OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
End
This is how they close the book.
Smile
Giotto can't stay long. Or rather, the spirit of Giotto can't stay long. He gently encourages Tsuna, unlocks the Vongola Rings, and is gone.
But not before he glances up and locks gazes with Noriko. Not before he smiles that devastatingly familiar, impossibly beautiful smile of times begone, and not before she sees the recognition in his eyes and feels every last one of her walls crack simultaneously.
It's not fair. It's just...
Noriko closes her eyes briefly and has to remind herself that the others are watching. Reborn, Mukuro, Xanxus, and Kyoya are already suspicious. They don't need any more ammunition.
It's almost a relief when the Eclipse pulls at her. She goes willingly and lets herself submerge under the implacability of the Cervello Founder.
Loss
The Arbiter can't Judge anyone who is still up and fighting. It's not her job to force an opponent into submission, but those that lose - they are the ones that fall under her jurisdiction.
With Tsunayoshi of the Vongola standing tall before a kneeling Byakuran of the Millefiore, furious at the loss of Yuni and Gamma of Giglio Nero, the full power of the Vongola Ring of the Sky flowing through him, it is clear who the winner is.
Byakuran knows it, too, for he smiles, mocking even in defeat, and raises his head to look straight at her.
Sawada Tsunayoshi is waiting, the final blow held back despite Sun Arcobaleno Reborn's pointed statements and the disdainful scoffs of the Leader of the Varia, Xanxus. His Hyper Intuition knows the final decision is not meant to come from him.
The Judge embraces a veil of silver, turning the world at once luminescent and lackluster, too sharp and all the more transparent for it. Her focus spirals down to the two contestants, the Vongola Sky and the Mare Sky, and she takes a step forward. Then another.
She is oblivious to the tense regard of those she leaves behind her when she slips past the barrier, easy as breathing.
Sawada Tsunayoshi turns to her without removing his fist from an inch from Byakuran's head, those eyes alight with the Hyper Dying Will Mode betraying no surprise, only firm resolve. "Nori-chan."
The Judge stops a meter from both combatants. There is no fear on Byakuran's face.
He knew, she thinks distantly. Of course he knew that this might be the conclusion to this entire conflict.
"Byakuran of the Millefiore Famiglia," she says, words hard and heavy with the surety behind them, the knowledge that what she ordains is exactly what will happen. "You have killed innocent people and destroyed worlds for your own selfish desires. You have attempted to recreate the universe in your image and failed."
Silence reigns supreme in the clearing. Not even the birds are singing, the world itself holding its breath.
"You have declared war on the Vongola Famiglia and been defeated," she states, and this is the important part, this is why she has the ability to pass Judgment on him. His power has been annihilated, his empire has been demolished, all that is left is for the king to lose his crown. "What will be your last words?"
Byakuran merely laughs and spreads his arms and wings wide. "Do your worst, Nori-chan," he taunts, purple eyes calm and steady. "Give me what I deserve~"
The Judge reaches out a hand without a word. Sawada Tsunayoshi has the sense to back away, a frown on his lips, but it is far past the time for interference of any kind. The very tip of her pointer finger touches Byakuran's forehead, barely a graze, but it's enough.
It's more than enough.
"Hell is a fitting punishment," she whispers as Byakuran collapses backwards with a flare of silver light and dissolves into black feathers that scatter in the wind, the barrier fracturing at last with the disappearance of the Mare Sky, "for a fallen angel such as you."
Moonlight
She burns.
For someone who Reborn claims has no Flames, Nori burns, so bright that it almost hurts to look at her, but even if Tsuna were to close his eyes, he thinks that it would be impossible to be ignorant of her presence because the wash of light would turn the inside of his eyelids white instead of black.
She burns like the full moon at midnight, like the only source of light in a sky of darkness, and it's almost terrifying.
After Byakuran is gone - and he honestly has no idea what his best friend has done to his former arch-nemesis - Nori remains motionless. The light that comes off of her in waves is brighter, harsher than back during the Ring Battles, and Tsuna -
Tsuna doesn't know what to do.
Instinctively, he knows that she is far deeper in an Eclipse than she ever has been, and on some level, that makes him uneasy. With the way their lives have been going, they aren't going to get a break and things are just going to get worse, even worse than a world-destroying, stone-cold psychopath, and what will happen to her then?
What if one day Nori goes so far, Tsuna won't be able to call her back?
Tsuna swallows hard. "Nori-chan," he calls with more confidence than he feels. No response. "Nori-chan, he's" - dead - "gone. You can stop now. Everything's over."
She turns to look at him silently.
"Nori-chan," Tsuna says, and it is the first time he has used such a tone on Noriko, though he has done it before on Gokudera, and even Hibari, "That's enough."
Nori blinks at him. Half a second later, the silver around her vanishes, and she pitches forward bonelessly.
Squeaking, Tsuna catches her just in time and starts panicking.