makeste: (Car wreck kids)
makeste ([personal profile] makeste) wrote2008-08-08 05:58 pm

Reborn! fic - Laughter Penetrates

Wrote this for this week's [livejournal.com profile] khr_drabble challenge. Not too sure about this because I think my drabbles are all starting to sound the same, BUT WHATEVER.

Sorry if the cross-posting crowded up anyone's f-list, btw. XD

Title: Laughter Penetrates
Challenge: 005: Silence
Rating: G
Word Count: 462
Characters: Tsuna
Warnings: Spoilers for the Future Arc.
Summary: A space that's too big for the people living in it.


---


His first thought when he sees their underground base in the future is, ‘It’s huge.’

His second thought is, ‘It’s empty.’

And it is. Empty; huge; in some places, almost cavernous. This is a base that was built to house an active and prosperous famiglia, a busy new generation of mafioso, budding and growing. It should be filled with dozens of people.

But it isn’t. There’s Reborn, there’s Giannini, and there’s Tsuna and the group that accompanied him: Gokudera-kun, the older Yamamoto, and Lal Mirch. Six people.

That’s it.

The result is a space that’s too big for the people living in it. Entire levels that echo with stillness, filled with ghosts and nothing else. There is silence in places that shouldn’t be silent. Everywhere he turns, he’s reminded of where he is and exactly what kind of future he is in.

His future self would have built this base intending for it to be full of life, inhabited by friendly faces, members of his family. Laughing, talking, bickering and working, all of them together. Just like home. In fact, before he came to this place, that was the future he was starting to imagine for himself.

Now he pictures the inside of a coffin. An image he can’t manage to get out of his head, no matter how hard he tries.

It gets a little better when Yamamoto and the others from his time arrive. Lambo and I-Pin, too young to understand what’s going on, who run around like nothing has changed. Kyoko-chan and Haru, who do understand but put on brave faces regardless, whose hopeful smiles brighten the room. And Yamamoto and Gokudera-kun, who understand all too well, and encourage him like nothing’s wrong, working just like him to get stronger.

They help. It’s still hard sometimes, when he steps out into a hallway to be greeted by the quiet, but their energy helps to fill that void. They make it bearable.

So he tries his best to focus on that, on the light and laughter that they bring, and to not think about what these halls might be like in a week or two, when that inevitable battle comes. When for better or worse, it’s time to leave this place for good; a lifeless, hollow shell of a place that once sheltered the people he loves.

He reminds himself that it’s only a home as long as those people are there to make it one. That they’re going to change this world gone wrong. That there’s nothing stopping that happy future from coming to pass as long as he has them, and they never give up.

But the uncertainties still creep into his mind, stark and profound, despite his best efforts. No matter how he tries, he can never quite shake them when he’s alone.

Every day, he’s thankful that he isn’t.

[identity profile] crazyweirdo17.livejournal.com 2008-08-09 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
That was so...real. It's exactly what I imagined Tsuna would be thinking. Nice job. :D

[identity profile] makeste.livejournal.com 2008-08-09 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks! ♥

[identity profile] teruame.livejournal.com 2008-08-09 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
Right-on for Tsuna's point of view. :D It's great to be able to see fanfics written about Tsuna that go into the serious side of things.

Congratulations.

[identity profile] makeste.livejournal.com 2008-08-12 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! And I'm glad you thought the Tsuna POV was good. :)

[identity profile] waterbaby12us.livejournal.com 2008-08-09 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
Wow, it's totally like what Tsuna would think! Very good job done!

[identity profile] makeste.livejournal.com 2008-08-12 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
Haha, I'm glad the characterization was decent. Thank you! ♥

[identity profile] sandrock.livejournal.com 2008-08-09 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
It's so easy to connect this with the canon as we know it, so believable when it comes to the character in question. It definitely seems like the kind of thing Tsuna would think about in his situation, which is one of those things that makes a clumsy kid with poor self-esteem and bad grades a great leader. His selflessness and humility are captured really well here. Thank you for sharing! I really enjoyed this. :)

Also, the last line is awesome. The first time I was reading it, I somehow read it as 'he's thankful he isn't able to shake the uncertainty', as if we're assuming that he is holding himself accountable to it. The next time I read it, I read 'he's thankful that he isn't alone', which is equally powerful. I like both ideas, actually. Chalk one point up to my poor reading comprehension, hehe.

[identity profile] makeste.livejournal.com 2008-08-12 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
|DDD Thank you. ♥ That's pretty much exactly what I was trying to hit with the characterization so I'm really glad it was on target.

Heh, as for the last line, I had some trouble with its ambiguity (couldn't for the life of me figure out how to word it so that it was specific but didn't lose all its oomph), so I'm glad you like both potential meanings. The second one was what I originally intended, but hopefully this means that even if people read it differently it'll still work out. But it definitely comes down to poor writing more than poor comprehsion; whoops. XD

[identity profile] dame-batsie.livejournal.com 2008-08-11 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Totally hit the nail on the head in terms of Tsuna's characterization. And it's just the perfect length too. *thumbs up*

[identity profile] makeste.livejournal.com 2008-08-12 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! |D Really glad you thought Tsuna was IC. ♥

[identity profile] reidluver.livejournal.com 2011-01-30 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. You completely captured Tsuna's personality. After all the craziness in his house that's he's grown used to, that place would seem way too quiet. I liked the comment about

"His future self would have built this base intending for it to be full of life, inhabited by friendly faces, members of his family. Laughing, talking, bickering and working, all of them together. Just like home. In fact, before he came to this place, that was the future he was starting to imagine for himself."