The day he is to be sent back, Xanxus sprawls in the center of his Pride and allows them to lay with him, more relaxed then he has been in a long while because now he has a way to fix this mess, is hours away from going back, hours away from preventing these problems and protecting his Pride.
He spends those hours basking in his Pride's presence because in a few hours he knows that while they will still be his Pride they will not be this Pride yet, this Pride who has suffered through many wars together, plodded through darkness and ash, this Pride who had stood back to back in the middle of the end, who had blocked assassins from getting to each other's throats, who had grown close enough to share Flames, and if Xanxus can prevent it, will never be exactly this Pride ever again.
His Pride seems to realize this as well, all of them basking in the presence of each other, soft murmurs passing from person to person Flames mixing and passing in an intimate show of exactly how close this experience with the Solecorvo had made his Pride. Showing that they are no longer just Family, but family. He is quiet himself allowing his presence and Flames to envelop his Pride instead of any words.
Tsuna comes to him, quiet and contemplating, and if there is one thing Xanxus has perfected (because any assassin has it, but not all have perfected it) it is patience in this post-Solecorvo world, so Xanxus waits. After another few minutes, Tsuna sighs softly. "We won't be your Pride when you go back."
Xanxus growls lowly at the sentence but Tsuna shakes his head.
"We won't be your Pride as we are now Xanxus. You'll need to start over will all of us. We won't know you. You will be a stranger to us. We will be yours still, but you will not be ours yet."
Xanxus growls again, softer this time, because he knows Tsuna is right about this and he isn't exactly thrilled with the idea that people he has lived with, fought with, and killed for and who have done the same for and with him won't know him at all when he goes back.
Here Tsuna grins a little, and it's a shadow of its former self but Xanxus knows that Tsuna has done something crazy again, something the world had told him was impossible but Tsuna had simply decided wouldn't stay that way.
"I can't send us back with you." He tells Xanxus "It would cause the entire thing to backfire and no one would go back if we tried it, and I can't transfer our memories along with you, but…" here Tsuna hands him a thick silver chained necklace with a masculine gem on it, and the gem is glowing a bright orange with Tsuna's Flames. "I can give you this. It has my Flames in, as pure as I could manage. Give it to younger me."
Xanxus stares at the gem shining so brightly with Tsuna's Flames. "Why? What will it do?"
"I can't transfer memories, but these Flames, these Flames know it all, have imprinted, and Harmonized with all the right people, have lived through all of this and they are mine. When you go back, and give it to younger me, the Flames will seep back into me. I won't have any memories, but I will have feelings and urges caused by the Flames. It will help to bring us together, smooth the edges out before they even become jagged. I wish I could go with you, that I could help you fix all of this, but since I can't go back with you I will do what I can and that is give you a way to bring us together quicker than we would otherwise manage."
Xanxus is proud of his brat as the explanation is given, shifting to be more upright so he can look at Tsuna's eyes so that Tsuna can see it. Tsuna's lips twitch at the sight and Xanxus can feel Tsuna's Flames brush against his own and he takes the necklace carefully and after a moment he tucks it away so it won't be lost in a pocket close to his chest. (It also helps him in the sense that Xanxus really didn't want to deal with a Pride who does not know him, and the little brat that had, once again, exceeded expectations and found a way to help him.)
Shortly after Tsuna steps back, each member of his Pride approaches him, whispering their version of 'see you again' (Because Assassins never said 'goodbye' to someone they wanted to see again) and each hands him a necklace with a glowing Flame Gem. Xanxus is thankful.
Sure he'll have to earn their trust enough when he goes back so that he can give the necklaces to their younger owners, but this is a huge step up from the 'working from scratch' idea.
It was sort of like before he would have had to work from the ground up with each of them. With the necklaces, Xanxus had been handed all the 'ingredients' for what he had now- all the feelings and the knowledge they could trust each other- sure when he went back the 'ingredients' would 'mix' differently, would change the way his Pride worked together and meshed with each other but that was alright.
God he'd been with Lussuria and the brat too long if he was using cooking as a comparison for this shit.
(He missed their damn steak.)
"Xanxus." Tsuna called to him. "It's time."
Xanxus stood up in one smooth movement walking towards his brat. Just before he would go back, he looked at his Pride standing together and gave them a promise they felt down to their souls.
"I will take care of you."