Wild Card Writing

Fanfiction writing from Amerika Knight, Sardondyx Ichigo, Amethyst Ichigo, Luxclio, PlayerTsuna and Lapis Lazuli Ichigo.

[wildcardwriting]

Dust Smoke Mirror #2

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Read Dust Smoke Mirror on AO3

Summary: One-shots and so on about the relationship between the characters in Black Haze.  Snippets of character thoughts from during the series. Takes place during random times.

XXxxxxXX

Chrishi: Past

XXxxxxxXX

He sometimes thinks about the past.

He wonders if maybe somewhere out there in the kingdom there is a family waiting for him, and worried that he isn't there with them.

He wonders about a lot of things, especially in the beginning, but after some time, he starts thinking about it less and less. He learns magic from his master and focuses on becoming more familiar with the world around him, learning math and common everyday things that it just takes up so much of his time. He remembers asking his master about his past at one point, but the face he makes is so sad that Chrishi resolves never to ask again even if he really, really wants to know.

He's still curious about it but he feels that the price of knowing isn't worth giving up the new family or place he’s come to call home.

XXxxxxXX

Author’s Note: And the sins to language continue.

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Read Dust Smoke Mirror on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

How Social Media Infected the Glory Pro Circle #3

(or Conversations Most of the Glory Pro Community Would Like to Forget Existed)

[King’s Avatar /全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán ]

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Read on AO3

Summary: Or Ye Xiu is forced to deal with his fans. No one saw what was coming next.Because the alliance wants more exposure (i.e. fame) for the pro gamers, all pros are mandated to respond to questions from the fans.Naturally, this leads to some…strange conversations and some stranger answers. Likely will lead into AU TKA UniversePart Story, and TKA fun. Will include some social media.

XXxxxxxXX

Chapter #3: When Ye Qiu (The Real One) Reads

XXxxxxxXX

The familiar cadence of Glory keyboard inputs echoed throughout the room. There was a lull in activity as everyone waited for the next scheduled dungeon raid to happen or for a wild boss to appear. Some members were doing light exercises, some were napping, while others were just surfing the net, and others were eating some snacks. There were quite a few members of the guild gathered in the room, but most of them were around one computer. They had odd looks on their faces as they glanced back and forth between the screen and Ye Xiu but none of them said a word to the person in question.

While most in Excellent Era knew about Ye Xiu's AMA, few beyond the core team had spoken to him about it. To most members of Excellent Era, Ye Xiu was an existence that was beyond all of them. Seasoned and renowned as the current champion, few dared to interact with him feeling themselves unworthy of his presence. Normal staff in the building had rarely even spoken a word to him, and although no one had said they needed to read his AMA on Reddit many of them found themselves drawn to the page wondering perhaps if they might finally be able to glimpse something of their resident god.

To their collective shock and laughter, Ye Qiu was so completely different then many of them had imagined. Where they had once seen cold arrogance, and disregard, many of them began to realize that Ye Qiu was simply very blunt and perhaps somewhat out of touch of social interactions. Yes, he was blunter then many of them were accustomed to but that didn't mean he wasn't kind. Little by little stories were being shared of deeds he had done for others, either secretly or directly for other people. There had been rumors before, but because no one had come out and said anything. People were coming out and telling stories about Ye Qiu reaching out and helping people. Former pros had even chimed in, telling stories of him lending them money to get back on their feet, stories of him cleaning up training rooms, and buying food for some of the poorer trainees.

Ye Qiu was becoming more real and human in a way many of the staff had forgotten. Ye Qiu was no longer some untouchable god and to many that comforted them. Ye Qiu may have won championships, but that didn't mean he thought himself better than them. He cared about the people of Excellent Era beyond winning trophies.

(When Ye Qiu asked to play Glory with the janitor of Excellent Era a few days later, no one said anything, but it was clear from the atmosphere in the room that the tone of Excellent Era had shifted.)

XXxxxxXX

                      SMS

             [🍁 Autumn Chat 🍁]

[🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃 and 🍂Ye Xiu 🍂 online.]

🍂Ye Xiu 🍂: Change your username on all your accounts dìdì

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃 : Why? What did you do?

🍂Ye Xiu 🍂: Nothing important. Just change them.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Why?

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Stupid brother you better not still be using my name.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Brother! Answer me!

User 🍂Ye Xiu 🍂 is writing....

🍂Ye Xiu 🍂: Bye. 😎😎😎

User 🍂Ye Xiu 🍂 has signed out.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Brother.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Fine. I'll look into myself if you won't tell me anything.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Don't think I won't.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Stupid unfamil brother, what did you do?

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Why are so many people still bothering me? Link

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: And why are they calling me Old Ye? I'm not old.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Brother!

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Reply already.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Stupid brother what does PK even mean?

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: What is apm, and why is this important?

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Nevermind. I figured it out. Somewhat.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Though why this is important is beyond me. Of course, you can move your fingers fast. You played the piano for years under Madam Le. She would never have tolerated anything less than the best.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Regardless, call me brother. I need to talk to you.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Its been two days brother.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Call me.

🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃: Brother!  

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      YQ Thread Reactions Annual Forever Fall News #7

                               Posted by u/LeafTreeFan

[Comment is Pinned.] LeafTreeFan: I expected so many things when I first started reading the response on YQ’s AMA and I have to say that every single word out of his mouth computer boils down to two reactions, shock or laughter. I feel like I missed so much before this became a reality. So Much potential wasted. Upvoted 29.4k

Lumasamear: So much potential wasted. 😧😧😧😧😧 Upvoted 3.9k

SunCoasting: I just let myself bask in his ‘Glory’. 😎 And that sass. Upvoted 3.8k

Inaweofautumn: Don't you mean that ass? Upvoted 1.2k

       SunCoasting: No @Inaweofautumn. At least not until we know what he looks like. Upvoted 2k / Downvoted 5k

CounterClock: So much sass in one…(looks up YQ height) 178 cm person. Upvoted 5.1k

      Excellent Era (Qin Tianran): We know this well. Upvoted 7.5k

           CrypticBask: !!!! Upvoted 6.7k

              NeatHosts: !!!! Upvoted 6.4k

                  CounterClock: !!!! I've been noticed! Upvoted 1.2k

                     SnowDancer: Congrats on being noticed! Upvoted 9.0k

Hyper_Battery: [Fanning self] Upvoted 12.0k

LandonFELL: And then there’s the random pro’s constantly chiming in so much that I was like this 😃😃😃😃😃😃 almost all the time. Like I figured that other pros knew each other, but some of the interactions just killed me. Upvoted 16.4k

         EatsWilder: The line "It wasn't until the pro alliance started up that I realized so many played the game I loved. And then I met the other captains of the other teams. I wondered if I was in the wrong place. Wu Xuefeng assured me otherwise. He must have been lying. " will be permanently imprinted upon my brain for its sheer amount of sass.

               GiveYouCandyandKisses: hey you forgot the rest of that quote!

                        EatswWilder: Sorry, can't type fast enough. Here, "His honest face is a trap."

                                  AftertheFire: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 That line!

                                         NewMapsDrawn: If that makes you laugh, you should pay for the premium edition where all of EE comments in the margins. Its 1000% gold.

                                                 BeginningNew: There's a premium edition? Since When? How much?

                                                           StormbyStorm: Here's the link. It cost around 520 (RMB) but I've heard there's going to be a few given out with some special event that is taking place later on.

                                                                     AcrosstheUniverse: Details?

                                                                            StormbyStorm: None so far. 🤔

                                                [rest of comments hidden click here to see more]

BreakingChainsandBills: Back on topic. Have you heard about the expansions to his thread? Upvoted 2.2k

CosmosDivide: Who hasn't. 😮😮😮😮 A full walkthrough complete with class guides, dungeon guides, raid guides, and possibly video streaming! Cue the screaming. Upvoted  13.6k

tykebarriers: What a time we are living in. I thought we'd never get anything from YQ beyond his presence at matches, and never have I been so happy to be proven wrong.  ✨✨✨✨✨✨ Upvoted 23.5k

blindunnoticed: praise be Upvoted 2.4k

cattailsforever: praise be +1 Upvoted 1.5k

See all comments  Show 27+ Pro Replies  Show 15.0k+ Comments Share Save Hide Report

XXxxxxXX

Yin Ming was an up and coming hire to Excellent Era's Research and Development Department yet despite being new she was well connected. Hiding a smirk, she glanced around the office beside her, and at some of her coworkers, thankfully there was no one else in the room. Yet even from her position at the back of the room, she could see that most of her coworkers were all looking at the same page. She did not doubt that they were reading on the latest newsletter but just to be sure she sure that no one could see her computer screen she moved her desk a few inches to the right.  At the current angle, she was at it was impossible to see her computer screen from the door but just in case she made sure that Guan Rongfei was still working in front of the room so even if someone from administration tried to entered they'd only the disaster that was Guan Rongfei and retreat.

Smiling, Yin Ming took a seat at her desk and switched on her computer. She clicked into her email and looking over her inbox she searched through her mail. After a tense five minutes of searching and wondering if perhaps she hadn’t been sent the most recent copy, she finally stumbled upon what she was looking for. Clicking on it, she got comfortable in her chair to read the current gossip.

XXxxxxXX

                Annual Forever Fall Newsletter #7 

                      [Section is viewable by link access only]

[Rules are Pinned.] All users are to remain anonymous. This section is for gossip, information and other bits of useful information about working, interacting, interning or training at EE. All departments are allowed. Usernames must be in the following format [Alias/Department] Note: If you are working in a department with fewer than five members, or would like to have extra security the following format can be used [usernameEE]. Thank you, everyone, for keeping this space for us. Remember this thread is a secret to everyone! :)

[Topic is Pinned.] ModlogEE submitted topic: YQ is the reason we no longer have to deal with Yao Wang. 🎉🌟🎉🌟🎉🌟🎉🌟

📎1 attachment

Praise me, everyone, on the internet, for I have the news!

Check it out! ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Ye Qiu is at it again.

Last week he brought little Mucheng some breakfast and nearly all the trainees had a heart attack. It was glorious.

I know most of the readers are like, “Why is this important?" Well, to all my readers here’s the reason why. He stayed for a few hours teaching all the trainees and no one knew who he was. Because no one has seen him without his mask on but still. He smiled and was like “I’m a little good at this game” as if the captain of a three times winning team is only a little good. Anyways he then proceeded to defeat everyone once and then spent like twenty minutes going over their matches to help them improve.

That's when Yao Wang appeared (late as always!) and he was not pleased about Ye Qiu's presence, but not for the right reasons. He started going off on Ye Qiu about how he was going to ruin the trainees’ careers with his careless advice and Ye Qiu just stood there blinking. It was like he blue screened out of pure confusion.[1] And then guess who walks into the room but Wu Xuefeng himself.

Wu Xuefeng takes one look at the situation and at Yao Wang trying and failing to tear to Ye Qiu to bits before he calmly steps in between the pair and says quite calmly that “Ye Qiu would never give bad advice to anyone playing Glory” and the entire room goes silent. Because if the vice-captain of Excellent Era says that the young teen behind him is indeed Ye Qiu, no one is going to says he's wrong. And that just makes it worse because it's Ye Qiu the resident God of Excellent Era.

Yao Wang looks like he swallowed a lemon (good, that man deserves it. He's so sexist that everyone, including the guys, hates him anyway) and walks out of the room runs away and Wu Xuefeng makes a couple calls before manager Shaolin Tao appears and apologizes for the trouble because obviously someone messed up if no one knows what their resident god looks like.

But the most surprising part has yet to be revealed!

As Ye Qiu walked out of the room, he turns to tell Shaolin Tao that the AC would get fixed later that day. (I don't think I need to remind everyone about that damn AC in the lower half of the building that hasn’t gotten fixed in so long and that upper management refused to believe that it needed to be repaired.) Shaolin Tao nearly looked like he wanted to vanish into the floor. Because it was just so embarrassing and the old man had just resigned himself to the fact that the AC might not get fixed in time for summer, and here comes Ye Qiu and he's all like "this is a problem" and does something about it.

But it gets even juicer.

Ye Qiu paid for the repairs himself like it was no big deal.

I've attached the receipt as proof (the same one that was submitted to Tao Xuan later as evidence) in case there are doubters. (I've blocked out all the sensitive information but the signature is no lie.)

                                            Comments:

KumoCloudEE: Boss Tao did reimburse YQ for the repairs if I'm not mistaken. But he was pretty upset that it was an issue for some reason. 😕😕😕😕😕 Whatever the rest of this was cool.

FanningCameraRD: This is the kind of content I needed in my life. YQ being all "baam this going to change" is like the best thing ever.

SquareDukeEE: I will admit I used to think YQ was some kind of an arrogant jerk, but I can't help but think he's just an awkward turtle. But his gameplay is completely fox-like though.

ChalkydeclareRD: YQ being a fox is something I could totally see. How dare you do this to me upstairs.

    CandycreamSeekerEE: Hey, PR department got an idea I think you should hear. ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️

HawkStarryTrainee: Um, so just how did this whole thing lead to Yao Wang being fired??? I wasn't present for that part.

TiktokDropEE:⭐ Well, here's the general outline. I heard it from one of the building maintenance dudes. Apparently, after the mess that went down in the Training Camp Room #1, Wu Xuefeng paid a visit to Tao Xuan and had a rather pointed conversation. It was serious enough to get a bunch of pencil pushers to gather up some paperwork because immediately after that a group of secretaries and IT people were called into the room. Something about misfiled paperwork???? I don't know. But afterward, Yao Wang left with his stuff and he was sooooo angry. ⭐ [Comment has been starred.]

CranberryCookieSD: The paperwork in question was trainee results. I think it was wrong somehow? I'm not sure. I don't play Glory enough to understand what apm and so on means.

PersonaClueEE: It was trainee paperwork. Normally it was always signed off by Yao Wang and then submitted to Shaolin Tao for record-keeping. So if it was wrong in any way it affects Excellent Era's team placement, advancement, and contracts. If I had to guess Yao Wang may have been either inflating or deflating results, perhaps even going so far as completely lying on the forms. It's hard to tell.

EvaTreeTeaEE: Then that explains it.

BohrPieEE: Someone please connect the dots because I am so lost.

EvaTreeTeaEE: 🌟 Alright, so here's the full story near as I can tell. YQ goes to Training Room #1 for whatever reason, and Yao Wang appears and starts yelling at him. Then WXF enters and stops the yelling making Yao Wang leave. Then either because of this or in addition to this WXF goes to Boss Tao and tries to figure out how such a huge mistake happened i.e. Yao Wang not recognize YQ and the AC was broken and somehow no one knew. So paperwork is brought out to figure out who messed up and throughout this, it is discovered that Yao Wang was slanting all the trainees in some form. I'm assuming he was downplaying female players (considering his attitude) or was maybe inflating the performance of the male trainees, either way, it comes out and now everything needs to re-evaluated and its a huge mess. So quite a few people probably got in trouble because they were supposed to be checking on this sort of thing, and the fact that nothing was done probably has made upper management SUPER angry. I don't know if this will lead to other people being fired but so far Yao Wang was the only person fired, and as far as most of us care that makes the workplace 3000% better. He was a total sexist jerk. Whatever, this is as near as I can guess but there was probably more we don't know because of privacy/reputation reasons. 🌟 [Comment has been super starred.]

DaybreakFrontlineEE: Wow nice analysis! 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

DDDLeeEE: Can confirm that no one else is going to get fired, but a few people were demoted/paycheck cut.

satisfactionstirringEE: Wow what a mess.

variedkioskEE: +1

XXxxxxXX

To say that Ye Qiu, brother of Ye Xiu knew nothing of games, would be a lie but unlike his brother who was a professional gamer, but Ye Qiu himself knew little.

When the brothers were younger and still living together, they often played together huddled around a small Gameboy from one of their trips to Japan. They didn't have many games for it even then, but it was one of the rare times they did anything together before the demands of their parents were too heavy. So Ye Qiu while not an expert in gaming knew a little bit about the world his brother worked in.

Typing in the name 'Glory' into the search bar, Ye Qiu was a little shocked to see how many results came up. Thinking for a second, he typed in his name and the word 'Glory' to the search bar and sat in to read. As his day off there was little to interrupt him, and considering he had given his secretary the day off, he was a little reluctant to bother her.

At least not yet.

Though depending on what he found out he may change his mind.

Scrolling down on some Wikipedia pages for his brother (because it had to be his stupid brother considering the characters used for the name) Ye Qiu read carefully about his brother. While he knew that his brother was famous he had little idea what being a professional gamer meant. He had had no idea that game could generate income and considering his brother was considered the top player there was little reason he shouldn't be earning top dollar.

Reading to the bottom of the page, Ye Qiu was surprised to see several new links attached to the page.

Clicking into them Ye Qiu was quiet for several minutes before his face went red and he moved passed some of the utter nonsense his brother had written. He just couldn't believe how ridiculous his brother was. As it was, Ye Qiu was seeing quite a few references to himself and their family however vague they might be to everyone else in the world.

Any other stranger might not be able to understand what his brother was getting at, but seeing some of his brother's response was a little embarrassing, Ye Qiu clicked off to the side inadvertently clicking open a comments section before he froze.

There were some usernames he recognized in the comments section and knowing the rest of his family, Ye Qiu was almost afraid to connect the dots on what he was thinking.

Reaching for his phone, Ye Qiu moved off of the chat between him and his brother and moved into the general family chat and typed in a single question. While he waited impatiently for the reply, Ye Qiu could help but think he was wrong and his suspicions were just the result of an overactive imagination, but at he stared at the letters in black and white he couldn't convince himself otherwise.

And then the reply came, and Ye Qiu groaned.

Of course, he was right.

Moving back into the chat with his brother Ye Qiu typed out eight words. His face moving through different emotions before he reached for his laptop and typed out a rather long email to his secretary.

What a mess.

Their parents were not going to be happy when this finally came out.

XXxxxxXX

While thousands of kilometers away from Beijing a single message appeared on Ye Xiu screen.

                      SMS

             [🍁 Autumn Chat 🍁]

[🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃 and 🍂Ye Xiu 🍂 online.]

[🍃 Ye Qiu 🍃 ]: Grandfather and Grandmother know where you are brother.

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            Welcome to Ye Qiu's Glory Walkthrough!

Unlike the first walkthrough that was completed and posted on Ye Qiu’s private account almost four years ago, and has remained untouched even through numerous patches, this walkthrough will be updated as more patches, attacks, rotations, tactics and so on evolve/created. This guide will seek to assist you through the main story adventure in Glory’s Main Quest and Side Quest mode, from your character’s creation to the final boss fight.

Currently, there are a few guides up, but more will be coming in the following weeks. So look back often!

Character Creation for Beginners

Tanks

Healers

Melee DPS

Ranged DPS

Magical DPS

Main Quest Walkthrough

Chapter 1 – Beginning Towns (Level 0-10)

Chapter 2 – Exploring  and Basic Mat Mining

Chapter 3 – Cosmo Trial

Chapter 4 - Spider's Cave (Dungeon)

To be continued….

Arena for Beginners

Classic

Fixed Field

Betting Field

Group Match Classic

Group Betting Match

                               Comments [show]

LastManStanding4all: This makes me want to play Glory all over from the beginning just so I can see what I've messed.

      AllergictoSecrets: This feeling I know well.

            OneSnowFlake: you and everyone else

                  SodaOne: Ye Qiu's perspective on everything is just so interesting! And so detailed!

                       BugLane: YQ does things like this and my mind is just so...blown. He's just so sfjsdlandalskdn. Like, read the end of page one and just that level of sass. "If you hate dying or are not escaping your rivals then don’t jump off the bridge. There is nothing to be found in the mountain's shadow. I've checked personally. Multiple times."

                             SkynnyFriend: Adding another for your viewing pleasure "The game's gravity mechanics are still a work in progress in this area so if you are a witch or warlock, do not fly. If you want to know specifics ask Wei Chen."

                                   VulpinThief: my favorite "Create a character you like and are not embarrassed to be known by. You don't want to be 'Naked SuMu'."

                See all 10k+ replies  Comments Share Save Hide Report  

XXxxxxXX

                                                SMS

                                           [Team Chat]

                                        [All users online.]

🌑Woven Shadow 🌑: Question Vice-Captain 1:10pm

👓 Qi Breaker 👓: Yes? 1:11pm

🌑 Woven Shadow 🌑: I get how Xia Ming and the rest knew about pairings but how did you know about it? 1:12pm

👓 Qi Breaker 👓 is typing…

👓 Qi Breaker 👓 is typing…

👓 Qi Breaker 👓 is typing…

👓 Qi Breaker 👓: There are just some things better left unknown. 1:25pm

🌑 Woven Shadow 🌑: ?????? 1:25pm

XXxxxxXX

Author’s Notes: 

General EE Staff @ Current is a mix of the following: YQ is sassy and a lot more down to earth then we thought. He is funny/awkward/and asdfdgdfgfdfg. Thank you for existing YQ our lives are better because Yao Wang is gone.

EE Team @ Current: The captain is very clueless about social things like fanfiction and we must never tell him about the depravity of fans or else we will all suffer. Also, dodge practice sucks, and WXF may have a shit list of rival players he may want to have a talk to and we know nothing.

1:YX really didn't know who Yao Wang was because he had never seen him before, so he was trying to figure out who he was.

So not a whole lot of YX stuff, but lots of information about things changing among the people of EE. I read over what I could of the wiki and the light novel but there's nothing about when the training camps got started or anything so much of this was just head cannon because I don't know.

Strangely enough, I had most of this chapter written since the middle of January but it still didn't feel right and finally after countless editing and so on I am just throwing in the towel. I'll come back to this particular chapter and probably edit it some more. Maybe.

Next Chapter | Previous Chapter

Read on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

Falling into Autumn #2

[King’s Avatar /全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán ]

Next Chapter | Previous Chapter

Falling into Autumn on AO3

Summary: After a poison attempt goes wrong, Ye Qiu finds himself having to step into his brother shoes…and finds himself completely out of his depth. Ye Xiu is, of course, unapologetic and Su Mucheng is having too much fun. Excellent Era was not prepared for this new twist on their captain. Takes place in between Season 5 and 6.

XXxxxxxXX

Chapter #2: Ye Qiu is tired \ Ye Xiu is plotting.

XXxxxxxXX

"Move closer," Ye Xiu said motioning to his brother.

Ye Qiu was currently running a medium level dungeon, as a battlemage and while his the younger twin’s apm was well above average, his mechanical skills left much to be desired.

If Ye Qiu wasn't being pushed for high proficiency at battlemage, Ye Xiu suspected that his brother might have been a decent Witch or Elementalist where his high apm would have greatly enhanced his performance. Making a note in the notebook in front of him, Ye Xiu continued to lecture his brother about his run through the dungeon.

"Fierce Crow is weak to knockback. To increase attack power, swing your spear over one-hundred eighty degrees and then use this attack here..." Ye Xiu motioned taking control of the character.

It wasn't one of the cards owned by either Excellent Era or the Guild and was instead a character that had been bought for his brother to use while he teaching him, though why Ye Qiu just had to name it 'Herald of Autumn' he could only guess, assuming it was likely his brother trying to dig him. Regardless, his brother was making steady progress in his learning, considering his character had just become level fifty.

“Why not use Falling Flower Palm here instead of Dragon Claw?” Ye Qiu asked trying to wrap his mind around why one set of moves was better than another.

Ye Xiu smiled and went back to showing his brother the ins and outs of the game he treasured.

He had missed having someone to talk to about Glory and although Ye Qiu wasn’t Su Miqiu, just having someone look at him and not see some god was nice.

“…that’s stupid. How exactly am I supposed to know what one-hundred eighty degrees are? Do I look like a ruler?”

Ye Xiu looked at him rather pensively. “So you did cheat off my homework in middle school. I wondered why you wanted to see my backpack so many times.”

Ye Qiu went red. “I did not!” Even though it was obvious he was lying.

Ye Xiu smirked. “Really?”

(Well, that and messing with Ye Qiu was always fun.)

XXxxxxXX

When the rest of the Excellent Era arrived back from vacation, things were vastly different.

Instead of the slightly worn chairs and only a single roll of computers, everything was slick and new. Entire rooms that had been little more than big closets had been revamped, and instead of only one meal being offered, all meals and snacks were provided.

There were bodyguards’ stations at both exits and instead of only one silver researcher there were now four of them. It was a complete one-eighty from the Excellent Era many of them knew but the strangest thing was the teenager wandering the halls. At first, many had assumed the teenager to be one of the children of the new workers, but the team was shocked to discover that the teenager was, in fact, the younger brother of Ye Qiu himself.

For what reason he was currently staying at Excellent Era, or even how that had been allowed, no one knew, but after the angry look on Ye Qiu's face the only time someone asked, no one dared ask again.

Some things were better left unknown.

(It was the only time the team had seen Ye Qiu mad and many of them feared that cold, cruel look in his eyes.)

XXxxxxXX

Everyone in Excellent Era found it weird that their captain practiced in a separate room than the rest of the team and yet somehow Ye Qiu always seemed to know what was happening in the main training room. Either through voice chat or messages, Ye Qiu was nearly instantaneous in redirecting anyone that was straying in drills or messing up teamwork. At first, the team assumed Ye Qiu was watching them through the use of cameras, but after a lengthy search and a rather blunt message from Ye Qiu about there being no cameras, the entire team started getting a little freaked out and several theories popped up.

Maybe he had the cameras hidden really well?

Eventually, after yet another search had proved fruitless, another theory had been put forth.

Could Ye Qiu actually be a mind reader?

It was a scary thought that seemed more likely as time passed but because the poor team members were far too cowardly to speak to talk to Ye Qiu they settled for merely whispered about it among themselves. They unknowingly made the situation worse as they freaked each other out more and more instead of calming each other down. Until the rumors and theories that they all heard about their mysterious captain reached a fever pitch of such height that crosses and garlic started appearing in the team dorm rooms, and no one not even the janitor complained.

“Little Yang, put up your phone up and concentrate. Talk about your theories about me later.” Ye Qiu said through the voice chat, even though the microphones were muted on their side. More than one team member cursed and several freaked out.

One player even took out a Christian cross and started turning around wildly trying to see if their captain was hovering in a corner, or the doorway. When no one was able to find Ye Qiu in the room, they started muttering prayers.

The current theory was starting to make more and more sense in a kind of twisted way, that even other departments in Excellent Era were starting to take notice. While a good number of them thought it was a good joke, several of them took to the newest theory like a fish to water because to them it made sense.

(It would be weeks before either of the Ye brothers had heard of the theory and by the time, they did, it was too late to stop the gossip. As far as the people who worked in Excellent Era were concerned, Ye Qiu was without a doubt a creature of the night.)

XXxxxxXX

Eventually, the rumor mill got so crazy that when one of the more brave direct members decided to question Ye Xiu, nothing concrete came of it and both sides ended up more confused for entirely different reasons.

“Did your brother always have gold eyes?”

“Does your brother go out during the day at all?”

“Is your brother a mind reader?”

“How does he always seem to know what we’re doing?”

"Does your brother seem to drink a red liquid?"

“….” Ye Xiu blinked at them confused as the questions were just so strange and out of the blue.

Maybe they were sick?  He’d need to watch the team more carefully if the stress was already starting to get to them.

XXxxxxXX

“You think Su Mucheng knows?”

“Of course she does. That’s why she doesn’t need to fear him!”

“Wait, I heard Captain Ye’s family is the big new sponsor. You don’t think…?”

“Everyone knows but us.”

“Well, even if the captain is a vampire he’s a tame one.”

“How is he tame? He destroys us in-game.”

“You still have your head attached, don’t you?”

There were several loud gulps, as the reality sinks in. Be destroyed in-game or alive in real life? There was no comparison. It was obvious what their choice would be any day of the week.

“Suddenly, his lectures don’t seem so bad anymore.”

XXxxxxXX

Unfortunately, neither brother quite understood the kind of terror that was starting to creep up on Excellent Era as the brothers tried collectively to play the part of ‘Ye Qiu’. Ye Xiu watched his teammates closely trying to ensure nothing Ye Qiu did was out of place, while Ye Qiu himself worked hard at Glory trying to absorb all the knowledge he would need to play the part of his brother.

It was only when Su Mucheng started to connect all the gossip running rampant in Excellent Era that she pulled the brothers aside and to tell them about the ‘supernatural’ rumors floating around.  Suffice to say neither brother knew quite how to take the fact that ‘Ye Qiu’ was apparently some kind of vampire.

Ye Qiu made a disgusted look still unable to understand how his brother's teammates had come to such an outrageous conclusion.

“Vampires do not exist.” He muttered angrily, turning away from the conversation and going back to running the training problem his brother had recently assigned him.

He didn’t have time to deal with this nonsense. Even though he would not be playing in actual matches that did not mean he would never play in front of other people. There were plenty of other events he would need to be ready for, such as All-Stars where the alliances reach would not be able to help him.

Ye Qiu was so focused on his training that he messed the look on his brother’s face.

(He would later regret this.)

XXxxxxXX

[Excellent Era Chatroom]

Users:Wu Xuefeng, Xue Mingkai, Qin Tianran, Xia Ming, Yin Xiong, S5 Newbie(Wang Shi) (+2 others) are logged in.

Moderator: Ye Qiu

S5 Newbie(Wang Shi): Question for old gen.

Wu Xuefeng: Yes?

S5 Newbie(Wang Shi): Did YQ always have gold eyes?

Xue Mingkai: Not this again.

Xia Ming: Strange that this always comes up. [light reflects off glasses on female avatar]

Wu Xuefeng: Captain’s eyes are brown. It’s just the lighting. [tired emoji] [long suffering Wu Xuefeng.Jpg]

Qin Tianran: [facepalm emoji] Obviously. Why is this even a question?

Yin Xiong: [sighing woven shadow emoji] Who knows…

S5 newbie: So captain has always been a vampire…

Wu Xuefeng: What

Xue Mingkai: What

Qin Tianran: What

Xia Ming: What

Yin Xiong: What

[S5 Newbie and +2 users have logged out.]

Xue Mingkai: hey @Ye Qiu get over here and explain! What’s going on!?

Qin Tianran: +1

Yin Xiong: +2

Xia Ming: +3, though I doubt @Ye Qiu will answer, he doesn’t have a phone.

Xue Mingkai: I forgot that he lives under a rock. @Su Mucheng weight in! What's going on?

Su Mucheng: Switch to the Shine Chatroom and I'll explain.

Xia Ming: [thumbs up]

Wu Xuefeng: [thumbs up]

Xue Mingkai: [thumbs up]

Qin Tianran: [thumbs up]

Yin Xiong: [thumbs up]

XXxxxxXX

Author’s Notes:

So some background.

Instead of setting up cameras, Ye Xiu is wandering around the training room and relaying everything happening to his brother. Ye Qiu was taken off all his other responsibilities to the family company while everything is being figured out.

Ye Qiu's current progress is as follows: Herald of Autumn [Battlemage]: Level 51 Average Pro Level Knowledge [All Classes] Above Average APM (200-400) [Depending on how confident he is] Playing Level is probably around Intermediate Level

And in other news:

EE @ Current: Ye Qiu is probably some kind of supernatural creature and we are terrified.

Ye Qiu: Gamers are all weird. And strangely superstitious. Cannot compute.

Ye Xiu: How can I use this to my advantage so no one suspects something and how can I mess with my brother?

Su Mucheng: Explains everything, and watching everything happen and while sending off QQs.

Old EE Team: You think Captain Ye is a WHAT

Next Chapter | Previous Chapter

Falling into Autumn on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

How Social Media Infected the Glory Pro Circle #2

(or Conversations Most of the Glory Pro Community Would Like to Forget Existed)

[King’s Avatar /全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán ]

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 Read on AO3

Summary: Or Ye Xiu is forced to deal with his fans. No one saw what was coming next.Because the alliance wants more exposure (i.e. fame) for the pro gamers, all pros are mandated to respond to questions from the fans.Naturally, this leads to some…strange conversations and some stranger answers. Likely will lead into AU TKA UniversePart Story, and TKA fun. Will include some social media.

XXxxxxxXX

Chapter #2: When Excellent Era Reads

XXxxxxxXX

The next day was filled with even more chaos. Slumped over the computer, Ye Xiu was awakened to the sound of loud chatter. Even though the training room had been renovated it was still located by the manager's office so even though the walls he could still make out bits of conversation.

As well as his name.

Rubbing his eyes, Ye Xiu stretched in his chair, and reach for a packet of dry food that was sitting at the next computer station over. It wasn't the same as breakfast, but it would do for now. For once it looks like he's up before it was time for training, so he might as well finish what he was doing.

Moving the mouse he woke the computer from sleep and clicked back into the Reddit email. He was expecting to see a little under two hundred questions, but instead of only having a few questions, the inbox count was over five thousand and growing by the second. Already just in the time, he was looking at the email count, the number rose by another hundred.

Resisting the urge to give up Ye Xiu set a timer. He agreed to do this, so he was going to do this to the best of his abilities... at least until training started.

XXxxxxXX

Glory Forums → Fourth Server → General -> Ye Qiu AMA?!?!

                              1st Floor— Forest of Rain

              Hey all, did you hear about Ye Qiu's thread?

                               2nd Floor— Snow Dancer

          I haven't just heard, have you read it? (Also: Sofa!) [1]

                               3rd Floor— Light of Life

                 Only some of it, but it's gold. Pure gold.

                               4th Floor— Endless Refrain

                          I know. He's just so cool!

                             5th Floor— Frost Burn

    I heard he's going to be posting weekly. Are you going to submit anything?

                           6th Floor—Barren Defeat

       Obviously. I've already submitted multiple questions. You should take this chance too.

                           7th Floor— Kicker Win

               Any chance to speak to the Great God is a precious treasure.

                             8th Floor— No No Novak

                                              +1

XXxxxxXX

Excellent Era Chatroom

[User; Ye Qiu has been removed from the chat temporary.]

[Users; Qi Breaker, Absent Sun, Merciless Magic, Bleak Sky, and Woven Shadows are logged in.]

Qi Breaker: Before we start, let's go over the issues. Did anyone else read the questions on YQ's thread? Woven Shadows: Nope was at dodging practice. Merciless Magic:   No time. I was being punished... too much training...              Absent Sun: No. Why? Bleak Sky: I did. Some of the questions were misleading. Why? Did something else come up?                       Qi Breaker: YQ came and asked me what AllYe and HanYe meant. Bleak Sky: What did you say?     Merciless Magic: Did you tell him? Absent Sun:+1 Woven Shadows: Tell him what. I'm confused. What do those words even mean? Absent Sun: what Merciless Magic:what Bleak Sky:what Merciless Magic: You don't know?! I can't believe Nurse is out of the loop. Quick, Xia Ming explain it to him. Bleak Sky: Fine. Be right back. Merciless Magic: So you gonna tell us what you told YQ? Qi Breaker: Not until Xia Ming returns. Bleak Sky: Back. Please carry on. Qi Breaker: Well, it went like this...

XXxxxxXX

When Wu Xuefeng walked into the Excellent Era practice room, a little after eight, he had expected several things. He expected to see food at Qin Tianran's desk, or extra pillows at Yin Xiong's desk, or perhaps Ye Qiu sleeping on the room couch again but what he did not expect was to see Ye Qiu typing furiously at a computer.

After their first championship, Ye Qiu hadn't needed to put in the same amount of work as he had before, and now with sponsors and a guild to back them up Ye Qiu's responsibilities had been shortened to only focusing on the team.  So to find him still at a computer early in the morning instead of in his room, especially this early in the morning was completely out of character for the rather mature teenager.

Making his way over to his captain's side, Wu Xuefeng took a look at what his captain was looking at. He blinked at the words he was reading. While one half of the screen contained the Reddit email the second was something completely different. A plain word document, containing incredibly sexual and in some cases, vulgar words were listed. Every question was tied to a username or usernames and there was even a tally next to them. Taking off his glasses and cleaning them to ensure he was seeing what he thought he was, still did not make the words vanish.

The list was still there, and it was growing.

Feeling his age, Wu Xuefeng decided to just ask.

"Ye Qiu, what is this?" He asked as he motioned to some of the words on the word document.

Ye Xiu frowned at him. "I don't know. Some of the Reddit questions were odd, so I compiled a list so I could ask just in case."

Wu Xuefeng steeled himself hoping Ye Qiu's next words weren't what he thought they were.

"What does AllYe and the rest of these mean?"

XXxxxxXX

Excellent Era Chatroom

Bleak Sky: And how did you reply? Qi Breaker: I just told him I'd tell him later. Merciless Magic: I don't blame you. Absent Sun: Wait, why not tell him? Merciless Magic: Remember who our captain is. Absent Sun: Oh right. Bleak Sky: Telling him would be boring anyway. But what are you going to do about the rest of the questions? Surely there are some that are worse. Qi Breaker: I told him that I would monitor the questions. Merciless Magic: Nice Qi Breaker: Don't be too happy, I told captain everyone would be chipping in. Absent Sun: Why do you hate us? Merciless Magic: +1 Bleak Sky:+2 Woven Shadows:+3 Qi Breaker: Either way, its time for practice. We'll talk later.

[Users; Qi Breaker, Absent Sun, Merciless Magic, Bleak Sky, and Woven Shadows have logged out.]

XXxxxxXX

       Breaking News: Ye Qiu's Shunning First Appearance on Social Media!

In a stunning first appearance, the mysterious and elusive Battle God himself made his first appearance to the fans in nearly three years.

In a Reddit thread climbing up charts (and currently number three as of this printing), Ye Qiu, or as he's known as on Reddit, OneLeafofTwo answered a large number of questions sent by fans. Everything from his favorite foods, to regrets, was answered in a Reddit MMA that is still taking questions.

Suffice to say fans are shocked, and overwhelmingly pleased to have this link to their battle God, which as all fans knew is notorious for never showing up at fan events.

Excellent Era themselves has teased some more appearances of the Battle God, but how and what shape will they take has yet to be announced.

But we at glory Pro are excited about the future.

This is Nang Shi signing off.

XXxxxxXX

Ye Xiu watched as his team scanned through his questions and sorted them into different groups. Instead of Ye Xiu dealing with all of them in a disjointed fashion, his team was splitting them up. Wu Xuefeng was sorting through his thread and setting it up into sections, while Xia Ming was adding accents and personalization to the site. Qin Tianran was adding sub-threads and other links onto the website while Xue Mingkai and Yin Xiong were checking the questions for quality.

All of Excellent Era was working through the questions so fast Ye Xiu was impressed. He didn’t think his team would even really bother with the social media accounts the alliance had set up for them but they had really taken to it. Watching them now, helping him made him feel proud and a little suspicious.

Neither Wu Xuefeng and Xia Ming were able to look him directly in the eyes, and Xue Mingkai and Yin Xiong were blushing.

Ye Xiu frowned.

He hoped they hadn't broken anything important.

XXxxxxXX

                                               AMA: Ye Qiu Edition

Congratulations all! Due to the extreme popularity and demand for this thread, this thread will be separated into several sub-threads. Click on the links below to navigate to any of the topics, or submit a question!

*Note: As a reminder, all submitters must abide by the rules. Any inappropriate questions will be removed, and the users will be punished. Personal questions may or may not be answered depending on the topic, please keep this in mind. In addition, questions pertaining to face reveals will be deleted.

Recent Questions [click to see all questions and answers]

MusingthruDreams:  Did you see yourself playing video games professionally when you were younger? And if not what was your dream profession before gaming kicked in?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu): Gaming professionally was only an option for certain games when I was younger, and I wasn't even sure it was the right choice for me at the time but I end up giving it a try. My dream profession before I became a pro was anything that didn't deal with business.

SlippingLight: Do you wish you'd gone with a different gamertag? / How did you come up with the name for One Autumn Leaf?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu): While I did come with the general name for One Autumn Leaf, I let the sister of my friend type in the name but she ended up using the wrong character for 'zhi' and instead of Herald of Autumn it became One Autumn Leaf. I just went with it in the end.

YellowFellow:  What was the worst thing you ever did in Glory?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu): I completely destroyed my friend's arena record but it was mostly by accident. He refused to stop challenging me until he won and he lost often.

UrbanKnight:  Who is the weakest player in Excellent Era?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu):Boss Tao.

RevengeFry: You've hold a number of titles in Glory, such as Master Tactician, Battle God and Glory Textbook. Which one do you like the most and why?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu): Glory Textbook. Glory is about more than fighting. Glory is a whole world of characters, and classes and meeting people. There are twenty four official classes but every person plays those classes differently and that what makes Glory.

SanonShe: How did you meet the rest of Excellent Era?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu):Most of Excellent Era was part of the guild before the team went pro, but I only met Wu Xuefeng a few months before Glory Pro was annonuced.

WaterBottleQ: What is your motto for teamwork?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu): A team can only work when all members trust each other. If an enemy needs to be defeated I can only do so with Excellent Era. Glory is not a single player game.

XXxxxxXX

Tumblr apparently hates images and spacing to see the acutally images and whatnot go to the ao3 version of this fanfiction.

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Read on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

Silver Sky Update! Chapter 4

New Chapter, to read  click here.

[wildcardwriting]

FFXV: Crisis Cor #2

[Final Fantasy XV]

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 FFXV: Crisis Cor on AO3

When Cor comes back from his mission in Niflheim, he brings with him one extra person. Regis and Clarus are speechless and Lacus (Regis’ long-suffering and very sorely underpaid advisor) gets a headache. Cor is questioned about the presence of a baby. Regis feels dread. Clarus freaks out, and Lacus is drinking something that looks suspiciously like alcohol.

XXxxxxXX

Chapter 2: The Awkward Arrival

XXxxxxXX

Any stress Regis may have felt before Cor walked into his office seemed far better than the mess currently in front of him.

Lacus had long tuned out from the conversation, taking suspicious sips from a glass that looked like alcohol.

If that's what it was Regis wasn't going to blame him.

While on the other hand Cor was...being Cor, and was somehow managing to look like there was absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that Insomnia's greatest warrior was seen carrying a baby. Regis wondered if perhaps Cor knew the chaos he was causing, but somehow he didn't think so. Cor had no social skills, and for all his talents on the battlefield, he was completely unaware of the effect he had on the populace of Insomnia. no doubt there was going to be some special edition of the The Daily Crown going to be released in the next hour considering the fact, that gossip on one Crown City's most handsome bachelor would go through the Citadel like wildfire.

Still, regardless of what he felt, he needed to get to the bottom of this.

Immediately.

"Why are you carrying a baby?" Regis asked in a near whine.

The bags under his eyes seemed heavier then ever.

Cor frowned.

"He was found at the location of my mission." Cor said and did not finished.

Regis waited a minute more for the rest of the report, and  rubbed his eyes when Cor did not elaborate.

"Why did you pick up a baby? No, where did you pick up a baby? I sent you to do reconnaissance on a Nifihelim secret base. Of Magictek Soldiers. Where does the baby come in?" He asked, resisted the urge add 'And why are you acting like these things make sense?'. He was the Crown Prince of Lucis he could maintain his cool. So what if Cor the Immortal brought in a baby and was sending the entire Citadel into a panic. He was above the chaos. He was calm. He could do this--

"I found him. The factory was producing Magictek Soldiers by using and conditioning humans." Cor said shifting the small, rather quiet baby in his arms. A bit of the blanket wrapped around the baby shifted off his head, and his hair, blond and fair skin face looked back at him. Regis refused to coo at the sight especially because the tiny child was hugging Cor. He would deal with this mess in its entirely later. Once Cor was out of the room.

Because this conversation definitely not going to be good if the few sentences of a report he was receiving from Cor was any indication.

Maybe he could get Lacus to get him a drink while he was at it.

"And the baby?" Clarus cut in, apparently focused on the fact that Cor was carrying a baby and this was somehow linked to a secret Niff base.

Regis signed. "Ignore him. Just write up your report and turn into me as soon as possible." He said dismissing Cor before he said anything else that was mind breaking.

He had enough to deal with, he didn't feel like adding more to his plate right this second. Obviously there was nothing that needed his immediate attention if Cor hadn't started in on it the second he had entered the room. His father likely already had the full details about Cor's mission that Lacus would filled him in later.

He watched as Cor left the room with his small bundle before he turned back to his paperwork. He had a lot to do if he wanted to finish in time--

A knock as his door interrupted him before he even got the chance to finish reading the first paragraph.

"Come in!"

Weskham entered and bowed as he made his way into the room.

"My apologizes, your highness, but his majesty would like to discuss Cor's report, as well as his request."

Regis blinked.

"What request?"

Weskham leveled a rather intriging look at him.

"Did he not say? He asked about adopting the young child--"

"He did WHAT?!" Regis gave up any pretense of being calm and collected.

Next Chapter | Previous Chapter

FFXV: Crisis Cor on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

Courage in the Face of Adversity #1

[Legend of Zelda]

Next Chapter | Read on AO3

Summary: The time Link kept a lot (tons) of secrets and left everyone else confused.Or not everything is solved by the defeat of Ganon.Post - BOTW(Features Champions back from the dead. A Hylian Princess at her wit's end, and a certain Hyrule Hero who is apparently a ninja in his free time.)

XXxxxxXX

Chapter 1:Doubt and Innocence

XXxxxxXX

Wisdom grants otherworldly knowledge, and how to use it efficiently, but at the cost of their personal freedom as royalty, and as a descendant of the goddess Hylia.  Creation.

Power grants strength used to protect people, but on its own will consume the holder eventually leading down a path of destruction if it cannot be reined in. Destruction.

Courage grants the ability to tap into traits from other species, but at the cost of happiness and eventually sanity if the Master Sword is used. Balance.

XXxxxxXX

When Link wakes, he can hear a song playing in the background. It takes a minute for him to recognize it, but when he does he grows sad. Saving the world once should have been enough, but sitting in this pool of water and blood and wherever else leftover from the final battle, he knows this isn’t the end.

It can never be with the Song of Time playing in the background.

Getting to his feet, his wounds pain and prickle him as the simple act of standing seems to be more than his battered and wounded body can take. If only he had an ocarina with him, he could heal himself a little, but he knows he doesn’t. In this life, he was born and raised to be a knight, and learning music was exclusively for the enjoyment of nobility, a talent useless for a knight.

Reaching for the Master Sword lying next to him, he uses it as a makeshift cane as he staggers forward inching himself away from the destruction that once was Hyrule castle grounds and the slowly dissolving body of Ganon. He has to find the Princess Zelda of this time and make sure she's okay before he does anything else even though all he wants at the second is to sit down and not move for another hundred years.

As he makes his way past the burnt remains of the trees near the front of the palace garden, he sees Princess Zelda kneeling in the dirt, her prayer white dress in tatters. The sight of her nearly makes him lose his grip on the Master Sword. For all his affection for his charge, there had always been a little bitterness in him when he thought about the bloodline. Even though he knows this incarnation had nothing to do with his curse, he can’t help the anger he feels for Hylia. Her love was a curse more than it was a blessing, and living over and over again was damaging.

Pushing the confusing mess of emotions to the back of his mind, he drops to the floor next to her a little confused about why she’s still praying. He knows Ganon has been defeated for this generation and reaching out to his Triforce, he can feel Power going to sleep.

Looking back to Zelda, he notices her eyes open and on him.

“All this time, I’ve been keeping watch over you…I’ve seen your struggles to return to us, and the battles you fought.” She whispers, her voice quiet but sincere and much more different than most of his memories.

“I always believed that you would find a way to defeat Ganon and you have.” She says reaches out to his face, and Link struggles not to finch. He has far too many painful memories of creatures reaching out to him. It’ll be a while before he’ll be okay with anyone coming too close to him.

She gasps.

Apparently, he didn’t hide that finch as well as he thought.

“I’m sorry. Please don’t move. That looks really bad!” She whispers catching sight of his wounds, blood finally having bled through his layers of clothing and armor. Her hands are moving to his shoulders in an attempt to help him stay sitting up but this time she’s actually pressing on wounds.

He tries not to whimper, but the pain is starting to grow and even as he looks at her, he can’t hear much beyond static. He sees her starting to panic, and he feels a slight pull against his waist as she reaches for one of the last elixirs at his belt, pulling it off quickly, but all she does is add to the pain he's already feeling.

“Drink this,” She says carefully helping the elixir up to his mouth. He doesn’t fight her, and in his condition, he doubts he could have drunk it by himself anyway. His arms are like lead, heavy and immobile as they ignore him. As it is he is clinging to consciousness by a thread.

The Master Sword is lying on the ground next to him, and even as he attempts to voice this out to the Princess she is far too distracted with his wounds to actually listen to him. His wounds although painful and varied are minor in the grand scheme of things considering all he needs is some proper bed rest, but she isn't listening to him or to Wisdom even as Link attempts to speak to her through Courage.  

Instead, she slowly tips the contents of the bottle into his mouth carefully, as to not spill a single drop. Link feels his wounds slowly starting to close. Some painfully. Some not. Except for all the wounds healing leaves him feeling exhausted. It was part of the reason why he ate hearty foods instead of taking elixirs. Even though food had a lower, slower healing rate compared to elixirs, they didn’t make him tired. He feels his limbs sag with pain and fatigue that he finally realizes that the dull ache in his back wasn’t just a pulled muscle but a physical wound as he feels the injury stitch itself back together. Apparently, he was far more injured than he thought.

He sees the darkness from the edges of his vision start to cover his view, overwhelming him. He sees the ground rushing towards him and he hears yelling and the heaviness of feet running before everything vanishes into the void as he slips into sleep and dreams.

He dreams of the moon falling onto a town, of Impa whisking Princess Zelda away, of the darkness stripping Ganondorf’s mortality away to reveal a monster. He hears the first song being played, while a world sinks into despair. He changes from one to four and he's forced into the form of a wolf. He remembers the chains around his neck and the burning of lava on his skin. Zelda's lullaby is playing in the background and—

A woman in white steps out and holds out a sword to him. She crying, begging for forgiveness and even though Link wants to forgive her, he can't.He can't. He sees tears falling from her eyes, and as she falls apart, she reaches out towards him even as a red puddle—blood grows underneath him. He can see her eyes pleading with him for forgiveness but he's just can’t give that to her. He's been through enough.

He's tired.

Let him sleep.

His eyes are heavy and there is screaming in the distance and he wants to give up but he isn't allowed to because everything depends on him. He's the Hero and the Hero isn't allowed to give up and it’s so unfair. Everything else has been taken from him anyway.

Why can't he be allowed anything?

Why can’t he be allowed to give up?

Why can’t he rest?

Hadn’t he done enough?

He'd rather sink into the void and not have to wake anymore. He's tired of being alone and fighting over and over again for people who will never know him. He’d rather stay here in the darkness of the void. No one can find him here—

A small hand reaches out to him in the darkness. He wants to look up to see who has come near him, but he doesn't want to. He feels like if he does, he will come to hate another person. He's not sure why though.

The person, a woman holds him and although his eyes are on the ground he can see the green of her dress and hair. She seems familiar, but the why or how's escape him. Why does she feel so familiar?

She pats his head and comforts him in the way a mother might, but he can't be sure. He's never had one.

"Dearest child," She says into his ear, but also through his Triforce. "We don't deserve to be forgiven. Even Din's chosen is allowed peace," She whispers to him before pausing. Link can't help but feel marvel at hearing the voice with both his ears and his magic. He wonders if perhaps she is Farore, but doesn't ask because the answer will only cause him more pain. He hates enough people, and he’s jealous of far too many people, its better he doesn't know.

He feels some drops of water on his shoulder and knows that she's crying too. He pats her on the shoulders, hoping to offer some comfort even while he envies her. He wishes he knew how to cry. It’s been too long.

"I won't ask for forgiveness or give excuses. We are to blame. Din's love started this tragedy, Nayru escalated it and yet you suffer. Yet know this, your pain will not be in vain. Every wound and every death upon your body will be paid back in full. The end is near." She whispers in his ears and hugs him once more before she vanishes into green dust.

He hopes she right. He really hopes so.

The wind surrounds him, leaving him alone and lonely before the darkness gives way to sound and pain.

The feeling comes back to his body a rush, pain biting into him one second where before there was none. He takes one shallow breath to get used to the levels of pain while his ears become aware of distant sounds.

His fingers move gently, slowly, almost like he was mimicking the notes for the Song of Time on the grass—except instead of grass he feels soft material. He’s not on the ground, so he knows he was likely moved. There is a clattering in the distance and the sounds of people moving all around him. It reminds him of a few memories he has in the castle, a place full of people in motion. Perhaps he is somewhere similar like in an inn or a townhouse?

A hint of herbs and the bitter scent of red potions give his theory credence and from the light steps of several people, he can just barely hear, he knows he is surrounded by the Sheikah. Perhaps he is in a makeshift infirmary?

It’s hard to tell with his eyes closed and as much as he wants to open his eyes, even this tiny amount of motion has exhausted him. He still needs more rest. Yet, he still wants to know what has happened. Straining his ears as much as possible he can barely make out some of the words from the conversation taking place near him. The tone is the first thing he hears instead of sentences, and even from the bed, he can hear the concern in the few words he can make out.

"...send word to the other races..."

"...your highness..."

"And...is hero...covering?"

"The battle was...difficult…wound..."

“…waiting…”

Impa’s voice is low and carefully measured. It’s like when she was speaking to him of his childhood, all soft tones, but with far more thought into every word as if she's afraid of saying too much and too little all at once. He’s never heard her so worried before.

Did something happen after the battle? Calamity Ganon's defeat should have lessened the effect of Malice across the land, reducing the re-spawn rates of weaker monsters but maybe there was something else he didn’t know about. Reaching out through the Triforce of Courage he doesn't sense anything strange or concerning from Wisdom but that might mean that whatever happened wasn’t physically painful.

Perhaps the Princess Zelda of this time was having nightmares or had some mental trauma after being stuck for one hundred years? He didn’t know but it would make sense. Magic, in general, was finicky, especially magic as complicated as space and time manipulation like what the Zelda of this generation had used would probably be even more difficult.

Though if that was the case, he won’t be much help to her as the holder of the Triforce of Courage, he was weakest of the three when it came to magic...

He struggles to keep his thoughts together as he felt his consciousness slipping as his body starts dragging on his mind. He needs more sleep and more time to rest even though he doesn’t want to. If only he had eaten instead of taking those elixirs, he would be fine...

He slips back into the void, somewhat surprised to discover color instead of darkness. He finds himself sitting on a rock near a grassy field. He's near a cliff edge by one of the shines situated outside Rito Village. He glances towards the east and he can see the sun come up over the horizon. He knows this place well. It's his place, the place he often went to in the real world whenever he needed a break from the rest of the world. Up here, surrounded by mountains and sparse with monsters he's alone. The Rito themselves rarely ventured to this spot on the mountain, instead preferring to sleep within the Village rather than rough it out near the mountain's peak especially since memories of Vah Medoh still lingered in their hearts.

He shifts on the rock, watching the sun climb the sky.

‘Perhaps this was better’, he can’t help but think.

If he had been walking around, Impa and the rest would have put him to work, likely as a messenger between the kingdoms or even as some wandering swordsman slaying monsters across the land. A task that while good for his skills was little more than stalling the enviable. With his duty officially done, he would only a burden upon the Sheikah to house him.

Rebuilding a kingdom demanded resources and manpower, skilled politicians, scholars, and so on and even if no one would comment on his presence immediately they would eventually.

He could particularly see the situation play out, had seen it a dozen times in other lands, during different eras. First, there would be celebrations and parties, notices would be sent out and the kingdom would set about restoring itself. It might take more time, in this era, maybe even years because of the amount of damage, but sooner or later the whispers, and politicking would start. Other races would attempt to bind him to their people, either through blood or marriage and accepting or denying or even doing nothing, would jeopardize his place with his own people. The Zelda of this time would try and shield him for a short time before she stopped, either because the Sheikah persuaded her, or she realized it was a battle she could not fight if she wanted her kingdom.  

Having the Hero of the Sealing Sword was a boon when Calamity Ganon was on the horizon, but after the battle, he was a problem. Memories still lingered for the other races after the deaths of the other champions; his presence was a reminder of that loss. Some like the Gerudo would scorn him, and the Rito might ruffle their feathers about relying on him, but at the end of the day, all races had monsters in their lands far too dangerous for them to defeat. They needed him in their armies and if possible some of them would try and force him into their households either through marriage or parentage. If he stayed with the Zelda of this time, re-building her kingdom would be harder.

And yet...

Perhaps, this was an opportunity in disguise. Staying in bed, would give him valuable time to consider his options, and figure out what his next move might be.

Still, before he made any decisions he needs to take account of what he has. If he still has the Sheikah Slate then he has his collection of weapons and items, including several weather elixirs and any rupees he earned. If he doesn't have it...

He shakes his head, even from his dreamscape he can feel it near him drawing on his Courage to power itself.

He still has it...or at the very least it is near him. If he can get it before he goes, his journey would be easier. If he doesn’t have it, surviving would be harder and his ability to travel would be limited significantly.

But on the flip side, even if he did have the Sheikah Slate, he would need to limit the amount of fighting he did. The last thing he needed was to be tracked down and be found by either the Sheikah or any of the other races and be forced into their politicking.

But then if he didn't fight, what could he do?

He had that house in Hateno Village and even if he ran out of rupees he was an expert in scavenging for food. So that wasn’t an issue, but then would that be all he did? Hiding out in some frontier village and watching the world move on without him? It’s not like he could do some other profession. He had been the hero for so long that it was all he knew. He had very few life skills beyond taking down monsters, and he had never been to school let alone taught anything that didn’t require swinging a sword.

He felt an emptiness within him at the thought.

Like all those other times.

When the battle was over, did he still have a purpose?

Could he survive in peace?

He still didn’t know after so many lifetimes, and he wondered if he would ever know. Fighting had taken up so much of his life that whenever the battles were over and the war was won for his lifetime, he always felt directionless as if his entire life was solely for that moment and the instance the fight was over, his purpose was gone.

Shifting on the rock once again, he looked up feeling lost. The sun was shining overhead, and although he could see the Rito Village from his seat on the rock, the view didn't comfort him. People meant problems and now after Ganon's defeat people meant conflict.

What should he do?

Thinking back to his memories of other lifetimes he still found no clear answers.

In other lifetimes after fulfilling his role as the Hero, he had retreated to the furthest village in the kingdom hoping to fade into obscurity. It never worked of course. The Princess Zelda of that era was always looking for him, and even though she had never intended it she drew all the wrong kinds of attention. After all, royal knights of the court didn't just go around bothering random peasants and even though Link had tried his best to stay out of the limelight, it got increasingly difficult when people started asking questions. Often times the village would eventually figure out who he was and praise him for his deeds, but ultimately being found created the same problems he tried so hard to escape.

Zelda might promise to respect his decision to live a normal life, but sooner or later her hand would be forced. Maybe some powerful Lynel started nesting near the castle and her knights couldn't defeat it, or there was a stampede of Hinox's near the Zora's domain, or Molduga started attacking Gerudo Town, etcetera. The list was endless. He would once again be called into service and problems would start again. People would call for him to train guards or be part of the knights, and once again he would be chained down. The cycle was never-ending.

He had no problem helping people or running quests it was just everything else that he struggled with. He was more than just a weapon. He was just a normal person that wanted to be left alone and yet no one listened.

Something that seemed more and more apparent the more he reincarnated.

Even though he had settled down in other lifetimes it had been more about well…settling than because he wanted to. He would be forced to don the mask of a Hero for the rest of his life, and then he was never free. A hero was needed here, or there. A hero was needed to fight a war, or defeat that monster, and to be more than Hylian, to be goddess blessed so he was put on a pedestal so high he could never see the bottom. If he failed at anything, he was scorned for it. As the Hero, there was no room for being Hylian. He was supposed to be above it all. He wasn't supposed to have nightmares or show up at breakfast tired and drawn, it made people angry at him because it was a reminder that he was just as mortal as the rest of them.

No one could understand his struggles and triumphs and the less they understood the harsher they were. No one liked to see a hero give up—

Muttering in the distance, brought him out his bitter thoughts. Perhaps something had changed. It seemed rather odd that the Shiekah was meeting up with Zelda again.  Straining his ears to catch even a few snippets of the discussion, he reached out to his magic to help him hear better.

“…our scouts have reported monsters disappearing from some of the hillsides…”

“…so peace truly upon us…”

His control on his magic waned and the voices vanished, as Link's emotions went wild.

It was like the floor was falling out from underneath him again.

He knew it was going to happen again, but so soon?

He was going to lose his place again. This time with pieces of himself still missing.

And yet, what would his lingering gain him?

He had been around the Princess Zelda of this generation and still, he was missing memories. Even those pictures she had stored on the Sheikah Slate were nothing more than copies of her memories. They weren't his memories. They didn't contain anything meaningful for him. All they showed was his time as a royal knight and later his term as the Hylian Champion, there wasn't anything more than that. None of his questions had been answered. So nothing was keeping him here. The Sheikah certainly wouldn't mourn him, and he had no one among the people here he could even call a friend let alone an acquaintance.

So leaving was really his best option. Besides the longer he delayed leaving, the harder it was going to be when he was forced out. If he left before it got to that point, he’d save himself some heartache and pain. Princess Zelda was back, and she was all the kingdom needed. She had the Sheikah Clan behind her anyway. What did one champion matter in the grand scheme of things? Surely the Sheikah would be better suited to guarding and advising the princess. They were after all highly educated in academics and politics.

It was better for him to start moving on.

His mind made up, he started trying to move. Thankfully, his eyes were no longer heavy and against the pounding of his head, he was able to get himself into a seated position before he slowly started trying to get up. It was a hard process because his first attempts nearly had him rolling back on to the bed but slowly he managed to get to his feet. It was like he had been fighting for days. His muscles and bones ached with each motion, and even when he thought back to other lifetimes he couldn't remember ever being in such pain even after his battles with Ganon.

Perhaps he was still too weak?

The thought made him frown. Being weak wasn't an option, because even with Ganon’s defeat, he knew there was always Demise to be worried about. He couldn't afford to be weak.

Hopefully, though it would come to that.

Demise shouldn't make an appearance in this timeline. He hadn't in the last lifetime, but there was always the chance. At the very least he could shore up the wards of the Seven Sages, to ensure nothing went wrong. Reaching to his Sheikah Slate, he re-equipped himself, taking a few moments to eat some hearty food he couldn't help but noticed the absence of the other Champions' presences. There was no background mutters, no hint of magic that symbolized he could use their abilities, nothing. It was strange but understandable. He had defeated Ganon, so there was no need for their spirits to linger any longer. He had gotten used to their odd and sometimes random words of advice, that now that he was alone, he felt lonely—

Pushing his emotions to the back of his mind, as he threw the leftover Kabob sticks into his inventory. He didn't have time to ponder on his loses. Soon enough someone would be checking in on him, and he'd rather avoid having his escape or his intentions known.

Pulling out the Shekiah Slate he clicked on the map.

According to it, he was currently in Kakariko Village, if he teleported to the Lakna Rokee Shine in the forest East of Kakariko he would be able to check Demise's wards. The seal would probably be weakened soon if it hadn't already, and if he went now he might be able to keep it in check for a while longer instead of having to fight it.

After all, now that Ganon was gone, Demise was likely to be temporarily weak as well, and if this time's Zelda was being guarded by the Sheikah. A few more hours wouldn't mean more in the grand scheme of things considering he wasn't going to be her personal knight anymore anyway. As was tradition, the Hero was released from duty after he defeated Ganon and given leave to do as he pleased. It was one of the few stipulations he always asked for any time he had taken on the mantle of a hero, and now that his duty was done, there was nothing to tie him down.

Besides the quicker he left, the more likely he could head off anyone trying to scheme him into marrying this Princess Zelda. As much as she had grown as a person, his memories were too tainted, for him to ever consider a relationship with what was essentially one of his children, even if they technically weren't related.

Pushing that thought from his mind, he tapped on the shrine and feeling himself go weightless vanished into the void.

XXxxxxXX

If he had been present, even a moment later he would have seen the chaos brought on by his disappearance.

XXxxxxXX

Next Chapter | Read on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

Glorious Days of Autumn #1

[King’s Avatar /全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán ]

Next Chapter | Glorious Days of Autumn on AO3

Summary: At first, it was just talking. Whispers and comments whenever it was quiet and sometimes when it wasn't. He assumed it was just his headphones going bad, or perhaps something to do with the internet connection but after he switched headphones several more times and no one else was having the same issues he grew suspicious and confused.And then One Autumn Leaf appeared and everything went downhill.

XXxxxxxXX

Chapter #1: Autumn Spendor

XXxxxxxXX

At first, it was just talking. Whispers and comments whenever it was quiet and sometimes when it wasn't. He assumed it was just his headphones going bad, or perhaps something to do with the internet connection but after he switched headphones several more times and no one else was having the same issues. He grew suspicious and confused.

For a while, he focused in closer on his health, wondering if this was the result of too many nights staying up and leveling or even the amount of jobs he was taking on. But even when he started going to sleep earlier and eating more, the whispers remained growing in both volume and tone.

It was like standing in the middle of the busy street. He could hear the chattering of background noise and occasionally a word here and there, but for the most part, he was unable to hear the conversation. It was frustrating and although it made him a little more cautious, and a little more annoyed he resolved to ignore it all.

He had no time to dwell on voices only he could hear.

The first server opened in a few hours.

XXxxxxXX

Although Ye Xiu could ignore most of the whispers, what he couldn't ignore was the see-through images of people. They were almost entirely white, and then little by little color was filled in, and instead of simply seeing them before and after he logged off his Glory account Ye Xiu started seeing them everywhere.

He saw them walking randomly through the halls and watching from corners. Most of them were following a person, sometimes several of them following a person, before they vanished. A couple of times they walked through walls, or even other people but they were constantly there.

It made Ye Xiu wonder if perhaps H city was haunted and he pondered this as he stood outside the small apartment he shared with Su Miqiu and Su Mucheng. As far as he knew none of his family was known for anything beyond the norm.

Making his way back into the apartment Ye Xiu logged back on to his computer and brought up QQ. Ye Qiu had been bothering him a lot recently, so he might as well make his brother do some research.

XXxxxxXX

"I said I didn't find anything," Ye Qiu said, looking through the stacks of paper once again before he went back to his phone. "Why? Is something going on? You never cared about our family's history before." [1]

Ye Xiu signed and debated explaining the situation.

If he explained he might get some answers, but then he would have to deal with Ye Qiu worrying.

Decisions, decisions...

"I've been seeing things. And hearing voices."

“Excuse me?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN EVERYTHING IS OK?!" A loud and very angry voice said from Miqiu's cell phone yelled. "NOTHING IS OKAY!"

"So research it." Ye Xiu told him lighting a cigarette as he moved the phone away from his ears. There was no need for speaker mode, his brother was loud enough on his own.

"Research how?" Ye Qiu hissed. "Mental issues are not curable!"

"...."

XXxxxxXX

"How was your brother?" Su Miqiu asked leveling another character for a job.

Ye Xiu paused, his character in Glory still. "He was worried."

Su Miqiu laughed. "Again?"

Ye Xiu didn't elaborate, instead changing the subject. "Your character is dying."

XXxxxxXX

"Ye Qiu go home." Ye Xiu said signing.

"NO! You, you...!" Ye Qiu burst into tears.

Ye Xiu cringed.

Maybe he would have been better off saying nothing.

He had forgotten what a crybaby his brother was.

XXxxxxXX

Thankfully, for Ye Xiu sanity, and Ye Qiu's nerves, the answer made itself known a few hours later. When the duo happened to see a news report detailing another strange occurrence of avatars appearing, Ye Qiu released his grip on his brother and reached for his phone.

In minutes the two brothers were scanning through page filled with information.

Apparently avatars were a thing...?

Ye Qiu sighed.

Why did his brother always end up in such troublesome things?

XXxxxxXX

The next day before leaving, Ye Qiu forced a phone into his hands and demanded Ye Xiu keep in touch.

Ye Xiu rolled his eyes but promised anyway.

His brother was such a worrier.

XXxxxxXX

The years came and passed and it was only hours after winning their first championship that things started to escalate further.

After seeing all his teammates off to their rooms, and taking a seat at his computer desk as he waited for Glory to load, he was surprised to find a very familiar person in black appear next to him. Removing his cigarette from his mouth and extinguishing it into the ashtray Ye Xiu gave his full attention to One Autumn Leaf.

"I greet my Creator and Master."

Ye Xiu blinked not quite sure what to say but nodding.

One Autumn Leaf smiled and with a shamelessness that equaled Ye Xiu, took his master's hand and putting his lips against it.

Ye Xiu froze.

XXxxxxxXX

Unfortunately, Ye Xiu's problems did not end when One Autumn Leaf left because the next morning he found himself being visited by yet another avatar.

Desert Dust.

Like an animal cornered, Ye Xiu froze.

Hopefully, this version of his rival wouldn't want to fight him. Real-world Ye Xiu was terrible in a fight. But just in case, Ye Xiu reached for his account card slowly...and then he felt a pressure on his shoulder.

Desert Dust was patting him...?

"Good Fight." The fierce striker said before vanishing into thin air.

Thankfully, that would be the end of his visitors for a while, Ye Xiu thought to himself reaching for his cigarettes and taking a long breath and slowly de-stressing.

After all, avatars were rare. Surely there couldn't that many more appearing.

XXxxxxxXX

(It was only later on that he would understand how wrong he was.)

Next Chapter | Glorious Days of Autumn on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

Falling into Autumn #1

[King’s Avatar /全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán ]

Next Chapter | Falling into Autumn on AO3

Summary: After a poison attempt goes wrong, Ye Qiu finds himself having to step into his brother shoes...and finds himself completely out of his depth. Ye Xiu is, of course, unapologetic and Su Mucheng is having too much fun. Excellent Era was not prepared for this new twist on their captain. Takes place in between Season 5 and 6.

XXxxxxxXX

Chapter #1:  Ye Qiu is not a gamer / Ye Xiu is Cute

XXxxxxxXX

It was as Ye Xiu was leaving his home after yet another fight with his parents that the impossible happened.

Grabbed from behind and dragged roughly into an alleyway, Ye Xiu struggled and fought against the people in dark cloaks. He could see a car only a few feet away and he knew instinctively that if he was forced into it he might never be seen again.

Scratching furiously at the arms and biting deep on the hand around his mouth Ye Xiu put every bit of self-defense training he had into practice. He twisted his arm and pulled himself away from the man holding him. Spinning around he punched the other man in the face sending him to the wall behind him with a sickening crack. There were two men left, and as one ran forward with a syringe in his hands Ye Xiu used his arms to protect his head, even as he felt the sting pain of the needle to his left arm and pushed the other man back, throwing him to the ground.

Ye Xiu fought desperately drawing up every ounce of energy possible. He may not have taken up martial arts like his brother, but that didn't mean he was completely defenseless. He too had been trained briefly in self-defense before he had run away. The last man shifted from side to side and slammed Ye Xiu into a wall catching him off guard. The man snaked his hands around Ye Xiu trying to suffocate him. Whether into unconsciousness or until death mattered little.  Ye Xiu was having trouble breathing and spots started to appear in his vision.

He needed to get free now.

But how?

His strength wasn't enough, but maybe—

He remembered the pen in his upper coat pocket.

Reaching his other hand to his chest coat pocket, he slid a metal pen out—one he had swiped off his brother’s desk earlier— and stabbed it deep into the arm around his neck.

The man howled and threw Ye Xiu at the ground cursing at him, and clutching his bloody arm pen still lodged in it. The man growled and pulled out the pen roughly, advancing on Ye Xiu, anger burning in his eyes. Ye Xiu scrabbled around for another weapon, anything to help him. Spotting the heavy case on the ground next to him Ye Xiu reached for it and grabbing it, threw it with all the force he could into the face of the kidnapper.

His aim was true and the man saw only a black blur before he was knocked unconscious, slumping to the ground. He was bleeding from several points from his head but he wasn't getting up.

Finally.

It was over.

Rubbing at his sore neck, Ye Xiu reached for his phone and dialed his brother’s number, no doubt his parents would want to have a chat with the men. Waiting as the call connected Ye Xiu rubbed his left arm too, finally feeling the pain he had to ignore while on adrenaline. His arm was starting to burn painfully and his body felt hot. Very hot.

Why was everything so hot?

Ye Xiu got his answer when minutes later his clothes no longer fit him and he looked up to see the panic in his younger brother’s eyes.

“Gege…?” Ye Qiu whispered voice caught in his throat. Ye Xiu wondered how bad he looked when even his brother looked that worried. But he had more important things to worry about as he was picked up and raced into the Ye Mansion. His wounds still bothered him and his neck was likely bruised from the attempted strangling considering his voice wasn't working too well.

Placed onto his old bed Ye Xiu suffered though the battery of questions from both his parents and his brother while orders were barked out. Unlike a few hours ago when his father refused to even look at him, and his mother was frowning at him, both were pale and conversing in the corner of his room. Ye Xiu saw security, and household maids and even members of the extended Ye Family cycle through his room while the Ye Family doctor checked over his wounds noting them and then taking pictures of them before he started on his treatment. The doctor rubbed medicine and bandages around his injuries primarily on his arm and neck before moving away to talk to his parents.

His brother helped him into soft fleece pajamas that were only a bit big on him, before helping him to bed even though he wasn't sleepy. He gave his brother a rather exasperated look, but nothing seemed to get through as his brother simply tucked him back into bed, heads shaking. Ye Xiu sighed and patting his brother's head reached out to his twin. Ye Qiu blinked at him, taken off guard by the action so Ye Xiu took the initiative and hugged him. Ye Qiu looked like he needed the comfort, and even if hugging wasn't something the twins normally did Ye Xiu wasn't going to deny his twin comfort.

Except, now his parents looked worried. His father's voice was becoming more heated, and corse as he watched the pair. Ye Xiu frowned, mind already connecting the dots. His parents thought he had mentally reverted to his younger self when his body shrunk, and his lack of a voice as well as his sudden affection to Ye Qiu wasn’t helping matters. Moving back from Ye Qiu, Ye Xiu grabbing his phone from his bedside table and started typing out a message to his brother, hoping to thoroughly disprove any assumptions before they got too far.

He only half succeeded, if the looks on his parents’ faces were any indication.

After the men were moved off to ‘somewhere’ (Ye Xiu figures it’s better not to know with his family), and interrogated, as well as their items searched, it was discovered that their actual target was not, in fact, Ye Xiu but Ye Qiu. According to the documents they carried and they were supposed to kidnap/drug Ye Qiu. When Ye Xiu had left earlier without 'his' security the kidnappers had jumped at the chance, even though it was within steps of the Ye Residence, unknowing that it was Ye Xiu instead of his brother they had attacked. Ye Xiu himself had simply managed to get caught in the middle of this scheme and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“So they were trying to get to you,” Ye Xiu muttered casually. He wasn’t blaming his brother, rather just affirming what he had speculated. Ever since he had run away three years ago, there had been few if any actual publicity of him as the original heir of the Ye Family, originally because of his father, and later on because he simply wasn’t around.

Ye Qiu winced, no doubt feeling guilt over his brother's situation.

Reaching out to his little brother, Ye Xiu ruffled his hair again. “This wasn’t your fault.” He told him, his smile soft before he looked at his hands, flexing them slowly thinking.

If he wasn’t mistaken, his brother did have a computer… and he did have his account card.

“Ye Qiu, do you still have a computer?”

Ye Qiu looked at his brother in disbelief, already connecting the dots.

“You were nearly kidnapped and de-aged and you want to play games? “

And yet, contrary to the conversations held earlier, playing games was apparently the correct answer.

Somehow.

Ye Qiu was still trying to figure out what logic his brother was using because now their parents were not only fully agreeing with their eldest but they fully supported his brother’s plan.

They even went so far as to set a team to research everything Glory because they wanted to know how a professional gaming company had managed to protect one of their sons while their elite teams had failed.

It didn't take long for everyone, Ye Xiu included, to figure out why. Both pairs of grandparents were funding the alliance and keeping an eye on Ye Xiu. Their father, in particular, made a face like he had swallowed a lemon, while their mother looked incredibly unhappy. It was well known in the Ye Family that Ye Xiu was the favored grandchild, and between their father and Ye Xiu, their grandparents would always spoil Ye Xiu shamelessly. When Ye Xiu had run away,  it was no secret that their grandparents had been unhappy with their parents, both sets pointing out the many limitations set upon the twins and the number of other relatives that could or wanted to be groomed to run the company.

Even three years on, and family events were full of awkwardness and tension when Ye Xiu's seat continued to remain empty.

Ye Qiu himself felt the whole thing was a little unfair to their parents considering how impossible his brother was.  Ye Qiu knew firsthand the kind of shamelessness his brother could dish out and considering his brother constantly played his parents even before he ran away Ye Qiu could empathize with his parents.

(Ye Qiu tries hard not to think of the times with the frogs and shivers.)

Unfortunately, Ye Qiu had never managed to keep his emotions in check when it concerned his brother and he made the terrible mistake of saying so out loud.

Ye Xiu's reply was swift and shameless.

“Who was it that wanted to run away first? I'm sure Mother and Father still don't know about that time you stole my ID in high school or that time—”

Ye Qiu tossed a pillow at him, cheeks burning.

"Shut up!"

“I said left, not right.” Ye Xiu said frowning as he watched his brother attempt to work his way through the beginner dungeons. Again.

It had been a few hours since his parents had decided to follow through on his brother's scheme and even though he was training with Ye Xiu every minute they weren’t eating or sleeping, his progress was incredibly slow. Just moving his character across the screen was taking all of his concentration and the fact that he had to know more than the average player so he could masquerade as his brother, who was using his name just made it all the more infuriating. For all that Ye Qiu had played some games when he was younger, he did not remember any of them being this complicated.

“Attack its eyes, not its feet.” Ye Xiu repeated watching as his brother once again failed to land a hit.

“I’m trying!” Ye Qiu hissed fingers shaking and cramping up.

Ye Xiu watched him struggle with the controls thinking hard.

At this rate, his brother wouldn’t be ready to go on stage any time soon.

“Stop,” Ye Xiu said taking the mouse from his brother. “New tactic, I’ll play and you’ll watch. We’ll run down all the classes and then work on your skills later.” Vacation had only started, he still had a few weeks to get his brother playing at the pro level, but knowledge would work for now.

Climbing into his brother's lap, Ye Xiu took over the computer and logged off the character his brother was using. Reaching for the clear case that held several leveled character cards Ye Xiu drew a witch.

“Now, watch carefully…”

Thankfully, Ye Xiu wasn’t the only one thinking ahead, as the next day his grandparents made an appearance, and with them the current vice-chairman of the Glory Alliance, Zhang Wei.

Together with his grandparents, they go over the steps necessary to allow Ye Xiu to play.

During every match, his brother will go into a computer booth, but instead of controlling his character, Ye Xiu will be in control in a separate room. It’s a simple solution to a problem Ye Xiu had been worried about, and although Ye Xiu is very thankful, he can see his grandparents plotting.

No doubt this help will not come free, and when they finally lay out what they want, Ye Xiu knows he is trapped.

He should have seen this coming.

“So you’re going to model for Grandmother’s clothes brand…” Ye Qiu said gleefully, the moment he sees his brother.

Ye Qiu watches as his brother picks up the pages for the modeling contract like he’s picking up a dead rat.

Ye Xiu stares at him, a little confused before it hits him that his brother doesn’t know about the arrangement between them and their grandparents before turning to smile at Ye Qiu.

“Yes, but I’m not going to be the only one. Grandfather is eager to put you to work.” Ye Xiu says ignoring his brother's shriek of anger.  No one had told him.

“What work? What did you do?“ Ye Qiu demands, his hands crossed.

Ye Xiu tries to not laugh at the face Ye Qiu is making. His brother so dearly reminds him of a red panda trying and failing to be tough.

Turning back to the computer, Ye Xiu adjusts some more settings. “If you want to know, you should catch up to grandmother. She seemed eager to file the paperwork.”

Seconds later, his brother races out of his room, trying to look dignified as he tries to find their grandparents and hopefully to put a stop to whatever was going on.

Ye Xiu smiled to himself.

He had forgotten to mention that their grandparents had already left.

To say that Tao Xuan was surprised to hear Ye Qiu detailing his later than planned arrival from his mysterious family was like saying the sun was a little hot or the ocean was a little wet. It was a huge understatement. Ye Qiu worked the hardest in Excellent Era and often wouldn't leave the Excellent Era building if he wasn't forced.

And yet, even this fact paled in comparison to the fact that Ye Qiu had requested a meeting with him. So when the day arrived and Tao Xuan cleared his schedule knowing that something had happened to the captain of Excellent Era, he was prepared for any number of things.

What he wasn't prepared for was Ye Qiu to arrive accompanied by a smaller child, who was evidently his younger brother. Ye Qiu had always been so secretive about his family and yet here he was in front of him talking about them. Ye Qiu spoke evenly about an undisclosed incident that had happened and due to reasons his younger brother was no longer able to stay at home. Therefore their parents had sent his younger brother to him and had even gone so far as to get permission from the alliance and it had been approved.

Tao Xuan was equal parts, confused, and worried over everything that is presented to him.

What did that even mean?

“Brother Tao, you don’t need heart medicine do you?” The child, Ye Xiu asked him a few minutes later in that exact same tone that Ye Qiu did. It was too similar to Ye Qiu that Tao Xuan was blindsided.

Was the Ye Family genes that strong that even the brothers' mannerisms were that similar?

It truly made him wonder.

And then as if Ye Qiu hadn’t just dropped a huge metaphorical bomb on him, he went on to announce that some people were waiting outside to talk him about a sponsorship, that Tao Xuan nearly dropped his cigarette. At Ye Qiu's words, a woman in a crisp, rich looking suit entered, flagged by two taller men in black suits.

Everything about them screamed money and tons of it, and as they went over the conditions for the sponsorship Tao Xuan could barely contain himself as he wrote his signature on the crisp, white pages. Tao Xuan had always hoped a big sponsorship would come to Excellent Era, but never had he dreamed that the sponsorship would come from Ye Qiu's mysterious and super-rich family.

When the women, Yu Yan of the Golden Leaf Corporation, finished the paperwork; Tao Xuan was still in complete disbelief.

The amount was mind blogging, and the terms were more than generous. As long as Ye Qiu was supported during his time with Excellent Era they would never want for anything money-wise. It was both a boon and a curse. Tao Xuan knew to never to cross Ye Qiu's family. There lay danger in doing so.

Reaching out a hand, he picked up his phone.

He had much work to do.

"Ye Qiu, right?" Su Mucheng said catching them in the hallway afterward. She had noticed the difference immediately between the twins. Years, of living and interacting with Ye Xiu meant she could easily tell the difference. When her eyes met Ye Xiu's she squealed, and hugged him, apparently overcome with happiness. "So cute!"

Ye Xiu smiled warmly. "You were cuter as a child." He countered, leading the pair into an elevator.

Su  Mucheng blinked at the response.  "Ye Xiu? How are you so tiny?" She asked frowning.

Ye Xiu pointed at his brother. "It's his fault."

Ye Qiu hisses at his brother, dignity be damned.

Su Mucheng giggles.

XXxxxxXX

Next Chapter | Falling into Autumn on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

How Social Media Infected the Glory Pro Circle #1

(or Conversations Most of the Glory Pro Community Would Like to Forget Existed) 

[King’s Avatar /全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán ]

Next Chapter |  Read on AO3

Summary: Or Ye Xiu is forced to deal with his fans. No one saw what was coming next.Because the alliance wants more exposure (i.e. fame) for the pro gamers, all pros are mandated to respond to questions from the fans.Naturally, this leads to some...strange conversations and some stranger answers. Likely will lead into AU TKA UniversePart Story, and TKA fun. Will include some social media.

XXxxxxxXX

Chapter #1: When Reddit Happens

XXxxxxxXX

Congratulations all! Due to the huge popularity and demand, the alliance is opening a Reddit forum to allow fans to ask their favorite pros questions.

*Note: All pros will be listed with the following style; Team Name/Name

As a reminder, all submitters must abide by the rules. Any inappropriate questions will be removed, and the users will be punished.

Edit #1: Silver Equipment Questions can be directed to a separate AMA here.

Edit #2: Theories and Analysis of Current and Past Matches can be found here.

Edit #3: Everything about the Rare and Mysterious Ye Qiu is on this thread.

New! AMA Ye Qiu Thread, click here.

LastManStanding4all:

What games did you play professionally and how much "training" was required before you were ready for tournament play?

Top Answer (Star) Upvoted 689

Exellent Era (Xue Mingkai): I played plenty of games, but I started really getting serious around the time Glory came out. I played about 4-8 hours a day until I thought I was good enough to start going to tournaments but, it took a few months for me to get good enough to do well at the tournaments.

See all 20+ Pro replies  2.1k Comments Share Save Hide Report  Continue to thread->

Prettyspiteful:

How common is it for a somewhat weaker gamer to beat a stronger one? Is it like baseball where even the Royals will often beat the Yankees, or more like chess where a 1400-rated player will NEVER beat a 1,700.

Top Answer: (Star) Upvoted 894

Tiny Herb (Wang Jiexi): Pretty uncommon. This can vary a lot from game to game but, generally speaking the games and settings are selected to be as skill based as possible with very few random factors. So big upsets can happen but, whenever they do happen they are usually a fairly big deal within that games community.

See all 5+ Pro replies  1.0k Comments Share Save Hide Report  

Newbie2Glory:

Is there one guy who's generally acknowledged as the best all-around pro gamer?

Top Answer: (Mega Star) Upvoted 12k+

Excellent Era (Wu Xuefeng): Captain is generally considered the best player. He is known as the Glory Textbook for his skill and knowledge of all classes, inventing moves, and creating tactics. If you would like to learn or are interested in playing Glory, here are a few of his guides.

*Note: Excellent Era will be uploading the Complete Beginners Guide to Glory By: Ye Qui on their team's website.

See all 30+ Pro replies  10.0k+ Comments Share Save Hide Report  Continue to thread->

Lols4Life:

What's the longest playing session you've ever put in? Do you ever go to bed and see game images dancing in your brain?

Top Answer: (Star) Upvoted 1.4k

Excellent Era (Yin Xiong): I would guess about 8-10 hours, although that would be with a couple breaks in there for food and such. Also, yes, the game images in my mind before going to bed does happen. Constantly. But its better than laps with Xue Mingkai, or dodge practice with Ye Qiu.

     AllergictoSecrets:  What does that last part even mean? More info, please?  Upvoted 5k+

              Excellent Era (Xue Mingkai): Way to out me. Expect more laps Nurse. And fyi YQ is the one who orginally made me run laps. Upvoted 5k+

                      K.Lin: I have so many questions. Upvoted 3.4k+

                            Dazzling Blossoms (Sun Zheping): YQ running laps? I call lie! YQ doesn't do excerise. If he needs to get anywhere he'll just push himself in his computer chair. Upvoted 250+

                               Excellent Era (Qin Tianran): I have to wonder if this is the reason why WXF crushed you so badly in our last fight. YQ doesn't read anything online but vice-cap does and he knows within seconds of someone insulting YQ. Upvoted 1.2k+

See all 16+ Pro replies  37.0k+ Comments Share Save Hide Report  Continue to thread->

Ye Who Shall Not Be Named:

Isn't there a little part of you who misses the days when controllers were no more than A / B + directional arrows? I gave up on videogames once they added 15 different buttons + a rumbling gyroscope or whatever that thing is.

Top Answer: (Star) Upvoted 3.0k

Jade Dynesty (Lin Yi): All the time. Except I don't think I could take it if we were still playing using the old controllers and YQ still managed to beat me.

  Blue Rain (Fang Shijing): Why do all these answers always seem to mention YQ. That guy gets enough attention! Upvoted 1.02k+

    [deleted] Windward Formation comment was removed for cursing.

     See all 19+ Pro replies  3.0k+ Comments Share Save Hide Report

Taking_Notes:

How do gamers get sponsors?

Top Answer: (Star) Upvoted 1.03k

      Hundred Blossoms (Zhang Jiale): Oh boy, I guess I'll answer this question since no one else has. There are a few methods, I'll list the ones I've seen work but there are probably more I don't know about... [click to see rest of comment]

         Excellent Era (Qin Tianran): In the words of captain, 'too bothersome'. Upvoted 987+

              Jade Dynesty (Lin Yi): And yet there are still calls for him to do adversting... Upvoted 1.01k

See all 14+ Pro replies  1.0k+ Comments Share Save Hide Report

SnowDancer:

Can you tell us any interesting facts about pros that aren't really known? (I'm asking about cute stories, or generally facts, I don't want anything too big.)

Top Answer: (Star) Upvoted 15.03k+

Excellent Era (Xue Mingkai): Captain Ye's eyes in pictures. Apparently that actually happens.

 Excellent Era (Wu Xuefeng): His love of waffle fries. Upvoted 4.31k+

   Excellent Era (Xie Ming): His fashion sense. Upvoted 3.54 k+

      Excellent Era (Qin Tianran): Is that why you dragged him and Dancing Rain shopping? Upvoted 5.62k+

         Excellent Era (Xie Ming): Obivously. Though I cannot say whether it worked. Upvoted 6.32k+

              Wild_Fighter: I love how this turned into EE facts.

See all 28+ Pro replies  54.0k+ Comments Share Save Hide Report  Continue to thread->

AskingtheRealQuestions:

I've seen all the pros answer a question at least once,but I've never seen YQ. Is he ever going to answer anything?

Top Answer: (Star) Upvoted 18.31k+

Excellent Era (Yin Xiong): Someone finally noticed.

  Excellent Era (Qin Tianran): Depends if we can unearth him from his gaming chair Glory. Upvoted 5.02 k+

     Excellent Era (Xie Ming): Captain Ye is very hard working. Upvoted 2.31k+

       Excellent Era (Wu Xuefeng): And apparently all knowing because he says to go practice. Upvoted 6.32k+

          Excellent Era (Qin Tianran): %#$%#%#$%#$ Going! I'm going!

              FindinGsOMEAnswers: WXF is team dad, and I ever knew I needed this fact in my life.

Game Master [NM MegaSound]: Due to a huge amount of emails and requests YQ will have his own AMA on this thread.]

Excellent Era (Xue Mingkai) I think I speak for everyone when I say finally. Upvoted 25.49k+

XXxxxxXX

Ye Xiu sighed as he was pushed into learning about Reddit. Ever since the Alliance had managed to gain popularity during its second season, there was a greater focus on advertising that he couldn't quite understand. Pro Gamers, usually seen as lazy, unemployed people were now being thrown into the spotlight and even though he had thus far managed to avoid being forced into doing anything, his luck had apparently run out.

Unlike other interviews and sponsorship meetings that he could get out of by paying a fee, this new Social Media thing was apparently important enough to force changes. Wang Shi, the Chairman himself, had come all the way to Excellent Era and begged him to take part, even offering incentives that he knew Ye Qiu couldn't ignore.

No fees for interviews? Done.

No fees for Sponsorship meetings? Done.

But it was the final two incentives offered by Tao Xuan himself that Ye Xiu had faltered for.

Ownership of both Dancing Rain and Autumn Tree[1] if he answered questions and gained a minimum of 100 asks.

And so, that was how, Ye Xiu found himself in front of a computer, not playing Glory for once but patiently listening to Wu Xuefeng explains the ins and outs of a social media site—

"Do you understand, Captain?" Wu Xuefeng asked leaning back in his chair.

Ye Xiu nodded and watched his vice-captain leave to go lecture Qin Tianran and Xue Mingkai both of whom were starting to fight again.

Moving his mouse to the AMA question email inbox, Ye Xiu started scrolling through the questions already submitted. To his surprise, there was far more than a dozen, or even a hundred. Glancing to his left, he was shocked to see the 999+ hovering by the inbox. He had never thought he would get so many questions, rubbing his eyes, he got to work.

It was going to be a long night.

XXxxxxXX

AMA: Ye Qiu Edition [2]

StraightTalker:  When you tell a non-gamer that you play professionally, do they usually react positively or negatively? What about people you've been romantically interested in?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu)

    I once told one of my family members I was going to play professionally. I ignored the next five minutes of him telling me to go home. Most reactions are negative. The only positive reaction I had was from a friend. Never found anyone romantically because I was too busy winning championchips.

ManBearPig:  What's the weirdest thing you've ever been asked?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu):

      Is Old Han part of the mafia?

SundialQ:  If you hadn't become a battlemage in the pro scene what class would you have choosen?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu):

      Whatever class was needed or useful. Except for Cleric. My friend choose this class for me because there was too few good battlemages when Glory first came out and Battlemage was a highly complicated class.

UbvranCover:  What's one thing you regret about your Glory Career?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu):

     Having to be under spotlights during matches.

PrinceofFluffy:  There are rumors that you are an alien. How do you reply?

OneLeafof Two (Ye Qiu):

     Disbelief. How is this even a question?

CasefilesKK:  When you go out do you keep wearing your mask?

OneLeafof Two (Ye Qiu):

     Without. There's no point to wearing the mask if no one knows what I look like.

BloodFollowsFight:  How do you feel about ALLYe?

OneLeafofTwo (Ye Qiu):

    All What?

OnePieceofGold:  How do you feel about HanYe?

 OneLeafof Two (Ye Qiu):

     What does this even mean? Is Old Han trying to beat me?

See all 29+ Pro replies  387.0k+ Comments Share Save Hide Report

XXxxxXX

That first post is like a spark that seemed to set off everyone in the Glory community. Other pros were weighing in and forums everywhere were exploding as users were screen shotting their questions, most beyond shocked that the highly elusive and rare God of Glory was actually communicating. Wiki pages once so bare of data of the most powerful and shadowy existence that was the battle god were quickly edited and re-edited as more and more answers begun appearing on Reddit.

The moment that the news went viral, the newspapers were filled with information, and before long even more and more questions started being sent to Ye Xiu, to the complete shock of Wang Shi and Tao Xuan, both of whom knew that Ye Qiu had a following the Glory community but neither of them knew it was anything like this.

Already, Ye Qiu's AMA was trending on Weibo and nearly every social site that was even remotely popular, and yet no one was asking him to unmask. It was mind boggling because Ye Qiu thought that would be one of the only questions he would receive, and yet from all the hundreds of questions he answered, it had only appeared a few times.

Unfortunately, even though he had met his goal in the first few hours of his posts, the number of questions in his box was still exploding.

How was he ever going to finish this mess?

XXxxxXX

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long as after Tao Xuan made some calls to the PR group they had on retainer for situations like this. Based on their information and a suitable recommendation, Ye Xiu was given an assistant to help streamline the process, so that instead of him having to type everything manually he could do other things, such as captain his team.

The assistant was incredibly efficient and moved several questions over to a new thread that was due to open in the new week, while she deleted a large number of rather misleading, or crude questions. She worked with him, while he sat at the computer, or at his desk typing up comments to questions.

And so, Ye Xiu thought that was the end of it.

He was wrong.

XXxxxxXX

[1] In this fanfiction Tao Xuan had kept Autumn Tree and he had just been waiting for YX to purchase it back from him. However, even at rock bottom prices, YX was having problems getting the money together while being fined and taking care of Su Mucheng. In addition, as this fanfic takes place during Season 3, I headcanon that Su Mucheng is finishing up in the EE Training camp and her card was purchased (Though I don't know if this is actually a thing that happens.)

[2] Unlike other Reddit thread Ye Qiu is answering questions after the fact, instead of during a time slot like is normally done. I don't know if this possible, or under what circumstances, but here it is.

Reddit will not be the only social media site I add.

Questions were borrowed/created from the AMA on Reddit and Jobstr, all their work belongs to them.

Next Chapter |  Read on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

Daemon’s Fate #6

[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]

Next Chapter | Previous Chapter

Daemon’s Fate on AO3

Summary: When Tsuna wasn’t born with a daemon, it drew attention. He was bullied so much that Nana was forced to take drastic measures. Yet, after Tsuna saves two animals (an abandoned baby phoenix, and a starved lion cub) they start following him around and people (including Reborn and the mafia) start making new assumptions… Poor them. Drabbles and some chapters.

XXxxxxXX

Part 6: What’s Wrong with Being Confident?

XXxxxxXX

Throwing himself on his bed in his room, Tsuna covered his eyes with his right arm. He doesn't really want to see anything right now. Everything that happened downstairs had done nothing but set him off. He hated that name. Hated it so much. It reminded him of so many things, of blood, of bullying and crying. The word alone was enough to make him want to hide to lock himself in his room. But even as he thinks that he knows that's not something he should fall back into. He's someone different now.

He's not Dame-Tsuna anymore, he has familiars. Two of them now, so he isn't lonely anymore. He's different. Older, better than he used to be. He isn't weak. That was his past. He was just Tsuna now. Not Dame-Tsuna.

Yet still, just the thought of the word was enough to make him want to punch something.

The word, that horrible nickname was, coming back to haunt him, in the one place he thought he was safe. He thought he had buried that past, and moved on from it, but Reborn still keeps bringing it up and throwing it at him and he hates him for it. Reborn was everything he never wanted in his life. Reborn was chaos, a connection to his father, and bloodshed. Reborn was darkness playing at civility and he thought he could just walk into the house and destroy any semblance of Tsuna's life and its okay.

It's not okay.

This whole mess is not going to go away.

When Tsuna told Reborn he wasn't going to be a mafia boss, he meant it. Tsuna doesn't care what some far-flung old man wants, or even what his father wants. This is his life, and no one else gets to have a say in it. He's done doing that. He has the scars to prove it.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Tsuna pushes himself up from his bed and leans against his bedroom wall. He would not cry more over this. Crying was worthless. He just needed the calm to return. Taking a deep breath, he started going through his breathing exercises. He started counting backward from a hundred in Japanese and when that wasn't enough, through Italian, and French and then through any other languages he knew. He was a little unsteady, and it took longer then he would have like to calm himself but eventually, his emotions settled.

Tsubird was nuzzling him, cooing softly through his hair while he worked himself out of his breakdown and Natsu rubbed his mane on his arm as he purred. Their strength helping him come back to the present, instead of staying in the past. Patting them both on the head, he smiled softly.

He was okay.

Everything was okay.

He just had a bad dinner.

And that's okay.

Tomorrow is a new day.

XXxxxxXX

Downstairs, Dino and Romario didn't have that same feeling as Nana started to chew out Reborn.

"I don't think you should treat Tsu-kun like that." She says but there's no warmth in her eyes and her fingers are rather tight around her chopsticks. "After all you are a guest, and guests should be polite." She tells him coldness setting in her eyes. It had taken everyone in the room completely off guard, that the sweet mild-manner housewife of only minutes before is now staring down Reborn, the greatest hitman in the world and lecturing him.

Reborn is staring at her, somewhat in surprise. He didn't think Nana could even get angry, and yet she is. Iemitsu noted that his wife was sweet and he had never seen her angry, and yet in the back of his mind, he just assumed she couldn't be angry. Perhaps he should have had his argument with Tsuna in his room after dinner, or done something else. But still, he figures he might as well as say something. The last thing he needed for Nana to get in the way of his tutoring. It would make his job substantially harder if Nana completely evicted him from the house.

What a mess.

"And a polite guest should apologize." She says turning sharply in Reborn's direction. If she seems more dangerous than she did five minutes ago, well Dino thinks its a trick of the light, even as she stabs hard enough through her meat and plate. It has to be. And yet, the room seems colder, darker, and it's causing him to shake. Nana must have left the AC on or something. Even poor Enzo on his shoulder is starting to get cold. Patting his daemon, he barely looks up in time to see Nana stand and glower down at Reborn.

"So I suggest you go and do that," Nana says walking away with her broken plate and a flash of a red liquid as she went past him. He was probably seeing things. Maybe Nana liked her meat a little rare or something. Nana was a civilian, after all, there was little she could do that was threatening, after all, so she was safe, and...

He swallowed weakly.

Why couldn't he get his hands to stop shaking?

XXxxxXX

Contrary to what Nana wanted Reborn did not apologize to Tsuna.

In fact, unlike Reborn's normal routine, he wasn't in the Sawada Residence that night. Nor at breakfast.

Dino noticed this after he retreated to bed, but it was more evident at the breakfast table, where instead of Tsuna putting out the dishes, Nana did so with a loud clatter. Her smile was still cold and although she made note of Reborn absence from the residence, that didn't stop her from trying to interrogate Dino at the breakfast table. Tsuna was no help to him, simply picking up his own breakfast plate from his mother and retreating to his room.

The only back-up Dino had was his right-hand man who was sitting behind him, but even that wasn't enough to stop his hands from shaking again.

Dino knew Nana was a civilian, but something about her was causing every single one of his senses to tell him to run. Something about her was dangerous even though he knew better and it was creeping him the hell out. If he could get his legs to stop shaking he might have excused himself, but something about the look in her eyes freezes him in place.

He ignored the voice in the back of his mind that says it because he's afraid of turning his back to her.

Instead, he simply goes through breakfast trying to eat as quickly as possible and answer as truthfully as he could.

Don't lie, the voice tells him. Or she'll know.

Shallowing his food, Dino goes over what he knows about the Sawada Residence, trying fruitlessly to remember if Nana's profile had sent up any flags when he completed the background check, but even he combs through what he knows, nothing about her past remotely sound dangerous. Her last job before she had been married had been a secretary for god sake. Why was he so scared?

And why is the room still so cold?

He shouldn't be cold, he's wearing his jacket.

And he's got to get out of here—

"Please stop Kaa-san," Another voice says cutting through Dino's fear. "Dino-nii isn't responsible for Reborn," Tsuna tells her appearing from behind him. Dino hadn't even noticed his younger brother was back in the room. How had he managed that? Had he really been that distracted by Nana?

Glancing sideways at Romario he sends him look, wondering if perhaps his right hand had managed to sense Tsuna, but received a denial. Neither Mafioso had sensed, or seen Tsuna enter the room. Perhaps Tsuna was more gifted then even Reborn knew. Tapping into the power of a daemon was something most people only gained after they reached adulthood. For Tsuna to be already able to use his daemon's traits was promising.

"I wanted to be sure," Nana said, patting Tsuna on the head. "Reborn has yet to apologize after all...and it wouldn't do if something happened to him before he talked to you."  She said turning back to her plate.

And yet, something about she said that made goosebumps appear on Dino's skin. Was this really the same person who had warmly welcomed him into the house the day before? Her whole presence was like a completely different person.

"Are you alright?" Tsuna says coming up to Dino. He leans forward, tilting his head, looking concerned. "Kaa-san can be a little...intense when she's upset."  Natsu is sitting on his right shoulder, while Tsubird is perched on Tsune's head. Both are looking at him rather concerned, for once in complete agreement.

It makes Dino smile.

"Thanks."

"Any time," Tsuna replies. "Any time."

XXxxxXX

Finishing off, his report. Reborn hit 'send'.

He'd deal his student in a bit.

For now, he needed to get the Ninth up to speed.

XXxxxxXX

So I have feelings about bullying. Lots of them, that may or may not be seen here. Tsuna has been through some pretty terrible experiences and Reborn is just adding to Tsuna's grief. I get that KHR is supposed to be comedic, but I take issue with the fact that anyone thinks bullying is okay. It's not. Reborn needs to get his head out of his ass and listen to his student. No means no.

Also, a short chapter is short, and I regret how tiny it is. More than a chapter, this is probably more of an interlude.

Next Chapter | Previous Chapter

Daemon’s Fate on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

In the Face of Adversity, A Flower Bloom #1

[My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia]

Next Chapter | In the Face of Adversity, A Flower Blooms on AO3

Summary:The fact he was given some mystical bullshitty flower power quirk should have been the first hint that his life sucked. Unfortunately, life hated him far too much to let sleeping dogs lie, and feels he needs to suffer more.(Yoko Kurama-esque powers Izuku and a world made to crumble beneath its own weight.)

XXxxxxXX

Chapter One: Into Diverging Paths and Vicious Thorns

XXxxxxXX

The fact he was given some mystical bullshitty power over flowers should have been the first hint that his life was going to suck.

Unfortunately, life hated him far too much to let that be the end of it. By the time he had reached eight years old, yet another thing happened that completely and utterly made him curse the world.

For one thing, no one but him seems to see the small fragments of light that fell from the sky. It was like shiny snow falling from the sky. His mother didn't seem to notice it and neither did anyone else. When he mentioned as much to Kacchan he was given one of those dismissive and irritating looks before being pushed away. Eventually, everyone called him a liar and it got to the point where he didn't mention it to anyone. He'd just shrug and go about his day.

He didn't mention his new quirk to his mother or anybody else, first because he thought it was a stupid quirk, and second because he had seen what happened to kids who had terrible quirks. Ichikawa from class 3-A was bullied because all he could do was put his hair on fire. Naomi from class 2-B could enlarge the size of her breasts at will and as such started getting some rather dubious offers from the student community and those are just the ones he could think of off the top of his head. The list went on and on. People who had dumb, terrible or useless quirks were thrown to the bottom of the social ladder. If they tried to fight back they were scorned by their teachers and family members alike for acting out in anger. To the world, it was their fault for being born weak, while people who had strong quirks were above it all.

He watched this and started to write in his notebooks. Pages that were once filled with his analysis of heroes started becoming filled with harsh words against the people around him. He had no one to talk to and no friends to help him, so little by little, he grew cynical and cold. In another universe, he might have been nicer, more resilient but in this one, he grew cold against the world.

How could he not?

In the face of such pain and despair, he grew angry and vicious.

This was not the world he wanted to live in.

(And so he wrote. Pen in red ink and anger against the world.)

XXxxxxXX

[Age 8.5 to Age 10]

If the flowers in his neighborhood seem to last longer and be brighter, more vibrant than anywhere else he never let on why. His quirk was stupid enough already. The last thing he needed was to be bullied for his stupid flower power or if an adult had found out, sent to juvie for unauthorized quirk usage.

Time passed and he got older and older and several things changed in his life.

Kacchan had long abandoned him, instead spending his time with all his little groupies and bullying him whenever he was seen. His mother sensitive soul that she was, became more fragile and more sensitive since he was declared quirkless. She started micromanaging him, getting him a phone and demanding to know where he was every second of the day. If he was late with a text or a phone call she would get upset. She didn't ask about dreams or goals or hopes for the future. She simply told him to focus on school and put brochures of menial jobs on his desk every so often. She didn't use her quirk in the house. She didn't talk about quirks. It was almost like she was ashamed of him. Her looks of love turned into looks of pity and she demanded more out of him.

Better grades, better this, better that but the more she asked the more imprisoned he felt.

And he got that.

He understood why she was sad and frustrated but in the back of his mind he couldn't help but hate her a little. He had told her about the shiny snow and the plants but she wouldn't listen to him no matter what he showed her. The fact that he was titled quirkless by some doctor seemed to invalidate him as a person in every single way. The doctor said he was delusional and refusing to face the truth and she believed the doctor instead of her son. His worthiness as a person wasn't equal to his quirk, because he was still a human being even if he didn't have a registered power. But still, she didn't see that. She treated him for all intents and purposes like a very stupid, very troublesome pet and she was the caretaker fed up with him.

But it was manageable. Sort of.

Unfortunately, when word got around the neighborhood, people started to whisper behind his back, and they started to point at them, made fun of them as they held them up is an example of what not to be.

"Look at them," They'd say. "That's what happens when your son is quirkless."

"No wonder the father abandoned them." They'd whisper.

And on and on it would go. They speak of dark things, of secrets and affairs and divorces, to the point that he was feeling constantly angry to the people around him. He was smarter than they all thought he was and noticed their actions a mile away. They always stopped talking as soon as he neared them and pointed at him. It was obvious they were talking about him.

It started to get to him after a while that he was feeling a little less than charitable and he acted out in the only way he could.

If Satou-san garden wouldn't grow, or Nana-san found rotting vegetables in the fridge every so often or any of the dozens of things that went wrong in the neighborhood, well that had nothing everything to do with him.  Things just happened. Bad luck couldn't have happened to set of worse people. Still, he was careful not to do anything too severe and not too often lest anyone start getting suspicious about a quirk being used. Even those moments of lashing out did nothing to tame the loneliness he felt.

With his mother away at work constantly he looked towards the computer to give him some company, diving deep into the internet and started exploring. He watched dozens of videos on dozens on subjects and when that got boring he switched off to reading anything he could get his hands on. Wheather that was manga or medical knowledge, he read anything and everything. He browsed cookbooks and math books and social studies books. He read about princes and kingdoms and policies and laws.

Every day was something new and exciting that was waiting to be explored.

If he felt like learning something special, then he learned it using Youtube videoes for guidance. The subject didn't matter, because when he was online he was a person. He had everything he could ever want online. There were chat forms and fanfiction forms and everything under the sun. For the first time in his life, he felt alive. Because online, no one knew who he was.

He could gush about the newest manga chapter or the newest medical discovery and people talked to him. It was so amazing.

He was happy for a little while until his mom came home.

She was always grumpy when she came home. Stressed and worn, she was an office lady that refused to come home. Even though there was no need to work, (Hisashi sent them enough money to live on) she had gone back to work. Maybe it was her attempt to escape the situation at home, maybe it was guilt, regardless nothing was ever the same since that appointment to the quirk doctor a few years ago.

It used to be that when Izuku came home dinner would be waiting for him on the table. Now he made dinner and took care of the house. He had learned what most people learned in their early twenties. He could cook and clean and wash the laundry. He knew how to pay the bills and when to put out the trash. He had become an adult in the body of a child. The internet had enabled him to learn everything he needed to know while his father's money had given him financial freedom his mother refused to even contemplate.

Unlike his mother's pay which she put into a bank account, his father's support was wired into an account linked to debit card. The money was sent automatically every month at a certain time and day. It was a substantial amount good for taking care of a child and good enough for a mother being out of work. His mother had given him the card a long time ago and had never asked for it back and since she was never home she never received the bank statements either. Izuku used the money to buy everything from groceries to plant seeds. He spent the money on frivolous things and an online school that he granted him a level of freedom he knew his mother would never allow him.

He prepared himself for a life outside that house and he did everything possible to ensure it. Someday he knows his father's money will run out, and when that time comes he knows he has to be ready. There may even come a point when his mother leaves him, so he needs to ready for anything. So he trains during the early mornings before he heads to school.

He practices his quirk with the various plant seeds he buys, and random weeds that he brings in from the outside. He practices controlling them and making them do things. He practices everything. He tries to make them grow bigger, smaller, wider, heavier and even turns them to dust. He tries to mutate them, and change them from a non-poisonous plant to a poisonous plant, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. He learns to form flowers instantly from seeds and turn them back.

Besides his little experiments and his little pranks his quirk mostly goes unused, until he stumbles over a certain anime and suddenly he's filled with possibilities.

There are suddenly a million and one things he can do with his quirk.

Poisons, and Homeopathic healing, and even fighting. Minamino Shuichi used flowers as his weapon and to heal his teammates so why couldn't he? Sure, he may not have had spirit energy but the principal was still the same. Kurama could use plants and so could he.

He just needed to try.

XXxxxxXX

I have no f****** idea what I'm doing. This fanfiction wrote itself. I didn't plan for it and the plot is probably Swiss cheese. I have no idea if I'm going to continue it or leave it as a One-Shot. Let me know what you think. Keep in mind I have issues with this anime, so many issues. So if I do continue it, expected to be sassy, sarcastic and probably somewhat random if not a little cracky.

Next Chapter | In the Face of Adversity, A Flower Blooms on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

I’m on Vacation #3

[Katekyo Hitman Reborn] (hints of other manga/anime)

Next Chapter | Previous Chapter

I’m on Vacation on AO3

Summary: Tsuna had just saved the world from ending (after going through some epic journey and getting stronger. Maybe he gains psychic powers or some sort of metahuman powers) and he finally, finally returns home after months/years only to be faced with Reborn.

Features: BAMF Tsuna with utterly no fucks to give about anything, beyond the people he cares about…

The Magical Mage AU only some people asked for and that I put too much thought into and ended up with a fanfiction.

XXxxxxXX

Chapter #3: I Think I Hate You

XXxxxxXX

Tsuna doesn't even bother trying to hide that he's leaving.

His next destination is the Hibari Compound and if the murder baby wants to try and sneak in, well more power to him. It's not Tsuna's job to warn him about the Hibari's. Hell, Tsuna didn't even want the baby tutoring him in the first place, so not his problem.

Stepping back onto the streets, Tsuna turns to the right, heading into the older section of town. Even though the Hibari's weren't responsible for the creation of Namimori they were one of the main sponsors that helped the town get built. They had originally funded important infrastructure like the schools, and the library and were still highly influential in Namimori politics. Even to this day, they were known to take control of random assets of Namimori and set them straight, like the current child, who if Tsuna wasn't mistaken was currently trying to shape up the rather poor school system that was Namimori Public Elementary School.

Which reminds him, he should probably bring a gift or something. The Hibari's were very particular about traditions.

He thought about it for all of a minute.

Nah.

Weapon baby was still following him, and even if he was a Sink, he was still probably a decent fighter. Tonfa boy would probably like that. That should be enough of a gift.

Stepping in front of a large, traditional Japanese gate, Tsuna raised his hand, pressing on the intercom by the door. After a second, a voice answered.

"Local Business? Or a contract?"

Tsuna smiled. "Both. I only bring quality entertainment, after all."

A second voice scoffed. No doubt one of the Hibari's were listening in. They were canny enough to know, that his reasons for visiting were important.

"And your follower?"

Tsuna smiled, all teeth and no warmth.

"Do what you want with my stalker. He's my gift to you. Though be careful, he's possibly the closest thing to a gun-wielding Tonberry you're going to get on this side of the world."

There was silence after that comment, probably because they were trying to figure out his comment but in the end, it didn't matter because the gate started to open.

Instead of admitting only him, Tsuna noticed that the gate was open for several moments, no doubt letting in his rather annoying stalker. Boring baby could have been literally anyone and they just let him in through the front door like he was the mailman or something.

Talk about terrible security. Or maybe arrogance.

It made his fingers itchy. If Hiei saw this he would have a conniption.

But, whatever, not his problem.

Walking inside, Tsuna nodded to the one servant waiting for him in the entryway and let them lead him inside. He wasn't stupid enough to attempt to navigate himself through the labyrinth that was known as the Hibari household. Greater men than he have tried and failed. Tsuna would rather not end up hopelessly lost. [1]

He had other things to do. He's got a busy schedule of naps planned for the day and this whole mess is getting in the way of that.

Finally, after what seemed after like ten minutes of walking, the servant stops him in front of a random set of paper doors. The servant opens the doors and stepping through Tsuna takes a seat at the only piece of furniture in the room, a low table with seat cushions.  He can sense the older of the Hibari's talking to some other people, likely their minions and it annoys him a little. He impatiently waits for the Hibari's to finish their whole intelligence meeting while glancing at the clock.

He missed breakfast, and besides the small snacks he got at Suzuka's shop, he was still very hungry. Hopefully, they'd finish soon so he can get some real food. And maybe check his emails. He still hadn't had a chance to really look at his inbox since he sent the chain mail update around to all his friends, minions and his frenemies. Heck, if this meeting finished early enough he could probably cut off anything stupid his friends did before it got off the planning stage—

A paper door on the other side of the room opens and four people step through, all wearing traditional kimonos and all various ages. Its was Tonfa boy's parents, tonfa boy himself and that one servant from earlier. The Hibari's took a seat on the opposite side of the table, and the servant served them a collection of foods and drinks. The spread was mostly Japanese tea cakes and sweets but, thankfully none of it made it to his side of the table. Contrary to the random green tea stuff the Hibari's were eating, Tsuna side of the table had western foods and desserts.

Taking a sip of his coke, Tsuna smiled up at the group, all teeth rather than any kind of warmth because now that he was sitting across from the Hibari's he could sense the flames just under their skin. It was close enough to fire magic that he never would have never known the difference had he not known about the existence of flames, but now that he was looking. He could see the difference. Even at this distance from his stalker, his magic was being siphoned off, but the Hibari's flames were unaffected. Their flames were not magic or mana. So by process of elimination that left only flames or some unknown power source.

But knowing his luck it was probably flames.

Frowning at the trio, Tsuna signed.

By the grace of the goddess, he hoped he was wrong.

Gathering his thoughts, he placed his drink back on the table.

"When you applied to be part of the Opion Guild, did you do so with the knowledge that you and your family were lying?" Tsuna said testing them. He wanted to know what they did. Maybe this was just a misunderstanding? Maybe they had assumed that the guild knew about the mess called the 'mafia'? It could be anything.

(Hopefully, anything that did not in any way deal with hiding secrets. Because that would mean so much fucking work. And he did not do work. Because he was still on vacation.)

But even as he looked at the elder two Hibari's sitting across from him. He could feel his hopes dying. Neither of them looked the least bit surprised. At all. [2]

They knew.

After his conversation with Suzuka, and from what Hiruma had said Tsuna had an inkling that something was up. It was one thing if Suzuka had gotten the information late, or it was delayed by trying to get information from the Hibari, but the fact that many weapons had somehow, someway made it passed the Hibari's made him was suspicious. Plus, add in the fact that Suzuka himself didn't know anything about a random Sink in the town and it becomes obvious that something is up with the Hibari's.

They may not be very magical themselves (or if his suspicion was right, at all), but a Sink's very presence affects everyone, from the most powerful mages to the weakest of mages. It would have been obvious either through any magical kinsman or residents of Namimori what was going on and yet they had told no one.

So that left only one answer.

The Hibari's had likely known about both the mafia and the magical world and tried to hide their knowledge from the guild in direct opposition to their oaths to the guild. Tsuna had known the Hibari's tended to regard everything outside their compound with the same fondness as the plague, but this was well past the line.

Slumping on the table, Tsuna put his face into his hands collecting his thoughts depressingly.

Suddenly the whole stalker baby wasn't as much as a problem as it had been ten minutes ago. For one thing, once the whole mafia boss thing fell though the baby would have probably left, but this, this right here was going to take so much work to correct. And the paperwork! The sheer amount of paperwork made him want to flee. He could just imagine it now.

Counting backward from a hundred he tries to think of happier things and ignore the idiots sitting across from him but its hard. Hibari Senior is looking at him like this mess is his fault, while Lady Hibari herself looks like someone outlawed fighting, and tonfa boy looks pouty. Tsuna can feel his temper rising.

Oh hell no.

They don't get to be pissed, they created this mess.

A crack breaks the silence as ice starts to crystallize on the wood around him. The utter gall of this family is just so maddening. Tsuna didn't care if they thought the sun shined out of their arrogant foreheads, they signed the same documents that every single member of the guild did, and they used its services knowing full well that they were lying.

Only just reigning in his temper (he didn't want to freeze his food), Tsuna leveled an angry look at the trio, specifically the parents.

"So you knew and continued to lie. Repeatedly." Tsuna said more sentence than a question. "Well, I hope you like work because you are going to clean it up—"

"The Hibari do not follow orders. We—"

"Are criminals," Tsuna hissed turning the room cold. "As of this moment, you and your kin are exiled from the magical world. I've dealt with troublesome people, and the fact that you lied so brazenly is going to piss off a lot of people. I've already sent off a signal to the gates. You have twelve hours to collect your people and leave behind anything to do the magical world. Failure to do so will force me and the rest of the guild to act. Now, shut up, because we are going to have a talk."

The Hibari patriarch and his wife glared, fingers inches to their weapons trying and failing to intimated him and/or fight him, but Tsuna was so done with their crap.

Tapping on the table, Tsuna activated one of his quick spells. Instantly, bright, blue lines formed on the floor beneath the Hibari's and twisted and transformed into candles, long and pointy floating only inches from the trio, freezing them in place. If they moved even an inch, they would be stabbed.  And yet of the three, tonfa boy's are merely an illusion. Even though he's angry, Tsuna keeps to his morals. But just in case, it was probably safe to ensure that none of the Hibari could force him into a fight.

He got a lot to go through and not a whole lot of patience so the faster he can get through all the official stuff and then get to his actual problem the faster he can go home.

"Now—" Tsuna doesn't even get two words in before he's interrupted.

Several paper doors opened from behind him and the army of Hibari bodyguards and clansman appeared armed to the teeth, weapons ready and poised at him. Though Tsuna isn’t sure why he’s so surprised. He should have expected this kind of stubbornness from the Hibari. They personified the kind of temper tantrums he had associated with bratty two-year-olds.

When the Hibari didn't get their way, they default to trying to beat the opposing party.

Tsuna sighed.

How was this his fucking life?

Reaching into his magic Tsuna summons more spells tapping into the magic he hadn't had to use for nearly a year. He calls forth the might of water. Its better for him use something relatively weak, less he accidentally squish someone.

"Ars Nova: Comselh."

Drops of water glittered in the light, growing and warping as it encircles and engulfs all of his attackers, trapping them in giant spheres made of water. However, the water was only in shells, so air would still be present but no one would be able to move. It was kind of like looking at the world's ugliest snow globes. Well, if snow globes normally contained one's enemies and not snow, but Tsuna figures no one would care about that. As long as the Hibari groupies couldn't poke him with sharp, stabby objects, he'd count it a win.

Sadly, even though he had figured out how to contain the Hibari's, he still has to mediate out an actual punishment and do paperwork. Paperwork!

Just the thought alone is enough to make his skin crawl.

Glaring at the trio across from him, trying rather fruitless to deactivate the spell, Tsuna starts banging his head on the table. The pain is anything but helpful to his current situation, but Tsuna knows that if he doesn't do something, he is going to crack. First, he has to deal with undesirable weapon baby, and now he has to do something official-ish to the Hibari Family because they decided that rules were for lesser mortals.

He hates being official. It's such a soul-crushing and paperwork filled existence.

"I hate you all," Tsuna tells them, feeling so done with them. "If you had just said you were criminals or mutants, or goddess-damned aliens I would be okay with some of this and I could just punish you all a little, and then life would continue. But no, Suzuka was offended by the lack of information, and people are going to notice, and this is all your fault." He tells them miserably.

He slumps over the low table and summons the official guild handbook searching through the pages for the list of punishments. It takes him a few minutes to dig through the thick rule book but eventually he gets to the section on punishments. And then pauses. Most of them are pretty gruesome, and others are so strange that Tsuna fidgets just thinking of them.

Like, seriously.

Who thought of an eternity of watching paint dry as punishment?

That was so incredibly demeaning, if not just mind-numbing. Maybe he should bring this up at the next meeting? There was no way this list of punishments was guild-approved. If nothing else, Tsuna was pretty sure this was some kind of prank. They certainly had several pranksters in their guild but—

"I would ask that you release my family." A voice said, as small tiny hands poked into his back.

Tsuna blinked.

Another child?

He was under the impression that the Hibari's only had one child. Unless they lied about that too...

Tsuna had a sinking feeling.

How many more lies could they tell?

The child repeated the words, this time more fiercely. The prodding in his back growing a little more painful.

Tsuna groans. "Fine, whatever. But no one stabs anyone until we solve this mess." He says snapping his fingers, the water spheres fall into puddles on the floor. The candles surrounding the trio also vanish, releasing them, and although the parents are still glaring at him, neither make a move towards him.

Something about the newcomer has stalled their actions.

Perhaps, they dislike spilling blood in front of an innocent minor? Tsuna doesn't know. They certainly never censored themselves on his account, nor in front of tonfa boy. Perhaps, it was some difference in house rules or something...? He didn't know.

The presence behind him moves to his right and takes a seat at the low table. Tsuna's eyes go impossibly wide. He can't believe what he's seeing. One of the servants idly serves the baby some snacks and tea but Tsuna couldn't care less. Because this new reality is mind breaking.

"Is he your kid too?" He blurts out unable to keep himself from stuttering. (The baby chokes on his green tea.)

There were two of them! TWO! He can barely deal with tonfa boy, and now there are two of them.

Why?! Was this some sort of punishment? This is completely unfair.

"I hate you in the weirdest way I've ever hated anyone," Tsuna snaps at the only two adults at the table, he's feeling unfairly beset on all sides. "Having one kid wasn't enough, you had to inflict two of them on me. Two of them."

He takes back any thought of sympathy he had for the pair because this entire mess is utter crap, and he hates everything. He just knows if something happens to the pair, he'll be the one to deal with the kids, and its a job that he feels very unqualified for. Like ten thousand percent under-qualified for, considering his only options are to send tonfa boy to a deserted island, or some other place far, far away just so he doesn't have to deal with them. His options are not looking good.

Thankfully, though Tsuna doesn't have to start trying to figure which deserted island to sent the two children to because tiny Hibari speaks up.

"I apologize for the deception, but I am not their child." The not-child in a red Chinese outfit tells him and suddenly Tsuna can hear the angels singing. So the kid only looks like the violent teenager? That's perfect. Lookalikes are good. He can deal with lookalikes. Yay for doppelgangers!

"I am Fon, a relative of the Hibari family." The baby tells him placing his tea back on the table. "Why have you ignored the rules of hospitality on clan property?" He continues evenly, his voice changing from amused to angry within a few words. Tsuna can't help but be impressed about the change of tone so easily. That kind of skill deserved props. Tsuna only knew a few people who could pull off that kind of masterful language tone, and most of them are old(ish). Adult-ish.

It makes him look at the baby more fiercely. He notices a red pacifier and the strange maturity beyond the baby's years. That's the second time in as many days that he's been faced with some Kokiri like baby.

Perhaps he's like murder baby? The boring baby had a yellow pacifier if he wasn't mistaken. Was it a symbol of something? A club? A fashion choice? He didn't know. Though this makes another point in the older than he looks tally. Tsuna seriously doubts any baby could sit so perfectly or calm in traditional Japanese format.  [3]

Munching on some food, Tsuna mulls over his next words thinking carefully.

There were just too many unknown variables and not enough information for him to go on. He was missing something, probably a lot of somethings, but from what he could tell so was the miniature Hibari in front of him.

As a member of the Hibari family, tiny Hibari should have known who he was talking to, and the fact he didn't, was odd, to say the least. His identity should have been obvious, even infamous across the magical world, and yet here tiny Hibari was demanding answers. If it had been any of his friends, the tiny baby would be missing limbs, as very few of the guild's members appreciated arrogance or threats.

Maybe he was just confident in his fighting strength?

But how to test him?

Tapping his finger to his cheek, Tsuna decides to just come out and say what's going on. "Your clan broke the oaths. If anyone else had been present you would be looking at smears instead of time-outs." He said leaning his head on his arm. He's starting to feel sluggish. Even with the snacks on the table, he was still very hungry. The mana usage wasn't helping either. He had probably burned through a couple thousand calories in the last ten minutes.

The baby's eyes narrowed. His hands wrapped tightly around his teacup. "What oaths? Omerta has been kept."

Tsuna shrugs not knowing what this 'Omerta' is and turns to the tonfa kid's parents. From what he can assume, this 'Omerta' was an oath? Maybe a mafia oath? But what for? Pushing that thought to the side, Tsuna decides to tackle the most pressing issue.

"So I wasn't the only one you kept in the dark." He notes looking pointedly at the older Hibari's. "How am I not surprised?" He says turning back to the little red baby. He grabs some more cookies from the table trying to take the edge of his hunger and ponders how to set this whole situation right again.

So somehow he needs to tell the tiny Hibari that his family has effectively sold their entire family's souls for information and now he and his kin are criminals to a world that he didn't know existed. Perfect.

Combing his hand through his hair Tsuna steels himself with the thought of ice cream in his future and forces himself to go on. He can't let this matter continue the way it has. Red baby Hibari needs to know what he's been bargained for, and then he needs to punish the family. Somehow.

Well...

Figuring he'd better get this show on the road, Tsuna starts at the beginning. "You said Omerta, correct?"

Baby Hibari nods but doesn't say anything.

"Than we'll start there," Tsuna said grabbing some more food. "Humans have long held the possibility to be more than mundane. I'm sure you've seen examples of this during your time with..." Tsuna paused, not sure what to call the mess that was supposedly organized crime, before deciding it didn't matter. "...the underworld, but beyond the parlor tricks of criminals, there have long been other groups. Other types of powers."

The baby (Fan? Fran? Farn? What was his name again?) blinks rather shocked at that comment but doesn't interrupt.

"Remember that technique I used to capture the other Hibari and their minions?" Tsuna asks, starting to see disbelief inch into the eyes of the baby. "That wasn't an illusion. That was magic, granted very sophisticated magic, but magic all the same."

The baby frowns. "Not flames?"

Tsuna shakes his head. Lots of people would have things to say if he used any type of flame magic. Lots of pointy, dangerous things.

"Hell no," Tsuna says candidly, "I'm not stupid. Besides flame magic is vastly looked down upon in the Myriad world. It's pretty much a cop-out for wimps."

"Myriad world?"

Tsuna sighed. "Right basics... Okay, kid here's the cliff notes version. The Myriad World is the world of magic. Magic's existence has kept secret from most of humanity through several very important spells, politics, and duck tape.  Guilds exist to keep this magic regulated, and set rules in place. Most if not all major governments know of its existence. Except, apparently for the vast majority of whatever your group is. Here's an example." Waving his hand, he ignored the tension coming from the baby and instead summoned several small spheres of the basic magical elements, letting them float to the center of the table.

The little baby's eyes go wide. Tiny Hibari glances to his relatives, obviously looking for some reassurance that he wasn't being fooled, but was startled to see them nod. Tsuna wasn't lying to him. The reality of this new information was mind-blowing. Tiny Hibari is shocked by the news, but he reins it in as he circles back to the present topic.

"You spoke about oaths earlier." The baby notes looking between Tsuna and his relatives. "What oath's have they broken?"

Tsuna sighs and there lies the heart of the problem.

"Your family joined the Opion Guild, a very elite, very powerful guild that allows normal non-magical people to join, with a number of stipulations. Now, normally these stipulations wouldn't apply to your family, but when the Hibari's joined they joined as a group to maximize the amount of influence they could obtain within the Opion Guild." Tsuna pauses for a second to drink some more soda before he finally gets to the heart of the problem.  "The leaders of the Hibari's i.e. your relatives signed away your rights as collateral to gain access to valuable items and information."

Fon's eyes went wide. "How?"

Tsuna signed. "They used some fancy seal or something. I'm not really too sure on the paperwork, but I was informed that everyone in the Hibari knew and agreed to the terms." Tsuna snaps his fingers again, and a stack of papers dropped to the table in front of the baby. "Flip to the last page and you'll see what I mean."

Baby Hibari scooped up the paperwork and flipping to the last page saw what Tsuna was talking about. There in black and white was the signature of the older Hibari's and the clan stamp. The baby frowned as he saw the letters and symbols against the white pages. It was exactly as the teen said and going off the fact that it was impossible to replicate clan seal brought an uneasy feeling to the tiny Hibari.

No doubt there was going to be punishment. But what? Was there an option for an appeal? Could they appeal? The baby didn't know anything about this new world until a few minutes ago—

"You can keep that copy," Tsuna told him polishing off the last of the western dishes on the table. "Feel free to browse it. As oath breakers, you can petition to restore rights, but not for six months." He reaches across the table to the Hibari's side to steal some snacks even though he hates Japanese sweets because he is just so hungry.

"Anyways, back on topic. In exchange for using the resources of Opion, the Hibari's had to make two compromises. The first was simple. Anything magical or effecting magical people were to be reported to a specific member of the Opion Guild, and the second was that anything they knew Opion had to know as well." Tsuna leveled a look at the pair. "They did not and that means punishment."

The baby frowned, his eyes like glass. "And the punishment?"

Tsuna groaned. "Give me a second." He flipped through the pages of the punishment section of the guild handbook, thinking. While it was likely true that the list was a prank, technically the punishments were approved, but on the other hand, if any of the more stern guild members found out that the Hibari's were given little more than a slap on the wrist there were going to be some problems. So, he needed to find some medium between the two.

And then a sentence in the guild book caught his eyes and a decision was made.

"So before I tell you all what I've decided, let's review the case, again." Tsuna tells them. "Because we need to be all official... The case is as follows; The Hibari Clan sighed paperwork and gave their oaths to share everything they knew with the Opion Guild in exchange for information and items. From information gathered by guild appointees, the Hibari Clan has broken both sighed oaths."

Tsuna snaps his fingers and several sheets of papers floated in the air above him the oaths highlighted in bright yellow light, growing in size until all at the table could easily read the words present. Tsuna waves his hand again the papers land on the table.

"Now, then with everything from the official script out of the way, here is my ruling."

XXxxxxxXX

Myriad World: or the magical world. Operating in the cracks of the normal world, the Myriad world can be accessed through a number of mediums such as large mirrors, tv's, rivers, lakes, closets and so on. Anything with a large reflective surface/or gateway has and can be used to enter the magical world. Strangely enough, though, non-magical people have been known to fall into the Myriad world.

Basic Magical Elements: Water, Fire, Wind, Earth Advanced Magical Elements: Light, Darkness, Void, Space, Thunder, Ice, Lava, Wood, Metal

Magic and Flames: So even though Hiruma and Tsuna have been calling flames a weaker form of flame magic, they are not really right or wrong. It will be explained later on in more detail.

[1]: So Tsuna doesn't really focus in on Reborn too much in this chapter, but he's stuck in another section of the house away from all the action because of politics. It's not really important but in case anyone was wondering.

[2] Kyoya was only a part of the meeting his parents forced him to be. He doesn't really know or care too much about everything that's going on, beyond the fact that fighting may take place at any moment.

[3] Fon is not a Sink.

This chapter was an absolute pain to write because I felt I was juggling between Tsuna-is-done and I-am-ready-to-die-Tsuna and it was just not working for me. I think its crap, but I'll let the readers decide.

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I’m on Vacation on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

Daemon’s Fate #5

[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]

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Daemon’s Fate on AO3

Summary: When Tsuna wasn’t born with a daemon, it drew attention. He was bullied so much that Nana was forced to take drastic measures. Yet, after Tsuna saves two animals (an abandoned baby phoenix, and a starved lion cub) they start following him around and people (including Reborn and the mafia) start making new assumptions… Poor them. Drabbles and some chapters.

XXxxxxXX

Part 5: Back Tracking

XXxxxxXX

The rest of the conversation was much tamer in comparison, but Reborn was far from pleased. Dino wasn't paying much attention anymore, going from shock to fear and back again. Normally Reborn would have snapped him out of it, but considering the situation was as mind-blowing as it was he let Dino have a few minutes. He needed to figure a few things out. The file he was given on his new student was falling to pieces the longer he was in Tsuna's presence. Now, normally he would have blamed this on poor skills and perhaps low-quality information people, but if Tsuna's hyper intuition was anywhere as good as the ninth's this was less about the people Iemitsu had put on his son's guard and more on the fact that Tsuna's latent skills were better than a civilian and better than a low-ranking mafia minion.

Reborn resisted the incredibly strong urge to sigh. He needed to gain back control of the situation, and reassess his training plans.

"Snap out of your shock, Dame-Dino," Reborn said using a bullet to help illustrate his words."A boss is supposed to be above it all."

"But, but Tsuna is trusting me with his daemons! How am I supposed to react to that? " He said looking seconds away from having a nervous breakdown. "I just met him and already he—"

Tsuna reaches across the table, to serve Dino some more tea, looking like the entire conversation had nothing to do with him. It made Reborn want to shoot at him, but he resisted the urge considering how close his student's daemons were and how likely they were to bite him if he did anything to Tsuna while they were away from him. This whole meeting was a huge mess, and while normally he thrived in creating chaos his student was apparently better at deflecting it off him than he first appeared.

"Your tea is going to get cold, Dino-san," Tsuna prompted when no one said anything after a few minutes. He took another cookie from the bowl in the middle of the table and bit into it casually as he leveled a rather serious look at the people sitting across from him. "But something is on your mind?" He asks turning not to Dino like it first seemed but to Reborn himself.

Reborn frowns. "You said good instincts. Elaborate." He presses but both of his students, past and present can hear the unsaid command.

Tsuna tilts his head and turns to his daemons. His mouth opens but there no sound—he's likely commanding his daemons. But he still doesn't immediately answer Reborn and its annoying.

There are few people who would even dare ignore him, but he knows better than to lash out at his student and frowns instead. To his left, he sees Tsubird nuzzled Dino one more time before flying off to land on Tsuna's shoulder. It was a show of support Reborn couldn't overlook, especially because Natsu followed less than a minute later. Both tensed and regarded Reborn like he was an enemy as they took their places across the table directly in front of Reborn. Any warmth that had been there only minutes before was gone replaced with distrust and anger, and yet Tsuna just sits there sipping his tea.

The disharmony between the two aspects of Tsuna is mind-bending, but instead of focusing on the one aspect that he still can't understand, he turns to his current student waiting for answers.

"I just do." He said reaching out to both of his daemons, patting them casually. Likely trying to comfort them, though why he was trying to comfort his daemons rather than the other way was curious. Daemons were a person's true nature, and most everything they did was a reflection of the person's soul that spawned them. Tsuna was acting like they were separate beings from him, distinct with all their own mannerisms and feelings. It was an odd reaction. Perhaps it was a cultural difference? It was hard to tell.

Reborn wasn't friendly enough with anyone from the Japanese Yakuza to get a general read on what was socially common in Japan, and considering even Iemitsu as his best source hadn't been to Japan in years, he was lacking information on what was commonly accepted and what wasn't socially. Parts of Tsuna's attitude could be a result of his native upbringing but there was so much he didn't know about his student that it was difficult to see what was nature and what was problematic. In Italy, a reaction like that meant therapy. In Japan, it could be common. He was left to guess. Until he managed to get Tsuna to trust him, he wouldn't know for sure.

And then Nana called them down to dinner, and the moment was lost.

XXxxxxXX

"So did you managed to get along?" Nana asks them as they enter the kitchen and start taking their seats at the table.

Tsuna smiles again, mysteriously. Reborn starts to wonder if perhaps that's Tsuna's default expression, perhaps like Fon hiding his emotions behind a smile instead of a sleeve.

"Dino-nii was very kind," He tells her, taking the plates from her hands and starting to serve everyone. Neither Reborn or Dino miss the change of honorific but let it pass. If upstairs was any indication Tsuna only said what he wanted, regardless of what anyone demanded.

Setting the plates out, Tsuna moved around the table adding food here and there, seemingly at random. Apparently, this was something of a routine because Nana takes a seat at the far right of the table and doesn't argue with him.

"Natsu and Tsubird really like Dino-nii," Tsuna tells her as he pours some more espresso into Reborn's tiny cup.

Nana brights up so much at the statement, Reborn can nearly see the flowers that spring to life. Her own daemon is apparently just as proud because it hops off her shoulder and starts rubbing up against Tsuna's cheek, lovingly.

"Oh, that is so wonderful Tsu-kun!" She smiles and then turns to Dino. She pauses for a second, surprised before smiling again. Reborn figures she noticed the rather odd patch of green on Dino's shoulder.

"Your daemon is so cute, Dino-kun." She says changing tracks from whatever she had been going to say.

Dino blinks himself, having entirely forgotten the presence of his own daemon in the aftermath of Tsuna's. He turns to his right shoulder. "This is Enzo, he's a Sicilian pond turtle." He says beaming and looks back to Enzo petting him.

"A good daemon," Tsuna says, finally taking his own seat. He starts to separate some food into some smaller plates, presumably to feed his own daemons.  "I think it matches you."

Dino and Romario blink at the odd comment. Of course, the daemon matches Dino, its Dino's daemon. It wouldn't make sense otherwise if it didn't match him.

Reborn, on the other hand, frowns. That was a rather odd comment for his student to make.

What exactly is he trying to say?

Tsuna pauses in his motions and looking at the trio he must have seen something in their expressions because he starts to elaborate. "I'm not sure how much you know about the Daemonic Theory and Symbolism...? "

He waits for the trio to reply.

Romario shakes his head, and Reborn stays nothing.

Daemonic Theory and symbolism was a complicated, delicate, and exhaustive science that was used to explain the differences in character traits among Daemons and how it linked to personality, but it was an esoteric field that not many people went into to, mostly because it required a level of memorization that was left to dedicated scholars. Reborn himself only had a passing awareness of the science, knowing only very general things about Daemons and how it related to families. It helped his awareness and his study of people for work but not much more. His time was limited and it was probably the same with both Romario and Dino.

"Not much, I admit,"  Dino tells Tsuna, interrupting Reborn's thoughts. Dino rubs his head rather sheepishly, unknowingly answering for the group.

Tsuna nods but doesn't look surprised. "Turtles are known for their determination, endurance, and longevity. A person with a turtle daemon is a survivor, often as a result of overcoming a great challenge. A person with a turtle daemon is stability and protection for those around them." He pushes the small plates of food to his daemons and looks up to met Dino's eyes. "I think it's a good match, don't you think?"

"I think so too," Nana added in. "After all, he's your new brother, right?"

Tsuna nods and both of the Sawada's dig into the food, like Tsuna, did nothing special.

While across the table Dino is bright red. Next, to him, Romario is still in shock. Neither having seen that piece of information coming or the fact Tsuna himself would know about his particular daemon. Did his instincts forewarn him or did he know it naturally? Dino couldn't even begin to guess, but Reborn might. Glancing to his right, Reborn looks especially intrigued, and Dino tries not to shiver at the thought.

An interested Reborn was never a good thing.

He himself has only had that look directed at him two times, and both times were painful, to say the least. For Tsuna to have that same look directed at him, is scary. He wonders how exactly his new little brother will take Reborn's interest.

Reborn smirks and placing his cup of espresso on the table reaches for his chopsticks. He looks ready to eat, but his eyes are Tsuna.

He'd like to test this new found knowledge of Tsuna's.

"What about chameleons? Or Monkeys? Perhaps a centipede?" He says rapid firing questions.

Dino turns to Reborn in surprise.

In that particular combination, there's no way he isn't asking about the other Arcobaleno. Especially, because while he might not know which daemon and human combination pair Reborn is getting at with the monkey question, Dino knows centipede Daemons are incredibly rare. Lal Mich is the only mafioso that he knows high up enough in the mafia for Reborn to know and interact with so it's probably not much of a stretch to guess that Reborn likely means the Storm Arcobaleno as the daemon monkey pair, as the other possible one.

Tsuna slowly blinks at the questions, but answers regardless. "Centipede daemons are born of great difficulty, they face problems often in romance or socially. They are tough, sneaky, and constantly on the move. To have a centipede daemon as a partner is to be hardworking, stubborn and reach for greater heights. They are hard to know but the greatest supports... and monkeys." He hums for a second. "That's a little more difficult."

"Really? In what way?" Reborn said looking curious.

Tsuna looks to him meeting his stare dead on. "Monkey daemons are characterized by their relationships. Do you want general, or something more specific? "

"Acquaintances.. would probably be most accurate." Reborn hedges, looking pensive.

Tsuna figures that's probably normal in the mafia were relationships and bonds of trust are hard to come by. Criminality, let alone social criminality really isn't something he knows a lot of, even considering his recent studies under Reborn. For all he knows the relationship is complicated, Tsuna doesn't know, but thinking about what he knows about Reborn and what Monkey partners and their ties to life he can make a guess.

"Monkey daemons are known to be playful, they signify safety, bravery, and emotional intelligence. Among friends and family, they bond deeply but have difficulty seeing the situation from another angle. They are sensible and resourceful. Monkey daemon pairs are a source of profound wisdom if they allow themselves to move on from the past, and don't think too hard on the future." Tsuna says reaching for his tea.

He tries not to think too much on how he sounds. He had no idea that when he started learning about Daemonic Theory and Symbolism that he was signing himself up to be interrogated. Dino is looking at him like he's some sort of bomb waiting to go off, and Reborn looks incredibly evil. He knew not many people actually studied Daemonic Theory and Symbolism but this was starting to get a little ridiculous. He would have thought people in the mafia would be studying it if only to get some advantage out of being able to read other people. Yet, for some reason, Reborn seems surprised...? It a weird sensation to finally be able to read his tutor after nearly five weeks of trying and failing to get rid of the little murderer baby, but Tsuna can't really find it in himself to be too charitable considering the mess Reborn is causing him.

"And chameleon?" Reborn says inching slightly closer to his student as if to listen better.

"What about them?" Tsuna frowns and takes a large bite out of his food. What he knows about chameleons is his own business. If Reborn wants to know about his own daemon, he can go look it up. Tsuna isn't his minion.

Reborn pouts...? Or frowns?

It hard to say on such a small face, but Tsuna could care less.

"I thought you knew all about Daemonic Theory and Symbolism, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn says inching ever so close to sounding mocking.

The chopsticks break in Tsuna's hands. While on his sides his daemons start growling. Even Nana herself doesn't seem happy with how the conversation is progressing, as she frowning disapprovingly. Dino and Romario pausing in their motions, the tension starting to build. It like the two have forgotten about everyone else in the room but considering who Tsuna is picking a fight with Dino can't help but be a little awed. He'd never had the courage to talk back to Reborn as a student and yet somehow in the last few hours he's seen his little brother do that multiple times over and over again and yet nothing happened. At all.

If anyone else had tried to pull that kind of thing with Reborn in the mafia, they'd be sporting a few bullet holes, but Dino guesses that trying that same tactic on the heir of the Vongola Family is a different matter entirely. After all, his own family had some backup heirs if Dino couldn't take up the mantle. The Vongola doesn't really have that option anymore. Tsuna is all they got, and if Reborn is too rough with him, there was going to be problems. But still, the amount of pure courage Tsuna is packing is pretty impressive.

"I didn't say I knew everything," Tsuna says not even looking at Reborn anymore.

"Oh, I thought you knew...?"

"Whether I do or don't is none of your business—"

"Considering I'm your home tutor—"

"Means nothing." Tsuna hisses. His eyes are burning fury. He pushes his plate to the side and getting to his feet he lets his daemons perch on his shoulders. "You are nothing to me. I don't trust you. Ietmisu does, and maybe your boss does, but not me." He pushes his chair in, and places his plate in the sink leaves the kitchen. He almost runs up the stairs to his room, closing the door with a quick but sharp sound.

Apparently, Reborn underscored how bad his relationship with Tsuna was in his call.

Dino sighed.

Great.

XXxxxxXX

So this chapter was mainly to work through some issue plaguing Dino, Reborn and Tsuna.

Tsuna still doesn't trust Reborn at all and he has good reason to. Being near Reborn is causing him so much grief.

Reborn is still an arrogant little jerk who thinks throwing random variables at Tsuna is enough to changes things, but he's wrong. At its doing is showing him how much Tsuna and his pets hate him. Yes, Reborn is starting to notice that Tsuna is a little odd, but the extent of it is still beyond him right now, but he's starting to understand that maybe, maybe his methods aren't working.

Dino is pretty much caught in the crossfire between Tsuna and Reborn. Reborn didn't really tell him anything about his new student. He's confused and pretty much in awe of Tsuna right now.

Also, Reborn and Dino don't really know that Tsuna told Nana about the mafia, or what Tsubird's real species is. They just guess he was some random red bird.

Extra Info: Romario's daemon was pretty much ignored, but it's a Convolvulus Hawkmoth.

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Daemon’s Fate on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

Silver Sky/New Game Plus  Updates and So On...

So instead of reblogging, from now on, I’ll just post a test box and a link. Because its getting annoying to try and make the formatting work and this kind of works.

[wildcardwriting]

Pendulum Requiem #1

[King’s Avatar /全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán ]

Next Chapter | Pendulum Requiem on AO3

Summary: "In retrospect agreeing to assist Ye Xiu in any scheme is a terrible idea. One moment he's adjusting paperwork and planning for next week's business meeting and somehow he's fifteen again and watching his brother get together supplies for his whole runaway adventure."

Time Travel, because the King's Avatar fandom needed more fanfiction, and I am weak.

XXxxxxxXX

Chapter #1: Ye Qiu has so many regrets

XXxxxxxXX

In retrospect agreeing to assist Ye Xiu in any scheme is a terrible idea. One moment he's adjusting paperwork and planning for next week's business meeting and somehow he's fifteen again and watching his brother get together supplies for his whole runaway adventure.

Ye Qiu lies on his bed, trying and failing to understand what the heck is happening because as a normal, reasonable person living in the 21st the words 'time travel' should be nothing more than a convenient plot twist in some random book.

And yet here he is fifteen again.

He has so many regrets.

Most of them centered around his stupid older brother.

Which reminds him...

"Why do you get to run away?" He gripes, sitting up as if the fact only just occurred to him. "I should get a turn. You try being company president this time!"

Ye Xiu his terrible brother, just laughs."Why? Have you figured out what you want to do?" he says as if it matters and as far as Ye Qiu can tell it's the most worthless thing he can say.

Even if he did have some idea of what he wanted to do, his brother would still jump ship at the end of the day. Still, he's never going to admit that.

"And what if I did?"

Ye Xiu smiles at him. "Really?"

Ye Qiu tosses a pillow at him.

XXxxxxXX To be fair, this time when his brother does leave, he's more annoyed than angry. He knows what's in store for himself as the future CEO of their family company, but at least this time it'll be easier. He already knows how to run a business, he's good at it after being in the business close to thirteen years but that's not the point.

His brother does what he wants.

Signing loudly, he sees his brother off, making sure this time that his brother takes the right ID. He's not going to have another identity crisis, not again. Once was enough.

(And if he sneaks Ye Xiu one of his many credit cards, well that's no one's business but his own.)

Before long his older brother is out the door and gone away to the people he knew.

Locking the door he makes his way back to his room, ensuring nothing was out of place, and that the handwritten note that Ye Xiu had written was on the table waiting for their parents. Everything was ready for tomorrow.

Everything but him.

Pulling his blanket up over his face he groaned.

He was so not ready.

XXxxxXX

The next morning he's awoken to the sounds of yelling. Evidently, his parents had found the note and neither were happy. It was almost amazing to him how caught off guard both of them are by Ye Xiu's actions. For all that his parents were normally calm, collected people his brother still managed to make them angry.

Glancing into the room, he debates on whether or not he should step forward. Obviously, he wasn't going to tell his parents about his part in his brother's schemes, but at the track, his parents were going the whole neighborhood would know by lunchtime that his brother had run away.

Moving into the room, Ye Qiu makes his presence known to the pair.

"What's wrong?" He asked pausing briefly to look at the two even though he already knew the answer. "Why are you yelling?"

Both of his parents spin to look at him, only just realizing he was in the room. Neither said anything for a second before his mother hissed something quietly to his father. No doubt she was ordering him to explain.

"Qiu'er, there's something we need to tell you." His father pauses, looking uncomfortable. "This was left here this morning." His father says handing him the note.

Pretending to look the note over, Ye Qiu completely misses the door opening behind him and two people stepping into the room.

"What is going on?" A stern, older voice said making Ye Qiu jump. “Is this how I taught you to behave? Where are your manners?"

Looking behind him, Ye Qiu edges away from the door. Standing in the doorway, was his grandparents, dignified and posed in their traditional clothing stand there frowning. Similar to in appearance to his father, his grandfather, and grandmother had the same golden-colored eyes and straight black hair.

This time the shock was real. In the old timeline, neither of his grandparents had been present the next day after his brother had run away and yet here they were demanding answers. Moving away from the heated looks of both sets of family members Ye Qiu does the responsible thing and escape.

So much for the timeline staying the same—

Loud bellowing, makes him run up the stairs to back to his room. His grandfather sounded angry, very angry. Apparently, his mother wasn't the only one who had issues with how the twin were being raised even from his room a floor up he can hear near every word of the lecture his parents are getting.

It almost made him pity them.

Almost.

XXxxxXX

Notes: I know very little about the Chinese language, culture or anything in between. If there's anything terrible let me know. (Even though I think its all terrible, but whatever.) Also, maybe I should I admit I've watched season 1 and the ova of King's avatar so yeah...

Next Chapter | Pendulum Requiem on AO3

[wildcardwriting]

I’m on Vacation #2

[Katekyo Hitman Reborn] (hints of other manga/anime)

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I’m on Vacation on AO3

Summary: Tsuna had just saved the world from ending (after going through some epic journey and getting stronger. Maybe he gains psychic powers or some sort of metahuman powers) and he finally, finally returns home after months/years only to be faced with Reborn.

Features: BAMF Tsuna with utterly no fucks to give about anything, beyond the people he cares about…

The Magical Mage AU only some people asked for and that I put too much thought into and ended up with a fanfiction.

XXxxxxXX

Chapter #2: Sorry, No Refund for this Dumpster Fire

XXxxxxXX

Nana did not look pleased when Reborn came downstairs alone and she continued looking rather longingly at the doorway all throughout dinner. She seemed convinced that Tsuna would appear at any moment, but Reborn doubted that would be the case. He had seen his student climbing into bed after their rather short discussion and considering how angry he was at the pair of them, Reborn wouldn't be surprised if Tsuna refused to see either of them until tomorrow. Across the table, Nana frowned over her bowl of teriyaki chicken but beyond looking a little upset and perhaps a little annoyed she didn’t go upstairs to try and convince Tsuna to come down.  Reborn figured she knew it would be useless, but the reluctance to do anything, even punish Tsuna for his attitude confused him. Most parents would not have taken such disobedience the way Nana had.

Was this an ongoing issue, or another example of failed parenting?

Reborn didn’t know, and there was nothing in the report Iemitsu had handed him either. As far as the paperwork was concerned Sawada Tsunayoshi was just another talent-less wimp, and yet that wasn't what he had seen watching and interacting with his student. Tsunayoshi had looked him straight in the eyes and refused to budge on anything. He had disobeyed his mother, going so far as nearly send her to tears to get his way before retreating upstairs. It was strange because although everything about his actions should have meant Tsuna was little more than a spoiled brat, there had been a real pain in his eyes.

Something had happened, though what it was and how it came between parent and child was unknown. When Tsuna finally retreated to his room, he wasn't just angry, he was drained and considering Reborn knew his student wasn't currently attending school, the question remained. Why was Tsuna so weary and how did the school figure into the equation?

Had he been bullied? Perhaps becoming one a hikikomori? Was there some mental issue?

There were just too many questions and too few answers.

Pulling his hat over his eyes, Reborn looks up at the ceiling, in the area that would be Tsuna's room, thinking.

This situation was starting to get on his nerves.

He hated not knowing things.

XXxxxxXX

Upstairs, Tsuna himself wasn’t fairing any better.

He had hoped to nip this little problem in the bud before midnight but it was looking less and less like that it was going to be possible. His information—what little of it there was to gather on the mafia, was not making him feel any better. In fact, it was making him feel very, very annoyed with his parents.

Apparently, whatever this problem was that suddenly dropped into his lap, his father was partially to blame. Tsuna could clearly remember his father being on that sheet of paper Boring babe had shown him, and yet for some reason, the tutor hadn't mentioned it. At all. Almost as if, he was trying to completely distract from the fact his father was involved and it rubbed Tsuna the wrong way.

No self-respecting group, company, pod, tribe (whatever a group of mafia people was called) would go to a young and presumably dumb child if they wanted a new leader especially if there was living adult descendant. It just didn't make much sense. A child would take longer to train, and teach, it would just be more realistic to put an adult leader in the position and train them up on the job. The fact that this mafia was trying to do the latter rather than the former was suspicious. Something was amiss and considering his mother's family were farmers, it was likely his father was tied up in this mess somehow.

(He thinks back to all the postage cards the geezer sent him over the course of his life.  He regrets not looking into that sooner. Penguins in the North Pole? Who the fuck was he trying to kid?)

He growls and slumps on the low table. He is very tempted to chuck his magic mirror out the window. Maybe he could get away with only answering his mundane phone and emails for a while.

And then he starts thinking of the consequences.

His brain hurts at the thought.

He can’t.

The rest of the gang doesn’t have a phone or a computer and if they can’t reach him, they will come looking for him. The last thing he needs is to explain to the Japanese government why Namimori ended up destroyed by Opion Magic Guild. They tended to get a little psycho about things like buildings and random craters popping up.

Whatever.

Turning his magic mirror so he could see into the reflection better, Tsuna turns one of the hinges, making the image blur before clearing. In the glass, his informant sneers, all teeth, and Tsuna resist the urge to duck for cover as chills go up to his spine. Hiruma Yoichi was a menace to face normally, but sitting in the screen across from him, Tsuna feels a little trepidation. He may have just opened the doors to hell. Symbolically.

Hiruma chuckles as if he can hear the thought.

Looking like a young looking teenager with spiked blond hair and razor-sharp teeth, Hiruma had pitch black eyes that ended in points. The features alone probably wouldn't have meant anything on anyone else, but on Hiruma they were striking enough to catch attention. It was enough to suggest Beyondian, but Tsuna had been a resident of the magical world long enough to sense that Hiruma was not, in fact, Satan’s spawn.

Hiruma flicked a switch on his side of the screen and the room around him lit up.

He looked like a walking advertisement for Hot Topic, with his tight black shirt and jeans, along with his collection of chains and spikes, but unlike the angst-ridden teens currently sporting the same style, Hiruma was no pretender. Anything on his person, he could, and would use if someone displeased him enough to make him forgo his favorite guns.

Hiruma blew a bubble. "What the fuck you staring at, fucking pipsqueak?"

Tsuna rolled his eyes. "I thought that was Sena's nickname?"

"And? You got a problem with that?"

"Even if I did, I doubt that would stop you. But never mind that, did you find anything about that seafood family?” Tsuna said moving the conversation along. If he didn't get back on the topic soon, they never would. Hiruma delighted in causing him grief and if that meant extending a conversation, he would do it.

“No,” Hiruma says with a total lack of sympathy. He completely ignores the exasperated look Tsuna gives him as he shuffles some papers into a small trashcan, seemingly uncaring of the fact that most of them didn’t actually make it in the bin. He’d probably have one of his minions clean it up later. Picking up a pencil, coated in a red liquid (Tsuna told himself it was Ketchup), Hiruma started spinning it, thinking intently.

“But I will. Some fucking wimps tried to lie to me.” Hiruma said blowing a bubble with his bubble gum while the pencil he's spinning turns into dust. “No one lies to me, especially over something as stupid as fucking flames—“

Tsuna blinks at the last bit. "Flames? What flames?"

"Hell if I know. Probably some cheap magic knock-off. But I will find out. Fucking puppet tried to escape me, but I got ways." Hiruma says thumbing through his black notebook. "Screamed about Omerta and families…before he tried to off himself. His zombie will be more cooperative soon enough."

Tsuna felt like ice slipped into his stomach. He knew Hiruma was a bit zealous about getting information, but he never thought his friend would be so callous. Tsuna hoped rather vainly that he was wrong.

"... zombie...tell me you didn't...?"

Hiruma rolls his eyes. "Fuck no. He thinks I'm some sort of necromancer. He's just deluded. I re-warded the fuck out of the place, and put some fake blood and a pentagram on the floor and he ate it up. Necromancy is for wimps. "

Tsuna considers explaining that it would almost be harder for someone not to assume dark arts, let alone necromancy at this point, but he gets distracted when Hiruma started sliding some papers in front of the mirror. They were blank, but Tsuna assumes Hiruma to be using the mirror as a convenient stand, or maybe he's just tired of looking at his face he doesn't know. But still. He should make a token effort to at least get the poor prisoner some mercy even if he did lie.

“…Wolfram had nothing to do with this, remember?” Tsuna reminds him, but apparently, that doesn’t seem to matter to his former teammate. Anything to do with flames is automatically Wolfram’s fault. Just because.

“Whatever fucking twerp. If I wanted your opinion I'd ask for it." Hiruma says starting to clean one of his guns. He leans back in his seat and starts pulling it apart. "Now do you want that information or not?"

Tsuna lets the insult roll off him. “I thought you didn't have anything on them?"

Hiruma throws him an exasperated glance, looking insulted and annoyed all at once. Tsuna is mildly impressed with how well Hiruma can pull that look off.

"I might not have anything on that fucking seafood family, but I've got rumors and a work up on that dead beat you call a dad. For now." He says tosses another piece of gum into his mouth. Apparently, one piece isn't enough for a spawn of Satan.

"Go on."

"Apparently word on the street is they've been trying to move into Namimori recently. The yakuza wimps have been causing a stir. Fucking cockroaches. Had to train a couple of them last week." He says apparently sliding his gun back together. He starts digging into one of his desk drawers presumably looking for something. What he could be looking for Tsuna doesn't know. All he can see is papers and the only thing he has to go off on is the sounds coming to the other side of the mirror.

The paper from in front of the mirror is removed, and instead, a folder is pushed through the mirror, re-appearing on the table in front of him as the material re-forms from magical pixels into reality.

Opening the folder he starts pulling out the few pages contained within. His father's name is written in black sloppy kanji written on the cover page, but the rest appear to be cities and countries crossed out multiple time. It starts small with Namimori and then moves up in size. Next is Tokyo, then Japan, then to a long list of Asian countries and then jumps all the way to Europe, where Italy is completely blacked out. It doesn't make sense to him.

"What is this?" Like, what does this even mean? Is his dad traveling, or something?

Hiruma smirks. "Thought you might be interested in this. According to the Japanese government, he doesn't exist."

Tsuna is completely thrown by that fact.

"What? But that doesn't make sense. He should, he did get married to my mother, there's a copy of the marriage certificate in the living room..." And then it hits him. It’s fake. Turning the sheets around, he starts writing trying to list everything he's ever known about his father and comes up with an incredibly short list. This does not bode well for the problem currently eating downstairs. Goddamnit, what did he get himself into? Tossing the pencil across the table he runs a hand through his hair.

"Anything else?" He says, half joking.

Hiruma’s smile is evil.

Of course, there's more.

"I haven't even got to the interesting part. He doesn't exist in any government database. I ran him across ninety-five fucking different systems and nothing. But this came up." He snapped his fingers and one of the papers in the folder Tsuna had, transformed. Instead of the blank page, he thought it was a list of sentences and a photo appeared. It was a missing report, dated nearly forty years ago from a small village in Ragusa. The picture of the boy was badly blurred, but the picture did have enough similarities to his father to say they might be related.

"Is this him?" Tsuna asks, and can't help but wonder.

"Bingo, fucking shorty. I took some samples from his currently living relatives and compared them to yours. His parents are your biological grandparents. The results came back a match at twenty-five percent. His parents are still kicking as well as his siblings. If I didn't know any better I'd say your dad pulled a runner and instead of joining the fucking circus, joined the underworld as a peon." He blew another bubble and then popped it, looking bored.

Tsuna whistled wowed. "That's fast." He had only sent out that information a few hours ago.

Hiruma crackled. "I had some free time."

Tsuna blinked at that. "I thought you were in college?"

"Finished that crap last year. Now, shut up. I'm not done talking."

Tsuna made a motion, like he was zipping his mouth, and pretended to throw the key away.

Hiruma rolled his eyes at the action, before opening his blackmail notebook again. He flipped through some pages, before stopping and laying the book on the table.

"The Italian government is the saddest fucking thing to exist," He starts off with, looking appalled.  "Nothing beyond the low grade, petty shit peons do. Mistakes all over the place. Nothing covered up properly. If the Underworld is involved, they suck. If some fucking magical flame wimps exist, and apparently they do, they aren't trying too hard."  He says turning some sheets of papers around to show some pictures, somewhat blurred out, and giant actual holes in the middle of the streets. Actual holes and if the time stamp is right, in the middle of the day—

"Is that actually on Facebook?" Tsuna asks almost not wanting to know. Because if it is that is just too pathetic for words.

"Obviously it was. Took it off some tourist account and it wasn't the only one. I had a few men case the place, and there are holes everywhere. I could take over this place in a fucking week and it’d be easy..." Hiruma trails off and Tsuna knows what his teammate is planning.

Crime and cover-ups this bad are bound to be annoying for Hiruma who thrived off telling a lie and everyone believing it because he was just that good. Tsuna rubs his forehead, feeling tired. He almost feels sorry for the country, but considering this whole mess has somehow come to his door, he's not feeling too sympathetic to the Italians and their government.

Hell, if Hiruma does take over Italy, it might just be better for everyone. He could just see it now an efficient government, balanced budget, efficient workforce, and a population that would suck it up because Hiruma would be the president Italy never knew it needed or deserved—

Hiruma grins evilly and slams his blackmail book closed. "And that's all fucking I got fucking pipsqueak. I’ll send you some more crap later."

"Have fun." Tsuna waves and the screen goes black.

Stretching he moves to his feet and walking the few feet to his bed gets under the covers.

Maybe tomorrow will be better?

XXxxxXX

Tomorrow wasn't better.

In any way.

Apparently baby with a gun labored under the delusion that just because his gun-lizard didn't work yesterday, some other weapons might and thus leading to the mess Tsuna nearly tripped over in his room. Honesty, how did that electric wire and bombs ever made it through Hibari Customs, Tsuna doesn't know. He can't even begin to guess, but he wonders at the various amounts of weaponry currently creating a mess in his room. His mother calls him down for breakfast, but Tsuna is wise to her ways, and he would rather jump out a window than sit across a table and get into another argument with her because she does not know how to listen.

Actually, that's a thought.

Ignoring the rather frustrated baby in the corner trying and failing to shoot at him, Tsuna opens his bedroom window and jumps out. The grass is still a bit wet from the morning dew, but it’s nothing compared to that one trek up Death Mountain when he ended up covered in volcanic ash. Or the smell. Good god, the smell.

Shivering, from just remembering the experience, Tsuna grabs one of his spare sets of shoes from under the house's empty crawl space and slips them on. He's got a full day planned ahead of him, and if he wants to finish before midnight he'll need to hit the ground running, metaphorically. Hopping over the stone wall around the property, Tsuna picks up speed, heading in the direction of downtown. He's got people to meet.

A sharp tug against his magic shields makes him pause at one of the intersections, as a floating image starts to materialize in front of him.

Apparently, murder baby decided to try and register him at Namimori Middle and was rapidly becoming confused when Tsuna's information failed to show up on anything. Looking at the time stamp, Tsuna isn't surprised to realize that maybe this is the reason that junior back there was so frustrated this morning.

Well, the joke's on him, Tsuna's way ahead of him.

As soon as he caught wind of his mother trying to force mundane schooling on him, he took measures and had one of his former teammates ensure that it was impossible both magically and non-magically to put him back into school. It was nothing a few wards and some virus coding couldn't take care off. Even with boring babe's status as a sink, if he didn't have the technological know-how, he'd hit walls.

Waving the screen away Tsuna speeds off taking several left turns and two right turns until he finally stopped when he entered a rather small, rather eccentric shop, called Montage towards the center of downtown Namimori. Unlike the rest of the shops in the area, this particular building was flashy and far too upscale to normally be in Namimori, but the owner was an eccentric person, and he did what he wanted. Even if it was something random like put his magical workshop in the middle of a rather small town. To the normal person walking the streets, Montage was a half eccentric restaurant, half retro-chic boutique.

Tsuna waved down one of the waitresses and asked to see the Beauty Collection. Instantly the atmosphere in the boutique changed, as one of the cashiers paused in her work and picked up a phone and started dialing while another flipped a light switch near the door. The rest of the workers scatter through the employee exited looking annoyed.

Tsuna groaned already knowing what these reactions meant.

God, he just waited to talk.

There was no reason for...this insanity.

Instantly the lights faded, and one of the waitresses started narrating through the store's intercom.

"Presenting the mythical, magic man of magic himself, the Beautiful Suzuka himself!"

The poor lady looked like she regretted every single decision she had made in her life up to this point, and Tsuna didn’t blame her. If he had to introduce a crazy, delusional multi-colored clown every time someone even hinted about wanting to speak to the manager he'd be going a little crazy too. Tsuna resists the urge to just get the hell out of dodge and very calmly takes a breath. And then another. As much as he hates dealing with the idiot, he knows if he doesn’t talk to Suzuka the baby with a gun will still following him.

But the temptation is there to just leave—

"The beautiful Suzuka has arrived!"

Well, that’s the most terrifying thing Tsuna’s heard all month. “This just gets better and better,” he sighs, facepalming. He forces himself to look anywhere but at the monstrosity of color in front of him—or attempts to. Unfortunately, as it turns out, every single reflective image in the boutique is showing Suzuka. Looking away is apparently not an option. Giving up his meager attempts to not be blinded, Tsuna finally decides to look at the clown and just cover his eyes.

He didn’t get that far, because the clothes are burning holes into his eyes.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" He can't help but ask.

Suzuka smirks, and poses, snapping his fingers, so that one of his minions shines even more god-forsaken light on him. As if he doesn't have enough glitter and gemstones on him already.

"Beauty, brat. I'm wearing beautiful clothes. Why? Would you like some?" Suzuka asks shifting closer and giving Tsuna a rather long, appraising look which quickly changes into one of exasperation. Apparently, his clothes have offended Suzuka so much that he has to look down on them.

"Ugly. But if you like I could whip something up." He raises his hand as if to snap, but Tsuna is only too happy to stop him.

"No, thank you. I came because I am in need of some information."

Suzuka looks intrigued. "From ore-sama? How interesting. Speak brat with no fashion sense!"

Tsuna ignored the jab. "I don't know how or where. But a baby showed up yesterday with weapons. Actual weapons. I thought you might like to know since somehow, he managed to get through the Hibari network. " He pauses a moment to let that information sink in before he drops the real kicker. "And the baby is a sink."

Suzuka's eyes narrowed now very intrigued. "Why, that is intriguing. I hadn't a single clue that a sink was in town." He says and the make-up on his face was starting to crack and burn as Suzuka's temperature rose in tune with his mood. Apparently, he wasn't the only one caught off guard. Someone is probably going to be in pain for this oversight later, but Tsuna can't really find it in himself to care. Caring is sharing. If Tsuna has to put with flames and gun babies and mayhem, he is damn well not going to keep it to himself. Besides, sinks are one of the few weakness he has. His teammates can stand to do something for once considering how much time he spends cleaning up after their messes, they can do him a favor.

After all, to a mage, sinks are annoying little problems that are difficult to deal with considering most magic will pretty much bounce off of them and then there's fact that this particular sink managed to not only get all the way into Namimori but bring in weapons was troubling. Even if the sink managed to wave off the wards, coming into Namimori should have sent all sorts of alarms off. The fact that Suzuka didn’t know meant problems. Big problems. Likely, this meant that there was a problem with the wards somehow, or there was a traitor in the organization. Maybe more than one.

Either way that meant work, actual work Suzuka was going to have to do to figure out this mess.

Suzuka hated work like he hated ugliness.

Tsuna backed away, as smoke started to appear around the clown. “Your make-up is melting.” He said waving a hand in front of his face. By the goddesses, burning make-up smelled horrible.

And like that the temperature returned to normal.

One of the workers handed Suzuka a towel while another brought his make case. A third worker started chanting a wind spell, no doubt trying to clean the air. Suzuka takes the towel and steps back.

“Excuse me, that wasn’t very beautiful.” He tells Tsuna wiping down his face and gently handing the towel back to his employee before gathering up his make-up case and disappearing into the back. “I will back quickly. Be a patient little magician while I'm gone.”

Tsuna shrugged not really bothered to wait.

If Suzuka needed to powder his noses, he’d let him. He was not going to be the person getting in-between the man and his make-up. It was not the hill he wanted to die on. If nothing else he would use the time to send off some mail. Waving his hand in the air, he re-summons his magical mirror and starts writing. Page after page until he's done. Then he copies out the information in several sets and sends the letters off via magical inbox, and settles into to wait.

Even though he had originally planned to meet his teammates in person, that plan was quickly shot down after he realized that explaining the situation was going to be more time intensive than he thought—

A black blur out of the corner of his eye makes him turn towards the window. It was none other than murder baby himself.

Tsuna sighs.

And now, his stalker has somehow managed to find him.

Well, isn't that creepy?

A chill goes up his spine at the thought. He hated the feeling of deja vu from his newest problem. He already had one stalker he needed to constantly stay away from. He didn't need another in the form of a murderous Kokiri. Pushing his hands into his pockets, he turns and makes his way to one of the dressing room's waiting chairs. He has no idea how long Suzuka will take so he might as well be comfortable.

A  small table appears in front of him and one of the employees from earlier starts laying out a tea set and some snacks. Tsuna is sipping at his tea when the silence is broken by one of the younger employees pointing at the window.

“Is he here for you?” She asks looking at the spot on the window.

Tsuna groans. “Technically he’s my stalker.”

She nods before asking the question, he really doesn’t want to answer. “Why?”

“Because life hates me.” He says gravely.

And because the lady is made of stronger stuff than the normal person. Her next question actually makes him feel better.

“Do you want me to call the cops?”

He laughs.

He wishes.

Lucky he doesn’t have to wish too long, because Suzuka appears back in the lobby, looking fresh and powdered up with tons of make-up. His eyes burn but at least his…teammate is happy.

(They are not friends. Tsuna doesn’t have friends. He is a lone wolf. Fierce and dangerous and he must be cool and—)

He feels his hair being patted. He looks up to see the hell of glitter and a face caked on with make-up.

“Stop patting my hair.”

“I will not apologize. Your hair is your only redeeming quality." Then Suzuka looks in the direction of the window, "Though what is that hideous thing in the window?”

Tsuna groans yet again. “That’s the sink.”

Suzuka blinks. “I thought he be…taller.”

Tsuna turns to stare at him. What does height have to with anything? A sink is a sink is a sink. They need to focus on the main problem, not random stats like the height or lack of it in the sink. He turns ready to tell Suzuka that but then remembers who he’s talking to and then figures it’s better not to go there. The more Suzuka is caught up in other things, the less likely he is to murder the baby.

Though now, that he is looking that way Tsuna starts to wonder. Magic doesn’t work on sinks, nor does wards. So how is Boring babe still stuck outside?

“How is that window keeping him out?” He asks curiously.

Suzuka smiles. “Spirit stones. Sinks can’t affect spirit stones, and luckily I have just the talented little stone crafter in my employ.” He points to the lady that was offering to call the police for Tsuna earlier.

Tsuna blinks at her. “You sure you want to work here?” He asks her. “Suzuka lost his marbles.”

She laughs and smiling at him, nods.

Suzuka hisses at him. “How dare you! I am an amazing boss and—“

Tsuna takes a cookie off the table and stuffs it into Suzuka's mouth.

XXxxxxXX

Opion Magic Guild: The top guild in the world. Made up of the majority of the top twenty of people from every field from swordsmanship to spellcrafting (with the exception of the mafia, because apparently, they are a thing) the guild is new having only been around for a year. Most members are lone wolves doing whatever they want, however, they do follow a basic set of rules. No fighting amongst themselves without a mediator to oversee the fight. No creating weapons for any governments. Anything released to the general public must be strictly controlled and regulated. Ranks are from S-Class to G-Class, with S-Class being the best.

Hiruma Yoichi: A high-level informant that specializes in tricks, lies and underhanded fighting. He is around a rank B in firearms but has yet to be officially ranked (it's too bothersome), and a C Class in magic processes. There is little known about him, and he rarely takes jobs preferring instead to mess with world politics behind the scenes. There is little he doesn't know, and only a few other people can match his skills in information gathering. He was previously on a team with Tsuna. Dates and missions unknown. Currently a fighter Class. Saboteur (A-Rank).

The beautiful Suzuka: A licensed warder and excellent support he bounces back between Saboteur and Synergist. During the great war, Suzuka made a name for himself by keeping a number of strongholds safe from invading forces until reinforcements could arrive. Although well regarded, his personality is terrible. He respects few people and interacts only very rarely with anyone outside his core team. Currently a support class. Synergist (B+ Rank) and Saboteur (C+ Rank).

Spirit Stones or "Shaman Gems": are magical items naturally found around the earth's leylines. Powerful in their own right, and rare, it is known as one of the ten artifacts that nullification does not work on. This includes Sinks and magic jammers.

Stone Crafter: A mage specialized in stone working. The profession was nearly destroyed during the Great Sickness after Columbus arrived on North America, but slowly their numbers are glowing. Currently, stone crafters are highly sought after for their powerful and beautiful works.

I kind of forgot to post this here, its been on AO3 for awhile now...so...

Sorry!

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