A/N: wow, this chapter didn't want to be written. I'm going to apologise now as there's a lot of talking in this one and I normally try to avoid writing dialogue. Still, it does push the plot on quite a bit, and starts to bring in one of my favourite characters. I hope you all enjoy!

Also, Happy New Year from the UK. I hope you all have a good one!

He couldn't breathe. The burning in his chest was a constant reminder that he needed to but each attempt just turned into a choked gasp that helped no one. He just...

Sepira…

How long had it been since he had last seen her face outside of his own memories, outside of his dreams? Too long, yet looking at her now, it felt like he could have waited another thousand years and he still wouldn't have felt ready for this moment.

And then her words registered and it felt like his heart breaking once again. The old, shattered remains of his Guardian bond were shards of ice in his very soul.

It was too much.

He couldn't do this.

He couldn't…

The edges of his vision were beginning to blur into darkness when a small spark lit in his chest, his newest bond flaring into prominence before flooding him with warmth strong enough to send him to his knees. It chased away the chill and allowed his sight to return just in time to see the concerned emerald eyes of his newest Sky flood with concern as they stared up at him.

The next thing he knew, tiny arms were wrapping around his neck and he practically melted into the hold, relishing in the promise of home they so innocently offered.

"Santa?"

There it was, the silly little name that this baby Sky had given him. It was such a small thing, but it helped to ease the tightness in his throat to the point that he could finally breathe, arms coming up of their own accord to hold the child even tighter to his chest. It had been so long since anyone had held him like this, he could forgive himself for being a little selfish right now. Still, there was one more thing that had been lost to the sands of time, and it was about time that he thought to reclaim it.

"Kawahira, Little One. My name is Kawahira."

Normally he wouldn't have dared, not with the members of the Arcobaleno standing close enough to hear, not when it was easier to just be the nameless figure that they could all unite in hating. Easier to just play the villain, to take the fury and death threats instead of allowing himself to grow attached only to lose them to the curse that he had laid upon them.

He had tried this only once, when the weight of an eternity left alone had grown too much to bear. He would never repeat such a mistake again, or, at least, that was what he had promised himself. And then there was this innocent little Sky who came in an tore through his defences like they weren't even there…

"You 'kay?"

The words were meant for him alone, despite the way he could feel the Flames of the others gathered around them. The child had whispered so quietly that, had his mouth not been pressed just below the Earthling's ear, the question would have been impossible to decipher. Unable to answer right then, he simply held the boy even tighter, but that was fine, his Sky understood.

Kawahira wasn't sure exactly how long he remained hidden in the Sky's embrace, drowning as he was in centuries of repressed pain, but he was jolted back to reality when a large, slim fingered hand fell onto his free shoulder. At first, the contact had him tensing up expecting an attack but when, after a few seconds, none came… he looked up, bewildered indigo eyes meeting a surprisingly warm black and… he froze.

As tough sensing his discomfort, the Hitman simply sighed before moving the hand to tilt down his fedora instead. Hiding his eyes to show his own unease at the situation.

"Harry sensed your distress and dragged us all down here. Obviously this room means something to you but if you keep hiding away you'll never be able to change anything. Tell us what's going on in that head of yours."

Was that… genuine concern from the Sun?

Sure, it was a well known fact that Sun's were protective and the ones who generally cared for the wellbeing of those in their set, even the inverted ones like Sinclair, but Kawahira had never expected to truly be accepted as a member of this Harmony. Finally looking away from the child he was all but suffocating in his arms, he was further shocked to find that the other's had formed a loose protective ring around them.

This was… no one had ever attempted to protect him like this before… was this the power of a completed Harmony? In the past he had only been a lone Guardian, none of the other Earthling Elements had been strong enough, either that or they simply hadn't been interested in bonding with a Sky as young as… Sepira!

Surrounded by the supportive (if still slightly hostile from a certain Mist) Flames of his fellow Elements, Kawahira finally built up the courage to face the apparition before him, and now that he was looking closely, he could see the clear signs that he had missed.

The washed out colouring. The slightly fixed feeling to the bitter sweet expression on her face and, most damning of all, the absence of her Flames in the small chamber. She was simply a holographic projection of the archive interface. An echo of a memory of a dream that… maybe he didn't have to cling to anymore. None the less…

"Sepira, my sun, my moon, my stars. It's… good to see your face again."

When the others had first gone charging past the kitchen where he and Lal had been cleaning up, Colonnello hadn't known what to think. Correction, he hadn't really been thinking at all. One moment he had been attempting to stack the serving plates into a semi-stable pile and the next a wave of sheer emotional agony had swept through his chest. For a second, his eyes had flashed to where his partner was sorting ingredients back into cupboards, but no sooner had he confirmed that no; she wasn't the source of this and yes; she had felt it too, than the others had raced down the stairs with no care given for silence. Now that was concerning.

Leaving the cleaning had been a no brainer, and as one, the two of them had followed after Skull, Reborn and the kid as they made their way down the stairs to Verde's lab. Maybe the Scientist had finally gone too far with one of his experiments and inflicted some serious harm on himself?

But they didn't stop there.

When they had first moved towards the second set of stairs, Colonnello had hesitated. The last time they had gone down there, he had been trapped in a room that flashed memories of his Step-Father so quickly and vividly in front of his eyes that he had instinctively lashed out with his Flames. After that, it had been all he could do to struggle his way back upstairs and crash in the bed next to Lal's soothing presence. He really did not want a repeat of that experience, but the other's weren't stopping…

Thanking his military training, he had pushed back his fears and followed them down into the abyss of whatever was waiting for them. One hand toying with the small combat knife in his pocket while the other reached up to flip his hearing aid up to full volume, he had himself ready for any threat only… they didn't find one.

Instead of any sort of illusion, intruder or anything else his imagination could conjure to explain the frantic dash, they were instead greeted by a mostly empty stone room containing Fon, Verde, Viper and a weird glowing girl who could be the mirror image of the Giglio Nero Boss he had worked with six months ago. Oh, and the Man in the Iron Hat having a mental breakdown at the edge of the room. That was probably where the icy feelings along the bonds were coming from now that he thought about it. If the Soldier was being honest with himself, he had all but forgotten that the other Mist was actually part of their set.

While the rest of them were still processing all of the new information, their baby Sky had decided that it was a great idea to throw himself at the super creepy, not at all stable Mist and imitate an octopus in the way he attempted to cling to the man. When he had first processed the movement, Colonnello had attempted to stop the kid, he had been on enough missions that he knew what the signs of a panic attack looked like, and he had been around enough soldiers to realise that physical contact could invoke some pretty dangerous reactions, but when the man only moved to cuddle the kid, he let it go. Different people dealt with grief in different ways, he would be a hypocrite to judge someone else for their coping mechanisms.

Unfortunately, Colonnello had never been the best person for dealing with awkward silences, so while the others continued to stare at the spectacle that was their employer having a mental breakdown, he returned his attention to the current situation.

Given the fact that the only new element to the problem, other than the room itself which, while there was a very real probability that it could be the cause, was not something that he could change, was the glowing woman that he had never seen before, he quickly decided that she was the most likely cause. After that, it was only second nature to move forwards just enough that he had slipped between the unknown and the vulnerable ally on the floor. From the slight sound of the wind shifting to his left, he knew without looking that Lal had moved to cover his six, just as she always had.

Slowly, the others seemed to pull themselves out of their thoughts and fell into a loose formation around the two on the floor. A defensive position that they didn't allow to break until the man behind them, Kawahira, finally managed to raise his head.

"Sepira, my sun, my moon, my stars. It's… good to see your face again."

Ah, so he did know the woman after all. That pretty much confirmed his idea of her being the cause and, given the way he was looking at her… yeah, Colonnello quickly began to feed a small strand of his Flames in the Mist's direction now that the Man's own had relaxed enough to read them as the comfort they were supposed to be instead of as a threat.

He had seen that look before on men who had lost everything. More recently, he had seen it on the faces of Guardians who were suffering from broken bonds. And given how spooked Kawahira had been after bonding with Harry, coupled with the way that the woman was quite clearly a projection of some kind… there was only one thing he could think of that would cause that reaction.

"You were bonded to her… and she died."

He hadn't meant to say it out loud. No matter what Lal might say about his emotional range, he knew full well that saying it like that was a dick move, but it had just slipped out. Flinching round to send the Mist an apologetic look (and to dodge the incoming slap) he almost chocked when he noticed that said Mist was reaching up and seeming to unfasten his mask.

Holy… wasn't that some sort of taboo for illusionists? Or had he and Lal just had the misfortune of coming across only the most paranoid of that Flame type?

Either way, none of them made a sound as Kawahira slowly removed the mask to reveal a face that Colonnello might have called young if it weren't for the expression of sheer exhaustion that twisted across it. Just what did you have to go through to do that to a person?

He wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

"Yes. Sepira died centuries ago. This is just a memory of her left behind to guard the archive. She won't respond unless you directly ask her a question."

Well that created many, many questions in the blonde's mind, but he bit back his tongue. Surprisingly, the time frame wasn't all that shocking to him. He had known from his first meeting with the Mist that something about the 'man' wasn't quite right. After Harmonizing, that feeling of him being 'off' had only grown stronger, but he hadn't consciously registered that until it was confirmed.

From the looks on the others' faces, or the ones he could see at least, it wasn't much of a surprise for them either. Sure, there was the initial flash of shock across their faces, or behind their eyes, but as they took the time to really think about it, they all seemed to come to similar conclusions. Subconsciously, they had all known it already, it had simply been confirmed now.

Verde, on the other hand, looked like he was about to start squealing with glee… and Dear God, that was not a mental image that would be going away any time soon, unfortunately.

"So you know what was happening with this room? And you're saying that your people had a way of preserving memories, centuries ago? How did that work? How many of these archives are there? Are any of them accessible?... No, of course not, or we would have found them already unless…"

Yeah, no.

One turn of a dial and the sound of the mad scientist's ramblings faded away into a pleasant buzz while still allowing him to process the reactions of those around him. Thankfully Verde was far enough away, and speaking quietly enough in his muttering, that it was possible to tune him out and still be able to hear the others. Small mercies and all that.

"Oh, for pity's sake. Give the man a break."

And there was his darling Lal, expressing her concern in what was probably the least compassionate way possible. Still, it did the job. Though maybe that was the sudden icy flare of Rain that flooded the room.

"Thank you Commander Mirch, but it's fine. From what I can tell, this is the last of the Memory Archives, all of the others broke down over time and the knowledge of how to make them was lost. Or, at least, I thought it was. It looks like Sepira was keeping secrets from me right until the end."

Ouch, there was that spike of pain again, though if this was really a wound that had been festering for centuries (and Colonnello was going to be trying very hard not to think about that, ever) then it certainly explained the depth to it.

Maybe it was the absolute sea of Rain Flames that were flooding the room, but it was scary how calmly they were all taking this.

"Mou…You were the one who arranged this place. How did you not know that it was here?"

That was a valid question. It was less noticeable since he had joined the group late, but there were definite traces of Mist Flames throughout the building. They had just assumed that the house had been personalised for their comfort since they were expected to remain there for the duration of their jobs. It was a nice gesture, even if it was a little creepy how much he seemed to know about them all.

"It wasn't here before."

"That is impossible. The law of Conservation of Mass means that things cannot simply appear out of nothing."

"Just as rooms can't be alive Verde?"

Well, that certainly shut the green haired man up, though now Colonnello really wanted to know what all that was about. Still…

"Then why would it appear now? And why did it have to drain us of our Flames in order to activate itself?"

And there was Reborn asking the real questions once again. At least it meant that he didn't have to put his foot in it this time.

"It is… possible that there are things about this house that even I don't know. It was left to the Arcobaleno by one of the Peverell founders. There have been rumours of rooms appearing and disappearing as they were needed by the inhibiters, but I never put much stock in them before."

Peverell? As in, the formerly extinct Family that their Sky was supposedly a member of? Either this was one hell of a coincidence, or someone was pulling strings somewhere. Normally he would have just assumed it was the first one, but with Kawahira confirming that there were more creatures tan just humans at work on the planet. Hell, the Vindice was enough to prove that. So why not some weirdo playing around with their lives like some characters in a story?

He was going to stop thinking about that now.

"Why now? And why this one"

"The Journal."

Of all the people he had expected to speak up, it hadn't been Skull. It was actually surprising how often the Cloud managed to fade into the background given his loud personality and look, but more often than not, they all seemed to forget that their second youngest member was even in the room with them.

"What do you mean Lackey?"

"er…. Bermuda mentions it in his journal. Did no one else read it?"

Honestly? No. The journal had just been something that they had been told to steal. It was supposed to be their 'announcement' to the world that their group had formed once again. There hadn't been a reason to actually read the damned thing. But apparently there had.

"Bermuda? Of course he did. He manages to find his way into all the places he shouldn't be."

Okay, was it just Colonnello or was Kawahira talking about this Bermuda like he was still alive? Was he another one like the Mist or something else?

"My friend, what did he say exactly?"

"It was in some pretty archaic German so it wasn't the easiest to read, but from what I could gather, the room appeared when he and his Storm, Jaeger, had been looking for a cure to what he calls the 'Fluch des Regenbogens' which I think means-"

"The Curse of the Rainbow."

No surprise that Viper was the one to translate it, still, the words alone were enough to send a shiver down his spine. It didn't take a genius to put together the fact that a complete Sky Set made a Rainbow of Flames. Add that to the fact that Kawahira had been doing everything possible to keep their set together.

There was almost no information to be found regarding Il Prescelti Sette.

"If this really was the place where they found their cure… it isn't one that you want to use yourselves."

Well, that confirmed the dark suspicions that had been whispering in his ear, and not in a good way. In the manner of seconds, Reborn had lunged forwards and pulled their Sky away from the traitor in their midst. For his part, Colonnello unsheathed his knife while cursing Lal's insistence that he left his rifle in their room. Not that it mattered, he barely had time to blink before Fon had the Mist caught in a vicious hold.

"And why is that? What have you done to us?"

"The Curse of the Rainbow, of the Arcobaleno, is as old as civilization itself. As for Bermuda… he is the founder and leader of the Vindice."

Off to his right, he just about heard the click of the hammer being pulled back on a high calibre handgun.

"Explain."

"Yes… that might be an idea, mightn't it."