OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Liar
This is how he continues to push forward.
Deceiver
Daemon Spade is a Mist to his core. He is cold and ruthless and manipulative. Trying to decipher him is to walk into a house of mirrors, all shattered and twisted and broken, and no one has ever come close to successfully identifying his true self since Primo's time, centuries ago.
Lies spill from his lips like honey-tinted arsenic. He cheats and tricks and destroys families without blinking. Death is a way of life for him, and he can think up the most destructive ruses off of the top of his head. Reality is his plaything and he takes horrific advantage.
Daemon has done terrible things in the name of Elena's cause.
(He tells himself she would approve. He deceives himself most of all.)
Love
Elena is like no one else he has ever met. Beautiful, certainly, but Daemon knows beautiful women, and it is not her beauty that attracts him. It is her spirit, shining oh-so-bright and utterly unrepentant even in the face of society's scorn.
She is honest and loyal and fierce and compassionate. She opens her heart to anyone and everyone, and her smile can light up the dark side of the moon. She holds out her hand and looks at him with those eyes, and he never really stood a chance.
Daemon falls hard and fast and never regrets it once.
(He is an expert at lying.)
Elena is the love of his life, and when she disappears, she takes his heart with her. Daemon's world becomes a dark, pitiful thing, and he misses the sun's warmth and light as only a blind man can.
Conundrum
Cynthia is Elena's cherished adopted sister. Cynthia is an Element but she isn't. Cynthia doesn't make sense.
Daemon appreciates the protective air Cynthia treats him to when they first meet. Elena hides a warrior's heart, but she is precious and should be protected. Behind the strange silver of her eyes, Cynthia has no need to conceal vulnerability.
In a distant way, he acknowledges that the lady is lovely, in an eerie, otherworldly manner, but his heart has been stolen away already.
Past her incomprehensible powers and enigmatic smile, Cynthia - because inevitably, Daemon finds himself in her company often - is an oddly captivating woman, worthy of being his Elena's best friend and sister. If Elena is steadfast and candid in who she is, then Cynthia is the exact opposite.
Cynthia is akin to a wind sprite, flighty and untouchable. Her personality reminds him of a jewel, constantly shifting and changing with deviations of light. She is clever and sly and knowing, and he has ever been fond of puzzles.
Daemon tries to find the true woman behind gleaming eyes and diplomatic words and everchanging masks, and fails miserably.
Naturally, this only further compounds his fascination.
First
The first time Daemon pays witness to a Judgement, he is aloofly curious from an information hoarder's and a faux scientific view. Cynthia's abilities are wholly unique, one of those few individuals in the world who are unmatched in their field, and he would be a fool to be dismissive of such power.
The first time Cynthia bests him in verbal combat, Daemon sniffs and smirks and shrugs. He admits to nothing but is reluctantly appreciative nonetheless, for so few have the acerbic wit and boldness needed to keep up with him, and it's all the more entertaining that her words remain as diplomatic as ever.
The first time Daemon shares a breakfast with Cynthia, she teases him about his coffee addiction and he retorts with a reminder that blueberries aren't in season. Elena is still asleep at the mansion, but the sunrise is beautiful, the air is cool and crisp, and he is content with watching his lover's sister smile.
The first time Cynthia stops a battle cold and proclaims a winner, commands unbreakable, he looks at her and wonders for the briefest second before Elena's laugh recaptures his attention. Inevitably, the most dangerous things are beautiful, as Ugetsu's blades and Alaude's interest prove.
The first time Daemon challenges Cynthia to a match, he is laughed at, and he can't quite bring himself to be as angry as he pretends to be when those silver eyes shine like so. He learns that her hand-to-hand is sufficient, her knowledge of illusions is pitiful, and to rebel against a mock-Judgment is useless.
The first time Cynthia cries in front of Daemon, Elena is dead. He is numb and raging, crying and shouting, depressed and enraged. In contrast to his fury and sorrow, she is silent and still, but for the hand that she strokes through his hair. The tears that fall from her eyes kiss her skin and disappear.
The first time Daemon ever lethally injures Cynthia, he has lied to himself so creatively and strenuously that he can almost truly believe that she means nothing to him and never has. His scythe pierces through the woman he didn't love, her blood stains his hands, and he feels regret for the first time in a long time.
Last
The last time Daemon ever sees Cervello Cynthia, he is kneeling beneath the burden of the Judgement. Her face is unreadable, her voice is level, and he hates, hates, hates. He hates that he still does not know her. He hates that she has chosen to side against him. He hates that he has lost what he never had.
She spares him and is gone.
Months later, news of her death reach his ears. He leaves and discreetly slaughters five of the famiglias that have grown arrogant and bloated on power.
Daemon can feel them now, this weak Decimo and his Guardians and the Simon and the Vongola hunting him.
He smiles and waits.