Rewound

prologue and chapter i

{prologue}

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Someone was screaming.

Despite that, however, he could still hear his companion's words.

"N-Ngh . . . Tenth," Choking gasps of pain echoed into the stale air. Green eyes, tainted with dark despair, stared pleadingly. "A-Agh . . . Tenth ―no,Tsuna, please . . . you have to go."

And then the gasps were no more, and he was left to stare blankly with questions still burning on the the tip of his tongue.

Go. Go where?

Everything was painted with shades of red. Even his companion's beautiful silver hair and pale skin . . . blood red stained his chest and his lips like a blossoming rose.

The others had been the same too. Cold, porcelain dolls, covered in red roses and red vines . . .

No.

No.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Come heaven or hell, they were supposed to be together ―no matter what.

But why did this happen instead?

Why?

Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywh―

―Oh. The one who had been screaming was him.

And then Tsuna woke up.

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But . . . Tsuna wasn't really Tsuna anymore.

{chapter i}

He was wrenched from his sleep only to see the blinding light from the sun . . . and to hear a blood-curdling scream that was abruptly cut short.

Bolting up from his bed, the uneasy feeling that was a result of his already-fading nightmare tripled, and immediately Tsuna was rushing out of the room he was in―

―Before he stopped short and just stared.

A beautiful lady with dazzling blonde hair lay limply at the bottom of the stairs. Her limbs were bent in ways that were unnatural, like a broken doll's ―or a puppet who had its strings cut. Copious amounts of blood oozed out of her mouth like dribbling red lipstick.

But what had been most striking to Tsuna was how her neck was twisted gruesomely, blood spurting out of her nape in a ghastly imitation of a fountain.

Tsuna breathed in slowly, immediately regretting it as he smelled the heavy coppery scent in the air. This person was dead. It was clear that she had taken a nasty fall from the top of the stairs, breaking her neck in the process. She was just one of the many individuals whose life was cut before her time.

. . .

Tsuna ignored the slight pang in his heart.

(It was only then, as Tsuna made his way to the lady, did Tsuna realize that his limbs were much smaller than they had been before.)

--

"O-Oh God." Someone gasped out in Italian.

Hurried steps. A gentle hand on his arm as the stranger led Tsuna away from her.