Earth

"Koenig. I see you made it."

For an instant, Fredrick looked around, confused. Back in Italy, most people referred to his father as Koenig, while he escaped unnoticed. However, he did recognize the voice. Looking up, he spotted Eri walking up the stairs towards him and immediately froze. The sunlight seemed to catch her hair, which shifted in the gentle midday breeze, moving in slow motion along with the rest of her body. She was like a supermodel crossed with a superhero—strong, courageous, beautiful, and above all, cool. Instead of responding, Fredrick just stared, dumbfounded.

Eri walked right up beside him… and then knocked on the door. Fredrick came to his feet immediately, gulping once. “Uh… maybe we should wait…”

"WE'RE HERE!" She announced, causing Fredrick to wince. The door was not answered immediately, giving Fredrick hope that maybe nobody was home. Maybe he and Eri could just chill outside… maybe?

As if reading his thoughts, Eri turned to face Fredrick. "Nice to see you again. I take that the offer for dinner hasn't been cancelled yet?"

Fredrick chuckled nervously, looking down at his feet and scratching the back of his head. She still wanted to go out with him?! Fredrick internally berated himself. It’s not like a date or anything. Don’t get your hopes up. That’s when he thought of Serlina. She’d definitely give him her infamous “threat of encouragement”. Something like either you go out with her or I will! That made Fredrick smile, if but for a moment.

Then he remembered: he lost his ring. He lost Serlina. He lost everything.

He sighed, looking up at Eri. She didn’t deserve to be dragged down by his misery. Maybe he should just cancel it. He smiled nervously. “Uh… yeah…” He gulped. He had to protect her. He couldn’t bring her into his world. Didn’t want to show her just how weak and pathetic he really was. Then she’d never like him… That’s right. It’d be best just to distance himself from the others… especially Eri.

Especially Eri.

For the first time in a while, he looked her directly in the eyes, his expression becoming imperturbable. “Maybe later,” he muttered, reaching down, grabbing his bag, and slinging it over his shoulder.

At the same time, the door opened, and they were greeted with Joel’s reasoned countenance. He seemed to be analyzing them, as if they weren’t what he’d expected. Fredrick took the initiative, moving through the door before Eri did. As an afterthought, he removed his shoes and tossed them unceremoniously to the side, but did not otherwise speak.

"Fred!!!” Someone who could only be Cain exclaimed, nearly causing Fredrick to jump out of his skin. “What's up man. Come on, give me five. I'd like to get up myself, but you know. My leg is kinda...”

Fredrick sighed, but didn’t otherwise move, choosing instead to avoiding eye contact and look away. It was Joel who reacted instead, interrupting the boss.

"Cain!!!" The Lightning guardian’s was voice mid-ranged in volume, but still carried a level of assertiveness with it.

Fredrick was glad for the interruption, taking the opportunity to go sit in the corner furthest from the others. As they spoke about various things, all Fredrick could think of was shrinking away. He wanted nothing more than to disappear into his chair, becoming nothing and a burden for no one. He sighed. Maybe his father would come pick him up, if only he could find a way to contact him…

Suddenly, Eri appeared before him, the shadow of her presence blocking out the light from the overhead lamp. She handed him a tape recorder, which he took from her hands without question. She seemed to be waiting for him to press the play button, and so he did.

"Fredrick, you cub. I have something for you."

As Eri walked away, Fredrick began to tear up. Keiko… she sounded so genuine, her voice so full of compassion, as if she actually cared. Maybe she really did…

Fredrick brought his fist to his forehead, leaning his elbow on his seat’s armrest. He closed his eyes, trying his hardest to stop tears from breaching his eyelids and rolling down his cheeks.

Why were they all still pretending to like him? He was the idiot who lost his ring to some kid. He wasn’t a leader like Cain, or wise like Joel, or strong like Keiko, or awesome like Eri, or famous like Nami, or a genius like Shaji. He was just… nothing. They were probably laughing at him behind his back, and he knew without a doubt that he could not fault them for it—would not—because he deserved it.

Fredrick sniffed softly, the sound quiet enough to be unnoticeable. He opened his eyes. They were tearless. He refused to cry like some victim. It was his fault that he was in this situation, not Eri’s or Keiko’s or Cain’s or anyone else’s. They did not deserve to be burdened with his weakness. Not now.

If only Serlina was here. She’d know what to do.

"I am not an ordinary human being," Shaji suddenly blurted out. Even Fredrick raised an eyebrow at that one.



Alastor stepped back, admiring the fruits of his labor. With a little help from his Clocktower, Trevor’s C-Frame AI, and Hildegarde—the self-proclaimed “crouching brute, hidden mathematician”—he’d successfully performed the calculations necessary to estimate the current rate of temporal flux in respect to the space-time of this particular timeline.

In sending the Rizzo back to this specific point in time, the AIs calculated that they’d have roughly two months to perform their operations and divest the Vongolas of their rings. This would have allowed them to move slowly, cautiously, and also given them some buffer room in case the timeline began to change more drastically than they'd anticipated. However, from what he’d just calculated, they’d just eaten through that buffer.

They didn’t have two months’ time anymore. If his calculations were correct—and he did run them through his Clocktower and the C-Frame AI several times along with Hildegarde double-checking him as he went—they barely had over a million seconds remaining in their window before they did irrevocable damage to the future.

Essentially, the future they would return to, 100 years hence, would be one that was completely unfamiliar. In fact, it would be highly unpredictable. Anything could happen… and with the fate of humanity at stake, they couldn’t afford to roll the dice so cavalierly.

Roughly one million seconds—a conservative estimate. That’s about twenty-thousand minutes. Three hundred hours. Fourteen days. They went from two months’ time to fourteen days after one battle.

“Don’t look so good, eh?” Hildegarde said, allowing her thick accent to carry through.

“Not at all,” Alastor agreed. “Time is something we’re running short on, unfortunately.” He turned to face her. “I didn’t think it’d be this bad. We need to get the remaining rings and get out of here as soon as humanly possible. If one battle did that to the timeline, I can’t imagine what ruinous effects a sustained full-on offensive by the Rizzo would have...”

“No holds barred?” Hildegarde said, barely containing a cackle. “The effect would be: we’d kick their asses.”

“No, the effect would be: we’d totally erase the future we know.”

Hildegarde leaned back against the wall, folding her arms. “I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing,” her voice took on an endearing tone, “my cute little Alastor.”

Alastor gave her a look somewhere between incredulity and chagrin, a slight blush crossing his cheeks, though if it was due to anger or embarrassment, Hildegarde wasn’t sure. She definitely loved poking his buttons, just to witness the results. It was positively delightful.

“Hear me out, boss” she continued, raising her hands in surrender. “Maybe changing the future is what we want. Maybe we can make it so that humanity is ready for the aliens before they ever show up as a blip on the deep-space LIDAR array.”

“Or maybe we accidentally make it so humanity flat out loses the instant they attack,” he said coolly, looking back towards his wall of calculations, hand to his chin. After a while, he seemed to come to a conclusion of sorts. “It’ll be best if we stick to father’s plan,” he muttered.

Hildegarde shrugged. “Just throw’n out ideas, Al.”

“The moment Trev finds this Vongola hidey-hole, we’re going in full-strength.” He looked at Hildegarde. “No purposeful killing, but no mercy, either. We’ll crush them completely, and divest them of the remainder of their rings in one fell swoop. We can’t afford anything less.”

Hildegarde grinned, noting Alastor’s use of the adjective purposeful. That was quite a bit of leeway, as far as he was concerned. “So only a few holds barred.”

“Essentially.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said, curtsying deeply. “O glorious leader.”
Alastor sighed, bringing his palm to his face in a halfway attempt to hide a budding grin.

”Hey Trevor... Trevor. Look what I got.” Trevor didn’t much deign to look away from his computer screens, choosing instead to keep typing. “It looks like an address book. Maybe you can look at these area's and see if there are any Vongola around us hmm? If Trevor noticed him, he didn’t act like it. ”C'mon Trevor. Let's do this before it gets dark out.” He reached his hands over the boy and ruffled his hair. “Plus we can go in there as a duo and have some fun. That’d be cool don’t ya think?” Having his hair mussed is what finally brought the boy out of his trance-like state. Trevor very much disliked people touching his hair, though Donovan was the rare exception.

“I think we should stay,” Trevor said, glancing up at Donovan before returning his eyes to the screen before him. “Plus I’m almost done with getting rid of these wires.” He grabbed a clump of thick black cables as if to make his point. They all led to the small inert cube that sat on the boy’s desk. “Then I can have my C-Frame back.”

Donovan looked over the boys shoulder to see what he was talking about. “Oh, I see,” he said posturing himself up to stand up straight. “Well that shouldn’t take long, should it? I really think we could get a lot of information by going to these places. Who knows, we can tap their phone lines, or infiltrate their homes in disguise, or…. or…. I don’t know. Anything’s better than sitting around doing nothing. Don’tcha think?”

Trevor was always surprised at how fast Donovan could speak, and it took him a few moments of silence to digest what the Asteroid guardian has said. “I’m hooked into the Vongola network, as well as every single other local, city, and governmental system on this island,” he said, his voice never becoming anything more than flat and level. “We’ve tapped all the phone lines.”

Knock!

Trevor did not acknowledge the sound, but Donovan reacted, turning his head. Hildegarde was standing in what amounted to the doorway. Without waiting for permission, she stepped into the room, followed by the remaining Rizzos—sans Sora—with Alastor bringing up the rear.

“Hey Hilde!!! You didn’t take me with you when you went out. How could you have fun without me?” Donovan folded his arms and pouted.

Hildegarde gave Donovan a look, shaking her head twice. He was the second person to ask her that question today.

Men.

Trevor turned away from his keyboard for the first time, acknowledging the Rizzo boss’s presence. Hildegarde leaned against the side of the doorway, arms crossed. Flandre hummed contently, appearing to be in a good mood and appeared as if she was in her own world.

Donovan looked over to Alastor and fixed his pouted face into a bright smile. “Hey Al, guess what I did today?!! Something called fishing. It’s crazy. You attach a worm to a pointy thing and then throw it in the water. After that, you talk to an old man and listen to his stories. I’m not sure the actual point of the fishing rod things though, but…”

Miku walked slowly behind with bags of souvenirs from Namimori. She wore large glasses with no lens, had a japanese starbucks t-shirt, and vinyl goods. “So anyways!” Miku begun, “I went shopping today. It was soooooo fun.” “It was a complete utter waste of time. We could’ve been looking for the Vongola,” Elizabeth said. “Lighten up Liz,” Miku replied.

Alastor let loose a bitter sigh. It was obvious that the others didn’t have any relevant news to share. He fixed his fellow Rizzo with a look all too familiar, remaining silent until it became painfully awkward.

When he decided to speak, his voice was low, tone just on the underside of neutral. “So we have a problem.”

Donovan’s face fixed right back into a pout. “What do you mean bud? Did we run out of food or something?”

Hildegarde clenched her fist, which would have gone unnoticed save for the sound of her knuckles popping. It was an ominous sound. “No you imbecile,” she said, her voice steadily rising in octaves. “We—!”

“The timetable has changed,” Alastor interrupted, his voice calm. “Thanks to that last skirmish, our two month agenda has been constrained to two weeks.”

Donovan ignored Hilde’s comment. Mostly for the fact that he didn’t know what Imbecile meant. Instead he reacted to Alastor’s words. “Two weeks?!! That’s like…..” The boy then proceeded to counting on his hands. “Um.. Carry the one….and… Hey Trevor! How much time was shortened?”

Trevor looked up at Donovan. “Fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty six hours. Twenty-thousand one hundred and sixty minutes. One million, two hundred and nine thousand, six—”

Hildegarde snorted loudly. “He said: we’re fucked for time.”

“Time?!” Miku interjected, “Why yes! I had a wonderful time at karaoke! I also went out to this shopping mall called,” she continued. “Ti~ime…” Flandre interjected, “and time again, hm hmm, la la laa~♪”

Hildegarde ignored them. “We have a fourth of the leeway we thought we did, if that.”

After a while, Trevor spoke up. “So now what?”

Alastor pulled the Vongola Sky ring from his pocket, holding it up for the others to see. “Change of plans.” Alastor smirked, despite himself. “We’re going to take over the Vongola organization, with me as its Sky guardian.”

“Really!!! Bad ass. We can go in all like, ‘Hahaha. You Vongola’s will bow down to us,’ and they’ll be all like, ‘Oh no. Your sheer awesomeness is too much for us to bare.’ Hehehe. Let’s do it. Let’s do it now!!!” Donovan’s pout once again faded with a wide erie smile. One that would be see on a certain comical villain.

“What?” Flandre broke out of her musical trance, “Can we… Can you really do that? You’re not of Vongola blood, are you?” Of course, bloodline was everything to Flandre.

“I do not require use of this obsolete flame in order to claim rights as the next Vongola 11th.” Alastor slipped the Sky ring onto his ring finger as he spoke. It remained inert. “I simply have to make myself known.”

“So like after we take over the Vongola and all,” a huge grin came upon Miku’s face, “can we build a starbucks in it?” she sipped her cappuccino.

Trevor walked up to Miku, using both hands to take the cappuccino from her grasp. The maneuver seemed oddly surgical, like a drone strike. “No more for you.”

Miku sighed, “Alright… I’ll be more serious. This is how all the other girls my age act around Namimori. So, how would you plan to take over the Vongola?”

Hildegarde looked to Alastor, also curious.

Alastor’s smirk turned into a full blown grin. “We aren’t actually going to take them over. Not really.” He met Miku’s eyes. “With this compressed timetable, we can’t afford to wait on Trevor’s network attack to bear fruit. We just need the King of Flames and his guardians to reveal themselves. And they will, once I lay claim to their precious organization. How could they not?”

“And then we take their rings when they come to fight you?” Trevor asked.

“Exactly.”

Upon hearing that Nami also wouldn't be showing up, Joel resigned to himself, thinking that maybe her priority's weren't in the right place. Although that was her decision to make and he honestly didn't care. Whether she got her ring back or not was completely up to her. Also, hearing about the b rank rings didn't really matter much to Joel. What they lacked in power he would make up for in their training.

Once Eri told him about what Keiko was up to, he couldn't help but at least feel a little curious to what tasks she was going to take care of. He decided to put that curiosity on hold, noting that it wasn't important at the time. He took the recorder from the girl and played it. After listening to it he gave a slight smirk before putting it down. He gave the others time to listen to their bits before saying anything.
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While Cain listened to his piece, it did make him feel a little better about his defeat. Plus, the fact that him and Fredrick were getting gifts made him wish he could see her again already. "Hey Fred, you hear that," he asked. "We're getting presents. Ain't that awesome?" Afterwards he turned towards Ai. "Hey Shaji, could you hand me that ring? I just got into a comfortable spot and don't really feel like moving."
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Joel looked over the whole group. "Alright guys. It's time to get straight to business. You all know why you're here. I judge for two different reasons. One, you want to get stronger to get our rings back from those assassins, and two, you want to get stronger so you can keep your rings. Either way, I have to say I'm grateful that you all came. Though coming here was the easy part. You probably don't know this, but I've been watching you. I know a lot of your strengths and your weaknesses. During your time here we will work on that. Let me warn you though. It will not be easy, but if you don't give up you will be ten times stronger than you are today. In physic and mentality. Tomorrow, starting at zero six hundred, we will wake up and meditate for an hour. Afterwards, we will eat and then you will each have individual training, assigned by myself. Though now, I guess since it's getting late, we can eat and rest up for tomorrow. You can also take this time to unpack I suppose."

Once he was done his speech, Joel was about to leave the room to let the others do whatever they had wanted to do. Though before he left, Ai's words made him stop and turn around slightly so he could see her face.
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Cain on the other hand looked at her strangely. At first he thought she was saying she was stronger than Joel thought, but he had to ask. "What do you mean Shaji?"

Fredrick rolled the unfamiliar ring around in his palms, pondering his current situation. The B-ranked ring wouldn't be enough to bring Serlina back, so why did he even need it? He considered handing it back to Shaji, but that was before she said something that caught his attention.

"I am a bio-mechanically engineered probe of extra-terrestrial designed to interact with humans in order to complete specific tasks as ordered by my superiors."

Fredrick narrowed his eyes. Was this a joke? Extraterrestrial? Aliens? Really? Fredrick sighed, leaning the side of his face against his fist, his elbow on his chair's armrest, retreating back into himself as Shaji continued her fanciful explanation. What was the point of this alien-themed story? Was this part of Joel's training?

And then the tentacles appeared, materializing into existence as if they'd always been there. Pink cords, bobbing and weaving in the air, coming together to form intricate shapes and patterns before dispersing again. Shaji was virtually surrounded by these... these lace things. Fredrick straightened in his chair, a look of alarm on his face. They looked like they were crushing her!

"... it is both part of my mission and my duty as a guardian to make sure the rings don't end up in the Rizzo's possession, and I shall use this body to the best of my ability to do so."

"Shaji?! Are you okay?!" Fredrick asked, voice almost panicked as he prepared to stand, the ring in his hand all but forgotten, nearly tumbling to the floor. He looked to Joel, Cain, and the others. "What's happening?"

Joel retained his position near the outside of the living room. Quite honestly he wasn't really interested in the conversation going on, but from his standpoint it was better to know now if the girl was going to tell them of anything special she had going on with her. Boy was it special indeed. Her being an alien didn't really come as a surprise to him since their were a lot of more surprising things going on in their family. Heck, if one would compare everyone in the room to demigods, Joel wouldn't stop their claims. His mind became broadened the first time he traveled through lightning. It was good to know at least one other person, or thing in this case had something about them that set them up to par.

Cain, on the other hand, hadn't thought about things in the same light. Though, he did think it was cool how the girl was an alien. With further explanation it seemed that he was kept in the dark about everything, including her true mission with their group. He already knew he had to start thinking more like a leader and less like, well, himself when it came to things. So, for once he decided to keep quiet and let the girl talk. Though, it seemed Eri had other things planned in mind when she went on the defensive about it. Though that didn't stop Cain from giving them the open mic. Actually, his glance went towards Joel a few times, just to see if he was going to interrupt, but the man showed no signs of taking the floor. It seemed through all the confusion one person just wasn't interested in getting involved. Cain thought of many things he could say, one being how cool it was that Ai was an alien. Though, he did remember that she said something about her about her being a probe or something of the sort. That had to give the possibility that maybe she was forcing herself on a persons body. It didn't look as if the body itself was alien or not, but he wasn't sure. "Well then," he said while smiling at his friends. "I think we can trust Ai. She doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong and as she said her mission is to prevent our rings from being stolen. Like it or not, the fact that she has been with the family as long as she said means that we should trust her. Though Ai," his gaze went to the small girl, "I'm not really sure the terms you made with my father are actually the terms I will agree to. He was a great man, as I'm sure we all know, but I'm sure he has his flaws. So the only two questions I have for you are, one, will you swear your loyalty to me and to the other guardians? By that I mean will you watch our backs like we watch yours? Because I think that no matter the type of person or species you are the only thing that matters at the end of the day is if you can fight along side us. I personally think of everyone here as my family and will fight for them and with them regardless of the rings they have or don't have. No matter what, these people will always be my guardians and my brothers and sisters. Though, I can't ask you to think of them as your family, but I can ask for you to care for them as such. So that's my first condition. If you can promise me that you have our backs in this way then I can promise you that I will help you succeed in your task."

Joel seemed to be pleased with the boys statement, but of course had to put in one of his own. "What he means is, it doesn't matter what you were created for or who sent you. The boss is Cain and that wont change until his death. So until then, as long you follow his will, we wont have a problem, but, if you slip up and go against him, then I'll be against you." He then looked at the other people in the room for a quick second. "As I'm sure the others will too. However, don't think this rule only counts for you. Everyone in this room has a duty as a guardian and as a member of the Vongola to watch each others back and follow the boss."

"Yeah," Cain giggled. "We're a family. So no matter what happens we have to have each others back. I'm sure if we do that then whatever purpose we have here will be fulfilled."

"Another thing," Joel interrupted. "Cain, you should think about the person standing in front of you right now. The only ones that can have sky flames are people with the will inside of them. Based on what I've heard, there is more to Ai then meets the eye. She says she's an alien, but what you see in front of you is a body of a human. The true Mist Guardian."

"I see." Cain placed his hand on his chin. "Then I guess I should ask this. Ai, if your body is human then that means you're one of those aliens that take control of human bodies. I don't quite understand how, but I have to ask, for the sake of the body and the human that it belongs to, that after you complete your task you let her have her body back or give her the choice at least to have it back. It doesn't sound fair to you, since I'm not sure what'll happen to you if you give the body back to it's owner, but I feel that if I was taken over ban an alien or something I wouldn't like it. I hope I'm not asking too much."

Seeing as the conversation was starting to get normalized, Joel left the room, but before he did he looked back saying, "We should have a talk whenever you have the time. I'd like to know if you could tell me anything useful that we can use for the future. I'm going to the back to meditate. Any of you can come talk to me if you have something to say to me."

This time, the Boss spoke up. "I think we can trust Ai. She doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong and as she said her mission is to prevent our rings from being stolen. Like it or not, the fact that she has been with the family as long as she said means that we should trust her." Ai felt relief, or at least the intrinsic thinking pattern that equated to relief for her, that the Boss had trusted her words. Humans often denied things when unproved, but that only meant that they were logical beings like herself.

"Though Ai," Ai turned to face him, "I'm not really sure the terms you made with my father are actually the terms I will agree to. He was a great man, as I'm sure we all know, but I'm sure he has his flaws. So the only two questions I have for you are, one, will you swear your loyalty to me and to the other guardians? By that I mean will you watch our backs like we watch yours? Because I think that no matter the type of person or species you are the only thing that matters at the end of the day is if you can fight along side us. I personally think of everyone here as my family and will fight for them and with them regardless of the rings they have or don't have. No matter what, these people will always be my guardians and my brothers and sisters. Though, I can't ask you to think of them as your family, but I can ask for you to care for them as such. So that's my first condition. If you can promise me that you have our backs in this way then I can promise you that I will help you succeed in your task."

Ai was about to agree immediate, but she considered it. Part of the agreement she made with the Tenth was that she would become the Eleventh's Mist Guardian, which would entail serving and protecting the Boss whom she held with top priority. The guardians, however, were only protected by her as a means to an end as they both protected the Boss and the rings. Ai would always be concerned about the Boss over the guardians, such as when both him and the Storm guardian were injured, Ai focused more on making sure the Boss's condition was stable. Now, the Boss was telling her to treat them all with equal respect, to protect them as she would the Boss, like a family as he used the human example. Of course, Ai had no experience of family, but she understood the concept, that the Guardians would be as important to her as the Boss was. Obviously, this would be much more difficult for her as Ai was able to prepare for situations in the future as she had a set mindset for prioritization. Her goal was most important and following orders came after that. After that was either protecting the Boss or protecting the Vongola Rings, but they went somewhat hand in hand, although Ai couldn't really tell which was more important. To consider all the Vongola Guardians on equal level with the Boss in terms of prioritization would be difficult, as it was possible that more situations would appear in the future where one is under an equal amount of threat to the other, and Ai would have to be forced to prioritize one over the other, even if it was the Boss. Maybe it was possible to just prioritize the Boss just slightly above the others, but only slightly. It's wasn't like anybody could tell what was going on in the workings of her mind. But, whether she'd agree or not was out of the question.

The Lightning guardian added in; "What he means is, it doesn't matter what you were created for or who sent you. The boss is Cain and that wont change until his death. So until then, as long you follow his will, we wont have a problem, but, if you slip up and go against him, then I'll be against you." Ai nodded. "As I'm sure the others will too. However, don't think this rule only counts for you. Everyone in this room has a duty as a guardian and as a member of the Vongola to watch each others back and follow the boss." Ai assumed this also applied for the Storm and Sun guardians whom were not present.

Ai was about to voice her answer to the first condition, when the Lightning guardian interrupted. "Cain, you should think about the person standing in front of you right now. The only ones that can have sky flames are people with the will inside of them. Based on what I've heard, there is more to Ai then meets the eye. She says she's an alien, but what you see in front of you is a body of a human. The true Mist Guardian." Ai was taken by surprise. Indeed, the body of hers is merely borrowed, but she would have never imagined anybody would have been able to guess it. Ai didn't reveal it, however, as she deemed that detail unimportant. Also, she understood that humans often were against her existence, thinking of her possession of a human body as immoral or wrong and she didn't want the other guardians to distrust her for it. Of course, Ai didn't think so at all. After all, her design was created for the explicit purpose of possessing humans, so it would be much more wrong if she didn't do so.

"I see." The Boss seemed to understand. "Then I guess I should ask this. Ai, if your body is human then that means you're one of those aliens that take control of human bodies. I don't quite understand how, but I have to ask, for the sake of the body and the human that it belongs to, that after you complete your task you let her have her body back or give her the choice at least to have it back. It doesn't sound fair to you, since I'm not sure what'll happen to you if you give the body back to it's owner, but I feel that if I was taken over ban an alien or something I wouldn't like it. I hope I'm not asking too much."

Such was out of the question as well. Inevitably, she would be giving the body back, as such was the other part of the agreement she made with the Tenth. Personally, Ai believed it did more harm than good, but it was an order. Ai knew very well that upon doing so, unless she could find another body, she would be unable to sustain her own life beyond Alien care, and if she was successful, she wouldn't be able to receive such care even if she put herself in suspended animation unless some human in the far future had found some reason to want to keep her alive and invent a means of doing so. Of course, she would have had no purpose in existence by then. The termination of her existence would have been better for her anyway. After all, if her kind still existed, then Ai couldn't allow any opportunity for her kind to be able to thrive again, especially those that lived with the need to live off of human bodies.

"Your ability to deduce my true nature is commendable," said Ai, "And I will not deny that it is true, the body I possess is that of a human's. My relationship with it is mutual, as while I sustain its life from decay, it sustains mine. If it is your wish that I part with it upon the completion of my mission, then I shall obey. I have no further purpose beyond my mission. What becomes of the body is not of my responsibility, but it is my responsibility to keep this body sustainable until then." Ai thought back to the Rizzo's attack a week ago, when she received a few injuries of which she was able to fully heal. "And as for the former agreement, then indeed, I will protect each of the Guardians as I would protect myself, as a family as you use to describe it. My actions shall take them into more consideration. I hope my words are good enough for all of you as they shall reflect my actions."

The Lightning Guardian was about to leave the room, but before he did, he told her, "We should have a talk whenever you have the time. I'd like to know if you could tell me anything useful that we can use for the future. I'm going to the back to meditate. Any of you can come talk to me if you have something to say to me." Ai nodded.

“Well, Sora. You look really familiar have we met before?” she asked.
"She must recognize me from the headquarters!" he quickly thought of a reply, "Oh, nah couldn't be. I mean you have millions of fans, I'm sure I look like a couple of hundred of them."
With an expression that said 'I'm not convinced' Nami just said, "Eh alright, so about this date?"
"D-date?"
"Yes of course! You get a full day tomorrow with me, but..." she begun with a grin on her face, "Why not start a bit early? You can take me around Namimori!"
"Umm, sure?" he said with a perplexed gaze, "Just to let you know, I'm kind of new here so..."
"Then I'll take you around, come on hurry," she grabbed his arm and begun dragging him through backstage. "We can't let my manager see me because he'll drag me around. I've done more than enough with the concert today."
"Excuse me sir," the manager speaking to the guard at the exit, "Have you seen Tempest? I've been looking around. She completely went against protocol promising a day with a fan, plus we have three meetings coming up with sponsors in an hour."
"Crap! That's the only exit we can take. The alternative is through the front door, but there are fans still out there. Well there's always tomorrow" she said slightly disappointed with a frown.
He saw the excitement drain from her face, "I can fix this. Just follow my lead." Star flames begun to emit from his body as he approached the manager.
“Ah, Shirley and Michelle you both did splendid today. Your dancing exceeded even the most talented of dancers today, please keep it up. You both are heading out for the night?"
With a horrible high pitched girly voice impression, "Yea, we're both kind of exhausted, we'll be back for the next practice right Michelle?"
"R-r-right," Nami said.
"We'll just leave, come on girl!" Sora said grabbing Nami's arm.
As they walked out, it was still mid day, sunny, and warm outside. Namimori was flocking with people heading to their various destinations. After walking a fair distance away, Nami said, "What was that? I saw your producing flames! They weren't mist," she paused as she took a quick second to think.
"I might need to run. She'll probably figure out that I'm Rizzo and," his train of thoughts were interrupted by a loud, "That was amazing though! If you can do that, I can go anywhere! No paparazzi, fans, reporters," she continued on with her long list of possible followers. They continued to walk and talk through Namimori under the guise of just a normal man and woman.
"Must be tough being celebrity huh?"
"It has its ups and down," her eyes gleamed with the next line she spoke, "but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've dreamed of being a singer as long as I can remember. The stage, crowd, performing, and singing are all so perfect.”
Sora could tell from the look on her face and how she spoke when she mentioned singing. She truly was passionate about her career. She went into further detail on the songs she wrote, her father, family, balancing being a Vongola, and on top of that being a high profile celebrity. She was pretty open about her thoughts which shocked Sora. Her celebrity personnel seemed as if she was more arrogant mixed with confidence like a pop diva; however, she genuinely was just a nice girl.
“Sora?” she said while he was caught within his thoughts about Nami as a person. “Sora! Listen!”

“W-what? Oh my bad Nami, What’s up?”

“We’re here silly, just look!”

The place Sora saw before him made his face shine. He has only seen pictures of places like this and dreamed of going since he was a kid; however, in the future they don’t exist anymore. “A skate park!” He dashed off with his skateboard and immediately hit the ramps filled with others. Nami smiled and waved at Sora while he yelled out, “Let me show you something real nice” he tapped his skateboard with his gloves and it begun to emit a sky flame boosting it from the back. His speed on his board nearly quadrupled his speed and he went from doing simple tricks to nearly impossible spins without the boost.

“Whooaaaa” a few kids said watching him. After finishing with the ramp, he jet himself around Nami and continued to circle her at a high speed.
“Hey, Sora stop that! You’re blowing my hair out!”
“Hehe, it’s your turn,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the board while he jumped off. The board as if it was on autopilot took Nami for a ride on the ramps. “Sora! SORA! Stop! I can’t skate!”
“Just put your arms out like you’re surfing!” he yelled from the ground while messing with his left hand glove, “A remote control skateboard was a great idea Trevor.”
“Yea!” Nami yelled out while she appeared as a professional on the flame fueled skateboard. People stood After taking her for a few turns for a couple of minutes, he let her off the board.
“That was so much fun!” she yelled right next to Sora then hugged him. Sora blushed which threw off his concentration of maintaining the illusion.
“Is that Tempest?!” It seemed as if the whole world at the skatepark stopped while people begun to stare. “Who is that guy she’s hugging?” “Quick get your camera phone?” “Tempest, sign my shirt!” The people in the general area started to flock their way.
“Ah my bad,” he took a second to think, “Nami, take my hand!” He pulled her close to him as he stepped on the board. He typed in a few configurations on his glove extending the board just slightly then they both jetted off through the skies.

Hildegarde locked her hands together over Alastor's chest, entangling her fingers with one another. She was currently standing behind the Rizzo leader, leaning her bosom into his shoulder blades. She had her arms atop his shoulders, her forearms coming together in front of Alastor's body like a triangle, its north-most vertex composed of her clasped hands. Slowly, perhaps even unconsciously, she cracked her knuckles. It seemed to sooth her.

Hildegarde brought her head down to Alastor's ear, releasing her breath across his delicate flesh with practiced tact. When she opened her mouth to speak, her words came out a mere whisper."Why don't you just crush them yourself, Al?"

For Alastor's part, he seemed eerily calm and statuesque. It was as if the Rizzo weren't currently engaging the enemy, and Hildegarde wasn't currently pressing herself against him. With his expression, he might as well have been watching waves crash along the rocky shoreline of some far off beach. Hildegarde knew better, though. Alastor wasn't calm, he was bored. It's why she asked her question in the first place.

Alastor sighed, his eyes quickly scanning the reception-area-turned-arena. "We're here for the other rings." He turned his head slightly, which allowed his eyes to meet Hildegarde's. "You guys can have your fun, but I'm not going to waste flames on the likes of them."

Hildegarde bent her leg right leg at the knee, her heel nearly making contact with her backside as she leaned even deeper into Alastor's back. This shift in weight caused Alastor to hunch forward slightly in order to maintain his own balance.

"Then who will ya waste your flames on?" She asked, her voice confident in its homely southern bent. "You already grounded that skate punk of a flame king, and after this little skirmish, it's only a matter of time before the remainder of his primitives show." Hildegarde touched her right cheek to his left. "What if I need you then? Gonna sit that fight out too?"

The area under Alastor's eyes grew several shades pinker, his eyes themselves darting to the right, in the opposite direction from Hildegarde. From their perch high atop a neighboring building, the two Rizzo had a direct line of sight on the battle that was unfolding below. In response to the monstrous armor-like presence before them, one of these so-called "Varia" had created a foggy haze; it was probably an attempt to mask some form of counterattack. That brought a smirk to Alastor's face, albeit a slight one.

These primitives were one hundred years too early to effectively engage in combat with the likes of that particular beast. They had no idea what they were messing with.

Hildegarde, not satisfied with silence as an answer, shifted her weight once again, this time in the opposite direction, pulling her boss backwards. This latest stunt from the Quasar guardian caused Alastor to lose his balance entirely, making them both fall back towards the roof. When they hit the dirty cement tiling that made up the rooftop, Alastor found himself straddling Hildegard, his palms flat against the ground on either side of her head, her hands still on his shoulders.

"What was that for?" He asked, his tone neutral but his face still slightly flushed.

As he looked down at her, she simply grinned back up at him. "Letting the others have their fun, like you said," she muttered with mock innocence.

"What?"

Though she was a woman, Hildegarde was definitely the stronger of the two. With her hands still on his shoulders, she brought Alastor's torso closer to her own. "Trev and the others can take on those primitives. That means we have time to make a smidgen of our own fun."

Alastor's face scrunched in confusion, but before he could open his mouth to speak, Hildegarde turned things around. She used her grip on his shoulders to roll to the side, causing them to exchange positions. Now she was straddling him, and he lay pinned under her.

Alastor and Hildegarde had been best friends since childhood, and she considered herself to be his most loyal... well, everything. Friend, follower, soldier, defender—anything he or the Rizzo needed her to be. She was his right hand, and would gladly destroy the world if he simply commanded it.

Ever since the day they met more than half a decade ago as little kids, Hildegarde has been playing these types of physical games with Alastor, as she did with all her friends. When her mother was still around, she would always something about her "acting tomboyish," and that wrestling and rolling around was a "boy thing". Such discouragement had absolutely zero impact on Hildegarde, who did what she wanted anyway. Though she toyed with most of her friends in an overtly physical manner, it had always been something distinctly different when it came to Alastor. Hildegarde could feel it in her chest, then and now. It had long since become much more than a simple sense of friendship between them, though she wasn't sure her glorious leader had fully come to terms with that fact... or if he was even aware of what she felt for him.

So she would make it clear, here and now. This was the perfect place: in the middle of a war zone!

"Al," Hildegarde began, her accent thick, her expression devoid of jocularity. She locked his gaze within her own. "I want to have your children."

...

If Alastor's face was flushed before, it turned as red as a ruby now. "B-bu... I don't—wha?" he sputtered, her words derailing his usually lucid and coherent train of logic. "Uh—"

Without warning, something struck Hildegarde in the side of the head. The projectile impacted with such force that her head was thrown sideways, blood and spittle flying from her mouth as she gasped in surprise.

And then she became as silent and unmoving as a statue.

There were no words. There was no time. After what seemed like an eternity, Hildegarde simply stood, the expression on her face menacingly neutral, even as a single strand of blood found its way from the side of her head to the bottom of her chin.

Alastor knew that look. "Garda," he said, using an elbow to prop himself up. His tone had resumed its authoritative tenor. He pointed at her when he said his next words, ensuring he made eye contact. "No killing."

Hildegarde didn't react as another projectile smashed into her face—the top of her head this time. She was prepared for it. The blood-red object exploded immediately upon impact, disintegrating into nothingness.

"You didn't say no maiming, though" she muttered, leaping off the roof and taking flight. Maroon flames exploded from the bottom of her boots as she hurdled towards the source of the attack.

Alastor stood, dusting himself off with a few curt flicks of his wrist before straightening his collar. As usual, it was a sharp suave gesture. Though Hildegarde's earlier words bounced around in the back of his mind, this wasn't the first time she'd said something completely off-the-wall. Nor would it be the last. He'd save digestion of her... uh, desires for later.

Alastor sighed softly, taking the opportunity to survey the scene below. He might not be able to take a bullet to the face like Hildegarde, but he wasn't particularly worried about being sniped. Worst case, he could just suck it up and use his flames, after all, though he doubted it would come to that. The Rizzo completely outclassed the current set of riffraff below, that much was obvious.

Hildegarde seemed to be making her merry way towards one of the Varia members. Whoever it was, he looked completely normal save for the massive red wings that emanated from his back. They were composed of Storm flames, by the look of them. A rare flame type, back in the future.

Whomever ended up being on the receiving end of Hildegarde's rage would come to regret it. He just hoped he wouldn't have to step in to save the poor bastard from a horrible death.

That's when something in Alastor's periphery drew his attention. Looking to his right, Alastor spied the remains of the stage where the Vongola brass had been giving their little press conference several minutes earlier. The area was still covered in a thin gray mist, though it was quickly thinning. What'd caught Alastor's eye was not the mist itself, but a bright golden light that shined from within it. Squinting, Alastor could make out the source of the luminescence.

It was the Varia who'd attacked him earlier—their Sky ring user—and something in his hands was giving off quite a bit of energy. He even began to feel its radiant heat from where he stood, dozens upon dozens of meters away.

Suddenly, the Varia unleashed his attack, making a wide diagonal swing with his arms, curved upward. A thick yellow beam of energy shot forward immediately, following the arc of his swing like an impossibly long staff. The beam of light bisected what remained of the mist cloud, dispersing it entirely, but it didn't stop there.

Several dozen meters away, in the distance behind the mist, stood a pristine skyscraper of an office building, which existed on the other side of the street from the Vongola headquarters building. The beam of molten gold-black light struck that as well, entering the skyscraper near its bottom right side and moving upwards diagonally to exit a moment later near its middle left side.

It was as if a samurai had sliced a tree trunk in half. The newly bisected building succumbed to the temptations of gravity almost immediately, the top portion beginning its downward slide along this new diagonal axis. The screams of bending girders and splintering glass panes reached even Alastor's ears until, after a few seconds, the building imploded entirely, collapsing in on itself in a massive black plume of dust that enveloped the area surrounding the Vongola headquarters building.

Alastor was leaning over the edge of the roof in order to secure a better view, his hands firmly gripping the guardrail. His eyebrows were raised high in surprise. For the first time since he arrived in this time period, he was, for lack of a better term... impressed.