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PurpleHaze
Illusions
To judge before researching is the folly of ignorance

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The minions scrambled like ants. One by one, walls were torn down and the ceiling obliterated. Viper was ecstatic! Verde had called for an observation room, but what Viper had in mind was a bit more extensive.

"Does the fluffy sky know your tearing apart his hotel?"

"Nope!" There was a mad grin spreading across Vipers face. Tsuna was going to go ape-shit nuts. "He'll get the bill in a couple days!"

"Why are you tearing the place apart anyway?"

"Money Lal! Why else?" Not quite but the money will move quicker if a person's name is flowing from gossiping lips in quiet corners. "The minions are slow. Time is wasting."

"Sir?" A timid young minion squeaked. "The Lightning Arcobaleno called, the train is an hour out."

"Varia training grounds if the room isn't set up in 45 mins." Viper's parting shot stirred a new frantic frenzy in the anthill.

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When was the last time Viper had slept? 2 days ago? Three? A week? A Month? He couldn't rightly remember. Ever since Lal Mirch had sent the red alert about Colonello being MIA the Mist user had been mining every informant available and shadowing suspicious characters. Any hint of funny business behind closed doors, Viper was there. So were the dead ends.

Viper was exhausted and had his head on the countertop of the Munich Vongola Hotel reception, watching through crossed arms, as a blearily recognizable Skull and Fon walk through the front door. Colonello had called three days ago; Skull had organized the escape. No one had even been aware Skull had been taken. It's not like any of them bothered to keep tabs on the cloud. A make-up free Skull was disturbing to see for the first time. The stunt-devil peered at him and shivers ran up Viper's spine. There was no recognition in those green-green eyes. What was going on? Viper hated being ignorant to the situation at hand.

"One hundred and thirty euros a night-take the key."

"Thanks, um…?"

The creeping goosebumps rippled over his skin. This wasn't the loud mouth ill-mannered idiot. He'd seen enough doppelgänger identities and personality disorders to know whoever this was, Skull wasn't home behind those eyes. Viper was counting lucky stars and Hail Mary's for having the observation cage made. No way was he letting this one out of his sight. One way or another he was getting answers. He wasn't leaving before then. He could deal. It was going to be worth it. They were scrambling; information was being lost and money scattered to the winds

"Don't mention it."

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When Lal walked out of the elevator, there was already a page of notes and questions written down as he watched Skull in the hallway a floor below. Lal's face was disturbed as she walked on what appeared to be no floor and thin air. It was a two story space that took up 2 hotel rooms and a hall. The skeletal metal beams on a single unit occupied the space and furnished with the bare essentials.

What was more aspiring was watching Skull navigate an invisible hallway and look at walls that weren't there. The two Arcobaleno could see a transparent bluish-purple haze swirling between metal beams like a force field instead.

"Viper? You'll have to explain this one to me."

"After you."

"No idea. Reborn spooked him something terrible and Skull ran here, to Germany."

Viper threw up a hand to stop her. Something was happening. He had to get closer. Kneeling directly above the oblivious cloud, Viper strained to hear -was that Latin? Who the frig spoke that language anymore?! It was odd, when combined with Skull's usual fidgety hand and wrist gestures.

He'll have to look up the name Dudley, it was unlike any he'd ever heard.

... and Skull was now techno-iliterate. He certainly didn't know how to operate the entertainment system. Skull was perturbed by the tv and looked at the remote like it was diseased. He struggled with the settings and buttons. Then Skull found a news channel, was violently sick and —Jesus!

The very air was heavy and radiated something like heat. It was making his illusioned walls waver and distort. The electronics were being fried and sparking in sizzling pops. The TV was melting, warping, and on fire!

"What the—?"

"News channel. The London fire. Make sure a minion finds the info."

Then a hand wave from Skull put out the fire.

"That's… Reborn and Colonello were certain he was flame sealed! His eyes? The Bond!"

Sealed Flames? Oh Lal, whatever this was, it wasn't cloud flames or a seal. Was it the Estraneo Famiglia's flame experiments? They were the ones who tried changing a persons flame type in the aim of turning another flame user into a false Sky years ago and got exterminated because of it.

This… this reminded Viper of Flames of the Earth. He'd only met a couple over the years. It was a type even rarer than Flames of the Sky. In fact, wasn't the Simon Famiglia coming to town?

Enma was a Terra, the sky equivalent of his earth set, and would be able to confirm his suspicion.

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"Viper? You never did explain this."

Ah.. How was it that they could see everything as it was, a skeletal structure of a room, but Skull only saw and interacted with an actual hotel room. There was a particular skill reverend among Mists and this was the perfect opportunity to utilize it! Viper's name was going down in history for this! He could see the dollars signs already!

"What do you know about Mists?"

"Not much. A lot of people think Mists are backstabbers, traitors, spies, and self-interested. Actually, quite a few don't see your type of flame as a legitimate part of a sky set. Otherwise, you create some type of illusions and are labeled as the 'Construction' flame."

Viper scuffed, so stereotypical. Alarm flashed through him.

"DUCK!"

Spits of lava flew at them as the beams smoked and the parameter wallpaper curled.

"In ancient times Mists were called Illusionists for their ability to obscure things from a persons perception. Today, they're called Esper because they create physical objects from their flames that appear out of thin air, like magic. It's real constructs that interact with people in the real world. That's the first level of so called illusions. Going up, you alter the reality of the world. Then the reality of the Individual. The ultimate goal of Mist title seekers is to alter the reality of multiple individuals at any given time instead of the world at large. It requires precision, finesse, and the ability to multitask on a grand scale that takes years."

"So, Skull is really in a hotel room with all of its physical constructs?"

"Hhm-hm, and the hotel sees the original empty rooms, and we see the newly built room and walk on an invisible floor. Think of it as living on different planes of existence. " Viper hummed an affirmative as he worked to maintain Skulls reality construct after this latest destruction. If Skull expected his room to be damaged, then Viper had to make it so. "However, flames aren't restricted by the minds perception of reality."

"Is that why Skull's voodoo is flying at us instead of stopping at imaginary walls? Because there really aren't any walls?"

"Hhm-hm"

Skull was half delirious and mentally tortured by his own thoughts anyway. Nightmares weren't new to anyone, except Skull had never had any, ever. Until now. Awake or asleep, something was haunting their widely unstable cloud for the last day and a half. In that time his theory about Skull's new flame type gained solidity. How else was Skull able to make vials float in the air, against the laws of gravity?

"No wonder Mists are a head-bake."

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All hell broke loose.

There were those rare individuals that cottoned on. The reason no one can break 'illusions' is because the subject truly believed them. Sight, sound, touch, taste - there was no way to tell it wasn't real. Even Mists could get caught up in them. Then events happen, such as when Reborn and Colonello finally arrived at the hotel.

Skull was immediately alert to his surroundings when the two Arcobaleno joined Viper on the second floor. For the first time in almost two days, Skull had perked up and became paranoid, intuition. He was going to run... Colonello and Reborn fell through the invisible floor and were in Skulls reality down below just in time to save Skull from a smack with a window that wasn't truly there. Somehow their time was up.

Things just got weirder when objects moved at will and metal beams bent under cliched fingers.

Viper was certain. They could no longer sense cloud flames or a bond because Skull was no longer a Cloud.

Skull was a Terra Flame.

Why else would he have earthly green eyes and supernatural abilities?

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Skyfall
Sun Shower
To have and to hold apply to more than marriages

' "¦ '|¦' |' ¦' " '

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There wasn't a single cloud overhead, but he could still feel droplets of rain. Sliding down to lay on the roof of Olympic Tower among the antenna arrays, Colonello gazed at the sky above. The tower was the highest point in Munich; the needle point giving a birds eye view of the entire city. It was a prime spot for snipers and scientists alike. When Reborn gave chase from the Vongola hotel, Colonello had ran here and could see everything with his new eyes.

Catch me!

Colonello didn't know what Skull could do anymore. Apparently, he didn't need flames to cause mayhem. Gifts outside of flames were rare and those of the mind prized above all. The Giglio Nero Famiglia was reverend because of their extra gifts in foresight.

So, it was baffling that Skull had psychokinesis. It's manifestation staggering in potential and Skull? —wield it effortlessly. Colonello wouldn't have seen any of it if he hadn't ran for the Eiffel after the shockwave. He'd watched, tranquilizing rifle ready in case Reborn failed. The rear of the train had crumbled away and Reborn couldn't see it, even as the civilian commuters backed away. In everyone's mind Skull vanished into thin air on the train tracks in Paris as if he was a cloud.

Slowly packing up the rifle, he rubbed where the tv smashed into his head and sparks had hit his face. It still hurt. The Paris shockwave Skull had flung at them still tingled in his body and memory. He hadn't really believed it in Paris but watching the chase just now in Munich... He'd seen those hand twitch, wrists swirl and objects move. It made sense why everyone had failed to control Oodako despite coping the fingers exactly. At least thirty years of the sea squid mimicking Skull's hand movements, and they never figured out there had once been more to their Cloud than a smart familiar and finger waving.

Catch me if you can!

With a heave, Colonello rolled off the tower and fell to the ground 200 meters below. With Reborn knocked out, they had a rogue cloud to find. For once, everyone was in town and that meant strategy meetings. It was a good thing they'd called in the Carcassa Famiglia. The Arcobaleno had never needed or wanted to find their Cloud before. Skull just turned up. Surly the Famiglia knew something about cloud hunting and catching Skull.

Can you keep me?

The phrases kept mocking him. Was it really a challenge? Was it a taunt? A cry for help? A tag game? Did Skull even know anymore?

I won't let you!

Colonello still needed Viper's report on CloudWatch.

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Sunfire
Rapunzal
Mans best friend is not another human

—{ ❊ }—

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Thoughts fluttered as consciousness returned to Reborn. His stomach ached. A bruise there for sure. Something slimy was drooling in his ear and it was disturbing. He was stiff from laying on the concrete and of a piss poor mind. He was going to kill it.

Smack… SQUEEE!

"Leon"

The very recipient of his most menacing growl just did what he did best. Play dead. Reborn jackknifed upright and glared at the pest he held by its tongue. Splay limbs, crocked eyes, and gapping mouth- Leon was cute; it was not going to save him.

"No. Tongue. In. Ear!"

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++ Cloud ++

Cloud? Wait. Skull!

Reborn spun and aimed Leon at… a wall. Dumpster. Trash heap. Rusted bike. Crumpling mortar. Empty Roof. Nothing.

Cazzo!

He had caught Skull. He had been here. Captured. Time Swapped. Someone made a damn Bazooka last for years. A lifetime. This Skull -Harry- remembered his past but never experienced their future. Reborn had been getting information out of the Stronzo! Skull had known the Famiglia responsible!

Then... Nothing. Darkness.

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"Che palle! What happened?"

++ RED. Light. Stop ++

"We are not in traffic. Red. Light. Stop. Doesn't mean shit here."

There were footsteps at the entrance. It sounded like Colonello.

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"Rapunzal, stop mumbling to Pascal."

… BANG …

"Seriously? Let down your hair! It's been hours!"

... BANG...

"KORA!"

… BANG …

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