Fon cringed not from the sheer variety of insults and swear words Viper knew, but from her grip on his arm.

Reborn was nearby, thankful Viper at least let him wear ear plugs. Colonello had looked panicked at first when the contractions started, but once the Tranquility aspect kicked in a lot of the pain dulled to the point Viper wasn't screaming as loud.

And she had to endure twice what Luce would go through in a month.

Finally the first cry of a newborn was heard, to Viper's relief. Biyu promptly took the little boy into a side area which was separated by screens and privacy spells, but allowed a clear view of what was going on for the parents.

Syaoran squalled loudly, proving he had inherited his mother's set of very healthy lungs.

Thirty minutes later, Jasmine was born, and Viper was about wiped out.

"You know most new mothers start informing their husbands that they're never going to let the men touch them again," said Reborn amused. Fon shot him a dirty look.

Viper snorted.

"Most new mothers have never been put under the cruciatus for over five hours. Compared to that, this was only in the top three of the worst pain I've ever been in," she shot back. She winced as a wave of pain hit her. "Though next time I think I'll opt for a C-Section instead."

Reborn was nice enough to heal Fon's hand, while the healers cautiously allowed some of Viper's family in.

Theo beamed when he saw his new brother and sister...right up until he was told he would be the new go-to babysitter for when Viper needed a date night with Fon. On the plus side, free blackmail on his new siblings.

It had only been two weeks since Viper gave birth to the twins, but they were on a mission. Fon was absolutely not happy about it, but Luce said that since her delivery was so close she was cutting the missions off. At least until Aria was born.

They had no idea what was waiting for them on that mountain... but it left the majority of them very pissed off.

Even if Colonello insisted on tagging along to prove to Lal that if he could handle Viper in the delivery room, he could handle whatever it was she had been doing on the side.

There was a bright flash of light, Colonello shouting and trying to shield Lal from whatever was happening, and the familiar tang of heavy magic, before they knew no more.

When they woke up, they were all children with pacifiers around their neck. Viper was very angry about this. She knew a curse when she saw one.

"I'm sorry," said the tired voice of Luce.

"You knew this would happen?" said Viper, hissing at her.

"I did what was necessary..." started Luce.

"If you dare use the phrase 'for the greater good' then I swear to magic I will find new ways to make you suffer," snarled Viper. "There has never been, nor will there ever be a reason to use that damn phrase in my presence that actually means it. There is always another way. And what about your unborn daughter? Are you really that callous?"

Luce flinched at Viper's tone, while Fon stood silently behind his wife. He was angry over this as well, but at least it hadn't come from his Sky.

"YOU DAMN IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"

Looking over revealed Lal had been cursed...but her pacifier felt wrong and she could no longer access her Rain flames. Instead it seemed Colonello had taken her place, and he didn't regret the move one bit.

Reborn and Verde looked betrayed... right up until Fon sighed.

"I'm starting to see why we never harmonized with you in the first place. For a Sky, you're absolutely pathetic when it comes to holding up your end of the bond between a Sky and their Guardians."

Luce looked like she had been struck.

"What?"

"If she isn't our Sky, who is?" demanded Reborn, absolutely furious.

Fon held Viper's hand. She was positively radiating with fury at this point.

"She's been here all along," said Fon cryptically.

Reborn and Verde stared at Viper in shock. Skull, on the other hand, immediately hugged her.

"I am so glad you're our Sky and not Luce. I know you wouldn't have cursed us like this," he said.

Viper rubbed the Cloud's back, her anger finally calming down just a hair.

"Of course I wouldn't be so cruel as to put you under a curse like this. And I don't know what you were playing at, leading us here Luce, but it will never happen again. Consider our alliance with you over."

Luce flinched.

"However... that doesn't mean we won't keep an eye on Aria. I see no point in pushing the crimes of the mother onto her daughter," said Viper. "Besides, Syaoran and Jasmine could use a playmate they wouldn't have to hide things from."

"Wait, if you're a Sky as well, then why didn't you receive the orange pacifier instead of the Indigo?" asked Luce confused. Viper was just as strong as she was, possibly more so. It made no sense that she would become the Arcobelano Mist instead of the Sky.

"Because the only other Mist I know that could possibly match me in power is Theo. I'd rather take the curse than him. It's what a good mother and a good Sky would do... insure that their children and Guardians are safe from harm," said Viper flatly.

"This is going to be a nightmare to explain to our children..." said Fon tiredly.

"Not really. I trained Theo into having an open mind, I see no reason we can't instill the same thing in the twins. Normal is open to interpretation after all."

Theo laughed himself sick when he found out what happened...right up until Viper found some documents in the Black Family Library that said the curse was far more serious than they originally thought.

Being forced to look like toddlers and wear brightly colored pacifiers was one thing... learning that there was never a documented case of the Arcobaleno curse being broken and that the pacifiers would slowly but surely drain their lives away over the course of a few decades was something else entirely.

One of her ancestors was chosen as the Arcobaleno Mist...and he wrote of his attempts to break the curse and the subsequent battles to release it several decades later.

Only to find out the hard way that according to another former Arcobaleno, there were only two options. Death or forced servitude as a Vindice. Needless to say as a member of the Black family, he chose death to servitude.

At least she had a list of things that wouldn't work, which saved time in finding what could.

"Let me get this straight... all the Vindice are former Arcobaleno?" said Reborn openly horrified.

Viper nodded, having finished reading the diaries. Thank magic for old fashioned families and for the pure blood's need to grand stand. Or in this case, vent at having been fooled into being cursed and wanting to piss off the one who did it.

"More than that, apparently the entire reason we're trapped as children until our life spans are almost up is because otherwise the power of these pacifiers would overload and kill us. Supposedly it's to maintain order in the world, which I call bullshit on. There has to be a better way for order and life to be maintained without such a convoluted system. I highly suspect this entire mess was designed by a damn pure blood who found something that worked and didn't bother to find anything better," said Viper in disgust. Because really, the entire system reeked of that sort of lazy idiocy and half-assed planning.

Why else rely on three families and seven random people with strong flames to maintain the world, when families died off all the time? It was ridiculous beyond belief the arrogance behind it.

"How did you even find this information anyway?" asked Verde.

Viper rolled her eyes.

"Pure Bloods, especially from old families in England, have a habit of writing things down to show off how important they are to later generations. Especially if they've got far too much pride and have been tricked into being cursed like this. One of my ancestors was a Mist who did everything in his power to break the curse, only to discover how it would end and chose death over servitude. There are a lot of old diaries in the Black Family library, especially in the manor. I just had to know where to look...even if reading and trying to translate their piss-poor handwriting gave me migraines."

That seemed to soothe any suspicions that the information Viper found was fake.

Luce was relatively quiet, but then Aria was due to be born any day now. She was likely worried about how her daughter would be born if she was trapped as an infant herself.

That and she was still reeling from the revelation Viper was a Sky as well, one who had remained hidden and had taken her son's place as the Arcobaleno Mist.

That...and learning Mist was actually her secondary Flame, which meant her Sky flame must be ridiculously powerful.

"How are the children handling it?" asked Colonello. Jasmine and Syaoran were cute, and Theo was hilarious.

"Theo laughed his ass off until I found this diary and what our curse entailed. Normally I'd send Hermione after a way to break this, but I'm not that stupid."

Sending a Lightning like Hermione on this curse was a disaster waiting to happen, and she didn't rely on the girl as the sole source of information anymore. Besides, it would inevitably reveal the underworld to a girl who had grown up with strict morals and openly worried about following the rules until a war forced her to adjust...by which time she fell right back into old patterns of behavior to cope.

So no, introducing Hermione to the curse and asking her for help was not an option. She'd only get herself killed or captured by the mafia, or worse bring those fake-dementors who were apparently just like them at one time to Viper's doorstep for breaking Omerta.

Not a chance in hell.

Besides, Viper had gotten pretty damn good at digging up information people wanted to stay buried. And she had never cared for 'good' and 'evil' the way Hermione had. Information was information.

"Mama!"

Viper turned her attention to Jasmine, who was the first of the two to start talking. She leaned down slightly to pick up the infant who was already crawling and had a habit of following her mother around. Needless to say Viper made a point of walking slowly so her daughter could keep up.

Jasmine and Syaoran loved piggy back rides, and considering their curse it wasn't like they'd be able to give them as many as they liked once they got older.

Might as well enjoy it while they could.

Jasmine, being an actual child, didn't hesitate to stick her tongue out at Reborn.

Reborn, being an adult, rolled his eyes... but Viper caught him making silly faces at Jasmine when he thought she wasn't looking.

At this point Viper was just praying to whatever god was listening her daughter didn't somehow develop an interest in men like Reborn. It would only end up in a massive competition between her and Fon on who would scare off such fools from their daughter first.

Viper was torn between sympathetic and vicious as she watched Luce go into labor with Aria.

There was a weird light that emitted from the woman, which quickly turned into some form of cocoon. With a loud pop, it broke apart to reveal a tiny baby girl who was already squalling.

"Fascinating," said Verde.

"If I catch you experimenting on her, you will suffer my wrath," said Viper immediately. Verde openly flinched.

"Duly noted."

Seeing Jasmine and Syaoran nearby, Viper grinned.

"Come meet your new little sister..."

Luce blinked.

"Really?"

"Can you think of anyone better to act as her siblings since there's no way you're going to have any more children that they can relate to? I told you before Luce, I won't condemn Aria just because of your little stunt. I know exactly what being punished for something your parents did feels like. This way they have a little sister to play with and protect, and Aria has siblings."

"Thank you."

"I'm a miser, not heartless. Besides, this gives me one more child to spoil rotten," said Viper shrugging.

She liked children, enough said.

Fon chuckled.

One of the things that sucked about being stuck as toddlers was date night was strictly limited to the "PG" rating. Needless to say both Fon and Viper were frustrated, particularly Viper. She had gone for a very long time without knowing that sort of intimacy and to have it taken away without so much as a warning... sure, she had two children she adored and a third who practically doted on his baby siblings, but she wanted to do more than be treated like a child again when she had her husband around.

Because pedophilia was most certainly not a kink either had, and just considering it was a libido killer.

Frustrated, Viper tried a combination of things, even if they were only temporary. About the only thing that came close to giving her some time with her husband was in her dreamscape. A pity she couldn't share...

Viper felt like hitting the nearest hard surface.

"I'm a bloody idiot. Am I a Mist and a witch or not?" she muttered in Italian.

Fon looked at her oddly from where he was reading something.

"Hm?"

"Hang on, I want to try something..." she said. She sat down in a way that she wouldn't tip over once she was out of range of consciousness, then delved into her mental landscape.

It was a copy of her home with Theo, though it had some areas. Opening the front door lead to a beautiful clearing where Fon had brought her right before their honeymoon, mostly to ease any tension she had.

This was her realm, and she had a connection to Fon via their Flames and their magic. With a thought, she shifted into her true age, in one of the dresses she had from his clan.

When she didn't revert to an infant form, a grin appeared on her face.

"Why didn't I try this sooner? I must be turning into a proper witch if I didn't consider this!" she said grinning. Another thought allowed her to open up a path between her and Fon's mind.

Needless to say Fon was very startled seeing the clearing, much less Viper in her real age.

"What... how?"

"I'm a Mist. The only limits to what I can create are ones I impose on myself. We might be limited in the real world, but here I control everything... including..."

Fon blinked, and a split second later he was at his real age as well. The implications hit him like a brick before a wicked smile appeared on his face.

He kissed his wife eagerly, and it felt identical to the real thing.

"You are absolutely brilliant."

"We might not be able to do anything in the real world, but at least here we are free," said Viper, snuggling into his arms.

"Can you make the connection permanent?"

"I can look into it. It is my dreamscape after all. But first, we might want to wake up before someone finds us passed out. Tonight though..."

Fon's smirk at the idea was almost like something Reborn would have had on his.