The tea steamed slightly. It was warm, soothing and tasted fruity. But even after Tsuna had already swallowed half the cup, he still felt cold inside and his head felt anything but calm. Thousands of thousands of thoughts flew through his mind, collapsing and causing a headache.

The cookies Luce put in the middle of the kitchen table did not taste as good as they did in this morning.

Tsuna and Luce were alone. The others had either moved into other rooms or went to do their questionable hobbies. Either way, it was decided unanimously that Luce was the best choice to answer Tsuna's questions.

Luce sipped relishily at her cup.

Tsuna was not sure how to begin. There was so much he did not know and did not understand. He also did not want to distress Luce if there was something he should not ask about.

Emotions that reflected on his face.

"Checkerface is not human like us." Tsuna looked up in surprise. "He's way older than we can imagine. He belongs to a race that calls itself the True Human. They existed long before we started populating this planet."

He had not expected this conversation. "So, he is an alien? Or we are? "Tsuna felt the need to be shocked, but he couldn't bring himself to feel it.

Luce set the cup down. "No, no. Nothing like that. His people just existed long before us. Longer than many creatures that had ever lived. The people you know today have evolved from his race. We too are True Humans you could say. However, without the qualities and powers that defined them."

"A slimmed down version?" Tsuna asked.

Luce nodded. "What is his goal? His plan? What exactly does he want to achieve with this?" Tsuna bubbled out. Luce had torn down the dam, behind which his curiosity lied.

"One question after the another." She reprimanded him. "To answer your questions, we have to go back a bit." She calmly took a sip of tea. "At the peak of the True Humans, the world was both the beginning and the end. For them, the world was perfect and so that it would not change, it was deprived of this ability."

"How can you prevent the world from changing?" Tsuna was confused.

"Memories, Tsuna. They took the memories of the world and in a way with it also the ability to dream. Without memories, there can be no growth. You could say they lived from day to day. For this purpose, darkness covered the world for a very long time. I heard you have already come in contact with it?"

The darkness at the convention!

"So, he wants to bring the world back into the dark? Depriving us of all our memories?"

"Many thought exactly like you. So many that it came to a civil war. Few survived. With their last power, the darkness was sealed in seven artifacts, which we now perceive as pacifiers. At the same time, seven of the first new humans - us - were chosen to protect them. This group was called Arcobaleno. The seven strongest flames of each generation. Most people forgot the flames over time, so the mystery remained part of the underworld. The current generation includes Reborn and myself and the others."

"And Adriana." Tsuna did not quite catch up with the story yet, but something told him that was why his family had to leave when they did.

Luce looked surprised, but recovered quickly. "I guess that's the hyper intuition for you." There was a message in her words that Tsuna could not quite hear. "But yes, Tsuna. Adriana belonged to the previous generation."

"And Checkerface?"

"He survived the war and waited and saw how the world was destroyed from his perspective for millennia. He longed for the old days and for this purpose he founded the organization to help him collect the seals. There were many attempts on the part of the Arcobaleno group to stop him. We slowed him down, but we could not stop him for good. Such an old creature is much more powerful than we were. But we continued to do our job, generation after generation. But now he has the last of the seals and we - "Luce sighed. "We have ultimately failed our mission."

This was a lot of information at once. Much more than Tsuna could conceive and probably much more that was still playing in the background.

"Checkerface is not really evil, Tsuna." Luces eyes were filled with grief, understanding and compassion. She smiled sadly. "He's just the last of his kind. He's alone. For many years now."

So, you just let him win? There must be something we can do."

"Tell me, Tsuna." Luce folded her hands in front of her face and looked at him intensely. "Why are you fighting? What did you fight for all this time?"

To protect Reborn! To find Adriana! He wanted to scream. That's why he set off on this journey. But now he looked to the right and could see through the door into the hall, to the staircase that led to the room where Reborn healed Adriana.

Reborn was as safe as he could be at the moment, and Adriana was upstairs in her old bed. What reason did he have to go on? Tsuna had already achieved his goals.

"How is the patient?"

Tsuna looked at her in surprise, but quickly looked down at the floor. His hands clung to his pants. "Dunno" He admitted reluctantly.

Luce smiled sympathetically at him. "Maybe you should look how she's doing?" The young woman said before taking one of her biscuits.

Before he left the room, he turned around again. "How do you know all this?" Luce just put her finger over the lips.

Chapter 18: Fleeting Memories

"Home is the scent of our memories" - Anke Maggauer-Kirsche

Adriana had regained her consciousness.

Reborn had healed her wounds as best he could, but he was ultimately a hitman and not a doctor. And nobody wanted Verde near a patient. Reborn had locked him in the attic under death threats.

He chatted quietly with her. As secretive as in Tsuna's childhood.

Tsuna stood under the doorway and watched them. Both of them knew he was standing here. He had not tried to sneak up. Rather, Tsuna waited for them to acknowledge him so that he could start a new conversation.

His eyes swept over Adriana. She looked pale and weak. There was almost no body part that did not have at least a plaster sticking on it. This woman was the complete opposite of the mother in his memories. The brave and strong assassin. And as he now learned one of the strongest seven of her generation. Just like Reborn.

Tsuna laughed softly. Like mother, like son.

And he?

"Tsuna?" Reborn whispered. He stood in front of him and leaned down slightly. Tsuna thanked his training for not embarrassing himself right there.

"How is she?"

Reborn looked back at Adriana. She sat against the wall and looked at her hands. "Could be better. Maybe your white-haired friend could look at her wounds later?"

"I'll ask him later." Tsuna said soberly.

"Do you want to talk to her?"

Yes. No. "I don't know."

Reborn stared intensely at Tsuna for a moment. Then he put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. "Think about it."

When he tried to pass Tsuna, Tsuna finally asked the question that had been bothering him for months. "Why did you hide so much from me?" It was hardly a whisper, but he knew that Reborn would hear him.

"For the same reason that you too left Namimori, Tsuna. We all did the same thing. We left without turning back. She, I. And you." With that, Reborn made his way down the stairs.

During Reborn's speech, Tsuna grinded his teeth and his hands clenched into fists. He would have liked to start screaming, but could he really contradict Reborn? Or did he get angry because it was the truth? At least a perspective on the truth.

Tsuna jumped from his thoughts as the other remaining person in the room cleared her throat. Adriana smiled at him weakly and knocked next to her on bed.

Tsuna's choked emotions suddenly blurred and uncertainty spread instead, but he sat down next to her.

"Hey." She said.

"Hi." Tsuna replied.

Silence.

"You've grown quite handsome. Almost like a grown-up." She reached out to wipe a strand of hair from his face, but Tsuna jumped away. What he saw was his nightmare when she stabbed him in the back. "Don't."

"Oh." Adriana looked slightly shocked, but dropped her hand. "I guess I have to blame myself for that. You had to endure so much because of me."

Tsuna could not speak. He wanted to tell her so many things. But nothing came out.

"Why did you leave then?"

Adriana looked at Tsuna but did not try to touch him again. "I suppose owe you at least that much."

"The girl with the big hat probably already told you about Checkerface and the Arcobaleno." Tsuna nodded. "There is only me left of my generation. All others were killed by Checkerface. I only live because he wanted it that way. For your years of service, he said." She spat out the words bitterly.

"Before the others died, we came up with the plan to infiltrate his organization. We barely had any information and our numbers were constantly dwindling. I was against it. Called it suicide. But when I was alone, I tried my luck. The next generation was not ready yet and at some point, he would have come to Namimori to get me. And then you too. I guess it was nothing but a desperate attempt."

She stopped. Tsuna said nothing. Just listened silently.

"I worked my way up. Could delay operations. Even got him open up some of his plans to me which the other members could only dream of. But when I saw Namimori as one of the first targets on the list ... I let my personal feelings overwhelm me and risked everything we worked on ... and I lost."

He did not want to be here anymore. "You did what you thought was right." He felt so numb.

Tsuna tried to storm out of the room, but Adriana held him back by the hand. "I know it's not much, but for what's it worth." She raised her head. "I am really sorry."

In the kitchen, the seven strongest discussed Adriana's information and how they would be able to leave Namimori. Saving his hometown was not on the agenda. Tsuna knew that no one would listen to him. He did not even know how to do it. The best he could do now was to warn his friends.

Most of them stayed near his house. After he had warned them, everyone ran to gather the most necessary things.

Saving their hometown was never on the agenda. It would have been a hopeless task. They did not even know how much time they had left. And in the end, nobody would have believed them. Even if Hibari had one or two proposals.

The last people he had to warn were Kyoko and Onii-san. He found both of them at a lonely playground, not far from their house.

"Kyoko! Onii-san!" Tsuna ran to them.

"Tsuna-kun."

"Sawada!"

Kyoko came to meet him. "How is your mother? Is she okay?"

"She will survive." Tsuna answered curtly and a little bitterly.

Kyoko looked at her brother. Then back to him. "Tsuna-kun, are you all right?"

And then - away from the overwhelming atmosphere of the house - it spewed out of Tsuna.

"I hate it all. The whole situation. I thought if Reborn and Adriana were back, it would be over. Everything would go back to the way it used to be. But Reborn still has secrets. When I am in Adriana's presence, I do not know how to feel. And now the whole thing with Checkerface." Tsuna screamed in despair. "Everything just got more complicated."

Kyoko took his hands in hers. They were warm. She smiled at him. "We will get through this. All of us together." She looked determined.

"Exactly!" Shouted Onii-san extremely.

And for the first time since Adriana stumbled into the house, Tsuna really felt in balance.

A lightning tore through the idyll. In the city center, near the shopping arcade, a dark pillar of light formed.

"Tsuna-sama!"

"Oi, Tsuna!"

A truck slipped around the corner and came to a stop in front of them. Gokudera and Yamamoto sat in the back of the truck. "Hayato? Takeshi?" Tsuna asked.

"Stop dreaming, Sawada! Get in!" Colonnello shouted from the driver's seat. That tore the three out of their stupor. Quickly, they climbed onto the back of the truck with the help of the other two. As soon as they were on it, Colonnello was already on the road.

When Tsuna turned around, he knew why. Dark mist spread from the column of light, devouring everything it enveloped. They barely made it out of Namimori.

Tsuna saw Namimori being wrapped in a gloomy cloud. It felt similar to what he had experienced at the convention. This feeling of bottomless depth. Like free falling.

His hometown disappeared ... and with it his memories.