Merone Base: A VERY LONG DAY (Part 5)
(Aftermath, Fiore)

Irie Shoichi decided that its official: the past Vongola he summoned to this era are utter MONSTERS and abominable BEASTS of wanton destruction. More than half of his base is decimated and personnel killed, death by electric frying and all that was for the sake of finding Decimo who is currently flying with Spanner who is enjoying a ride with Pokemon. He knew his old friend is an Otaku anyway and everything was going to plan...and with well-placed acting on their part, they ensured the training progress and stealthy support, while getting Merone destroyed in Japan in the process, as he asked twin 1 to go get him some tylenol for a budding headache...

But what he never saw coming, is the unknown female lightning guardian that replaced Lambo and how cruel she is compared to Hibari and Mukuro...forcing him to explain the truth that all this...was a set up.

That was after she killed the Cervello by treating them like how she treated Genkishi.

The only reason he lived was because of his device that contained their future selves after all.

Tsuna wasn't too happy about the reason why Kyoko, Haru and I-Pin were brought along for the ride too...and another bomb: Future Tsuna and Hibari were involved with planning with Shoichi...because now is 'the only time' to defeat Byakuran.

'By 'only time' you mean 'only future world'.' Mai narrowed her eyes. 'Because in this world, only this Byakuran made that plan. The other Byakurans in other parallel worlds did not plan this. Moreover the chaos started in this world starting with the countless, tireless assaults on the Giglio Nero Famiglia.'

'I'm glad someone's smart...' Shoichi whimpered in relief.

'Parallel Worlds...what're you talking about? Alternate universes?' Gokudera yelped out.

'Those two are two entirely different things!' Mai snorted. 'Parallel worlds are 'born' because of our decisions. Those worlds existed as the results of our decisions and actions in the present. Say for example, We never met and Lambo still became your Lightning Guardian. However, we met and I became your lightning guardian thus future worlds where I'm in Vongola existed up to adulthood. Or if Tsuna-sama refused his fate as boss and Reborn kills him probably for refusing...where would you guys be? I dunno about Gokudera-kun but Yamamoto-kun would have died in his suicide because it was only Tsuna-sama who risked himself to save him.' Yamamoto flinched.

'Lambo would wander all over the world for Reborn. Chrome would be dead and never meet Mukuro.' Chrome choked at that. 'Mukuro would never have gone to Vendicare and go trigger-happy on the mafia he hates so much. The only ones with some semblances of normalcy would be Hibari-senpai and Ryohei-senpai. The decisions we make create tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands and so on of future worlds to the point it reaches infinite countless numbers. Moreover, in some other worlds, you might be born in different years. Some older, some younger or the other way around or heck, can the boys in this room imagine themselves born female instead?' the male guardians and technicians looked horrified at the idea. 'The relationship structure will change y'know...or if its just Tsuna-sama born female and everyone else wound up her lovers in a harem...or also if he's the only guy and they're all girls...even all boys jumping him will do!' Tsuna choked and began coughing hard...

The others were sporting various mental images now...

'And what if since birth he was groomed for the job? Or he was born with older or younger siblings thus there will be a battle royale ring conflict? Or if you guys also had siblings instead of being only children? And even worse, your parents never met thus you never existed? Those such things.'

'Exactly.' said Shoichi. 'That's why there's trillions or more of worlds but as we speak...there's only two worlds left now...this one...and your home world.' he said grimly to their horror. 'If we lose...well, game over obviously.' he sighed.

'Tokoro de Irie, is there a woman in there who wasn't part of this other than me?' Mai asked him.

'Er yes but what I'm baffled about is why she's here yet looking nothing like you.' he pointed out.

'Good...get her out.'

'M-Mai!' Tsuna gasped out. What would happen if Future Mai is out and they meet?

'There is something I must do for her.' she said, taking out a gold bullet. 'Reborn, can I borrow your gun just for this?' she asked, looking at Reborn.

'W-what are you planning on doing?' Irie asked her nervously.

'I want to do something for that woman before you take her back in that machine.' Mai told him. 'Then when all this is over, Kusakabe-san will give her what I entrusted to him. That woman and I are related but we're different from each other, so there should be no danger if we meet unlike the other guardians and Tsuna-sama meeting their future selves.'

'Erm, I can't do that...all of you are still in the influence of the ten-year bazooka.' Shoichi sputtered out. 'If I let her out, she'll end up in the past!'

'Boo...what if we go back, I have Kusakabe-san shoot her with the bullet I have?'

'Well, that's OK since you're in your proper worlds so no switching will occur.'

xxx

After talking more with Shoichi about the plans made, they are to return home...to their world with a mission...to obtain the Arcobaleno Seals in the past.

And upon coming home...

'WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!' Ken hollered at the two girls.

'Chrome, please.' Mai sighed as Chrome made the two boys forget that they have been missing and merely on an impromptu Vongola-related OJT such as stopping a drug-trafficking ring in Tokyo and informing Mukuro since in his condition...he can't exactly trigger changes that would affect the future and mess time itself.

They were able to return peacefully home...and skip the rest to clean up the house and re-supply groceries.

Ken is a big damn eater after all...and the house is messy!

xxx

Back at the Future...

Shoichi released Fiore Potter who is still unconscious.

'She'll wake in five minutes...please make it quick.' he pleaded as Kusakabe loaded the bullet into a gun lent to him, and he shot the unknown woman with the memory bullet Mai left behind.

Fiore Potter thus has a strange dream the minute the bullet was shot into her.

A familiar dream of the Dursleys going to Japan and being left in an apartment. However...

'Fiore...had you chosen to run away from the miserable life that is the Dursleys and your Hogwarts years...this is what would have happened...in exchange for paying a big price, you would have found freedom and gain the strength and skill to survive...and eventually, a place to call home. Something you'll never find in Britain...watch.'

Fiore watched the life of another Fiore who eventually became Nogami Mai...and got willingly willfully involved with the Mafia. Then time-traveling to her era wherein they were all trapped in a horrible future wherein all of Vongola are hunted for the rings and she was taken, hidden away because her past alternate self was here and possible existences of parallel worlds that led to this, and the memory was up to the days in Nami Chuu wherein she and Fuuta located the enemy's base where the memory ended.

'Well, we will now invade the base that holds our captive future bodies and save them. Only then can I fire the memory bullet in your head to tell you the goings-on as to why you were taken from your Office in the British Ministry. Once the chaos in your era is over and we go home...if you have had enough of Britain's bullshit through information I gained from the goblins in Japan's Fushigimori Alley...I ensured that you have a home here...and I left something for you in Kusakabe's hands. The choice is up to you. I gave you another door...its up to you whether you get in or not.'

'Mafia is dangerous I know that but I got great friends and family who accepted me for everything I was...although only Tsuna, Reborn, and Dr. Shamal of my world as well as CEDEF, and only the Lal Mirch of your world. Only she knows what we are here. The backpack I left behind can only be opened with my flames, or in your case, by pressing on the locking latch, it will open automatically. Magic or not, you still have Wave Energy Imprint and your dormant lightning flames because magic is suppressing these abilities. If you become a Squib, they would surface.'

Fiore woke up to see herself in a strange place. 'Where...?'

'You're in Japan, Merone Base.' Kusakabe told her in English. 'Fiore Potter?'

'Yeah.' Fiore nodded as she clutched her head. 'So those memories...?'

'Are that of your younger self.' said Kusakabe causing Shoichi and Spanner to squawk.

'They look nothing alike!' both of them sputtered out.

'Parallel worlds are really scary...' Shoichi shuddered. 'We could even look different in other worlds...' he stammered out while looking at Fiore.

'My next instructions are to give some items to Fiore for her to consume immediately.' said Kusakabe. 'If you'd follow me to Vongola Base please.'

'About that you better hurry up! You only got three days before they come back!' Shoichi warned as they ran off.

xxx

'This is weird...really really weird...' Fiore gasped out as they headed for Vongola Base as secretly as possible. 'All those memories...I could have avoided pointless deaths just by staying in Japan...if only I ran away when I was a child...' she lamented in utter grief.

'I don't know what happened to you but by how you sound, you were probably a target for your fortune and people protected you. We DID know that you're wealthy enough to pay Japan's National Debt ten times before going broke and that's trillions of dollars.' said Kusakabe, wondering what the heck happened to the overly-stressed young woman who is clearly around the ages of his clique if only stress didn't make her look so aged. She is clearly a pretty woman ruined by whatever was weighing her down along with her horrible sense of fashion most likely not by choice, and barely had time to take care of herself. 'Mai prepared a lot of things for you and you have three days before you have to go back in Irie's machine when the children come back after their mission.' he said. 'I'll tell you what happened during our invasion of the Merone Base after we get to the base...and before I give you what she asked me to give you.'

'What she wanted me to have...?' Fiore croaked out. Soon, in the Foundation's Base...

'Wow...very...japanese-y.' Fiore croaked out after being told to take off her shoes. In the tea room, Kusakabe provided her with tea Mai instructed him to give Fiore. While what she gave to Koenig is coffee, this tea is the equivalent with same effects.

'Well, my boss wanted this atmosphere even though we're underground.' said Kusakabe with a warm smile. 'Please drink the tea. Mai-san procured it just for you. Its a special tea from a hidden alley in Japan that specializes in traditional goods who keep the dying traditions alive in Tokyo she said. This tea is powerfully medical wherein just drinking it washes away one's physical and mental stress and fatigue before I tell you how our invasion went on, to continue the story from the Memory Bullet she had me shoot you.'

Fiore knew Mai meant Fushigimori Alley and she has full knowledge of Mai's actions during her time in the alley whether past or future so she knows of the tea.

Fiore gulped, looking at the tea before drinking it...and the effects were instantaneous.

'Wow...this is way better than stress relievers...' Fiore smiled. 'Delicious too...'

'A little warning though...abusing that for a month straight, you'd be insomniac forever with no medical facility or drug capable of helping you.' Kusakabe said wryly. He then told her what went on in the Merone Base on his side, since Mai was grouped with Hibari's group. After that...she was given a backpack and taken to a room she could use in the meantime, and forbidden to leave the base because of Millefiore Agents around in disguise, and he would get clothes for her in the meantime and Fiore had to digest that she slept for several months inside a machine as molecules so she was neither alive or dead, but in stasis still the same.

'Kimonos for now since I don't know your size...and usually, if a man asks a woman their size they'd get punched or kicked! At least asking for height is OK.' the man laughed before leaving her.

She can't even contact Britain because Mai left no owl behind either.

She opened the backpack first to see a list smack dab on her face instantly. A list of vanity potions and creams, as well as health potions she must take! The health potions have a set schedule while she can do whatever with the vanity fare and even a manicure and pedicure set with instructions on how to use it. So she began taking a bath using the Point-Me to locate the bathroom, and used everything in proper order. Then the skin creams after a bath. Water-based and quickly dries so no icky-feeling which was a bonus although her gums felt sore due to her teeth setting themselves straight, and the mouthwash must stay in her mouth for five minutes before spitting it. Voila pearly-whites. Her dry, frizzy hair is now healthy smooth, silky and soft to touch. She was also able to properly give herself a manicure and pedicure. No skin blemishes or dark spots and areas, and no body hair other than her eyebrows and her head hair.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Granted, her looks improved although she's still skinny and no body shape...and drinking a potion for her body to morph her breast size into an ideal size for her body frame will have to wait until all Nutrition Potions are consumed and she is obliged to eat a lot and healthy before drinking it. The Potion will consume the food she eats into 'body building blocks' to fix her body where it lacked and then she'll be hungry again in just five minutes. Its a tiring cycle too...for one's mouth at least. And she must drink the magic tea before bed as much as possible before the kids come back. That way Fiore has no fear of abusing the tea. They're only gone for a couple days anyway.

Her stay in the Foundation is thus, profitable where she spent her first day eating all day and night until she has to sleep wherein by then, her body fully-recovered from malnourishment and stress that she now looks younger and better compared to how Lal and Kusakabe first saw her.

Fiore also met Lal Mirch, Fuuta, Giannini and Bianchi after Kusakabe introduced Fiore to them as she is Mai's future self despite the different looks on the second day. Lal saw her in a sorry state but now she's fully fixed and in a pink spring-themed kimono and zori sandals.

'Hello, although we only have two days left before you go back into Irie's machine I hope we make the most of it.' said Bianchi, shaking her hand.

'Yes...although I'd like to see how Vongola works that my past self speaks highly of everyone.' said Fiore. 'That she says I have a better future with everyone here than my current life can offer in Britain.' she said softly with grief in her visage. 'Through the memory bullet she shot me, she's certainly happy with everyone here.'

'Well, you now have regrets but as long as you're alive you can change your life.' Lal told her.

'Yeah...once the mess in this era is over, I'll bring my godson here.' Fiore smiled. 'His parents feared discrimination due to his...unique talents and the Mafia is OK with it so he'll be happier here. His grandmother too.'

'Heee...how old is your godson Fiore?' Fuuta asked her hopefully.

'He's six this coming april...' said Fiore. 'I'll see what life is like here first.'

xxx

Fiore explored the Vongola Base with Lal.

'So Lal, I read from the letter left behind that you know the truth about us.'

'Yeah. Can't believe it either but Reborn trusted me with the secret considering how much she's done for us.' said Lal. 'She took out one trillion off your bank account to supply us with essentials. Food, medicine and medical supplies, better hospital equipment and weapons in order to stand a chance and last long...only she could do those stunts under Omerta with Reborn and Sawada's support so nobody asked her.' she snorted.

'I see...pretty wily of the other me. I could never be like her though.' Fiore chuckled bitterly. 'I guess I was so broken all courage was snuffed out of me. Unlike her I never ran and took my chances. And I spiraled into a life of bad luck and deprivation of what I truly wanted in life. All I wanted was to be free. Normal. Treated like a human being with rights...family. I thought Hogwarts would be my salvation...the British Magic School. But what awaited me was a life of unwanted fame. I'm famous because I survived a personal visit from Voldemort when my parents died. However, my actions dictated how everyone treats me. They set up standards they want me to follow. If I didn't, I'd be shunned. If I played good I'm liked again. It was worse. Then when I won our civil war at great costs...including Teddy's parents...I got even more pressure. This time as a poster-woman. I'm fucking tired of everything Lal. They're all leeches wanting to suck all I have until I'm no more than a husk.' she said wearily. 'Japan and Vongola already looks appealing...assuming I have human rights and woman rights here that is. Freedom too.' she deadpanned.

'You do. Sawada would never allow anything to befall anyone in the family...he went as far as getting himself killed just to protect the famiglia and planned a mastermind plan only three people knew...the only way to save our world. Although while plans are made...things can go wrong still so nobody here is overconfident. Overconfidence leads to arrogance and screw-ups. And in the Mafia screw-ups means death or lifelong injury.'

xxx

Mealtimes...Fiore helped with cooking because really, while Bianchi can help with the ingredients...she could never actually cook lest the food turn into Poison Cooking and her power is incredibly strong that nobody really wanted to eat her cooking, and its even weaponized. So she's actually the only one who cooked, and cooked a big meal for everyone. Its just them in the base now. Her, Giannini, Kusakabe, Fuuta, Lal and Bianchi. Everyone else...is in stasis.

On the third day...Fiore apparated to Fushigimori, to Gringotts.

'Its my first time doing this...gulp.' Fiore gulped as she walked up to the desk. She knows that Japanese Goblins are more relaxed and accomodating because politeness and respect goes a long way. 'Hello, I'd like to prove who I am first before I see the International Office?'

'Oh no, not again...' the goblin shook his head in bemusement. 'There's no need to Ms. Potter, we have recorded your other self's life energy signature so we know its you the minute you stepped into our premises. Pleasant to see you back again although we'd love a good explanation we will get from Oniwakamaru-sama.'

'Right...'

Upon getting there, Fiore explained to Oniwakamaru about what happened during the Merone Base Invasion according to the Vongola...and the fact that she is in a state of molecular stasis for several months inside the Time-Traveling Device used by Irie Shoichi to avoid Time Paradox and to keep the past kids here for their mission to defeat Byakuran in order to undo the destruction he wrought...because as it is now, only two worlds remain...this world and the world of the kids. All other Parallel Worlds are compromised. For the kids, they have seven days to complete their mission while in this world, three days will go by and today is the final day.

She also told the goblin how weary she is of Britain...so she would be willing to pay to fake her death, and the deaths of Andromeda Tonks and her grandson Edward Lupin, and no European Magical Community can find them ever again, and her inheritances of Potter Fortune and Black Fortune be transferred to Japan as here is where they'll live for good. But before the deed, Fiore wanted to purchase land, a house built and furnished for three in Namimori Town. Two adult women and one growing child so settling down can be done asap before she has to go back into Irie's machine. She has little time left of being awake.

Well, at least she got to know Vongola before she sleeps again.

At the end of the third day...the children are back from their trials and Fiore thus returned to her sleep in the machine, looking better than ever.