OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Crimson
This is how things fall apart.
Engagement
"Daemon, I'm quite happy for you and all, but why on Earth would you think I know Elena's finger size?" Cynthia questions incredulously, tapping her fingers on the counter top.
"Well, who else could I ask?" Daemon points out sulkily. "Besides, you know her best."
"I don't know..." she muses. "Giotto and Elena may as well be soulmates. They're so alike."
He grimaces openly. "Don't," he warns. "Never again."
She laughs and peers down at the rings on display, ignoring the ache in her heart. "Do you have a favorite?"
Daemon's face softens, and oh, the Mist is so deeply in love, it's almost sickening. "A sapphire gem in the middle for her eyes," he tells her, "and amethysts around it for mine."
"You are such a sap." Cynthia smiles. "If only Alaude were here..."
"Shut - "
Edge
" - up!" Daemon snarls, the deadly curve of his scythe held against Cynthia's neck.
"Nori-chan!" Tsuna gasps.
"Oi, let her go!" Hayato barks.
"Sorellona!" Lambo calls, horrified and terrified.
Kyoya watches with a frown, Ryohei's fists are clenched, Chrome's eyes are wide, and Mukuro smirks coldly. Cynthia doesn't move, doesn't flinch, but gazes steadily back at Daemon as blood beads on her neck.
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" she whispers softly. "I knew her best."
When he looks at her, there is madness in his gaze. "Do you think I won't kill you?" The scythe presses a little closer, and another drop of blood wells up, rolls slow and warm down her neck.
"This is fucked up," the previously forgotten Squalo mutters from the corner, the rest of the Varia watching the show with a mixture of disturbing bloodlust, offhand entertainment, and cool boredom.
In the back of her mind, Cynthia agrees. "Do you think I'll let you kill me?" When doing so would mean the destruction of her family all over again.
Daemon narrows his eyes. "You're - "
Courtship
" - a fool." He paces on the expensive rug, scowling. "Why are you marrying that bumbling idiot!? I know you don't love him."
"Love isn't everything."
The man who loves her sister so much he'd be willing to burn the whole world down and dance in the ashes stares blankly at her. "Then why?"
"I want children." The Vongola will need advisers when she is gone, and her ability is genetic, will pass down to those of her blood.
Daemon blows out a breath and flops down gracefully on a chair. "Do you love anyone romantically?" he asks, petulant.
The lie comes smoothly to her lips. "No. You're - "
Sacrifice
" - the fool," Cynthia says and rips apart the illusion with gleaming eyes and an experienced mind. He was the one who taught her how to counter illusions, after all. Daemon disappears, and from there on out, it's chaos.
The numbers are against Daemon's favor, of course, but that means nothing, not to the First Guardian of Mist with the Desert Flame in his grasp. It takes mere seconds for him to weave layer after layer of illusion over the room.
The Simon are easy prey looking for someone to blame. With cries of rage and glazed eyes, they end up hurling themselves at the Varia, who automatically respond with violence. Blood colors the air in seconds.
The Ninth is surrounded by his Guardians. With a maniacal laugh and a wave of his hand, Daemon sets the remaining conscious Mafioso on them, and they are suddenly very busy deflecting swords and bullets.
Tsuna is disorientated by his particular susceptibility to illusions. His Guardians aren't any better off. The lines blur, and suddenly, it's a free-for-all brawl, with no one quite sure of who is fighting who.
Mukuro has no interest in participating, and Chrome follows his lead with worried eyes. Reborn's eyes are shadowed by the brim of his hat, pistol held steady as make-shift enemy after make-shift enemy falls.
And, in the midst of it all, Daemon appears here and there sporadically with a laugh and his scythe. Occasionally, he uses a body as a human shield, but mostly, he sows anarchy and reaps death.
"Nori-chan!" Tsuna calls, worried, looking in the direction of an upturned chair. Bullets bombard the chairs, and he begins to make his way over.
Flame burns high on his forehead, and his eyes are a piercing amber. His gloved hands are clenched, and he looks regal and sure and untouchable.
Cynthia is shielded by a wall of tables, nearly halfway across the room. Her heart stutters and then freezes over when the world distorts, a familiar laugh ringing in her ears.
He's fast. She's faster.
She is the Judge, and that is what he is counting on. Until a stalemate or victory is reached, Cynthia can do nothing but wait. Those are the rules, for all that she has the best chance of defeating him, as his illusions are useless on her.
But she's bent the rules before.
When Daemon swings his scythe this time, it goes straight through the middle of her chest with a sickening sound. The room goes dead-silent for everyone to hear her pained gasp.
Noriko can't see Tsuna's face since she pushed him back behind her. But his tentative whisper is heartbreaking enough. "Nori-chan...?"
Daemon is frozen in place, staring at her with the most peculiar expression. There's incomprehension on his face as crimson blood begins to soak her white dress. "You..."
"Oh, Daemon," the Moon says fondly. "You never learn, do you?" And she smiles as her eyes close.
Once upon a time, Cervello Cynthia spared Daemon Spade's life because she loved him. It seems only right that Reiki Noriko will save Sawada Tsunayoshi's life because she loves him.