Yo there! :D I'm not dead xD

First, I'd like to justify the lateness of this update. From October to the first days of June I've been very busy with many things. Fortunately, I managed to get these months, June, July, August and September, completely free and I'm on a writing spree for many of my projects. You can read about them on my discord server :) Join us! The link is on my profile page but you can ask it to me via PMs!

I'd also like to say something about the emergency caused by COVID-19. Stay safe, take care of yourselves, please do not underestimate this emergency. Blessings to you all!

WARNINGS (and notes):

- I've decided this will be a Gen fic :) I had already made this decision, forgot to notify you all xD Sorry!

- Mentions of torture, corpses and rotting corpses... Well, it's Vindice.

- The plots thickens a bit? Uhm, not much, dunno, ya be the judges!

Now, to answer your wonderful reviews :)

foxchick: I'm happy, thank you!

Aphryl: That's gorgeous! Thanks!

SakuraKoi: It had to be :) Thank you!

Sakihinata: Thanks a lot! :D

Haruki: Thank you :D Xanxus is a cutie :)

Arrysa: Maybe it was too much, I must admit xD It was a very dense chap. Thanks! I still can't understand how I managed to wrap the chap up xD Takeshi sees someone worthy in Tsuna and he is a Rain through and through :) Lambo… and Ryohei, I just mentioned him but I think he will need a chapter of his own :3 Those three children will bond so much... It will be scary, I assure you that's my idea at the moment :3 Ahah, deliciously dramatic, huh? xD Tsuyoshi was stuck for his own sake, but for Takeshi's, too, because he doesn't think himself worthy of taking good care of Takeshi. They are doomed, indeed, for the rest of their lives. Huhuhuh. Thank you! :D

Nina: Thanks! I hope so :) Here it is!

Windying: Reborn did xD I know, I'm just starting to understand how trauma works and experiencing them myself, I knew that part was going to be lacking. Eheh, Tetsu will never regret it :3 Ryouhei, still, he'll need more mentions :) Totally possible! They will terrorize the world, by the way xD Give them time to grow up :) Thank you, you too! And here is the new chap!

tasyadewi: They'll have more than just tea :3 ehehe! Thanks! And, for your second review: Vindice for you :)

Taylor: Here it is! Kyouya-time, too xD along with Mukuro, some :) Colonnello is in my plan, but I don't know when I'll wrap up this story so we'll see, I need to complete this :) Thank you!

arisasonoda: I'm not finished with this story, yet :D Ryouhei has made his first extreme in Tsuna's way, I-Pin... I dont' know :/ Thanks! And, for your second review: Ryouhei will probably have his own chapter, I'm still deciding on that :)

Mikan: This is a Gen fiction :) Apologies, my Spanish is not too good to make me try and speak it . You got it right, Ryouhei met Tsuna while he was in Japan :) Thank you for your many reviews! They brightened many of my days :D

Thank you, everyone! For the follows, the favourites and the reviews! I deeply appreciate them! Join me on discord!

Words: 6741.

Enjoy!

14 – Vindice

The day had started suspiciously well.

With the inmates that tame and the other jailors that contently silent, Jaeger wasn't sure what was going to blow up in his hands – or face. He had a few ideas, though. There were some things he was worried about as well as the usual accidents that could happen in Vindicare.

Their location was unknown and a safely-kept secret. The jailors were tight-lipped – voiceless in several cases – and the prisoners were condemned for life. No one had yet managed to escape. Thus, no info could leak, no one could discover their location, no danger would come.

In the last years, however, a new hobby had spread through the humans. They liked hiking and climbing and 'conquering' the highest mountains. Something he despised infinitely, because it was his job to dispose of the idiots that managed to fall in the prison through the few, thin cracks that allowed a change of air. They were still putrefying bodies, the stench was aggravating to the inmates, they could end up dehydrating because of puking too often.

So, even if their location was unknown, they still existed and people ended up finding them. And were promptly killed, reclused or caused heavy, trustable enough trauma before being released. Truly, the decision depended on how cranky Jaeger was feeling or on how creative he was in that moment.

It also had happened, once or twice, that Small Gia'd laid claims on the specimens and used them to test his new weapons on. It was his hobby, to create new additions to his arsenal and make Big Pino carry them all if they were to move for a mission. The latter never said anything about it, no one knew if he liked or not that kind of arrangement, but, with his scarce ability to speak – he only, repeatedly said "pipupipipu" whenever talked to – and to show emotions – Vindice just didn't, facial muscles decaying and all that –, no one could be sure.

Thankfully, Jack rid them of the need of a graveyard. In his past life, he'd been a forensic with a keen interest on corpses and biology. Becoming an Arcobaleno had done him funny things, like banning him from the obituary where he worked – who could have believed an infant saying he was working there? And that had pushed Jack into building his own laboratory and robbing the obituaries, or the graveyards, nearby his place to sate his thirst for knowledge. It was quite in handy when a climber Small Gia had thoroughly used needed to be disposed of, or, even more, when an inmate died, whatever the circumstances of their death.

Driving the prisoners mad was one way to go in Vindicare. Many of the Vindice cared for that specific hobby and Alejandro actually took that as his personal duty. He was very good at it. His stench was the strongest of them all, even if he was not the oldest among them. Jaeger knew he made his scent like that through use of chemicals and the rotten leftovers of Jack's dissections. That was his first step, Jaeger didn't have the curiosity necessary to discover more, neither the interest. His only worry was to make sure Vindicare was safe and integer, inmates in their respective cells and jailors on the ready for literally anything happening in the Mafia world.

He had no hobbies… except, maybe, fix the issues that could come from the others' pastimes and, more important, check that Bermuda didn't wallow in his hatred.

Jaeger would have sighed if he'd still been alive, but he wasn't, so he just closed Jack's quarters' entrance after dropping off a newly arrived climber, almost dead because of the nasty fall, and directed his steps through his daily check of the prison.

He was worried, a lot, for what had transpired on Simons' island. As promised, the memories had been delivered and the oath had been broken. Their duty with the two Famiglie was dealt with, after centuries. It felt… a lot better to do that than to–

Jaeger fixed his top hat in greeting to Alejandro, that was oppressing a prisoner. The other Vindice barely tipped his head in answer and went back to his task. Seemed like he was using some kind of chemical again, but with a bluish cloud spreading around. He briefly wondered what it did, exactly, but was rather quick in discarding the thought and keeping his pace. He'd checked half the prison already and then he would go to Bermuda.

Vindice didn't need food, or water, or any of the things a living human needed. That was a blessing, and a brutal damnation. Jaeger was the oldest after Bermuda. He'd thought, some decades into his curse, that he'd forget, that he'd be spared the continued and undeserved torture. He'd been very naïve, but he wasn't going to berate himself over it.

Remembering was hell. Many things, he would have gladly forgotten. As an Arcobaleno, Jaeger had been a hitman and a chef. His taste buds had long decayed, long abandoned him, but his memories of every spice, every dish, every combination… They stayed, they didn't rot, they plagued him. Even the simplest, like the taste of a green apple, made his brain yearn for one. Juicy, crisp, ripe, delicious…

The Arcobaleno curse had damned them all to an eternal state of death in which they had desires they couldn't quell, couldn't address, couldn't satisfy. So what if they developed different ways of coping? Dissecting, scaring, killing… exacting their revenge. Because they had someone to blame. Someone that first promised them power, then ripped them of their bodies, identities, dignities, futures… and much deserved peace. True, they had not been saints, but Jaeger thought they deserved it. They had, in different times and ages, helped the world sustain itself…

Story was about to rhyme, and it was late.

Since putting together the Vindice, Bermuda and Jaeger had always kept their ears on everything Arcobaleno-related. In all those years, they had never heard anything about the bastard… Not until the last upcoming generation. Contrary to the previous ones, these were just too cocky and already well-known in the underground to go unnoticed. Rumours had spread like wildfire when the best of the best started working together, albeit occasionally.

Vindice'd been delighted to know, their time was coming… But the to-be Sky Arcobaleno died. The tier of Elements was not complete anymore. The ceremony could not be held.

Secretly, Jaeger had liked that turn of events a lot – not for the dead Sky, but for the unexpected failure of Checker Face's plan. He knew how it felt to lose a Sky. When the curse had been passed from his generation to the next, he'd been the only one to… survive. At what price…

But now, they were waiting again, with little hope to catch the bastard. From what they knew, there was no other Sky strong enough to match Luce's strength. There was a whole set of Elements ready to be submitted to the ceremony, ready to be turned into infants, and yet no Sky to finalize the process. It had happened that a generation lacked one Element, once Storm and Mist were missing, but not the Sky.

Jaeger paused mid-step to the cell he was about to check. His thoughts went to the Simons, travelled to the World's Strongest Hitman, to his repressed Flames that inched to a child. A child that was Vongola Primo's direct descendant, that had Sky Flames, that had broken the Sin with the Simons. He had not felt his Flames, as much as his will. That child meant it, whatever it was he was not going to allow. It just couldn't be about the curse, he was just a child.

But Bermuda was of another opinion. He thought, and told Jaeger, that the child, Sawada Tsunayoshi, could be a possible candidate for the position of Sky Arcobaleno. He had brought some proofs, too, which were solid, frankly speaking, but… A child? If that came to be the case, Jaeger's pure hatred towards Checker Face would only grow.

He resumed his check and silently glared at a new inmate trying to spit on him as he passed past. He would learn soon, maybe drop by Alejandro and slip the off-hand comment. It always did the trick.

The silence in the prison, aside from breathing, was never interrupted by Vindice's footsteps. They were light on their foot, no need to alarm the prisoners of their passing… So, when Jaeger heard faint sounds of feet tapping on the rock floor – two sets, two people –, he blinked in fascination and suspicion.

There were alarms in the prison that would blare in case of unauthorized entrances and exits. Neither had been triggered, which meant someone had managed to fall through some cracks on the mountain without hurting themselves, which would have been a first. No one would allow someone inside without Bermuda's written permission or previous warning. Deals happened in Mafia.

Jaeger strode forward and stopped at a bisection of the tunnel he was in. On the right, the sight would have made him gape.

"… –o, Kyouya. He is extreme for a reason."

"Hn."

"He's not able to, just make peace with it."

"Herbivores…"

Sawada Tsunayoshi chuckled, walking through the tunnel – and towards Jaeger – as if he was enjoying a nice afternoon stroll in the park. From what he could see, there were no injuries or limping's. They were just conversing, though he couldn't understand what exactly the raven child was conveying.

"Oh! Here he is!"

"Little animal…"

"I already told you, there's no other way."

Jaeger cursed his never ending existence and swept forward to catch the intruders from their shirts' collars. He expected protests, but only the more threatening child actually put an effort into trying to escape. The brunet giggled and dangled his feet in the air. As if he hadn't just been caught intruding into Vindicare by one of the Vindice.

The jailor looked from one – fighting his grip with no success – to the other – looking at him with true enjoyment in his eyes – and decided to just lock them in an interrogating room, then go straight to search for Bermuda because he had no idea how to deal with Vongola's most protected child and said child's bonded Cloud.

As soon as he dropped them in, however, he knew Bermuda was not there, not in Vindicare. Which left him with a pair of kids he didn't understand. One was glaring at the door, as if gaze alone could destroy it, and one was sitting peacefully at the chair of the interrogation room, hands on the table, as if waiting to be interrogated. They didn't make any sense.

But he had a protocol to follow, although he'd never had the need to, so he sat in front of the brunet and tried to scare him into talking by gaze and bloodlust. Most of their prisoners didn't stand such an atmosphere for more than a few seconds, the rest gave up after a minute.

Jaeger stayed like that for five minutes. At some point, the other kid started banging something against the door, but he had to keep fronts, so he didn't look over. No one had ever managed to break it, anyway.

He slowly understood that the smile was going to grow, not disappear, so he changed tactic: he asked. "What are you doing here."

The child never stopped dangling his feet in the air, judging from his movements on the chair. "I'd like to know more about you!"

Jaeger was completely unimpressed. "Me."

"Vindice!" The kid exclaimed, excited. "You are so mysterious, no one knows who you are or what you do to your prisoners or where this prison is!"

Curiosity, a child was curious about Vindicare. "We are not an attraction, how did you find this place."

"Well," the brunet tilted his head, an index on his chin, "Turmeric-san brought us on a flight with his helicopter, I asked him to stop nearby because I've read of a lot of expert climbers disappearing so I wanted to visit! You know, in China there's a mountain where a demon brings epidemies and a lake where countless ships disappeared!" His eyes glinted. "I visited those place, it was eerie but also interesting! I didn't expect to find Vindicare, though you should at least make the holes too small for civilians to fall into! Or something like that… We almost got hurt, and Turmeric-san is probably searching for us and panicking." The kid frowned. "I don't want to make dad worry, can you let us go?"

Jeager would have blinked, if he'd had eyelids. "No." But he could admit that having CEDEF's Boss storm into Vindicare in search of the son he had almost lost twice… "Are you here for the mountain or for Vindice?" Because he had not understood that part.

"Both!"

… That couldn't be true, it would mean the boy had found them on purpose. "How did you know where to find us?"

The kid smiled brightly. "Intuition."

Ah, of course. He'd forgotten that bit. But he still wasn't sure he wanted to believe everything this kid was saying. Them, mysterious? Yes, it was kind of true, but not enough. And there was the strange encounter they'd had on the Simon's' island that kept plaguing his mind.

He felt he could dig some into that issue, with the child forced to stay in the interrogation room until Jaeger decided so. The jailor was about to voice one of his many questions, and the most important, but the sound of the door creaking open stopped his words.

"Great job, Kyouya!"

The child got up and was led out by the Cloud. Jaeger couldn't believe that. No one had ever been able to lockpick those doors, let alone a child. He shook himself from his stupor and went after them, though he didn't have to go far. The two were in the middle of the corridor, just outside. The Cloud was ogling Big Pino's backpack and weapons with rapt interest. The Sky was shaking his head in fond exasperation.

"I'm sorry, can we have a closer look?"

The young Vindice leaned forward. "Pipupipipu…" Then left the backpack on the floor, opening it with almost mechanical movements. "Pipupipipupipu."

"Thank you!"

The boys started rummaging through the weapons and inventions in it. Jaeger was, again, wordless. Big Pino never allowed that to anyone because Small Gia didn't want his 'babies' to be touched by others. He could only look as the Vindice openly went against orders and patiently waited for the kids to do what they wanted. At some point, Big Pino sat down in the middle of the corridor, zip of the potato sack still closed but for his eyes to see through a small hole.

"Kyouya, we need to go, Turmeric-san is getting antsy."

"Hn," the Cloud held high a nailed tonfa. "This one is better with disappearing blades, herbivore."

That said, the two let go of everything, putting the weapons back in neat order, bowed to both of them and disappeared around the corner. Jaeger received confirm that they had left thanks to the Vindice guard at the entrance. Only afterwards, thinking about the strange event again and again, he registered the parting words of the brunet.

"See you soon!"

He needed to talk with Bermuda.

Bermuda was missing. Such a thing happened only in circumstances that regarded their curse, so Jaeger could just wail to himself at the strange occurrence that brought the Vongola child striding through Vindice at least twice a week. With a different person each time… even animals.

From his memories, as he watched the Sky and bonded Cloud – the most frequent companion during the visits – interact with Small Gia, he had kept note of flame-active lion, wolf, porcupine, bird, bonded Storm and almost bonded Mist. He had not taken well this new occurrence, but, as times went and the child, Sawada Tsunayoshi, just kept appearing out of nowhere and whenever he felt like it… Jaeger had no reason to chase him out except that Vindicare was no place for children.

He had tried. Chasing him – them – out. He had failed. First, they were sneaky and, all in all, unthreatening. Also, the other jailors liked their visits. He had to admit, it was like the fresh air that they couldn't feel in their lungs anymore. The children were, even if in Mafia and gone through their own baggage of ordeals, still unperturbed. Jaeger was not stupid, he could see that the way they were was thanks to the Sky Flames tightly wrapped around them, untiring. He just didn't understand the Sky.

He had done his researches. Sawada Tsunayoshi's past was everything but peaceful, and yet he had overcome all of that. It was probably thanks to the bonds he was forming with his Elements, but such strength…

It slightly scared Jaeger. Not as a threat to him or Vindice – as much as he wanted there to be fights, if to have something to do – he knew the child was not a threat, instead…

Chains clattering against the prisons' bars made Jaeger look up from Small Gia's new invention – tonfas with disappearing blades along their lengths.

"Wut."

He turned back to the children – and with that, he meant Small Gia and Big Pino, too. "Visitors."

"Not."

No, they didn't have visitors, he knew. "We'll wait for the Boss."

"Uh…"

Alejandro went back to his hobby, leaving. His loyalty, along with his shared hatred for Checker Face, to Vindice was something to behold. His main worry had always been their purpose, nothing more, but he had been human, too.

"Pipupipipu…"

"Yeah! Train those first!"

… Train…? Jaeger just had to eye those tonfas to understand. Small Gia was giving them to the Cloud.

"Hn."

"He says: thank you." The Sky smiled.

"Pipu."

"Right! Don't mention it! I like what my weapons can do!"

He was totally not believing all of this.

"Kyouya, you can't sleep with me, you know that."

"Hn…"

Jaeger did a double-take, "W-what are you two talking about?"

"Oh, well, Kyouya here wants to sleep with me, but these days Reborn insists doing that…"

Jaeger had a whole month to dread what that sentence meant, only to later discover that the child had a nightmare issue and the to-be Sun Arcobaleno was taking care of that, not… other things. He'd felt embarrassed for the first time in centuries.

"… care to repeat that."

"I said, Verde-san should know how to enhance those chemicals. I saw him play with something very similar, he was mumbling about making someone suffer."

Jaeger eyed Alejandro giving the thought a lot of interest. "Can I talk to him?"

"Sure! I can make you two meet, but where?" The Sky tilted his head. "Here or… there?" He turned to Jaeger, moving the question to him.

The jailor felt like a babysitter, but not for the visitors. "You already shouldn't be here."

"Home it is, then! Would you come, Alejandro?"

"Tsunayoshi… I don't think–"

"Hush, Mukuro, it will be alright!" The Sky smiled brightly and the Mist capitulated, again. "So?"

Alejandro blinked, looking between the child and Jaeger. Waiting for permission, huh?

He didn't know what was happening in Vindice anymore. His task had moved from daily checks around the prison to oversee a child that clearly had an objective to keep harassing them like that. And he wasn't stopping anytime soon, considering he was trying to get to know them, all of them.

It was… strange. Unfamiliar. They were Vindice, people just trembled at their names, they fled at their shadows. This child had come, brought his friends, talked with them, taken time to ask about their hobbies – not paling at the goriest details –, accepted their conditions, not mentioned their stench…

"You may go. One hour."

What would come from it? Literally, anything. They were talking about a Vindice visiting Vongola, it was bound to arise questions if someone faintly heard of it. For Alejandro's rotten smile, Jaeger was willing to take a risk.

They deserved whatever this child was doing to them.

Verde, professional as ever, had conversed with Alejandro under Tsuna's pleased gaze for an hour. He had taken notes and given advices… Then, after the Vindice left, the scientist looked at the small Sky with growing terror.

"Tsunayoshi, what are you doing?"

"Making friends!"

With a sigh, Verde decided to drown his current new information about Tsuna's plan in a bottle – or more – of good Rhum.

Jaeger stood still as he watched what Alejandro was doing to a particularly tough inmate. This man had killed an entire Famiglia because the daughter of the Boss had refused his proposal. He had barely been affected by the chemicals before.

Since the meeting with the to-be Lightning Arcobaleno, the torturer had modified his weapons and the results… Jaeger was impressed at how easily the prisoner started wailing and begging for all of it to stop, to spare him. It was a great change and, apparently, it was thanks to a Sky child.

He kept observing the interactions that took place in Vindice, for two months and a half. Then, he decided enough was enough. No matter what Bermuda had to do, this needed attention. Jaeger didn't know what to do with this child anymore. Visitors just did not happen in Vindicare.

He left instruction to Alejandro about how to handle the situation and set to hunt Bermuda down.

"… What did you just say…?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"Dear God, Tsuna…!"

"Ahahahaha! My Tuna-fishie is so unpredictable! Bwhahahahaha!"

Bermuda stared.

Jaeger stood still.

Ten minutes had already gone like that.

How long had he been away? Around three, maybe four months. Not the first time, the others usually didn't notice his absence if he returned before the year mark. He should have thought something would have gone wrong, this time.

He still remembered the time Vongola Primo and Simon Cozzato had made that oath and how he and Jaeger had declared they would imprison those who lost the battles if the two families ever crossed swords against each other. They also were to deliver the Bosses' memories to their heirs, but nothing of that happened.

"There's no way I'm allowing that. Just you wait."

Bermuda and Jaeger had flinched at the first part. Vongola Giotto's great-great-great-great-grandson was a sight to behold.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, son of Sawada Iemitsu, CEDEF's Boss, and Sawada Nana, orphan civilian. Japanese, would have lived peacefully if he had not been kidnapped. Details about the abduction were enough to make his blood boil, but Bermuda had no flowing blood anymore and that rage always dissipated as soon as it came.

He didn't have any right to feel like that, anyway.

His life as a breathing being had not been immaculate. Memories were broken at best – too many years had passed –, he didn't remember much beside self-contempt and guilt. Living as an Arcobaleno had started a process of self-judgement on him. Bermuda had understood, with time and help, his wrong-doings. Contrary to what Jaeger thought, he deserved this not-life of eternal suffering. He would have accepted it…

If it had come from a superior being that was worth of judging him.

Checker Face was not.

Bermuda would not forgive him, would not accept his judgement.

His last search had brought no fruits, as the last ten. After the death of the to-be Sky Arcobaleno, the bastard had disappeared. Not that he had properly appeared during the bonding of the new set by whom the pacifiers were to be held. Along his years as Vindice, Bermuda had investigated and found out Checker Face's favourite countries and made sure to leave someone in case he showed up. During the last assemblance of Arcobaleno, twice in France and once in Japan.

Not enough, but it was a sign they were on the right trail. After the loss of the Sky, he had started to search for candidates instead, to anticipate the bastard's next move. There were not many Skies in the world, much less there were Skies that could hold onto the pacifier. He'd narrowed the choices on two, Flame-dormant women – young Vongola Sky aside.

Bermuda had been checking on the two repeatedly when Jaeger had found him and asked him to come back, speaking about an emergency he didn't know how to deal with. Nothing alike had ever happened, so he had not waited before warping to Vindicare.

Sawada Tsunayoshi had happened.

Jaeger's tale had been on point. The child had visited Vindicare frequently and seemed to have no intention on stopping the strange behaviour. Who in their right mind dropped into Vindicare and visited?

But they were talking about the boy that had openly threatened them, summoned Vongola's First Generation, almost collected a full set of Elements, calmed the ire that had been driving Varia into madness, unconsciously fulfilled the oath with Simon… A young Sky whose Vongola renowned Intuition was doing miracles in the Mafia. A possible candidate to hold the orange pacifier.

Bermuda had kept his gaze on the boy, at times, since Simon. And he knew the Vongola boy had perceived his eyes. The Sky knew. Was that the reason behind the visits? What did he want? Even if he decided to expose them, he couldn't gain anything. Vindice didn't need to explain themselves.

That hypothesis, anyway, had fallen into shards when Jaeger had mentioned what the child did during the visits. A search with his Night Flames confirmed what he'd been told. Jack wasn't dissecting bodies, but he was patching up unconscious inmates so that they could endure more pain. Alejandro was nearby, using his chemicals and syringes with strange, new liquids. Small Gia was showing off to Big Pino new weapons with enthusiasm, something they hadn't seen in a long time. The other Vindice were, over all, enjoying their hobbies with slightly truer contentment.

Bermuda had his options numbered. He could either ask straight to the child what was the issue or eliminate the threat, even if he was not one. So, choice one would be.

"… I don't think going there would be good."

He eyed Jaeger, begrudgingly understanding what he was implying. Vindice's Boss – that technically was Bermuda but everyone thought was Jaeger – going to Vongola's mansion was not something that others would overlook.

"What then."

The jailor didn't talk for some time. In hindsight, maybe he should have expected such an unconventional – for Vindice – way.

"I have an idea."

"Reborn! You were right!"

"What about."

"They invited me over for tea! Tomorrow!"

"…. Who…."

"Vindice!" Tsuna's eyes slowly widened. "Ah! Please! No heart attacks! Verde help!"

Bermuda was not amused. Vindicare was a prison, not a tea house. Small Gia had transformed an interrogation room into a living room. It didn't look like one, with the metal parts and the shred pillows on the plastic chairs. And they were not making tea, because offering Vongola's precious protegee one of Alejandro's concoction was asking for a disaster and a war. He would not forget what had happened when the child had been abducted the second time by Estraneo. He had his hands full with Checker Face, already. This whole thing was to take care of a problem he had no time to deal with.

Jaeger left to collect their guest – it still had a strange taste in his mouth, even though he had no taste buds anymore – and Bermuda used the chance to warp away and check on the two Sky candidates. Still nothing, he returned to the living room. He hovered from the floor and floated to the table as he felt Jaeger coming back, but why there were more than two?

The door opened, Bermuda looked at the former Arcobaleno, that let in the child he was losing sanity for and the to-be Sun Arcobaleno. And a lion pup, there was a lion pup following them. The air was suddenly heavier than he'd expected it to be, even when a tray of something was put on the table by the guest.

He knew why the World's Greatest Hitman would be interested in accompanying the kid, the man was deeply connected to him, there was a clear will to bond–…

Oh, fuck.

"You know."

The child, the young Sky, stared at him with narrowed eyes before nodding. "I can guess." He took the Sun's hand to pull him to a chair, sitting himself as the lion pup jumped on his lap and settled to stare at the jailor. "Good morning! My name's Tsuna, nice to meet you!" He smiled at him, doing a one-eighty.

"Bermuda."

"Reborn," the hitman growled.

Tsunayoshi softly slapped the man's arm. "Don't do that!"

"We're in Vindicare, with Vindice, don't tell me not to do something."

Bermuda almost agreed with that. Almost. "We won't do anything, we invited you here."

Two pair of black eyes glared at him, daring him. "Get done with whatever you want to talk about."

Reborn was once more showing how protective he was of the child. He could relate. A Sky that was already scarred and with whom the man wanted a bond, of course he was like that. He tilted his head, accepting the stance. That seemed to interest the man, that narrowed his eyes.

"How is Jack doing?" Tsunayoshi looked at Jaeger and offered him a folder. "This is for him, a list of morgues that burns down Mafia's bodies."

… There was something definitely wrong with a child using words such as 'morgues', 'bodies' and 'burn down', but that wasn't Bermuda's interest at the moment. He cleared his throat, catching their attention. The hitman had softly slapped one hand on his face, shaking his head. Jaeger silently took the folder.

"I want to know what is your purpose in… visiting Vindicare, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

The child smiled even more. "Making friends!"

"Vindice doesn't make friends," Bermuda made him notice, ignoring how the hitman was looking at the ceiling as if asking for something. "You must have something you want by coming here."

He tilted his head, arms crossed. "Doesn't mean I don't want to befriend you."

"What then?"

The Sky shrugged, eyeing Reborn. "My Intuition is pushing me here, I need to be here, so I am here."

"What for?" Bermuda wondered when his patience had suddenly increased.

"To protect those dear to me and myself."

Reborn whipped his head to the child, Bermuda wasn't understanding a thing. "From who?"

Tsunayoshi pursed his lips. "Someone…" He paused, eyes closing. "Someone that doesn't…" The child took his head in his hands. "Someone that has his eyes on us… Someone that needs to be stopped… He doesn't know how to stop himself…"

Two bigger hands took the child's arms, turning the chair. "Tsuna, stop, come back here."

The amber eyes slowly opened, unfocused. "I can do what you can't, but I need to talk to him."

But then why the fu– "Why Vindicare, Tsunayoshi."

The child turned to look at him, eyes still lost somewhere else, just like– "Because here I was needed." His arms fell to his thighs. "I'll stop him, but I will need your help and you will need mine." Then, amber closed in on Bermuda, that thanked his absence of breaths. "I'll stop the wheel, but you will need to let go of your hatred. You deserve some peace."

This kid was talking about things he knew nothing about. He would stop Checker Face? Talk to him? What did he think he was? Bermuda had tried that and had failed miserably to save his Elements – dear Tamara with crackling Lightining from her fingers, affectionate Ron with Storm raging on his shoulders, playful Hithare with Cloud hovering over them all– That had been the beginning of his hatred and the birth of his Night Flames. Bermuda had led the Vindice to what they were, testing their hatred for Checker Face and evoking their Flames. Bermuda had brought them together, established the Vindice, given them an eternity-lasting purpose. Their hatred would end when that bastard was killed and stopped, their Night Flames would not have their fuel anymore, they would cease existing, they would be in peace.

But only then, only with Checker Face dead and done for, only with their objective reached.

He looked at the Sky, finding golden eyes gazing over him with a sad smile. "What he does, even if wrong, is needed." Bermuda felt ice in his flattened, shred vessels. "That is why I want to talk to him. Please, let me."

"And what will you tell him?" His voice, instead of icy, felt broken. "He won't listen, he listens to no one."

"He'll listen to me, won't he?"

He whipped his head up, shocked. Of course he would. The Sky Arcobaleno was too important. Checker Face always contacted them directly. A child– that bastard was going too over the edge.

"What will you tell him?" He asked again, voice steadier.

Tsunayoshi opened the tray, showing there were biscuits and a teapot inside, and took one to give it to the lion pup. "I will show him another way. The world will keep living and no more people will be sacrificed. It's a win-win." He took something from his pocket. "I almost forgot, this is from Verde!" It was a small package, offered to Jaeger, that took it with careful fingers. "It should help with sensations, he said, because it will sti-mu-late… Right, Reborn?" The hitman absently nodded, thoughtful. "Right! Stimu-late, yeah, your brain cells! It should help with tastes!"

Bermuda eyed his fellow former Arcobaleno, recognizing surprise and hope in his Flames, and cursed this whole new development. He let the two have their conversation, trying to go over what he'd just discovered. The Sky Arcobaleno was to be a child – because Bonds –, said child was Vongola's protégé and also bonded to other Elements – from Jaeger's words, all of them were feisty –, he was offering to help, what? Negotiating? Sounded right, negotiate with Checker Face to talk about another solution to the balance of the world. He was, meanwhile, helping Vindice, thing that Tsunayoshi had not stated as part of a deal, no, he was doing that and, as he'd said, befriending them, while he was at it, without a second purpose. Or so it seemed… Yet, he couldn't think it was the opposite.

What were his choices?

Bermuda could ignore all of this happened and stalker the boy until Checker Face showed himself.

Bermuda could fake listening to him and still stalker him.

Bermuda could properly listen to him, allow him near Vindice and see where it went.

Bermuda could trust him and help him through all of this.

He was a former Arcobaleno that wanted to stop the curse. The only escape way he'd ever seen was killing the bastard that forced the shit on them – along with sating their hatred. But, if there was another option…

"What do you mean by 'other way'?"

He looked up at the child, that smiled again, but with a different edge. Almost a smirk, maybe. The hitman face-palmed at that, huffing.

The 'other way' was full of maybe's and lacked knowledge, but it seemed… It seemed like it could work.

He went for his fourth choice, praying it actually worked.

"Thank you again, Turmeric-san!"

Even if he only nodded, the words that almost tumbled out of his mouth were terrified warning to just please stop doing these kinds of pranks on him. He was not paid enough to babysit the Sky son of his Boss, like Lal Mirch always whined about. Specifically, he was not psychologically prepared to see said child disappear on him during a short trip to the Alps on helicopter. The thoughts about his death on the hands of the Young Lion of Vongola…

Those had tormented his nights since the first trip to this hopefully last one. The presence of Reborn surely put him more at ease, but he had a very bad feeling about the outcomes of this adventure, as the kid called them.

The word didn't fit if they counted the child was visiting Vindicare.

For his own peace of mind, Turmeric bleached the thoughts off his brain and settled to just drive the helicopter back to CEDEF. The sooner he took Tsunayoshi-kun home, the better.

He couldn't not notice, as he lifted them off the mountain, that the atmosphere had changed since departing from the training grounds, some hours prior. He knew little about what the issue was for the World's Greatest Hitman to tag along, neither about why the child had needed to find where Vindicare was, but the Sun had been very tense during the whole trip. Instead, when Turmeric had seen them come back – joy, he would survive this thing and not face his Boss' wrath –, Reborn had been different. Still tense, but different. He couldn't read the hitman that well, but he could tell something was off.

"Turmeric-san?"

The almost bald – he was sure he would become so soon if this went on – man gulped and kept his cool when the kid's voice came through the headphones. "Yes, Tsunayoshi-kun?"

"Can you bring us around? Like, uhm… That mountain over there?"

As long as they did not land, he was fine. "Sure."

"What's wrong?" The hitman's voice sounded calm.

He heard the Sky hum, but nothing more. Turmeric checked the wind and guided the helicopter through the mountains' peaks. It was a good sight, but he preferred the sea. He missed his Sardegna.

"A bit lower?"

The man pursed his lips, but did as asked. It was true Tsunayoshi-kun was a child, but he was also equipped with an Hyper Intuition that rivalled Nono's and Turmeric wasn't going to defy what that alien told him to do. He'd witnessed the results once. It was enough for all his life.

He manoeuvred the helicopter on the right of the peak and slowly began to glide lower. He could see a wide, long downhill that would have served as a good ski run during winter, but it was only covered in grass. On the left, there was a patch where the tall trees gave way, maybe it was a spot for lumbers.

A hand pointed him to that patch. "Right there, can you fly over?"

Turmeric nodded, quickly reaching that spot and locating a wooden, small cottage with several stumps around. Two men were working on cutting down a tree, slow but resisting the warmth of the sun over their heads. They looked up when the helicopter slowly flew over them, shielding their eyes from the sun's rays with their hands, axes momentarily forgotten in lieu of their curiosity. He could relate.

"What the fu–" Turmeric blinked. "Tsuna."

"I didn't know…"

"Is something the matter?" He couldn't look behind him, but he would have gladly to understand what was going on.

"Ah… I think it's better if… if we land? Reborn?"

"I swear, Tsuna, you'll be my end." How tired that sounded, Turmeric couldn't believe it had come from the man that had entire Famiglie cowering in fear at his shadow. "Find footing, we need to land and discover what happened first." The CEDEF memer did just that.

"Sorry?"

"It's not your fault, but I definitely want to kill your grandpa for all of this."

"But… it's not all bad?"

"I hope it isn't, but Vindice begs to differ."

"They'll help, you know?"

"With what?"

"… With those men."

There was a tense silence as Turmeric found a clearing and brought the helicopter down. "Are you sure about that?"

He turned in time to see Tsunayoshi-kun meekly nod, closed in on himself, hugging his arms and looking down. "Bermuda can find them." The brown eyes flashed golden, but the sadness and mild fear stayed. "He will help, with time."

Reborn took off his and the child's headphones and tugged the small hand off the helicopter. "Turmeric, I couldn't see him well from up there but he may be the true thing, be ready to call Iemitsu and Nono."

He was thrown off by that. "Why?"

The hitman sighed. "I think I recognized one of those two lumbermen." He stilled, sighing again. "Federico." Turmeric gaped, eyes going wide. "I think one was Federico."

Some notes!

- Whelp, Vindice is tough to find info about! D: this chap also has ten pages worth of notes behind its making! Planning it took most of my time, writing then was so much easier! Thankfully (or maybe not) the chapter didn't need to be split in two parts :)

- Did you know? The rules behind the use of Night Flames were never fully revealed but the first one, I think I'll have to make something up for them, if needed.

- I didn't predict this would be so… gory? Uhm, not the right word... Like, yeah, we're talking about moving corpses here, but… Well, maybe I could have dimmed the mentions but... I wanted this to be realistic. And, to be honest, I could have done much worse, too.

- The longer this story goes, the harder it is to give spotlight to the many characters. Tsuna is my main concern, along with the main characters of the chapter, but remembering the ones this child has to bond with during the events is difficult, I'm always afraid I'm forgetting something and take a long time checking and rechecking. This is the only story I'm publishing even if I have not completed it yet, but I'm regretting it now cause I don't like making people wait and hang on like this, I am sorry.

- Alas! We're almost at the end of our journey :) I can't predict how many chapters more there will be, because there are things I need to take care of during the narration, but maybe... Three, four? Uhm, we'll see.

- Join me on Discord to have updates on my status, I post announcements there very often :)

I think it's quite obvious who will come next ;P See ya, hope you liked the chapter and thanks for reading!