Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Everything was terribly wrong. Reborn skin was pulsating with biting, unforgiving cold, and he didn't actually know whether his eyes were closed or not because he couldn't see anything but the intense whiteness that surrounded everything.

So, he was dead, then? That was it? How did it happen anyway? He couldn't remember.

"Reborn-chan? Are you feeling quite alright?"

Reborn nearly gave himself whiplash, but he moved sideways and where before there had been utter whiteness, there stood someone, in full golden and orange regalia.

Reborn blinked. And when things didn't change, he blinked again.

"Vongola… Primo?" Reborn asked, a bit dazed but immediately feeling less cold. "And what was that with the chan?"

He could be dead, but he would not allow THAT.

Giotto stepped back a little and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ah, sorry, Reborn," he said, and damn if he did not look like a better looking, older, blonde clone of Tsuna "I am just used to watch over you guys, and well, you have to admit that you were very tiny for a long time. Good to see you all grown up and all, by the way!" he said cheerfully.

Ugh. Now he wanted to shoot Primo and he didn't have a gun, and his Sun Flames were gone.

"So, I am dead," he stated somberly, hiding his eyes with his fedora in his typical manner. Just his luck.

"Oh, no. Well, not yet at least," Giotto said with a kind and serene smile. "I felt your arrival in the Spirit Realm and sequestered you in this small time-space bubble to investigate. You see, you are not one of Tsu-chan Guardians, but you are very attuned to him and, well, the Strongest Sun, so it was quite a shock for a moment. It was my duty to ascertain just what had happened."

Well, Reborn though, at least Giotto was not a total idiot. Just a sentimental one, apparently.

"Then, if I am not dead, what is happening to me?" he asked, annoyed. He hated being left in the dark.

He vaguely remembered the Strange Sky, and trying to bait her, and then taking a sword… and then nothing, just that cold, oppressive feeling in his chest, like a void.

Giotto hummed and looked at him thoughtfully with his golden eyes, but then his finger pointed to Reborn's hand, where a red string had suddenly appeared seemingly from nowhere and attached itself to his wrist.

"May I look at it? Then I think I will be able to answer some of your questions," Giotto asked.

Reborn looked at the red ribbon-like thing with an arched eyebrow, but extended his arm so Primo could take a look.

Giotto, who seemed to be in a constant Hyper Dying Will Mode, looked at it liked he was X-raying it for a very long 67 seconds (not that Reborn was counting) before releasing his hand who know tingled in a weird and uncomfortable way.

"You are definitely alive, Reborn, but your String of Fate is starting to fray at an alarming rate. At this rate, … you will die in less than a day."

Reborn scowled hard. He was not dying not even knowing who had finally killed him. That was unacceptable.

"What can be done?" he asked, a hint of impatience bleeding through his voice.

Giotto opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again and became even more thoughtful. Reborn noticed that he was using the Vongola Hyper Intuition, probably looking at the best way to get him out of this bizarre thing.

"I think that we should follow it to its origins and watch what happened. Whatever can be done, we will discover it there. Come, take my arm. We need to travel through the Spirit Realm so fast that no time will have passed since you left your body." Giotto's voice was sure and full of Sky charisma.

Ah, Tsuna still had a way to go to become Neo Vongola Primo.

"Then chop-chop, let's get moving," he said, trying to sound as if he didn't care too much. Truth was, he did care, but he would process everything at a later time. Like he always did.

Giotto smirked, a bit of wild in his eyes, and then he felt himself being yanked hard and moved fast, impossibly fast. He couldn't see anything. Just the feeling of velocity, strong Sky Flames and the feeling of unrealness and numbness surrounding him.

He opened his eyes a bit disoriented just in time to see himself, long sword in hand moving in an unforgiving way, blade perfectly positioned to kill and behead.

The Sky, Hariel, ducked fast, suspiciously fast, and stepped back and away from him with a wary look in her eyes.

"Your body is being possessed Reborn," commented Giotto, who was at his side taking into every detail of the scene.

"I can see that."

His body was surrounded by a black and red miasma type of thing. It felt nauseating just being near it.

Hariel didn't seem very fazed, but he had seen the change in her demeanor. How her eyes had changed and become sharper, calculating, distant. Her face, mild, unassuming, and her posture that of one who was ready to attack at any given moment.

She also started speaking casually with his freaking possessed evil body like it was a perfectly normal, and acceptable thing to do.

Her shoulders became way too relaxed when the thing occupying his body started talking back.

She didn't even look too surprised to be talking to a storm-red eyed, possessed version of himself, a brief look of annoyance crossing her features before settling into one of deceptive charm.

"Who's she?" Giotto at his side was looking at her, eyes really wide and a stunned expression in his face.

Ah yes, he had forgotten for a moment that Giotto had entered the Twilight Zone now too. He must be feeling all those mighty, powerful, wildly unrestrained and fierce Sky Flames of hers for the first time. And which how pure they were too… They could feel suffocating if you were not used to them. He had been paralyzed the first time he had felt them, after all.

Not that he would admit that to Giotto or to anyone. Those Flames were a fucking menace. Especially since they lacked any kind of guide or control. A natural disaster waiting to happen.

He followed the bizarre conversation going on though because it was his body the one that was on the line.

"She's a… project of shorts," he admitted after a few seconds, not really paying much attention to Primo.

"Reborn! Explain this." Giotto's voice was in his most Vongola Primo Boss Mode. All serious and commanding, sending strong and carefully directed Sky Charisma like a weapon at him.

Skies were so annoying. He ignored him for the time being, getting engrossed in what was happening before them.

She was totally bullshiting that spirit. She may not be able to lie well, but she was an alright actress and had great improvisation skills. She could play the very noble and offended lady in an uncanny way too.

"She's using her Sky Charisma in a most alarming way," muttered Giotto, as if he had not been doing the same thing mere moments before.

"If it works, it works. At least she's not dead yet and seems to have some kind of plan to get rid of that… abomination." Reborn said, not really liking how her gaze sometimes paused on his arm, like she was assessing if just chopping his arm off would be the best thing to do.

"But, who's she, Reborn? How it's this possible? How? We are always watching. This should have been known."

Reborn shrugged, he was more worried about his body right now. He didn't like at all seeing that moron using his face. He made his face look stupid, blushing and grinning like a schoolboy on his first crush.

Hariel, whilst still wary, looked like she was having the time of her life now. Eyes laughing at the thing, playing with him, like they were just having fun and his life was not on the fucking line.

When she left to "get dressed appropriately" like a lady, the thing possessing his body, just… obeyed her.

"Reborn. How did this possession happen?"

Oh, now that she had left the room and with her, the pressure, Giotto was asking the questions he wanted to avoid answering most.

"I touched that sword. That's all."

Why had he touched it? Now that he was a spirit, he could feel how evil and nasty it looked and felt. It was surrounded by the same miasma, but something darker was concentrated inside it. It… it felt a bit like the Pacifier. The fuck. He had cursed himself, hadn't he?

But it was her fault. Who in their sane mind got cursed swords as souvenirs?

"Why would you do that?" Giotto looked at him, and then at the sword and then at him again, eyebrow arched and hands gesticulating with a touch of exasperation.

"It didn't feel or look like this in the Living Realm. It was just a rusty old sword. I was curious."

"Well, now your life is in his hands," Giotto said seriously, "I can now feel how that curse it's working. The first thing it did was probably destabilize your soul and expel it from your body. I can't feel your flames, so that had to be the first step of this curse. Then separated from your body, that sword will corrode at your String of Fate until, well, until it's broken. Then…

"I am dead."

Yes, he had worked it too for himself, minus all the spiritual nonsense. Well, what a mess.

"Well, yes, but the Sky, Hariel, seems to be on your side."

"On my side? She hates me."

Giotto closed his eyes and concentrated.

"No, my Hyper Intuition is telling me that she will help you."

That was a good thing, Reborn though morosely. It would be a joke to die in such a manner, by and idiot naively evil spirit with more brawn than brains. Of course, he had gotten himself cursed into a sword. That moron.

No, he refused to die from something so stupid.

Their server came with their dinner, all smiles and polite words. His evil and stupid doppelgänger glared at them, obviously wanting to do something, or to speak with them, but too Flame Drunk to disobey a direct order from a Sky using all that kind of Sky Charisma.

"Well, tell me about her, then. And please, refrain from saying it's a project."

Reborn rolled his eyes.

"She appeared from nowhere. I have next to zero good or reliable Intel on her. I have only known her since this morning, and as you can imagine, it was quite a shock to get in here and feel these Flames suddenly."

"How do you think she hides them?" asked Giotto with curiosity, "Maybe she's a really Misty Sky? But her Flames are… Dangerous and unstable, Reborn. We need to know more."

She came back dressed in an actual medieval looking black gown, that while modest and pitch black, was stitched with silver thread and exquisite care and made her look the Lady she was pretending to be.

Then came the torturous experience of seeing himself, his face, his hands, his whole body, behaving like a fucking moron and eating like a savage.

Giotto looked away, coughing. Reborn glared darkly at him, at the doppelgänger and at Hariel.

He just wanted to take that whiny knight and kill him dead again, and again and again and maybe time travel and not let himself get cursed. Again.

"She's drugging him," pointed Giotto.

"I've noticed. She's not an assassin, or at the very least not a subtle one."

He had seen her pouring several vials full of an unknown liquid into his drink and food. The fool, eating as he was like he was a nearly dying of starvation neanderthal, didn't notice at all.

Leon had hopped into Hariel shoulder and had poked and prodded at her until she had given him another of those little vials. Leon at least could be subtle, and he would be sure the poison or sedative or whatever would enter his body. Specially seeing at how smug he looked now that he was apparently a Holy Chameleon.

That through felt weird. He hoped Leon didn't get bad habits of trying to Poison him. Not that such attempts would work on his Sun Flames, but that Sky was not a good role model at all, and Leon could be impressionable at times.

"There is something wrong with her," Giotto had been observing the Sky all the time, probably using all of his famous Vongola Hyper Intuition to obtain all the information he could get.

"Do you mean apart from being seated playing chess with a corrupted spirit, but looking like she's falling asleep from pure boredom instead of him? Because yes, I have noticed."

"No, that's… notable, but not what I am seeing. See, her flames are so overwhelming that they are hiding it, but there's something…"

Giotto went to Hariel's left side whilst she was annihilating that stupid spirit for the seventh time, and with a swift if abrupt move interred his hand into her chest and brought back… something. Hariel hadn't even blinked, just moved her bishop, and took a sip of tea.

Reborn looked at what Giotto held in his hands. Four Strings of Fate. One gold, one red, one black, and one broken and shriveled into wispy nothingness that was a green so dark it seemed black.

"This, Reborn, this is not normal. Normal humans only have one String of Fate. I don't know what the other two mean, but this one," he said touching the black one, "is a String of Death, and now that I have it in my hand I can feel them Reborn."

Giotto looked solemn and worried. That was never a good thing.

"Feel what?" Reborn asked warily.

"Flames of Night," he said, face somber, lips pressed into a thin line. "They seem to be there… filling and blocking something."

"That's impossible," he scoffed, very irritated at the mere idea. "Only the Vindice and that… wayward Guardian of yours can use them."

"No, this is the eight element, no doubt about it. The Last Stage of Dying Will. She must have died to achieve it, I am sure of it."

Well shit. But still, there were more important things occupying his mind, like getting his body back.

"Shamal is coming soon, maybe tomorrow if he knows what good for him. I will have him test her flames and… their oddities."

"This is no mere oddity." Vongola Primo looked tired. "I… somehow it's blocking her connection to her Flames. It is no wonder that I don't feel any Guardian Bonds. Without Guardians to harmonize with, she's like a walking time bomb."

While they have been talking, that Idiot Spirit had finally fallen asleep. Reborn and Giotto watched how the expression on Hariel's face changed from mild but slight boredom to one of caution and some apprehension, and then, after a few seconds of indecision how she kicked that sword away from his body.

Excessive use of violence on his body, Reborn noted annoyed. He pacified himself hearing the screams that came from Moronic Alistair when he was expelled from his body.

"Well, that's it. That thing is toast, Leon. Toast. Why, that bloke has been talking for HOURS, about the crusades and other nonsensical stuff that I am not even going to address and, no, today is not my lucky day, not that I have lucky days, but I am going to make sure your pet human is alright, dispose of the evil cursed sword, and sleep at least ten hours uninterrupted."

The Sky seemed so done that Reborn almost felt a little pity. Almost.

He would show her who was who's pet. At least his body was empty of that thing now.

It had gone kicking and screaming bloody murder in that black and red miasma, but it had gone right back into the sword and there stayed fuming and feeling murderous and sick, but trapped and seemingly unable to escape, at least for the time being.

Both, Giotto and he observed how she handled the sword careful of not touching it, and wrapping it securely. She even wore thick gloves of some kind. How she could stand the stench and darkness it emitted, he didn't know. She looked a bit pale, but nowhere near how a normal person would react to that thing.

"I need to get to know her." Giotto looked like Tsuna when he had made his mind about something. "I am going to visit her in the Dream Realm."

"You can do that?"

"It requires a price, but I will pay it. Reborn, you should go back to your body and let the Strings of Fate heal. It's no good for you to be outside your body right now. Be careful. I… it's complicated for me to communicate with the living, but if you can bring her to Tsuna, I could manifest much easier with the Vongola ring grounding me."

"I promise nothing. This Sky is Too Problematic, and I don't thing she would come to Vongola HQ willingly."

"She saved your life Reborn. Remember that."

After those troublesome, but true words, Giotto nodded at him and vanished. Probably to go and visit her in her dreams or whatever Spiritual nonsense.

Reborn looked at his sleeping body, and his eyebrow twitched at how his legs dangled everywhere. He looked ridiculous with that blanket covering him. He was going to erase every bit of evidence of this. Every single bit. No one would know this has happened. This hadn't happened at all if you asked him.

He cautiously pushed a ghostly finger to his forehead and watched as his Spiritual body became a mist and entered his flesh and bone one. Then he slept.

xxx

Hariel had been dreaming when it had happened.

It had been an actually nice dream. She had been flying in her Firebolt above the Belgian skies.

It had been sunny and she had been eating a Hazelnut and lemon Ice Cream, letting the gentle breeze caress her warm skin.

Then, she had felt herself pulled down and down and down. It was not the suddenness of changing from one dream to another. This felt wrong.

She blinked and looked at her surroundings. She was in a meadow. A charming meadow at that. The sun was that of mid-afternoon and everything seemed normal. There were thousands and thousands of flowers of all colors and shapes enhancing the calm beauty of it.

Except, she didn't recognize the place at all.

"Hello Hariel."

"Hi," she said, turning around cautiously. "Do I know you, Smolder?"

He really was smoldering. A blonde man with really spiky hair, with intense orange-gold eyes, surrounded by flames. He wore a black cloak, very ornate and expensive looking, and underneath he seemed to wear a pinstripe suit with white undershirt and a black tie.

She didn't know him at all, but he felt powerful and as such dangerous and not to be trifled with.

"Ah, no. Excuse me. My name is Giotto," he said with a kind smile.

Right. No. She sure didn't now any Giotto. This was great. Now she couldn't even rest in her dreams? What did this probably Fae creature want with her now?

"So, Giotto. What do you want and why are you invading my dreams?" she asked curtly because it had been a long day, a really, really long day and she deserved to be left alone in her sleep.

It didn't even matter that he was absurdly good-looking. It was probably part of his Fae, or half Veela charm. She wanted out.

Then something awful crossed her mind. What if…? What if this was like Fake-Dumbledore, when she had died? What if he was going to start spouting a prophecy or something equally horrifying and terrible? With her luck, it was something that could easily happen.

She took a few steps back.

"Look, whatever is it, I am not interested and I am not listening." she said, voice firm and as hard and sharp as she could make it. Maybe then he would go.

"I only want to talk." Giotto said radiating a calmness and sincerity-like essence that didn't feel normal at all. Right. Fae trickery. She would show him just who he was messing with, just give her some time.

"Look, if you start spouting prophecies, I will kill you. I don't know how, or when, but I will. Even if you are dead. I will revive you and then kill you. No, wait, I will revive you, torture you for years and then kill you. I will have to start studying necromancy, but I swear I will do it. Whatever Realm are you from I will find you and end you."

He seemed to be taken aback by the bout of well-deserved rage, but she was done being fate's bitch and she didn't like all that weird compulsion thing he was doing. It didn't feel malevolent per se, but the muggle saying was something like all the roads to hell were paved with good intentions and this was just too suspicious.

"I can promise I am no prophet of any kind," he said crouching down and finding a place to sit between all the flowers and greenery.

"Oh, alright, sorry. Just past trauma with that. No wanting to have a repeat performance." she replied playing along. She had a plan on the works, not a perfect one or a well-though one, but eh, it would either work or not. Either way, if he was not a malicious being he was going to be alright, maybe not happy, but fine.

"I am sorry someone hurt you that way," he said, and he sounded so sincere he was making her want to cringe. Please, not the Hufflepuff nonsense. She was weak against that shit.

Hariel was tired, so she sat down on the meadow too, touching this and that flower pensively for a few minutes. It was better if she let him talk first.

"I am already dead," he confessed "I saw you and that cursed sword. I got curious."

"That's weird. I didn't see you at all," Hariel tried to cut down the sarcasm in her voice, but she was pretty sure that if there had been another ghost on that train she would have seen it.

"Do you often see ghosts?" he asked with and arched eyebrow in his very, very pretty face.

"Well, yes. My godson dad is a ghost. And I have met countless other ghosts… Oh, unless you are not that kind of ghost," she mumbled to herself. He could be some kind of demonic spirit. They had not touched that subject a lot in Defense. Damn, now she needed to do research.

"I have meet different kinds of souls in the Spirit Realm," he said, a bit bewildered "Maybe the ones you can see are the ones that live there?"

"The Spirit Realm? Maybe my parents are there too."

"Your parents? I am sorry that you have lost them so soon. You seem young. You have my most sincere condolences. Losing someone of your famiglia must have been really hard, specially your own parents," Giotto's eyes looked so sad for her, and his face solemn and kind of… protective?

"Oh, I mean, I lost them when I was a baby so I don't remember them. Well, I remember my mom dying, but not them. Just her voice, and I have seen their ghosts, umm, twice, so even if they seem like good people, it is not like I miss them like I miss other people I have lost." Hariel was letting herself let surrounded by the strange fake calmness compulsion, but well, it was no secret what had happened that night.

"Then surely they are in the Pure Lands by now. What happened, if it's not too intrusive?" Giotto asked, whilst he braided some flowers into what Hariel though was going to be a crown. Hmm. She imitated him. It was a good way to pass the time. She would make a Gryffindor themed one, with agrimony, corn marigold and poppies mixed with one red flower she didn't recognize.

"They… died protecting me. A madman killed them." There. Succinct and to the point.

"And this man?"

"He's dead now. This time for real," she said smiling, and feeling strangely more pleased than usual when she thought about Voldemort demise. That compulsion thing felt good. So problematic.

"This time?" Giotto asked, his eyes even more gold. He looked so solemn and serious, with a kind of gravitas.

"If you want to know more, please stop with whatever you are doing. This calm compulsion or whatever. It's getting on my nerves."

He blinked, and then looked a bit sheepish. Ha, like Hariel would buy the act.

"Sorry Hariel, I do it without being totally aware."

"Well, tone it down at least." Hariel said gritting her teeth. Seriously she was tired of all this nonsense. "And if you want me to continue talking to you about anything other than these cute crowns we are making or the weather, you will have to do two things. Starting with telling me your full name, or any names you go by.

There. If he was a Fae, he would balk immediately or try playing with words.

He just looked nonplussed.

"I told you the truth, my name is Giotto. But I have also been known as Vongola Primo, and as Ieyasu Sawada."

Well, fuck. He was telling the truth, so he was no Fae. Hariel pouted.

"Well, I think Giotto suits you better of all of them," she told him, her flower crown slowly taking form. She would fortify it some more. Giotto's crown was stunningly done, really colorful too.

"Ah, well, it's the name I use for myself nowadays. Other people call me different things," he said sounding almost self-conscious.

Hariel nodded to herself. Being the Girl-Who-Lived, Women-Who-Conquered, Fastest-Wand, Golden Girl of Gryffindor, Chosen One and whatever floated the boat of the press at the moment she could commiserate with that issue.

"It's alright. I will call you Giotto. Do you swear that you wish me no harm? And please, a full Oath if you please. My full name is Hariel Jamie Potter-Black" she added because these things had to be done exactly and to the point.

"Of course I wish you no harm!" exclaimed the not-Fae, but still very suspicious and powerful Entity before her.

"Well, then an Oath will do no harm, right?" she asked showing him her hand and signaling at the Potter Ladyship Ring, a solid band of gold, covered in runes and a big red ruby surrounded by vines and interlaced with diminutive white diamonds.

He looked confused, then closed his eyes for some long moments, and when he opened then back, they were glowing more orange than gold.

"I, Giotto, Vongola Primo, also known as Ieyasu Sawada do swear I do not wish harm or foul to happen to Hariel Jamie Potter Black."

And then he kissed the ring very lightly, but his lips touched it and that was what was important.

Jackpot.

The ring started glowing, its powerful magic in all hues of gold, white and red and enveloping Giotto and judging him.

When after all their searching through his soul to see if he was worthy, he seemed totally alright, she sighed.

"Well, welcome to being the Guardian Ghost of House of Potter then."

xxxx

Notes: So, this happened.
Blame it on Giotto. I am sure his spirit possessed mine, and I was too sleep-deprived to fight him (like I could win, ha) and well, fuck, this is happening. Send help.