True to her former sky flame she had always had the ability to worm herself in the hearts of others, sure she could achieve the opposite as well but in this case she tried her best to focus on the harmonious feeling she once possessed, not fully lost even though the spark the flames had brought went out.
Her interactions with Reborn were still strange to her but not unwelcome. A clear improvement to their former state. His natural charm did overwhelm her at times and she had to take strategic retreats.
The sun always had a way with women, being flirty and sometimes outright shameful. Yuni had been protected from it due to her age and Lal had been protected by her no nonsense stance and her obvious relationship with Colonnello.
The same wasn't true for Violet and while their new relationship still settled nothing stopped Reborn from falling in his old ways in how he dealt with the opposite gender. It didn't help that while she wasn't openly reproducing his flirting, it did still have an effect on her. Reborn might have started small with it but it wasn't hard to read her and therefore he knew his approach was to some degree fruitful.
While she was sure that the problems Reborn and her had were to some degree sorted and only needed a bit more time to truly disappear, Colonnello had still been an issue.
It escalated between the two of them one evening when the blonde had been intoxicated.
He had just started to apologize while simultantly musing on how he had never noticed anything. She did force some water in his hands and after letting him talk for two hours the issues visibly disappeared the next day.
The dynamic in the house did change majorly. Before Skull had been left to do most of the house chores alone, especially cooking. Violet still took on most of them because the rest of them were still utterly lacking in that aspect but now someone was always close and before she could even use her metamorphmagus ability to help her reach the higher shelves, someone had already pulled the items down for her. Doors were held open for her and other minor gestures were made.
It probably helped that she established more of her true character, still keeping up habits from her time as Skull but Violet had always been more polite and introverted than him.
Another change was Yuni insisting on group activities, they often spend evenings watching movies and playing games. With nothing else to do, bonding took a priority.
Even with the curse gone the bond between them stayed. Yuni wasn't really their sky but they still acted like a normal element set, that had harmonized under a sky.
To be honest it was way more peaceful than anyone had ever expected of them, Violet's character fitting way better in their harmony than ever before.
This evening was a movie night and Violet had already found her place on the couch, cramped in the outer corner, arms wrapped around her legs and leaning partially against the arm rest.
To no one's surprise Reborn had sat next to her and she had just scooted over a bit to lean more into the armrest.
He had chuckled at that but hadn't turned his head to her, instead focused on the Tv were Verde was still setting up the streaming service.
Naturally the scientist didn't take long and the lights had been turned off.
The movie wasn't actually to Violet's taste and it only took a couple of minutes until she looked around in her search for the snacks, which she found proudly displayed on Reborns lap.
To make it even worse Reborns eyes were on her, a slight smirk on his lips as she was evaluating if she really wanted the popcorn. Just that smirk made her almost huff when she grabbed a handful and leaned back again, demonstratively cuddling even closer into the corner and away from Reborn.
His dark eyes were watching her and he leaned back as well, sprawling his legs out a bit more and almost touching her with them while simultaneously placing his arm on the back of the couch, directly behind her head, not touching her but she could still feel his presence.
She painfully forced herself not to react and let her heartbeat betray her, instead gave all her attention to the popcorn in her hand, only for him to lean closer, his lips hovering near her ear as he whispered "Don't be so scared of grabbing between my legs, you may swallow anything between them. Should I feed you next time?"
Her eyes widened and her face immediately whipped around. The thing was, she hadn't taken into consideration how close Reborn was and therefore their lips were only separated by mere centimeters. She froze and all she could do was in Reborns dark hypnotizing eyes, slightly illuminated by the shine of the Tv.
"If you wanted to get even closer you would have just needed to ask. Not that I'm complaining, initiative can be quite attractive."
She could feel his breath on her lips and involuntarily she felt a shiver going through her whole body.
Reborn might be shameless but he was still way too good looking to not have an impact on her. She might have been more resistant to his charm if she had any real experience in this matter but she hadn't and therefore she was just left speechless and way too aware of how close they were.
Her heart was fluttering and him chuckling at her reaction left her deereyed.
"Nervous, cara?
She breathed out stockingly trying to ignore her fluttering way too loud heartbeat and a slight pout formed on her lips but all she could say was; "...No." her retorts really needed working on.
his smirk was back "I know much better things you could do with those lips instead of pouting."
she almost choked on that, she was definitely in over her head but she would not let him know that "You know this is totally not working on me"
He seemed way too amused by her attempt to regain composure "I'm not sure what you're implying."
"The way you're treating me now. It's totally not working."
"I'm not doing anything special. You're a beautiful woman and I can't stop myself from giving you attention Violet"
"Sure, senpai."
She could still see him smirk in the dim lights "You know I reconsidered and I don't think it's such a bad idea for you to call me senpai… after all you still like japanese culture, right?"
"Bugger off" she bit out without any real bite, her slightly pink skin didn't do much either for her. She could feel his chuckle more than heard it but he did lean back afterwards, arm still spread out behind her.
Even when her normal heartbeat rate had not been regained yet, she still tried to focus on the movie. Her impending boredom and her sleepless nights combined resulted in her falling asleep after a while. Unknown to her she had slid right into Reborns arms, now nestling against him instead of the armrest from before.
One might think that this would lead to a finally restful sleep but luck had never been on Violet's side and therefore the nightmares came straight back.
She was helplessly watching her childhood recap, her teen years tormenting her. Never being able to decide anything herself and everyone waltzing over her with their decisions. How no one had treated her as her own person, instead always ordering her around as if she was public property. She had never been Violet then she had only been the-girl-who-lived or a plain freak.
Everyone had aired her dirty laundry. She never had any kind of privacy and everyone took advantage of it, pulling and pushing her around until she had no identity anymore. To make the nightmare even worse she could now even see Yuni and how she had pushed her to reveal herself. She wanted out!
Reborn meanwhile had smugly grinned down at the petite woman in his arms, oddly proud of having her accidentally cuddle up to him. He halfheartedly watched the movie, actually way more focused on the redhead in his arms.
She furrowed her brows and he could see her shifting and lifting her hand up to her mouth.
He almost wanted to laugh at the fact that she apparently sucked on her hand when she slept when he noticed a small whimper. Immediately his full attention snapped to her, not even keeping the pretense of watching the movie intact.
Her breathing was irregular and he slowly caressed her shoulder, trying to smooth her obvious nightmare when he noticed the blood.
Violet hadn't had the habit to suck on her hand while sleeping, she was muffling herself, biting down so hard it tore her flesh up.
His mind quickly shifted to conclusion, to force such a habit nightmares must have been a constant and she would have had the subconscious need to keep silent no matter if her state was unconscious. It didn't say good things about her past and how the habit had never left her.
He quickly maneuvered them around, instead hovering over her, pulling her hand out, while forcefully keeping her mouth open to prevent her from biting down on her tongue instead "Violet. Violet, wake up. Violet!" he firmly spoke out, not caring about his volume, immediately attracting the attention of the rest of the group.
"It's a nightmare. Wake up Violet!" he poured his flames into the bond between them, trying to calm her with his familiar presence.
Her eyes fluttered open, shining a light on a panicked, incoherent gaze, desperate and tormented.
No matter how it pained him to see his cloud in such a state he kept his voice stable "Violet you're with the Arcobaleno. You're safe. You had a nightmare. Everything is okay."
Violet had problems realizing her location, all she could see was Reborn in front of her, calmly but firmly talking to her. Everything around her was spinning, still caught in the nightmare and her eyes fell on Yuni, the small thirteen year old child and for a moment she felt rage. Rage on how she had dared to lift her secrets for anyone to see but as quickly as it came up it already fell down again, finally realizing where she was and in what situation she was.
Violet wouldn't lash out at a child, especially not at a child that was still so young and prone to mistakes.
Yuni might have pushed her to a point where she had revealed her secret and while it awoke memories in her it didn't change the fact that Yuni was thirteen and she was sixty.
She would never lash out at a child, not with how her childhood was. This was a line she wouldn't cross, not even touching it with a stick. She might have to talk to Yuni about it at some point but for now she would calm down and just keep herself stable with the thought that it was out now and she hadnt had to keep this secret anymore.
There were still so many things she hadn't told them yet… one she couldn't because of the law and the other one because she didn't really want to. What use would it have to reveal to them what she had done in her teen years? How would it help to paint herself as the savior of a whole hidden society?
After all, they didn't even know that the wizarding world existed and therefore she could just stay Violet, just Violet and no one else.
