LXI.
For a moment, her mind is perfectly blank.
(The exact moment when Yamamoto unexpectedly completes his own technique to the Shigure Souen Ryu and brings the blunt side of his katana crashing down on the back of her brother's skull.)
It's part skill, part stubbornness, but also luck.
Mostly luck, she thinks to herself, watching her brother fall.
What if there hadn't been water in their surroundings? What if he didn't have anything to use to create a mirror reflection of himself? Superbi had been confident in his victory; she had been confident in his victory –right up until the moment Yamamoto had burst through a wall of water and swung his sword down.
If Superbi hadn't toyed with him in the beginning, hadn't grown curious enough to poke around at the supposedly invincible Shigure Souen Ryu–
And just as Yamamoto snapped the two halves of the Vongola Ring of Rain together, the Cervello released a shark into the playing field.
And.
And Yamamoto hauled her brother up on unsteady legs–
And the shark swam closer and closer, lured by the scent of blood, the promise of easy prey–
And Superbi, he–
He shoved Yamamoto away from him with the last dredges of his strength; shoved with enough force to bodily throw the young boy onto higher ground.
To safety.
She didn't expect it.
Her reaction was… instinctive.
Two layers. Two layers of Mist, one to cloud the eyes of the onlookers –"Not allowed to interfere in battles; outsiders must remain outsiders"– and another to settle around the blood-crazed animal. The shark's body slammed into the crumbling ruins of the wall, merely clipping her brother on the side and sending him tumbling into the rubble-filled waters instead of swallowing him whole. She twitched her fingers, watching the animal's body contort once, twice–
It thrashed one final time before falling over, dead.
She chanced a surreptitious glance at the others around her. Tsuna didn't seem to notice anything wrong, though he was frowning –no doubt from the illusion she'd cast, the image of her brother being devoured by the shark right in front of their very eyes. Dino tossed a surprised look in her direction, but she made no acknowledgment of his reaction.
(She'd seen it, while casting the illusions… it seemed like Dino had expected something like this to happen tonight, if he'd purposely sent his men to hide in the battleground beforehand.)
No interference, indeed.
Her gaze cut across to the Varia, and–
He was watching her.
Something that had coiled resentfully and bitterly in her chest relaxed at seeing the scarred man's hand lower from where it had been hovering over one of the twin guns he always carried with him.
And then Xanxus laughed.
LXII.
"There's something I'm missing here, isn't there?"
Dino watched quietly from the open doorway, Reborn sitting on his shoulder –as if anyone could refuse the hitman hitching a ride on them, using them as his personal transport– as they gazed at the scene in the hospital room.
The little girl (Nakamura Setsuko. Setsu, they called her?) was fast asleep. That itself wasn't much of a surprise –how old was she, anyways? Ten? The small child had stayed up all night with them in the emergency room when they brought Squalo here for treatments, never straying far from the silver-haired swordsman's side –and wasn't that strange?
This was, after all, Superbi Squalo who they were talking about.
Who in their right mind would take a shine to Squalo of all people?! Especially a tiny little kid like her?
(Didn't she, y'know, ever hear of this useful thing before called common sense? He was pretty sure Squalo would've gutted the little girl along with the other kids that day the fake half-rings were stolen from Basil. So why did she seem so attached to the loud, brash, violent swordsman?)
And, something that was even stranger yet…
Reborn had allowed her to stay.
Right now, the raven-haired girl was half-sprawled over Squalo's bed from her seat in the chair next to him. It was… an unreasonably cute sight, to see a little girl sleeping quietly at the injured man's side.
Cute, and terrifying.
(What if Squalo woke up? Didn't she have any sort of self-preservation?)
"… I'm not completely convinced of it yet myself," Dino gave his former tutor a blatantly puzzled look, to which he was whacked upside the head for. Ouch. "But I must admit, this is… very persuasive evidence of what I suspect."
He rubbed the lump forming on his skull.
"And what is it that you suspect?"
What in the world could explain this strange relationship between this strange little girl and Superbi Squalo? As far as he knew, the two had never even so much as set eyes upon each other prior to this whole Vongola Ring mess. And even then, Dino knew Squalo. After all, he'd gone to school with the silver-haired swordsman before. He knew that Squalo wasn't the type to form attachments on a whim –and he wasn't exactly the type that attracted followers, either. The only thing he behind left in his wake was a trail of cowed opponents, dead bodies, and copious amounts of blood.
… The only remotely healthy sort of relationship he recalled Squalo having was the one he shared with his late sister –in those days, anyone who so much as even breathed a bad rumor about the sickly girl had a vicious Squalo to deal with on their hands. He would know; he'd made that mistake completely by accident before, that time when–
"Just a hunch." Reborn shrugged. "I'll tell you and the others after I confirm it. Wouldn't want to be wrong with something like this, after all."
LXIII.
He kept his promise.
No he didn't.
"Take care of my brother." I only acted before him –if I hadn't used the Mist, he would've killed the Cervello's shark before it got to Superbi. He remembers.
No. No he doesn't. The Varia doesn't tolerate weakness, don't you know? He pulled out his gun to shoot your brother dead, not to save him from being eaten alive.
No he didn't.
Yes he did.
He kept his promise to me.
Promises are made to be broken.
…
LXIV.
Yuuto was dying.
… No, really, he was. Not figuratively, but literally. Dying.
It was… a lot more painful and torturous of a process than he'd expected. Not that he'd deliberately thought about dying before, but… he'd always kind of took for granted that he would die when he reached a ripe old age, surrounded by family and loved ones.
Not… not like this.
Ice burning his skin and freezing the blood in his veins. Cold, so cold –cracked skin and black blood and pale lips, sore throat– couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't move; couldn't feel anything except the pain wracking his body and there was this pressure pulling him down down down and everything was dark and cold and fading fast and bloodied dusk. There was nothing he could do to fight this, nothing he could do but surrender to this inevitable fate, because he was weak and powerless and there was nothing he could do–
"–to! Yuuto!"
Air.
He could breathe.
It took Yuuto several moments to realize the brown blob floating in front of him was Tsuna's hair, and then–
"Tch," He bit back a small cry of pain at the hand knuckling itself into the back of his head. It hurt, goddamnit, everything was too bright and too strong and too sensitive– "I'm letting you off easy this time, but don't you dare worry Juudaime like that again, y'hear?"
Gruff voice, barely-veiled concern. Gokudera.
"Are you alright, Yuuto?" Yamamoto. Yamamoto's… not-so-carefree voice? "How are you feeling?"
"What…" Was that his voice? All dry and cracked and… Yuuto swallowed hard, trying to speak again, though his voice sounded more like a croak. "What… happened?"
"You lost," Gokudera didn't bother sugarcoating the truth. Which was just as well; Yuuto could figure that much out for himself. Mammon's strength had been completely overwhelming, and… "Mammon trapped you in some sort of blizzard thing, and we couldn't see much of what was going on, but… well, Juudaime got worried. And then you started screaming, and… the snow turned all red and… Juudaime stepped in to save you."
"Kufufu. No mention of how I took down those flimsy illusions? I feel very much heartbroken by this blatant neglect, Hayato."
"Shut up, Rokudo. Juudaime could've handled breaking the illusions just fine by himself!"
"A-Actually, um, I really don't think I could've–"
"Nakamura Yuuto." The aforementioned boy gave a small start at suddenly hearing Reborn's voice cut through the chatter. Their voices immediately died down. "Tsuna saved you, so we had to forfeit possession of the Sky half-ring. That makes it equivalent to two losses. We've lost our advantage –the Varia now have possession of the Storm, Mist, and Sky rings, while we have the Sun, Lightning, and Rain rings. This next battle will decide everything."
Guilt.
Guilt, depression, self-loathing–
"Don't be like that, Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed, before turning warm brown eyes on Yuuto. He didn't deserve this, he failed, he didn't– "It's okay, I don't mind losing the Sky ring." The young brunet bit his lip, before offering him a tentative smile. Trying to put him at ease. "I'm just glad all my friends are okay. This isn't– it's not– I don't even want to be a mafia boss in the first place, anyways. These rings, they're not… they're not worth throwing away your life for. We still have to see the fireworks together again, right?"
Yuuto stared.
See the fireworks together. Those are the same words Tsuna said to Gokudera when…
…
He sighed, slinging up an arm to cover his eyes.
"… Watch the fireworks together, huh?"
And if his weak, trembling voice wavered suspiciously on the last note, no one made any mention of it.
LXV.
"… So that's settled, then. Keep an eye on my nephew for me, Alfredo? I'll be heading to Namimori at the end of the week."
LXVI.
It takes less than a minute for Hibari to immobilize Gola Mosca.
It definitely takes more than a minute for him to goad Xanxus into taking action.
It takes less than a minute for the onlookers to realize that something is wrong wrong wrong when the Varia's Cloud Guardian begins moving again, firing indiscriminately at anything and everything that moved.
It definitely takes more than a minute for them to figure out a way to fight against the out-of-control machine, and by then it's already too late, for Gola Mosca is bearing down on them and–
It takes less than a minute for Tsuna to take down the monster, only to discover the old Vongola Nono trapped inside.
And.
When explanations come to light and everything is revealed, it takes Tsuna only a mere fraction of a second to find his resolve to stand against the cruel Varia Boss.
…
…
…
"Xanxus, I will not allow someone like you to become Vongola Decimo."
…
LXVII.
She watches quietly.
She isn't quite sure what to feel –Xanxus is a better candidate to become a mafia boss in almost every single way, more suited to become Vongola Decimo. So in a manner of speaking, she's glad that he's dominating the pace of the battle, that he's winning. But at the same time, Tsuna doesn't deserve this –he was forced into everything, forced onto a path he didn't want to take and his friends along with him and it's not fair, really. Tsuna is a kind person, but there is no room for kindness in the mafia.
But when has the world ever been fair?
She watches quietly as Tsuna crashes into the ground, and his flames flicker once, twice, and then–
Everything changes.
Zero Point Breakthrough.
Ice.
And suddenly, even before Superbi fills in the missing gaps of information for them as they watch the duo clash together again, as Tsuna grips his hands and the ice spreads spreads spreads, she knows.
Six years of being trapped, of being encased in ice. Six years of festering resentment. Six years of pain and anger.
A lifetime of lies.
Betrayal.
… She knows even before Mammon comes and melts the ice with the Vongola Rings that Xanxus won't become Vongola Decimo. Blood and birthright have weight in their world –heritage and honor and prestige passed down family lines from generation to generation; proof of existence and of recognition–
The Squalo House had been a Noble House. There had been a very good reason why she was able to hold onto the seat of power in their line, one that had nothing to do with her abilities and everything to do with the blood that flowed in her veins.
Because in some ways, blood means everything in their world; much more than disposition and ability and suitability.
She watches quietly as Xanxus slips on the Sky Ring and–
Blood fills the air.
She closes her eyes.
LXVIII.
"The victor of the Sky battle has been determined. Thus, the conflict over the Vongola Rings is now concluded. The Vongola Decimo candidate will be Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Light, soundless footsteps.
The Cervello make to stop the child as she walks towards the fallen man on the ground –hurtpainangerRAGE– but their hands grasp nothing as the image of the raven-haired little girl before them wavers and fades into nothingness.
Hazel eyes flick over the pink-haired women dismissively before turning back to Xanxus again, and the little girl crouches down next to him, unmindful of kneeling in blood.
Why?
A simple question. Asking everything and nothing all at once.
But there isn't an answer to it.
So she doesn't ask and he doesn't answer, and somehow that suits the both of them perfectly fine as she reaches out a hand and gently takes the ring from him.
…
…
…
And Reborn watches on with contemplative eyes.
LXIX.
It's Sousei's fault.
… Shouichi's fault, too, but she maintains that it's mostly Sousei's fault.
Mostly.
"Yuuto accidently left this ring lying around in my room," Sousei carefully handed the completed Vongola Mist Ring to her, making sure to curl her fingers around it in her palm. "It's supposed to be pretty important, right? Mind taking it back to him, Setsu? I think he's out in the baseball field with Yamamoto again."
She hadn't looked too deeply into it –Yuuto could be a bit of a scatterbrain at times, though she had thought he would have the good sense to carry his Vongola ring with him at all times– and so she set off towards the neighborhood park without a second thought.
That had been when she ran across Irie Shouichi.
"Oh, you're heading for the park? Do you, err, mind telling Lambo that his Boss sent my family another box of…" Here the redhead cringed, and so she quickly assured him that she would tell the five year old to pick up his firearms and explosives if she happened to come across him in the park.
And, as it happened, she did come across him in the park.
The baseball field was surprisingly empty, but Lambo had been running around on the playground with I-pin–
"Lambo-san is the best!" The five year old child bounced up and down on tiny legs, boasting. "Lambo-san's boss sends him all kinds of goodies all the time! Look!"
… Really, when it comes down to everything, it's all Sousei's fault. And Shouichi's. But mostly Sousei's, for making her get out of the house at all.
…
It certainly wasn't the first time she'd seen the kid pull out his purple time-traveling bazooka in the midst of his excited babble and fire it.
However, it was the first time she'd seen him trip in the middle of firing it, and she just so happened to have gotten close enough when it bounced once, twice–
And then she was falling, falling through the restless currents of time.
…
…
…
(To be honest, she hadn't expected time to be colored such an obnoxious shade of pink. But then again, it was a hideous purple bazooka that had been slammed over her head –and what else could one expect of a purple bazooka?)
LXX.
The world ten years in the future is a very different sort of world than the one we left behind.
Extra.
Bonus: Omake –Breakfast.
"Good morning!"
A cheerful greeting. Yuuto nodded amiably in his father's direction, echoing back the customary words in a light, carefree tone as he took his usual spot at the kitchen table.
Even though he was feeling far from cheerful right now.
Nervousness, fear, anticipation… His palms felt sweaty even just thinking about the fight that awaited him tonight. Was he ready? Everyone had been put in the hospital after their matches –except for Lambo, but he didn't count. The kid had somehow pulled out a twenty years later version of himself to fight in his place! In his opinion, it was entirely unfair he could do so; really, was there no justice in this world–
He mumbled a quiet 'thank you' when Setsu reached over and passed him his usual glass of milk. After absentmindedly drinking a mouthful and setting the cup down on the table–
He promptly choked.
"What's the matter, Yuuto?" His father finally looked up from this morning's newspapers, brows furrowing in concern. "Are you feeling alright?"
The young boy sputtered incoherently, finding himself at a sudden loss for words, because–
Really.
What the hell was going on?!
"He probably drank the milk too fast again, Papa." Setsu was smiling –calm and sedate and utterly unperturbed. Yuuto settled for gaping at her in mute betrayal as he tried to find his voice again, because that wasn't–
She turned to her left and completely ignored him.
"More toast, Superbi?"
... And Superbi Squalo, Sword Emperor and Vice-Captain of the Varia, in all his bandaged glory, sitting at his seat of honor in a wheelchair across from Yuuto at the table –only scowled and gave Setsu a long-suffering look before reluctantly snatching the slice of buttered bread from her hands.
Yuuto tried and failed to pick up the bottom of his jaw from the ground. Points for a valiant-even-though-ultimately-useless effort, maybe?
"Voi, what are you staring at?" Squalo growled, glaring.
Yuuto blanched.
(Bandaged like a mummy and stuck in a wheelchair or not, the silver-haired swordsman was SCARY!)
"Don't be so rude, Yuuto" His mother chided gently as she finally came over from the kitchen and sat down at the table, directing a friendly smile to the wheelchair-bound assassin currently eating breakfast with them. Yuuto was still trying to wrap his head around that little bit of reality. Or maybe he was still dreaming? Gods, he hoped he would wake up soon... "We rarely have guests over for meals, don't we?"
His father took this moment to chip in his own two cents, completely overlooking how Yuuto was pinching his arm in rising panic. "Since Squalo-san got injured from helping oversee that sumo wrestling tournament you boys are playing in, the least we can do is offer some breakfast. Really, Yuuto –you're the older brother, why did Setsu have to be the one to invite him over?"
At this point, you could hit the poor boy over the head with a brick, and he'd still remain stock-still.
"It's okay, I'm more familiar with Superbi than Yuuto." The smile on Setsu's face right now was perfectly sweet and adorable. "He's even walked me to school before!"
"Oh, really? I must thank you for that then, Squalo-san! Here, have some more coffee…"
Yuuto watched with incredulous eyes as his father reached over and refilled the assassin's cup with the caffeinated drink that was all but sacred in this household.
"Sorry for interrupting, but I'll be leaving now!" Sousei called from the doorway, tossing a small wave over his shoulder. "Shouichi found some interesting gadgets to fiddle around with the other day, so I'll be heading over to his house to help out."
"Okay, stay safe!"
The young boy almost felt like screaming at this point. Why were they acting like this was normal?! How was this even possible in the first place, anyways?
"Actually, I should probably get going now, too." Setsu set down her empty cup of tea and stood up from her seat. "After all, I promised Dino that I would take Superbi back to the hospital for another checkup this morning. Wouldn't want him getting worried now, would we?"
Yuuto almost fell off his chair when Setsu began cheerfully wheeling the mummified swordsman out through the doorway, a spring in her steps that he'd never seen before.
"... Such a strange fellow," his mother remarked as the door swung shut behind them. "He's a little on the grumpy side with all those scowls of his, but at least Setsu seems to be fond of him. What do you think, Yuuto? … Yuuto?"
The woman reached snapped her fingers in front of her son, blinking in surprise when there was no reaction.
"Huh. Guess mornings really are a little too early to have guests over, eh? Maybe we should tell you beforehand when we invite someone to breakfast next time?"
Yuuto made a strangled-sounding whimper not unlike the noise of a dying cat in the back of his throat.
.
…
.
Author's Notes:
The bonus omake at the end was largely inspired by erimies. :3 I've never written any omakes before, so… any thoughts, guys? Also, is anyone interested in seeing more omakes/extras? If you have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions.
So, now that we're finally heading into the Future arc… do we have any predictions for what will happen? :D I'm pretty excited to start writing this part of the story, guys. Though that might be because I still haven't gotten around to writing anything for the Future arc in Onwards Till Dawn, and the wait is seriously killing me. xD
QUESTION: Just kind of curious about it here. Do you think Setsu/Stella is alive or dead ten years in the future? Any reasons why?
Please leave a note on what you think of this chapter and/or any mistakes you see in the text. Till next time then, everyone. :3
-XxZuiliu