Chapter 5: As If We Were To Die
1100 hours
Candidate leaves Vongola Ristorante to board a cab. Asks to be taken to Kokuyo Fun Land. Examining committee switches to GPS tracking.
1131 hours
Candidate exists cab roughly 1 and a half miles from Kokuyo Fun Land and makes rest of the way there on foot.
1247 hours
Upon reaching Kokuyo Fun Land, the candidate goes around the perimeter and enters grounds from the side, leaving examining committee surveillance . Examining committee hypothesizes that he has slipped through the fence around the perimeter.
1300 hours
Candidate receives the following message:
Send a report on your current status. Reports are expected every hour and failure to send them within ten minutes of the expected time will cause you to be listed as missing in action, possibly dead.
1302 hours
Candidate sends the following message to examining committee:
Currently in Kokuyo Fun Land Horror House. Will attempt determine specific location of base and possible patrol.
Candidate calls Support and Logistics, call picked up by Sasagawa Kyoko(S.K.). She reports:
Candidate 027 asked for utility records of Kokuyo Fun Land, dating from the time the targets of the mission escaped as well as the GPS Locations of other candidates. The sound of breaking glass and gunfire was heard in the background during the call. The candidate was distracted during the call and seemed to be running. The information requested was sent to the candidate within five minutes, as he was informed during the call.
1304 hours
Candidate receives following message from Candidate #056:
With Sasagawa Ryohei. Gave away our position. Captured Joshima Ken.
1306 hours
Candidate receives following message from Candidate #042:
Currently staked out outside the main entrance of Kokuyo Fun Land.
1307 hours
Candidate receives information requested, comprising of map with GPS locations (see below) and utility bill for Kokuyo Fun Land for the past 6 months.
Candidate receives following message from S.K. of Support and Logistics:
Call me ASAP. - S.K.
Candidate receives following message from Candidate #007:
Wait for me. Stay put, sit tight and allow me to deliver retribution on your souls. -R.M.
1314 hours
Candidate sends the following message to examining committee:
Took out a man who appears to be Kakimoto Chisuka. He is currently drugged and tied up in a closet in the Haunted House attraction.
1315 hours
Candidate calls Support and Logistics, call picked up by Sasagawa Kyoko(S.K.). She reports:
As I have requested, he called Support and Logistics and was routed to myself. I informed him of the state of the freelance hitman, Hibari Kyouya was acting as a solo investigative unit and about how we lost his location 12 hours ago and how his liaison lost contact with him fifteen minutes ago. As the information of Hibari Kyouya was considered highly confidential and sensitive, I decided to release it to only one member of the reconnaissance team who had shown certain aptitude and ability. The information released included a short description about his appearance and fighting ability as well as a warning to approach with caution. Candidate #027 asked for further information, so I directed him to the Information Department with clearance code AFRT-C027-S01 as I did not have the information on hand. Candidate asked for me to repeat clearance code. The call was then redirected.
1316 hours
Candidate's call directed to Information, call picked up by Kurokawa Hana(K.H.). She reports:
Candidate #027 called to ask for a brief run down on the information that the targets had acquired by getting their hands on the phone of Candidate #007. This request was fulfilled immediately as its compilation had already started at 1205 hours. According to the records he is the second to ask for that information. I was given clearance code AFRT-C027-S01 and confirmed the code with S.K. of Support and Logistics. The information given to him about his fighting style and personality comes from part of Hibari Kyouya's file, recited to him verbatim, as follows: 'Hibari Kyouya is an aggressive fighter, more often impulsive than not, but has the skill to back it up. He has generally works with modified tonfas, often containing spikes or a small mace on a chain and has occasionally worked with handcuffs. He is a very proficient fighter, but seems to be baited easily and seems unable to work in a group. Solid footwork, excellent strength and very agile. He is fully capable of being completely ruthless and will only work on his terms. Dislikes being answerable to anybody and seems to hold little respect for anyone weaker, whom he calls 'herbivores'.' At this point, the candidate asked me to pause and asked if Hibari Kyouya came from Namimori, Japan. When the answer was given in the affirmative, he told me that there wasn't any need for further information on personality. I gave him the name of Hibari Kyouya's liaison and the said liaison's contact number.
The candidate further asked for information on the hostages. After discussion with S.K. and the examining committee, it was decided to give him slightly more information than afforded to the regular candidate, due to his success so far. The information given to him was recited to him verbatim, as follows: 'Chrome Dokuro and Lancia was bodyguards assigned to someone, whose identity shall remain confidential. The importance of the safety of their charge is considered above and beyond the lives of any and all candidates of the Allied Family Recruitment Test. Chrome Dokuro and Lancia are bodyguards hired by the Callavone to secure his protection. The fact that they were bodyguards to their charge was kept a secret from the charge himself and should only be known to a select few within the Callavone and had only been disclosed to Vongola hours ago. It is unknown if Rokudo Mukuro knows of this, but seems likely.'
1324 hours
Candidate sends the following message to Candidates #002, #008, #012 through #024 and #031 through #55:
Please use the group messaging system to give R.M. the impression that we are in chaos and panicking.
The examining committee notes that all these candidates are located at least one mile from the premises of Kokuyo Fun Land.
Candidate sends the following message to Candidate #059:
Please head over to the coordinates attached. Prepare to engage hostilities.
1325 hours
Candidate sends the following message to Candidate #059:
Sorry, but you might have to act as bait for a bit; there is reason to believe the hostages are kept there and, even though I have been informed that two of them are trained bodyguards, the safety of their charge is considered to be of utmost importance.
1326 hours
Candidate receives following message from Candidate #059:
Everyone who participates in the test knows the risk. Just don't screw up your part.
1333 hours
Candidate receives a call from Candidate #059.
1412 hours
Candidate sends the following message to Kusakabe Tetsuya, the liaison for the solo investigative unit, Hibari Kyouya:
I've found Hibari. He seems to have taken a beating, but is otherwise alright, or at least okay enough to be looking for another fight.
Candidate sends the following message to examining committee and S.K. of Support and Logistics:
Found the child. Unconscious and unresponsive, but his vitals are fine. If possible, send retrieval team to my coordinates.
1413 hours
Candidate receives following message from S.K. of Support and Logistics:
External retrieval unit is being dispatched right now. His contact is attached -S.K.
Candidate receives the following message to Kusakabe Tetsuya, the liaison for the solo investigative unit, Hibari Kyouya:
Thank you.
1502 hours
Treated by Medic T.S.. See attached medical report for details.
Remarks:
Examining Committee should refer to the reports of the following individuals for greater detail on the candidate's activity: Candidate #059, Lancia, Chrome Dokuro, Candidate #007, Hibari Kyouya, Fuuta de la Stella and Reborn.
Hibari Kyouya refuses to write a report.
Reborn has submitted a note regarding Candidate #027, that reads: "I want this one, so don't bother finding an assignation for Candidate #027."
― Allied Families' Recruitment Test: 2017, Activity Log for Candidate #027. Taken from the classified Vongola Archives.
The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, but somehow the universe seemed to work in Hibari's favor, even without any planning whatsoever.
Hibari was clueless about the direction they ought to go in, so it was relatively easy for Tsuna to steer him however he wanted, especially since Hibari didn't bother looking at the map. Somehow, despite all of this, they still ended up running into Mukuro.
A few weeks later, after one particularly grueling lesson by a certain hitman, Tsuna would realize that it was because Mist Flames could encompass an area the user was familiar with in order to determine spatial-
Barely suppressing a high-pitched squeal, Tsuna ducked out of the way of a pointy trident. The child over his shoulder didn't even twitch from the sudden motion. Hibari followed up the attack perfectly; tonfas swinging, eyes gleaming with bloodlust. Tsuna immediately retreated, so quickly that he couldn't even get a good look at Mukuro.
Tsuna didn't know if Hibari would win. Tsuna didn't know how Hibari got captured, but knew better than to ask. If there was anything Hibari was proud of, it was Namimori and his strength.
He isn't going to win.
Tsuna wondered why thoughts like that, so sure and clear, would often wander into his mind.
Tsuna couldn't remember a time when those thoughts were wrong, but some days he desperately wished they were. This was one of those times, he thought. Should he prioritize the escape of the child? Would that-?
Tsuna took a steadying breath. It would be immensely difficult for Mukuro to secure the entire building, given that he was only one person, but Tsuna was unclear about Mist flames and what they could do. What he did know for sure was that the retrieval team was on its way and Hibari would hopefully buy some time.
Mukuro did seem to want Hibari alive for some reason, though Tsuna couldn't fathom why, but maybe he just didn't know Hibari the way residents of Namimori knew him. He wanted the child alive as well. In that case, even if Hibari was defeated, he would still be able to go back for him.
This thought in mind, Tsuna redoubled his efforts at sprinting down the hallway, wondering if maybe he should start carrying weights during his runs if this was what was expected of him in the future.
He nearly crashed into Chrome turning a corner.
"Fuuta!" She let out a relieved cry. She was bruised and battered, but seemed otherwise alright-
No.
The word blared in Tsuna's head like a fire alarm, anxious and repetitive, panicky, but no one could identify why it had gone off.
He took a moment to really observe her. Slight and thin, perhaps even a little malnourished. Her dark hair fell to her shoulders and her clothing was a little impractical. Large eyes and a fairly delicate face, he could see the outline of her gun holster through her jacket. Was it her injuries that made her seem a bit off? The dark bruise around her wrist was there before, but she sported a fairly deep gash on one shoulder and-
Not her.
Tsuna's eyes widened. "You…" he breathed quietly, hesitant, but so very certain. "You aren't Chrome."
For a moment, Tsuna regretted the words that came from his mouth. He wasn't even sure why he said it. But none of that changed the fact that he was sure this wasn't Chrome.
"You-" When she opened her mouth to speak, the feeling only got stronger. He didn't hesitate to say it out loud this time.
"You aren't Chrome."
For a moment, her expression twisted and Tsuna reflexively swiped at her arm. His hand went right through her and Chrome dissolved away.
Tsuna wasn't sure what to think of that, but alarms were ringing in his head and so he kept running.
Then Mukuro appeared, menacing with glowing eyes out of a bad horror movie, but this time Tsuna didn't even pause. Instead, he ran straight through him.
I ran straight though him! Inwardly, Tsuna was having a panic attack. He didn't really know if he believed in ghosts, but he was rather sure Mukuro wasn't dead. He hoped Chrome wasn't dead either. Mukuro was probably the one who was conjuring them. Which meant that he knew their location.
That left two possibilities. One, that he was still in battle with Hibari and that he sent the illusion whilst in battle. The second was more likely: that Mukuro was already done with Hibari.
Either way, if Mukuro could battle Hibari with part of his mind halfway across the cinema, it didn't bode well for Tsuna's chances. He slipped his phone into the child's jacket. If the retrieval team could get to them on time, they needed to take the child.
He slid into the room where he first left Chrome and Lancia in a hurry. What he didn't expect was for Lancia to be standing. He was limping heavily with an impressive wound across his chest, but standing nevertheless.
Tsuna stopped cold. This wasn't an illusion, he knew, but something more dangerous, something far more sinister…
"We need to get out of here. Mukuro-"
Tsuna wasn't listening, taking slow steps back. Fear was something Tsuna felt often, experienced so much that he learnt to work over it, not control his actions but guide it. This wasn't fear. It was unadulterated horror, disgust and pity all at once, churning his gut and forcing bile up his throat.
Tsuna's retreat became more obvious and Lancia paused in his speech. His face was changed into the same twisted expression the not-Chrome had earlier. A smile that didn't reach the eyes, the barest hint of teeth and a wrinkle in the nose the belied the upturned mouth.
"Such an interesting ability you have, little rabbit," the Lancia-but-not spoke. "Able to see through illusions in a second."
Tsuna didn't think it was a compliment and desperately wanted to flee. Yet he couldn't show his back. That would be death. His gun had become trained onto the Lancia-but-not sometime during his retreat, but Tsuna couldn't really be bothered.
He didn't know what was wrong, only that it was very, very wrong and he didn't know how to fix it.
"I've had my way with his mind for nearly a month now. The girl was more difficult, since she has Mist flames, however poor her usage. The child was resistant and so self-destructive. But I suppose that which I sought also depended heavily on his mental health."
Arrogant. Careless. Tsuna could work with that.
Working a stutter into his voice wasn't difficult. "W-what?"
A brow raised and Tsuna couldn't help but think that the real, stoic Lancia probably never had such an expression of amusement-disgust-coldness on his face.
"Mist flames create illusions. Have you ever heard of the placebo effect? If your mind believes in something strongly enough, sometimes the body forces itself to meet the expectations of the mind. Well, placebo is positive; in this case, it's called the nocebo. Given enough time, it is even possible to deceive the mind into doing whatever I want…"
Tsuna had no doubt that the process of having Mist flames invade your mind would not be as clinically clean as Mukuro seemed to imply. Sending a mental apology to Lancia, Tsuna fired a shot into his arm. Lancia-but-not staggered, then collapsed onto the ground.
Well, that was easy. Unfortunately, Tsuna didn't want to risk him getting up and snatching the child away, even if he was way more injured and had a gunshot wound. Not that Tsuna himself was completely unscathed; his hands and knees were bruised, and there was a gash on his arm where some debris had nicked him, but he was otherwise untouched.
"It wasn't that he couldn't get up any more," the voice was silky smooth and reeked of danger. "It was that I decided to let him go. You aren't so much of a threat that I need a hostage against you."
"Good to know," Tsuna quipped sarcastically, carefully setting Fuuta down. He briefly contemplated using him as a meat shield, but even thinking of a possibility made Tsuna shudder. In any case, he doubted it would help, especially since Mukuro must have known that and still chose to let go of his hold on Lancia.
It was then that Tsuna got his first good look at Mukuro. Tall, sharp featured and graceful, every inch of him screamed danger. He was very pale, and his dark hair only made his skin seem even more so by comparison. Every instinct in his body screamed for Tsuna to run away.
Tsuna ducked as a black and silver trident sailed through the air where his head had been. It was certainly an illusion, but it definitely would have killed him. Tsuna didn't know how, but he was sure of it.
Mukuro frowned inwardly. Most would have thought they would have the upper hand if they could see through illusions. Which was true on some level, but if one was skilled enough… There was still certain limitations, of course, but real illusions could not be overcome just by knowing it was an illusion.
Mukuro leapt to the side to avoid a bullet, and lotus vines burst from the ground to tighten around Tsuna's wrist, knocking the gun to the ground. Tsuna let of a pained cry when the action simultaneously dislocated his wrist.
Tsuna grimaced as he managed to choke back his pain. "I thought you said illusions were just placebo?" Stall, Tsuna's mind urged. Stall for as long as you can…
The humorless smile across Mukuro's face wasn't comforting in the least. "Anyone skilled enough has certain ways of overcoming those limitations."
A trident impaled Tsuna through the stomach and the lotus vine flung him into a wall. Blood running down the side of his face, Tsuna idly wondered if the calm he had through the sound of his pain shriek was the result of a concussion. Mukuro was already approaching Fuuta and if Tsuna didn't do something soon…
He was just a little boy, forced in the world of organized crime for no fault of his own. He was hurting and used, going to be at the mercy of a man who could possess other people. He was a child and no one deserved-!
"Few things come easily in the world, Tsuna." With wisdom beyond her years and an age in her eyes, a gentle smile on her lips. "For most things, we have to fight for it as if we were to die."
It was strange, how those words were the ones to come to him in this moment.
It was strange, how it was Uni that came to mind right then.
It was strange, how single minded focus could take away pain.
Adrenaline wasn't enough to encompass it. It was like the world was set afire, heat in his head and hands and a orange-gold tinge to the world as he crawled through the rubble. It was only when he had somehow flew across the room, his hand somehow burning Mukuro's arm when he grabbed it.
It only took moments for the man to get over his shock and surprise, but when he did Tsuna was immediately torn off his arm and slammed into the ground. Tsuna registered the vines tugging him down, but his muscles strained against them and his hands burned them away.
The look of curiosity-shock-borderline-fear on Mukuro's face was gratifying in a way that scared Tsuna, but he pressed on anyway, even though he knew he wasn't making much progress. The vines were cutting off his air supply and had lock his limbs down, growing faster than he was burning them. The fire was hurting his hands too. He was still bleeding from his head and stomach and his dislocated hand seared with pain and fire and-!
The bullet that tore through Mukuro's shoulder shocked both of them, even as Tsuna slowly succumbed to darkness.
The last thing he registered was a man's baritone, his voice laced with amusement and intrigue. Strangely, the man seemed to have said "chaos". Tsuna drifted off, thinking he must have misheard.
This chapter is shorter than usual, but this seemed like a good place to end it. Please review and tell me what you liked or disliked! :)