The place is desolate and quiet. Buildings, broken and falling apart, and cars, broken and rusted, were covered in a thick layer of snow. Several areas of snow were left untouched but many were covered in tracks.
Contrasting against the white snow, a dark colored figure trudged forward. The person wore a thick hooded cloak over his coat and some sort of mask, black with a glass cover, over his face.
He shivered slightly when a breeze came by, causing him to pause in his walking, and reached into his cloak. He pulled out an old map, staring at it for a bit.
The sound of static reaching his ears, had him pausing before grabbing on to something on his hips.
"-born! Where are you?!" A female voice shouted.
The man lifted his mask slightly, showing his mouth slightly, before pressing a button on the side. "East side, by the tracks."
"What! You shouldn't be that far! It's dangerous, Reborn!" The voice said before cutting off into nothing.
"Luce, we both know that the supplies in the area are starting to run low," Reborn responded back. "We're going to have to go farther for the supplies we need."
"But-"
"Doesn't matter, we need to survive." With that he shut off the radio, clipping it back to his hip and moving his mask back into place and pushed on.
He kept going when he reached a familiar fence. It was a simple metal chain link, meant to keep out the monsters before everything went to hell. The fence was rusting slightly and starting to fall apart, some of the links were undone and parts of the fence were missing.
Coming up to the fence, he gazed out at the city. Beyond this point, everything was uncharted. Sure they had maps of the city when it was still brimming with life but now everything was different, and who knows what kinds of monsters have moved in since then.
He pushed the thoughts aside and passed through the gates. He pulled out his rifle, keeping a finger on the trigger just in case something decided to attack him, and took steady steps forward. He was prepared for anything(he had two pistols strapped to his body along with extra ammon and a few smoke bombs hidden on his person).
He quietly walked through the deserted city, whipping around at each and every noise. He soon found himself in one of the many buildings. Scavenging around, he found very few supplies and slipped them into his bag, which was hidden under his coat.
A loud clatter from somewhere had him perking his head up in alarm. Scanning the area, he found nothing. He slowly walked forward, checking under, over and behind everything. When he found nothing, he lowered his gun slightly but froze a little when the clatter came again.
This time it came from his right, towards the back of the building. He slowly and carefully stalked towards the area. A small static noise had him pausing and reaching for his hip once more. This time he pulled out a small device with a short red stick in the middle that was starting to flick back and forth.
"Radiation," he whispered to himself. He held the geiger counter, the small stick flicking back and forth like a metronome. He kept his guard up, who knows what kind of mutated monster would attack him, as the scanner picked up on stronger radiation.
The deeper he moved into the building, the more the scanner flickered side to side. When he came across a slightly opened door, he raised a brow. It wasn't that the door was open, no, it was that the door knob was torn off and laid on the floor with small scratch marks on the door, as if something was desperate to get in.
He raised his rifle higher.
The door led to a stairwell heading down. The stairwell was poorly lit with yellow light bulbs, dying and flickering, and the railing was partly falling out. The dust that coated the stairs had a set of small boot prints going down, and just by looking at it Reborn could tell they were at most a day old. He stared into the darkness at the bottom of the steps for a few seconds before descending, who knows what awaited him down there.
When he reached the bottom, the room he entered had him narrowing his eyes.. The room was about the size of a classroom with metal shelves, some tipped over, while boxes dotted the room. A metal garage door covered part of the wall opposite him, a lever poking out behind a shelf. But he wasn't worried about the room, his eyes were focused on bodies that lay scattered on the floor, covered in small spherical plants, while familiar spore particles floating in the air. He tugged his cloak closer to his face. None of the bodies moved. He hadn't seen many bodies in one place before… Maybe this was once a hideout for survivors.
In his other hand, the geiger counter was going crazy.
He stepped past the bodies, ignoring the dreadful feeling inside him, when something caught his attention, causing him to turn. The most unusual sight of something rare nowadays, stared back at him. Sitting underneath a light, which acted almost like a spot light, was a bouquet of flowers, tied poorly together with a piece of string. The flowers were a mismatch of colors ranging from red to yellow to purple while the familiar stony white was climbing along the edges, getting closer to the center. Actually now that he looked there were more of them, each in a noticeable place, unlike the first one he saw.
He broke from his thoughts when he heard a clatter come from the other side of the garage door. What was that?!
Just as he turned to face the garage, the scanner in his hands started to make more noise. Reborn lifted the scanner up to the garage door and it went crazy. He looked at the lever hidden in the room and quietly stalked over, as he heard another noise from the other side. He ready his rifle, just in case whatever on the other side attacked him, and pulled the lever.
The garage door pulled itself up, as broken as it looked it worked just fine. He took aim at the door and revealed what was behind the door. His eyes widened at the sight in front of him, not noticing that the scanner had gone dead quiet.
A quiet voice could be heard in the silence. "H-Hello?"
Luce paced back and forth, stopping only to glance at the clock. Sitting by the wall was Fon, with a concerned look on his face, and Lal Mirch, who didn't look as concerned, more like annoyed.
Reborn hadn't contacted them since Luce radioed him earlier that day. It was sunset and when night came so did the monsters. Reborn would be left to fend for himself till day time or…
"Calm down, Luce," Lal Mirch, a friend of Luce and Reborn, said. "If the guy was dead he would have radioed us a long time ago. He probably just got stuck under a rock or something."
"But…" Luce started. "It's Reborn we're talking about. He always makes sure to call just in case something happens or is attacked.. It's almost night time, I'm worried!"
They all knew Reborn but the man was still human and was bound to make some mistakes. But if they lost the man, it would do some great damage to their forces because for one, Reborn was one of their best collectors and one hell of a shot, and two, the man's survival skills were nothing short of insane.
Lal rolled her eyes and left the room. It was Reborn they were talking about. The man was someone who was a professional at surviving, even in the worst situations, considering his past occupation. Luce worried too much. Back when they first got together, Reborn was always the one disappearing behind their backs and came back to the base at most randomest times.
"Mou… When he comes back, he's definitely going to be under house arrest for a while," Luce huffed to herself. Fon let out a quiet chuckle at the thought.
For Fon, Reborn was a great friend. They could have decent conversation at times and the other raven did give Fon quite the workout when they spar. It would be a great loss if something happened to Reborn.
"Luce, I'm sure Reborn is just running late," Fon tried to reason. He kinda hoped the raven was just late.
Reborn had been gone since this morning and now the sun was starting to set. That much exposure to radiation and spores was not good. Even with all the anti-radiation clothes and cleansing mask, he could still get infected or worse.
"He's still not back yet?"
Fon and Luce looked over to the doorway, seeing Skull standing there. Behind him, Viper muttered something under her breath before disappearing down the hall. Luce shook her head.
Skull was back. Back from a trip to another survival team like theirs but much bigger. Which had taken all day. Reborn left before Skull. Skull was now home. Damn! Now Luce was starting to seriously worry. She would charge out there ready to search for Reborn till she got some indication about the raven haired being dead or alive.
"It's Reborn we're all talking about," Skull said in a lazy tone. Truth to be told he was really worried, but he and Reborn didn't have the best relationship. "The bastard always comes back unexpectedly."
"Skull," Luce whined a little. She knew Skull cared but why did he have to phrase it like that. Maybe it was because of their relationship. She was about to say something to Skull when Verde's voice came from the PA.
"Reborn's back," the man said. It was quick and short but Luce was already gone and heading towards the front entrance.
When Luce spotted the raven haired man, she almost threw herself at the man. "You're back!" She shouted. Her eyes narrowed into a glare, but Reborn remained unfazed. "What were you thinking?!"
Reborn glanced at her. "I scouted the area farther than the fence, and found a few places with some supply. I'll take Colonello and Lal with me and we'll head out to collect it later."
Luce could feel her blood pressure rising. This idiot was more worried about supplies than himself. She was going to discipline the raven later. For now, she backed off because the raven had found more supplies and it was relieving to know that since they were starting to run out of some things.
She stayed silent as Verde was about to run some checks over him, watching from afar. When she noticed the bulge around Reborn's knees, she was a little worried. What had caused that?
"Alright remove your cloak," Verde instructed.
Just as Reborn lifted the side of his cloak, a bushel of brown popped out. Coming through the door just then were the others.
All eyes instantly focused on the brown tuff, as one small hand clutched onto Reborn's leg while holding the cloak closer, probably nervous from all the attention. Large, rounded eyes, scared and frightened, looked back at them, as the small figure moved closer towards Reborn's leg.
No one knew what to say. They all just stared at the small figure because it wasn't everyday your crazy friend came back with a small child.
A whimper caught Reborn's attention, making him look down at the small figure at his side. He looked at his team then back the child.
"Stop staring, you're making him uncomfortable," Reborn snapped. Everyone broke from their focused trance and looked everywhere but the child.
"Who is that?!" Skull shouted. The child jumped and hid behind Reborn, burying his face into the back of Reborn's knees. Everyone glared at the purple haired man, who shrunk back.
Squatting down with a bright smile, Luce spoke. "Hello, who are you?"
The child shook his head against Reborn's knees and hugged them tighter.
Luce smiled sweetly before standing and looking Reborn, who suppressed a shiver at the sickly sweet smile. "Who is he?" She demanded.
"Found him," Reborn answered. He lifted his cloak higher, allowing a slightly better look at the child. "He was beyond the fence, hiding in what could have been an old survivor hideout."
"Oh the poor thing," Luce said out loud.
"So what do we do with it… him?" Colonello asked, though they all knew they were keeping him. There was no way Luce was going to let the boy go back to wherever he came from, especially with how things currently are.
"We're keeping him of course!" Luce shouted. A whimper caught her attention and she shied away from the child, making a mental note to not shout around the boy.
"We can't," Lal answered back quickly. "We don't have the supply to feed another mouth and that kid will just be a burden."
Luce bit her lip. She knew that. She knew that they didn't have much supplies, they could barely find much supplies these days, and adding another mouth to feed would be using more. They were grown adults so they knew how to act, but this child didn't know much, teaching the child would be costly for them.
"We don't even know if he's infected or anything like that," Verde added. "Who knows how long he's been out there. For all we know, he could turn to tomorrow and we could all be dead. He's a danger t-"
"'E'bon." It was quiet, almost a whisper. They wouldn't have heard it had they been lesser people. "'E'bon family?"
Reborn looked down at the child. "Something like that."
The child came out from Reborn's cloak, allowing the others to get a good look at him. His hair was a fluffy sienna brown and his face was rounded with baby fat on his cheeks. His large brown eyes add an innocent look to him along with his short stature. But their eyes were focused on the familiar stony white that covered part of his cheeks and neck, partly disappearing under his large jacket.
Several of them, Verde and Lal, freaked out at the sight of the stony white. Lal hand immediately pointed the pistol strapped to her hips at the child while Verde pulled Luce back. The boy jumped and hid behind Reborn again, more terrified than before.
"He's infected," Lal said sharply. "Reborn move away from the brat. I'll put his suffering to an end."
Reborn didn't move. "He's not a danger to us."
"What do you know?" Lal snapped back. They all knew the sign of someone who was infected. It wouldn't be long before they were either dead or one of those mutated monsters. "He could just attack us right now, Reborn. Move away!"
Again, Reborn didn't move.
"I'm agreeing with Lal on this one," Verde said. "That… child is a danger."
"Now, now how about we give Reborn a chance?" Fon inquired. Lal and Verde just looked at Fon like he was crazy. "Since when has Reborn been wrong about something like this?"
Damn. Fon was making a good point.
Colonello made a face. "I'm with Fon. I'm not heartless enough to leave the child by himself, kora."
"Colonello," Lal growled. She was at least expecting the idiot to support her! Her eyes shot over to Skull, who flinched at the glare. "You're thoughts, Skull?"
It was rare for Skull to get any input in whatever they talked about muchless get their attention. He thought about the pros and cons of the two sides. Lal and Verde were making very good points but so were Fon and Colonello. He hated being put on the spot. But before Skull could even speak, one small action from the boy had everyone's attention.
A tugging on his cloak had Reborn looking at the child, who looked a little sad and scared.
"Tsuna, leave?" The child said.
To say the least, it was very cute. The sight of Reborn acting a little protective of a child was something one did not see every day. Though the sight of Reborn even being, even the teeny-tiniest amount, protective was rare.
"No, you're staying here," Reborn said. The child looked a little confused but gave a small nod, shifting a little closer.
"I agree with Reborn," Luce finally spoke. Lal and Verde shot glares at the raven, knowing Luce's words were absolute. "I'm not just going to leave a child all alone, infected or not."
With that everyone settled down but they still held suspicion towards the boy.
No one knew what started the infection but it was deadly. Symptoms were flu like symptoms, and it wouldn't be long before patches of stony white color started to appear on your skin. At first people didn't think much of it except it was like all other diseases, except there was no cure. So when people started to die, they treated it much like a cancer of some sort.
That's where things went wrong. They did what they did with every other body. They buried the bodies but what they should have done was burn them. The decaying bodies were quickly covered in a soft spherical plant that grew from the stony white patches on their bodies, which had grown through the dirt and onto the surface. This plant produces spores at a fast rate to the point that it is poisonous and makes it an airborne illness. It wasn't long before people started dropping like flies and the very first Mutants were born and graveyards and cemeteries were being burned.
Mutants. They were born when a group of researchers had tried to control the infection to find cures. Instead they were able to morph the infection into something more. They had thought they made a cure, testing it on a few infected patients but things had gone wrong.
After twenty-four hours of being injected with the 'cure', the patients were showing new signs of new symptoms but the researchers didn't know. When they had gone to check up on the patients, they were attacked by the newly changed patients. The patients were morphed into some kind of monster, neither human nor animal.
They were later dubbed Mutants, for the change that happened with the first group of patients. When Mutants died, they left behind a decaying corpse that would later begin to sprout spores. These spores would mix with the old infection and soon there would be two types of infection floating in the air. One that would turn someone infected and they would die, their corpses creating more spore plants, while the other would mutate the infected bodies in Mutants.
So fast forward several years later to one scientist by the name Verde, who stared at the anomaly in front of him.
The small brunet child, brought back by Reborn, was definitely infected but he showed no symptoms of the infection, except the stony white marks. One would experience flu-like symptoms before dying or transforming for several days but this child showed none of those. In fact, the child looked perfectly healthy.
When he finds brown eyes staring at him, he blinks away those thoughts. There was no way Luce and Reborn were going to let him near the kid once they find out what he has plans for the kid. As if knowing what he was thinking, the kid ducks a little behind Reborn.
Since arriving, the kid has yet to let go of Reborn, which is not surprising. What actually is surprising is that Reborn is allowing the kid to hang onto him. From what Verde knew about Reborn, the raven haired man preferred to stay away from children, like when they visited other survivor groups that had them. So for the raven to be protective of the small brunet was weird.
"What's his name?" Luce cooed as she watched the child, who was curiously looking around.
"Tsunayoshi," Reborn answered. At his name, the brunet looked up at Reborn. "Tsuna for short."
"Awww," Luce squealed. "What a cute name."
Verde rolled his eyes. That's what Luce said about every child. The child could have killed a million people and burned cities and Luce would still call them cute.
"Tsuna, that's Luce," Reborn introduced. He pointed a finger at Luce, making Tsuna's head look at Luce.
"H-Hwello," Tsuna said shyly. He blushed a little in embarrassment and ducked closer to Reborn. Luce squealed at the action.
"So what are we going to do with him?" Colonello asked. He was pretty sure they didn't have time to spare on a child.
"For now, he can stay with Reborn," Luce said. There was no protest from the raven, how unusual. "I'll go and try to find some proper clothes for the boy to wear." Everyone stared at the large ragged jacket the boy wore. How did he survive winter this long with just that?
Verde made a mental note to always carry paper on him, he was going to need to jot down observations on the boy.
"Now, shoo," Luce said, waving a hand at the others. "I'm sure you guys have work to do. So get out of here. You can stare at Tsuna later. Oh and Reborn, give him a bath."
Verde exited the room and went straight to his lab. He was going to have to snag the brat later for research purposes.
Reborn massaged Tsuna's scalp, hands covered in bubbles and soap. The child let out a pleased noise, eyes closed, as Reborn reached and grabbed onto a bowl filled with water, warm water. He listened as Tsuna let out a small yelp of surprise before shaking his wet hair like a dog.
"There you're done," Reborn said. The brunet looked over himself then back at Reborn.
"Done?"
Reborn nodded. He looked over the brunet, noticing a bright orange mark that seemed to dance across his skin. It was almost like a tattoo that stretched across the boy's right arm, licking up his shoulder and neck a little, and ended on the back of his hand. It was a strange sight, after all the only type of body markings were that of the virus, a stony white that would spread across the body, while this was a bright orange that he's never seen before. He noticed that wherever the orange touched the white marks of the virus did not appear.
As if sensing Reborn was staring, Tsuna looked over at him and then looked down at his body. "'E'bon? Something wrong?"
"No," Reborn said with a shake of his head.
They soon exited the bathroom and found Luce placing down some clothes. The dark haired lady smiled and said she was going to be starting dinner soon and they should hurry up. Reborn nodded his head and looked at Tsuna. The brunet just beamed at him.
He dressed Tsuna first then himself. The small brunet looked much different now that he was cleaned and wearing better clothes, looking more like a child than a ragged kitten. The shirt was a little too big, it went past his waist, and the same could be said about the pants, which pooled around the boy's ankles.
"We can fix that," Reborn said aloud. He placed Tsuna onto the table before looking around the room. When he spotted the scissors, he swiped them from their spot and returned back to Tsuna.
Tsuna looked at him with curious eyes. "Cut?"
"Yes, I'm going to cut your pants," Reborn replied. He snipped away at the pants, not caring who they really belonged to, till they were the proper length for Tsuna.
When finished, he placed the brunet back onto the floor. He watched as Tsuna pulled on the large shirt and stomped his feet happily. He shrugged his shoulders, not understanding what was exciting about the shirt. He gathered the few other items Tsuna had, a whistle and a small pair of boots, and handed them to the boy. The brunet easily slipped on the boots and hung the whistle around his neck, tucking it beneath his shirt.
When Reborn excited the room, Tsunafollowing closely behind, he was greeted at the sight of Fon and Colonello. The two were quietly chatting about something but stopped when they spotted Reborn and Tsuna. Colonello said something quickly to Fon before running off. Strange. Usually the blond would try to pick a fight.
"Did you need something?" Reborn asked.
Fon gave a chuckle. "I just wanted to see how our newest addition is doing." He smiled down at Tsuna, who stared at him for a moment before smiling.
With a finger pointed at Fon, Tsuna beamed brightly. "Kyoya!"
Fon and Reborn looked at each other.
"Kyoya!" Tsuna repeated, finger still pointed Fon. He giggles and steps away from Reborn, moving closer to Fon. "Kyoya!"
"Reborn?" Fon asked as Tsuna grabbed onto his pants, tugging it with excitement.
"I don't know," Reborn responds back. "Tsuna let's go."
Tsuna slips his hand into Reborn's, but it's when Tsuna grabs Fon's hand that both ravens pause. The child just beams at Fon, happily humming to himself.
Both don't know what to do, not really the ones to deal with children, that was Luce's and Skull's job, and they just lead Tsuna to the dining area. The walk is uncomfortable and silent, besides Tsuna's humming.
Luce would say she would make a great mom, but with how things currently were she knew she couldn't. So when Reborn showed up with the cutest little boy she's ever met, she couldn't help but believe this was god, she really didn't believe in god after the whole infection thing, giving her a chance.
She was determined to get the child to like her, and the first step to that was to feed the boy. After all, she could guess how the boy was probably living, and he probably didn't eat good food much, so the plan was to win him over during dinner.
She knew the others thought of her as crazy but hey at least she was trying.
For dinner, everyone had pretty much gathered, except Fon, and were chattering away, more quiet than usual. To pass a little time, Luce happily served everyone's meal while waiting for Reborn and Tsuna. She couldn't wait to see Tsuna's expression once he ate her food, hopefully after that he would like to be her friend
So when she heard the sound of footsteps followed by the dooring opening, she got excited but froze a little. Standing in the doorway was one awkward Fon and Reborn, while between them was one happy Tsuna, holding their hands like parents would do for their children.
Luce internally cursed. Damn! How had Fon done it?!
"Ara, why don't you guys go ahead and sit down," Luce said with a smile. Reborn and Fon awkwardly guided Tsuna to an open spot at the table, everyone's eyes on them. Luce came back around the table for a few seconds, placing their plates in front of them, a smaller size plate for Tsuna.
Everyone seemed to watch Tsuna as the brunet stared at the plate. He looked like he wasn't sure on what to do with it, looking at Reborn for some guidance. When Reborn didn't hesitate to eat, Tsuna seemed to understand.
The brunet picked up his spoon, holding it improperly, and scooped a little. He brought it close to his nose and sniffed like some kind of animal. Again, his eyes looked over at Reborn, who continued to eat, before stuffing the spoon in his mouth. His eyes seemed to sparkle at the taste as the child happily munched on the food.
Luce internally let out a relieved sigh. At least he was enjoying the food. When she heard a familiar yelp from Skull, Luce knew that the usual noise that accompanied dinner was about to start.
Just as Luce predicted, it wasn't long before Colonello and Reborn were butting heads with Fon trying to calm them. Lal was making side comments while Verde rolled his eyes. Viper complained and Skull was seeking shelter to Luce from the others. Sitting quietly, Tsuna enjoyed his meal. It amazed Luce how the small boy seemed to ignore everything and focused on his food.
When everyone was calm and dinner was finished, sleeping arrangements were in order. It was obvious that Tsuna was not going to sleep with anyone else but Reborn while Viper and Verde had already tried for the night, but Luce wanted the child to be as comfortable as possible.
After a few minutes of trying to get Tsuna to release Reborn's leg, Luce gave up and lights were out.
A noise woke Reborn from his sleep, his internal clock telling him it was almost two in the morning. When his hands felt the empty space next to him, he paused. Tsuna was sleeping there a minute ago. Where was Tsuna? Sitting up he glanced around the room and saw that the brunet was sitting by the window on the other side of the room.
"Tsuna," Reborn called. The brunet head turned to look at him, eyes glimmering a fiery orange. At that moment, a mental reminder filled Reborn's head. This boy was infected. Lal's voice from earlier that day filled his mind, but he pushed those thoughts to the side as he stood and walked towards the boy. "Something the matter?"
Reborn turned his attention outside. There was nothing out there, not from what he could see.
Tsuna shook his head but continued to stare out the window.
Reborn raised a brow at the action. To say Tsuna was weird was an understatement. The child was weird on many levels, maybe an affect from the infection, but he also displayed normal childlike actions.
He felt something grab his hand and looked down. One of Tsuna's hands found its way over to his. He wasn't good at things like this, comforting children, usually Luce was the one doing things like this, so he really didn't know what to do. But when small fingers squeezed his hands, he gave a light squeeze back.
It was at that moment, Tsuna seemed to jump from his chair and move close to the window. Reborn eyes instantly focused outside, but he didn't see anything. It was a few seconds later when he noticed a bright orange blur zigzagging across the roofs of cars and disappearing into and out of buildings. Whatever it was constraded against the city's gray buildings and white snow. Something was out there.
He was brought back when Tsuna gave a small tug on his shirt and made a small noise.
"It's nothing," Reborn said, eyes still focused outside. He looked out a few more seconds, hoping to catch whatever that was again, but there was nothing. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, maybe he was just paranoid. "Come on, let's go back to bed."
Tsuna nodded and raised his arms up at Reborn, who just stared at him.
"I am not picking you up," he stated. The small brunet arms fell a little. Damn! The kid looked like a kicked puppy. Reborn knew those eyes shouldn't work on him but...Arrgg! After a few seconds of resisting, Reborn scooped up the kid and into his arms. "We are never speaking of this."
Tsuna seemed to understand and giggled, hands clutching Reborn's shirt tightly.
It wasn't before both were in bed and tucked under the blanket.
Reborn lay awake longer than Tsuna, judging by the shallow breathing next to him. It's been a long day for them.
Thinking back on it, what was Tsuna doing in that hideout? Where did Tsuna originally come from? How had the kid been surviving this whole time? Questions filled Reborn's as he laid wide awake. It looks like he wouldn't be getting much sleep for the rest of the night.