so about this story

I'm planning on re-writing it, now that the Reborn manga has finished, as a sort of a re-vamping/re-thinking of the story I guess? I really love Backup Guardians to death and I absolutely don't wanna let the idea die, but I went back and tried to re-read it like a month ago and the fact of the matter is I wrote it when I was sixteen and it shows and I want to do a better job with it

so I'm gonna leave it here, but I'm also gonna rewrite it. it's gonna be cross-posted both here and on Archive of Our Own, and if I can figure out how to add pictures then there are gonna be pictures to go with it ;D

I'm currently in the process of rethinking all the logistics of the story and finishing out the plot, so bear with me for like a month while I essentially reboot the entire fic and start writing it again. I think I can still do something really phenomenal and hilarious with it, and like I said, the idea's too good to just give up on!
What I plan to do is like three things:

1) significantly decrease the focus on shipping, sort of to mirror how KHR itself treats romantic stuff- like not to eliminate it completely, because Tsuna's crush on Kyoko/Chrome's crush on Mukuro in the actual manga is still important, but to tone it down and not have literally every character have to be romantically paired up because it detracts from the plot and the overlying friendship themes I wanted to include. (Also, despite it being my otp, I can't include 6918 in the reboot because of all the things that totally derailed the plot and honestly didn't matter a bit to the rest of the story, that was the worst. But I don't think most people will mind if I leave that aspect out, apparently amusing though it was?)

2) I'm sort of messing around with the idea of Kyoko having Sky flames instead of Sun flames, and switching a couple others up too. I want to keep Bianchi and Chrome where they are because that's canon, and I want to keep Haru with Lightning flames because I like that a lot, but the switch I'd be making leaves the final lady guardian lineup as this: Sky=Kyoko, Lightning=Haru, Storm=Bianchi, Mist=Chrome, Sun=I-Pin, Rain=Hana and Cloud=M.M.. There's a couple reasons for this, one of which is that I wanted to include M.M. somehow because she's funny and I appreciate her character more now (plus she's another Reborn lady that gets trivialized a bunch by the fandom so I want her to get back her glory), and also because I-Pin and Rain flames really don't make a whole lot of sense. M.M. makes more sense as the Cloud guardian anyway, because she's even more distant and independent of the group than Hana is, and Hana being the calm voice of reason makes more sense as Rain than I-Pin ever did.

3) Actually know how the end of the story is going to go before I start writing it. As it stands, I wrote the original story on the fly, frequently during school when I should've been paying attention, and the plot sort of wrote itself in the moment. If I thought something was funny at the time, it got incorporated. There was zero planning, other than "I really want Chrome to kick Glo Xinia in the cajones" and that was it.
(that's still a thing that's gonna happen, by the way)

So anyway! Stay tuned! I'll put something up here when the new story starts, so don't unfollow this story if you want updates on when the reboot's occurring!

-Nat Roze

(At this point also suggestions or comments would be much appreciated as I attempt to rework this. I like hearing peoples' input, and I want to write a story that lots of people want to read, especially the folks who stuck with me as I pretty much rocketed around like a maniac writing the original version of this... so if you have any suggestions or ideas, let me hear em! They might make it in, they might not, or they could inspire something completely different and wonderful to occur in the story! You never know! Have a great start to your summers, everyone!)