A moment in silence, before Skull whirls for the door. He doesn't notice the man he dropped being burned into ash by his Flames and his Magic as he passed him. He sees the Arcobaleno reflected in a conveniently placed mirror frozen behind him, but he's so angry it doesn't actually register that they've seen Harry beneath Skull, that they've seen the Man-Who-Conquered that lived in his mind. It doesn't register that they have seen him as a soldier, as a veteran of a war (even if they don't know that is what they have seen) that they have seen his instincts wake up and take over.

He needed to know why so he had found out.

Snape hadn't taught him much of anything all those years ago, but Skull remembered how he had attacked his mind, ripped any shield he had made into shreds, how he had dived into memories and how much it had hurt. He remembers how Voldemort did the same.

Harry learned how to attack a mind long before he learned to defend his own. How to dive into someone's head and find what he needed. He'd done it accidentally all those years ago when he had snapped back and attacked Snape, sliding through his shields like a knife through butter. When he had found that memory of his father being a bully. He had succeeded where Voldemort had failed, had gotten into the man's head- even if had only been for an instant- as a novice someone who hadn't even known it was possible to dive into someone's head even a week before.

It hadn't been much of a surprise when- due to the war- Harry had thrown himself into really learning the art of the mind- shielding and attacking it and had been really, really good at it. He hadn't wanted to physically torture anyone for information he needed- but it hadn't stopped the necessity of it before, and Harry had done what he needed to survive, but learning had prevented the majority of any physical torture for information he had had to do.

(It hadn't stopped it, hadn't stopped the nightmares after, hadn't stopped him from throwing up the first few times, hadn't stopped him from feeling sick every time, and especially hadn't stopped him from getting really, really good at it so he wouldn't have to take too long, but it had helped.)

It was also the reason Skull was good enough to keep Viper out of his head why even she had not known of his past as Harry, any mist user that had tried it had never succeeded in getting anything Skull hadn't wanted to be found, because if Harry wanted to get the information he needed he would have to attack the minds of the very best- which meant he had to be better so he had been and still was. None of his skills were ones that left him easily. That were dropped and never picked back up again.

His hands are shaking, but Skull doesn't notice as he stomps out the door. He doesn't notice the bottles and glasses he walks by shaking so hard they crack and shatter in his wake. His ears are ringing and he doesn't notice the lights all exploding behind him, doesn't notice windows panes vibrating as he passes, doesn't notice how the door flies open before he even touches it. Harry doesn't notice how he's leaving actual burning footprints in the floors where he walks or how after he clears the door the Arcobaleno unfreeze and lunge after him.

He keeps walking. All he can think is that he needs to get away so he can lose it, so he can have a moment to feel so he can work through it before he has to leave and fix it all. All he can think is-

"Not here, not yet. Steady…steady. Wait."

His hands are trembling, his teeth are chattering but he's clenching them so tightly he can barely tell.

He had been done.

They had tracked him down. They wanted their General. They wanted their Savior.

He was Skull now.

But they wanted the Man-Who-Conquered.

He had left it all behind, all the memories, all the rage, all the pain, all the expectations.

And they had still found him. Still expected Harry to lead the charge, to wage war in the name of the greater good, for the sake of the Wizarding World and it had never been about that. He couldn't do this again. He couldn't but he must.

His breath hitched.

He was so angry.

Skull makes it to the forest further up the road away from the bar, from the buildings, from the people and he keeps walking- the Arcobaleno on his heels.

(not that Skull notices this in his state. Not when he had long ago stopped considering any of them an actual threat to his life, and as such stopped registering them as threats. Instead he recognizes them as friends so he doesn't instinctively lash out at them)

He keeps moving until he finds a clearing, devoid of people, trees and animals and that's where Skull hits his knees and screams.

His Magic and his Flames flare wide and seethe around him, filling the entire clearing and blanketing the area around him. Only a few feet behind him, the Arcobaleno stagger at the pressure blooming from the edge of the tree-line.

It's voiceless, the howl that leaves his throat because he has no words to describe the emotions that fuel his Flames. He left the Wizarding World and all it's demands. He was done, he had been healing and they decided to call him back- by force. He falls forward, his forearms hitting the dirt, his fingers digging into the ground and it hurts. They could tether him, leash him like a dog to be dragged from problem to problem, only leaving when there were enough bodies on the ground and they decided his duty was done.

That tears another furious yell from him because he is a Cloud and they are chaining him. He screams because the memories are all rushing back and it's too much and he can't. He rages in brilliant, seething anger, slamming his forehead to the Earth in order to to silence the screams of the dying he can hear in his head. He wails in the remembered pain of the dead and the betrayals but he can still hear the voices of friends and family shouting in his memories.

He wails, cutting off sobs in great gasping breaths, because right now, right now he is not Skull, he is not the Man-Who-Conquered, he is just Harry and he is being called to stand in the front lines again. The people who abandoned him, who forgot his mother and spat on his godfather, are hiding in their homes waiting for someone to save them and they picked him once more.

His magic lashes out, ripping up the ground around him and he presses the heel of his palms to his eyes and shakes because he knows he cannot escape their grasp. They've found him again and they won't stop until they get what they want. There will be blood on his hands again regardless.

Harry pushes himself up, trembling and so utterly furious and for a single moment he stands in the sunlight, his magic vibrating the air and his Flames licking up his body. The cry the leaves him is almost soft, but it is pained and he crumples into himself because he can feel the chains snapping onto his soul and it hurts. No Cloud is ever meant to be chained, to have their freedom taken away and that is what had happened.

In the moment it had taken Skull to look into the wizard's mind he had seen it all laid out.

There would be no escape for him.

And it makes him rage.

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The Arcobaleno followed after their Cloud as soon as he left. There was no doubt they wouldn't be right on his heels, especially after seeing his reactions to whatever triggered that incident.

Observant gazes from the strongest and arguably the most brilliant people in the world do not miss an detail. They all see his hands shaking as he walks. They watch how he struggles to suppress his Flames as much as he can while there are civilians and people around. It is...concerning how, despite his visible effort, that his Flames are writhing away from under his control.

They can see his hands shaking harder that farther he walks. He stumbles and sometimes he moves as if he's in pain but it doesn't take long before the town behind them falls in the distance.

Then Skull reaches the clearing and his body goes down, his knees hitting the dirt and his hands rising to his hair-

Reborn is seconds from following him into it, Colonello right on his heels when the lackey's Flames snap out from under his control alongside something else, something only Viper recognizes as very powerful magic and the entire clearing is scorched under their Cloud's raging Flames. If the situation were not as it was, some might have laughed as the famed hitman reared back and as Colonello retreated besides him, behind the tree-line in some measure of safety.

But that doesn't hold their attention for long.

No.

Not even a fraction of a second later, because almost as soon as that wave of power presses in on them and forces them to stop, Skull screams.

It's unlike anything they had ever heard from their Cloud. Unlike any outcry of emotion they've heard in any of their lives. It rings in their bones and echoes through the muffled bond between their Elements and even Verde cannot hold back a noise at the emotion leaking from Skull's link.

It's wrong.

He screams and he keeps screaming and it's painful to hear.

It is rage and pain and hurt. It is denial and disgust and horror. It is soul searing to hear from their Cloud.

Almost like Skull's very soul is being shredded apart.

It sets them all on edge, fans the instincts that come with being Elements in the same Sky that whisper to protect each other to blazing infernos.

This is nothing like hearing Skull wail and shriek when Reborn or Colonnello push him around, nothing like all the times Skull has thrown fits about one thing or another, nothing like anything they had ever heard from Skull before.

This is something that their Cloud feels down to his soul that is tearing into him.

Skull is lost to his rage-pain-anger as the Arcobaleno all move to circle the clearing he is kneeling in. They cannot get close without damage to both their Flames because Skull is projecting his emotions and there are tears slipping down cheeks.

(He's crying and it's so different from any time before, agonized and without words. It's everything they have never wanted to see from their Cloud, everything they never would have caused in him even before they had begun to bond.)

As powerful as his Flames are, the Arcobaleno must calm and soothe them before they can approach. They are Elements with a partial bond as protectors to the same young Sky- to Yuni- but they are not harmonized properly. The instincts are all there, but Skull's Flames do not instinctively respond as a fully bonded Guardian in one Sky or properly and fully harmonized Elements would to any of them. If they were to approach the Flame storm in the clearing without soothing him, Skull would lash out at them. Not on purpose, but in this state, with absolutely no conscious control of his Flames, he could hurt them.

Skull is operating under distress at the full control of his instincts and regardless of anything, Skull is an Arcobaleno. He possesses the strongest Cloud Flames in the entire world and that fact is now very visibly clear to the rest of the Arcobaleno.

The fact that they want to help him can only bolster their efforts as they begin to raise their Flame levels, higher and higher. Skull doesn't notice as all the colors of the rainbow join his violet in the clearing. He is oblivious to each type slithering closer to his own. Their Flames are gentle and careful as they brush against his own raging fire. It takes them a few minutes of careful proding and brushing before his Flames begin to respond and ease against them. His Flames still pulse and swell from his person, but the acidic tinge of his rage no longer bites at them. They can approach through the fire without worry for their person.

Skull still doesn't notice when the Arcobaleno begin to approach him, lost in the depths of his memories as he is. His wordless cries have faded into silent sobs, his body hunched over itself, his forehead pressed into the ground. His breath quivers from his throat as he heaves for oxygen he can't quite take in. His throat is tight and his chest is heavy.

The Arcobaleno still, their movements hesitant and careful.

Their Cloud looks like the weight of the world is crushing him to the floor, like something has pressed down on his back with enough force to bring him to his knees and hard enough that he cannot stand under its weight.

They have seen this man roll with every punch life had thrown at him. He had been the only civilian-raised in the meeting that called them together so long ago, and he had gone along with it. He had been thrown headfirst into the dark deep waters of the mafia and told to swim. He'd come face to face with the Mafia and Triad's strongest and still he had lifted his chin and stared them down. The others had thought him a useless civilian at that point, full of himself and with no real talent to be had. And once the Curse had been applied they had all been reeling themselves, and had been in no shape to offer aid to a 'fool' they did not know beyond their shared jobs. Skull had survived that first decade on his own for the most part, adjusting the quickest out of the group.

They had watched this Cloud take their every action, their every word, and let it roll off his back. They have seen him shield their blind spots despite their treatment of him. Watched him laugh in the face of death, supposedly indomitable odds, and wounds that should have killed him. It's a grudging respect they give to Skull. That doesn't mean they won't still make him work for it, but this…

He's not laughing now. He's not standing with an unbending spine, staring down whatever threat had come for him. He has finally hit his knees, his forehead pressed to the earth like it is the only solid thing he has to hold him up, and it's disconcerting to the highest degree to see. This- whatever it is- is the hit that Skull cannot shake off or roll with. The hit he didn't see coming, and it's struck something soft in him.

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Viper curses the fact that Skull had burned the body of that man-wizard into ash leaving her without a way to find answers as to why their Cloud is hunched in on himself and why he had screamed like his very soul was seared. She cursed whoever had caused it. She is surprisingly fond of Skull. The stuntman is entirely willing to do favors for her without charge and pays her for favors with her favorite desserts all handmade. There were also several memorable occasions when he showed up with pure gold.

Once you got past all the declarations of greatness and got Skull to talk at a normal volume, he was a surprisingly good conversationalist. Even though Mammon rages that somehow her Web had missed this, had allowed something through to harm their Cloud, she knows the reason behind this is the same one that allowed her to miss all the inconsistencies of Skull's background.

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Verde had been ready to question Skull within an inch of his life after the scene in the bar. This was new information, a new facet in the Cloud, something to explore and map out. Seeing him like this…hearing the way he had screamed…Verde bites his tongue to stop the questions from pouring out. This was actually serious, something was wrongwrongwrong. He had no context beyond what he witnessed scarcely an hour ago and he didn't have all the variables. He needed them all to figure out how to proceed and fix this.

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Fon spent years, honing his skills and training long and hard to become the 'eye' in his own Storm. He had spent endless hours in meditation to keep his mind steady and clear even when he raged. He was one of those closest to Skull- he knew their Cloud, for where did the Storm he carried spring from but the Clouds themselves? Fon lifts a sleeve covered hand to block the frown on his face. He had planned to corner their Cloud and ask about his behavior at the bar after the meeting, in private, but then all of this happened.

Fon set his questions aside as he witnessed Skull bend in a way he had never seen before like he was being crushed. The cause of this is entirely unknown and Fon has nothing and there is nothing he can do. But he takes a breath to still the Storm inside.

LINEBREAK

Yuni was the Sky for the Arcobaleno now. She would never quite harmonize with them as a proper Sky, she was not what they needed, but she was a Juvenile Sky under their protection and partially harmonized because of it. She could feel Skull's Flames and the way they raged. It echoed and surged along their link, and she choked on a cry as the phantom feeling of chains snapping into place reached her. Her Sight was unstable, the visions changing as quickly as a blink, and Yuni wanted to rage at the cause of her big brother's pain like she had never wanted before.

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Reborn was a possessive kind of man. The people and things he claimed as his were his and he took care of them. Skull was his lackey, the Cloud that shielded others from the Sun when it was too intense for everyone else or when the Sun needed to be dark for a moment, Skull was the Cloud that hid him away. They took care of each other in various (usually violent) ways, and that was an accepted thing between them.

He had never heard Skull scream like he was dying this way before, like something inside was being gouged at, scratched and torn away. He had never seen the Cloud allow his spine to bend under the weight of the world or lower his head this way and it set every damn protective and possessive instinct he had ablaze.

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Lal was a soldier. She had been for most of her life. It was what she had wanted to do since she was little and a soldier had saved her and the kids that had been with her when she was young and on the streets. She had only ever heard a scream like the one Skull released one time. It was something she had hoped to never hear again. She knew this sound, what this scream meant. She had watched the soldier that released gather what strength he could before running off on a suicidal killing spree. The threat was gone, along with his life.

Hearing it from their Cloud was jarring and unwelcome in the most violent of ways.

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Colonnello has seen a lot of things in his long life. Watching Skull- the lackey, his lackey- crumble like this? That was new, and Colonnello did not like it. Skull was proud even if he didn't show it in ways most people would recognize. He had never bent his spine or bowed his head in the face of anything. Oh, he had flinched and screamed and flailed, but Colonnello had never seen him submit. His Flames had always been a bonfire warm at their backs and ready to flare in their defense.

All the Arcobaleno had known this- he may be the weakest of them all but he was still the seventh strongest in the world. There was a reason the Arcobaleno- the Seven Strongest in the World- trusted Skull at their backs even if, to the outside observer, they didn't care about him. Something had brought that bonfire first into a wildfire of rage and then to embers. Something had bowed their Cloud's spine, had brought his head down. Colonnello would destroy it.

LINEBREAK

Skull's eyes snap up from where he had bowed under the feeling of chains snapping into place on him, where he has bowed under the knowledge that he would need to go back, where he has bowed under the knowledge that he is walking back to another war, when he feels the soft hands of his Sky- his little sister, someone under his protection- on his cheeks.

The sight of his eyes- dull-dying-desolate-pained- pushes the Arcobaleno further into their rage. They resolve to ask questions after they have demolished whatever had been the cause of this in their Cloud.

"Skull-nii…? What happened?" Yuni asks softly, tears shining in her eyes and a wobble in her voice.

Skull exhales shakily at the sight, regret stealing over his face. There's bursts of Flame and there are the rest of his fellow Elements gathered around him. Their expressions are hard, hands clenched, lips set in thin white lines and he is uncomfortably aware he's the one that put that suspicion there. That edge they've always lacked when they looked at him.

He cannot tell them.

There is nothing about the coming war that he can explain in any meaningful way to them. Not without spilling his secrets. That would mean that his private life could be compromised. Mammon would dig up all those things he never wants them to know so he cannot tell them.

How could he even put this into words? They are all used to taking and refusing whatever jobs they want. It's not a big deal, if they don't want to they don't. How is he supposed to explain that there isn't a choice for him that he would be forced-chained- into doing his duty, given an army to lead the charge to save the Wizarding World once again?

How would he even begin to explain that what he did wasn't enough. Twice he gave in and sacrificed, and yet they asked for more? They asked him for a third?

How dare they, but especially how dare they give him no choice, how dare they go for those under his protection to ensure he would dance to their tune, and march to their drums, a good little soldier boy-

This was an impossible situation. How could he explain that the 'weakest link' amongst them was being called upon to take the crown of General once more? That he would need to make the hard decisions again, that he was going to leave and he might not come back.

Harry clenched his teeth and shuddered.

The memories of the future the Arcobaleno gained were fragmented and offered glimpses of a future where they all died. Harry was entirely aware of what he would have done in that situation. But the others were unaware of exactly how violent his death would have been. He would have brought all his power to bear and considering the faint view of the battlefield in which he fought Byakuran and the sheer amount of blood on the ground…

Well, the secret would have been out by then.

But the memories weren't enough for them to understand so he still couldn't say anything.

How did he tell them that every nightmare he had was coming to life once again? The nightmare of screaming friends, the phantom pains of the scars carefully hidden under his makeup, gloves and suit? The memory of digging grave after grave for those he loved until so few remained standing in the ashes? How could he explain that he would be hunted until the end of his life?

How was he explain that his presence amongst them threatened their safety with things they couldn't even conceive of even with their experience with Flames? How did he explain the nightmare of having his place among them disturbed, of the fear that his presence would put them all in danger, that nightmare was happening right now?

How did he tell them he had lied to them all?

They had learned to tolerate him, but they could just as easily forget.

Harry turned away from Yuni's tear filled gaze, allowing his eyes to slip shut. The answer was simple. It was the one he had always given.

He wouldn't.