A/N: Ren was one of the first characters that I created. And one can see it in the amoun of backstory that I've written here.
Chapter 5.
Sun
1988
René Fontaine was born in a hospital in Mafia Land on a sunny morning in March to Information broker Angelina Fontaine. His father was never in the picture and later he found out that his mother had been sleeping with six different men during the same week in the hopes of achieving pregnancy. All of men had had different active flame types and after the boy's birth, Angelina had determined that his father must've been the Sun Flame user who had left in the morning after without a word.
It didn't really bother René. He did have other problems to handle after all.
Like his own name.
1989
René's life was one big irony. His name literally meant 'reborn' while he himself had literally reborn.
Some building blocks were still in place. He was still French thanks to his mother's heritage. He was still boy and hey, his name even was the same than in his previous life.
Then the irony began. He had died during an armed robbery to a bank when he'd been just a bystander. And lo and behold, he was born into mafia full of gun wielding maniacs. And that wasn't enough either. It just had to be the version of world that was right out of some manga! He didn't know the specifics of Katekyo Hitman Reborn aside from magic flames, tutor babies, time-travel shenanigans and a couple of names. But it was more than enough for him to piece together his own situation and if René had dared to, he would've cursed aloud.
But all the same, he came to a resolution: he would not be a victim in a gunfight ever again. He'd rather learn perfect aim with any firearm available and couple of thrown weapons too than to be killed again because he was helpless.
1994
With Angelina frequently busy maintaining her information network, gathering the info herself and meeting her various clients on the neutral ground of Mafia Land, René was often left to his own devices.
Thus he learnt to entertain himself. By playing poker and various other card games in the gambling dens of the island. And thanks to his mature mindset and previous memories in general, he managed to gather quite the sum of money.
Even if it in turn angered the other players…
"Catch him!"
René ran as fast as his short legs allowed him to. This situation was by no means a new occurrence in his life. And he'd try his best to get away or at least enjoy every possible moment he had before he was caught… again. The Mafiosi frequenting the bars were the ones that tried to beat him up, the barkeeps and owners in the other hand didn't mind him scamming them. It was just good fun for them. But they didn't try to prevent him from getting hurt either.
Bang!
René tripped. His eyes widened along with the red stain blooming on his t-shirt. Then the pain hit. With a cry, the boy stumbled onto the cobblestone ground, his arms only barely reaching out in time to break his fall.
"Hah! Got the bastard! This will teach him not to mess around with the Buornac Famiglia!" The shooter announced, his friend laughing around him.
René whimpered quietly and curled up to protect his aching stomach. Footsteps approached him. He didn't want this. He didn't want to be a victim again. He didn't want to die.
Never again.
Yellow flames bloomed to life, lashing out at the perceived enemies in the alley and attacking the wound on the boy, simultaneously also healing any old bruises and injuries he had.
Then there was someone else, shooting at the assailants and chasing them away while the flames seemed to recede. The pain was vanishing too. René was tired. Too tired to move. Too tired to think…
"Oi, kid. Are you alright, kora?" There was that new person now. He sounded… young. And short, given the direction and angle his voice was coming from. René slowly blinked his eyes open and turned his head to the side from where his face had previously been almost mushed against the stonework of the walkway. His savior appeared to be a blond… baby? Did he hit his head and was now hallucinating or something?
The baby had stopped to stare at René's face but soon bustling around him again.
"Can you roll onto your back, kora? I need to see the damage. Even if you healed yourself, we're still going to hospital, kora." Such a strange verbal tick… René obeyed the instruction with a quiet groan and let his bloody hands fall on his sides. The blond baby was lifting his shirt to see if there was a scar left and phoning someone…
René fell asleep.
Colonello stared at the sleeping form of the freaking Reborn-lookalike on a hospital bed. The Buornac famiglia's thugs had been taken care of by the security force so now the only thing left was to wait for the boy to awaken. He already got the boy's identity from one of the nurses at the hospital. René Fontaine, six years old as of last March, mother Angelina Fontaine, father unknown.
"Unknown my ass…" Colonello snorted. The boy's birthday and presumed time of conception matched quite nicely with the time Reborn last had a reprieve. Reprieve was time of a single week granted to an Arcobaleno to regain their adult forms. They got one reprieve per decade and due the curse and world stability, multiple Arcobaleno's could not have their reprieves at the same time.
And considering the strength of the boy's newly awakened flames, there was no doubt about his heritage even if no one else would know to look for it. Thus the boy was safe from the Hitman's enemies. But naturally not safe from making his own. And not yet capable of defending himself. So naturally that only left…
René stirred and Colonello's eyes snapped back to him. Moment of teetering between sleep and wakefulness and then the boy noticed him.
"Umm…" The surprised face was worth of seeing. And all the other expressions that Colonello had never and probably would never see on Reborn's own face.
"Hello, finally awake, kora?"
"As you can see." René deadpanned. The tone was familiar even if the expression was new. "May I ask who are you?"
"Colonello, kora! I'm the overseer of this island."
"Ah, I see. Nice to meet you, monsieur Colonello." French, a bit of a change from the abundance of Italian everywhere but the kid's mother tongue. "Am I correct in assuming that you helped me back then?"
"Yes. Your flames healed you quite well but the bastards didn't take the hint at first so I did my duty and by now they've been banished and banned from this island."
There was a distant look in the boy's eyes when he pressed a hand where the gunshot wound had been.
"Never again…"
"Huh?"
"I don't want to be helpless like that again. Never again." There was faint yellow gleam in René's eyes but it disappeared to the blackness soon. Colonello blinked but jumped to stand on the boy's hospital bed.
"Well, that's good to hear, kora. Because I've decided to take you as my student, kora."
"Eeh?"
1995
It was sweltering August day. René was exhausted. Training with Colonello was always harsh even if it was toned down to be appropriate for his age and skill level. But the scorching sun was making everything worse. Not to mention…
"Why are you being so damn distracted?" René scowled to the direction of the Rain Arcobaleno who was glancing at the clock for the umpteenth time.
"Language, kora." Colonello replied distractedly. Hypocrite. "Alright, let's wrap this up for the day. I've got a visitor coming up soon."
"Okay." Shower sounded good. And food. And rest. René disassembled the hand gun he'd been using and tucked his darts to a case that he stored to the back pocket of his pants. "See you tomorrow then. The usual time?"
"Rather around mid-day. I've got…"
"The visitors. Right."
"Don't get sassy, kora." Colonello slapped the boy to the back of his head. The boy just grinned and scampered off.
René was on his way to a snackstand. His mother wasn't home, having had to leave to Italy in order to meet with the Cavallone Don. René had heard that his only remaining child was now being tutored to become the Decimo.
"Oh well." René shrugged. "I'll know more once Angelina comes back." It was a bit strange to compare his meager prior-knowledge of this world to what he learnt but… At least he had no bias beforehand.
He walked past a trio of people. A regular suit-wearing Mafiosi, a black-haired girl wearing a white summer dress with orange hem and waistband, and… a baby…
It all happened too fast.
Flash of orange, buffer of yellow, grip too tight, burning, scorching…
Hard ground hit his knees and René grumbled down with a pained yell. His side and left arm were on fire. Couldn't anyone see it? Why weren't people reacting? Oh, now there was yelling. Sounded like Colonello.
"What the hell are you doing, Luce?!"
There were words that René couldn't catch. The fire was gone now but the burning still lingered. There were a cool pair of hands holding his sweaty face and… Blue eyes. Bright eyes of the same shape he saw in mirror everyday…
"Are you alright?" The girl from before asked.
"I…" René drew a hasty breath but hissed then when the burns on his arm chafed against the sleeve of his shirt. Wait… The boy used his right arm and heave his upper body to a better position and noticed that… "My shirt is intact…"
"Forming Harmony bonds happens in different plane so to say. Just like un-Active civilians can't see the flames unless they truly have the potential of awakening their own." The girl explained. "I apologize for my mother's actions. She… She is aching in the absence of her own bonded elements."
"If she had bonded elements she wouldn't be trying to force a Harmony bond." Colonello spat out, glaring at the baby in white outfit and hat and an orange flower-shaped mark on her left cheekbone. Same mark that the girl had.
"Colonello…" The baby, Luce, began.
"Let's go…" The girl whispered to René. "We need to see that there was no lasting damage on your flames."
The pair of them slipped away from the adults and René led the way back to Colonello's training courses.
"What did Colonello mean about… your mother's bonded elements? It contradicts your statement." René asked once they sat down and he stripped his shirt away so they could see the damage.
"Mother… she had a full set but she deceived them into something close to Harmony. The betrayal became evident later and her elements left her. But like with any Sky, even she needs elements and the aching gap left in her hasn't gotten any better during the years." The girl – whose name René still didn't know – frowned. "And I suppose… Your flames were strong and similar enough to her Sun that her flames tried to snap you up."
"That doesn't…" René began to argue.
"It doesn't excuse her anyway. But it does explain." She sighed, eyeing the already scarring skin. It looked like flaming fingers had tried to curl around the boy's torso. "Try to move your arm."
René did. With his flames working on the layers of skin, the pain was receding into a dull ache. "I might need some cold to this later."
"Most likely…" The girl agreed. "I'm Aria. Aria di Giglio Nero."
"René Fontaine." René replied before pausing. "Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise. I just wish it had been in different circumstances."
There were approaching footsteps and René quickly shrugged his shirt back on. Fuming Colonello arrived with Luce and her bodyguard. The children got on their feet and Aria settled behind René, her hands on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry for what happened." The Giglio Nero boss said remorsefully. But something in René's gut clenched.
It wasn't that she was sorry about scorching him or trying to force the bond. She was sorry that she failed and her actions had been accidental. And judging from the way Aria's hands tightened on his shoulders, she agreed with him.
"Okay. Past is in the past." Because he definitely wasn't forgiving this baby-woman.
Luce just smiled and followed Colonello then to one of the buildings in the area. Probably to talk whatever business that had brought her to the island in the first place. The Rain Arcobaleno instructed the children to explore and stick together and thus they were alone once more.
"Did you know…" Aria said then. "We have the same father."
1996
Next year René and his mother moved out of Mafia Land and settled in Nice, France. The boy was sad to leave the place but in the other hand it was nice to get a break from Colonello and… well, see the world in general.
During the past year he'd kept contact with Aria whom he'd gladly taken to treat as his older sister even though he felt extremely uncomfortable whenever Luce was even mentioned. With Aria and Colonello's help he even got a handle of his… Flame Sensitivity that had developed in the aftermath of his scorching. It was strange so see the density and texture and even flavor in the flames of others. Those things told him the ways people were related to each other, the way they'd fit in different Flame groups… Triangle, Square, Starburst, Ring, Cartwheel… It was strange but he learnt to handle it and when necessary, to ignore it.
But now he was in France, technically closer to Aria instead of circling the world with the floating island but at the same time… He had nothing to do. He didn't have Colonello's lessons anymore. He couldn't go to a shooting range on his own because he was underage. He couldn't go gambling since he was underage and they were civilians… School was boring and they were civilians.
"Damn, I'm really not equipped for civilian lifestyle anymore…" René muttered. And majority of the video games he used to play weren't even a thought in the developers' minds. He really wanted to play Ace Attorney and Professor Layton games… Even the original Japanese would be fine!
Door slammed open and Angelina bustled in, short chocolate brown curls flying everywhere. She dropped a pile of rolled up schematics on the floor and then accidentally kicked them around the room as she moved to get rid of her heeled boots and grey trench coat.
"Maman?" René asked, eyeing the woman from his position on the couch. He stashed his darts away, she didn't like him playing with them just for fun as he'd taken them as his designated weapons.
"Iron Fort was attacked!" Angelina announced, closing the door, hanging her coat and then starting to gather her previous load. "My contacts are in…"
"Uproar?"
"Good word but not quite."
"Mess?"
"Well, considering that they don't seem to be agreeing on what exactly has gone down… yes."
"Dizzy?"
"Might as well be…" Angelina sighed and went over a large wardrobe in the sitting room and opened it to reveal two willow baskets full of other rolled up papers. And files stacked on the shelves above. "Some of them are even claiming that Varia are behind the attack."
"Oh?" That… sounded vaguely familiar. "How interesting." René smirked.
1997
Aada Aarnio was wonderful. She was same age than René, had great humor and really got some of the jokes he cracked rather than slightly confused stare he got from his classmates. (Civilians, pah) And she had flames that fit his! She might've been predominantly Cloud but the Sky in her was wonderful too. Flame Ring. If just they'd find their other elements, they'd be a wonderful Flame Ring.
"I've also got a Lake. I mean… Rain." Aada smiled. "I'm sure Leila would like to meet you two."
"Aa." René smiled, not daring to comment otherwise. "Say, did you read the latest issue of Marvel comics?"
"Yes. It was brilliant story of Avengers and I can't wait until…" The girl trailed off.
"Until what?"
"Sorry, nothing."
It was only after she left back home that he realized the reason they'd understood each other so well was because she'd also lived in the 2000's like him before this life.
"Hmm… Maybe I should ask her if she happens to know more about this world…"
1998
Rosalie was his best friend. And maybe she didn't have the profound understanding that Aada had when it came to him, she still got him. She listenedand offered advice. She had a wealth of information that René hadn't previously been able to touch due his mother trying to shield him from the mafia.
(Angelina might've been sometimes absent mother and she might want him to eventually inherit her craft, but it didn't mean she wanted to draw him into the bloody shadows. There was a reason he'd been practically isolated at Mafia Land and later put into civilian school.)
But Rosalie was brilliant. She was a fitting Mist. She bowed to no one. She was girly in her mannerisms and clothing choices but she was fierce when she grabbed her sword or opened her mouth. René blamed the Varia for that even if the coarse language hadn't thankfully stuck.
(She even dragged him once to visit the Headquarters and introduce him to her associates. They were crazy. And Mammon had stared at him for a moment before looking to the side and letting out a longsuffering sigh.)
And it was thanks to their association that next year they got to see their fitting Rain.
2001
Aada had a friend in Japan. A friend who had some interesting information to René.
"Namimori, huh?" Aada had generously shared information about the original plotline of this world along with several fan theories she had and… René really wanted to confirm them.
"Maman, I'm moving to Japan!"
"Okay, be safe dear!"
A/N: Have you noticed a pattern? Aside from a couple of blood relations?
It was a coincidence I swear. I had Aada and René at first. They are both SI-OCs and around them I created the others. The original premise for René included more parallel dimension hopping but I nixed that when the others came to the play. Instead, he became Reborn's son. I snatched the reprieve idea from a KHR-HP crossover name of which I can't recall just now to make it possible.
Aada in the other hand was Skull's niece since beginning. But she needed friends, so I randomly picked Rain for Leila's flame.
Wrench... I made her Spanner's sister and thus alike him in some ways and a bit excentric. It was only later that I realized that she was also a Lightning with a green hair...
For Rosalie... I gave her a parasol. Then I thought about her hiding some sort of weapon in the handle. The weapon became a conductor's baton with which she could direct her illusions. Then I thought of the movements used with the baton and then swords... And then she got fencing as a hobby and that led to Squalo and Varia connection...
And before I realized, I had Arcobaleno Mini-me's in making... And yes, the storm boy will be Hibari/Fon lookalike.
Reply to the Review:
-MonochromeJoker29:
Thank you so much for reviewing! It made me so happy!
I'm currently seriously debating whether or not have them become a Starburst instead of remaining as a Ring. Then I could have Skull as their Cloud if needed... I'm starting to write the Storm chapter soon, please keep reading. ;)