Water slapped the wooden floors of Infinity, inching closer toward the vacant boots of Izuki. Tsunashi gasped, out of breath, the collar of his shirt soaking wet. Traces of steam still loomed around his ears, but his eyelids still hung as he looked into Izuki’s eyes.

“Down.” Izuki said. With her bare foot on his head, she pressed him to where she could no longer see his face. Around forty seconds had passed until he struggled, after which allowing him to lift his head again. With her foot now at his chin, she lifted his sight upwards. “Not even a minute. You’re bullshitting. Is this really all you’re capable of?” As he caught his breath, Tsunashi flashed a wry smile, furrowing Izuki’s eyebrows. Her foot raised to the top of his head. “Idiot!” She pulled back and kicked him across his face, spilling the bucket of water in front of him.

Tsunashi’s neck twisted, cracking the bones within as he caught himself. “Those with power, like money and wealth, would do best not to flaunt it.” The comment prompted a curiosity from Izuki that wiggled her eyebrow. “People are hungry for it regardless of where they stand in life. Even those who have had more than their fill want more. They’ll want it and eventually end up destroying everything. Themselves included.” A spark jolted through Izuki’s foot as it planted straight into his face and knocked him back.

“That’s a naïve take on it all. Both you and I know that Mr. Fire Deity.” Tsunashi’s smile vanished from his face. “History tells that the reason for your downfall was because of power. You’d taken too much, conducting experiments that opposed nature itself. Breeding new monsters as well as attempting to clone yourself. Can I ask how many fingers are pointing back at you in this self-righteous crusade that you’re on?”

Tsunashi swiped his wet hair to the side. “Nothing’s a secret with you people. I can only wonder who told you all of this information.”

“Who else but the Elf? Leora’s been alive for much longer than you’d think, Tsunashi. Keeping your secrets won’t help you win this war. Nor is diving solo into the dragon’s den. Let us help you and end everything the way it should’ve ended years ago.”

“Risks too high. I’m not taking the chance of anyone losing their life over my mistake.”

“Who’s declaring that? The boy or the dragon?”

“Both.”

Izuki folded her arms, a relax expression appeared on her face after a moment of contemplation. “The power you had ensured security. It’s the certain reason no one could touch you at your prime.” Izuki pointed a thumb at herself. “That’s why it’s up to the person alone to moderate their whims. Give in to it and it’ll devour you. Control it and be a damned legend!” Her sudden bravado faded away, looking at the floor, then at Tsunashi. “Izaki and I never followed the easy way. We never had the chance, honestly. Minhki aren’t the pushovers that everybody believes them to be.”

“Minhki? What do they have to do with you?” Tsunashi asked, wiping his face. “You have no tail, from what I can tell. Look more human than anything, despite that sickly skin color of yours.”

“Adopted.” Izuki turned around. Unbuttoning her shirt, she revealed a large red tattoo on in the center of her chiseled back that stretched to her sides. “We were foundlings of a tribe. Each member earns their mark when they’ve proven themselves. It reads ‘Tenacity’ which is what they recognized me for. The size is most important as it signifies how heavily it’s weighed amongst others of the tribe.”

Tsunashi rolled his eyes and fell flat on his back. “Forget I asked. Didn’t know I was getting a life story that I could give two shits about.”

“Asshole! I’m trying to share a moment with you, and this is how you react!?” The door creaked behind her, sending a jolt of fear into her chest as her head spun to the entrance.

Leora strolled into the room, swinging the door wide open. After a step, her body strained and scanned the near bare body of Izuki while Tsunashi was on the floor. A tightening of her fists and a rise of air swirled around her. “IZUKI!”

“Leora! It’s not what it looks like!” Izuki said, immediately buttoning her shirt. “I was just showing him my tattoo! Tell her, Tsunashi!” Tsunashi’s body remained flat as she turned toward him. Head turned and eyes closed, with smoke lifting from his nose. “What the hell!” A powerful tug at her collar confirmed Leora’s hold on her. “Leora! It’s a big misunderstanding!”

A swirl appeared on the floor, slowly raising a wooden box that Leora promptly forced Izuki into.

“We’ll talk later. I thought we got those impulses of your in check, but I guess not!” Leora shoved the box back into the ground, making it disappear. Leora’s shoulders eased. She stepped closer to Tsunashi and kneeled beside him. Her hand brushed the white parts of his hair and checked his neck. “This is a lot more than before… Looks more like a mane than hair.” Poking her finger at his cheek, she gave him another scan. “Still wearing Zio’s jacket. Safe to assume he remembers him. Still burning hot. Brimming with life and maybe a bit more wisdom. Still an ignorant and curious boy. All in all, he’s still the same Tsuna as ever. The dragon’s not taken as much as we thought he would. Gin would be proud.” Leora stood and tapped Tsunashi’s leg with her foot. “Wouldn’t you agree?” His sealed eyelids opened, and the red eye of the dragon displayed, followed by a broad smile.

“Took you long enough to check in.” He glanced at the bucket. “I thought she’d drown me before we got the chance to do any real training.”

“Izuki’s not that lenient. She’d have drowned you, shocked you back to life, then drowned you again. No one’s safe in her training. Not even Zio.”

“Speaking of him…” Tsunashi sat up, leaning on his knee as he gawked toward the door. “He’s close Leora. I can feel him somewhere in the area. Beyond my ether outside. I try to lock on to his location and it gets blurrier the closer I get. It’s like he doesn’t want to be found.”

“I’m well aware he’s close. The miasmic red ether damn near blocks any signal I try to send, but I can still keep track of certain occurrences. There’s not just anyone who could track him down if he moved again. With Accolade at risk in the middle of a potential battlefield, moving our strongest from here would only increase the likelihood of it falling.”

“Can’t do something with this magic tree house of yours? How’d you make Izuki disappear just now? How did I find you on the side of a mountain a few months ago? And now you’re on the outskirts of a city…” A light flashed in his eyes. “That reminds me.” Tsunashi dug into his jacket pocket, revealing a small branch. “I’ve kept this safe like you asked.” As he extended it to her, she pressed his hand down.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Hold on to it a while longer. Seems like its good luck has been working, as you’re still in one piece.”

“Ain’t I lucky. I get a twig and a ripped jacket from one of the meanest women in this world.” Tiny fires pushed from Tsunashi’s limbs, bringing him to his feet. “You know what’s frustrating? That tension. Happening out there, right now. It’s just a big cover up for something bigger. On the surface, it looks as simple as dragon’s picking a fight, but the reality is much different. Talion is no fool to wage a war that was lost before. There’s intent, purpose. He’s had the time to correct my failures in his mind with his imprisonment.”

“You’re right. There’s usually some ulterior motive to war. Dragons, however, aren’t vying for resources the way man would. Have you found its purpose?”

“Conversion. As simple as that. Talion seeks to turn the people into dragons like himself. Or some sort of false equivalents. I saw it in Morath, when the shrieks through the night filled the air. On our way here, attacked by a woman who spoke as if she knew me from before. The human me.” He walked over to the bed and collapsing as he inhaled, then exhaled smoke. “The most frustrating part is that I don’t understand what’s the point. Revenge would be a simple answer, but there were more factors to our loss of the war than humans.”

Leora followed walked to the bedside, noticing his toes stretch and curl. “You seem a lot less composed than last time, as you’ve had time to think. Or maybe it’s because Infernus’ memories are coming back more quickly than we expected. There’s also the chance that were you always like this. Itching for a fight. Uncaring about how things will play out if you act on instincts. What’s really floating through that head of yours about the dragons and their plans?”

“Conflict must happen. That’s something the boy and dragon have agreed upon. And the sooner it happens, the better. The longer you try to sweep shit under the rug, the worse it gets.”

Leora stared at him with discontent. “But is war the only way? Is there not another custom in your dragon culture that avoids the risk of mass bloodshed?”

“Talion is beyond speaking to, so war must happen.”

“Have you had the chance to speak to him about that?”

“You won’t convince me otherwise, Leora.” Tsunashi snapped at her, his fist tightening. “While he’s made preparations to set cities ablaze, what has man done to stop him? Sit about, mobilize slowly as they prepare to watch him set the world on fire before they act. They flex their armies as a show of passive aggressive force…” He paused, staring at the ceiling as his eyebrows furrowed while the whirr in his chest roared. “People have always complained about passive aggressiveness while being completely passive about the things they hate. If you hate war, then end it without the drawn-out showboating. Ending it saves time; the latter wastes it. The problem won’t disappear until either someone speaks up or someone gets punched in the jaw. We just happen to be at the point where jaw punching is far more effective than conversing over dinner.” Tsunashi sighed. “My biggest mistake was putting myself in a position for him to kill me. Now that I have a second chance, I’d be a fool to let it go. It has to end here.”

“Speaking a lot like the old you!” Leora’s voice echoed through the room, growing louder. “Fight, fight! That’s all you creatures know how to do. Why give a damn about anything that doesn’t send you on a warpath? Whether you like it or not, we’re all a part of this battle now and we all have a say in how this plays out. Not just you, Tsuna! Zio, Rylen, Natsumi, me, the girl you dragged into this…” A pause brought a look of question to Leora’s face. “The girl, Glacia, what is her part in all of this? Why is she here? Are you using her as part of your vendetta serves no purpose in the grand scheme? If you plan to send her to war, I’ll wring you right here.”

“Her wandering the battlefield and being found as a casualty is the last thing I want! She’s the reason I need to end this! Her safety is priority and I brought her here because I trust you’ll be able to keep her safe meanwhile. This task of yours should keep her busy. At least for a little while.”

“Nu-uh.” Leora shook her head with a chuckle. “You saw her downstairs? That girl has a goal and there’s no caging that her for long. The front of the fight is where she desires to be and, in her world, I’m no one to stop her.” Her head tilted, with an audible hum following. “Now, who am I to believe is saying this? I doubt it was the boy. Apparently, he had a wife. The dragon, perhaps? One who fell in love with one of his own experiments.” She awaited an answer, but Tsunashi was dead silent. A moment passed, then Tsunashi’s mouth opened.

“I… didn’t know she was still alive until I felt a nostalgic feeling pulling at me. I thought it was fake. Far as I knew, she died when the Tarragon hunted us. Now I find her tied to the soul of a girl in pain. It brought me relief at first, but then I remembered our last encounter before her apparent death. She despised me for my decisions and fled. I’ve lingered with that thought for a long time now. The error of my ways is clear, and my son is walking down the same path. I must end it.” The scratching of a pen snatched Tsunashi’s attention to Leora. She was scribbling something in a notebook, peering over the spine as if waiting for him to continue.

“Two rebellious souls on a crash course with danger. It’d be a story I could pay someone to tell around here.” She closed the book and set it aside. “Oooh! That’s a great idea for more patrons! A whole original tale from Infinity itself on how the war ends. Maybe some extra webs woven in there, because you’re not charging off on your own. No matter what you say, I won’t let you get yourself killed. So, go ahead Tsuna, Or… Tsunashi. Become Infinity’s second legend so we can begin your origin story.”

Tsunashi placed his hands on his head and smiled. Leora wasn’t budging on her decision, and it brought an ease to the whirring in his chest. “I’m glad you care, Leora. Thanks. But that’s the second time I’ve heard something about a legend in ten minutes. First Izuki, now you. Is there some sort of correlation? And if I’d be the second, who is the first? Zio?”

“Your mother, actually. Ginchiyo! She was Infinity’s One. Izuki will have only heard of her from stories since her she wasn’t alive. Ginchiyo’s legacy died out a long time ago, but you can find a few who’d tell you the stories of the golden times. Times when I had to talk her out of doing something stupid enough to get herself killed. A clearly similar trait between you two. Ventures of our party and the quest for the mysteries of Light and Dark ether! Infinity One is the only name people may remember from our group, however. She continued the fight after the rest of us went dark after kicking the hornet’s nest. I guess she settled, because she had you.”

That name… What kind of nest could they have kicked and are they still around? Her answer brought concern to Tsunashi’s thoughts. “Infinity One was her name?” Leora’s quick nodded answered his question. Tsunashi stared out of a nearby window, then turned back to Leora. “Come up with whatever you want for me. I’m not doing this for fame or glory. I’m fine with Infinity Two or something.” Sparkles lit in Leora’s eyes. It was the first time he’d seen her so enthusiastic about anything.

“I like the sound of that! Infinity Two sounds ridiculous, though. It’s not as cool or rolls off the tongue the same way. If you wanted to surpass a legend, you’d need to be above. Go crazier, wilder, and if you take down Talion with a reasonable plan, you just might earn it.” A moment of silence, and Leora snapped her fingers. “Infinity’s Zero! A misconception of a no one appearing from thin air! Endless possibilities from zero! Also works out if in that chance you still end up snuffing it in mind blowing fashion, I can twist a tale out of it!”

“I’ve met no one who switches between moods as fast as you do, Leora.” Tsunashi rolled off the bed, opening the window in the room and examining the road that led into Accolade. He then sat on it. “It’s your story. Say whatever. Just make sure my debts paid off if you make a profit from it.”

“That’s not what we agreed! You’re replacing what you broke and there’s nothing you can-!” Before her eyes, Tsunashi fell out of the window. She rushed to where he sat, seeing a crimson flash in the sky as he took off into the sky over Accolade. “There he goes again… If that’s his game, I should set a trap for him next time. Make sure he can’t run.”