Chapter 78:

And Reach For the Happy Ending

Mukuro looks around him, smiling at the carnage. There were just a few more levels left before he had eradicated the Estraneo's main base. He stumbles slightly, his vision wavering. There were more people here than he had imagined and his power was running slightly low. Possessing Tsunayoshi took more Flames than he had realised. Checking that there were no people around him, he slumps against a wall before closing his eyes, pulling on his connection with Chrome. Despite how low his Flames would get, he would make sure to always have enough to sustain her.

She was the victim here, just as much as any of them were, and as such she deserved her own chance at revenge. She may not be capable of taking revenge with her own hands- the Estraneo's previous assassin training had proven that- but that didn't mean she should be excluded from the fun. He lets out a soft sigh as he feels her own Flames sustaining his own, bringing him back to power once more. With her Flames fuelling him now, this would be her share of the revenge, as Mukuro liked to think of it. (Chrome didn't see it that way, she just wanted to help him.)

He quickly descends the stairs to a lower level before looking around the room. A quick flash of movement catches his eyes. Shrugging his shoulders, he decides that he might as well go that way. No Estraneo Scientist was going to escape his wrath.

Kiri looked around herself, feeling pity for the scene presented. Feeling saddened by the sight, she tightens her grip on Nebbia-sama's hand. It had been self-pity that had driven her to come to this dimension in the first place, her horror at being told a child version of herself was stuck in Nebbia-sama's personal hell. But her plan had never been this. Perhaps she was naive, perhaps she didn't want to believe that her picture of Nebbia-sama was cleaner than it actually should be. She had been belittling the facts given to her, and now she regretted it. For she no longer held just self pity, but pity for all three of the Estraneo experiments too.

Her plan had been to sneak in here, wait for them to plan an escape so she didn't alter the timeline too much and then unlock their cells and the doors leading to freedom, to help them all escape. She'd help them find a new home without being seen, make sure that they weren't attacked along the way, that they always had food and water, just someone keeping an eye on them as they followed out their own plans. She had never expected to be here, following Nebbia-sama as he led his alternate self on a Scientist-hunt. They had already interfered a few times, Nebbia-sama killing a few of the stronger Mafioso, removing weapons from people's hands, using illusions to scare them in the children's direction.

It seemed to her that Nebbia-sama was having fun watching the downfall of the Estraneo for a second time. She supposed it was the whole reason he even bothered to chase after her and come here. She didn't like being here though, a part of her wanted to press the button on her watch and disappear from here totally. But she knew that she couldn't do that. She had been here from the start and had a duty to watch it through to the end. Plus she had to make sure that Nebbia-sama didn't go overboard and change this dimension in his excitement. He wouldn't care if he did, but she knew that Sky wouldn't be very happy.

"Wolf Channel!" A low growl escapes Ken's lips after the change is complete. He stretches and does a fully body shake, getting used to the new form his body had taken. He gets down on all fours, sniffing the ground around him. The wolf channel had a heightened sense of smell, as well as a nice set of sharp claws and teeth. No scientist was going to escape from his nose. He'd sniff them all out!

He runs down some corridors, following the strong scent of fear that only came from living humans. He kicks down a door, before jumping and letting out a terrifying howl as he leapt into the room.

"Idiot."

Ken pouts and puts his hands down when he finds that Chikusa was already in the room, literally having just finished off the Estraneo members he had smelt before.

"Hey! I was going after them Byon. Those were my prey not yours!" He stamps his foot to show his discontentment.

Chikusa rolls his eyes before exiting the room through the door Ken had just opened. "Too slow. Not that it matters." Neither of them were here for a killing contest after all. They were here to earn their freedom and to lay down justice. No one was ever going to be treated like they had been by the Estraneo ever again. (And secretly, they liked the idea of being the only super-humans around.)

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh what?" Ken growls in annoyance. Trust Chikusa to ruin the mood. "Are the scientists too hard for you to handle? Move over, I'll deal with them!" He turns around, ready to push Chikusa out of the way and take the glory for himself.

But then he finds the real reason for Chikusa's remark.

Chikusa was dangling from Fon's hand, his twin yoyo's in the man's other hand.

Ken tilts his head to the side in an animalistic gesture of confusion. Hadn't Mukuro said that the Arcobaleno were here to help them? Then he spots the blond male- Tsunayoshi had called him Colonnello, Ken was sure- roll something metal into one of the rooms. Within a few seconds there is a boom, smoke pouring out of the doorway along with lots of dust. The building around them shakes. Ah, so that's what had been causing the tremors.

Ken smiles smugly. Why hadn't he thought of destroying the rooms too? Walking out of the door, he starts to decide where to go next. Down those stairs seemed like a good option. He is stopped however, when someone picks him up by the back of his shirt.

"Hold it, mutt." The woman- Lal if he remembers correctly- orders. "You're coming with us." Ken whines in protest before wiggling around, trying to swipe at her hand to make her let go. She doesn't drop him, instead giving him a harsh shake. Ken blinks for a few seconds, getting over the dizziness before attempting to break free again. This time he stops when his hearing picks up a click and cold metal brushes against his hair. A gun. "You're coming with us whether you like it or not. So if I were you I'd settle down and go along for the ride, or else you'll see that Tsunayoshi's stories of getting shot at aren't stories but the truth."

So Ken, for once in his life, shut up and went with the flow.

Tsunayoshi had decided to stop shouting at Mukuro. Instead he was sitting with his back against the wall, not looking anywhere near the hole that showed him the real world. He had his eyes scrunched closed, his hands over his ears to block out the sounds of the screaming and laughter. It wasn't really working, he could still hear everything. He wished that Viper was here, she was good at cancelling out noises, at blocking out all the scary stuff.

He sniffs back some tears before taking a look around, in the vain hope that she was here somewhere. He doesn't find Viper. Instead he finds a door. A door that wasn't there before. He blinks a few times, and yes, the door was still there. He gets up and walks across to the white door. He wondered whether he should open it. Although anywhere was better than here with the sounds of Mukuro's rampage still clear. Quickly grabbing the door handle, he gives it a turn and pushes open the door, stumbling inside.

The bright light blinds him for a moment, the black misty place had been very dark, especially in contrast to this. When he can finally see again, it's almost as if he's been transported somewhere else. He's on a warm grassy plane, there are some trees around and the sun is shining brightly. It seems very peaceful and calm. Finally he notices someone sat in the middle of this place.

"Chrome!" He shouts, running forwards.

Chrome, dressed in a white dress, looks up at him, a look of shock on her face. However, she immediately looks back down at her hands. In those hands was a ball of indigo wool. She was very carefully unravelling the string from the ball. The string led away from her, across the vibrant grass and through a partly opened door, this one a dark dirty purple. She half looks in Tsunayoshi's direction when the boy makes it to her position, showing that she was listening, yet had most of her concentration still on the ball of wool.

"Chrome, what is this place? Why are you here?" Tsunayoshi asks. If he was where he thought he was- ie, inside his head- then Chrome shouldn't be here.

Chrome quite calmly replies, "Inside my head.", as if that was a perfectly normal answer. "Mukuro and I meet here." She explains.

Tsunayoshi nods, not really getting it, but it must have made sense to Chrome. Instead, he asks, "What's that?" pointing towards the ball of wool.

"My Flame." She replies. "I'm giving it to Mukuro." She points towards the door where the string led to. "Flames are easy to control within your head."

Tsunayoshi looks up at the clear blue sky, pondering that information. It would explain why that Fire on his head and hands had come easier than usual. It would also explain why his body hadn't hurt after using it like it had done the last time.

The door across from them shook and opened slightly further, a loud scream tearing at the peace of the grassy plane. Chrome shivers, curling up slightly, but still continues to pull out lengths of string.

Tsunayoshi looks at Chrome before looking at the doorway with renewed determination. "Mukuro is that way, right?" He asks, pointing towards the door.

Chrome nods carefully. "Yes. But it's scary there." It was the main reason she was here and not in there with him. Her eyes widen when she sees Tsunayoshi walking towards it. "No. You can't!"

Tsunayoshi turns around and gives a gentle smile at Chrome. "Don't worry. We're friends forever right?" He holds up the finger that Mukuro had cut earlier on. "And friends always help each other out. So I'm going to help him."

Chrome stares at him for a few moments. The door rattles again- a sign of Mukuro using an illusion- before a begging plea comes through the door. Looking down at the ball of wool in her hands, she gives it a harder tug. This time the string was thicker. "Help you find him." She explains, giving another harsh tug.

Tsunayoshi smiles at her again, watching the thicker string move past his feet and through the open door. "Thank you Chrome."

Stepping through the door, Tsunayoshi is plunged into darkness once more. The mist rose up high above his head, looking like eerie clouds on a moonlit night. He steps forwards, grabbing Chrome's bright string and following its lead- he didn't want to get lost here. And he is sure this place is like a maze. As he walks onwards, the path through the walls of mist twists and turns. Sometimes he is sure that he's going back on himself, returning in the direction of Chrome's door. But the bright white door never makes a reappearance. He wondered whether Mukuro was lost in this maze too.

Eventually he sees a dark figure in the mist, the string leading right up to it and wrapping itself around the figure's trident. As Tsunayoshi gets closer, he confirms that it is Mukuro.

"Kufufufu, kufufufufufufu, kufufu! Finally! Finally the Estraneo have fallen." He laughs.

Tsunayoshi doesn't like the sound of that laughter. It didn't sound like Mukuro's usual dark chuckle. Instead it sounded scary, insane, broken.

Tsunayoshi rushes up to Mukuro and hugs him tightly from behind. "Mukuro! You can stop fighting now!" He can feel Mukuro stiffen. "Please, you can stop now Mukuro." Tsunayoshi pleads in a quiet whisper. "The Estraneo can't hurt you anymore, I know the Arcobaleno will make sure that none of them are left, so please Mukuro, stop." He was sure that the Arcobaleno would stop the Estraneo, either by locking them away in Bermuda's prison, or by… killing them. And if they hadn't locked the naughty naughty Estraneo away, then Tsunayoshi would throw so many tantrums and cry and cry and pull every puppy-dog expression in his arsenal until they did.

"Stop? Why should I stop?" Mukuro asks, voice cold and dark. "After what they did to me, to us, why should I stop! The Estraneo Famiglia, soon to be the world's strongest Family, rulers of the Mafia, or even the world. Together we'd have the world at our feet, never wanting for anything, living in comfort. Well some Hell-damned Family they turned out to be! Do you know what it's like for your father to throw you away as if he doesn't care about you? Do you know what it's like to relive all of your past lives? Sure the Path of Hell, of Demons and Hungry Ghosts sound cool, but have they ever been there, known what it's like? Did they ever stop to think that living through 6 lives also means living through 6 deaths too? I didn't see any one of my family go down a Path themselves to test the technique."

Mukuro breaths heavily after his outburst, wondering why on earth he had said such things. Although it felt good to finally say these things out loud. How saying something verbally instead of mentally made a difference, he didn't know, but it did. "Family is such a stupid meaningless word. It's a word that means you have to do things other people want you to, just because. It's just another way to leash someone to you. The word Family doesn't mean anything to me. If the Estraneo and that man calling himself my father are family then I don't want one."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Tsunayoshi shouts, spinning Mukuro around. Mukuro looks at the boy shocked. He had never seen Tsunayoshi look so angry before. "It's true that no one died 6 times like you did, but Chrome almost did. Every time you got a new power, your Flames cut out and that left Chrome to fend for herself. Chikusa said that she got really ill during those times, coughing up blood and everything. Don't you think she's been through that enough times to count? You're not the only one hurt. You know that it really hurts Ken to make his body be like an animal's each time, but he still does it anyway! Chikusa's even lost some of his emotions and expressions because of it. They may not have gone through the same thing you did, but they have still been hurt by the Estraneo too. And THEY are your family because they never left you, and helped you through it and gave you lots of love and everything. If you don't want the Estraneo to be your family then fine, they aren't around anymore anyway. But don't you dare say you don't have a family when Chrome and Chikusa and Ken are out there fighting to help you."

Tsunayoshi keeps on looking up at Mukuro, face set and determined, eyes shining.

"You need to stop Mukuro. You should stop and go look after them. They are hurting just as much as you are. I know that the Estraneo are really mean people, worse than every super villain put together, but not everyone is like that. The Mafia isn't such a bad place once you get used to it."

"Oya? The Mafia? They are just as bad because they did nothing to stop it! Everyone knows what was going on in here yet never once did they try and stop the Estraneo, they just left them alone." Mukuro growls, looking superior and smug once more. He had seen the Path of Humans, he knew how bad everyone really was.

"That's not true. Viper is part of the Mafia and she wasn't happy about it. She did everything she could to help you, even going against the Estraneo and teaching you things she shouldn't. And Verde! He was hurting too. I know he spent lots and lots of nights not sleeping because he was trying to make sure he did your experiments right so you wouldn't die! I know because I sat there and fell asleep in his lab lots of times and in the morning Verde would be in the same place still writing away. And you were there at my birthday party, you know that everyone is actually really nice! And… I'm in the Mafia too, and I'm not bad, am I?" Tsunayoshi grabs Mukuro's sleeve, hoping that Mukuro saw what he was talking about.

"Mukuro, please come home with me. I want to be your family too, and I'm sure that the Arcobaleno are worried about you all. Mukuro, please?"

Reborn walks down the lower corridors of the Estraneo base, noticing how fewer and fewer bodies were bloodied. Instead the bodies were all frozen with screaming expressions on their faces. His ears pick up the sound of laughter, laughter he knew well, so he follows the noise, coming to an open doorway. Reborn isn't afraid of what he'll find in there, nor is he afraid of being attacked incase the brat thought he was the enemy. Nothing the child could do would faze him.

Striding confidently, he enters the room. Tsunayoshi is standing in the middle of it, no longer laughing anymore once he noticed Reborn.

Reborn walks to stand only a few steps away. He looks Tsunayoshi up and down. After a few moments, he extends his hand. "C'mon brat. Time to go home."

"Ah, there you are Tsunayoshi." Says Bermuda, also walking into the room. "I do believe we are finished here." Before Tsunayoshi can protest, Bermuda had picked him up, opened a black starry portal and stepped through, Reborn following close behind.

Mukuro looks around when they step out, realising they are back in the Arcobaleno house. He finds Ken and Chikusa on the sofa, hot chocolate and cookies in their hands.

"Ah you're back darling," Luce smiles, plucking him out of Bermuda's arms before depositing him- blood soaked clothing and all- onto the sofa, handing him a hot chocolate and cookie too. She sits next to him, smiling gently and stroking his hair. "So how are you feeling? I bet you're relieved that the Estraneo are gone now. The others made sure to get rid of all of their research."

"See, everyone is really nice, Luce especially and she used to be a Mafia Boss." Tsunayoshi says, smiling at the scene. "Don't go looking for revenge anymore Mukuro. There will always be someone to blame," He knew this to be true, the Arcobaleno were very good at blaming each other for a mistake, going round and round in circles until Luce gave up. "Instead you should just stop and come have some fun! None of us will be mean to any of you and you won't get hurt. Well, I can't promise that, but they won't be mean like the Estraneo did, beating you for nothing."

"Yeah, no one else will end up like you again." Colonnello says. He had had great fun blowing all those labs up.

Mukuro looks down- he was still in Tsunayoshi's body, so why had Colonnello said that?

The shock must be evident on his face. "We know you aren't actually Tsunayoshi. It's rather obvious." Fon explains gently.

"The attempt was actually a very good one, considering how contrasting your personalities are," Verde says, pushing his glasses up his face before taking a seat.

"But even you can't do the level of sweet Tsunayoshi manages to reach. It's unreal I swear," Lal grumbles. It was as if the kid was made of sugar and rainbows.

"Hey now, let's give him some credit, we did know in advance." Luce says to the others. She turns to face Tsunayoshi. "I had a vision dear, I knew what you were going to do for a while now. But I knew that this was important and needed to happen, so I let you do what you did with Tsunayoshi. But everything is going to be okay now, you can have a happy end, all four of you. So just let Tsunayoshi go, okay?" She smiles sweetly, a hand resting against his cheek.

Mukuro shakes his head, pushing Tsunayoshi away from him. He would not release Tsunayoshi. He was going to destroy the messed up Mafia and change this stupid world with this body! He pushes the boy closer and closer to the dense walls of mist around them. The boy should get lost in here and never return.

"Kufufufu, you want me to be happy? Then let me keep your body and I'll change this hell driven world. You'd want that too, right Tsunayoshi? A world with no more bad people, with no more killing, with no more pain and suffering. A world where our parents don't abandon us, a world where my dearest Chrome's parents don't leave her to die."

There is the sound of a door slamming behind them, and both turn to face the newcomer. Chrome pants, gripping her own staff and ball of wool as tightly as possible. "No. Stop it. Give it back." She says, looking at Mukuro straight in the eye.

"But Chrome-" Mukuro starts.

Chrome shakes her head. "No. Give it back." She practically orders. She slams her staff against the ground, a wave of Flames pushing the mist around them back. She slams the trident again and suddenly the scenery around them changes. Most of the mist leaves, and even if it looks like nothing has changed, Tsunayoshi is sure that they are somehow back in his head. His thoughts are confirmed when he sees the glass barrier to his left, although there are a lot more cracks and holes in it than when he had left earlier.

Walking over towards the glass wall, Chrome holds her staff differently before smacking the spiked end into the glass. It cracks, chips of glass falling to the floor. Mukuro looks at her, both confused and angry.

"Chrome, stop it. You know what will happen if you break that. You should be helping me, I'm doing this for you after all." She freezes and looks towards him. Mukuro smirks, now he had her. "We can change the world together and make sure that no one else is left to die unloved by their parents." He knows it's a sore point for her, and indeed she flinches.

Tsunayoshi doesn't say anything, letting Chrome decide for herself. She doesn't say anything for a long time.

"Fine then Mukuro-"

The door slams open and someone runs inside before kneeling by the child holding his head in pain. The person removes the child's hands, replacing them with their own.

"Fight, god dammit, Tsunayoshi. I am not losing you."

"-As long as you promise not to hurt any of my friends, and to not hurt any good people…-"

The room around them changes, suddenly looking a lot brighter, as if someone turned on another light. It also feels heavier.

"-Then you can have my body. That will make you happy? After all, that's what are friends and family for, right?"

Lots of things happen after that statement. Mukuro looks at Tsunayoshi, a boy who had just willingly given up his freedom and free will because of something as silly as family. Tsunayoshi smiles the strangest of smiles, a type Mukuro had never seen before. It was as if Tsunayoshi really was happy with the thought that Mukuro would be happy. Which Mukuro found preposterous.

Chrome finally decided that Mukuro keeping Tsunayoshi like this was a bad thing. She liked Tsunayoshi too much to let this happen to him. Plus, Mukuro was being mean and unfair. So she gathers as many Flames as she can, feeds then into her spiked staff and smacks the glass wall as hard as she can.

The final thing to happen was for a huge blast of new Flames to hit the glass wall from the other side.

Mukuro stares at Tsunayoshi, so confused and dumbfounded by the notions the child was suggesting, by everything Tsunayoshi had said so far, and by his final act of good will, that Mukuro lost his concentration, his grasp on the possession slipping.

With an ear splitting chiming crash, the glass wall shatters.

Mukuro looks at the glass by his feet for a few moments, watching it disappear into nothingness. He clicks his tongue and waves his hand, the same dirty dark purple door appearing. He pulls it open and slams the door behind himself before it disappears totally. Although Tsunayoshi does have time to notice that it looks less dirty than last time.

"You stupid child! Do you know what could have happened if he had finished making a contract with you?! You would have never come back!"

Tsunayoshi spins around at the angry voice, surprised to find Viper standing there. She strides across the gap between them, kicking the glass out of her way. She raises a hand, wanting to slap some sense into the errant child. But she doesn't, she can't. Instead she envelops him in a hug. "You stupid child. You stupid, stupid child. Your kindness is going to get you killed one day."

Tsunayoshi doesn't know what to say to that. So instead he looks around, noticing that Chrome is gone. So is Chrome's white door. It had disappeared the same time that Mukuro's door had disappeared. She was only connected to Tsunayoshi through her connection to Mukuro. So with Mukuro out of Tsunayoshi's mind, she could no longer be there.

Viper looks up, whilst still hugging Tsunayoshi, taking in the dark space around her. "It might take a few days for this to return to normal. You've been through a lot of stress recently. If you like I can-"

"No." Tsunayoshi says sternly. "I don't want to forget. Even if I did see Mukuro kill people with my hands, I don't want to forget it."

Viper sighs at the stubbornness of the child. She stands up, taking his hand. "Fine then, let's go back. I think the others have missed you."

Only two more chapters left for this arc!

I know that Mukuro is a little out of character here, but I think that as a child, he would be more emotional about these things, almost like he's throwing a temper tantrum. And of course, he's going to be freer with everything since they are in his head, he can't hide anything there.

If you have any questions, please ask, I'll either clear them up through a PM or I'll make extra sure that I answer them next chapter.

See you next time!

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published: 10 February 2012