Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lambo has always been aware that alternate timelines, parallel dimensions and the like existed. He’d been handling the Ten Year Bazooka since he was five years old after all, swapping out with an older version of himself whenever he wanted, recklessly playing with timelines. In hindsight, he got incredibly lucky that nothing ever happened to him during those brief trips to the future; that became painfully evident as soon as the whole thing with Byakuran and the Mare rings happened. Lambo has made countless trips into the past and future, both as a child and as a teenager, became stuck in the future on one memorable occasion; he’s been dealing with this “not being in the correct place and time” thing for a long, long time. He’s practically an expert.

So, considering all of that, Lambo is perhaps the person most suitable out of his entire family and otherwise extended Family circle to get spontaneously displaced in between worlds.

Stumbling out of a coffin because a strange cat-thing wants you to take your clothes off is honestly far from the weirdest situation Lambo has ever been in. Which, now that he thinks about it, already says a lot about what his life has been like so far.

As someone way too intimately familiar with the sensation of abruptly getting poofed away to not-where-he’s-supposed-to-be, Lambo rates this whole experience a solid 6 out of 10. Not the most deadly but he gives it points for creativity and atmosphere, would try again. The coffins and mirrors and robes are definitely a nice touch, much more classy than what Lambo is used dealing with on a day to day basis.

When the Headmaster of the – apparently magic – school he found himself in appears and assumes he’s a student, Lambo doesn’t protest. He can already tell the man won’t listen and would rather save himself the frustration of trying to explain. Not to mention, he’s used to going along with the flow in situations like these. So Lambo follows him, is practically shoved in front of a fancy looking mirror and listens as said mirror declares his soul to be “strange” and “unreadable”. He stands back and watches the spectacle that follows when the cat that tried to set him on fire crashes the ceremony and makes a mess of things with bored eyes, waiting a little impatiently for this whole thing to be over so he can go back home.

Eventually, to Lambo’s relief, the Headmaster declares that he can’t possibly keep around a student that can’t use magic.

‘You must go back to where you came from at once!’

‘Gladly,’ Lambo huffs, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

He steps in front of the mirror and waits. Already he can hear in his mind the demands from his family about why he was gone so much longer than usual. Hayato would no doubt scold him about going missing right in the middle of a tense negotiation and worrying them all to death, Takeshi would smile, laugh and declare his relief that nothing happened to Lambo and his Tsuna-nii would only sigh and shake his head at them all.

Except then…

‘The place he belongs is nowhere in this world.’

…the mirror’s words come as a bucket of ice cold water over Lambo’s head. For the first time since his arrival in this strange new world, he starts to worry, just a little, that maybe he might be in more trouble than he’d thought.

After a conversation with Headmaster Crowley in which he tries to explain the whole timeline-dimension thing, Lambo realises with increasing clarity that he is now stuck in a completely foreign alternate world with nobody even a little bit familiar around and no evidence of his existence. It’s a disaster in the making, helped only slightly by Crowley’s seeming unwillingness to throw a penniless teenager out in the streets. Perhaps Lambo should be more grateful that he got thrown into a civilian school instead of something more… criminally affiliated, because there are quite a lot of things one could do to a person that doesn’t legally exist in the world without fearing repercussions.

‘Don’t worry, I will look for a way for you to return home in the meantime,’ Crowley says with a smile.

Lambo stares at him blankly, not at all reassured.

So he was stuck here until further notice. Fantastic.

Lambo is left with a complete wreck of a building to call home, an annoying monster-cat thing as his companion and absolutely no way of knowing how to get back home. It’s as impossible a situation as being stuck in the future was, only this time there’s no guidance from the future, no big secret plan to follow, no Byakuran to defeat. Lambo is just stuck. Not to mention, he’s essentially at Crowley’s mercy – not a pleasant thing to be, for someone who has gotten used to always knowing that his Sky would come and save him no matter what. This time there would be no Tsuna with a fire in his eyes to put an X-Burner through someone aiming to hurt Lambo, no Hayato for last minute rescues. Lambo is on his own here. Which means that no matter how much he dislikes the idea, he has to suck it up and clean the damn the school as told so that Crowley didn’t get the bright idea to throw him out.

Grudgingly, Lambo drags himself over to do the job.

(It all goes wrong anyway, because of course it does.)

After a burnt statue, a broken chandelier and the threat of expulsion, Lambo, along with the idiots who got him into this situation, is left with one option: get a magic stone from the dwarf mines. Because nothing can ever be that simple, they bump into some sort of strange monster there, single-mindedly guarding the place and whatever few magic stones remain. Lambo comes up with a semblance of a plan, hoping that Ace, Deuce and Grim’s magic would be enough to handle the thing.

At first, the plan works as intended. The four of them are well on their way out with magic stone by the time the monster catches up. Ace, Deuce and Grim prepare to attack it again, readying their magic.

Then, it aims directly for Lambo. Instinctively, he throws up in front of him the arm where the Vongola Lightning ring is still safely on his finger and Lightning Flames burst out, uncontrolled and somewhat wild as they tear directly through the monster.

Breathing hard, Lambo only lets himself relax once he’s sure the monster is completely gone. He turns around, immediately met with the stunned looks of the others.

‘What the hell was that, huh? I thought you didn’t have magic!’ Ace demands.

Lambo sighs.

‘I don’t.’

‘It seems like you do to me!’

‘That’s not really magic,’ Lambo corrects. ‘It’s… something else.’

(How is he supposed to explain Dying Will Flames to a bunch of civilians with magic?)

(Ugh, this really wasn’t Lambo’s thing…)

‘Lambo’s been gone a while,’ Chrome says. Her words are quiet, but they feel like a hammer to Hayato’s already fragile composure.

‘He’s probably just sulking somewhere,’ Hayato says dismissively, but worry coils tightly in chest.

‘I’m worried-’ Chrome begins.

She doesn’t get the chance to say anything else before a loud sound ripples through the building. The two of them exchange a look, before running immediately to the source of the sound.

Tsuna finds them first.

‘Where’s Lambo?’ he asks. His tone is even and calm, but Hayato recognises the amber glow in his eyes and swallows.

Lambo had been begging for weeks to be allowed to attend tonight’s negotiations with the rest of them. As the youngest out of all the Tenth Generation Vongola Guardians and the one with the most to prove, he’d been more wound up than the rest of them combined, except for maybe their Sky. When Lambo burst out with an accusation against the Family’s head right at the table, Hayato was the one who dragged him away and scolded him viciously for nearly jeopardising everything their boss had been working for. He hadn’t thought much of it when the teen stomped off by himself at the time, but now...

Now Hayato wishes he’d leashed the idiot to him for the rest of the night, no matter how annoying his protests and complaints would get.

He shares a glance with Chrome. She looks guilty, about as much as he knows he does, so there’s probably a story there too.

Tsuna’s eyes narrow.

‘Hayato. Chrome.’

‘He ran off by himself earlier,’ the Storm Guardian confesses.

Chapter Text

‘It’s not magic,’ Lambo repeats firmly to the sceptical trio in front of him.

He can’t tell if he’s relieved or not that his Flames worked so well on the monster that was pursuing them. It would be a lie to say Lambo hadn’t been just a little bit nervous about what being in a completely different world would do to his Lightning Flames. He’d avoided using them at first for that precise reason; well, that and the fact that they weren’t really supposed to exist here. Maybe Lambo could’ve gotten away with masking them as some sort of magic, but the Dark Mirror kind of blew that possibility to hell by revealing his magicless-ness in front of practically everyone.

Oh well. Whatever. Lambo will just have to do with being immensely glad that he can still use Lightning Flames properly.

‘Fine then, what is it?’ Ace says, eyebrow raised.

‘Yeah, and why didn’t you use it before?’ Grim asks.

Deuce doesn’t say anything, but the curiosity on his face makes it clear – Lambo isn’t getting away from this conversation without some kind of answer. He gloomily wonders if he could get in trouble for breaking mafia secrecy in another world.

(Probably not, but still.)

(He has no desire to get into the complexities of Dying Will Flames for people he’s just met. What would be the point?)

‘A family secret,’ Lambo says, shrugging. ‘I can do it, so can my Family, and that’s all you’re getting out of me.’

That technically wasn’t even really a lie; though he doubts that Ace, Deuce or Grim would appreciate the difference between family and Family.

‘Anyway,’ he continues, ‘we got what we wanted didn’t we? Why stick around here? I’m tired and really need a nap.’

Lambo turns away calmly and begins to walk. He waits, counting one second, two, three-

‘No, you don’t just get to drop this on me and walk away! Wait!’ Ace leaps up and follows after him.

After a few long seconds, Deuce and Grim scramble after him and Ace and the four of them bicker all the way back to Night Raven College, all four secretly relieved that they managed to get what they needed. The topic of Lambo’s unexplained Flames is thankfully dropped and he marks it smugly as a successful diversion.

(Take that, stupid Reborn and Hayato. He could totally do subtle when he wanted!)

To his surprise, Lambo somehow ends up enrolled in Night Raven College as a student. Technically half a student with Grim as the other half, because he doesn’t have magic of his own to use, but still very much enrolled.

(Ace tries to correct Crowley when he says that, shutting up as soon as Lambo gives him his best death glare and Deuce elbows him sharply.)

While attending school, of all things, isn’t something Lambo’s too keen on doing it’s still better than being a janitor, so he doesn’t complain about being made to attend lessons that aren’t much use to him. Magic school should be at least more interesting than regular school and it does lower the possibility of Crowley just throwing him out if he decides Lambo isn’t his problem after all. Lambo attends class like a good boy, hangs out mostly with Ace, Deuce and Grim and tries not to think about what everyone back home are feeling right now.

He doesn’t always succeed. In moments when his attention isn’t occupied with class or something Ace or Deuce said or trying to make Grim do his work, Lambo’s mind begins to inevitably wander back to his family. The other Vongola Tenth Generation Guardians, Fuuta and I-Pin, Tsuna. What must they be thinking about his sudden disappearance? Lambo got thrown into Twisted Wonderland right in the middle of negotiations with another Family and he knew exactly what that would look like to Tsuna and the others. Their minds would jump straight to worst case scenario and the Vongola would bring all their might down on the much smaller Family in retribution for Lambo, thus completely negating the point of the negotiations.

And then they would be unable to find him anywhere, no matter how hard they’d look or who they asked for help tracking him down. Because Lambo is stuck attending school a literal world away.

Even if they did somehow find out his location, how would they get to him after that?

That sort of thinking brought to mind all sorts of uncomfortable possibilities that Lambo really didn’t want to think about. He’d just have to put in his own efforts to research Twisted Wonderland’s mirror travel, gates and magic if he felt like getting anywhere. Since Crowley and his assurance that he was totally searching for a way to send him back didn’t exactly inspire confidence in him.

So as soon as he can Lambo heads off to do just that in the first place he can think of: the library. There should be plenty for him to work with there, right?

Lambo hefts the final pile of books onto the table and glances over the material he found. Inwardly lamenting the lack of convenient time-machine building geniuses or super powerful magical Tri-Ni-Sette artefacts to get him back home, he nevertheless sits himself down and reaches for the nearest book. The research wasn’t about to do itself.

A little over fifteen minutes later, Lambo already feels like throwing his hands up and going to find the nearest pillow to scream in.

Every. Single. Book. He read. Is either useless or incomprehensible! Okay so maybe Lambo hadn’t expected it to be so easy, but still. He didn’t even know where to begin. Hell, he has no idea how he’d been dragged here in the first place!

Oh, this “being responsible” thing sucked. Lambo didn’t even have any backup to rely on like he normally would.

‘Well, it’s either this or nothing…’ Lambo mutters grumpily as he reaches out for another book.

‘Excuse me.’

He looks up at the source of the voice to find the redhead from the ceremony standing beside the table, arms crossed.

‘I need that book,’ the redhead states, gesturing over to one atop a pile on Lambo’s table. ‘Are you done with it?’

Before Lambo can reply, he takes a closer look at who he’s speaking to and frowns.

‘Oh, it’s you. The one who disrupted the ceremony.’

‘I got dragged here against my will. The one who disrupted the ceremony was Grim.’ Lambo denies instantly.

The redheaded boy tilts his head and his frown deepens.

‘Against your will? How so?’ he questions.

Tsuna likes to consider himself a kind, patient person, someone who has standards and rules, lines he won’t cross.

That is what most people know about him. They tend to assume Tsuna is a pushover, naïve and easily-led. A child who lets his own Family walk over him. What those same people tend to forget is, someone like that would never have lasted against the likes of people he went up against as a teenager. No, kindness isn’t all there is to the Vongola Decimo. He is also the type of person Mukuro could follow, the type of person Hibari would listen to. The type of person who could drag Vongola back to its roots, step by step, and screw what everyone else thought about it. He has his own way of doing things and if the mafia didn’t like that, they shouldn’t have made Sawada Tsunayoshi the heir to Vongola.

After everything he’s been through, Tsuna thinks he has the right to be a little bit protective of what he considers dear to him. He’s a worrier – he can’t help it. It’s a natural trait of his, retained from his “Dame” days and enhanced to entirely new heights by his Hyper Intuition. Tsuna worries about everyone, even people who don’t tend to need it like Reborn, Mukuro or Hibari. (Most of the time admittedly because he’s more worried about what they will do rather than what will be done to them, but still.) Taking all of that into account, people should really stop underestimating the lengths he will go to protect the most vulnerable member of his family.

So yes. Tsuna is a good person. Tsuna is a kind person.

Tsuna is going to burn someone into ash if he doesn’t find out where his youngest Guardian is right fucking now.

A man is whimpering at his feet.

He smiles. Sweet and gentle.

‘You understand, don’t you Mister – what was your name again? Hayato?’

‘Rossi.’ Hayato supplies dutifully from his place at Tsuna’s right.

‘You understand what I need from you, don’t you Mister Rossi?’ Tsuna says, clapping his hands together. ‘Just a list of every single person who you cooperated with in your little drug operation.’

He sees the man’s eyes widen.

‘And don’t forget about the detailed explanation of what your Family planned to do with my Lightning Guardian. Oh, you look surprised. Did you really you could get away with it?’

The man lying limply on the floor attempts to deny, shaking his head. Tsuna already knows what he’s thinking; take advantage of the Decimo Vongola’s empathetic attitude and play the clueless victim.

‘I wasn’t- we weren’t-planning… anything…’

Tsuna’s smile turns sharp.

‘Really? So I guess those reports of kids going missing had nothing to do with you then? Don’t make me laugh, Mister Rossi. Your people snatched helpless children up from the streets, used them as lab rats to test your new drugs and thought you could trick Vongola into helping you. It was quite an ambitious plan, I admit. But, Mister Rossi, you made one crucial mistake: you targeted one of my Guardians.’

For a long moment, the man droops. Then, in a desperate bid to escape, he lunges upwards, forcing his battered body to move, and aims directly for the Vongola boss. Tsuna doesn’t bother to even move a muscle, Hyper Intuition resoundingly silent, as his Storm Guardian kicks the man back down again, stomping down hard on his hand for good measure.

As the groaning man lays miserably on the floor clutching at his hand, Tsuna sighs.

‘I did want to do this the easy way, but you left me no choice Mister Rossi. Since you don’t want to cooperate, I’ll just have to get answers out of you the hard way.’

Hearing this, the man actually gives a short, wheezing laugh.

‘You don’t torture people, Vongola. You’re too soft, you pathetic bastard.’

Hayato’s eyes narrow and he steps forward.

‘Watch your tongue when addressing my boss, you-’

‘Don’t, Hayato. He’s right.’ Tsuna says, raising up a hand. ‘I don’t torture people.’

‘But-!’

The man laughs again, this time more triumphant. His smile doesn’t last long though, dropping off his face as soon as he hears the next words out of Tsuna’s mouth.

‘My Mist does though. Oh Mukuro!’

In the next few seconds, the air ripples and the elder of Tsuna’s dual Mists appears beside him.

‘Yes?’

Tsuna sends a smile his way, soft and warm and indulgent, eyes glowing amber.

‘I did tell you I’d let you have your turn, right? Don’t go too overboard though, we still need to get Lambo’s location out of him.’

Chapter Text

The red haired boy introduces himself as Riddle Rosehearts. He hears out Lambo’s explanation of his circumstances – leaving out the whole alternate worlds thing – with a surprising amount of patience.

After, he says:

‘I’ve never heard about the Dark Mirror making mistakes like that. It’s rather odd. And you’re sure it couldn’t send you back?’

Lambo shakes his head.

‘Nah, we tried. It didn’t work.’

Riddle glances over the books spread out across the table.

‘So this is your attempt at understanding what happened to you,’ he states. ‘I see. In that case, I’d suggest looking more at the Dark Mirror for your research.’

(It’s a passing conversation, a piece of advice offered offhand.)

(But nevertheless, it puts an idea into Lambo’s head… one that would lead to far greater consequences than the youngest Vongola Guardian prepared for.)

After that conversation with Riddle, Lambo looks through a few more books, thinking all the while. He has reason to suspect that maybe, just maybe, the reason he’d been dragged into this world lay in his Flames. He doesn’t have a single idea how or why any of this happened, but the difference between his Lightning Flames and the magic they use here is all he has to go on.

Which makes his most solid path forward to keep learning more about how magic works, keep researching any leads… and also pray for a miracle to get him back home quicker because it looks like he’ll be stuck in Twisted Wonderland for a while. The aimlessness of this is admittedly frustrating though, so Lambo sets a proper goal for himself: find out more about the Dark Mirror. Though it hadn’t been able to send him home, maybe he could figure out how Flames affected the thing. If they did at all.

It’s about as much as he can hope for so soon, and Lambo knows from the Byakuran Incident just how long things like this could take sometimes, so he decides to call it a day there. Grim was sure to start bothering him soon anyway.

Lambo leaves the library soon after Riddle, satisfied with having made at least a little bit of progress.

Though Lambo and Grim have cleared out a proper room for themselves in Ramshackle, the rest of the building still remains a wreck. Just the thought of the mountain of clean up awaiting him if he wants to make this place actually liveable makes Lambo want to groan, fall asleep and never get up again. This was a nightmare waiting to happen, especially with zero resources on hand to work with.

(After only a couple of days living here, he’s suddenly gained a brand new respect for Sawada Nana.)

(Forget Vongola Rings, Lambo would kill for a hot shower and some proper heating right now. How is he supposed to live like this?)

That night, Lambo is woken up by a loud crack that sounds suspiciously like snapping wood. Alarmed, he sits up in bed and frantically looks around the room, only marginally reassured by seeing it the same as before.

‘Must be somewhere else in the house then,’ he mutters tiredly to himself. ‘Ugh, I sure hope this thing isn’t about to start falling apart under my feet. That would really suck…’

The perils of living in a building called “Ramshackle”, he supposes. Not for the first time, he wistfully thinks of the comforts home provided that he’d never thought to miss before.

For the next few minutes, Lambo stares blankly at the wall, too tired to try moving, but too awake to fall back asleep. Grim, the lucky little bastard, remains sleeping soundly on the other side of the only bed in the room. Time crawls agonisingly by, second by second.

Finally, Lambo sighs and swings his legs out of bed. He’ll sit outside for a while, maybe take a walk. That should tire him out enough to fall asleep again, right?

He makes his way outside Ramshackle, shivering a little as he steps into the night air. It’s windy enough that Lambo starts to feel a chill creep into his bones if he stays still for too long, so he begins walking aimlessly back and forth, wondering idly if Lightning Flames could actually warm him up. He’d never really tried using them outside of combat before, so he wouldn’t know how useful they were for such a mundane thing as driving away cold.

Just as he’s debating if trying a little experiment with his Flames right outside his dorm would be risky or not, Lambo feels a sudden presence behind him. He whips his head around, body instantly tensing.

His eyes widen when he spots the intruder – a strange boy with horns on his head.

The stranger stares back at him, looking equally startled.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asks.

Lambo frowns, feeling a little defensive. This guy just shows up at his dorm – a wreck sure, but still his dorm! – in the middle of the night and has the nerve to ask him why he’s here?

‘I live here.’

‘…I did not realise this place was now occupied,’ the stranger says, glancing briefly at Ramshackle before turning his gaze back to Lambo. ‘It’s been abandoned for a long time.’

‘Yeah, well, the headmaster put me here when I arrived. So as of like, a day or two, it’s mine.’ Lambo replies.

The stranger sighs, sounding strangely rueful.

‘A pity. I liked coming here for a little quiet. I’ll have to find another abandoned place now.’

It’s a testament to what the people Lambo calls family are like that he doesn’t even blink at this statement. A liking to taking walks in abandoned ruins was fairly tame compared to Hibari Kyouya and his bloodlust, or Mukuro’s everything.

‘I mean, it’s only going to be me and Grim in this place. So if you want to keep coming here, go ahead.’ Lambo shrugs. ‘Who are you anyway?’

This takes the stranger aback. He looks at Lambo with a new kind of curiosity in his eyes.

‘You don’t know who I am?’ he asks.

‘Was I supposed to?’ Lambo questions, raising an eyebrow.

(This meeting would also have big consequences for him later on.)

(Though, in his defence, he couldn’t have possibly known ahead of time what kind of trouble he’d get himself into by striking up that conversation with Malleus.)

Chapter Text

‘It’s not often that I meet someone unaware of my identity,’ the stranger says, an interested glint in his eyes. ‘Though perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised – most people wouldn’t talk to me as casually as you.’

Lambo thinks of the people he knows from back home with that kind of infamy and has to supress a snort. Was this a Reborn situation or a Vindice situation? Considering the lack of general creepiness, he was betting on the former.

‘So, are you going to introduce yourself? I’m Lambo, by the way.’

The stranger tilts his head ever so slightly, considering.

‘I wouldn’t want to frighten you by revealing who I am,’ he says eventually. ‘You may call me what you wish.’

‘I’m not exactly local so if you’re a big deal I wouldn’t know about it anyway,’ Lambo answers honestly. ‘But okay then.’

He’s just going to have to come up with some sort of nickname for the other – he couldn’t continue to just call him “stranger” in his head.

A sudden pulse of tiredness distracts Lambo from that thought. He yawns and stretches, more than a little relieved that he’s finally feeling tired enough to drop back into bed. It’s been a long couple of days and he’s going to need all the rest he can get to get through the rest.

‘Well, I’m heading back inside. It’s cold out here and I really need some sleep,’ he says with a slight wave at the still-unnamed stranger.

Something glints on his finger as he moves – the Lightning Ring that Lambo never takes off. It’s been his for almost three years now, proof that he was finally being recognised as a proper Guardian in his own right. Tsuna-nii had given it to him on his birthday, for more casual, everyday use than the Vongola Gear, he’d said.

To the people of Twisted Wonderland, it should’ve been just a ring. They had no way of knowing it’s true purpose.

But the stranger’s eyes widen when he spots it.

‘That ring…’ the stranger says, frowning in puzzlement.

Lambo stiffens. He looks intently at the stranger, with startled eyes.

‘What about it?’ Lambo demands, instantly much more alert.

If he knew anything – anything at all – about his ring… it could be a possible lead. A link to his world, a reason for his being here, maybe even a potential way back. Something.

The stranger opens his mouth to speak-

‘Hey!’

-when a voice suddenly interrupts.

Lambo sighs, part annoyed, part resigned.

(Of course he would get interrupted right at this particular moment.)

(He has to wonder, is Grim his karma for what he used to be like as a child?)

‘Grim…’

He’s about to turn around when a small grey blur tackles him, knocking into his back. Lambo stumbles, unable to catch himself in time. Just as he’s about to fall flat on his face, the stranger reaches out, steadying him. A hand brushes his own, and Lambo barely has the time to breathe out in relief before he feels a sudden jolt just as bare skin touches bare skin.

His eyes fall on his ring, the spark of Lightning Flame on his fingertips.

And then everything goes black.

From the moment Lambo Bovino went missing, the Vongola and all those associated with them knew no peace.

All sorts of assumptions had been made, accusations thrown around – tensions were high and only growing more so the more this situation stayed unresolved. Because the Tenth Generation were, to a one, worried about their youngest and that could only be a bad thing.

The Vongola throws out all its considerable resources to search, but the boy is not found. Each individual Guardian utilises their own method to try and find Lambo, but day after day, nothing. It’s as though he simply vanished into thin air, but that is an absurd idea, even by their standards. Lambo has to be somewhere and wherever that somewhere is, they’d find it. However, the longer the searching goes on, the more time passes with no information, the more the worry increases.

Out of everyone, the one most burdened by Lambo’s disappearance is Tsuna.

Yes, burdened – because as the boss, as the Sky, they’re all his responsibility, Lambo more than anyone. Lambo is the youngest of them all and, as a consequence, the weakest, the one who Tsuna most feels he needs to protect, the one who needs looking after. It’s always been that way, ever since a small child crashed into his life, since that child got dragged into danger over and over because of Vongola, because of Tsuna. To his Sky, the Lightning will never not be the one he has to fret over.

Now, Lambo is missing.

And Tsuna?

Tsuna is on the warpath. Every moment the youngest Vongola Guardian stays missing is a moment too long, in his humble opinion. Because it was one thing to think some mafia Family got too full of themselves and aimed for Lambo, entirely another to know that Lambo got taken by some completely unknown means for an unknown purpose. He’s already gotten what he can out of the Rossi – Hibari tore their men apart, Mukuro persuaded their leader to give up everything he knew – and it’s become clear that Lambo was already gone by the time they tried to put their little plan into action and snatch him.

(Chrome and Mukuro, both frustrated with their continued inability to locate the little Lightning, take it out on the Rossi, teaching them a lesson they’d never forget.)

(Tsuna only smiles indulgently, praising his Mists for holding back and leaving the unfortunate bastards alive.)

(Whoever said mercy couldn’t be cruel?)

As much as he wants to run as wild as the rest of his Guardians are though, Tsuna still has to be the responsible one.

So here he is.

Being responsible.

Sitting across from him is the now-former Mist Arcobaleno, Viper – or Mammon, whenever Varia business was in question.

‘I told you,’ the Mist says, almost petulantly. ‘I’ve tried and it didn’t work. I can’t track him-’

Tsuna smiles.

‘I know,’ he says, keeping his tone pleasant.

For some reason, the ex-Arcobaleno freezes in place.

‘I know you tried,’ Tsuna continues warmly. ‘But, surely someone as amazing as an Arcobaleno can do better than just trying? I’ve seen what Reborn is capable of, I’ve felt it on my own skin in fact, so you can’t be different, can you?’

‘The same Reborn who’s been walking around looking ready to shoot everyone on sight, you mean?’ Viper mutters.

Tsuna doesn’t let that comment go, remarking blithely:

‘We’ve all been… somewhat on edge lately.’

There’s a long moment in which both of them remain silent. Tsuna lets the silence stretch on until it starts to become uncomfortable before choosing to break it.

‘I’m only asking you to do something very simple.’ Tsuna says.

‘…what exactly do you need from me?’ Viper asks warily.

Tsuna leans forward, lowers his voice and explains. Viper grows more and more incredulous with every word.

‘You’re crazy,’ the Mist tells him as soon he finishes.

Tsuna shrugs, waiting patiently to hear the response.

The ex-Arcobaleno sighs.

‘Very well. But it’ll cost you,’ Viper warns.

Something in Tsuna’s eyes sharpens and he stares at the Mist across from him, geniality quickly fading.

‘I don’t care. Name whatever price you want, if that’s what motivates you.’ Tsuna says seriously.

(He’s going to need an abundance of Mist Flames and their strongest users, if he wants to act on his hunch.)

Taken aback but clearly satisfied, the former Mist Arcobaleno nods.

As soon Viper leaves, Tsuna’s eyes go to his phone.

Next order of business is contacting Yuni and Byakuran.

Tsuna will use everything at his disposal to get Lambo back, and everyone from the Varia to the Vindice to fucking Kawahira is just going to have to deal with it.

Chapter Text

Malleus Draconia did not expect his attempt at a peaceful walk in the formerly abandoned Ramshackle to end like this.

As Lambo crumples to the ground in a dead faint, the small grey cat-like monster that had interrupted them jumps to his side.

‘Hey! Hey, get up, this isn’t funny!’ the monster says, the worry in his voice undeniable despite his attempt at sounding unconcerned.

The monster – Grim, Malleus heard Lambo call him that – snaps his head up at him, glaring.

‘What did you do?’ Grim demands angrily.

Malleus would very much like to know that himself. All he did was touch Lambo, there was a jolt as strong as an electric shock, a brief crackle of something green and the boy just dropped to the ground like a rock. It’s more than a little alarming, considering all he’d been trying to do was help him up. Was it some form of touch-activated magic?

‘I apologise,’ he says. ‘I don’t understand what happened myself.’

Grim eyes him sceptically.

‘Yeah, sure you don’t,’ he says dryly, before bristling when Malleus takes a step closer. ‘Don’t touch him or I’ll burn you!’

In any other situation, this threat would only amuse Malleus but as it is, he can only feel a touch guilty – despite still not knowing what it was he actually did.

‘I only mean to bring him inside. Or would you rather do it yourself?’

Though his words were meant as a genuine question, Grim glares at him, offended.

‘I can so do it! The Great Grim doesn’t need anyone’s help!’ he declares.

Malleus watches as he pants and sweats for a solid two minutes, trying to heave the unconscious boy up with his small paws. Eventually, the monster gives up on that and attempts pulling Lambo along the ground instead, straining to tug at his hands. He fails in that as well.

With an annoyed huff, Grim looks at Malleus. Reluctantly, he says:

‘Fine! You carry him back. But this is only because I’m still so tired!’

Malleus lifts the human boy up into his arms, taking care to be exceedingly gentle and not accidentally touch any patch of bare skin. He wouldn’t want a repeat of whatever it was that happened to knock Lambo out in the first place, after all.

He heads inside Ramshackle’s building and, with directions provided by Grim, sets Lambo onto his bed. After a moment’s hesitation, Malleus summons pen and paper with a flick of his wrist and begins writing a note.

After returning to Diasomnia, Malleus searches out Lilia.

‘What was the name of that student who transferred out of Diasomnia last year?’ he asks.

Lilia raises an eyebrow.

‘Are you talking about Marinis?’ he questions back.

‘Marinis…’ Malleus tests the name on his tongue.

Yes, now he knows where exactly he remembered seeing that ring on the human’s finger.

Riddle Rosehearts stops in the middle of lecturing a student, an odd feeling overcoming him. Like a thousand tiny shocks to the skin, uncomfortable, unfamiliar, but somehow not at all painful. He shudders as the feeling passes and waves a hand to dismiss the student.

‘I’ll deal with you in the morning. Make sure to have a 4000 word apology essay ready by then,’ he says, putting a hand to his temple and wincing at the sudden pulsing – the beginnings of a headache.

‘Yes, dorm leader,’ Ace Trappola says, relieved. He hurries to scramble away and Riddle pays him no mind.

He needs to have some herbal tea, for the oncoming headache.

All around NRC, several students are feeling similar things.

Leona Kingscholar abruptly awakens at the bright and painful sensation of claws digging down his back, of something foreign and peculiar and enemy, enemy, enemy. He, much to his annoyance, can’t quite fall back asleep for almost an hour after, too wired up and bracing for a danger that never comes.

Azul Ashengrotto, putting away the last contract to finally head to his bedroom, frowns as a brief and piercing shock jolts through his body. He searches the room one last time to make sure that nobody got in, before dismissing it as static build up and leaving for the night.

Jamil Viper is found by his concerned master collapsed on his knees just outside Kalim’s bedroom. Body still shaking from the agonising phantom electric charge, Jamil snaps at Kalim and bats his hands away, before forcing himself up and stalking down the corridor.

Vil Schoenheit’s eyes briefly open at the short, sharp, aching pulse to his skin, before they slip closed again as he slips back into peaceful sleep.

Idia Shroud, busy in a late-night gaming session, shudders at the feel of dozens of electric charges, distant and painful. His hands slips and he loses his progress, but he doesn’t pay that any attention, looking around for the broken tech – and, to his confusion, finding nothing.

Two others feel something – one a douse of icy cold water, the other a pleasant buzzing. One frowns. The other smiles.

When Lambo wakes up, it’s already morning.

He grimaces as he pushes himself up, realising with a start that he’s back on his bed in Ramshackle dorm.

‘What… happened?’ he wonders aloud.

What was he doing back here? Lambo distinctly remembers passing out outside after his late night conversation got interrupted by Grim.

‘You touched the guy with the horns and fell like a sack of bricks, that’s what!’ Grim says, crossing his paws.

Lambo frowns, thinking back on the previous night.

Had he been back in his world, he’d have suspected some form of flame technique. Flames don’t exist in Twisted Wonderland though, so he’s left to assume this must be either magic or his own flames acting up due to the whole “being in a different world” thing. Was this going to be a regular occurrence? Lambo sure hoped not – dealing with this would be a real pain.

Groaning, he slumps backwards onto the bed.

His hand lands on something crinkly and Lambo sits up again, a piece of paper in hand.

‘What’s this?’ he asks.

‘Don’t know.’ Grim shrugs in reply. ‘The horns guy left it for you before he went. Who do you think he was anyway?’

Lambo ignores him in favour of reading the note, mentally thanking both Tsuna-nii’s insistence he get a widespread education and the fact that Twisted Wonderland has the same languages as his world, even if under different names.

My apologies for this… incident. I assure you I mean no harm – I don’t understand what happened myself.

I took the liberty of carrying you up. I assumed you wouldn’t want to be left lying outside. Also… I admit I have some questions I need answered about that ring of yours – it’s something I’ve seen before.

I’ll be back tonight.

Pursing his lips, Lambo reads through the note again. He isn’t sure whether this should be considered a good or a bad thing. On one hand, he has no idea what his passing out was about, or if this guy was trustworthy at all. On the other, he might get some answers at last and that might just be worth it, risk or no.

If his family were here… Tsuna-nii would gently scold him for not getting anyone’s help with that awful disappointed look in his eyes and Hayato would wring his neck for taking stupid risks alone. Takeshi would laugh and say he’s really grown up, but keep Lambo within eyesight with that scary glint in his eyes that made Reborn call him a “born  hitman”. Ryohei wouldn’t even pretend he’d let Lambo handle this by himself. Kyouya would say something dismissive about herbivores and crowding, but then show up anyway if there was actual danger. Mukuro would pretend to be unconcerned, but end up somehow always right there when trouble started. His big sister Chrome wouldn’t be far behind the other Mist, herding Lambo away from scenes of carnage, because they all still thought of him as a baby who couldn’t handle real danger.

But none of them are with him. Lambo is on his own and, for what had to be the first time in his life, he’ll be left to deal with his own problems.

So, reckless or not, Lambo will just have to try and get information out of his nightly visitor… and hope he wasn’t severely misreading how dangerous he was.

Tsuna smiles and holds out his arms to catch Yuni as she throws herself at him.

‘Tsuna!’ she greets, cheerfully ignoring the way his Storm twitches at the casual contact.

‘Yuni,’ Tsuna says warmly. ‘I wish I’d called you under better circumstances, but…’

‘I understand.’ Yuni says. She draws back, but the smile doesn’t fade from her face.

‘Will you do it? Will you help me?’ Tsuna asks.

He doesn’t doubt what the answer will be for a second and sure enough, Yuni nods.

‘Of course! I promise I’ll do everything I can,’ the former Sky Arcobaleno promises.

At this, Hayato speaks up for the first time since Tsuna announced his intentions to his Guardians. “Announced” being the polite word for the way he all but threw his father out of CEDEF and forced the Ninth into retirement just that morning in sweeping reforms, before gathering his Guardians and literally knocking his Mist and Cloud’s heads together when they attempted to start shit with each other instead of focusing. Tsuna can see the apprehension in his Storm’s eyes, though Hayato does an excellent job of hiding it.

‘Boss… are you  sure this is a good idea?’ the Vongola Tenth Generation Storm asks.

Tsuna tilts his head, stepping closer to Hayato.

‘Of course I am. Or do you not want to get Lambo back, Hayato?’ he says, perfectly calm.

Hayato swallows.

‘I do.’

‘Are you questioning me then?’ Tsuna continues.

‘No, boss. Never.’  Hayato swears.

Tsuna smiles at him and the icy chill in the air disappears.

‘Great!’ He turns back to Yuni. ‘It’s good to see you, Yuni. Did Byakuran tell you when he’d be coming?’

Yuni giggles.

‘He’s hiding,’ she says.

Taking one look at the expression on Tsuna’s face, Hayato pales and mutters:

‘Good luck Gesso, you poor bastard…’

Chapter Text

Lambo spends the day distracted, full of jittery anticipation. Practically counting the minutes until he can go back and wait outside Ramshackle for his potential source of invaluable information on how to get back home. He doesn’t make for particularly good company in this state, but thankfully Ace and Deuce seem busy with their own thing, whispering over a piece of paper, Deuce frantically making corrections as Ace hisses something at him.

They work on this all the way through lunch, until Deuce finally sighs and puts down his pen.

‘Well, that’s it. I hope it’s enough,’ he says nervously.

‘I gave mine in fine, didn’t I?’ Ace tells him. ‘You hit the word count, so it should be okay.’

Since Lambo is too busy picking at his food and trying not to look at his ring every two seconds, Grim is the one who asks the question.

‘What’s with you two? Is that some kinda thing for class?’ he gestures with his paw at the paper.

‘What? Oh, no, this is for our dorm leader Riddle,’ Deuce explains. ‘He’s… kind of a stickler for rules.’

Ace scoffs, leaning back in his chair.

‘Stickler? Try obsessed. He nearly bit my head off yesterday for not singing some stupid song while I was getting a midnight snack – who does that?’ he says, rolling his eyes.

Lambo looks up and his eyes widen when he sees who’s standing just behind Ace’s chair. He almost smirks, knowing Ace is about to dig his own grave. There’s a Reborn-like sadistic enjoyment to knowing his big mouthed friend is about to land in hot water – and that it is not him for once.

‘Get this: it’s apparently Queen of Hearts Rule Number Whatever that when getting a snack on “the day of two moons” you’re supposed to sing a song. Insane, right? I know we’re supposed to honour the Queen or something, but our dorm leader is seriously nuts about those rules!’ Ace ranted.

‘I don’t know, he seems pretty reasonable to me,’ Lambo remarks blithely.

‘Reasonable?’ Ace gawks. ‘He’s crazy! None of those rules make sense and he collared like twenty people just this morning for breaking them!’

‘I think you should shut up now Ace,’ Deuce says in a strangled tone and shoves him.

That is what finally gets Ace to pay attention. He looks around, frowning, then immediately turns ashen when he comes face to face with his dorm leader.

‘D-dorm leader Riddle!’ he stutters, pasting an awkward smile on his face.

Riddle crosses his arms, face thunderous.

‘Crazy, am I?’ he says slowly and with venom. ‘I see. I thought you might have learned your lesson this morning, but you have no respect for our rules whatsoever, Ace Trappola!’

Lambo exchanges a look with Grim as the two of them silently watch as the redhead viciously scolds Ace, Deuce cringing beside him. Lambo, reminded of a certain Cloud back home from the way all Heartslabyul students react to Riddle, idly wonders if he has a soft spot for hedgehogs and other cute things too.

Riddle notices Grim as the troublemaker from the opening ceremony and tuts that the headmaster should’ve punished him more, before turning his attention to Lambo.

‘Ah, I remember you. Lambo, yes? Have you solved your… problem yet?’ Riddle enquires calmly.

Lambo’s eyes are once again drawn to his ring.

‘I guess you could say I’ve made progress,’ he says slowly.

‘I’m glad to hear that,’ Riddle says. ‘Now, I must get going. I need to get sugar cubes for my tea.’

He walks off and Lambo fiddles with his ring, impatiently wondering how long the day could possibly stretch, before noticing the shocked expressions on his friends’ faces.

‘What?’

Lambo breathes out a sigh of relief when he spots his stranger from yesterday approaching. He’s been pacing around outside Ramshackle for what felt like an eternity, waiting for the guy to make good on his word and show up.

He wastes no time in getting to the point when the other comes close enough.

‘What do you know about this?’ Lambo asks, thrusting forward the hand adorned with his Lightning Ring.

The stranger’s eyes immediately go to it.

‘It’s as I thought. It’s the same one I saw back then.’

Lambo tenses, heart pounding.

‘Where did you see it?’ he demands, then bites his tongue hastily, hoping he didn’t come off as rude. He’s talking to a complete unknown here after all – maybe his mysterious stranger has a temper.

The stranger finally looks away from the ring and at Lambo.

‘One of the students from my dorm, Diasomnia, had a sketchbook with all sorts of jewellery designs that he was paranoid about others seeing – your ring was sketched there as well, down to the last detail. Marinis had a… disagreement… with his roommate about the sketchbook last year and asked to be transferred to another dorm.’

Lambo thinks feverishly over all the possibilities this brings to mind.

This should be impossible.

This is impossible. The Lightning Ring Lambo wears is modelled after his original one, the one he’d had before it was reforged into the Vongola Gear. How could someone from a completely different world have seen his ring at all, let alone enough to sketch it to the last detail? Unless the Tri-Ni-Sette somehow exists in this world as well, which Lambo sincerely doubts considering Twisted Wonderland is all about magic, with no Dying Will Flames anywhere in sight.

‘Hey,’ he says. ‘Did that sketchbook have some of these as well?’

Lambo carefully describes the other Vongola Rings, the Mare Rings and the Shimon Rings as well for good measure. To his increasing confusion, the stranger confirms each and every one.

‘What’s his name then? The student who transferred?’ Lambo asks, faking a nonchalance he didn’t feel.

The answer he receives momentarily freezes him in place.

‘Jamil, are you sure you’re feeling okay?’ Kalim frets. ‘You looked really bad yesterday…’

Jamil waves him off, biting back the surge of annoyance at Kalim’s decision to ask him this in the middle of such a public space.

‘I told you, I’m fine.’

Kalim looks at him, eyes wide with concern.

‘But…!’

Before he can say anything else, the door to the lounge is thrown wide open.

‘Hello, everybody!’ the one standing at the door calls in a singsong voice.

His pure white hair glints in the light, fae ears pointed, ever-present smile on his face.

‘It has come to my attention that we have become NRC’s laughingstocks! Every single lead Scarabia had tanked when Kalim Al-Asim was made dorm leader in his first year – we were dead last in everything, from exams to magift. Do you really want to repeat that this year under our incompetent dorm leader?’

Every word causes Kalim to flinch, casting guilty little looks Jamil’s way. Jamil pretends not to notice. Dirty looks from the other students are thrown Kalim’s way, with hisses of rich brat clearly audible. Jamil ignores those too, his gaze directed straight at the white-haired student.

‘I didn’t think so!’ he laughs. ‘We’ve turned from the dorm known for our meticulous planning to the party dorm. Who could stand that? It’s infuriating isn’t it, knowing we’re stuck at rock bottom because of our sad excuse of a dorm leader? Well, you’ll be happy to hear that I’m about to change all that.’

Jamil crosses his arms, an unreadable look on his face. Kalim cringes, red eyes downcast, but doesn’t say a word in protest.

‘What the hell are you doing, Marinis?’ Jamil questions sharply.

Ran Marinis walks forward, magic stone embedded in a ring on his hand instead of a pen. His smile grows wider.

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Ran says.

He keeps walking until he’s right in front of them.

‘Kalim Al-Asim, I’m challenging you for the position of Scarabia’s dorm leader.’

‘Byakuran Marinis.’

As soon as he hears that name, Lambo drops his face into his hands, groaning.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake.’