Ballad of the Femme Fatale

by SecretEngima

A collection of glimpses and snapshots of the life of Milena Cherep, also known as Skull De Mort, and whispered of as Femme Fatale in a world where Will is Flame, her family is a cranky Sky and his Elements, and her big sister is a refugee from the stars. Enter if you dare, but beware of flying knives, world-ending disasters, and Autobot/Mafia playdates.

7. Seventh Stanza: What Never Was Pt-2 (M)

FINALLY finished with this one-shot. Have it. I hope you enjoy it because I worked so hard on it and just ... ugh. I am so DONE with this chapter. I am NOT doing an Arcobaleno-centric one-shot for a while after this because they are just ... so hard to write. Ugh. Anyway, this chapter is officially M-RATED for angst, death, and possible gore content. This is a chapter about how the Arcobaleno died and how Skull is done with it all, basically. I tried to interject some humor at the end, but I think it fell flat and at this point I don't really care. The next one-shot will be Driver's Ed, Tenth Generation style and that is bound to make up for my failed humor quota in this chapter.

Review Response: Dear AyameKitsune, greetings! I'm glad you liked it! I hope you think this story is still epic after this chapter...

Dear buterflypuss, greetings! So happy to hear it!

Dear sunbeam0943, hello there! Aw, I'm glad you think so! I hope you still enjoy this chapter even though it's so ... serious.

DearCyber-Kanochi, hi there! So glad you enjoy it! I have every intention of continuing this story, it just ... takes me a while sometimes.

Dear mokona-pyuh, hi! (cackles) those were my favorite moments to write in that chapter. The Reborn bit at the end was part funny, part hinting at reveal, but more meant to just be humorous. Aw, that makes me smile. I hope you enjoy the update, even if it isn't a humorous one.

Dear StepOnLego14, hey there! It was my pleasure!

Dear Rune, greetings! (tips hat) thank you for your compliments, I'm glad this story is so enjoyable to you! Hmm, we'll see some of Skull breaking the other Arcobaleno's brain in this chapter, though probably not as much as either of us would like ... eh, maybe next time.

Dear cherry-888, hello! (grins) Or at least a VERY healthy respect/wariness for them.

Dear Shiva, hi there! Well, I'll take that as a sign that my work is done here (winks).

Dear Kidor, hello! Those are all very good ideas that I might get around to later (the Reborn/Femme pre-curse shenanigans is particularly intriguing) but you'll have to wait at least until I've finished the next one I already have planned. Thank you for the suggestions!

Dear chibichibi98, greetings! That's very flattering to know, thank you! (tips hat) hope you continue to enjoy!

Dear AnimeQueen99, hello there! Uh ... maybe. But I would have to hunt down the manga issue(s) that arc is in because I've never actually read that arc and my local bookstore has a very tiny manga section. But we'll see, it might happen someday.

Dear God is Gracious, hiya! (tips hat) I try.

Dear the Kahjiit Ra'Koor, hey there! That is a very high compliment, thank you! As stated before, I fully intend to continue this series, it just takes a while because I have so many other stories to juggle and Real Life likes to clock in and knock me flat at inconvenient moments.

Dear nikkali44, heya! Thank you for your patience, I hope you enjoy this chapter despite its much more serious tone. The one after this should (hopefully, maybe) have more Transformers in it.

Dear Kiri Namikase, hello! (tips hat and winks) Then I have done my job correctly.

Dear fernandfeather, greetings! Well, since enough people have requested it ... yes. I have adapted the censoring to a format that is hopefully easier on the eyes and reading flow. But I'm not altering it any further than that, it's uncomfortable for me to write it as it is. I hope you enjoy it though!

Dear Wolf1989, hello there! Glad you like it! Yep, I have more chapters planned for this story and no intentions of giving up on it! I know Cloud Hopping, it's actually the story (and authoress) who inspired me to create this crossover in the first place. Cloud Hopping is a lovely story.

Dear tosca, hi! Glad you think so!

Dear BlueMew34, hey there! So thrilled to hear it!

Dear Guest, greetings! Agreed! Skull is one of my favorites. Lucky you, this entire chapter is (angsty) Arcobaleno-centric! With a few minor Byakuran appearances thrown in because he's a scary troll like that. Enjoy!

Dear Rin-isobu-walker, hello there! I'm so glad you like this story! Stanza is a poetry term used to refer to a set of lines or verses in an overarching theme/narrative. Since the title of the story is Ballad, which is a type of poem (or a song), which is made up of several stanza's, I thought it was more appropriate than a simple "Chapter X". As for Arcobaleno reveals ... read on (gestures grandly).

Dear SeiryuNoAme, hey there! The Representative Battles would be very tricky for me as I've never read them and don't own the manga. But it would be interesting to do so someday in the future, so we'll see. If I did do it though, I would TOTALLY team up Skull and Viper with the Varia as their backup team (they did have teams didn't they? I'm not sure). Varia stand together after all. And the looks on everyone's faces when the two hit the field would be priceless.

Dear , hello! (snickers) Kinda, yeah. Poor Squalo right?

Dear MercurialMenace, greetings! Happy to hear it! I had too much fun messing with the Varia's heads.

Dear Alec Castairs, hey there! ... And people like you, dear reader, is why I kept hammering away at my writer's block until I had something to post. Because you have NO IDEA how flattering it is to know that you liked my story enough to reread it multiple times. Seriously. I hope you enjoy the update!

Dear aaa, hello! While I thrilled you like this story so much and I have every intention of continuing it, I will not be shifting it out of its drabbles format. Mostly because, while I enjoy the characters, I don't have enough plot notes/inspiration to make it a long interconnected narrative. I have scenes and pieces I want to write, but literally nothing to tie them together. So, unfortunately, drabbles they shall have to stay.

Dear Smoukii, bonjour! So ... I ran your comment through Google Translate and will respond accordingly, please forgive any errors on my part in responding, because I do not speak/read French and Google Translate is, well, Google Translate. That disclaimer out of the way: I so happy you like this story enough to re-read it! Wolf is an amazing writer, I'm just really glad she let me adopt this little beauty. I fully plan to continue this collection, I just got hit with multiple bouts of Writer's Block and scheduling hiccups. But here's an update at last! I hope you enjoy!

Dear CakeVengeance, hey there! Tada! Update as requested! But be warned, this chapter is very much NOT hilarious. It is M-Rated for angst, death, and gore, actually ... not sure how that happened, but here we go.

Author's Note: So, again, THIS CHAPTER IS M-RATED FOR CHARACTER DEATH, ANGST, AND EVERYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH THOSE CONCEPTS! So don't blame me if this story makes you feel sad, because you have been warned. With that out of the way, on to the next explanation. Namely, this chapter was not meant to be nearly as angsty as it is ... but this IS a chapter focusing on the Arcobaleno receiving their future memories and they did all die in that future (barring Lal, who had to live with survivor's guilt and that's not all that much better, honestly). I meant for it to be Skull's reveal of her true power/epicness to the Arcobaleno, but for that I needed a reason for her to suddenly get pushed over the supposed edge, which led to me deciding to use the stress of the memory dump as the trigger, which in turn led to detailing all of the Arcobaleno (minus Viper, since she's technically Varia now and I was already so frustrated with this chapter) getting their memories of the Future-That-Never-Was up to and including their deaths. So ... yeah. Buckle up for a wild ride. The one-shot after this should be much more light-hearted, but I don't know when it will be up as I technically haven't even started it yet. Hope you enjoy anyway!

Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own KHR, Transformers, or any references made in this story. The only things I own are my interpretations of the characters, my OCs, and the plot.

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Seventh Stanza: What Never Was Pt 2

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Year: 2004. Season: Late Summer/Early Fall. Country: Varied. Age: Cursed.

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Order of Death: Colonnello, Verde, Fon, Mammon, Reborn, Skull.

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Fon was meditating in the large rock garden of one of the many Hibari estates. The moon hung overhead, casting dim lighting and long shadows across the stones and raked pebbles. The area was peaceful, relaxing. With each deep breath, Fon could feel the tension he had gained from his latest mission drain away.

"Oi, Lackey. You're late." The crisp snap of Reborn's voice made Fon open his eyes in surprise. He hadn't sensed the other Arcobaleno at all, and Reborn had never dared to call Fon "Lackey" before.

An empty rock garden with no signs of a certain chaos-loving Sun greeted his gaze and Fon blinked in surprise. However, as soon as his eyes had opened again, the rock garden was gone. It was suddenly mid-afternoon in one of the many secret locations in which the Arcobaleno held their annual meetings. Lal stood only a few feet away, a disinterested expression on her face as she watched Reborn and Colonnello loom over a flailing Skull while the latter made squeaky excuses about how someone as awesome as "the Great Skull-sama" was never late.

Alarm flooded Fon's veins and he stood up sharply, his Storm flames surging to the surface as he sought to pinpoint the source of what had to be an illusion, What is going on? Who is attacking m-

Pain bloomed behind Fon's eyes as he tried to burn away the illusion but failed and instead was pulled deeper in.

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A low click of irritation signaled Viper gliding forward, effortlessly placing themselves between Skull and his tormentors, "Leave Skull alone. You are wasting time and time is money." Fon felt a faint frown of puzzlement crease his forehead. Since when had Viper cared about Skull enough to intervene? Did Skull pay Viper to step in?

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Fon swayed as his view changed back to show the rock garden again, a thousand thoughts buzzing through his mind before more in-depth … illusions? Hallucinations? Memories? pulled him under again. No- stop- what-?

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That strange happenstance was the start of many over the years. Little moments of intervention that made no sense, the fact that the two began to arrive at the same time, and the way Reborn's and Colonnello's rates spiked every time they tried to abuse Skull in Viper's presence. Then came the day Colonnello and Reborn had asked how much they would have to pay to know the reason why. The illusionist had actually flared their Flame threateningly in response and snapped out something Fon had never dreamed would ever come out of their mouth.

"That information is not for sale."

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Fon tried to shake his head, but found that his body was no longer his to control. His knees went out from under him and he doubled over, his Flames lashing out wildly in an attempt to shake off whatever was doing this to him, was showing him these things that had never happened.

The pain behind his eyes grew exponentially the more he fought against the images now flooding his mind, yet nothing he did seemed to slow the progress of the invasion.

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Realization came one day, clear and sharp and earth-shattering, when he dropped by the Varia Castle to buy some intel from Viper.

He hadn't even made it through the gate when he had felt it, the savage roar of Wrath Flames, hot against his skin and screaming of danger. Fon had hesitated at the gate, unsure as to whether he should enter and investigate or leave the Varia to whatever their problem was.

Then Cloud flames had spiked in a silent screech of defiance and Fon felt himself move because he knew those Flames, had fought beside those Flames. Those were Skull's Flames and even if the they had never really been anything other than fellow Arcobaleno, that was bond enough to intervene and keep Skull from getting massacred by the Varia Head.

Fon had sprinted as fast as his accursedly small legs could carry him, ignoring the startled Varia grunts and the irritated yell from one of Xanxus's officers. His focus remained riveted on the whirling Flames, his own Storm rising in preparation to fight and defend because —World's Strongest Cloud or not— this was Skull. Their youngest, their weakest, their pushover, their ex-civilian circus kid and there was no way he could survive a fight against the Varia Sky-

Then Fon rounded the corner and his world-view shattered at the same time as the castle wall Xanxus had just been flung through.

Fon slid to a stop, his normally serene expression gone, replaced by a disbelieving gape as he watched Xanxus hurtle out of the broken wall, X-Guns blazing, and clash with the tiny form of Skull again and again in a whirlwind of Flames and maniacal laughter.

Fon stared and stared and then stared some more. His Storm Flames rippled, trying to disperse an illusion he was certain had to be there because there was no way he was watching Skull spar with the leader of the Varia, let alone hold his own against said leader while laughing like he was actually having fun.

"Mou~, is there any particular reason you're here, Fon? If not, I'm charging you for admission to observe the match." Viper's voice broke through Fon's haze and he switched his incredulous stare to the information specialist.

"…Viper, tell me that is one of your illusions and Skull is not actually holding his own against the head of the Varia, who is arguably the most powerful Sky known to the Mafia aside from young Tsunayoshi and Yuni."

Viper's lips twisted downward in something that might have been a suppressed smirk, "I do not sell false information, Fon."

Fon looked back at the fight, his disbelief increasing, "So then…?"

Viper sounded … almost sympathetic as they replied, "After Skull Harmonized with Xanxus, he decided to stop hiding the extent of his abilities while on the castle grounds."

Fon's sharp gaze flicked back and forth across the field, analyzing every attack and counter even as he felt his world tilt ever farther out from under him at the realization that Skull had apparently Harmonized with Xanxus. Even more unsettling than that was the fact that Fon didn't know what martial art style Skull was using. Considering that the martial arts was his Flame Obsession and he had been learning as many different styles as possible for years before the Curse and then after that had had three extra decades with which to at least memorize an overview of the different styles…

"…Oh." Was all he could think to say as Xanxus slammed his foot into Skull's midriff —had Fon just heard ribs breaking? Great Budda he had, this sparring match was getting far too intense— only for Skull to retaliate by grabbing said same foot and slamming Xanxus into the ground hard enough to form a crater.

"Oh." Viper echoed sagely, their tone informing Fon without excess words that Viper had had the same —or at least a similar— reaction to learning of what Skull could really do.

At that moment, Fon realized that he was not, in fact, the most patient and level-tempered of the Arcobaleno.

Because if he was, then Reborn, Colonnello, Lal, and Verde would have been beaten into the ground decades ago for all of their abuse.

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The images came faster, so thick and strong that nothing he did could give him control over them. A thousand and one pictures, sounds, smells, and thoughts flooded over him, pushing past his Storm flames and mental shields by sheer force of numbers.

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Tsunayoshi, Reborn's surprisingly brave little student, becoming Vongola Decimo. The pride he had felt watching the ceremony from the shadows, not just for the young Sky who had so much promise, but for his precious grandchild standing loyally by Tsunayoshi's side despite the crowd around them.

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I-Pin unlocking her Flames and the relief Fon had felt when Tsuna had Harmonized with her in an instant, ensuring that the Triads would never be able to claim her again. That she had a Sky that Fon knew would never send her on missions that would break her still childish soul.

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His budding friendship with Skull, cautious at first, but quickly growing into something strong and sincere as they found worthy sparring partners and tea debaters in each other.

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Little Yuni. So small and innocent yet also so old already, weary from the fatal burden she carried and the knowledge of things yet to come in her mind. Burdens she should not have had to carry because she was just a child —a real child, not a cursed one like them—. The renewed hatred Fon had felt for the pacifiers that chained them, the pacifiers that would snuff out the precious budding Sky in front of him no matter how much his instincts Raged and his Flames reached out to caress hers in protection.

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Happy times with little Yuni despite her burdens. Despite the shadow that would pass through her eyes sometimes when looking at one of them, especially Skull. Carefree times with I-Pin, his second child in all but blood, as she grew and learned and flourished under Tsunayoshi's wing. Good times with those he had come to see as family and home and who maybe, just maybe, could be trusted with his greatest secret.

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Then everything started to go wrong. Yuni left, joined another famiglia and cut all ties with the rest of the Arcobaleno. Even Viper had been unable to explain the sudden change, been unable to find out why.

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Vongola mansion going up in flames. An unprovoked, unseen, bitterly painful betrayal because Yuni's famiglia had been the one to do it and why? Why would the sweet little child he knew allow such a thing?

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Death. Betrayal ever more painful as first Colonnello and then Verde were hunted down and killed like animals. Skull's Rage, her pain at losing parts of her Territory while Fon's Storm snapped and lashed out with grief and sympathy.

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Poison. In the air, in his lungs, in his very bones and Flames despite his efforts to burn it out. Only the helmet Skull sent him was able to protect him, and even then all it could do was slow the process. But Fon kept going, kept clinging to life because he couldn't leave yet. Not yet. Not when I-Pin still needed a teacher. Not when Tsunayoshi needed every ally he could get in the shadow war the Vongola was losing. Not when he knew that An-Chen —his precious wife and lover and childhood friend An-Chen— would never forgive him if he gave up or did something stupid that got him killed because he was her last, her only, and she was his to protect and shield in his Storm's Eye no matter the cost.

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The flood of memories —because they had to be memories, they were too detailed and resistant to his Flames to be anything else— halted for a moment, hesitated on the edges of his mind, unwilling to show him how it ended. Fon was dimly aware of the rock garden again, of An-Chen's presence by his side, her Flames soothing and whispering against his as she tried to find what was wrong with him, what had hurt him.

Realization swept through Fon, his breath hitched, and he reined in his Flames before reaching out to the presence that had been forcing memories-that-never-were into his mind. How do I die? He asked softly, resigned and sad yet accepting that that must be the outcome of these strangely broken yet vivid memories.

Taking his question as permission, the presence loosed the last of the memories and Fon was pulled under into something worse than he could have ever imagined.

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He had been on a mission for Tsunayoshi when it happened. The light that had held him in place —anchored him and kept him sane through every trial— had flared brilliantly with rage. Fon had frozen in mid-motion, eyes snapping in the direction the bond led, heart stuttering with fear in his chest as the rage grew and pain blossomed. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, mentally calling, then shouting, then screaming across the bond while the only response he received was rage-pain-hate-regret.

Then, just as Fon thought his terror could not get any worse, something cold ripped through him and for a moment he saw. He saw An-Chen —his precious, precious wife and lover and confidant and Sky, An-Chen— lying on the street with the many bodies of enemies around her …. and the long narrow blade of a scythe speared through her heart.

She had reached across the bond for him, cradling him with her Flames one last time with jumbled feelings and thoughts of I'm-sorry-I'm-so-sorry-I-love-you-My-Storm- and then the vision had faded, pain ripped through his Flames like he was the one who had just been stabbed-

And then Fon's Sky fell and the world around him dissolved in red fire.

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Fon came back to the present with tears streaming down his face and his throat raw from screaming. The rock garden, once so elegant, was in ruins, the ground turned to glass and the larger rocks reduced to ash in the wind as his Flames Raged with the remembered agony of gone-gone-my-Sky-not-my-Sky-give-her-back-gone-gone-.

Arms cradled him fearlessly and there was a desperate, wild rush of warmth-home-safety-love-not-gone-still-here- that finally caused his Flames to still and his mind to clear of the haze of What-Never-Was. Fon lay there in his wife's —his Sky's, not gone-still-alive— arms and trembled. His hands —too tiny, too young-looking, not worthy of the one who stood by his side despite his curse— clutched the fabric of her nightclothes, clinging to the sensation of her Flames, the sound of her heartbeat. He clung without words, trying to forget the memory of how it felt for those very same things to cease to exist.

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Verde studied the screen in front of him. His keen eyes picked through the rolling lines of data and code before him, expertly singling out and correcting any flaws or potential mistakes. It was well past midnight, but Verde didn't care. He knew exactly how many hours of sleep his body required per 48 hours in order for his mind to function adequately and he was still within that limit.

But then he blinked and the screen in front of him had changed into something else entirely. He stared in surprise at the schematics on his screen, both puzzled and frustrated that his computer had somehow switched windows without his consent. He glanced down at his keyboard, intent on rectifying the matter, but when he looked up again, his screen was back to the original window. What? The first time, he had thought that perhaps he had accidentally switched the windows himself, similar things had happened before. But now, when his fingers had yet to touch any keys and the screen had once again changed, Verde came to an alarming alternate conclusion.

His firewalls had somehow been breached and his projects were now at risk of being compromised.

Verde's jaw tightened even as a smirk played on his lips and he reached for one of the many switches on his personalized chair to unleash his security systems on the idiot who had invaded his island and hacked into his off-grid network.

Pain seared through his head a moment later, so sharp and unexpected his hands flew to his temples while a shocked cry escaped his throat. Things flickered before his mind's eye, impressions, data, thoughts that were not his own all tried to take over his psyche and convince him he was living them rather than experiencing some kind of mental attack.

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Schematics, statistics, data, Flames. Everything finally clicked together and the work of several years, the reluctant collaboration with Innocenti and Koenig, finally paid off in the form of the baffled Lightning Crocodile in front of him. Not a prototype like the others, but full and complete. They had done it, he had done it, and now he could use the profit this would bring to fund his other, more important projects like-

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Verde grabbed his arm in a vice grip and squeezed. The pain grounded him as he struggled against the intrusion, not real. Stop. It is fake. Like a virus, feeding false data, just sound the alarm and let the robots take care of whoever's doing this. He reached for the switch, mentally reciting every formula he knew of in order to ground him against the assault even as he swore painful revenge on whoever dared to attack his mind.

His fingers just barely brushed the needed switch when something slipped past his formulas and-

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Skull and Viper were acting strangely together at the meetings. An inconsequential detail, though vaguely intriguing as Mists and Clouds were not known to willingly mingle unless there was a Sky there to mediate. Then again, the Cloud was Skull, and Skull had always been an aggravating and pathetic outlier to the norm. Far too civilian and Inverted to be of any use to his research and thus, below his interest as anything other than a test dummy for his latest inventions.

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Tsunayoshi had become Vongola Decimo. An interesting turn of events, if inconsequential. A pity though, he would have liked to have more opportunities to study the boy's Sky Flames and his brat Lightning. The effects of Flame Seals on developing Flames were always interesting —especially when no when else could recognize the symptoms and just kept pushing the young Flame to greater struggles—, and the ability of the brat Lightning was wasted on such a dim and immature mind. Ah well, perhaps he could take the Decimo up on his offer to "visit" the Vongola labs at a later date as an excuse to run some discreet tests on Reborn's ex-student.

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Verde grit his teeth, struggling against the wrong-wrong-wrong and the unreality that was trying to overtake him. He had to make it stop. A Mist was doing this, had to be, he had to find them and eliminate them before they moved on from childish ploys of artificial memories and attempted to actually kill him.

But the images wouldn't let him go.

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Everything was going wrong. Verde grit his teeth as he watched another one of his base beacons go down and realized grimly that perhaps he should have listened to Viper when they came and told him that the attacks on the Vongola were a sign of things to come. A sign that allies —even distant ones held together only by their shared title of Arcobaleno— should pool their resources and brace for the oncoming storm.

He had scoffed at the time. He needed no Famiglia to protect him. He had his funds, his machines, his research, his contingencies, and his mind. Why would he need a collection of fools that would try to chain him down and use his research for their own ends without his permission?

But now his bases were being mysteriously raided. Destroyed by the very same technology he had helped to create and had sold for a mere pittance compared to the worth of his other research. Innocenti was dead, hunted down by the Famiglia that now appeared to be intent on finding Verde.

He would have to step up his security measures again, install new safe houses, rearrange his contingencies to account for the use of his own inventions against him. He would be fine. It would be an annoying setback, but he would be fine.

Verde had always been a little too good at lying to himself for the sake of his pride.

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Stop! Stop! Verde could only dimly hear the blare of his base alarms from where he was doubled over in his chair. He had finally managed to flip the alarm switch but he couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment. His heart-rate had accelerated and he was beginning to perspire as he tried to fight off the images that threatened to drown his mind. It wasn't real. None of it was real. Whoever the Mist was that had gotten in and thought this was somehow a funny way to complete their job was going to get a harsh lesson on why Verde was known as the World's Greatest Scientist.

These weren't actually memories, these weren't actually his thoughts, his mistakes, his emotions. These were nothing more than a distraction and an attack that would be dealt with. He would never be put on the run by his own inventions, he had too many failsafes imbedded into his product codes for that to happen.

Verde had always been a little too good at lying to himself for the sake of his pride. But this time…

It wasn't working.

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The toxin in the air was specific to the biological makeup and Flame signature of the Arcobaleno. He had tried every cure and technique that had or could be invented, but nothing he did could completely stop the burning invasion in his lungs.

Perhaps if he sealed himself in a vacuum-proof vault with sextuple-filtered oxygen containers supplying him with air, but that would require material he did not have, time he could not afford, and a stationary existence that would prove his undoing.

His hunters were getting closer. Every contingency failed within weeks of implementation, every safe-house was uncovered, every lab destroyed. It was as if his hunters knew what he planned to do before he did it, before he even thought of it.

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Verde lay on the floor of what used to be his last lab. His chest rose and fell futilely in an automatic effort to gain air despite the fact that he could feel one collapsed lung and a debilitating level of Flame depletion pinning him down. Around him were the surviving members of the Millefiore's attack force. They watched him, wary of approaching the man who had created their weapons and destroyed over half their force with his private inventions and his own bare hands even though he now lay dying.

"Hmmm…" The musical hum and the sound of measured footsteps dragged on Verde's senses, interrupted his trance of pain and disbelief and denial. Murmurs rose from his hunters and even before white hair and glittering purple eyes came into view, Verde knew who it was that was to be his final executioner.

Byakuran Gesso, co-leader of the Millefiore Famiglia, smiled down at him in a way that was disturbingly innocent. Childish almost. Like a boy who had just discovered a new toy. His head tilted to one side a bit as he studied Verde, "Six months, seven days, eight hours, and fifteen minutes. That's longer than any of the others lasted, Verde-kun. I'm impressed."

Verde had no air or mental faculties left for cursing at the man. He barely had enough left in between frantic —futile— escape plans to wonder who Byakuran meant by "others". Colonnello had been the only Arcobaleno killed by the Millefiore as of yet. But the way Byakuran had emphasized "any" clearly indicated he meant more than one individual. Had Verde truly been so desperate and hounded that the other Arcobaleno had fallen without his notice? Surely not.

Byakuran broke through Verde's spinning thoughts by running delicate, Sky-tipped fingers along Verde's pacifier. Verde felt his body gasp without his consent at the tingle of warmth that ran through his body and felt a flash of terror that could not be dismissed by his iron control and scientific mind. This man was his hunter, his hounder, his killer … and yet his Sky felt open, welcoming, kind. There was no hostility, no mocking edge, no teeth-grinding sensation of chains. Sky Flames caressed his faltering Lightning with all of the love and care of a Sky Courting a favored element, not of an enemy standing over his fallen target.

"Poor Verde-kun." Breathed Byakuran as his Sky Flames curled gently around Verde, holding him in place despite his struggles with its hypnotic quality. "While I am grateful for your priceless work Verde-kun, I'm a big fan actually, I'm afraid I need this." Slender fingers wrapped around Verde's pacifier and the scientist could feel himself choke on something, either words of protest or his own blood, he couldn't quite tell.

Sky Flames pressed closer, still as open and friendly and kind as before, caressing his Lightning soothingly even as Byakuran leaned close and whispered in Verde's disbelieving ear, "I'll just borrow it for a while, ne?" For a moment, the Sky swallowed Verde whole and he caught a glimpse of what it might have been like to have a Sky to call home-

Then Byakuran yanked the pacifier clear from its chain and Verde was left without even the power to scream. Byakuran said something else, but Verde couldn't hear him, couldn't see past the pain, couldn't bring himself to care as Byakuran and his men went away.

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It took five minutes for Verde to die. A combination of drowning in his own blood and the loss of his Arcobaleno pacifier finally halting the mind that had been called the Brightest.

The last things that passed through the mind of the World's Greatest Scientist were all impressions of disbelief, Sky Flames, and of the insanity that it took for a man to be able to murder another even while the very expression of the murderer's soul earnestly offered his victim a home.

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Verde came back to himself curled on the floor at the foot of his chair, alarms blaring in his ears and the lights flickering under the force of his Lightning Flames as he screamed.

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Colonnello sat on his favorite overlook, silent and unnoticed by the rest of Mafia Land as he relaxed. He had taken a day off from putting mafia hopefuls through his tortur- ahem, training regimen in the hopes that a day away from their whining would give him inspiration on how to make his obstacle courses more interesting. So far, he'd had no luck on that front, but at least he'd enjoyed having a day to himself for once.

To be honest, Mafia Land was becoming … a bit boring. He enjoyed the work, he really did, but sometimes the chaos of the moving island seemed less chaotic and more formulaic than anything else. This idiot Mafioso picks a fight in the street with that idiot Mafioso, brawl ensues, brawl is brought to an end via judicious application of sniper bullets after brawl encompasses more than two city blocks. Hospital staff either complains about having to patch up the idiots again or complains about having to treat the trainees who get too big for their boots and try to one-up Colonnello and get thrown into the crocodile pit instead. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Then, of course, once a year some up-and-coming —or not-so-up-and-coming— famiglia tries to invade an island that is the defended neutral territory of the entire underworld and known home of one of the Arcobaleno. Colonnello's trainees prove that as badly as they suck compared to him, they can still kick the butts of anyone who tries anything. Invaders are demolished, ferry schedules are redone, normal routine is restored, wash, rinse, repeat on an annual basis.

He supposed he shouldn't complain —at least he wasn't stuck babysitting CEDEF like poor Lal—, but sometimes he really missed the thrill of doing the impossible with the other Arcobaleno. Missed taking missions that no one else could hope to complete and then watching the world scratch its head after they had pulled it off.

"You really are an idiot. Stop wasting time with foolish wishes. Time is money." Colonnello jerked in surprise and looked over his shoulder at the unexpected sound of Viper's voice. But there was no one there.

Colonnello frowned as he stood up and braced his sniper rifle over the back of his shoulders, "Viper? Stop messing around, kora. If you want to talk to me, then show yourself. And don't read my mind, kora! It's freaky!" There was no response from Viper and Colonnello wondered for a moment if he had imagined it. His pacifier hadn't reacted to another Arcobaleno being near it, but then again he knew that Viper had ways of getting around that. "Viper?"

A blink, a heartbeat of time and Colonnello wasn't in Mafia Land anymore. He was at one of the annual Arcobaleno meeting places, watching in bafflement as Viper got between him and Skull, "Desist. You are wasting time harassing Skull and time is money."

Colonnello shook his head, suddenly back in Mafia Land with his rifle in his hands and its safety off as he looked around, "This isn't funny, kora! Cut that sh*t out!"

There was no answer, just a tug on his mind that didn't feel like any illusion he'd felt before as something dragged his mind under without his consent.

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There was something going on with Viper and Skull and Colonnello just could not figure it out. He had the distinct impression that it was something really obvious, but what that was was beyond him. They couldn't be in a romantic relationship because one, ew they were physically toddlers, and two, there were no hints to any kind of romantic or physical inclinations between the two when they were near each other. Viper would have been able to hide that kind of thing certainly, but Skull broadcast every thought that went through his head at top volume at any given moment of the day. There was no way the Lackey would be able to keep something like that a secret.

He didn't think Skull had the kind of funds to pay Viper to act as bodyguard, so there had to be a third possibility that Colonnello was missing. The fact that Reborn was clearly missing it too was only a minor balm to the sniper's pride as both Viper and Skull stubbornly refused to explain why they were suddenly on friendly terms.

At this rate, Colonnello was going to have to man up and pay Viper for the info, despite how the miserly information broker had been raising Colonnello's rates lately.

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Wait- stop- when was this? Colonnello staggered and his gun fell from his hands as a migraine bloomed through his temples. He had no time to fight it, his Rain Flames could do nothing against the quick, brutal onslaught of foreign images —memories?— that hammered into his mind.

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Lal finally regaining her adult form, as beautiful as she had ever been despite her added scars. Her bright red blush when he told her as much and the smile that teased the edges of her lips made her punting him out of the fifth story window of CEDEF headquarters completely worth it.

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Reborn's whiny student had actually grown up and become Decimo. Colonnello never thought it would actually happen. He had to admit the kid looked surprisingly dignified and … charismatic, standing up there in a three-piece suit with his glowing Sky gloves. Like the ghost of Vongola Primo come back to life to reclaim his Famiglia.

Now if Colonnello could just figure out why the Lackey was sitting on the Varia leader's shoulder without repercussion instead of on the special seats assigned to the Arcobaleno invited to the ceremony, Colonnello might actually be able to focus on Tsunayoshi's coronation, kora.

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Colonnello shook, only distantly aware that he was doubled over on his knees, Falco flapping and screeching in concern not far away as he was briefly allowed to surface from the memories. What the actual h*ll, kora? The presence stuffing memories-that-weren't in his head had no answer, just more pain and confusion as he was pulled under again before he could scream for help or flare his Flames. The memories came faster, so fast they might have been out of order, but Colonnello had no time to ponder that, no time to fight against the short but brutal tidal wave that crashed through his mind.

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Finding out Skull was a member of the Varia and nearly getting stabbed by the bratty Storm Prince for trying to get some well-deserved answers out of the Lackey.

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Fon becoming friends with Skull, which was even weirder than Skull being buddies with Viper because Fon and Skull were nothing alike, so why even-?

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Quitting his job in Mafia Land to accept Tsunayoshi's offer to join the Vongola after months of the Decimo discreetly —and apparently unintentionally— Flame Courting Colonnello in between reforming his crazy Famiglia and generally setting the Mafia world on its head with his tenacity and surprisingly unshakable set of morals.

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Harmonizing with Tsunayoshi. The sheer wave of home-love-care-mine-home that washed over Colonnello and made him cry unashamedly because this was what Luce had promised them but had never given, this was worth waiting three decades for and being trapped in the body of a toddler for the rest of his life. It was even worth being part of the same Sky as Reborn because Tsunayoshi's Flames were so wide and open and free that Colonnello couldn't understand how he had ever lived without it. Without a real home.

Perhaps best of all, Lal was there. The official liaison between the Vongola and CEDEF, being discreetly Flame Courted by the gentle Decimo who seemed to have some kind of magic technique for getting past Lal's prickly Tsundere exterior with even less bruises than Colonnello —who had been practicing for decades— received.

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War. Something Colonnello had never wanted to experience again, especially not like this. Not with poison in the air and the betrayal of little Yuni like a knife in the back and Tsuna's tired, tired eyes as he tried to keep his Famiglia from being burned to the ground. Colonnello would do anything to put the light back in those eyes. Anything for his Sky.

And he did. He did anything. Everything.

He even died.

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It was a simple recon mission. Get in, guard Viper while the Mist worked their magic on the Millefiore data network, get out. No hiccups in infiltration, no suspicious guards, no errant cameras, not even the pressure of suppressed coughs trying to make him heave and give away their position. It was simple, it was fine.

Until it wasn't.

Viper almost had the last of the data, but suddenly guards were everywhere and the alarms were blaring and Byakuran himself was leading the chase for them, smiling like it was all some game even after he narrowly dodged the bullet Colonnello tried to put in his eye. Colonnello held them off while Viper retrieved the last of the information they needed, firing bullet after bullet from his sniper position overlooking the area. It was time to run, but Colonnello had ditched the helmet Skull had bribed him into wearing so he could see better and now his lungs burned with the desire to just double-over and cough out the fire spreading through his body.

Viper dragged him to his feet and they fled, but it was trap, it had to be, because Byakuran seemed to know every move they made before they made it and the enemy was closing in with numbers even two Arcobaleno could not match. Not poisoned and caught off guard as they were.

Colonnello was a soldier. He would do anything for his mission, anything for his comrades, anything for his Sky. So when the choice came down to buying Viper time to get out of range of the strange anti-Mist-teleportation device Byakuran had brought or trying to flee on foot together and probably failing the mission, Colonnello didn't hesitate to take Option A.

Viper had put up more fight about it than he'd expected, but in the end, the Mist had been forced to agree and flee while Falco lifted Colonnello up into the air and gave him a clear view of the enemy to shoot.

It took five minutes for Viper to get out of range of the device and teleport away with the information, leaving behind only the promise —lie— of bringing backup as soon as possible. It took seven before an enemy sniper shot Falco out of the sky. It took fifteen before Colonnello's body finally betrayed him with a hacking fit that alerted his enemies to his newest sniping position.

It took twenty minutes from the moment Viper disappeared for the Millefiore soldiers to finally overrun his position, climbing over the bodies of their dead comrades and forcing him out into the open.

The last thing Colonnello saw before the enemy sniper that had shot Falco put a bullet in his brain was Skull and the Varia descending on the enemy soldiers like death incarnate, the Cloud tearing through enemies like they were wet paper with a savagery Colonnello had never thought Skull capable of as he tried to reach Colonnello's position and bring him home.

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Colonnello came back to himself, vomiting violently while his head and lungs throbbed with phantom pains and his hands shook from adrenaline and the jumbled thoughts of dead-dead-I-died-how-dead-pain-dead-I-died-

It took Colonnello four minutes to stop vomiting. It took three more to stop coughing and wheezing from the phantom burn of poison in his lungs and throat and mouth. It took a total of ten minutes of Falco's frantic fussing and Colonnello's own spinning mind before he staggered to his feet and practically crawled to his gun, clutching the item with shaking hands.

It took two days before he could convince himself to leave his chosen sniper nest, instincts screaming from remembered danger and the itch across his skin that tried to convince him that the enemy sniper who had put a bullet in his head was still out there, waiting for him to come into the open.

The freezing cold in his Flames, the gaping ache in his core that begged for Sky-where-mine-my-Sky-where-is-my-Sky- stayed though, no matter what he did or what logic he applied.

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---

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The moment his feet touched the soil of present-day —or ten-years-previous, depending on how you looked at it— Namimori, Reborn braced himself for the onslaught of memories he was knew would come. As soon as he could, he separated himself from Tsuna and his Guardians and sequestered himself in an uninhabited area far enough away that any fallout would probably go unnoticed and the casualty risk was at an absolute minimum.

He knew going in that he had died, that he would end up living the memory of that death, that his death had probably been very traumatic and bloody. He had taken precautions, ensured that even if he lost control over his Flames in the process, his student and the civilian populace would remain unharmed. He believed he had everything handled. He believed he was ready.

He was so very, very wrong.

The first memory was innocuous, a subtle yet instant shift from reality to memory that caught him off guard despite himself. One moment he was standing in the middle of nowhere, breathing deeply and bracing for what was to come, and the next he was standing in one of the chosen meeting places for the annual Arcobaleno reunion, trying to wrap his head around Viper suddenly associating with and defending Skull.

Reborn focused on breathing, didn't bother trying to speak as the memory vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving him in the clearing once more. Several minutes passed in which nothing else happened, nothing changed or moved. Reborn huffed quietly. Honestly, he didn't have time to waste just waiting for the memories to dribble in-

Knives plunged into his mind without warning, deep and vicious and all-encompassing, dragging him under a sudden tidal wave of ten years worth of life experience.

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Tsunayoshi finally accepting his place as a Mafia Boss, as Vongola. The preparations and the coronation ceremony that was grand enough to herald the second coming of the Primo rather than just his distant descendant. Watching Tsunayoshi stand tall and solemn with his Guardians arrayed around him and Sky Flames subtly coating the room with his presence, Reborn could almost believe the coronation was just that.

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Gleefully tormenting his ex-student-now-Mafia-Boss with extra paperwork. Thoroughly enjoying the young Japanese high schooler's whines of despair as he had to work simultaneously on homework and authorization forms for rebuilding the broken walls of his manor. And if throwing around extra paperwork —and causing incidents that warranted that paperwork— was actually an excuse to hang around his ex-student's gentle Flames more often … well, that was his business thank-you-very-much.

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Encountering the Lackey during a visit from the Varia to the Vongola and the bafflement and curiosity he had felt when he realized that Skull was comfortable among the bloodthirsty insanity that was Xanxus and his Elements. How bafflement had turned into full on confusion and disbelief —and also the burning need to know why— when his usual Lackey-Interrogation methods were stopped by Squalo burying his sword deep into the wood of Tsuna's desk inches from Reborn's face and roaring, "Voi! Keep your sh*tty hands off Skull, f*cker!"

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A hit on Tsuna that was almost successful. The sheer rage-rage-mine-my-Sky- that pounded through Reborn's veins was a shock even to him. Though not nearly as much of a shock as when whatever experimental bullet the assassin had used caused the seal Reborn hadn't realized was on Tsuna's Flames —because no one sealed Skies, it was stupid and damaging and Skies were so rare already why would you essentially kill one off like that?— suddenly came undone and raw Sky Flames flooded through the entire Vongola Mansion and the nearby city besides like an ocean suddenly unbound by a dam.

Harmonizing with Tsunayoshi in that moment had been instinctual. His Sun had folded effortlessly into the suddenly boundless Sky that held nothing but freedom and trust and affection despite the blood and filth and age and cynicism in his Sun Flames. He had never thought he would Harmonize. Ever. Not after Luce's betrayal, not after he had fully realized what being the Strongest Sun truly meant.

Yet here it was. A home. A Sky large enough to house him and with seemingly endless room to spare. A Sky that trusted and could be trusted in return. And it was his ex-student. His hopeless case. His Dame-Tsuna.

Not so Dame after all, as it turned out.

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Reborn came back to the present for a handful of minutes. Long enough to realize that he was on his hands and knees with his Sun Flames licking tightly across his skin, reaching out instinctively for something he did not have. The memory of Harmonizing with Tsunayoshi was barely seconds old and already a part of Reborn was keening at its loss and raging at the reason why it hadn't happened earlier.

A seal.

Tsuna was sealed.

That explained so much and yet left so many questions because people didn't seal Skies. It would essentially kill the Sky —and in many cases actually had—, and would make their lives afterward miserable if they managed to survive the shock. A Sky could be driven to anything if sealed, even Shattering behind the seal and committing suicide or attempting mass murder from the insanity of having their essence —the essence of freedom and acceptance without boundaries— being boxed up and smothered.

He had always known that something was wrong with Tsuna but this? This to the descendant of the Primo? The boy with the purest Sky Flames Reborn had ever seen? What kind of idiot would do that? What kind of idiot would lock down Tsuna's Flames so tight and so early on in his life that the seal had become indistinguishable from Tsuna's own Flame reserves? So long ago that the seal had been so deeply rooted in place that even Reborn had been unable to tell it existed?

Reborn felt memories pull him under again and let them, hoping to get his answers.

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After three days of feverish investigation, questions, and finally putting together the pieces of the puzzle that had never quite fit, Reborn found himself in Timoteo Vongola's retirement villa, towering over the old man despite his toddler size, his fury pressing down on the entire house like a murderous bonfire, "You SEALED HIM!"

Timoteo would not meet his eyes and despite their brave front, his Guardians were shaking under the pressure of Reborn's wrath, "I did what Iemitsu and I deemed necessary at the time. Tsunayoshi was to live a peaceful civilian life, he did not need-"

Reborn was barely been able to keep from roaring again, "What he did not need was having the manifestation of his soul and will to live smothered under a seal when he was a child. Leaving him with nothing but uncontrollable Sky Attraction leaking through to attract all of the enemies he wouldn't be able to defend himself against."

Timoteo at least had the decency to wince, "It was not my intent-"

Reborn cut him off, "It was exactly your intent. To remove the heir who had far more claim to the Vongola than your three blood sons ever could. As long as that threat was removed, who cared if the largest and purest Sky this world has ever seen rotted away and committed suicide from the strain of being chained?"

Timoteo straightened up, indignation in the line of his shoulders, "I had no desire to murder Tsunayoshi, Reborn, you are blowing this completely-" Reborn felt Leon morph into place in his hand with a tiny snarl, reacting to his master's fury and sudden spike of bloodlust.

Then gentle Sky washed over the room and Reborn felt a hand on his back, "Reborn." He tilted his head just enough acknowledge his Sky, the Sky who had been so close to snapping and shattering if Reborn hadn't been there, then probably been driven even closer to the edge because Reborn hadn't known what was really wrong with his pupil-

Tsuna picked Reborn up without hesitation or care for his ex-tutor's dignity. He held him close to his chest and locked a brilliant amber gaze with Reborn's coal black as he murmured, "It's alright Reborn. It doesn't matter anymore." Reborn felt his lips twist in protest, but was cut off by a gentle, "I'm alive, Reborn. That's all that matters. Whatever Timoteo's," there was no "-san" tacked on the end, not anymore, "intentions, I am still here and I am fine. Let it go."

Reborn didn't want to. He wanted to make Timoteo suffer for what he had done to Tsuna. Reborn had come to a sudden and intimate understanding of what Xanxus must feel toward the old man to make him so aggressive whenever they were in the same building and a large part of Reborn wanted nothing more than to fulfill Xanxus's wish of seeing the man burn.

But his Sky was asking him to let it go. Was whispering with his Flames that Timoteo simply wasn't worth it. Wasn't worth Reborn's rage or bullets or hate. Tsuna just wanted Reborn to come home with him.

So he did. But he did not forget the revelation of what Timoteo had done. Nor did he forgive.

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Years went by in an instant, a thousand and one things burying into his mind before he had full time to process them. Colonnello Harmonizing with Tsuna. More odd instances with Skull in the Varia. Teaching little Yuni. Lambo and I-Pin growing up.

The war between the Vongola and the Millefiore.

Tsuna dying.

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Reborn had barely stayed in the hideout long enough to grab as many actual bullets as he could carry. Bianchi had tried to stop him, but he hadn't listened to her, hadn't even spoken to her. He knew the act hurt her, but it was better than opening his mouth and losing control of his fracturing Flames.

The others were mourning, grieving, even screaming, but they would be alright in the end. Tsuna had locked down the bond enough just before- had locked it down enough that they would survive for a long time, maybe even years, before the loss of their Sky killed them. Reborn wasn't that lucky. He didn't want to be that lucky.

He wouldn't have lived much longer anyway, not with the poison that only targeted the Arcobaleno coating the air. He had hung on for Tsuna's sake, because of Tsuna's hope to end the conflict and find a cure for the poison before it was too late. But now…

Now Reborn didn't give a d*mn.

He drove out to the nearest Millefiore stronghold with only Leon for company. The little chameleon had refused to leave his side even now and a distant part of Reborn was … grateful for that. Grateful for the company even though it would mean his faithful little companion would die too.

As soon as the stronghold was in sight, Reborn dismounted the motorcycle he had taken and went in on foot, Leon morphing into a gun for his right hand while he carefully unholstered a normal gun in his left.

They never saw him coming.

Reborn started with the normal gun, bullets finding homes in the skulls of a score of oblivious guards before anyone even realized they were under attack. The remaining perimeter guards opened fire on him. They missed. He dodged, leaping from place to place with the unnatural strength and agility of an Arcobaleno. He returned fire. He didn't miss.

He kept his Flames tight under his skin until he had actually breached the compound and was surrounded by hundreds of guards and their box animals. Let the waves of enemies use up all of his normal bullets and watched their expressions turn confident as they heard his pistol click empty. They had forgotten Leon was in his other hand.

Reborn reminded them.

Flames roared into existence, writhing and screaming with the fury of dying Sun, the grief of a star whose Sky had fallen —been murdered—, and shaking the earth with the wrath of the third to last remaining I Prescelti Sette who no longer cared if he lived or died so long as he took everyone present with him.

That day the world was reminded of why Reborn was the World's Greatest Hitman and its Strongest Sun. Box animals and their handlers were turned to ash just by getting too close to the source of the shattering Sun Flames. Vehicles were overturned and detonated. Soldier upon soldier was turned to less than ash every time the Leon-pistol in his hand barked out an overcharged sun bullet.

They managed to send out a call for reinforcements —he let them do that, he wanted them to do that, to call in more fodder to burn-burn-burn— and when those men arrived Reborn burned them too. He was a pitiless monster, a star that had descended to earth still burning and in his light everything was reduced to dust. He was unstoppable.

Until suddenly he wasn't.

Reborn would never know which happened first, Leon finally dying in his hands from channelling too much unstable Sun Flames, suddenly leaving him pistol-less and off-guard for a split second, or the sniper that managed to snap off a shot that blew off Reborn's leg and a chunk of his side in one go.

He went down screaming in pain and fury, his Sun Flames surging higher, lashing out in all directions without a pistol to channel them. He knew this was it, he had seconds —maybe— before the sniper took another shot and blew his head off. But that didn't mean Reborn was done, far from it. These were the men who belonged to the man who had murdered Reborn's Sky. Reborn's death may have been at hand … but so was theirs.

His Sun Flames suddenly retreated, sank into his skin and curled up with enough heat that he could feel his skin begin to blister under the unstable intensity of his own Flames. At the last moment, just as the sniper's second bullet left the muzzle of the rifle, Reborn released his Flames in one last, massive blast.

There was a rush of heat, one last searing moment of pain-

And then nothing.

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Reborn came back to himself, throwing up what little he had in his stomach while grass around him withered in the heatwave caused by his writhing Flames. He had somehow managed to keep them from leveling the area around him, but his throat felt tellingly raw and Leon had retreated to a safe distance at some point in the memory dump.

He pulled himself to his feet and staggered to the nearest rock to flop down against it and focus solely on breathing. One tiny hand rubbed his leg —no longer gone, no longer shot off— and he did his best to keep from making a sound. It took several more minutes before he'd reined in his Flames enough for Leon to come skittering back and curl around his neck as a fluffy scarf. Reborn wrapped his free hand carefully around the living green scarf, trying to organize ten years worth of new intel and make a plan on how to better prepare Tsuna for what was to come.

If anyone had known to ask him later, he would have said that the next several days were spent in seclusion only to better plan and prepare to set new chaos in motion.

If anyone had known to ask Leon —and been able to understand the chameleon—, he would have spoken of days of nothing but coffee, minimal food, sleepless nights, and a single, mysterious phenomenon of rain falling from only beneath the brim of signature black fedora with a yellow band.

Reborn reappeared a week and a half later, scaring the already worried Tsunayoshi half-to-death by hanging upside-down in a spider cosplay and demanding to know if Tsuna had done his math homework yet. When the answer turned out to be the expected, "Hieeee! N-no?" He proceeded to scare Tsunayoshi even more by teaching him math without the threat of explosions or bullets for the first time ever. The fragile bout of normalcy lasted only as long as Tsuna didn't comment on it. The moment he did, a bullet whipped past his hair and buried into the bedroom wall, and chaos promptly resumed its invasion of Tsuna's once-normal life.

And if Reborn whisked Tsuna away without informing the Vongola to go see an old asian Flame Seal expert a few days later, and if a few days after that Tsuna came back far more settled and coordinated than he had been since he was five … well. That was Reborn's business now wasn't it?

Just like it was Timoteo's and Iemitsu's business to deal with the sudden outbreak of Mist pranks and the angry ghost scaring their guards with its ethereal "ku-fu-fu-fu-fu".

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---

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Lal Mirch was enjoying a rare day off. Not rare because she didn't usually get them —she took a week off every six months without fail— but because she was actually enjoying herself. There were no unexpected disasters to call her back early, there were no idiots following her with last minute paperwork, no rookies thinking they could take her on, no adults coming up to her and talking down to her because they thought she was a lost child… She was camping in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but herself, her gear, and her fishing pole and that was just perfect.

So naturally, the world had to go and ruin it for her.

One second she was placidly watching her fishing line bob up and down in the deep waters of the lake, the next she was standing —too tall too tall, how long had it been since she was that tall?— on a rise and looking on in horror at something out of the apocalypse or the old legends of Ragnarok. Her breath hitched on smoke and shock and something that tasted distinctly like raw Flame radiation and suddenly she was back on the beach, clutching her fishing rod with white-knuckled hands.

She dropped the rod with a snarl and leaped to her feet. Angry, alert eyes searched for the source of the illusion —d*mn cocky Mists, always thinking they could pull one over on her just because she was a failed Arcobaleno—, but her probing Flames felt nothing, not even the faintest trace of Mist. Her lips twisted into a sneer, "Who's there? Get out here right now and I might not kill you!"

Still nothing. She risked a quick blink to wet her drying eyes and when she opened them, she was in one of the Arcobaleno's meeting places, watching with bemused apathy as Reborn and Colonnello began to take out their frustrations on Skull as per usual when Viper intervened and forced them to stop. It didn't really matter to her, though she was confused as to why Viper would suddenly be defending the idiot. Perhaps Skull had paid Viper to do it, that sounded like something the spineless ex-civilian would do-

Lal shook her head vigorously, no, stop, it's a trap. Her camp came back into view and Lal lunged for her rifle with a slew of hissed curses. Her Flames snarled and twisted and ached around her as she searched for the source of the hallucinations.

She could feel it when something intruded on her senses, entered her mind without her consent and buried her underneath a sudden slew of images and sensory data before she could retaliate.

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Well. Reborn's newest student had finally done it. Ascended the Vongola throne and become Decimo, no thanks to that idiot Iemitsu. Well, maybe now that his son was a grown-*ss man and leader of men in the eyes of the underworld, Lal would stop having to deal with rants about "his adorable Tuna-fishy" and finally be able to work in peace.

Who was she kidding, based on the look on Iemitsu's face, this would only spawn more "tuna-fishy" rants only without the constraint of Iemitsu waiting until they were alone to do it. Now that his son was already in every mafia spotlight in the world, Iemitsu wouldn't have to worry about his words and Tsuna's position as the son of CEDEF's head putting him in danger. Being Vongola Decimo would be the reason anyone went after him now.

Still, Lal had to grudgingly admit that the kid could at least act properly now. With his spine held straight and his eyes flecked with soft amber that matched the low-level aura of Sky he was projecting around the room, an outsider would never guess that the kid was actually a skittish small-town high-schooler.

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Something was up with Skull and it was driving Lal discreetly nuts. At first, Viper defending Skull hadn't been anything of note. The Lackey had paid for such intervention before. But lately Viper had been raising the prices the other Arcobaleno —barring Skull— had to pay to get any information and had even refused to sell the reason behind their odd behavior.

The Lackey and Viper always arrived at meetings together and lately had even been seen on Varia missions together which … just … what the h*ll? Lal knew the Varia, she was one of the few CEDEF who could walk into their mansion and get out not just unscathed but alive period. Their kind of crazy bloodlust would have a coward like Skull either running away screaming or dead in less than a minute. Or both, depending on who Skull was stupid enough to turn his back on in order to run away.

So why was Skull associating with the Varia?

After careful investigation and an infuriating visit with Fon —the man knew what was going on but refused to say anything—, Lal found out that Skull was not just working with the Varia, but was now one of their officers. Which meant that Xanxus had chosen Skull, —Skull!— as his Cloud.

World's Strongest Cloud or not, Lal just could not see how someone like Xanxus could stand to Court someone like Skull. There had to be something else going on, but as there was no sign of it being detrimental to the Vongola as a whole, Lal had no reason to make it an official investigation and she had enough real cases to handle already. She rarely had enough downtime as it was without adding investigating the Lackey and his doings to her list, so the mystery went grudgingly ignored and unsolved as time went on.

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.

Being Flame Courted by Decimo was … odd. Many people assumed that Iemitsu was her Sky —hah, as if the Idiot could ever support and sooth her shattered Flames— and so never tried, but the Decimo…

He didn't even seem to realize what he was doing, or that he was doing everything right. As the official liaison between CEDEF and Vongola —Because Decimo refused to work with the Idiot unless the world was ending, and Lal couldn't really blame him what with Iemitsu's utter lack of professionalism around his son— she spent a lot of time in the Decimo's presence. That should have irritated her to no end. He was Reborn's student, he was an ex-civilian, he had Guardians that even the Varia thought were crazy, and he was the Idiot's blood son. That should have ticked off all the boxes for annoyance with Lal, and yet he didn't.

He was polite in an earnest manner that never seemed to be a lie or a cover for condescension, he was respectful but not afraid, and he was … kind. He asked about her day, not for information, but to see if she was alright. If she didn't want to talk about, he left her alone and an hour later her favorite kind of wine would be mysteriously delivered to her desk. His Sky Flames had a tendency to curl around her in welcome whenever she entered the room, but would then immediately back off before she could feel smothered or caged. The Flames would hover on the edges of the room, not pushing, just … there, in case she ever wanted them.

It soothed her Cloud Flames that he never pushed or corralled her, her Mist Flames perked up at his surprising discretion —not to mention his budding cunning streak—, and the tiny fragments of her Rain appreciated his welcoming calm —and laughed at his moments of Reborn-induced panic—.

He had already pulled Colonnello and Reborn into his Sky, so she knew he was strong enough to hold a bond with an Arcobaleno. And every time the Idiot pulled off another one of his stunts that earned the nickname, Lal considered the silent offer more seriously. Perhaps when the Decimo was a bit older and the Underworld more settled from the shock of the Decimo's reforms to the Vongola…

.

.

Something was moving in the Underworld. There were stirrings, just beyond the reach of her information network that Lal did not like. First the attack on Vongola Mansion that had come without warning, Yuni disappearing and refusing to answer any of the Arcobaleno's calls, and now this new Famiglia showing up with enough strength to back up their declaration of war against the Vongola all without CEDEF ever hearing about it until too late?

Someone had played them and Lal hated being played. Something about the Don of the Millefiore made her instincts scream that she was still being played. That everything was going according to his plan —whatever that was—, no matter what success the Varia had in taking down Millefiore bases.

But Decimo had grown cunning over the years of his reign and Xanxus was far from an idiot. Even Iemitsu was truly focused for the first time in years, razor-edged and dangerous like he had been as a field agent before promotion and paperwork had made a moron out of him. Vongola and its alliances were truly united for possibly the first time in decades and the Millefiore were going to pay for rousing the sleeping dragon.

.

.

Except they didn't. There was a poison in the air killing the Arcobaleno, all of them —even Lal, who had just gotten her true form back—, and for every move the Vongola made, the Millefiore seemed to have five countermoves ready and waiting. The sheer power of the Vongola kept the Millefiore's cunning locked in a stalemate, but that kind of stalemate couldn't last. One side would have to break and both would end up in a bloodbath when it did.

Then the Millefiore Don asked to negotiate a truce with the Decimo. Tsunayoshi took precautions, everyone did. But Tsunayoshi was smiling and calm entering the meeting, assuring them that his Intuition knew everything was going to turn out alright and his followers had believed their Sky, believed in the Intuition that had never been wrong before.

Until it was, and Tsunayoshi was dead.

.

.

And then he wasn't dead, but was almost ten years younger and by the Flames how had Reborn taken such a cowardly little brat and turned him into the man Lal had been on the cusp of accepting as her Sky?

Lal seethed throughout the boy's entire misplacement in time, and yes, probably took out her grief at losing her intended Sky on the Brat far more than necessary. But seeing the face of the man she had almost Harmonized with —the man who had been Colonnello's Sky, Colonnello's hope and anchor— contort into such childish cowardice and whining and "I don't want to be a Mafia Boss-!" Was just- just-

It was too much. She was the last Arcobaleno, the only one left standing to bear witness to the falls of the others, to the true strength of the Cloud they had never listened to, to the bonds that had been broken beyond repair. Vongola was burning, the Varia were half a step away from going mad from their enraged grief at losing their Cloud officer, and all this boy cared about was going back to his own time where he could spend almost ten years in denial about his own impending death which would lead to the death of everyone he knew and loved.

The others told her to be patient, that the Brat would find his courage and become the Tsunayoshi that Lal had known, but the pain in her lungs, like glass-shards and splinters in her blood, told her she would not live long enough to see it.

.

.

But she did see it. She got to see Tsunayoshi end the man who had taken her intended Sky, saw him Rage as the Varia had Raged —as Skull would have Raged—, felt the strength of his Sky wash over her like a sunlight one last time, knowing that when she next felt it, it would be in a past that now had a forever altered future, and that everything she had seen would just be memories.

.

.

Lal lay on the ground, clutching her rifle in a death grip and struggling to breathe. Her body felt too small, like being newly cursed all over again and her fragmented Flames ached with a longing she could not soothe. She struggled to sort through the myriad of new memories —because no Mist was that detailed and creative, not even Viper—, to piece everything back together in her throbbing head.

For a moment, she was glad it was over, the rush of memories was finished and she could try to move on with her life again, prepare for the things she now knew might come-

But then one more memory floated to the surface from where it had been buried. The first one to drag her under, steal her breath away for all of a second, now came back with a vengeance, as vivid as if she was living it all over again.

.

.

Lal stared out over the wreckage and tried to breathe. Not just past the smoke tickling her throat, but past the thick, burning coating of raw Flame radiation pressing against her lungs and senses. The breezes stirred the smoke that trailed up from the carnage, carrying with it a deep, horrifying silence that was so unlike a disaster area of this magnitude.

There should have been screams on the wind, wails of grief or pain, shouts for help or the names of missing comrades. But here there were no such sounds. Here there were only shattered buildings, still bodies, and the vicious stab of Flame radiation seeping into her bones, still carrying the phantom sensations of "rage-pain-grief-rage-kill-you-all-" that had been their owner's last thoughts and motivations.

She had been sent to scout out the Millefiore stronghold, to see just how strong it really was and confirm whether the rumors of Byakuran's presence there were true or not. But looking down on it now, Lal could only wonder what kind of new sin Byakuran and his men had committed to call down this kind of apocalypse on them. What army had crushed those buildings, flung bodies like limp rags, and tainted the air with the force of their Will and rage and hate and pain.

Lal had born witness to several death sites of strong Flame users. Seen battlefields turned a thousand times more vicious once Dying Will came into play. But this? Even Reborn's suicide march hadn't done anywhere near this much carnage.

"You should leave before the radiation kills you."

The voice jerked Lal out of her horrified trance and she whirled to face the speaker, hand falling to her box weapon- A knife whipped past her hand, barely breaking skin —but not because the user had missed, he was too skilled for that—, and Lal stared dumbly at the Varia. She hadn't even noticed them in the area, hadn't sensed their Flames amid the swirling, toxic, airborne scar of the radiation.

It was Rokudo's Mist brat who had spoken, the one who had become Viper's replacement after the Arcobaleno died and Rokudo chose to drop off the face of the earth again. The usually apathetic face was unnervingly still, as if it had been rendered stone rather than merely blanked by apathy. The other Varia were gathered around him, almost protectively, and Lal took a wary step back as she registered the aching, oddly defensive set in all of their shoulders —someone had hurt the Varia enough for them to show it? Impossible, surely. They were more unflappably aggressive than Fon had been calm— … but even Fon had snapped under enough pressure.

Xanxus sneered at her and Lal forced herself not to flinch back from the aching, wounded snap of his Wrath against her fractured Rain. The feral, brittle gleam in his eyes that warned someone was a half-step away from being slowly and brutally murdered, "You heard him, Trash. Get out of here. Your job's already been done for you."

Lal straightened her shoulders and refused to back down —even though her instincts said not to push, she was an Arcobaleno, she wasn't going to be intimidated by someone half her age—, "Did you do this? You weren't sanctioned-"

The Varia Storm twitched in her direction the same moment Xanxus grabbed the blonde by the shoulder to hold him in place and the Varia Sun cut her sentence off, the trademark flamboyancy and exaggerated movement replaced by a razor-edge stillness, "Tip, dearie~. Do not finish that sentence."

Self-preservation instinct warred with pride and curiosity and the bull-headedness of any career officer when faced with disrespect from the lower ranks. She threw back her shoulders, refusing to be daunted and barked out, "Explain what happened here."

Lal knew she had massively overstepped a line she hadn't been aware she could cross when she suddenly found herself on the ground, choking on the tainted air while Xanxus's boot dug into her ribcage and his gun pointed at her forehead before she could blink, "Don't. Give. Me. Orders. You Faithless. Weak. Blind. Trash." The rest of the Varia were crowded around her, wrath and the bloodlust so bright and potent in their eyes and Flames that for a long moment she thought the Varia were going to betray the Vongola again, kill her and go rogue.

Then the Mist brat touched Xanxus's coat sleeve with a feather touch and something seemed pass between them without words —a Flame bond? With a Mist so young and new?—. Xanxus took a deep breath of air, then two, visibly struggling to restrain himself. Lal didn't move, didn't dare twitch for fear of accidentally bringing the tidal wave of bloodlust she could sense looming down on her head.

The gun shifted to point at the ground instead of her head, but the boot dug deeper into her ribcage as Xanxus leaned down and snarled in her face, "The only reason you're still breathing, Arcobaleno Trash, is because despite everything you did, you were one of Skull's."

Were. The word echoed in Lal's brain and something in her keened as realization struck, "Skull is…"

The boot came off of her middle and the Varia Rain roughly grabbed the back of her shirt and dragged her to her feet while Xanxus grabbed her chin and forced her gaze back to the apocalypse-stricken city, "Skull went after Byakuran. Alone."

There were implications to that sentence, crashing, mind-blowing, impossible implications to it that staggered Lal badly enough that she did not resist the manhandling, "I- Skull- Impossible. Skull is-"

The Varia stepped away from her, as if distance would help their failing restraint, "Voi!" Snapped the Rain tightly, "Skull was the World's f*ing Strongest Cloud. What the h*ll did you think would f*ing happen when the World's Strongest Cloud finally decided to stop taking sh*t and strike back?"

"Shishishi," the laughter of the Storm behind her was more hollow than crazed, "she didn't. None of them did. To them Skull was just the lackey. Stupid Arcobaleno peasants never did bother to actually look at Skull."

The words washed over her, but Lal couldn't make sense of them, couldn't take in the sight of the destruction below and envision little, whiny, civilian Skull as its cause.

The Varia left her there, on that rise, numbly staring out over the leveled city and choking on the remnants of Flames she now realized tasted bitterly, achingly familiar. One of the remaining CEDEF operatives found her an hour later and dragged her away to the nearest Sun to repair her Flame-seared lungs, but nothing they did or said could shake her bone-deep silence as Lal came to grips with what she had seen … and what she had spent decades not seeing.

.

.

It would only be later, after witnessing the Varia on a joint mission, turning everything around them to ash with a brutal efficiency well beyond even their normal standards, that Lal would remember wondering why Xanxus would deign to accept Skull as his Cloud.

Lal would mourn that it was only after she became the last Arcobaleno that she got her answers. She would shake in a mix of self-disgust and fear as she recalled all the times she had hit Skull, insulted him, or simply stood aside and let the others do the same. Care had never really been a word the Arcobaleno used in regards to each other. They had a bond, but that bond had many times felt thin and more out of courtesy than any form of affection.

Lal never quite got over the realization that it was only that bond —one that Skull had always tried so hard to nurture and how-had-she-missed-that?— that kept the so-called Strongest of the Strongest from suffering the same fate as that city had. A fate that would have been more than deserved for being so blindly prideful as to abuse the World's Strongest Cloud, speak Skull's title with scorn and amusement and never stop to think what it really meant.

A realization far too late. There was no changing the past, and neither the dead nor the grieving wrath of the Varia cared for her apologies.

.

.

Lal swallowed hard, barely managing to roll onto her back and stare at the sky, turning the last memory over and over in her head on an endless loop in disbelief and … fear. World's Strongest indeed. It took hours to shake the shock from her limbs —too small, achingly too small all over again— and pack up her campsite, her vacation ash in her mouth and her solitude far too reminiscent of new-found memories she would rather not dwell on.

Being reminded that the annual Arcobaleno meeting was still happening three weeks after the memory dump was, for once, welcomed wholeheartedly. Anything to counterbalance the memories of death and destruction —of Colonnello's body being brought back missing half its skull- no don't think of that—.

Lal made a point to arrive early, even though it took yelling at the Idiot —her boss, for whom she had lost all respect now because of her future memories of Tsunayoshi and his seal—, but so had most of the others, so she supposed it didn't really count.

Colonnello just about had a heart attack when Lal hugged him tight the moment she saw him, but Lal had spent too many years pretending not to feel the way she did —pretending and pretending until it was too late and he was gone-gone-gone— to let embarrassment stop her as it had before. Her actions did not attract any teasing though. All of the Arcobaleno as they arrived were noticeably changed. Fon was less calm and more subdued, holding his tea cup just a shade too tightly to look natural and relaxed. Reborn had yet to make any snide remarks to anyone about anything —even Skull's lateness—, and Colonnello didn't ask why Lal hugged him or tease her for it, just hugged her back with all his strength.

Verde, Skull, and Viper did not show up for another hour. Lal had just begun to wonder what had detained the two Varia Officers —or if their Sky would even allow them to come— and if Verde was coming at all when the far wall exploded and something small, green, and sparking Lightning Flames hurtled through.

The sparking green object turned out to be Verde, haggard and wide-eyed as he lay there in a dent in the far wall and tried to re-inflate his lungs. Everyone else had maybe ten or so seconds to process the sight before there was a spike of Very Unhappy Cloud Flames™ and Skull appeared through the Verde-formed hole in the wall. A thick wave of Killing Intent flooded the room the moment Skull stepped into it and Lal cursed herself for being such a blind idiot for the past several decades that she had never had a clue that Skull possessed this level of power. Lal could feel her heart stuttering in her chest and knew that everyone else in the room were also suddenly finding it hard to breathe past the pressure of Cloud Flames that were basically screaming "I Am Very Unhappy" in neon letters.

Skull's helmet was off, tucked casually under one arm to reveal a face that was deceptively, scarily calm for being the source of the thick Cloud miasma in the room, "I," announced the Cloud Arcobaleno in a voice perfect for discussing the weather or the latest rise in the stock market, "have been having a very bad few weeks." Skull took several more slow, relaxed steps into the room, seemingly oblivious to how Lal flinched the closer he came or how Fon had already evacuated to the far window sill with his precious tea set. Reborn was the only one still standing aside from Skull, but Lal could see the stress in the corners of his black eyes and knew it was only barely.

Skull tilted his head to one side and paused for a second, then added almost airily, "Actually. I've been having a bad few decades, on pretty much a yearly basis, and several more times during the year besides. Coincidentally, those bad times tend to coincide with these meetings. Or any time I have to deal with the majority of you for longer than ten minutes." In the background of Skull's deceptively serene ramble, Viper floated in and added the acidic curl of angry Mist Flames to the pressure holding the other Arcobaleno in place.

"And now, after three decades of dealing with all the sh*t you guys throw my way no matter what I do for you, I've just had another ten years of absolutely h*llish sh*t added to the things that f*ck up my sleep schedule." Lal flinched at the flippant use of curses coming from Skull. Aside from the occasional curse when particularly startled or on a very bad mission —back when they all took missions together—, Lal couldn't remember hearing Skull use actual curses. Not like this, not like the Varia always did. Skull had always used his made up ones over any real curses. Until now, anyway.

Skull was halfway across the room now, steadily approaching Verde, who had managed to extricate himself from the wall and was now looking for an escape route with wide, frazzled eyes, "I have had maybe seventy hours of sleep over these last three weeks. I am tired. I am irritable. And I am very, very stressed out. So imagine how I feel when I have to haul my *ss out of bed on the day I was actually getting some rest to go to this meeting where everyone barring Fon treats me like sh*t and the first thing that happens is Verde decides that he has the right to f*ing steal my bike to run experiments on it. MY. BIKE."

Verde made a dive for the window, but barely made three steps before Viper had summoned Mist vines to hold him in place. Skull didn't even seem to notice, he just kept talking with that same eerily pleasant expression on his face —and was that how he fooled them for so long? Because he was practically a Mist when it came to holding a set facial expression despite his true feelings?—, "I do not have that many rules. I am, in fact, an f*ing doormat by the standards of most Clouds. Or most mafia. Or most people in general, really. I know that. But back when we all first came together and you collectively decided I was your Lackey to harangue and cage and treat whatever way you d*mn well pleased, you all knew that I had One. Little. Rule. Just one."

Skull was suddenly in front of Verde, tiny hand fisted in his shirt collar, holding him close to Skull's face while Skull smiled politely —like someone discussing the poor house training of a dog but trying to find the humor in it—, "Don't. Touch. My. Bike. Not without my permission, not without my presence. Don't ride her, don't paint her, don't polish her, don't run your sticky hands down her, don't try to run experiments on her. That's it. That's my one rule. There are billions of other motorcycles in the world for you lot to f*ck up that are a lot cheaper, easier to handle, easier to replace, and don't belong to me. It is not a hard rule to follow."

Reborn seemed to finally shake off Skull's Killing Intent enough to take a step forward and reach for Leon despite all of Lal's mental screaming for him to just stay still and shut up —because she could still see the ruins of the city in her mind's eye, the countryside scarred by Flame radiation so powerful the land was predicted to be uninhabitable for decades—, "Lackey-"

Something whipped through the air from Skull's fingertips and Reborn hissed as his moving hand was skewered by what looked like a toothpick. Purple eyes shifted from Verde for the first time and Lal could see that they were glowing so brightly Skull's pupils were invisible beneath the gleam, "My name. Is not. Lackey." Skull took a deep breath, as if reining himself in, then continued, "As I was saying. I have one rule. Which Verde has now broken. I have spent four decades dealing with this sh*t. I died still dealing with this sh*t and you know what? I'm done. If all of you aren't going to wise up and figure out that I am called the World's Strongest Cloud for a d*mn good reason. If you really think that you can spend the rest of our lives walking all over me, walking all over my instincts, taking whatever you f*ing feel like even though it is MINE… Then I am just going to have to teach you how d*mn wrong you are the only way it will get through your thick, mafia-hardened, empty skulls."

"H-hey now, wait just a minute, kora-!" Lal mentally begged Colonnello to shut up, because she had already seen him dead once, she really didn't want to see it ever again, especially from his own stupidity. Well, their own stupidity because Lal was certain she was included in all those reprimands too.

Skull glanced leisurely over at Viper and Fon, "You two should leave. This building is not going to stay standing."

Viper teleported out in an instant and Fon gleefully abandoned them all in favor of saving his precious tea set. The Cloud pressure that had kept them all mostly in place curled inward to wrap around Skull like some kind of cloak of death. Skull dropped Verde back onto the floor, cracked his knuckles, and smiled the same kind of smile as the Varia's Prince the Ripper, "Lesson One."

And so began a hell that was, admittedly, four decades in the making and totally deserved.

Reborn, Colonnello, and Verde got the most of it. Skull blatantly showed bias in Lal's favor by only leaving her with a multitude of bruises and a broken arm because of how Lal had dropped to her knees in submission within minutes of experiencing Lesson One.

Colonnello didn't submit until Lesson Five —the part where Skull demonstrated how a proficient Cloud Flame user could, in fact, throw human beings as fast as a bullet and still somehow not kill them, just break three ribs and an arm—. Since Lessons One through Four had already left Colonnello with bruises on about ninety-percent of his body, the no-killing part probably didn't feel like a good thing.

Verde received even more abuse than Colonnello for the sole reason that he had tried to take Skull's bike —Skull had pointedly shouted "MY BIKE" every time the scientist took a hit— but had fewer actual injuries because of his ability to harden his body with Lightning Flames.

Reborn received the most abuse out of all of them, which was partially due to the fact that he didn't stop stubbornly fighting back and throwing insults —and here she'd thought Classic Lightnings were the biggest natural idiots of the Elements, not Inverted Suns— up until Lesson Final. Which was the lesson that blew Lal's mind for a second time in three weeks despite the fact she wasn't on the receiving end of it.

Because being blind to exactly how powerful and dangerous Skull was, was one thing, but for Skull to also be Femme Fatale, the most elusive and terrifying Mist assassin in the history of the Underworld?

Lal only knew she wasn't hallucinating because Fon —who had come to extricate Lal from the danger zone after she submitted to Skull— was choking on air beside her, just as astonished as she was.

The woman who was standing where Skull had just been smiled sweetly at the openly gobsmacked look on Reborn's face … then kicked him in the face with enough force to send him flying into the nearest tree. She —he? Was Skull the original alias or was Femme?— then calmly flipped her hair over her shoulder, surveyed the damage she had caused as Skull —the building razed to the foundation, several trees uprooted, and most of the other Arcobaleno in various states of pain—. Cloud and Mist Flames curled and receded, finally sated enough to allow everyone present to breathe in air not saturated in Killing Intent.

Femme Fatale's gaze flickered over each of them barring Viper, probing and intense, before her shoulders imperceptibly relaxed and with a flash of Mist Flames, Skull was standing before them again, "Alright. Now that lessons are over, here is what is going to happen. I am going to turn around, walk down that path back to my bike, and go catch up on all the sleep I've been missing. If anyone has questions, email Viper. If anyone wants to complain, do it amongst yourselves."

Skull glanced over at the shaking green-haired scientist before scanning the rest of them with equal ire, "Verde is not to show his face within fifty yards of my bike for the next ten months unless he wants to see what getting thrown into the upper atmosphere is like. If anyone else, especially you Renato Sinclair, wants to talk to me within the next three months, you had better bring one h*ll of an apology and a lot of bribery gifts. Otherwise I'm going to paralyze you and give you to Xanxus as a new shooting target."

Skull shot Reborn a scathing look, "And don't you dare say I can't. You were there when I was on that job in Rome as Femme Fatale, you know I don't make threats I can't keep."

Skull clapped … his? Her? Hands together and openly smiled —like a wolf baring its teeth— at how everyone barring Fon and Viper flinched at the sound, "We're done here. Fon, I'm going to have to reschedule our usual tea to next month at Varia Castle, Xanxus isn't letting any of us out of his sensing range."

Fon nodded, his expression back to some semblance of its usual serenity, "That will be fine. Though I must ask, how are you here if he is being so protective?"

"Who do you think is guarding my bike at the bottom of the mountain? Lussuria thought it would be a good excuse for a group picnic." With a brisk nod to Fon and then a jerk of the head to Viper, Skull promptly turned and began trekking down the mountain, uncaring of the injuries, chaos, and shattered world views —views even more upended than when they'd had ten years of future memories dumped in their heads— left behind.

.

.

---

So ... yeah. That happened. Not the way I wanted it to, but okay. We'll double back to Reborn and the others coming to terms with Skull's revelation another day. In the meantime, cheer up with this preview of the next chapter!

Preview:

Hibari prowled along the sidelines of the driving course, still miffed that the Little Omnivore had somehow convinced him to come-

His senses tingled and Hibari stopped, gaze sharpening as he scanned the area again. Everything looked normal at a first glance. The herbivore Elements were arguing over who would get to take a turn after Little Omnivore, Little Omnivore was fluttering and squeaking over something while Purple Carnivore patiently coaxed him into action. Other than the setting, it all seemed normal ... except...

There was another carnivore in the area. Hibari was sure of it. He palmed his tonfas as he studied the area intently, trying to pinpoint the location of the unknown carnivore. His gaze eventually returned to where Little Omnivore was fluttering around Purple Carnivore and his instincts screeched.

Narrowing his eyes as curiosity reared its head in place of his previous aggression, Hibari unholstered his tonfas and stalked forward.

It would seem Little Omnivore had a good reason for fluttering this time. Though, no matter how much Hibari trusted his instincts, he had to wonder...

How did a motorcycle become a carnivore?