Chapter Text
A mother and son went missing from a town in Japan.
Little Tsunayoshi Sawada and his Mama were snatched by an underground organisation all right, but nothing Mafia related.
No, they were taken by a splinter of the Foot clan which had gone international.
Nana Sawada was the grandaughter, given up to the system, of a Foot run away.
Unfortunately, she was recognised and the Foot always took what they were owed.
Nana and Tsuna disappeared.
Hamato Yoshi was unsurprised, but utterly disgusted by what his Clan was doing.
When his woman found out about the two, his rival took the chance to strike at him.
Yoshi arrived home with his rival beating his woman, Tsuna clutching his mother’s body and crying and Nana dead, injuries showed she’d tried to defend herself and his woman.
His rival has a few minor injuries.
Something tipped in little Tsuna and he attacked the rival, his eyes blazing orange, his mother’s hidden hand gun in his little hands.
The rival, too full of rage, arrogance and pride, didn’t really notice.
He’d disregarded the child once he’d slapped him aside.
Tsuna put two bullets shakily through his chest, and a third into his head before collapsing.
They had NO choice but to run now.
Yoshi RECOGNISED that family magic. It was legend in the underground.
And, while theirs was a samurai Clan, they were tipping toward shinobi faster than he liked to think about. Yoshi was an honourable man. This was NOT honourable.
He, his Yuriko and the child would need to pull out, to RUN and he thought his old ‘friend’ on the shadier side, who had managed to successfully retire, might be able to help him.
If little Tsuna was what he though he was, they could NOT stay here. Not with the way the Clan was heading.
Yamamoto Tsuyoshi was not a man to take lightly, but he had more knowledge of these arts.
His lady wife was also a ‘retiree’ from the Floating World.
Right now though, there were two dead bodies, a distressed child and his badly beaten woman who needed dealing with.
If it had only been himself, he would have stayed to take the consequences his dead rival as honour demanded, but it was not. Despite the fact he had done nothing but fight the man away from his beloved how the child and his mother came to be in there apartment and how the gun came to be there too weren’t things he could answer or even wanted to try.
With the way his clan was going, he did NOT want to know what use they might put the child too. He only knew a little. Apparently, he had also Activeted his Flame but not enough to be Useful so he’d been given the basics from Yamamoto dono. Yoshi was far more familia with Ki and it’s uses and mainly trained himself and his body. Is low abilities with both Lightning and lower ability to use Storm weren’t things he’d chosen to rely on. Only Yamamoto Dono knew of that incident and he’d liked his life so no one else was informed, despite the fact he could have gotten both a higher position and more benefits. It bought complications he did not want to deal with. There were other powers out there too.
(He remembered the foreigner who had transformed into a rat, with his strange dress, sinister mark and stick that fired coloured beams of light. That person had never transformed back and, despite the hunger he’d endured in his childhood, he’d done his best to care for the ‘rat’ until it sickened abruptly and died and his current pet, Splinter, and his two siblings had turned up. The female, Swipe, was able to shift to human form like her sire, though she lacked the other power. He had heard of youkai who could do similar and so hadn’t been to startled.
She had attached herself to a child with a genuine psychic ability and was using her talents to keep her chosen person hidden.
The other male, Shine, seemed to have inherited the sire’s other powers and didn’t need the stick to direct them… but he could not shift forms. He had found another, in their lands, with the same sort of power - people here didn’t use sticks it seems - to bond with.
That had left Splinter, as intelligent as any human, but otherwise powerless, with him.
Splinter had been his companion for many, many years now and done his best to do well by his human ‘brother’ as Yoshi had by him.)
Yoshi had decided not to disregard anything, rumour or otherwise.
Yuriko’s injuries came first though and little Tsuna’s trauma.
He gave the boy Splinter, his pet rat who was sired by one of these other powers, to hold giving him something to do. Splinter could come or go as he wished as he trusted his pet to get himself around and back as he wished.
Tsuna was soon distracted by the small, fuzzy, active form.
He did not know much, being an honest man, but he knew a little.
If he could set the sceen…
He took the gun, with a cloth, and wiped it down as best he could, placing it into the dead woman’s hand.
His dead rival was carefully arranged with the dead woman near by.
It probably wouldn’t fool anyone, but possibly it would allow some saving of face.
A careful examination or Yuriko showed she had only been beaten, lumps, bumps, bruising, a few cuts from nails or rings… cold packs and a shower.
Unfortunately, his rival had stunned her with a blow to the head, to daze her so she couldn’t even try and fight back so possibly a concussion too. Even so, they needed to get OUT of here as quickly as possible.
He took what little money he had, packed his few possessions (he didn’t dare trying to go back to his Yuriko’s flop. If she’d been taken from there…)
He had an old formal Kimono inherited from his mother and Yuriko’s face had mostly been left alone as she’d tried to shield her head so, if they could get her moving…
Little Tsunayoshi could be bundled into an old yukata of his.
He and Splinter needed little.
Tsunayoshi had moved and, with Splinter on his shoulder, taken something from his mother’s neck, along with her rings (he was surprised she still had them) and a lock of her hair…
Strange but…
They were gone with in the hour.
Yamamoto Dono took them to the Hibari, who ruled the Mafia Retirement town of Namimori.
It was a neutral zone… but not safe for him or Yuriko san. Far too close to the Foot Clan.
The mother and son duo had been taken from here as the main Clan had been pulled back for a few weeks due to some crisis or other leaving the town vulnerable.
Safe haven was arranged for them… in New York.
It would several steps down and they’d just be one more set of forign immigrants among hundreds of others, but it would be worth it for the new start…
Neither had planned for the boy, Tsunayoshi, to be coming with them.
His sire had a VERY bad reputation.
Bad enough that he’d been recently assasinated along with one of the son’s of his Kumicho.
The boy, likely a cadet line, would NOT be safe and would bring trouble to the town.
Active Sky or not, the current Hibari in charge (definately NOT Active) had ‘encouraged’ them to take the boy with them.
They would likely have to change their names but that was alright.
The boy looked far less Asian than he or Yuriko san and, despite his Flame, was quite ordinary looking so that would allow him to blend easily enough.
Somehow, Yamamoto Dono had arranged for his lady wife to give them the very basics of English. It would take much practice and study but they had a running start.
Going through underground routs, it would take a few months to get there and they would have to start from nothing but they would manage…
--
Six years later they had not managed.
Yuriko was dead, their twins AND Tsuna all taken and he had been contorted in this…
His rival had a brother who had NOT been satisfied and chosen the path of vengeance even if Yuriko and he had had little to do with the other’s death.
If not for Splinter, he would be dead.
In a way, he and Splinter both WERE dead. Whatever they’d been exposed to had blended them, mutating them into a sort of wererat, though one trapped in hybrid form.
It took a day or three to get the hang of their new fusion self and then they’d set about tracking down their pups. Tsuna, now called Jack, they found easily enough but their precious little twins, Lily and Lotus, were gone, gone, gone.
No one knew why Lily’s hair had turned red, making her really stand out but his Yuri- Mary (it was HARD thinking in the new names even after six years) had said it turned up in her line sometimes, like the green eyes that turned up oh so rarely in his.
Lily was destined for great things… while her twin, Lotus was her parents mirror image in miniature. Mary’s shining straight blue black hair, his deep brown eyes, nose and brow, his mother’s chin and cheeks and ears he didn’t recognise. While Lily was vivid, brilliant, flashing fire, Lotus was deep wells, strong life and resonate Ki.
The nearly ten year old Jack swore to him they’d be okay. They’d all find each other some day… but he couldn’t say if the meeting would be good or bad. Only that they’d meet.
They freed those they could from the building (it seemed this section of the Foot had had dealings with other shady types. Their were exotic animals and children being kept in cages near each other… Tsuna insisted on freeing ALL of them.) Jack was able to guide to what needed to be destroyed most.)
His rival’s brother, now calling himself ‘Shredder’, had taken control of the New York faction of their Clan.
Perhaps all their was of it now.
They had been hunted high and low back in Asia. He didn’t know who they’d ‘inconvinienced’ but the retaliation had been brutal and thorough.
The Foot and all their affiliates had been wiped out, nearly to a man.
Wonderful.
What a shameful waste.
It hurt to see the once noble Foot degenerate into a Clan of thieves and assassins…
There was little he could do now.
He would need to retrain and hard, his body moved differently and he still ached from it.
Rats weren’t meant to be bipedal and his body was badly strained.
Tsu- Jack’s eyes glowed amber nearly all the time now, drowning out his typical brown.
The rat in him said, ‘go to ground’ and he took it literally.
They would need to gather resources and find a bolt hole.
There were just under twenty kids ranging from toddler to young teen in age, hybrids mostly, from all over the world and a few adults like him who had been subjected to ‘experiments’, either political or personal enemy style prisoners.
Most had died. Three others had lucked out to be ‘crossed’ with animals. He now had the company of a were otter, a were raccoon dog and a were fox, all Japanese and all male. He and Splinter were half Japanese Spiny Rat.
Despite being a ‘prey’ species, he appeared to be the sanest and most stable of the lot. In their confused state, all three of the others followed him.
It felt the the Foot were trying to create fake Youkai but for what reason, he had NO idea.
They found a building basement to hole up and take stock. Beyond exposure to who knew what and surgical scars and lab injuries most of the children were unharmed.
At least nine of the gaggle appeared to have Flames or some other sort of ability.
(His Lily was already showing bursts of power, much like Splinters sire and his brother had displayed. He FEARED for her…)
The children had been pulled from around the world though half were Asian or Italian.
There was a very pretty, dusky skinned and dark haired child about six or so that had the same power his Lily had shown. She’d used it to get her way. Unlike most, Adalina (no last name) REMEMBERED hers and has… ambitions.
There is a duo of children a few years apart in age that share a hair type and faintly Asian features. One has a red right eye with Kanji in it. He’s twelve to the other little boy’s nine and, while he calls himself Rokudo Mukuro (oh dear) the child remembers little of his own life. He’s been ‘killed’ and resurrected four times before his Famiglia (he’s Italian born though his little possible sibling is more Asian) was wiped out… possibly by the Foot.
They have Flames like Tsuna.
There’s a little girl who is very Asian in features but a dead ringer for Yamamoto Dono (perhaps he could find a way to send a message. If she was his and he still lived, the child deserved a chance to return to her sire…) about four years or so of age and newly Flame Active.
Curly green haired twins, male and female, Flame Active and all of a year odd old - that was horrifying to be Active that young.
A dark skinned Asian child with Negro typical hair, possibly a sibling or other relative to the green haired toddlers. They now had faint Tsushima Leapard Cat features and a trio of those cats that they refused to leave and who wouldn’t leave them.
Three of the older children at fourteen, eleven and nine, appeared to be children of some of the adult prisoners and had mostly been left alone… though they too had lab induced injuries.
There was a toddler with a French name that had once had a companion like his Splinter. The child was now a smaller version of his current form and wasn’t fully stable. He desperately feared the little one was the child of Splinter’s sister Swipe’s companion. Possibly even her child as Swipe had been able to assume a full human form. The companion had a gift similar to this little pup’s.
There was another teen there with odd features and a nasty attitude. They appeared to be an Asian Islander cross and were particularly nasty towards one of the younger children who appeared to be an Islander Negro cross.
They were Flame active and had been brought in that way, but drugged and restrained.
(Splinter was in no hurry to get the collar off. He didn’t know what the girl would do but he was pretty sure she was unstable as well.)
The other child, despite the similarity of features (likely a relative) remained as FAR from the other as possible. Sometimes their eyes flashed when light hit right like a cat’s eye shine and they were very sure footed in the dark but didn’t seem to have anything else that was ‘special’ about them.
Their nose also appeared to be very sensitive.
Their was a pink haired fifteen year old girl who was definitely Italian and had a knack with poison… or at least those around her, guards and lab tech included, suffered like they’d been poisoned. Eventually the girl was restrained the way the aggressive girl was and the incidents died off.
Her confirmed half sibling was very dazed still and all of six. He was silver haired, green eyed and Flames sputtered off him in different colours in little bursts and crackles. Storm, Rain, Sun, Lightning and Cloud. Jack was keeping him close as he reacted badly to his older sister much to her pouting. The boy responded to Gokudera Hayato even if the pinkette insisted it was something else.
A young Indian boy, in the rags of what had once been fine clothing. He didn’t have much in the way of English but had bursts similar to Lily again. He was about eight odd, confused, wary and afraid. He’d managed to pick up enough to understand they were running and fully on board with that.
He at least had his name, Nadipati Patil.
The little English toddler he didn’t know why she was here at all. There seemed to be nothing special about her. Perhaps she was intended as a control? Well, there was now. She was a Pika girl now, nearly as fully mutated as he though not blended with the creature.
She thought she might have had a flower name but couldn’t remember what. It maybe started with a ‘p’... maybe. She accepted Peony even if it wasn’t quite right.
Last, but not least, (Never in any way least, ever) they had a little Hibari girl and her older Rainy attendant. The child wasn’t active, not yet, but she was displaying all the traits he’d been told a Cloud displayed. She was willful, headstrong and snarled at the lab techs and guards any time they came near.
Kiku (chrisanthium) did not suit her… AT ALL.
Her rainy attendant, Mikasa, was actually the grand niece of the Eye of the Storm other wise known as Feng, Storm Arcobaleno, one of the cursed Strongest Seven among the Flame Users.
No wonder the Foot had been chased out of Japan.
She was Active and had been before she was snatched. She was subtle enough with it that she hadn’t been blocked as she was using them to keep the near feral little Cloudlette from going full savage.
There were eight surviving fully mutated animals, rather than merges like he and the surviving adults. All also Japanese and mostly rodent based.
A Coypu, a field mouse, a long tailed rat, a giant flying squirrel, a chipmonk, a flying fox, a little horseshoe bat and a hare.
They had gained more intelligence but were still very strongly instinct driven. If not for Jack leaking his Flames all over and the little Rain, Mikasa, they would likely have bolted long since.
They would need food, bedding, medical supplies and NOT to stay here.
Being able to speak to rodents was a VERY poor compensation for all that had happened to them. It DID allow him to locate all they needed and they were all tired enough that he could leave Jack in charge… for a short time anyway.
He didn’t dare leave for long.
Wiggling into what looked like a derelict and boarded up shop was difficult. It was achy and his body and joints burned in away they hadn’t stince early in his training. He managed though and, while dusty, he was able to bring back a few mats to nest on from the derelict gym/ training center. The water was not drinkable but he was able to wash some of the dusty towels in stock and wipe them down.
It would be better to come here as the shop had a deep basement.
Most of those who have been mutated prefer cool, deep, dark to feel safe.
It even has access to something that looks like it was intended for less than legal things.
It’s very damp down there though so there is likely sewer access.
--
It was Adaline who found any word of the lost Lily.
Her twin Lotus, who still had that name, they had seen on and off many times over the years.
As Shredder’s Heir and daughter, they weren’t exactly the best of circumstances, but it had soothed Splinter to see her doing well, even if she was adversarial with he, his sons AND Jack and his group. (They were having a LOT of trouble now since the Flame Underground seemed to have risen up to eradicate. It had kept the escapees and there off siders, no matter how troublesome, a minor annoyance.
Splinter preferred it that way. They just didn’t have the resources to take on the Foot Clan as they were.)
Last they had heard, she was considering an alliance match to get them off her case. Her father figure had been heavily injured and crippled (not of their doing sadly) and forced to ceed control of the Clan to her… and she was playing smarter not harder.
The Triads and the Flame Mafia were not to be taken lightly and had proved it.
Shredder hadn’t known what he’d be poking and the wasps had boiled out and stung him near to death.
Even so, there had been no sign or trace of Lily until now.
It wasn’t confirm or even more than a rumour but it was the first trace they’d had in YEARS.
Adaline, who now went by Zabini after her second husband whom she’d loved to distraction rather than taking the name of older man who had toyed with her and attempted to make a breeder out of her since his own lawful wife couldn’t give him an Heir and died for it, was seducing her latest mark when she heard.
She had already murdered her way through those responsible for the death of her beloved husband and baby daddy and was now doing it mainly because she could.
Even so, her latest mark bore a Mark of his own and had a young cousin currently attending Britains primier Magical school with the ridiculous name. Something to do with pigs?
At any rate, that power Lily, Adaline, Splinter’s father and brother and a few of the other children had a name… Magic. Whether it was or not, who knew?
The cousin, a Pureblood inbred snot with little grace or cunning had complained of a jumped up red haired Gryffie mudblood who didn’t know her place and dared to out perform even those in the House of the intelligent, Ravenclaw. (Reading between the lines, Jack could sense a LOT of sour grapes.)
Tsuna’s Intuition, which came from being Bloodline Vongola, had jerked hard!
They NEEDED to check this out. NOW.
All she wanted in return was for them to leave her in peace! With this her debt (what debt?) was paid and she wanted NO MORE interference from them!
Considering they never contacted her first and stayed out of her way otherwise, Tsuna had NO idea of what she was talking about and said as much. They waited her to open a line of communication first and then kept their interactions to a minimum because that was how she wanted it…
Anything that has happened, or that she has accomplished has been through her own efforts alone beyond the first bit of advice he’d given her about the first man she’d set up with. He’s very proud of how well she’s done for herself and she should be proud of herself as well.
She is… just as confused but that was for later.
As Splinter and his sons couldn’t go, not as they were, Tsuna went instead.
-
It took months to locate the neighbourhood Lily had grown up in and still more work (Mists were such helpful people and the Magicals were hardly subtle) to get a general location.
He scared her even though he hadn’t meant to.
She was swelling with child and defensive.
He showed the family tree as far as Papa Rat knew it as well as pictures of her parents, her birth records and birth certificate.
She was still dubious but he wasn’t asking to go home with her and was willing to meet her somewhere she considered neutral.
(No wonder even Futa kun couldn’t find her with his Ranking abilities. These ‘wards’ were insane! He wondered how she could stand being under them. It was like an unpleasant buzz under his skin!)
An elderly neighbour they were renting their current home from agreed to allow them to meet there. Lily brought her husband!
Jack was excited to meet him.
They assumed he was a Squib (a non Magical from a Magical family) and he didn’t correct them. It was FASCINATING to see so much Magic in action and so casually.
Explaining the circumstances that lead up to her getting put up for adoption was… painful. So was the fact her twin was the head of a Clan of Ninja Assassin/ Thieves.
Tsuna had left a lot out stating only that her father had been experimented on and his health was poor because of it.
Her husband had grown up a spoiled only child of a rich and notable family while Lily had grown up a ‘replacement’ child. The couple who took her in had lost their daughter, stolen from them while they were on vacation over seas. It took them years to recover and then tragedy had hit and they couldn’t have another bio child.
They had finally decided to adopt. Lily was four and her history was a mystery. They adopted a younger brother a few years later when it turned out Lily wasn’t ‘normal’. They weren’t unkind but they didn’t understand her at all.
The related to the perfectly mundane Paul far more easily.
The siblings weren’t close much to Lily’s regret.
There was a spell to check and Hamato Yoshi/ David Denis/ Splinter and Yuriko Yoshi ne Abe/ Mary Denis were indeed her parents.
Jack didn’t want her to go anywhere with him. He’d just wanted to meet her on her father’s behalf since he couldn’t come.
They have been seeking word of her for years. Not to remove her from her life or interfere in any way but just to make sure she was okay and doing well.
Jack went home well content that night even if he had to swear an oath that he mean no harm and would tell no one of where they were… even if he knew.
He met with them regularly after.
They introduced their friends and the rat formed Peter got Jack excited, explaining he’d known another who could do that. His foster father had a companion rat whose sire could do that. The three offspring turned out a ratwere, a rodent Magic user and his father’s companion who had heightened intelligence and nothing else.
Peter is officially weirded out.
Jack was there for the birth of their son, his Harmony soothing the strain and stress.
He was the fourth to hold the child after his mother, father and godfather apparent.
Jack hadn’t known the parents assigned the child a SET of godparents each.
The father, James, assigned his best friend and a young woman named Marlene Mckinnon and sweet, firy Lily, named him and the mother of a child born hours before her little boy.
His Flames wrapped around his foster sister and her child, marking them as under protection.
He left shortly after, having been introduced to a small creature called a House Elf who had volunteered to carry mail for them. Her name was Dandy.
He returned to Papa Rat armed with photos, voice recorded messenger and letters.
Papa’s eyes were streaming red (rats can’t cry but they do secret a red liquid from the eyes when stressed) by the time he was done. He wanted so badly, SO badly to meet her and Jack had a funny feeling.
Papa needed to go and see her now… or it would never happen.
Papa was afraid though.
He and his boys went anyway.
It cost a fortune to arrange for Mammon san to transport them but they needed to do this NOW or never.
A message was left for Lotus as well. Even if she was an adversary, unlike her mentor and father figure, she was honouable and she deserved to know her twin had been found.
She was a rightfully suspicious person. They Heir of the Shredder and the head of the Foot Clan couldn’t afford not to be and bio family might not mean much to her… but she still deserved to know.
Again, a neutral place, aka, an empty, hastily warded home this time, in the Village, was chosen.
Hashing out Papa Rat’s history, how he’d had to flee, how they were found, his wife was killed and she and her sister were taken was taxing on them all.
Papa Rat was so old now, rat genetics caused him to age at an accelerated rate and his reptile boys were barely adolescents… he worried for them.
Jack would watch after them, he knew, like the good elder brother he was. (He’d done brilliantly with the gaggle of rescuers, returning those it was safe to return and standing by the rest until they’d become like a family… or at least seeing them on their way.) It wasn’t the same thing as a parent though and the combined being that was Splinter feared he would pass before he could see them properly on their way..
Lily held him, rat form and all, and cried before introducing him to his bio grandchild.
James, unlike his usual prankster self, was strangely serious.
They could not stay long but Splinter was happy he could see her. Hearing that she and her husband were being hunted had him wishing to stay, to HUNT once more but it would not be safe for him either.
If he or his boys were taken, they would go straight back into a lab, Magical this time.
His Lily was NOT willing to risk it.
She wanted him away and safe and was seriously tempted to send her son with him but James didn’t want his son so far away from them as none of them were Magical and he was still stuck in the Pure Blood mindset of Non Magical meaning helpess… despite what having happened to all of Splinter’s group was done to them without ANY form of Magic involved.
They were attacked on their way back to the transport point and they got a short, VERY pointed demonstration of why attacking shinobi with flashing lights they called the names of before hand was a VERY bad idea.
They were left in a broken pile of people and limbs, their wands as broken as their bodies.
They returned to New York that night but Splinter was… content. Ish.
He would have preferred to stay and fight but it would do his children no favours to fight their battles for them.
Jack had his eye on the small family. It would have to be enough.
-
It was not.
A year and some month later, Jack’s eyes widened abruptly and he barely had a chance to shout a warning before some sort of void opened, sucking him in.
He crashed to the ground with an abrupt yelp… in the wreckage of Lily and James rented cottage. Some form of energy still wafted around the shattered room and Lily lay on the floor, eyes wide and unseeing, markless but no less dead, foulness clinging to her form.
A toddler in an over turned cot bawled weakly, sniffling, a jagged cut on his forehead.
Tsuna staggered up and hurried to the child, checking him over with his Flames before scooping him up.
He hurried to the cupboard and collected the ‘Go’ bag and then called for Dandy.
The House Elf appeared, glanced around shocked and burst into tears.
With her master dead, she bonded with the son and, at Jack’s direction, packed up the undamaged portions of the house. ALL of it.
Jack needed to check in with the other godparents and then see to the burial of his foster sister and her husband.
He just needed to find the Magicals and find a way to send a message home. His Elements must be going NUTS.
Sirius Black, the other godfather, bounded into the house nearly unhinged at seeing his sworn brother dead and Jack coming down the stairs with an injured Harry.
Jack had to dump a crap ton of Harmony into the the near feral Black until he’d hold still long enough to listen.
Even though the dog shifter longed to hunt down the traitor (a shame to all rats. Rats, unless driven feral with fear or hunger, cared for their own) Jack made him see that HARRY and his needs came first.
They left on the man’s heavily modified motorcycle, straight to the Bank.
The RAT would be hunted, but not by them. The Goblin people were both cunning and relentless. The traitor would not know a moment’s peace and they were well paid for the task.
-
A week later, Tsuna found himself coming around, memories hazy but his Intuition flaring like a siren. Following it he came to a painfully ordinary house in the suburbs.
A knock on the door opened to a couple with two children and a third that was NOT theirs and that they did NOT want.
Intuition had Tsuna… no, Jack pulling out paper work and the child was handed over to him with a maximum of relief and a touch anger. Why, if Jack was around, had they attempted to dump the brat on them. They wanted NOTHING to do with the adoptive sister’s strangeness and this child was NO family of theirs.
Fair enough.
Jack did not know, but he WAS going to find out.
First, he needed to contact his own people.
He tucked the child into his coat, allowed his Intuition to lead him and borrowed the phone in a bar to call a number.
Five minutes later, two people with very similar features stepped out from an alley to meet him.
The next day, the trio, plus child ventured into the unknown. A dingy pub called the Leaky Cauldron and into an unseen shopping district and a large, white marble bank.
The Goblins were NOT happy. A healer checked over adult and child and sanctions were taken against the person who had attempted to Obliviate the child’s Bonded godparent.
The other, falsely accused of trechery, was thrown into hell without a trial!
NOT good enough.
The Varia were hired for the extraction of one innocent if hasty dog man.
The true story would be published in France and spread from there, giving the British WW trial by media.
Sanctions would be enacted.
Jack didn’t think much of English Magicals so far.
It looked like he’d be taking his godson home with him.
Papa Rat would be happy enough to help he was sure.
They HAD NOT intended to leave with the other Harry’s god sibling who was a sister rather than a brother but the Grandmother had been cut down in front of them and they arrived barely in time to catch the girl.
The parents had died under fools seeking the Dark Idiot who had been hunting the Potter family.
It was only intervention by House Elf that had save to child from witnessing.
-
Tsuna gagged and hastily leaned over before throwing up. That… was not good and he couldn’t sense his Elements anywhere. He felt terrible and he HURT.
The wrench of removing him from them had knocked him cold. He only had scattered impressions and snippets of memory from between then and now.
Once he was done vomiting, he leaned back and breathed as best he could. He needed calm and focus, even if it took him far, FAR to long to manage it. He hadn’t been this unstable since he was first picked up by Papa.
His Flames HURT. The Flame Bonds with his Elements was stretched so far it wasn’t funny. He’d be able to use only the smallest portion of them and using it on himself was a trap he didn’t want to fall into Hyper Dying Will Mode was used sparingly for a REASON.
Now that he was as calmed as he could manage right now, he was sensing two lesser bonds that he absolutely should NOT be sensing.
His heart tried to pick up again. The PUPS.
Even so, he moved slowly and deliberately so he didn’t exacerbate his current condition.
“H Harry?” He called. “Neve?”
“U Uncle?” a pair of young voices called back, coming closer as they scurried into the room, only to pause at the puddle of up chuck.
A soft wave of Magic washed over him and the smell of vomit vanished from his nose.
One set of foot prints left and returned and something was held to his lips.
Tsuna opened his mouth, accepted the water, swished and spat.
He still wasn’t well, his body achy and cold sweating. Having them close was helping though.
Thanks to his own wretched condition it took him ENTIRELY to long to notice his far, far to small hands. The hands of a child. What. In. Primo’s Flames?
Before he could panic, two bodies that were now bigger than he was cuddled into him on either side. Their presents was comforting. Grounding and he really, REALLY needed it right now.
Another round of calming, breathing exercises happened before he could collect himself enough to ask, ‘Sit Rep?”
“It… it sounds stupid uncle. Not real.”
“You are two Magical children being raised by a Flame user and the grand children of a Martial Arts using Ki adept who has been forcibly turned into a rat mutate… I think I can take it.”
There was a soft giggle. “Yeah, that sounds pretty crazy. Okay. Okay. Um. We’re not on Earth anymore. We… got stole by some intergalactic poacher. Our w-world is um… off limits. Like, like those super dangerous areas everyone is kept out of on Earth.
They snatched a bunch of us but they got a couple of other Flame users and your distress sent them kind of feral. They broke a lot of things and… and people.
Also, aliens are kind of squishy. Worse even than civilians. All their stuff breaks SO easy it’s kind of scary.
The… the people sort of broke too much stuff though and we had to leave the ship. It had a bunch of life pod things so everyone scattered and took those. We’re just lucky one of the others is sort of human but not and can fly it.
He’s taking us home for a chance to stay. We thought, between Magic, Flame Tech and other… s stuff we might be able to get her home.”
Tsuna’s first thought should NOT be ‘Ahahaha. Kawahira san is going to be SO pissed!’
He wouldn’t take outsiders intruding on HIS planet lightly.
Human’s, it seems, were Space Orcs.
Tsuna sighed. If their world had a bad reputation before, it was probably far worse now. Earth wasn’t just a space Australia equivalent, but deepest Africa full of unknown dangers that no one wanted to risk.
And their pilot was a Space Elf, blue hair, ears and all. Communication was still a little shaky but apparently the creators? Ancestors? Of his people had a Japanese base and he could make himself understood. Papa Rat spoke Japanese at home, so they’d been raised bi lingual.
The being was very careful to explain they were not Abriel Ears, the trait of the ruling class, but rather the ears of the race his parent had taken a shine too.
He and one of these aliens had been trapped together and the alien had taken a mortal injury protecting him and so their pilot’s parent had taken a sample of hair, a tooth and a little blood to get a genetic sample from and create a child with it.
Unlike the Abriel Ears, their pilot who asked them to call him Fennic, drooped to his shoulders. His parent was only a knight but Fennic had done his best to bring honour to the name. His father had had him young. That and his ears set him apart but he’d still risen through the ranks steadily enough. He’d only just reached the title of a minor noble, left in his father’s care while he served still, when the space distortion while the ship he served on travelled through the Sword tore it apart and, when he’d come around, he’d been a prisoner.
There were CHILDREN imprisoned with him.
Then, a few of the adults went berserk, killing everything outside of a cell and doing the ship so much damage it was unsalavageable. Unfortunate.
Tsuna was able to explain, haltingly, due to his strained condition about the four different types of humans inhabiting Earth now, even if one wasn’t, strictly speaking, human.
There were ordinary, base normal humans who turned out the occasional Ki or Psychic ability user, Flame Weilders like himself and those adults who had gone feral, Magic users like the children with him and the last was a remnant of an extinct race that called themselves True Earthlings. He’d been tied to a duty that was now defunct but he was still very defensive about his planet.
They also had any number of other races sharing the world, a good many of them capable of sentient intelligence.
Anyone willing to put in the effort could learn to handle Ki, it was merely a matter of dedication, persistance and training though some had a greater starting amount than others. It was essentially body energy or life energy. The harder one lived the stronger it grew.
Dying Will Flames or Will Fire triggered in a very few people, ran most strongly in blood lines and came in two ranges featuring seven distinct types of Flames each. There were the occasional odd bods and one type was far rarer than the other but the trigger was always a defiance of death with a person’s own will. A refusal to die now.
It was underground and unknown of by the general populace.
The two types were ‘of Earth with the Flames of Earth, Glacier, Mountain, Desert, Swamp, Forest and Ocean had little known about them and of Sky which were far more common, though that wasn’t saying much. They had Flames following weather traits with Sky containing and hosting the others. The Flames of Sky, Storm, Sun, Cloud, Mist, Lightning and Rain.
Earth Flame had the trait of Gravety, Glacier was Freezing, Mountain allowed Tuning, Forest Realization, Desert was Hallucination, Swamp controlled Fermination, Ocean’s trait was unknown. Only a single family had been found with Earth Flames and the user of the last trait died before they could see it’s abilities.
Sky Flames had the trait of Harmony, Storms of Destruction, Sun of Activation, Cloud of Propogation, Mist of Construction, Lightning with Hardening and Rain with Tranquility.
There was a LOT of variation in how individuals made use of their Flames but Skys and Earths drew Elements and Environments that complemented them to form sets.
Both Flame types also came in two polorisations, hard and soft or classic and inverted. Each displayed near opposite personality traits though they shared a Flame Type.
The curse that was now defunct had caused a very few of them to become UNdead, pushing them beyond death and into becoming something far more horrific and other.
They had turned around and begun to police others of their sort so they didn’t run rough shod over the ordinary humans and to arbitrate between organizations and nationalities of Flame Users becoming a sort of Military Police equivalent.
Magic Users came about when various of the inhuman races took human mates. Their off spring were essentially cambions with the hybrid Magic in their bodies. Of course, they promptly gave themselves airs and graces, deciding they were better than their non Magical counterparts.
Occasionally inbreeding damaged their ability to do Magic to the point where they struggled to have children or the children lost the ability though certain places and times of year could retrigger it in some lines after they’d lain fallow for a few generations as such children were either killed or banished. Very short sighted but yeah.
The planet exuded Magic but the Curse had damaged it and the Magicals didn’t know about the Flame society and their role in maintaining their world, taking their Magic for granted.
Things got… messy when the two societies interacted so the Vindice, those undead Tsuna spoke of earlier, did their best to keep them separated.
A person could NOT have both.
There were also the occasional miscellaneous people who turned up with other gifts that were neither Magical or Flame based though likely from a similar source as Magic.
A Magical Being that had found a mate wasn’t likely to care if said mate was Magical, Flame Active or an ordinary human and so psychics and similar popped up from time to time.
Ki users, Magicals and Flame users all were stronger, faster and more durable than the average human though Ki users were mainly physical, Magical users tended to lean on their Magic to the exclusion of caring for their bodies with physical excercise and Flames and their type had a lot of influence on a person’s personality.
Checks and balances to everything really.
Magic, Flames and even Ki abilities could be over loaded or destroyed/ burned out in a person but the children of these people had something ‘other’ in their lines allowing for the potential for these or for a single ability further down the family line. This and cross breedings was where psychics generally came from though such abilities COULD pair easily with Ki, Flames or Magic to the point were certain families were known for the trait, rather like the ‘Abriel Ears’ their pilot had described.
The line Tsuna was descended from was known for their Intuition. The Stronger and more Pure their Flames, the more powerful the ability.
Tsuna’s Flames are VERY powerful and Tsuna was a Sky, one of the rarest of Flame types and Skys were jealously guarded when they were found. There had been WARS over a newly awakened Sky.
Attempting to force bonding of Elements to a Sky usually had dire fall out for all but it did happen. The death of a Sky was seen as a tragedy and any group who caused it could expect sanctions at the least.
Elements, even unattached ones, will attempt to cater to a Skys desire and Tsuna had been all but broadcasting his distress when snatched away from his Bonded Elements. It sent the already uneasy captives feral and they’d rampaged in an effort to ease Tsuna’s distress.
He was so unwell because his Elements were on Earth and he was here. He was still Bonded with them but the strain was hurting him.
The sooner they could get him back to Earth, the better.
He wasn’t sure why he was child sized again though and that was going to be a pest to sort.
He isn’t sure if this is going to work but, he centers himself, focuses on his Flame Bonds and calls two names.
Byakuran chan doesn’t answer… but, Kawahira does. The connection is shaky and purely mental but he can tell the Ancient is very annoyed.
He is still greatly weakened from supporting a good chunk of the Tri Ni Set (Tsuna had held the Sky Pacifier briefly) but he was still attuned to Tsuna and finding him so far from Earth was a shock. If the various loose Elements hadn’t killed them all, Kawahira would have probably done more and worse for this.
Now that he know it was something that could happen, he’d be more vigilant.
-
The closer they got to Earth, the better Tsuna got though the six other Flame Active were no longer on the edge of feral/ discord. The pod wasn’t large, their food supplies were nearly nill and they all spent a lot of time sleeping and sipping water which their two Magicals could make for them.
The kids managed to extend their minimal food supply but out here in space, their Magic had no ambient Magic to boost it. They were kids too, only nine or so, and controlling their Magic was difficult even if Tsuna had taken an Oriental approach to training their Magic.
They could only do a burst every few days and the air was quite stale as well.
The three little plants that Neve had managed to grow made only a small dent in the Carbon Monoxide they were all breathing out. They had no dirt so the plants sat in a shared dish of water. They were all getting quite ripe as well.
They had no soap and water only did so much.
Every one was tired, bored, cramped and exhausted as well as hungry and dirty.
Arrival couldn’t come soon enough.
They had barely arrived in orbit to Earth when Kawahira arrived, looked at them, wrinkled his nose and loosed a wash of Flames over them.
Tsuna could only sigh in relief. Not long now.
The pod wasn’t really designed for planet fall, but there was a very crude space station out in orbit and an endless amount of space junk.
A portal opened up as Fennic shut the ship down, putting it into the lowest level possible that still maintained life support. If they couldn’t get help here, there was still a universe to explore and Fennic would need to return from time to time. Ahb weren’t made, literally, for grounder life. Even if this pod was clunky and unwieldy, it was all that was available.
Papa was shocked at his deaged son and not in good condition.
Lotus san turned up out of the blue, shortly after he was mobbed by his Elements. He hadn’t known he’d developed a minor stress bond with her in that inccident when her Alliance Marriage husband’s brother had attempted to set the couple up only for Tsuna to be caught by accident instead. She had gone Flame Active on his kidnapping and RAGED when he couldn’t be found.
They ALL had.
They had thought him dead outside of his two Mists but they weren’t strong enough to reach him and Byakuran chan had been rendered nearly catatonic by the shock.
She was an Inverted Storm with a touch of classic Cloud. Oh dear.
He, Neve and Harry were snatched by her in short order.
Explaining Flames, Magic and so on to her was… troublesome but at least she would not meddle. She had seen what trying it had done to her mentor.
His Elements followed in short order and discovered her hidden son. Tsuna and the others had been stashed with her main trainer, likely the closest thing she’d had to a mother figure, and the daughter Lotus had rescued on her behalf.
Lotus had born twins. One son for her own Heir and one for her husbands.
She did not tell him she was pregnant until the infants were passed their third month of life or which of them was first born. It was chance which child went to which parent. It was a cold arrangement but that was how she was raised.
Tsuna asked to set up a neutral location so she could check up on him as she wished but his own wouldn’t intrude on her space or business…
He was barely settled when he asked to meet. Eyes gleaming orange, Tsuna warned her that her other son would need her ifshe did not want to lose him to enemy hands. Lotus was not stupid even if she was thinking of ways to try and exploit thate ability for herself.
The son she’d give to her husband’s care was in danger and… while her husband was competent, he had also been getting a little arrogant… and complacent.
She was NOT surprised that he was attacked… nor that half his Clan was wiped out in the fight. She had little care about it. Her husband’s Clan was his own affair to manage. Her SON though. That was not acceptable.
She managed to get him out, just in time but he’d seen enough to go Active. Have two bodyguards cut down in front of him along with two of his closest companions. Yellow and red had laced his forms. A Storm Sun… that was going to be interesting to work with.
Her Tsuna was able to sooth and calm him but he was still a VERY distressed, newly active little boy. The survivors of his father’s Clan were relieved he survived, if a bit suspicious.
She could prove that she’d received the warning barely in time to act on it though and the boy was well enough, if newly Flame Active.
Parent and child did NOT get along but she was unwilling to trust him back to them until they sorted themselves out and upped their game. Fortunately, she can always dump him on Tsuna to care for.
-
Soul mates DO exist but they are RIDICULUSLY rare.
Nedzu, a descendant from animagus rat wizard/ rat hybrid affected with Foot style mutigen (Lotus had stamped much of that out but splinter groups happen) and Reborn are Soul Mates. Together they enjoy creating utter chaos.