A/N: I honestly don't know what happened with this. I like Kawahira damnit! Still, a few answers about the room in this chapter, more will be in the next. I'm sorry for stringing you along for so long with this story arc, but I hope you enjoy it all the same!

Verde had, of course, been completely aware of the second door in the basement, he had been the one to explore the building while the others ran through the woods in search of their Sky after all. From the very first day they had been in the villa, he had known of the door's existence, he just hadn't cared. He hadn't even needed to get all the way down the hidden staircase before the sour scent of wine told him of exactly what he would find down there and since he had no interest in some ancient wine cellar, he had returned to the fully stocked lab instead.

After that, with the mess that had occurred with their Sky and the research binges that had been necessary, the room had fallen to the back of his mind to the point that he didn't even register it anymore. He had no reason to, until Colonnello stumble into his lab muttering stories of a room that ate his Flames before promptly passing out on one of the open medical beds.

He had never heard of a room that absorbed a person's Flames before, how intriguing. Unfortunately, when he had gone to examine the place for himself, he had been forced to dodge back into his lab at the sight of the purple haired menace heading down there himself.

Verde hated loud people. He hated Clouds for their unpredictable actions. More than that, he hated those who would abuse his trust. Skull ticked all three of those boxes and with his instincts still riding high from their recent bonding, he had chosen to retreat before he might do something he would regret later. When the next morning came, they were all shepherded into the kitchen to be informed of their heist and the room was forgotten once again. Right up until the moment that sensors he only vaguely remembered setting started wailing in his ear and brought it all flooding back.

Still wary of getting into time wasting fights with the other Elements, he had silenced the alarms and moved to the barely open door of his lab where he watched for whoever would emerge from the hidden staircase. When he saw that it was Reborn looking like he had lost a fight with a bear, he had almost grinned, right up until he saw the fragile, too still figure in his arms.

At first, Verde had only been mildly intrigued as to the contents of the room, now he was incensed and more determined than ever to unravel its secrets. Blinded by this sudden surge of determination, he all but threw himself down the steps as soon as the coast was clear. He would not allow himself to be distracted again.

The door he found was old, hand carved from the granite of the surrounding walls, but fashioned in a way he couldn't quite fathom. The angle of the cuts said manual work, but at the same time, the edges were too smooth, the grain too uniform for this to be the case. Even taking into account the obvious age of the room, the chances of the door to erode to this state were infinitesimally small.

Then there were the decorations. Copper, burnished to the point that it glowed, and warm to the touch. If he hadn't seen the state of the others as they left, he might have thought that they had spent the last few hours scrubbing them clean. That was impossible however, they had been gone from the kitchen barely any longer than he had, and the heat would not have been retained like this given the much cooler ambient temperature of the stairway.

Curiously enough, when he bent to get a closer look at the metal, he was able to make out partially preserved finger prints along the handle, four distinct sets, one much smaller than the other three, if he was not mistaken. All of them were out of place when considering the newly polished appearance of the metal itself. It was not possible to clean it so brightly yet preserve the prints perfectly, especially as their surroundings were equally as well cleaned. Which suggested that the finger prints were not there of natural causes.

Testing this hypothesis, he slipped a vinyl glove on one hand before reaching for the hand. The second he made contact, the Scientist felt a jolt like static electricity that looped around his Flames, forcing him to jerk his hand away reflexively. No matter, he had achieved what he had set out to, laying amidst the other prints was now a complete fifth set, another impossibility given the gloves and the fact he had only touched it with one finger. Curious.

There were many other tests he would have loved to conduct right then, but when he had gone to retrieve the necessary equipment from his lab, he had been unable to move more than three steps away from the door before he had encountered some form of invisible barrier. That was not what he had been expecting, but given the story he had heard of the room eating Flames, it was possible that it would attempt to keep him here until it had got what it wanted. Needless to say, Verde had been more than willing to wait the thing out, testing just how far it would go in its manipulations, only to be interrupted by the arrival of the Storm and Mist of this set.

Now he was sealed inside the room. This was not what he had intended at all.

Ignoring the interactions of the nuisances for now, he turned his attention back to the doors, intent on examining them from this new angle, only to find that the pen light he carried in his lab coat had little effect on the darkness of the room. While he could still make out the shape of the doors, it was impossible to examine any of the finer details, even when he had the torch a mere inch from them. Conclusion: the darkness was not normal. Nothing about this room was.

The scent of wine he had noticed on the first day was still there, clinging to the back of his tongue in a manner that made him mildly nauseous, yet there was no reasonable source for it. The way that the sounds of flesh striking flesh echoed around the room suggested that they were in a completely enclosed space, yet he could feel the play of a gentle breeze across his skin. A breeze that couldn't seem to decide what direction it wanted to go in, constantly flipping like… breathing.

With a sinking feeling in his gut, Verde reached his gloved hand for the door once again, pressing it flat this time and leaving it there. Not a second later and he was pulling it away again.

That had been a heartbeat.

The room was alive?

Fully aware of who he was now trapped with, and the abilities that the pair boasted, the Scientist quickly, yet discreetly, ran a current of lightning across the synapses in his brain. A risky manoeuvre for anyone without the requires knowledge and control, but it would be enough to disrupt any illusion that the Mist had attempted to trap him inside. Once more he placed his hand against the wall.

Santa Maria, just what was going on here?

Taking a moment to centre himself, Verde finally realised that the sound of fighting had died off behind him and, when he turned to face the others, he was mildly amused to find that Fon had Viper pinned in a rather humiliating headlock. If only this had occurred in his lab where there were surveillance cameras running at all times in case he wanted to watch a result from alternative angles.

"If you two are quite done."

Despite the darkness of the room, his heightened senses were able to pick up the faint dusting of red that spread across the Storm's nose, and the furious pout that was quickly hidden as the Mist yanked themself to their feet.

"I have found a bigger problem for us to contend with."

He could, very easily, have continued that thought and simply told them what he had discovered, from the brief flash of red in hazel eyes, it was clear that they others knew that too, but he didn't. Once before they had elected to ignore his advice, now he was going to ensure that they recognised that he was the one with the answers. He was going to make them ask.

"And?"

The Storm was impatient, a rare feat from what he had observed of the other, but it wasn't enough. Not yet. Still staring the martial artist down, he simply tilted his head to the side, waiting for one of them to ask the question they should have asked weeks ago. Eventually, they did.

"What did you find?"

"Two things: One, against all logic, this room appears to be alive. Two, I have a plan that has a 58.2% chance of getting us out here."

And he had, the fact that the idea had only come to him just then as he had been staring the other two down was irrelevant. Of course, it seemed like the simpletons were only able to digest one thought at a time, so that was even better, he had time to refine it now.

"What do you mean its' alive that isn't possible!"

Which is exactly why he said it went against logic but then, he already knew that they had trouble listening to him. Instead of brining that up and starting another pointless argument however, he merely gestured towards the door. He needed them closer anyway.

"The air flow in this sealed room appears to emulate the circular breathing of a mammal and you can feel a faint pulse from the stone of the doors if you leave your hand there long enough. Feel free to check if you don't believe me."

Of course they moved closer, wanting to test for themselves exactly as he had expected them too. Once they were finally within arm's reach, Verde took a small step back to hide the movement of his hand slipping into his pocket. This particular act was one had had plenty of practice with over the years.

"You're not lying. How is that possible?"

Now wasn't that the question? There would be time enough to deal with that however, but only once they had removed themselves from this situation. He had just about reached the limits of what he would be able to test with just his senses and Flames alone, he needed his equipment, and now that he had a valid theory for getting out of here, he had no desire to waste any more time.

"That is what I intend to find out, but first, I have a plan for getting us out of here."

That caught their attention, finally. Despite the careful way the two were holding their Flames, Verde clearly felt the spark of attention that lit up in them, but he didn't allow that to get any further. Before either of them could even start to turn back in his direction, he snapped the pistol out from his pocket and fired off two shots in quick succession.

The next second, a cool hand was crushing his wrist to the point he was forced to drop the gun and the room was filled with a triad of furious Flames.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Ah, so it looked like his plan worked after all. The scientist couldn't help but smirk at that. They hadn't even noticed that the shots had gone wide.

Kawahira was just about done with these monkeys, all of them. In the millennia that he had been administering the Tri-ni-sette, not once had he encountered humans who caused him half as many problems as the new Arcobaleno, and he had dealt with Bermuda Von Veckenschtein!

If it wasn't the Pacifiers throwing tantrums, it was a fatally injured baby Sky.

If it wasn't that, then it was a baby Sky that had no right to even be alive with what was going on with his soul.

It was the Elements attempting to seal their Sky.

Someone else already having sealed a broken soul in said Sky.

Harmonising with said Sky.

Territorial Mists.

Temporarily disappearing Elements.

Interfering, rejected Sky candidates.

And now… this. Whatever the Earthling had done to annoy the Fates so much, he could honestly say that he was repenting now.

Once more he had been locked in the office of his store, searching desperately through books he had already torn through mere months before in an effort to find some form of alternative that didn't involve sacrificing his Sky for the fate of the world again. With every book he tossed aside, he felt the heavy feeling behind his eyes grow worse but he kept going. He honestly couldn't afford to stop this time, no matter the numerous sources that kept repeating the same line:

Once the pacifiers chose their host, only death would make them reconsider.

Needless to say he had already been in a foul mood when the Mist tags he had placed on two of the new set, tags that would only activate when the being they were bound to was placed in mortal peril (yes, it was an Earthling baby-sitting ward, but there had been no evidence yet to suggest that these humans didn't need a babysitter) started wailing.

A thought was all it took to follow the pull on his Flames to some underground vault, a vault he didn't get much chance to examine as a split second later he was forced to disarm the sociopathic Lightning who had just attempted to murder his fellow Elements. (Really? He had thought for sure that it would be the Sun who snapped first, maybe one of the Rains. Not once had he seen this coming… that was not the point right now.)

Bringing all his fury to bare on the green haired man in front of him was easy, restraining that fury when the man proceeded to smirk at him, not so much.

"I theorized, given the timing of your intervention when we went to seal our Sky, and the vested interest you have shown at keeping a full set, that you would have some way to track whenever we were in life threatening situations. If I was to construct such a situation then, you would be compelled to return to avert the danger meaning that you would come to us. As you are here, I believe that I was correct."

That… actually, given what he had observed of the Lightning in the months before he was chosen, this wasn't all that surprising The Scientist was frighteningly logical in his reasoning, often to the point that emotions were deemed irrelevant. Given the acid green glow that surrounded the Lightning now however, it was clear that fear, at least, was one emotion that he hadn't been able to remove entirely.

A vicious snarl echoing from behind his shoulder was enough to bring Kawahira out of his thoughts, and the feeling of a raging Storm and seething Mist immediately made him refocus on the current situation. Having a mental breakdown over the stunted social skills of the Arcobaleno could wait, right now he would have to focus on keeping them all alive long enough to fully bond with the Tri-Ni-Sette.

"There are easier ways to get my attention, ways that don't include the attempted murder of your Team mates. What do you need me for anyway?"

Given that the other two still appeared to be enraged beyond the capacity for human speech, he really shouldn't have been surprised that it was the Lightning that gave him a reply, even if it did come with the sudden need to punch the human through a wall.

"The others found a hidden room in the basement of the villa, one that appears to consume Flames. While I was attempting to investigate, those two managed to get us sealed inside, assumedly until the room can draw out enough of our Flames that it decides to release us. Given your ability to appear and disappear on a whim, I figured that you would be our best chance of leaving without feeding whatever is in here."

Right.

Of Course.

Of course there was a sentient room.

Of course it ate Flames.

Of course they managed to get themselves sealed in a Flame eating room where they were all flaring wildly right now!

Why had he ever expected anything else?

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to relax his hold on the Lightning while, at the same time, attempting to draw his Flames back into his body. Now that he was focusing on it, he could just about feel the faint tugging on his Mist that made it slightly more difficult to pull them back, but he managed. By the looks of the humans around him, they weren't finding it quite so easy.

Obviously, whatever reason they had wanted to leave without giving the room their Flames was a moot point now, given how wildly they were flaring it would be a wonder if they weren't approaching serious Flames exhaustion in the new couple of minutes. They didn't seem to be able to stop themselves from continuing however, and that combined with some of the other things they had said was concerning… as well as slightly familiar in a way he couldn't quite place.

First of all, there shouldn't have been a 'hidden room' in the basement. This was a mansion that had long been used as the base for each incarnation of the Arcobaleno, a base that Kawahira formatted himself every time so that it was suited for its new inhabitants. The only room in the basement had been many things from a shooting range, to a bomb shelter, and most recently a lab but again, that was the only room below ground level in the villa.

And what the hell was that about sentient rooms? If he didn't know any better, he would have assumed that it was…

He never managed to complete that thought as, in that exact second, the Flames of the humans around him died out, plunging them back into darkness or, at least, it would have, had glowing veins of white light not started to spider web out across the floor.

Now this was beginning to look very familiar.

Following the growing trails of blinding white as they spread, the Earthlings eyes were soon drawn to the central podium of the room, a podium whose sides began to flash through the rainbow at sickening speeds, bringing to mind one of the last trips he had ever taken with his parents, a trip where he had gone to visit one of the Earthings' memory archives. But those archives had been destroyed eons ago, the knowledge of how to make them lost.

Apparently not.

Cautiously, he began to approach the podium, the command centre, only to freeze in place when an achingly familiar figure began to form, washed out and practically colourless, but a shape so dear that he would have known it anywhere.

Short, teal hair held back by a voluminous white hat. Almond eyes of shocking blue highlighted by the yellow tattoo beneath the right. A gently curved nose and soft cupid's bow pulled up slightly in a rueful smile.

Kawahira could practically feel his heart shatter as a name long hidden but never forgotten was torn in a whisper from his petrified lips.

"Sepira?"

He wasn't sure if he wanted to lunge forward to hold her tight or throw himself backwards, so scared that if he even breathed too heavily then the image would fade. The two conflicting desires kept him locked in place, so he had the perfect view of that serene smile falling away to be replaced by painful understanding as a translucent hand reached out to brush a frozen streak across his face.

"Oh Dear One, I only wish that I were."