not talk about it to anyone.

"And, does she know where this happened?"

He shook his head again. Tsuna suppressed a small laugh; Midoriya seemed like a good boy; he could not lie convincingly. Fall injuries no one knows about, hiding from her mother. None of this indicates a good situation.

"Tell me the truth, Midoriya, someone pushed you, and you got hurt?

Midoriya's eyes widen a bit.

"No, it was just an accident, Kacch-" Realizing what he was saying in his panic, he quickly stopped talking, putting his hands in front of his mouth. "It's nothing; I didn't say anything."

So that's what this is about.

"Midoriya, calm down; I just want to know what happened to help you" Tsuna gets up a little, just enough to get closer. "Someone pushed you, and you got hurt; it happens. But from your reaction, it's not just that, is it?"

A sob escapes the boy again.

"Kacchan always ends up hurting me with his Quirk" Quirk? What? Okay, focus on what he's talking about; need more information.

"And what is his quirk?"

Midoriya took his head off his legs and looked directly at Tsuna, a slight gleam now evident in his eyes.

"He causes explosions with his hands."

Explosions with hands, right? Quirks are superpowers. It looks like those scientists' plans worked out in the end. Thoughts for later; help the crying child now.

"Did he use his Quirk on you other times?"

Instantly the sparkle in his eyes dimmed, and he just slowly nodded, confirming Tsuna's suspicions. Kids with superpowers who use so-called superpowers on other kids, isn't the world beautiful? Now, Tsuna needs to find out why this happened.

"And why did he do that?"

Midoriya looks at Tsuna for a few seconds with a look that doesn't belong to a boy his age. It's like looking into a mirror; the same expression Tsuna makes when judging a person's intentions is now on Midoriya's face.

"It's because I don't have a Quirk."

And apparently, Tsuna is a person Midoriya can trust. Honestly, Tsuna is so grateful that this situation is easier to resolve than otherwise. Not only did he manage to get the boy to talk to him, but he also confirmed one of his theories. That Midoriya already shows a certain level of trust in him rules out other possibilities and makes his life easier.

Now, it is only necessary to remain at this pace.

"You do not have a Quirk is not a reason for him to use his on you; you should tell someone about that" Again, Midoriya's eyes widened, noting that Tsuna didn't believe in his lies before. "Does it matter if you have a quirk or not? I don't have one, and that's okay."

That wasn't the right thing to say, as it took Midoriya no more than five seconds to start crying. Thankfully Tsuna didn't panic instantly; years of training and having that lesson hammered into his head kept him from misunderstanding the situation.

Midoriya wasn't crying because of something terrible, a small smile formed on his mouth. Seeing this made Tsuna sigh in relief; the last thing he needed right now was a child crying in despair.

"You don't have one?"

Tsuna's attention snapped back to Midoriya. Such an innocent question, but with so many emotions behind it and uttered by such a young child.

"No, I don't" Maybe he has some superpowers, which would be very similar, but one thing at a time. "And there's nothing wrong with that, okay?"

"Ye-yes!

It still needs some improvements, but much better than before. Now, the trickiest part.

"Ok, Izuku, can I call you that?" A nod. "Okay, Izuku, I hope you're feeling a little better, and I hate to do this, but we need to talk a little about our situation."

Confusion passed over his face until he looked around and noticed where they were both—a dark, seemingly endless room, with light emanating from just below their feet. The concept of the ground also felt a little warped; Izuku knew he was standing on... something, but the lack of anything physical made his head spin.

Acting quickly, Tsuna caught Izuku before the boy could hit his head on…something.

"Calm down; it's okay, don't look down. Focus on me" The look of panic on the boy's face made Tsuna hold him tighter to show he was safe. "Breathe, in, hold, out, in, hold, out."

After a few seconds, Izuku started to breathe normally again. With the panic attack out of the equation, Tsuna helped Izuku to a sitting position, sitting across from him and keeping a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay; I know what's going on, don't be scared."

"O-okay"

Ensuring to put a calm smile on his face, Tsuna explained to Izuku what was happening.

"I need you to pay attention to what I'm going to tell you, Izuku. If you don't understand something, I want you to tell me so I can explain it again, okay? It's important that you pay attention."

"OK"

"As I said, my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, and I'm pretty sure I'm your ancestor." Noticing Izuku's confusion, Tsuna changed his words. " I'm someone from your family who lived a long time ago" A nod, right, so far, so good " This strange place we are in is something that happened because our family has an extraordinary power, different from a Quirk, which allows something like that happens in certain situations."

"A power?"

Of course, the child who was sad and suffering from not having power would focus on that part.

"Yes, an extraordinary power, here, let me show you."

Putting his hand forward, palm up, Tsuna let a familiar feeling wash over him. A second later, a small orange flame appeared in his hand. Izuku jumped back a bit, approaching the small flame with a look of wonder on his face.

"Fire?"

"Not exactly. This is an energy formed from my life force. It's called Dying Will Flame."

"So, it's not fire?"

"No, despite the name and how it looks, it's not fire. But it's very similar" To illustrate this; Tsuna brought the flame closer to Izuku's hand. "Can you feel the heat?"

"Yes, it's warm. It doesn't feel like it's going to burn me."

"Yeah, now that's pretty harmless, but I can make it hotter."

"So cool"

Tsuna laughed a little at Izuku's amazed expression, children, and shiny things.

"It's cool. And it's also the main reason we're here."

"Hm? What does this flame have to do with us being in this strange place?"

Try as he might, Tsuna could not let a small, sad smile appear. As much as the situation he found himself in was a blessing, the events leading up to it did not make him happy. However, there was a better time to get lost in memories. Tsuna had a mission to fulfill.

"That, Izuku, is a long story."

"I like stories."

Tsuna put his hand on Izuku's head and ruffled his hair a little, making the boy pout.

"Then let me tell you the story of my... our family, Izuku, the Vongola."