Chapter 36
October 30th, Part 2
"She's Ron's sister."
"But she's ditched Dean!"
"She's still Ron's sister.
"I'm his best mate!"
"That'll make it worse."
"If I talked to him first-"
"He'd hit you."
"What if I don't care?"
"He's your best mate!" - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Harry's inner monologuing forces me to facepalm.
Today's Reviewer Quote :)
Like if Yuni was old enough she would have totally set Xanxus up with a cute girl. Imagine it.
Glare
Blink
Glare
Blink
"I hate you"
"Okay"
"Go away"
"But I'm your future wife"
Glare
Blink
-shirokuromokona
Taking a deep breath, I opened the first door, before immediately slamming it closed, my face red. I know Fran and I are close (at least, I consider us close), but I did not want to see his birth.
I then realized that there was a label on the door, that said 'Birth'. Well. I probably should've read between the lines. Or, in this case, the door frame.
I skipped the first few doors (first steps, first word: bitch, first time falling down the stairs) and read the new door label. 'Elicia'.
Who was Elicia? That sounded disturbingly familiar...
Oh yeah! When we first met! Like a zillion years ago! (Eight...)
"He made me fall in the lake, so I needed to dry up." I explained, briefly.
"I see..." the lady smiled, slightly. "I'll get you one of Elicia's old dresses, alright?"
Fran tensed at this, but didn't say anything.
"Umm, alright." I said, kind of awkwardly.
The lady disappeared up the stairs, mumbling something about 'kids' and 'grow up so fast'.
I elbowed Fran. "Who's Elicia? Your sister?"
He didn't look at me. "...my mother."
I frowned. "Where is she?"
He sighed, not wanting to answer the question. "Dead."
He hadn't wanted to talk about it...so this would be kind of personal and invading on his privacy.
But I wanted to know...
In all my years of knowing him, Fran had never told me about his mother, other than short things like 'she was nice' or 'her name was Elicia' before clamming up.
I swallowed, reaching for the door handle. I apologized to him, mentally, before pulling it open.
A beautiful woman was sitting on the floor, holding a tiny, light green-haired baby's fingers, grinning widely as the child danced around her, spinning and occasionally laughing.
I caught my breath. She looks just like him. The hair, the eyes, the tear-track...things. Just like him.
The baby, Fran, I realized, turned and beamed at her. "Ne, Mama? Is this how you dance, right?"
I tensed, backing up, towards a door that had disappeared. I'm intruding. This is Elicia, Fran's mother...Fran's dead mother.
The woman, Elicia, laughed, a pretty sound. "Yes, Frannie, dear."
I paled. That's why he had always gotten somewhat-angry at me, when I called him that. It was her name for him. I'm a terrible person.
Fran grinned, brightly, flashing white teeth. "Do I dance good, Mama? Do I? Do I?"
He was so eager... I compared him to my Fran, the Fran I knew. The Fran who only smiled when there was an incredibly mean joke said, who only laughed at others, who never would do anything he didn't have to. What the hell happened?
Elicia nodded, kindly, at her son. "Frannie, you're the best dancer on this side of France."
He then blinked, innocently. THIS IS FRAN. NOTHING HE DOES IS INNOCENT. WHATISLIFE?! "If I get better, will Papa come home?"
I froze, shrinking back, in horrified expectation.
Elicia's smile turned forced. "I don't know, Frannie, darling, I really don't."
He pouted. "Why won't he?"
He's surprisingly adorable.
Mao, I don't want to be here, anymore.
The doors seal themselves after you are completely in the room, it seems. Like when you went into Fran's...hospital room earlier, and you could leave, it's only cuz you glanced in. So I think you're trapped until the memory ends.
Like the Pensieve from Harry Potter?
Similar, I guess.
I focused my attention on the scene in front of me.
"Papa...he can't come home right now." Elicia said, hesitatingly. "He...he doesn't like the kind of things I can do."
Fran frowned, clearly deep in thought. "Like our magic tricks? He doesn't like it?"
The woman sighed, before glancing at the ceiling as if looking to God for support. "Exactly, Frannie, you smart little angel."
I forced myself not to snicker. Angel? And Fran? Used in the same sentence? This lady was really too kind.
Fran crossed his arms, determinedly. "He's just jealous that he isn't a Top Magician like us, Mama."
She smiled, a bright smile that could've lit up the sun. Twice. "Yes, he is, Frannie, my little magician. I love you, Frannie, dear."
The door reappeared, and I graciously took it.
Tsuna was nowhere in sight, probably in some closed-up room.
Tsunayoshi Sawada
If that Fran boy has been hitting on Tsuna's Kyoko, then Family or not, the 'top magician' is going to be introduced to Satan.
...great, Tsuna is turning into Gokudera-kun, beating up kids.
Tsuna glanced around the dark hallway. Yuni-chan disappeared into a room, a minute ago, and then the door vanished. I hope she hasn't been killed and her body hasn't been dragged into an alleyway and-
He forced himself to calm down. She'll be fine. If she could somehow get her iPod here, she probably can materialize a gun, or something.
Glancing up and down the hallway, again, just to make sure, he walked up to a random door, and stepped inside. They all look the same, so what does it matter.
Tsuna realized that the door had disappeared, and he was standing at some random lake, in who knows where. He didn't recognize the surroundings, so it wasn't Namimori, or Florence, Italy...
Someone was humming really quietly. He managed to catch the words 'top magician' and 'fooling around', but couldn't make out the rest of it.
The mafia boss deadpanned, when he realized Yuni-chan was there, her dress hiked up and she was wading around in the water. "Yuni-chan, where are we? You keep getting me lost-"
She ignored him, going on with her magician song. "Being honest is instant death. Cool down the fever, let's rampage..."
Wow, Yuni-chan. You ignore me...to sing about death. Surprisingly, that isn't the first time I've thought that.
"Yuni-chan, can we go? This place is weirding me out a little..." he whined, shifting his weight.
Tsuna's Hyper Intuition flashed red alarms. It was practically screaming at him to turn around. As an avid believer in the amazing Hyper Intuition, he spun around, prepared to fire his Sky Flames.
Then he paused.
It was Fran-san...the guy who liked Kyoko-chan, when he was nine. Not an enemy. But there was something off about him...he changed his hat to an apple? But didn't Belphegor-san say that if he took off the frog hat, then he'd be killed or something?
Fran-san's eyes held curiosity and slight unease, as if he didn't know the girl before him. Tsuna frowned. Definitely something wrong. Fran-san and Yuni were best friends (or at least, that was what Yuni-chan told him. Tsuna was kind of scared of Fran-san and his emotionless voice), and knew each other, in and out. Fran was less...intimidating with the bright, sarcastic Yuni-chan beside him. He knew her. She knew him. (Gokudera-kun had started a betting pool of when they'd get together. Mukuro, Yamamoto [seems like he isn't as innocent as he seems], Belphegor-san, Lussuria-san, Squalo, Mammon [only to win], Haru, Ryohei-nii-san and, surprisingly, Hibari-san had placed bets)
To not know her? Ridiculous.
"What are you doing here?" Fran-san suddenly called out, clearly spooking the girl.
Just another suspicious sign. Yuni-chan scared of Fran-san? That's like Charlie Brown being the star of his own show. Not happening.
Yuni tried to whirl around, but tripped (and she said that Tsuna was clumsy, the little hypocrite!) somehow, falling into the water.
Tsuna rushed to help her (she'd kill him if he didn't), but when he tried to grab her hand, his hand went right through hers. "HIEEE!" he screeched, falling into the water, himself. But he...wasn't... wet?
WHAT WAS GOING ON?!
Fran-san didn't try and help her - he was Fran-san, not stupid - he just stood there, and watched her.
Tsuna was trying to figure out just what the hell was going on here...wherever he was.
"You didn't answer my question." Fran-san reminded her, shifting his weight.
The boy was nervous, Tsuna realized, unsure of who she was, or if she was a threat. Yuni-chan didn't notice his ridgedness, she was focused on getting all the water out of her dress, but Tsuna, with his Hyper Intuition of badass, could see it, clear as day.
"I'm wading." Yuni-chan informed Fran-san, trying to sound intimidating, but she sounded whiny. "Got a problem with that, punk?"
Tsuna chuckled. Sometimes, she could seem so mature, and then other times, she'd just act like the kid she was.
Fran-san's unease melted away, and he looked like he was considering something. "Wow. Are you a pineapple fairy too? Because this fairy I met in my dreams, two days ago, called me the exact same thing."
Tsuna froze. Pineapple fairy...Mukuro...visiting Fran's dreams...oh shit. Great, so when the world explodes, they'll know what happened. Mukuro and Fran were...working...together.
Yuni-chan blinked, like she was trying to figure out who that boy was.
Tsuna frowned. They should know each other, better than anything...
"Are you...Fran?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.
Tsuna jumped back, realizing, finally, where he was. He was in Fran's memories! That's why they seemed different-looking, and why they didn't know each other. The man nodded, approvingly to himself, as if he had figured out the chemical formula for a human being or something.
He inspected Young Fran-san. He was so short...and had an apple hat. Very different.
Young Yuni-chan, on the other hand, looked exactly like how she had, so long ago. She was missing the orange tattoo on her face, that labelled her as one of the lineage of the Giglio Nero, but her hair was the same. But her eyes. They were brighter, happier. The Yuni-chan of the present had sadder eyes, as if the entire world was gonna come crashing down around her and she could do nothing about it. At least, that's what his Hyper Intuition told him.
This was their meeting. How they began.
And he felt a grin spread across his face. Oh, Hibari-san was going to kill something when he finds out that he's going to lose that bet (Hibari-san said that Yuni-chan and Fran-san would never get together, because Yuni-chan liked the former-prefect far too much).
Yuni
I stumbled out of the first room, moving on to the next one. It was another one with Elicia and Fran together. I enjoyed watching it, but something was bugging me. What happened to her? What ripped her from such a life?
The next few doors had more of Elicia and Fran. They were close...really close. I learned, through those visits, that Fran's favorite food was an apple (well, considering his taste in hats, it makes sense), favorite color was dark green/blue and favorite movie was Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. I'd get him a green fruit basket, full of green apples and Tranformers 3: Dark of the Moon, the videogame (that is, if there is one) and a bunch of pictures of the two of us, to make it personal.
The tenth door made me hesitate. While the other doors had labels like 'Elicia and I' or 'Mother and I', this one read, in sharp, pointed letters 'The End'. I was the last door.
I reached out and grasped the handle, opening it.
I was convinced that I stepped into Hell.
Fran's usually bright living room was up in flames. Fire licked everywhere, forcing dark shadows to flicker over the walls and floor.
I paled, looking around. Where was Fran and Elicia?
"Frannie? Frannie, dear, where are you?! C-Call for Mommy!" Elicia's voice cried, full of concern. "Fran!"
What had happened? Why was the place on fire?
Fran was huddled in the corner of the living room, his hands on his head, tears on his face. That shocked me. In all my years of being Fran's best friend, he had never, ever cried in front of me -or at all.
"Fran." I knelt beside him, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. "Get up, please. Go outside."
"I'm sorry..." he was saying, crying into his hands. "I'm sorry, Mama! I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to!"
I swallowed, before leaving to find Elicia. She was in the kitchen, surrounded by flames. Her perfect face was badly burned, and her right arm, scarred terribly by the flames, hung limply at her side.
My eyes widened, and I staggered, back, through a wall into the living room, in horror.
Fran was still there, crying to himself.
He was going to die.
And I couldn't do anything to save him.
I got all up on his face, angrily. "Get out of the window! You can't waste your life like this!" I began crying, but I wasn't sure why. This wasn't real. This couldn't be. There's no way he could ever...smile after an event like this. How? My problems seemed miniscule in comparison. "Leave, Fran, dammit, go!"
Fran opened his eyes, still red with crying, looking around the room. Flames were jutting out from underneath the closed door that connected the living room to the kitchen. "I didn't want it to turn out like this..."
A rafter fell in, across the room, the support frame creaking, coated in fire. Fran flinched, and walked, steadily, towards the window. He broke it, with his arm, the glass shattering around him, cutting into his skin. He glanced back, but climbed through the window, rolling out onto the grass. The house fell apart behind him.
Fran stared, tears running down his face, tracing through the soot and dirt.
I sat beside him, watching the house burn up, Elicia still inside. She was still calling for him.
"Fran, dear, where are you?! Fran! Fra-" Then the calls stopped.
I swallowed, horrified, glancing at him. He had lost since ceased crying, now simply staring at the burned, still smoking house, blankly. It had been as if he had cried up all his tears, and had none left to cry.
Hours later, when the building was reduced to nothing except burned pieces of wood, some type of building frame and ash, Fran stood up.
'Of course, Frannie, darling.'
He walked, straight through the rubble, seeming to know where he was headed. I followed, dutifully, quietly.
'Frannie, my little magician.'
He stopped, staring down at something, expression unreadable.
'Frannie, you're the best dancer on this side of France.'
I peeked around him, to see what he was looking at.
'Exactly, Frannie, you smart little angel.'
My eyes widened in horror. I moved off to the side and threw up, gagging and choking, bursting out into tears at the same time.
'Fran, of course.'
The flesh of Elicia's face had been melted back into her skull, burned black and blistered red. Her right arm, which had simply been rendered useless earlier, was now completely un-recognizable, the bone and flesh fusing together, together into some disgusting combination. The rest of her flesh had been melted away, leaving a bloody, black mess.
'I love you, Frannie, dear.'
It wasn't the first time I'd seen death. No, not by a long shot. I was the daughter of a mafia boss, best friends with a Varia assassin and my godfather was known as the Worlds' Top Assassin. When I was younger, some people had tried to kill me, since I was the next Giglio Nero leader. Fran had snapped their necks with ease, before continuing to walk as if nothing had happened. I had had a mental breakdown.
Frannie, dear, where are you?!
Over time, I'd seen death, more and more, but a person like me, who had lived, not only one, but two sheltered lives, without having to see the darkness of the world more than necessary, could never get used to that. Never.
Someone held my hair back, gently, as I retched, my entire form shaking.
When I finally finished, and pointedly looked away from Elicia, or what had been her, to turn to who I thought was Tsuna. Who else could be in my best friend's mind?
I looked up, into the face of Fran.
His expression was disturbingly serious, not blank or sarcastic, just serious. "Yuni. What are you doing here?"
I gulped, taking a cautious step back. "Umm..."
"Cut the bullshit, Yuni." he snarled. "Tell. Me."
I closed my eyes, feeling like a child busted for some crime. "I asked Mukuro to drop me in here, to see what kind of things you liked."
"Why?" he demanded.
"For...for your birthday. I didn't mean to-" I attempted.
"Well you did." he said, stepping backwards. "Get out."
For what felt like the third time that day, tears filled up in my eyes.
Fran immediately looked regretful, he hated seeing girls cry, and approached me, but I turned, and ran towards the door that had reappeared.
Tsuna was waiting for me, in the hallway. "Yuni-chan! Did you see Fran-san here? He looked really angry-"
I shook my head, trying not to cry. "Y-Yeah. Let's just...let's just go, Tsuna."
The mafia boss was immediately at my side, concerned. It's just a Tsuna thing. "Yuni, are you alright?"
I nodded. "Can we just go, Tsuna?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who stuck us here."
"Fine." I snapped, my vision blurring from my tears. "I'll channel Mukuro."
Mukuro, get me the hell out of here. ...and Tsuna.
A creepy, yet thankfully, familiar voice echoed throughout the confines of my mind. 'You have quite the mind up here, Yuni-chan. You'd be surprised at the kinds of things that I've seen here.'
Let me leave. Please.
'Kufufu...I knew you would regret it, Yuni-chan. No human enjoys going through the darker memories of others.'
Just let me leave.
Of course.
I felt myself begin to fade, taken from Fran's mind, just as the boy stepped out of 'The End' room.
He opened his mouth, to say something, probably to insult me, but I was almost gone. 'I-'
Great. He has to just let me know how much he loathes me. GREAT.
Asshole.
I wiped my tears, waking up in my room. Bitch ain't getting shit for his birthday.
.
.
.
.
.
If everything I ever loved had been snatched away from me in an instant, I would feel like the sky itself had fallen.
hthstldjkga 412 reviews ldfjkgblare thanks so much lgiufhgsg can't process intelligent information shrtiglhsirg
REVIEWS :D
coldgazeproduction - Why 'I Got a Dream'? I dunno, I was listening to the soundtrack. *shrug*
SophieQueenOfTheWorld - 14? Hmmm...
shirokuromokona - I would read the reviews, real quick, but if I didn't get it, I'd re-read and then answer. I usually have 2500 - 3000 words for the chapter, and it usually ups 500 words or so after reviews.
xXMentalPancakesXx - 14-16? Reborn tends to do that kind of thing...and by that kind of thing, I mean try and get Tsuna together with strangers.
CuteDork - *Sobs* glad to know someone loves me!
UnfadingPromise - Thanks :D I definitely need luck...
Yuki28 - Being around 22? Hmm...I will consider it. Boys do tease the girl they like. Unless they're weird...
Paigecat - NO, I NEED ALPHONSE, DAMMIT! *takes him* I wuv you, Alphonse-sama, my love *snuggle*
FreeWeirdCat - I don't wonder how she'll get Fran. She just will. *shrug*
Asumi Ayumi - Yuni has the key to his heart? Sure... Thanks for the quote :3 I look forward to them, every review...time?
FurionKnight - Thanks-es :D
Vanessa Celestine Blanchette - *wink wink* Things don't turn out as expected in this chapter, but things tend to work out for Yuni-chan. *shrug*
wolfsrainrules - Your guess is really good. Thank you for reviewing.
CrimsonSkyTamer - Pretty law-abiding. Nice rules :3
MeLikesFran - Rambling and Lambo sound similar...? I DONT KNOW. No brainer? Good to know...? I dunno what to say, lol.
MeWubFranxx - Fuck the law. We're mafioso.
RikiRenaH42 - I find the fact that the Authors' Notes have no capitalization hilarious. Ah, good old Blackbird... Fran and Yuni is the best to work with. You should write a story on them *nudge, nudge*
The Ice Sorceress - Yuni's reaction when she meets Byakuran? BITCH SLAP.
KatoKimeka-chan - I have other stories right now, to steal your bunny of the plot. The Bel in a box? Hmmm...thank you for the suggestion.
QUESTION:
Should Yuni and Fran make up before Byakuran mind-rapes her, or after the Final Battle?
Tell me as soon as possible.
REVIEW LIKE CRAZY.
Or don't.
Leave me Mukuro-sama, though. I need my pineapple. It provides me with some Vitamin C (according to Wikapedia.)
Expect an update...tomorrow or tomorrow's tomorrow. You know the drill.
LEOINUYUKA