As the Flamesucker family busied themselves with trying to get past my lightning Flame wall, I ducked back down behind the sofa and let everything that had happened finally sink in.

"Why is this happening to me..." I sighed, roughly running my hands through my hair. I began to braid it while trying to figure out what to do.

Should I use Night Flames? I'm pretty sure I have them. ...No, too risky, I have next to no idea of how to use them and I'm pretty sure the Vindice are monitoring them. Hm... maybe Mist Flames to create a copy of me to distract them while I sneak past... No, these guys are familiar with flames and might see right through the illusion.

My fingers mechanically untangled the strands of my hair, which were a darker shade of brown from being damp, and wove them together. I whipped out a few bobby pins and held them between my lips as I thought.

I guess if I really tried I'd have a chance of overpowering them, but there are, I quickly peeked over the top of the sofa, four of them and only one of me, so I'm not risking it. It'd also take some time and I have no idea how long I've been out for. Tsuna and the others are probably getting worried. I should get a souvenir for them. Hm... that nicely decorated box on that table should do the trick. And if it's important to the Flamesuckers, who cares? It can be compensation for wasting my time.

I finished the braid and tied it with the elastic around my wrist. Tucking the stray bits of hair away and securing them with the bobby pins, I checked that none of the Flamesuckers- vampires- Flamepires were looking and snatched the jewelled casket. I admired it for a moment before remembering my original purpose.

Oops, got distracted. Anyway, I'm not risking going past or dropping the barrier. That means to escape, I'll have to do from this position.

I examined the floor and, using a blade of concentrated Storm and Lightning Flames, cut through the carpet to see the grey stone underneath.

Stone, huh. I wonder if the Mountain Flame will enable me to pass through them.

A brown flicker appeared in my hand as I concentrated. Without the use of a ring, summoning Flames wasn't exactly a cakewalk, especially with unfamiliar ones. I focused on making the flicker grow, at the same making sure it didn't grow too much and explode as to not attract the attention of the newly dubbed Flamepires.

When I deemed the Flame powerful enough, I placed my palm on the ground and tried to gently shift the cold stone. To my delight, it worked and my hand sunk into it, creating slight ripples. That... was pretty cool. I gave the Flamepires one last glance and, taking a deep breath, sunk into the floor.

I wasn't sure of where I was going, but getting away was first priority. The Lightning Flame barrier would fade away with time and distance, but I didn't know what time and distance, so I was going as fast as I could. The rock flowed around me, with only the occasional scrape on exposed skin. I felt like Billy-Ray Sanguine.

Finally my head broke through the ceiling of the lightless room underneath. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that I hadn't been on the ground level, then facepalmed, only now realizing that I could have passed through the wall instead, which carried less risk. It didn't matter now, of course. I wasn't about to go back up there just to go through the wall.

The ceiling released me and I landed on the floor, rolling straight into a wooden something.

"Ow..." I rubbed my head and looked around, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness.

...

Oh.

Oh.

I had rolled into a barrel, this was a cellar and I had been on the ground floor. I thanked my lucky stars that I had ended up in here instead of being fated to die of drowning in stone.

Being careful not to trip over anything, I made my way over to the door. A faintly flickering light could be seen in the gap between it and the ground. When I reached it, I pushed against it to find that it was locked. Of course.

I was out of patience and simply kicked it down. It landed with a loud sound and I winced. Hopefully nobody other than me had heard that.

I quickly ran up the stone steps, thankful for the sparsely placed torches that gave me enough light to not trip and fall to my death. I reached the door at the top of the steps and charged at it, not caring who heard me now. As it fell, I was already running over it and towards what looked like the castle entrance. And not a moment too soon.

Hearing a shout of surprise, I turned my head to see the Flamepire, whom my encounter with had started all this, at the top of a grandiose set of stairs. I stuck my tongue out at him, and, as a bonus, flipped him off.

I ploughed through the castle doors and into the dark and gloomy forest outside. I also ploughed through that and burst through the other side. Panting, I stopped, hands on knees, to catch my breath.

Once I was done, I straightened up and looked back at the forest... which wasn't there anymore. I blinked once, then shrugged. Whatever. Leaves and twigs and other miscellaneous forest stuff fell out of my braid and clothes as I shook them out.

The casket was still safely underneath my arm, and now I held it in my hands as I walked through the cemetery. The lid was covered in clear gemstones and had faded words inscribed on it with gold. I couldn't read the words at all, but it wasn't like the words were a warning and curse to people who decided to take it as a souvenir, right?

...Right?

...This'd probably come back to bite me in the neck someday.

"Yo!" I spotted the group standing around Tsuna, who was holding a passed out Lambo in his hands. He looked up.

"Nee-chan! Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know, here and there. Some weird shit happened, I got kidnapped, nothing big," I shrugged.

"K-kidnapped?!"

"Yep," I nodded. "Don't worry though, I got away easily and even got a souvenir! See?"

Smiling, I held up the jewelled box. "I haven't opened it yet, but I bet it's got some really nice stuff inside! Wanna see later?"

Tsuna was about to reply, but then looked past me and paled. He made a strangled noise.

"Is there something wrong, Tsuna-san...?" Haru asked. Tsuna simply pointed at the area behind me. Everyone looked.

Yellow flowers were floating in the air along with thin boards of wood. Tsuna freaked the fuck out and ran away with Lambo under his arm. Yamamoto, Ryohei, Kyoko, Haru and I-Pin followed soon after, also freaking the fuck out. Gokudera, the poor soul, couldn't do anything but lie on the ground, praying to the gods. Then he fainted.

Fuuta came out from tombstone, disappointed that he couldn't tell his rankings to everyone anymore. I patted him on the head.

"That's too bad, kid. But you can always tell them later, right? Actually, how about you just tell them to me on the way home?"

The brunet child nodded happily. I hefted Gokudera up and into my arms, carrying him bridal style.

"Wouldn't it be better to just carry him on your back?" Bianchi asked. I shrugged.

"Probably. But if he wakes up while I'm carrying him like this, he'll be all mortified and pissed off, and he's hilarious when he's like that." I explained happily.

"You have a point."

And so we returned home, a grown pink-haired woman, a baby in a suit and fedora, a passed out silver-haired boy in a brunette's arms, and a child spouting off creepy rankings.

(The light and final wails of the ghost Romeo were ignored.)

I really need to finish the Tokyo red light district thing, but I'm all outta steam.

nanayoung explains the Lightning Flame thing well: 'the reason why she has Lightning Flames was stated in the first few chapters. She went out in the backyard to practice and- in typical Mary Sue fashion - realized that she had all of the flames. All of them.'

Please remember the protagonist is a (not done very well) Mary-Sue parody.

Quick Question: Mermaids or Kitsune?

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