Mia Tempesta
Summary: Reborn never liked being a (secondary) Sky, but he can't deny his nature forever, so one day he starts collecting his Elements. Except now there was a tiny Storm that packs quite a punch that he doesn't know what to do with. Denial leads to trouble, trouble leads to possessiveness, possessiveness leads to ... something else much more tender. Throw in Checkerface and the Arcobaleno Sky into the mix and things get quite complicated.
"When I asked for a discreet, inconspicuous meeting with the world's greatest hitman, I must admit this is not what I pictured in my mind," a young woman in her early twenties with kind, gentle blue eyes that reminded him too much of a different pair of blue eyes that had caused him so much grief seventeen years ago and a smile that was similar to that smile, too, but not empty, said, her dark teal colored hair thankfully in a completely different style than her mother's and her clothing matching more a typical mafioso's instead of that strange assembly that Luce had worn when she'd been Donna Giglio Nero. Aria had the same overwhelming Sky Flames as her mother, but she did not reach out or Reborn's, not once. She sat opposite him in a maroon dress shirt, black pants, shoes and tie, the same orange birthmark that was turned into the Giglio Nero crest resting beneath her left eye.
She was smart enough to be hospitable but not pretend friendliness. She was also smart enough to bring her Guardians. Lightning Gama was eyeing him half stunned, half suspiciously. The Storm, a former soldier of some kind, seemed a bit trigger happy, twitchy. The Mist Guardian could not come and the other two Guardians present, Sun and Rain, stood several steps back, watching their boss' back. Reborn had met their Cloud earlier, an aloof woman with a fierce glare who had insisted she'd guard the door. Reborn didn't get what her deal was, not did he care. If she thinks she can stop him should he want to leave, he'll gladly show her why she's wrong.
"You did not want this meeting to get out and I did not want this meeting to be known about, either. Hence the disguise." Said disguise was that of an elderly Chinese looking lady with two buns on either side of her gray head of hair, a scarf around her neck and shoulders and baggy clothing, walking with a bit of a limp and with the assistance of a cane. The glasses hid just how sharp Reborn's eyes were. His face was covered by a special mask to hide his defined cheekbones and angular jaw, making him look soft around the edges and wrinkly like a true 'grandma'. Reborn had completed the image by putting on some perfume that made him smell of cats and cookies. "You've got a lot of guts to call on me, given my history with your family."
"I apologize sincerely for whatever wrongs my mother may have done to you or your group," Aria of the Giglio Nero said immediately, but there was actual sincerity in her words. Not even Reborn's Sky could find fault in them. She meant it. "But I believed this to be of greater importance than the bad blood between us."
"Oh, and what would 'this' be?" He asked, sipping on the ordinary coffee he'd ordered, just in case someone was following or watching the woman. He didn't want to be seen in Giglio Nero's company. It was bad enough people considered him a consultant for Vongola.
"I am sure you already know of the Trinisette, given the ... nature of your introduction to my mother." Reborn couldn't help but stiffen, which did not go unnoticed by the Giglio Nero Guardians. They stiffened, too, thinking he might lash out and attack. Reborn noted they did not realize they'd be dead in a second should he truly be preparing for a fight. He noted that they were mostly around their boss' age. He noted that there were strong currents traveling between them, indicating that they were not harmonized, but bonded. He noted only Gamma had a very fancy looking ring with wings that turned from an empty glassy color to Lightning-green when a spark of Flames ignited. He noted they all had Box Weapons. "And I am sure you know that, besides being the Sky Arcobaleno, the Giglio Nero Donnas of the past have watched over the Mare Rings."
"And I am sure you know that the other two sets of the Trinisette were sealed away where no one can reach them," Reborn countered, keeping his voice even and nonthreatening. He didn't need a fight breaking out here and now. Not with this woman. Not with this topic. Not with so many civilians in the restaurant with them. "Do you object to our methods?"
"I am not as limited as the Cervello," countered Aria, signaling for her Guardians to relax with a reassuring look over her shoulder. "I see how this method will benefit the world and the Trinisette. Even uncle Kawahira acknowledges that this method is better. He is relieved that he no longer has to sacrifice human lives for the sake of the world at large." Reborn twitches at Kawahira's name. He wonders if this woman had really been in contact with him. "I know that this method will stop a lot of tragedy, a war that might be fought for the pieces of the Trinisette, over its power. Which is why I've called you here today. The Cervello have not managed to steal all seven of the Mare Rings. Gama, my Lightning Guardian, and Genkishi, my Mist Guardian, have managed to keep theirs. Gama, would you please show him?"
Gama did, once again letting electricity dance over his Ring, the Mare Lightning Ring. When the Flames faded, the Ring turned dull once more.
"Do you wish for us to protect your two remaining Rings? Because, let me tell you, once you hand them over, they are going straight to the rest of the Trinisette to be properly sealed away." All parts of the Trinisette needed to be fed Flames,though only the Pacifiers required it constantly and with extreme purity and strength of Flames. Still, Bermuda had contacted Talbot after they secured the Vongola Rings and the old inventor had made little containers for the Rings as well, suited to keep them fed by Flames from time to time, like how a human would use them. Talbot agreed to do the same for the Mare Rings once they get them, specified for whatever those Rings might need. "You won't be getting them back."
"We are aware," the Donna reassured, nodding her head. "The Mare Rings were my famiglia's to protect, not to use. And while times are changing," she said with a glance at the Box Weapons her Guardians carried. They should not even have those, not yet. Verde had been certain his former colleagues from the project wouldn't figure it out for a while longer. "We can keep up just the same, with or without pieces of the Trinisette. The reason I called you here today is because I fear Genkishi to be a traitor and the Gesso to be planning on declaring war against us soon. You see, Giglio Nero Skies have something I would call super intuition, stronger than the Vongola Hyper Intuition to the point that we can see into the future. When I was little, I had visions of myself, grown up and wearing my mother's Pacifier. Sometimes, I saw a little girl that looked a lot like the both of us, also wearing that same Pacifier, dying for that same Pacifier. And today, I am with a child, but I wear no Pacifier and I wish not to wear it."
"Why are you telling me all of this?" Reborn asked warily.
"Because my visions changed. Seventeen years ago, my visions changed. It allowed me to see ... other things. It allowed me to see the Arcobaleno, as they are now, fixing so many centuries of wrongs and finally giving an old race the peace they deserve. You changed the future, Mr Reborn. You changed your fate. When I was little, my mother told me that was impossible."
"I don't believe in either of those concepts. Everything is possible, if you do it with your Dying Will. Even changing fate." But maybe not destiny. The Arcobaleno still carry the name Arcobaleno, still protect the Trinisette. They just do it completely differently than everyone had always thought would be the only way. "I still don't see how any of that would encourage you to seek me out, to tell me this. I killed your mother, Donna Giglio Nero. I did it with glee. We are not friends."
"But we could be allies," Aria countered. "What my mother did was wrong. The way she and uncle Kawahira, the way all my ancestors before her, the way they went about protecting the balance of the world is wrong. I have mourned her a long time ago. I do not begrudge you."
"How kind of you."
Aria ignored his slight sarcasm. "Protecting the Trinisette is priority. Protecting my family is my top priority." Reborn arched an eyebrow at that. Luce had definitely not seemed of that disposition. The Trinisette had taken precedence. "I have seen visions of this war lasting long enough for my child to inherit it. I do not wish that. I have seen it lasting long enough that the Giglio Nero are swallowed up and disappear. I will not allow for my men to suffer such a fate."
"What do you expect me to do?" Because that's what's important here. What did Aria expect Reborn to do? Kill off the Gesso on his own? Maybe he could. They still didn't know overly much about the current Gesso leadership.
"We will give you all we know about the Gesso and their current leader, Byakuran," Aria said, not yet answering the hitman's question, making the disguised man's jaw clench. "He currently holds the Sky Mare Ring and there is something you should know about him: it may seem as though he, too, can see the future, but it is only because he can contact his parallel world selves."
What.
"What?" Reborn deadpans and Aria goes into great detail about what each of the 'Trinisette Skies' usually can do. The Mare Sky position has been empty since the founding of Giglio Nero but the Cervello, by giving a chosen Sky the Mare Sky Ring, activated the Gesso's power and allowed Byakuran, the current leader, to speak with his parallel selves, amassing knowledge and information he should not possess.
"He is still under the impression that the Arcobaleno are cursed infants who bear the Pacifiers of the Trinisette and he plans to go after you first in an attempt to gain the power to remake the world as if it were a dollhouse for his amusement," Arai informed him, dead serious.
'Well, that would explain the strange comment Verde's colleagues passed on,' he thought to himself. "So, let me get this straight, you and Byakuran are the only ones who possess the finished Box Weapons technology-" Not true, but if Aria didn't know Verde was alive and making the Boxes better back in Namimori, well, that's her problem and none of her business to begin with. That's Reborn's Lightning. "Because you see the future so you passed on the knowledge of the finished product while Byakuran has the knowledge from his alternate selves. In one of those alternate realities, the Arcobaleno do become cursed infants and he, somehow, finds a way to kill us, making the Pacifiers go dull and empty, which creates disbalance in the world and eventually kills it. Your daughter, whom is still a mere fetus, could relight the Pacifiers at the cost of her life, had the Arcobaleno become cursed infants bound to them in the first place, which is why this Byakuran fellow would go after her besides the fact that she'd hold the Orange Pacifier. And this Byakuran guy wants to take over the world."
"Yes."
"And you expect us, the current Arcobaleno who are not cursed infants bound to the Pacifiers, to somehow stop him, take away the last piece of the Trinisette and seal the whole thing away from the rest of humanity for the rest of eternity."
"Byakuran expects Arcobaleno he can kill with the single push of a button that activates something I believe he called Anti-Trinisette Policy. I don't know what it is, but it has proven to be deadly for actual Arcobaleno. Since the Pacifiers didn't change your bodies in the least, you will be perfectly fine and the strongest seven in the world can surely take down an unprepared nineteen year old boy who believes himself invincible but does not yet know your true strength. Because, Arcobaleno of the Sun, it is not just one of those realities, it is all of them except this one. He does not know the Arcobaleno as unrestrained powerhouses. He only knows you as cursed infants whose Flames are constantly feeding the Pacifiers. I don't want to ask you to do anything you don't want to, Reborn," Aria said and there was yet again that sincerity in her words. "It would just be for the best to stop him before he realizes that, while you may be stronger and unbound, you are also no longer all but immortal as Arcobaleno are. Besides, while the Anti-Trinisette Policy, whatever it may be, might not harm you, the Vindice won't be as lucky."
"Which would leave the currently sealed away Trinisette pieces unprotected," he finished for her through grit teeth. He did not like this. No, not because he doubted Aria's words, but because all of this suggested that Reborn and his Guardians will once again be risking their lives for that trice damned Trinisette! "What, exactly, do you expect us to do?"
"Well, you took the famous Vongola Rings right under Vongola's nose, right?" Aria asked and Reborn suddenly had a feeling that he was talking to a child, that he was talking to I-Pin, Lambo or Fuuta. There was something in Aria's eyes that suggested she honestly thought the Arcobaleno could do it overnight, that Reborn could just walk up to the Gesso main headquarters, demand the Rings and take them by force if they don't want to hand them over peacefully. It was a childish trust, probably built up by whatever future she used to see, whatever version of Reborn she might have met in that future-that-won't-be. The Sun/Sky honestly wasn't sure how to react to that.
"It wasn't that easy," he countered carefully. "It took us years before we got our hands on the Vongola Rings." Though, most of those years were spent researching the possibility of the Rings actually being a part of the Trinisette to begin with. Until Kyoya found the files Alaudi had left, they hadn't known anything for certain, thus they couldn't casually just start a feud with the strongest famiglia in the mafia world over rings that might not be the Rings they were looking for. Ultimately, though, it was by chance that they got such a clean break in collecting the Rings. The Cervello had made a mistake. The Rings had been within their easy reach. Kyoya even wore one as an accessory for two weeks! Still does. "I don't know how long it will take us to get the Mare Rings. We don't even know what they look like, besides the Lightning Ring."
"They're all identical," Gama spoke for the first time since the meeting started, drawing Reborn's attention to him. "Mare Rings are all identical to each other when not in use. They have no color, they all have wings. Only the Sky Ring has spread wings while the rest all have folded wings, like mine."
"You can also track them due to them having similar energy readings as the Vongola Rings, which you have already had in your possession," Aria added, sighing. "I don't expect immediate results, even from people as strong and capable as the Arcobaleno. I'm willing to wait however long it takes to know that my family is safe. I just wish to protect my comrades. I'm sure you, of all people, understand that, given it is how my mother's demise was brought about."
"Yeah," the Italian hitman said. "I understand." That didn't mean he had to like it. Still ... "We'll get on it as soon as I return home. However," he added before Aria can start thanking him. "I expect your full cooperation. I need you to tell me everything you know about the Gesso, about the Mare Rings and about the Trinisette because, frankly, our intelligence on it is dismal at best."
Aria, unexpectedly, blinked at him in confused surprise. "But doesn't your Cloud know almost everything there is to know about it?"
'Skull?' He frowned. "M- our Cloud is a born and raised civilian. Until he met us, he hadn't known a single thing about the mafia except for the nonsense they show in the movies. He doesn't know anymore than the rest of us do."
"That's odd," the woman said with a frown. "I am certain that uncle Kawahira has a Cloud friend that is close to you." Reborn felt a cold chill of dread go through him. Surely it can't be- "Maybe I'm wrong. I do at times see indigo instead of violet. Maybe my visions are too murky. It's been happening more and more as of late." Somehow, Reborn didn't feel as relieved to hear that. Mostly because his Sky was getting anxious now. It was insistent that this required some looking into. For Kyoya's safety and for Reborn's peace of mind. "Regardless," Aria continued with a shake of her head before smiling at the Sun/Sky. "Thank you, Reborn, even though I know you are not assisting me for my sake, but rather your friends'."
"Family," Reborn automatically corrected and Aria's smile stretched, becoming just a bit delighted.
"They are so lucky to have you as their Sky," she said before bidding him farewell and taking her leave, her stupefied Guardians rising after her despite wanting to gawk at Reborn so bad because none of them had gotten that particular Sky-vibe from him.
Somehow, Reborn didn't feel annoyed that Aria might know his secret. It wasn't even that much of a secret anymore, since the news had spread throughout the mafia pretty fast that Reborn, the world's greatest hitman, was a Sky of all things. (A scorned Bianchi contributed to the speed of the spread greatly.) Somehow, people simply refused to believe it to be true, so it's more of people mocking the news/rumor than being terrified of it. It was on the level where someone says something outrageous and the person listening to it would go 'Yeah, and Reborn's a Sky user!'. Said hitman couldn't help but be amused by this. It was like his teenage days all over again, where traditionalists couldn't grasp the concept that he was such a strong, pure Sun when he used a gun and killed with his Flames instead of healed. They didn't realize just how deadly of a Sky he would be. Mostly because he was already beyond deadly even by Arcobaleno standards.
He guessed it made sense Aria would know, if she can really see the future. He had this ... feeling that she would have been the Sky Arcobaleno had that system still been in play, like Luce had. Only Aria didn't seem blinded by whatever it is that has struck Luce down and corrupted her Sky.
Then again, Aria was supposedly only five to six years older than Kyoya. She'd grown up in a world where just about everyone knew Reborn all but hated traditional famiglia Skies and for which reasons. Maybe Aria had even met a thralled Fon and had been disgusted by what her mother had done. Reborn wouldn't be surprised. And Aria seemed to have way better Guardians, too. She'd bonded with them, after all. Reborn didn't know any Sky boss that had done that.
He'll give her a chance. His Sky intuition was urging him to.
But for now, he had other important things to worry about.
Like just what kind of company Kyoya was keeping.