132It took Fon several moments to properly wake up, which was a few too many. When he did, he was Not Happy.
The last thing he remembered was talking to the odd girl named Altrouge before feeling something taken from him and passing out.
So it was understandable that it took him a few moments to register something very off about his body. When he did, he stared at his hands in absolute shock before discreetly checking the rest of himself to confirm the surreal nature of his discovery.
He wasn't cursed anymore. He kept staring at his adult-sized hands in shock and kept looking for the pacifier that kept him confined in toddler form.
"Are you done checking yourself out?" asked Altrouge blandly. "We didn't remove that ridiculous curse or the conduit from you so you could admire yourself."
"You...removed the curse?" said Fon, almost in disbelief at hearing his real voice, not the one he had gotten used to for almost thirty years.
She said nothing, but lead him into another room. Inside he saw the Storm boy and the Mist lounging on bean bag chairs while viciously cursing as they tried to kill each other on a rather bloody video game with quite a bit of enthusiasm.
Seeing the girl from earlier that had managed to catch Kyouya's attention, it took him a moment to realize there was an older version right next to her. Clearly this was her mother.
He could tell straight off that outside the Storm, Mist, Rain and Sun (only the first two were bonded to the Sky girl), the rest of the occupants of the room were Not Human. The Sky in question, now that he was observing her, felt like a mixture of the two. A hybrid, maybe?
"So Mister, why did you enter into the training grounds without permission?" asked the little Sky.
"I was worried about my grandson. Clouds don't wander away from their claimed territory without a very good reason, and a lot of people wouldn't hesitate to use him against me," said Fon honestly.
"Why? Are you strong?" asked the girl, tilting her head.
Fon wasn't fooled by how adorable she was... he knew that under her sweet and innocent exterior was an inhuman monster perfectly capable of ripping him to shreds.
That was fine... he wasn't exactly weak himself and sometimes it was very trying to keep his power in check.
"I am the World's Strongest Storm, and a lot of people would like to use me for their own means. However they can't do it directly, so they go after my family and those I am close to," said Fon evenly.
"Well you're still the strongest Storm, but in this world you're one of a handful who can even use Flames," said a voice. "That pacifier of yours was a real piece of junk... no wonder I have so much trouble cleaning up after that one brat if that's the level of competence that fool can manage."
He looked like an older man with gray hair and blood red eyes. But there was a sense of power and to his amusement, more chaos than Reborn could ever pull off without some real effort, behind him. He looked like an eccentric grandfather, to be honest.
And yet he made Fon far more wary than the current boss of the Vongola ever had.
"What fool?"
"The same idiot who cursed you. The system is inefficient and the materials used are all substandard at best. It's like he threw together the first thing he could and stopped there without experimenting further once he had a bit more leeway for whatever it is they're supposed to be keeping in check," he replied. "You may call me Zelretch, by the way. The taller blond is Arcueid and you've already met her daughter Tsukiyo."
"Fon. Are you saying you could completely remove our curse?" asked Fon, not daring to hope.
"I'm saying it would be simple to replace the system entirely, once we figure out what it was designed for. The problem would be getting our hands on the other two sets, since it was designed to be a three-part system. Just removing the Arcobaleno from play wouldn't be enough."
"I see," said Fon, almost disappointed.
"Don't feel too upset. If things go the same way they have in other alternates then the other two parts will fall into place roughly when Reborn is sent to train Tsukiyo to become the next Decima of the Vongola famiglia. They have one part of the trio in their possession," said Zelretch.
"I'm sorry, did you just say 'other alternates'?" he said in disbelief.
"You're in a parallel world where Dying Will Flames don't exist, though the underworld does. I guarantee you no one would even know the name 'Fon' here as the world's strongest Storm. Possibly the strongest martial artist, but not as a Storm," said Zelretch smirking. "Welcome to the other side of the looking glass... it only gets stranger from here."
"Then I suppose that makes her Alice," said Fon, looking at Tsukiyo with some amusement.
"If she's Alice then Arcueid is the Queen of Hearts," said Zelretch smirking. Seeing her confusion, he grinned. "I'll get you the books later."
"Tell me why I should trust you with my grandson," asked Fon.
Tsukiyo looked at him for a moment, before turning to Altrouge.
"Auntie, can we take the dragon with us on another cleaning run? I think he needs to figure out for himself why Kyouya likes being around me so much."
"I'll see if there's any idiots active, and if nothing else we can go to a world that's overdue for one."
Fon was rather confused by the exchange. For now he would enjoy his true form while it lasted.
It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. An entire village overrun by inhuman monsters and things that used to be human. Fon had to look at the little Sky next to him who was entirely unconcerned by the scene.
It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, after all.
"What is this?"
"What happens when men delve too deeply into the wrong things and then decide that it's perfectly acceptable to experiment on their fellow man in order to make progress. What we do right now isn't murder...it's cleaning up a mess made by fools who believe the ends justify the means," said Tsukiyo simply.
Fon looked at the zombie-like creatures. There was no pity or empathy in his eyes... he could see what she meant about this being more about clean-up than anything else.
"These things...they're the same creatures you had Kyouya and the other two fighting before aren't they?"
"They're called Ghouls. Auntie went to deal with the fool responsible for making these, but we get to have fun and let loose while taking out the trash. And don't worry about the buildings... you can destroy them if you want since the odds of anything being salvageable from this village are pretty much nonexistent."
Fon quickly realized the creatures in the village were much, much more dangerous than the ones she had been 'sending' after Kyouya and the other two. If anything they were scaled down to a level that a recently Flame-active teen could potentially handle with a few safety features added.
It was strangely cathartic, crushing heads and not having to hold back his strength. So much so that it took him a few moments to realize that his Flames were naturally gravitating towards Tsukiyo's Sky, and she wasn't even trying to pull him in.
That was when he realized why Kyouya had developed such a strong interest in the girl. So much so that he openly abandoned patrolling his territory to be around her.
Clouds above all else desired freedom and were openly drawn to power. The stronger the Cloud, the more power a Sky needed in order to draw them in, all while slipping subtle chains to bind them together. It was part of the reason why having a full Harmony in a Sky was a sign of power in the underworld. Clouds wouldn't bow to just anyone.
And Kyouya... Kyouya was almost certainly a classic Cloud, and a particularly violent one at that. He wouldn't respect any Sky that approached him...they would have to prove themselves an equal carnivore before he would even pretend to listen to them.
This girl not only radiated more power than any human could remotely be capable of (unless they dropped the 'human' part and became something else), but she represented pure freedom. Freedom to be as violent as he liked, to drop the idea of human restraint when it came to a fight, and to go all out on opponents normal humanity wouldn't stand a hope in hell against.
It was little wonder Kyouya was positively enamored with her to the point he would abandon his territory. Namimori was a small town, and didn't offer much in the way of fighting to soothe his warrior's spirit.
And if Fon were perfectly honest with himself, he found the idea of not having to hold back his true strength without the added burden of being a killer of his own kind very refreshing and somewhat relaxing. It was nice to actually let loose without the usual consequences that would drag down on his conscience and it took him a few moments to realize he was not only having fun, but smiling with enjoyment.
How long had it been since he properly let his full power go? To be the eye of the storm that wiped away anything in his path without having to worry about innocents being caught in the crossfire?
He was almost disappointed when they killed off the last ghoul.
Fortunately they had hot showers with absurd water tanks, so he was able to get properly clean, and his clothes were washed as well of the gunk that came from destroying the monsters.
Feeling a gentle hand on his cheek, something in him relaxed as he realized it was Tsukiyo looking at him with some amusement.
"I think I'm starting to see why Kyouya likes you so much now."
Who was he to get in the way of his grandson finding the perfect Sky that would allow him to flourish beyond being a mere Guardian? And considering how possessive the girl felt it was unlikely she would ever accept anyone trying to take Kyouya away from her...not without causing a lot of damage to retrieve him.
He really should have noticed when his Flames stopped 'drifting' towards her Sky and openly joined her Harmony. As it was, it took Belphegor hissing at him in annoyance before he picked up on it.
What he had with Luce was nice enough, but the real thing was so much better. Tsukiyo's Sky was far different from any other he had met.
She gave a home where the monsters could relax and be their true selves without having to hide behind human masks all the time. Where they were welcomed with open arms and accepted regardless of what their past was.
It was nice, not having to hide behind his serene facade and be the dragon he knew he was inside. He could almost visualize his dragon form stretching out for the first time in far too long and relaxing.
"Oh hush Bel. I'm not replacing you with Fon, but we both know you enjoyed being in the Varia more than being a normal Guardian. Besides, according to Mammon the Elite don't have to be bonded to the same Sky so long as they belong to the same famiglia," said Tsukiyo soothingly. "Unless you really want to be my right hand and deal with that much paperwork."
Belphegor grimaced at the idea. At least once Reborn showed up he could join the Varia again, even if it was several years later than he normally did. And Xanxus wouldn't be his Sky this time around.
"...So just to be clear you can go to alternate worlds and see into them at will," said Fon dubious.
"Grandpa is a bigger troll than Reborn. Your Sun friend only has one world to play around with... grandpa has the ability to not only dump you in a world full of hormonal teenage magical girls complete with cute and adorable side kicks, but also insure that you're the best looking one there and have pheromones that would make them chase you relentlessly trying to get into your pants... and that's a relatively tame one," said Tsukiyo helpfully.
Fon only had to briefly imagine THAT scenario before openly shuddering. He could easily see Reborn doing that to someone if he had the ability and power just for shits and giggles and then claim it was training.
It might be briefly amusing to see Lal stuck as a magical girl, with Colonello as her partner though.
"I'm sensing a good prank idea that could have long reaching consequences and I want in," said Zelretch immediately.
"Just imagining the fun to be had if Lal Mirch got stuck having to fight as a magical girl with the only way to turn back was to admit her feelings for Colonello," said Fon amused.
He wasn't a troll the same level of Reborn, but he had his moments. Seeing the Wizard Marshal's sudden evil grin, he was rather happy that he wasn't going to be on the wrong end of this particular prank. Maybe now Lal would quit lying about her real feelings for her former student and admit she was in love with him, or at least quit stringing the poor man along.
As it was, Fon cheerfully hid from both when they found out who was the source of the prank...once they got over the shock of being temporarily free from the curse and Lal turned into a teenager again with a magical girl outfit and cute sidekick.
(She now had a new method of stress release called "punt the fuzzy". That thing was annoying as hell and kept poking at the fact she was a Tsundere. Colonello still laughed when he saw it...and he had plenty of blackmail pictures of "magical girl Lal", to her fury.)
