For UnorthodoxDreamer

Warning: While not actually shown, this fic deals with child abuse.

There was a doll in the glass case.

Tsuna pressed his face against the glass, peering at the doll. Lifelike and life sized, the doll was dressed in a dark suit. A fedora with an orange band was angled downward, shielding the doll's eyes from most people, but Tsuna could see the dark eyes, black as the night sky, gleaming just beneath the brim.

This was his grandfather's favorite doll. A warrior and a gentleman, a knight in black rather than shiny armor. The stories were half remembered, Tsuna had been far too young when his grandfather had passed away. At seven, he struggled to remember the stories his grandfather had told when he was five. They were the only ray of hope Tsuna clung to these days.

He flinched as he heard something shattered in the next room. "BOY!" his father bellowed. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Tsuna covered his ears, refusing to cry. If he hid long enough, his father would leave.

He squeaked as the door slammed open and his father stormed in. "There you are brat," his father snarled. The smell of alcohol filling the air. "I should have known you would have hidden by this stupid doll."

Tsuna stared up in horror as his father reached down at him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Once upon a time, Tsuna's grandfather was a gifted storyteller and puppet master. The dark doll in the glass case was his greatest creation and as such the star in most of Tsuna's grandfather's shows. Story after story, fairytale after fairytale, the dark doll was an ironic hero, an inversion of the white knight, but nevertheless a hero.

It was these stories that Tsuna clung to. To that soft gentle voice that told them to him. To the happiness he found in those memories. To the childish fantasy that maybe one day a hero would appear before him.

Sometimes magic did exist in this world.

It had to.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Everything hurt. Tsuna huddled in the corner of his bed, pulling the blanket over his head. He shuddered, feeling the phantom hands that hurt him just days before. He was so miserable. Everything had changed once his grandfather had died.

Downstairs another round of shouting occurred. Tsuna blocked his ears, trying to drown out the sound.

Why did his life had to be like this?

Tsuna turned his thoughts back to the doll in the glass case. Maybe one day Tsuna would be rescued just like in those stories his grandfather use to tell him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hello Mister Doll," Tsuna greeted. It should be safe to visit today. His parents were both gone and Tsuna knew they wouldn't be back until nightfall.

Tsuna didn't know what drew him back to this doll over and over again. Perhaps as a symbol of his grandfather, long gone and dead. A dark voice in his head wondered why his father kept the doll, despite hating it.

The door slammed open. Tsuna turned around, startled. No one was supposed to be home!

There looming in the doorway was his father. "There are you are brat," his father snarled. He threw the bottle he was holding at Tsuna.

Tsuna ducked, flinching as the bottle shattered against the wall.

"You're always hanging around this stupid doll," his father said. "What the fuck is even so good about this doll. You're just like my father, always hung up on this thing." He stalked up to the case, punching the glass and shattering it. "It should be broken and throw out like the trash it is!"

"No!" Tsuna cried out, horrified. He tackled his father, trying to stop him. Not the doll!

His father threw him against the wall. "You stupid brat!" He raised his foot, readying to kick Tsuna.

Tsuna instinctively curled up, trying to protect himself.

The hit never came.

"You're a failure as a father," said a deep baritone voice.

Tsuna opened his eyes and gaped. There holding his father by the collar of his shirt was the dark doll. How was the doll moving?

"What the fuck!" his father cursed, choking, twisting and try to see who it was. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Chaos. You may call me Reborn," the doll introduced himself. "I've stood by long enough. You will not touch this child again." With a swift chop to the back of the neck, Tsuna watched his father collapse to the ground, unconscious.

Reborn stepped over the stilled body, kneeling before Tsuna. Stretching out his hand, Reborn said, "Come little one. He won't hurt you again."

Tsuna didn't hesitate, diving into Reborn's arms. He was surprising warm, like a human. "How?" Tsuna asked.

Reborn shrugged as he picked up Tsuna. "Perhaps there is some magic in this world."

"Where are we going?" Tsuna asked as they left behind his home.

"Wherever you want."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Original Prompt:

He was just a doll. All he could do was watch as their moments passed by, get fixed when he got hurt, and live forever. Then came along a lonely little boy, and oh what he wouldn't give to be able to wipe tears off of pale cheeks, to hold the child in fitful sleep, to protect the only master he had that ever truly loved him. Who told him Joys as well as Sorrows. What he wouldn't give to comfort his human; to give him the friend he sorely needs. And one day, he can. He can move! He can finally help his, lonely, little master! The only catch is, no one can see him doing it.

-.-.-

You know while not the same vein/fandom/vibe, I think I might actually consider this a spiritual successor to Believe, Hope, Pray.

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