The Cloud's Anchor

La guerra e la confessione

A/N: Hello minna-san! This is the chapter you've all been waiting for. The coming together of Allaula! Yay! Anyways my life is currently kinda sucky. The only thing keeping me alive and undepressed is this story and anime. I've started watching Shugo Chara recently and while it may be a little girl anime, I like it. Well, enough of me, onwards with the chapter!

Disclaimer: If I get Thanos' glove and become the master of the universe, Khr! might belong to me but currently I am without the Infinty stones so neither Khr! nor the artwork above belong to me. :)

War was coming. The signs were all there and all the resentment that had been brewing between the Famiglias was now coming to fruition. Giotto's meeting with Antonito Garcini had been the final confirmation they needed and now the Vongola mansion was preparing for the attack. The Garcini Quinto had confessed to receiving threats from the Carcini Famiglia and had pleaded the Vongola for their help. Garcinis had always been more technologically based rather than the usual military criteria and this was the reason they had allied themselves with the Vongola in the first place. Giotto had assured him that not a single scratch will befall on the Garcini.

Currently the Vongola mansion was in 'war' mode. The security was shored up and the surveillance team was working overtime to ensure that no one suspicious entered the property. The combat forces were gearing up and the noncombat forces were providing support. Newbies or those who were too young to participate in the attack concentrated their energies on the defences. The staff, too, was being extra cautious and could be seen frequently carrying weapons. Most of the attack was concentrated in the area surrounding the Carcini mansion but Giotto refused to take any chances with the lives of the people under his care. A rogue enemy attacking the base in revenge just after the attack was not unheard of and the Vongola was doing their best to prevent such happenings.

The Guardians were of course getting ready for battle with the exception of Lampo- who was deemed too young- and Knuckle-who was in charge of the healing and backup crew. Alaude was rarely in his office these days, preferring to spend the time in the underground training facility with the members of the Cloud division, and going over plans with his fellow Guardians. Stella found herself too busy to miss him, training the kids in case of an attack and teaching them some basic combat techniques. The younger kids were forbidden to roam around on their own and were to always have an older person with them. It would not do for any of them to become vulnerability for the Vongola. The older kids had taken to assist the guards in patrolling the area.

Their attack plan was fairly simple and basic- bait the Carcini with Antonito pretending to accept their request and then annihilate them. A classic bait and switch. The squads would be waiting just outside the mansion to open fire, literally; the two families were powerful and Giotto knew that it would ultimately come down to their Flames.

It was the eve of the attack when the blond Sky found himself siting on the hammock in the garden, his feet barely touching the ground as he swayed lightly in the autumn breeze. The cerulean-eyed Sky raised his head to gaze at the stars when a small movement caught his eye. Daemon and Elena were leaning out of one of the hallway windows on the third floor, talking in hushed tones, exchanging messages of love and reassuring each other. Giotto could also hear sounds, sounds of Asari polishing and testing his blades in the dojo, sounds of the evening prayers being recited in Knuckle's deep but solemn voice, sounds of Lampo and the other kids helping out the maids with the dinner. Alaude's almost inaudible voice as he supervised his boys, Stella doing the same with her siblings. Giotto decided he could live with this whole Mafia crap if it meant being surrounded by the quiet murmurs of his loved ones.

And then there was one more sound. He looked over his shoulder and saw his friend and right-hand man coming towards him. The tattooed man sat down beside his boss, feet touching the ground. "What are doing here, Primo?"