Tsuna sighed in displeasure as he let Daemon adjust his suit. Timoteo was doing the whole song and dance with the Inheritance Ceremony and the handing over of the Vongola Sin.

"You look sharp," Daemon said quietly. "Just bear it. You know it's all tosh, anyway, the puffed up posturing of princes."

"Yeah. Everyone is ready?"

Daemon hummed an affirmative. "The Varia is already in place."

"And…?"

Daemon nodded. "Yes, just in case."

'Good, so a fake is in place that even the old man doesn't know about.' He had noticed that Enma and his crew had arrived, and he wondered if any of them used the Shimon rings, or if they had yet to be uncovered. It had been an earthquake last time and Daemon's meddling, but… Either way, he wouldn't mind being friendly with Enma again, though it was nothing approaching a priority.

At least the young man looked a lot happier this go around.

Reborn signaled that it was time, so Tsuna started for the door into the hall, his guardians covering his sides and back. He walked that carpeted path to where the old man was standing and came to a stop.

'Blah blah blah, ceremony, big words, no one gives a damn except the ones who'd prefer to assassinate us…' The serene smile on his face remained firmly in place as he accepted what was being paraded as the Vongola Sin.

That was quickly shuffled into a pocket (the box was small enough to fit, though it did muddle the line of his jacket a bit, and which everyone assumed Mukuro smoothed over with flames) to get it out of the way. The real thing was already stashed away at the Iron Fort, hidden by an anchored Bounding Box.

Tsuna nearly grinned when he spotted Talbot in a shadowy corner (a quite difficult feat considering the sheer number of windows to be had) of the hall. Timoteo paraded Tsuna around the room, introducing him to various high rollers in the underworld, and when he was finally left to his own devices, Tsuna drifted over to Talbot.

Daemon appeared out of thin air, seemingly.

Talbot looked at the two and his mouth twisted, making something truly horrific of the myriad wrinkles he was sporting, and seemed to sigh. "I would apologize, but…"

"Ah, one of those," Tsuna said. "So you do have something. Maybe not white, but…"

"So what was it, exactly, you were hunting?"

Tsuna smiled. "I doubt this is the time or place. Perhaps we could meet later, away from all this pomp? If your workshop is in the same place, we could meet you there, or perhaps a neutral location, in Rome. I'm going to assume you won't be quite so boom happy this time."

"I think that would be a fi—"

"Tsunayoshi-kun, I see you have met Talbot," Timoteo said, coming over to be a busy-body.

"Yes," he replied. "I was curious about a man who seemed to be even older than you, Teo-jiji." If the old man was going to insist on being inappropriately familiar, well, Tsuna knew how to play that game, too.

Timoteo got the most hilarious pinched look for a moment before his expression smoothed back out into its usual kindly old fart setting.

A spark of amusement kindled on Talbot's face before it was covered. He handed a card to Tsuna and smiled. "Give me a call sometime, young man."

"Will do. It was a pleasure to meet you, Talbot-san. Let's mingle some more, Yeul."

"Of course, darling."

That pinched look came back, but they ignored it and wandered off.

. . .

The old man's office at the Iron Fort was a familiar and unwelcome sight. Tsuna was immediately annoyed that the seats for visitors were lower than those of Timoteo and his guardians. A valid psychological tactic, but not one recommended to be used on your heir.

That being so, Tsuna remained standing.

Timoteo frowned slightly and waved at the seats. "Please, be seated."

"No thank you," he replied. "I'd rather not have you looking down on me. Sets a bad precedent."

Timoteo looked startled, which Tsuna found mildly insulting.

"And booster seats would be as bad or worse," he added. "Perhaps we can have this meeting once you've rectified the insult." Tsuna sailed out with his people.

. . .

"What is going on?"

Tsuna looked at Reborn. The chibi's eyes were the usual cold, black sea that took but did not give, but Tsuna was experienced enough to see the stress, confusion, and uncertainty.

"Such an open-ended question," he replied. "See, the problem I have with you, Ren, is that I'm not sure where your loyalty lies. I don't know if you'd sell me out. After all, you're contracted to the Vongola, but you are not Vongola. You don't like to be chained down, which is understandable, and I doubt there are many people you could genuinely trust.

"You came to teach me, expecting one thing and getting something so different. You've been amazingly patient, I'll give you that. I suppose in that light you've proven to be fairly trustworthy. But without knowing whether answers will see you trotting off to share with the old man or the tainted sack of wind…" He shrugged.

Reborn stared, his lips pursed, then he said, "My primary loyalty is always to myself. You and I have not made any kind of contract."

Tsuna grinned. "I like the precision of your thought processes at times. No, you and I have not. You are under contract to the old man, and I have no reason to trust him. Even if you were under contract to the Vongola generically, it wouldn't matter, since I'm not the one in charge—not that I think you'd ever be so stupid as to agree to a contract like that. So, it boils down to who you think is more trustworthy and more worthy of your trust, Ren. When you have that figured out, we can talk about this again."

. . .

After giving Reborn the slip, he, Daemon, and Xeul stepped Between to just outside Talbot's workshop. A wisp was sent forward to knock on the door, just in case. Talbot had seemed a bit chagrined, but…

The door opened, Talbot peeked out, and then the man waved them forward and into the structure.

"So what was your purpose?" Talbot asked, seeming to look at Daemon specifically.

Tsuna had started to suspect the old man could "see" flames or souls or something with a supernatural sense that was not, in itself, connected to a flame of dying will.

"To uncover information on behalf of my brother."

Talbot turned his "gaze" on Tsuna. "For what purpose?"

"Rendering the Arcobaleno Curse moot," he said. "The most I've worked out so far is based on something you once said, which is that accelerated flames are amplified. If the pacifiers feed off their hosts—in a far more detrimental way than the Vongola or Mare rings—then perhaps we could come up with an alternative, using something like a particle accelerator to amplify the flames in new containers of some kind. But that also raised the question of just what Flames of Night are."

"The changeover kills," Talbot stated, with just enough of a questioning lilt to make it clear he was unsure.

"Sounds like you never paid that much attention," he said, "but yes, with certain exceptions."

"The Vindice."

"Yes. We've come to the conclusion that Bermuda is the first, patient zero, if you will. Something caused him to manifest the Flames of Night in the moments between being, uh, relieved of his burden, and his death. And that he is the source of flames for all subsequent Vindice, that he recharges them, has taught them the techniques he developed…"

Talbot's demeanor turned thoughtful at that. "I could work on containers that would be similar to the pacifiers. It's been a long time since I've had something interesting to challenge me. I can also look into particle accelerators, to ensure I understand their function and purpose."

Tsuna nodded. "The last one I looked into was the Tevatron, but that's a bit out of reach. I couldn't guess what size one would need to be to be of use for this. I am not a scientist, and there was only so much I could get out of Verde without cluing him in to who I was and what I was after."

"Unfortunately, they…" Talbot trailed off with a downcast look.

"I figured as much. I'm just sorry I had to leave so abruptly. It remains to be seen how long I manage to stay here." He handed over a card with the number of one of his private phones, the lettering infused with his flames so that Talbot could theoretically "read" it, plus an email address. He turned to go, but was stopped by a touch to his arm. "What is it?"

"I was wondering if you realized."

His brow went up.

"There was a very good chance you were a Gesso last time."

His eyes went wide.

. . .

Back at their "wing" of the Iron Fort, Daemon cackled in amusement at the still shell-shocked look on Tsuna's face. "I'll talk you down if you suddenly develop a craving for marshmallows," he promised.

Tsuna snapped out of it to scowl at his oldest friend. "Jerk."

Daemon cackled again.

"We have a meeting in fifteen minutes," Chikusa reminded him.

"Oh, right," he said flatly. "Let's get ready."

Timoteo had decided not to rectify the chair situation in his office, so shortly thereafter they were in one of the conference rooms. They were waved into seats. Once they were seated Timoteo said, "Tsunayoshi-kun, thank you for coming. It was not necessary for you to bring all of your guardians, but that is fine."

His brow went up. "That's interesting," he said. "Why would I not bring them? After all, they are the people I trust with my life."

Timoteo simply smiled a kindly old smile, the one that was about as genuine as the "leather" seats in a cheap car. "I wanted to begin introducing you to how Vongola is run."

"Oh? Can't imagine it's all that different than back home. You know, like what Oracle says."

Timoteo stared at him hard. "And how would you have any knowledge of that?"

Tsuna shot him a look like the man was senile, delusional, and probably incontinent. "Uh, hello? It's not like we had a yakuza family right there in Namimori who took an interest when assassins kept coming after me or anything, or thought I was the cutest little thing and needed protection and training. Because sure, my knowledge of organized crime was exactly nil before Reborn showed up. And sure, they weren't the reason why I knew exactly who I was before Reborn arrived to 'teach' me about my exciting new life and career opportunity. Why wouldn't I know about Oracle? I wasn't about to send reports using my own name, now was I? And look where we are now."

Tsuna swept his hand out to indicate the setting. "All the warnings, ignored. I probably know better than you do at this point how Vongola is run, and exactly what's wrong with it. I expect Giotto would be more than a little dismayed at what his vigilante group became once Ricardo got his hands on it. Now, if you're willing to set aside the kindly old grandfather persona that's fooling exactly no one, shall we get on with this?"

It took a good thirty seconds for Timoteo's guardians to get pissy over the perceived disrespect and start complaining or making somewhat subtle threats.

Tsuna just sat there with an expression meant to convey, "Seriously? You have squabbling toddlers for guardians?" Then he got up and walked out, followed by his conspicuously silent guardians.

Back in their "wing" they flopped into available seats and snorted, snickered, or laughed.

"I'm almost wondering how long it takes until one of those idiots tries to off me for being an imposter," he said.

Even Hayato looked disgusted, and he was a total fanboy at times for Vongola.

. . .

Timoteo eventually got his guardians to stop acting out like toddlers against bath time or bed time and picked a place to begin. He and Tsuna went over the Iron Fort itself—protocols, hiring practices, who answered to whom, and all the other mind-numbingly boring stuff that went with the reams of paperwork every boss of every kind ever had to deal with.

Tsuna started coming to meetings with printouts of any relevant reports they'd compiled as Oracle to compare against the current state of affairs. After all, it was best to clear the trash out of home base before extending the net outward.

(There were a lot of rats in Vongola. Ottavio was hardly alone.)

They had nothing better to do than comb through Vongola departments, personnel, districts, and divisions, and then move on to CEDEF. By the time they had taken the equivalent of an electric paint stripper to everything and slapped in some glue and a fresh coat of paint, Timoteo decided that Tsuna was ready to take over.

Tsuna smiled his serene smile, nodded in an approximation of graciousness, and scowled the second the old man and his cronies were out the door and off to some Vongola retreat. "Fucking trash," he muttered.

"Do we finally get to fire the idiot?" Hayato asked.

"I'd love to," he said. "Who I'd replace him with… Oregano and Turmeric are both quite skilled, but they also think that the Tsow is a decent leader. Hm, you know what? Let's ask Xanxus. Mukuro, please send an inquiry to him."

"Certainly, darling." Mukuro promptly dashed off a letter in his remarkably elegant handwriting, got it ready for transport, then dropped it right in front of Xanxus via Between.

Tsuna didn't need to look personally to know that Xanxus had probably just thrown a glass or shot something to express his opinion of the action and what it implied. It was more annoying that it would take extra time to get a reply—well, unless Mukuro decided to keep an eye on things and snatch any response the second Xanxus was done writing it.

A knock at the office door saw Ken going to answer it. Reborn wandered in and hopped onto the back of a chair so he would not be at a height disadvantage and said, "At least you're in charge now."

"Feeling up to a renegotiation of that contract, Ren?" he asked, signaling for a proper chair for the Sun.

Xeul grabbed one, out of line of sight, from Between, and moved it into place while Chikusa headed over to the espresso machine to make some. None of them actually appreciated the stuff aside from Reborn, but it was only polite to have it available for him. If he did decide to leave and return to being fully neutral, the machine would get sent to one of the communal kitchens.

Reborn paused a moment at the show of respect, then switched perch for the seat and accepted an espresso. "Yes," he said, then had a sip. That he did not check it for poisons was a point in their favor.

He saw no reason to reveal (yet) that there were anchors in the room, installed without Timoteo's knowledge, that could be activated at a moment's notice to trap the occupants of the room in a Bounding Box.

Tsuna trusted Reborn, to a point, but he was a mystery to the Sun and that was dangerous.

"Now that I'm not in a position to have potentially divided loyalties, yes."

A serene smile slid into place, which cause Reborn's left eye to twitch in annoyance. "That bodes well. Flames aside, how much of the supernatural do you believe?"

Reborn's brow went up. "I believe in prescience, for one. The Hyper Intuition that crops up in the Vongola, for another."

"What about alternate dimensions?"

"…Someone I knew could see … possibilities," Reborn said, then took a sip of his drink. "I always wondered if they were glimpses of what will be, or what could be."

"I knew someone who could look … sideways," he replied. "Who could see those could bes and what might happens as they … flowered."

"…You've used knowledge from what was elsewhere here."

He nodded. "I know what you are. I know how you got there. And I know your eventual fate. I haven't lived that directly, but I've known you, many times. I've known you … Before. We have been tutor and student, parent and child, even friends. Never adversaries, though, to my knowledge. So, if I have your word not to break confidence on certain knowledge, I'll share what I know. I don't require loyalty, but I would prefer it. I don't require a contract, because I know you well enough to know your word can be trusted. You might call yourself the World's Greatest Hitman, but I know you as one of the world's greatest teachers and healers."

Reborn sat back and sipped his drink. "You have my word that your secrets will remain yours to tell."

"Thank you, Renato Sinclair," he said, enjoying very much when Reborn's eye twitched again. "So. I am a Sky, a Cloud, a Mist, and an Earth. I am usually a Vongola, but I have been a Gesso at least once. I have lived ten lives already. This is my eleventh. The oldest I have ever been is twenty-four. In my last life, I knew you and your comrades, bar one, prior to your … cursed status."

He turned to Daemon and said, "You know, I wonder what would happen if I opened a window to one of the earlier lives and tracked down Reborn for Ren to chat with."

Daemon cackled in amusement. "You are the only one who can do that, Heul. No matter how hard we try, we just can't get the hang of it."

He shrugged. "I'll try it in a minute," he said, then looked back at Reborn. "Yeul is Daemon Spade. Xeul is Daemon Spade."

Reborn blinked.

"Yeul I met two lives ago. I started early, tracking him down, because I'd only just learned of him the time before that. We became allies. And when I died, as I always do, he jumped bodies."

"I was curious to see what would happen," Daemon said cheerfully. "And I managed to come with. We seem to be linked now."

"That was the life where you stole my body?" Mukuro asked.

"Well, you were an almost perfect choice for a host, darling."

Mukuro rolled his eyes.

"Unfortunately we died early last go around and were unable to contact the native Daemon. But we managed this time, hence Xeul."

"We found two children, twins, in a persistent vegetative state from brain injury. We were lucky they were dual flames," Xeul said, "though that would not have prevented us from filling any position in Tsuna's coterie. Mists are funny that way."

"And you harmonized," Reborn stated.

Tsuna nodded. "I was trying to last time around. I wanted to save you guys. But we were caught in an ambush and died. This life is the first life I've ever managed to harmonize with someone."

"Save us?" Reborn looked rightly skeptical.

"Fuck yeah. You've generally been more of a father to me in my lives—where I've known you, that is—than the Tsow ever was, and I've been friendly with most of you guys. Why wouldn't I want to figure out how to save you? As it is, we have most of the puzzle pieces, and Talbot is actively helping us this time. One of the goals I've had since I learned more about the Tri-ni-set is to find a way to end the curse, especially after I pissed off Checkers badly enough that he came personally to monologue at me and quite literally frighten me to death. Too bad I had no idea how to reach across back then, or I'd have opened a window to see his reaction when he learned he'd just killed the last living bloodline Vongola."

Reborn nodded, had a sip of his espresso, and said, "Windows."

"Mm. Hang on a second. Let me try something." He pulled a pane from storage and positioned it on the edge, allowing Reborn to see what he was doing, even if the man wouldn't likely understand how he was doing it. The first place he looked was Mafia Land's backstage area, to see if he could catch Colonnello at work.

He was lucky in that the Rain Arcobaleno was putting some unfortunate souls through the wringer with his obstacle course. "Daemon, if you would…?"

"Of course, darling." Daemon used the window as a portal for his own Mist Flames, to twist Colonnello's perception into thinking Reborn had shown up.

"What are you doing here, kora!?" Colonnello said in surprise. "I thought you were with your student."

"Reborn" answered that by shooting a bullet from "Leon" before saying, "Just checking something. I was never here," then vanishing.

Tsuna hummed. "It's probably the wrong time for Dino, so…" He reoriented the pane to look in on the Iron Fort, and nearly laughed. His Vongola counterpart had been born and suckered into taking over. Reborn was perched nearby in a hammock, reading a book, while that Tsuna was swamped in paperwork and looking particularly harried.

"Daemon, shoot him a his-eyes-only message, and remember to call him Ki-san. I want to be able to ungloss the window, but he needs to be alone for that."

Daemon nodded, and employed his flames through the portal again.

Reborn went deadly still for a moment as the words on the page of his book writhed and reformed to read: Ki-san~! I would speak with you if you are willing. I have missed you greatly, and I expect you have greatly missed my cooking and my collection of antiques. It's been ages since you've had a chance to flirt with me~!

Both Reborns scowled, and the one on the other side snapped his book shut, tucked it away, then dropped to the floor to vanish out the door.

To Ren he said, "Ki-san knew me as a Cloud and Mist, but not a Sky, as far as I know."

When Reborn finally reached his rooms and secured himself inside, Tsuna swapped in a new, much larger pane and left the other side unglossed.

"Ki-san~!" he called, smiling serenely when Reborn's head snapped around toward the sound. "Sorry I had to leave so abruptly, but that happens when you walk into an ambush and your intuition doesn't kick in fast enough to avoid getting blown into little pieces."

As a gift and to be a troll, he pulled an antique gun from his stash and dropped it in front of Reborn.

"A gift, Ki-san~! Also! Please meet an old friend and some new ones."

Daemon (wearing his other appearance) lifted a hand in greeting.

"The most important of which," he said, turning to look at Ren for a moment, "is yourself."

Ren and Reborn stared at each other intently.

"What the fuck, Heul," Reborn said flatly.

"I had no idea you knew how to swear," he teased. "Okay, trolling aside, I was trying to prove something to your counterpart, mainly that I am not delusional and better incarcerated in the nearest insane asylum."

"So you're some kind of dimensional traveler. And you faked having no idea who I was."

Tsuna shrugged. "Sort of. More like I jump dimensions each time I die, usually back to when I turn five. And when I met you, I did not immediately recognize you. I had only before encountered you in the form you have now. Same with Colonnello, Verde, and so forth. Your Tsuna reminds me of a version of me from way the hell back. He must be a real hoot to, ah, tutor. I'm guessing he didn't manage to avoid being sealed, and therefore was or is crippled to some degree."

Reborn's brow went up, but he nodded. "He was. I notice you've picked up the Kokuyo group."

"Mm. We rescued them when I was five. They found us when I was ten. Mukuro is like a dog with a bone at times, but he, Ken, and Chikusa are incredibly loyal and worthy of trust, not to mention skilled. I'd have been a fool worse than my idiot of a father or Teo-jiji not to take them in, keep them safe, and train them, to give them the best chance at a life where they weren't the ones being pushed around."

Reborn nodded. "At least now I know what happened to you. I miss Sam—" He rolled his eyes. "Now the name makes sense."

Tsuna chortled in amusement. "Are you all right with me occasionally checking in, Ki-san? One of the things I've been working on for years is breaking the curse. If I finally figure it out, I assume you'd like to know."

Reborn rolled his eyes again. "Yes."

"Excellent. I wish you luck with my counterpart. And I'll be in touch."

Reborn raised a hand in a quasi-salute, then headed back out, presumably to return to his Tsuna.

Tsuna stashed both panes and sighed. "I really miss him. He was a lot of fun. Have we heard anything from Talbot?"

Chikusa shook his head. "The last thing he said was he's still working on new containers. He's having trouble with the material."

He nodded. "Are you a fan of antique guns, too?" he asked Ren. "Because I've acquired rather a lot of them. I've learned a fair number of skills, you see."

"Yes. What puzzle pieces do you have?"

"Oh, good. I'll have to get some out of storage and see if you'd like any," he replied. "The curse is a cyclical thing. Checkers said—because villains like to monologue when they're about to kill you, thinking that giving away information won't come back to bite them—that the Vongola and Mare rings were two parts, the pacifiers the third. There's a poem or song about it all. The Arcobaleno can only serve for so long before the pacifiers have leeched too much from their bearers for them to continue living.

"At that point, when it's drawing close, he choses a new set of sacrifices. The Sky is usually from Giglio Nero, which makes me wonder if the original leader was the same as Checkers. I wonder at times if Talbot is, too. But anyway, it's about the balance of the world. When it comes to the pacifiers, though…

"Flames, accelerated enough, amplify in power. I asked Verde that day about particle accelerators, wondering if they could create that effect with flames. Something like new containers for the seven flames, primed, and amplified, without needing to sacrifice our best every half century or so. There's also some question about Flames of Night, because Bermuda was an Arcobaleno, and he's now Vindice, possibly the very first."

Daemon snorted and waved his hand. "Let me explain. You suck at this, Heul."

He blew a flat raspberry at his friend and reached over to grab a soft drink from his office fridge. He cracked it open and sat back as Daemon started in, with far more verbal precision, to explain what the hell they had uncovered so far.

Hayato answered a knock at the door, accepted something, and closed it again before wandering over to present a letter to Tsuna. He smiled in thanks and did a quick check for anything off, then opened it and began to read.

His eyes went a little wide when he saw that Xanxus mentioned Jace and Leto as possible candidates for External Advisor. If they were anything like the ones he had worked with back in his Varia life, either one would probably be good.

"You know them?" Mukuro asked.

"Yes. I've worked with both. They were good, the ones I knew. I doubt Xanxus would bother mentioning them if they sucked. It would reflect badly on Vongola to troll me with castoffs and leavings."

"Bring them in for interviews?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Please do."

Xeul leaned closer and said, "I can always have a little peek when they're here."

He nodded again. "My intuition will say a lot, but having a second opinion isn't a bad idea. I've never been as good at poking around inside people's minds as you have. I'd rather not have another accident."

Xeul snickered and Mukuro was right there with him. Even Daemon left off his explanation to laugh at him.

"Yeah, yeah. You did only give me the barest of details as a starting explanation. Not my fault people's brains can liquefy or their heads explode from an inexpert application of flames."

Reborn stared at him for a shade too long. As he turned away Tsuna caught the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement.

. . .

The Jace and Leto he got to interview were similar to the ones he'd known, but that didn't entirely surprise him. After speaking with each of them, asking questions about how they would handle the role of External Advisor and the personnel under them, he thanked Jace for his time and interest, but made the offer to Leto.

Leto of that time had struck him as being amazingly level-headed and calm for a Lightning, and he was very observant. This one seemed much the same and Tsuna's intuition wasn't against the idea. What the hell, right? He had to be better than the Tsow.

"Reborn," he said, "would you be willing to help pave the way on this one? Coordinate with Lal in getting the Tsow's stuff packed up without him being aware so he can more easily be booted out? She can change all the codes and passwords, but maybe you could figure out a distraction?"

Reborn nodded. "I'd love to," he said, a toothy smile appearing. "If it's timed right, you could then call him here, and he'd never even realize he's already been locked out when you fire him."

"Cool. Let me write up an official order for you to take with you, so Lal has little to argue against should she be so inclined."

"Doubtful," Reborn replied. "She often threatens to strangle him and accuses him of being incompetent. She might feel the odd twinge when it comes to ingrained loyalty to the established chain of command, but common sense will win out over that."

"Because CEDEF operates mostly independently, but the EA is still appointed by the don," he said, scratching his forehead. He could tell Reborn was itching to smack his hand and lecture him on appropriate behavior for a mafia boss. "Yeah, let me write that up. Soon as we're good to go, I'll get Leto ready, to take over the morning after. I don't doubt Lal can teach him quite a bit. I'll also have to write a letter to Xanxus, to thank him."

. . .

"What?"

The Tsow had a hilariously stupid look of confusion on his face, and Tsuna's inner troll frolicked in a field of flowers basking in the sun at the sight of it.

"Your services are no longer required," he obligingly repeated.

"But—"

"You were Teo-jiji's External Advisor. I've come to a decision on mine, and it's not you," he helpfully clarified. "I barely know you and have no intention of bothering, and I sure as hell don't trust you to advise me on so much as how to break a rotting stick. You're being let go, so perhaps now you can retire and spend more time with your wife. I'm sure she misses you."

"But—"

"Are you hard of hearing, by chance? Or experiencing issues with comprehension?" he asked solicitously. "Now, if you don't mind, I do have a lot of work to take care of. Having to repeat myself is simply wasting valuable time."

Daemon and Xeul jumped in to smoothly usher Iemitsu out—and probably fuck with his brains to ensure he left the Iron Fort.

'Maybe I should have asked them to plant a few compulsions?' he wondered, then shrugged. 'I still could.' He jotted down a quick note on a piece of scratch paper so he wouldn't forget.

. . .

They were relaxing in their communal sitting room watching movies when Tsuna's phone rang like a ship's bell. He quietly slipped his phone out so he could see who had emailed which account. "Pause that, please!" he said, then, when it went quiet, "Talbot sent an email. He thinks he's come up with a solution for the containers. He's setting up a test and wants help with priming it. Since we have four Mists, that would be the best option, I think."

"When?" Reborn asked.

"Any time," he replied. "We'll go over my schedule in the morning, find a time, and set it up. He'd also like to at least try to examine your pacifier, Ren, in comparison to what he's come up with."

Reborn nodded.

Tsuna shot back a quick response, and then they got back to watching the movie.

A week later they had gathered at Talbot's workshop, having stepped or been dragged through Between by one of the Mists, mainly to save time. The Mists had collaborated to leave a Bounding Box over the Iron Fort for the duration of their absence, though it was something Tsuna was considering as a permanent sort of protection in the near future.

They had the ability and motive to add further protections to their headquarters, so why would they fail to do so? It would not last beyond their deaths, but in theory, they could teach it to the next generation. Of course, that would mean Tsuna would have to find a woman to marry and have children with—not something he had any real interest in, but more of a necessary evil, and just another heart to wound when he inevitably died and moved on.

"Welcome," Talbot said as he ushered them into his workshop and out the back, to a large fenced in yard—more like a field, really—and gestured at a mechanical contraption that Tsuna assumed was a particle accelerator, though different in looks to the one he had once investigated, and assuredly much smaller.

The mafia was generally a decade ahead of the civilians, if only because they scoffed at the normal notions of law, so he expected that Talbot had taken available examples and ramped things up considerably. It would be the sensible thing to do, after all.

"Now that we are gathered, we can test out this theory. I assume we shall be using Mist?"

Tsuna nodded. "We could try Sun in theory, but I'd rather not tamper with that leech Reborn has right out of the gate. Better to wait until we know our theory is sound, and then attract the attention of the master manipulator and get him to see reason."

"Quite right," Talbot said with a nod. "So, this container is where you will be focusing the Mist Flames. Spare as much as you can afford to prime this. I imagine a bit of propagation would not go amiss, either. As soon as you start filling the container, I will turn on the device, and we shall see what comes of it."

"Question!" Chikusa called out.

"Yes?"

"If the flames are being accelerated, would they accelerate right out of the container?"

"Ah, no. In this case, the material I used is permeable from the outside, but not the inside, rather like how a one-way mirror is employed. Light passes through one side, but is bounced off the other."

They all accepted that as at least being plausible and shrugged.

"Whenever you're ready."

Tsuna looked at his fellow Mists, then turned to the container and began to pump it full of Cloud-propagated Mist Flames, smiling faintly as his friends did the same.

Talbot reached over to flip a switch. There was no immediate reaction that could be discerned, but thirty seconds later the wizened old man said, "Stop priming it. Let us see if this test has produced viable results."

They stepped back to observe the flames shifting around inside the container, but Talbot moved over to Reborn and gestured toward the pacifier.

"Go ahead."

Tsuna spared a glance for that, but quickly resumed watching the experiment. So far, the flames inside had not diminished in the least, as one would expect after being set free of one's body with no particular direction, or command, or purpose. The particle accelerator seemed to be both amplifying them and sending them in a similar circular path as the mechanical pathways of the machine.

He did notice when he looked again that Talbot appeared to be comparing the pacifier to the container with whatever passed for sight for him during the next few minutes, but eventually the old man said, "All right. Let us leave this to itself. I will inform you once I have come to any conclusions."

Tsuna nodded, though Hayato was quick to voice agreement verbally to the idea. They returned to the Iron Fort via Between, and he smiled when Mukuro said, "Shall we take it in shifts?"

"Yes. I don't expect Talbot would flat out lie, but I'd rather have the eyes of people I trust beyond doubt to also be watching. Work out a schedule so we can have eyes on it at all times. I can probably do a shift while I'm in my office handling paperwork. It's the overnight hours that concern me more."

"I'm thinking shifts of 9 to 3 and 3 to 9," Hayato said. "That would give you the 9 to 3 shift here in your office, Tsuna."

He nodded. "All right, back to paperwork, then." He got started on that while Mukuro, Daemon, and Xeul figured out who would be taking what shift.

. . .

Two weeks later they had come to the conclusion that the experiment was working, but not quite well enough. Flame was being lost over time from the container, which was probably an issue with the materials used. True, the system would likely last a long time, but it was not perpetual, as the amplification gain was not covering the leak.

Talbot had clearly come to the same conclusion, as he sent a message that he would be creating a new test container so they could try again.

Tsuna nearly laughed when Mammon showed up one day in a right pother. The Mist had clearly been snooping around in their capacity as the World's Greatest Information Broker and had cottoned on to the tests Vongola was running with Talbot.

"Why was I not informed?" Mammon demanded.

"Do you honestly think I would offer information freely to a known miser who charges everyone for anything?" he countered.

"I could be helping!"

"And have you attempt to charge me for that help?"

Mammon snarled.

"There is also the consideration that we have been testing with Mist. Having you directly involved could, potentially, be beneficial. But it could also, potentially, be detrimental, to you directly. I am not about to deprive the Varia of its most effective Mist. Now, if we were testing a different flame, a flame you could also produce, your assistance would be welcome. But, given that this is being done for the benefit of the Arcobaleno as a whole, and for any who might stand to follow, you should not expect anything in the way of compensation aside from freedom from the curse itself."

Mammon's tiny hands clenched into tiny fists at the idea (presumably) of not somehow gaining a heap of gold for any assistance, but quickly relaxed when Tsuna arched a brow at them.

"When the time comes that we are as certain as we can be that this will work for all seven flames, you would have been contacted anyway. All of you would. I expect you'll need to be present in order to effect a release."

"How do you plan to gain Checker Face's attention?" Mammon asked, a mite more subdued in tone.

"By being obnoxious. By being blatant. Putting adverts in the papers. Writing messages in the sky. Whatever it takes to get his checkered ass to come talk to us. I'll be damned before I let Reborn suffer one moment longer than he has to under this curse. Hm, hold on a moment, please," he said, then shot off a quick message to Talbot. He got back an affirmative, so he had Ken ask everyone to assemble for a short trip.

He was not about to give Mammon the secret to how they traveled, but he was willing to take the Varia Mist along with them to speak to their collaborator. Daemon and Xeul activated the Bounding Box behind Mammon's back before they all stepped through Between and emerged outside Talbot's workshop.

A wisp was sent forward to knock, and they were shortly in the building and out the other side, where Talbot had reset things with a new container to test.

"Same as before, if you will. Prime that until I say to back off. But not the short one," Talbot said. "I've no idea yet what would happen if they got directly involved so early in."

"Right," he said, stepping forward along with Mukuro, Daemon, and Xeul. "Go."

Talbot flipped the switch again and, thirty seconds later, asked them to stop. "Good. We shall just have to keep an eye it again, to see if it leaks this time. With the change in the composition of the container I hope not, but we shall see. Or sense, as the case may be."

Tsuna chuckled softly. "All right. Thank you, Talbot. We'll be in touch."

"Of course. Now off with you. I'm of a mind to have something to eat."

Mammon took off under their own power once back at the Iron Fort, though Tsuna wondered if they would alert any of the other Arcobaleno. Probably not, unless they could convince the others to pony up a fair bit of money for the information.

"Same as before, I assume," Mukuro said.

He nodded. "Might as well. We know he didn't try to pull a fast one, but it can't hurt to have extra eyes watching for any anomalies. I'll take 9 to 3 again. Ren, I'm going to update your counterpart. Would you like to stay?"

Reborn nodded and perched in a hammock that was attached to the wall behind Tsuna's desk.

Tsuna brought a pane to bear and hunted around for that Reborn, luckily finding him in his rooms. Thusly, he moved the larger pane into position and left the other side unglossed. "Ki-san~!"

Reborn's head snapped up, the book he was holding being flipped over to rest on his lap. "Heul."

"We're getting closer. We've already run one partly successful test and have just started the second one. If this one pans out—the materials for the container had to be changed—we'll see about finding a place for all of this to happen."

"Do you think you can slip it under the radar?"

He hummed thoughtfully. "I was considering, however tentatively, asking the Vindice to guard everything. I don't doubt Bermuda would love to have this under his watch, as a form of revenge if nothing else. If we could manage to free everyone without having to get Checkers involved…"

"What about a power source?" Ren asked.

Reborn pursed his lips. "In that location? Geothermal power might work."

"Once we get a successful test I can send an envoy to the Vindice, after I make sure Talbot won't flip out on me for inviting them to come see. If they could provide the location and the protection, I could front the cost of the machinery to keep things powered," he said. "Kami knows I've got enough gold to last a dozen lifetimes."

Ren snorted at the near pun.

"At any rate, I just wanted to update you. And see your adorable self again, Ki-san."

Reborn rolled his eyes. "Of course, Heul. I look forward to you sharing schematics with me, and an end to this unpleasantness."

"When that happens, be sure to thank Verde for me. He was quite helpful, even if I had to conceal what I was really after at the time."

"Speaking of that…" Reborn trailed off, looking conflicted. "I have to assume you said nothing so as not to get yourself killed, our minds tampered with…"

He nodded. "And besides, I hadn't built up enough trust with you and the others. I'm just pleased I did think to try to reach between dimensions. At least now I know I can help not only here, but elsewhere. Actually, how conversant are you with Byakuran Gesso?"

Reborn shrugged. "He's more than a little off, but… I haven't met him directly."

He hummed. "I suspect, though I could be wrong, that the only reason I can do this, speak to you, is because last go around I showed up a good two decades early and in a different family, even if I wasn't aware of it at the time. I fear that if I tried to reach back to earlier dimensions…"

Reborn's gaze shuttered.

"Yeah," he said unhappily. "Besides, I wouldn't know anyone, most likely, depending on what year it ended up being when I looked. Byakuran, on the other hand, might be able to spread the knowledge far wider than I could, once we have it figured out, to himself or to people with the same ability. Gesso or Giglio Nero."

"How long…?"

"I'm somewhere around one hundred thirty at this point, so to reach back to my original life… I don't think that would work. Well, unless I get shunted sideways and back, in which case it might. I'll have to check. Still, I imagine Byakuran and others with that power would do a far better job disseminating the information."

"I'll start poking around," Reborn said.

"Cool. Anything you'd like to have for the next time? A nice cheesecake, perhaps?"

Reborn scowled. "How about that cake, with the raspberries. Or the brownies. Or both."

Tsuna grinned. "Because I like you, Ki-san, sure~!"

"And make some for my counterpart. If he's anything like me, he'll love them, too."

. . .

The second test seemed to be going much better. In and around the usual incidents were idiots attempting to encroach on Vongola territory (and which were promptly squashed, and generally with extreme prejudice), their observation of the experiment appeared to show that there was no loss, or at least, not a loss that wasn't matched by the amplification.

CEDEF had been doing much better since Leto took over as the External Advisor and head, though Lal probably had a lot to do with that. He honestly had to wonder if Timoteo had curious blind spots or bouts of senility for Iemitsu to have ever ended up in a position of leadership. Having Sky Flames did not automatically mean the person was a born leader, clearly.

Hell, Dino had proven that before Reborn got his hands on the poor man.

"We've received word from the Vindice," Xeul informed him.

"Oh?"

"They are willing to at least listen. They've provided a number to text. We send the right phrase and they'll appear, ready to see and talk. And—" Xeul kept going before his boss could say what he knew was coming. "—I already let Talbot know we'd be stopping by. The others are assembling here shortly."

Tsuna nodded and started tidying his desk. If Reborn didn't see the unfinished paperwork, he had no excuse to get on Tsuna's case about it. It was a polite fiction they had nonverbally agreed to honor so long as Tsuna regularly "just so happened" to have personally made sweets to share with the chibi.

Shortly thereafter they were back at the device, which was holding up exceptionally well that time around. Once Talbot gave the go-ahead, Xeul texted the Vindice, and they appeared out of one of those portals of theirs.

Specifically, Bermuda and Jager.

Talbot opened up the explanation, saving Tsuna the trouble of pretending he understood things well enough to be the one. Once that was over with Tsuna said, "We have discussed the possibility of the Vindice allowing us to use a sub-level for this. No one with any sense whatsoever wants to piss off the Vindice, so it's one of the safest places on the planet for this. Toss in a geothermal plant of sufficient size to keep the particle accelerator going, and we're golden. In theory."

Bermuda's head slowly went from the experiment to Tsuna. "We're in. We shall prepare a sub-level, with space large enough to hold seven of these containers plus the apparatus, with room to spare. As for a power source…" The chibi paused, shifting restlessly on Jager's shoulder. "There are steam vents in the lowest level, which suggests a source deep enough to provide the necessary heat. I will get back to you with specifics on that area."

Tsuna nodded. "All right. Soon as I have that I can start sourcing a solution and seeing what kind of cash I need to pull from my reserves to pay for it."

"The Arcobaleno should be the ones paying for it," Bermuda observed.

Tsuna shrugged. "Probably, but not everyone pulls in the kind of cash I do from savvy investments."

Daemon's hand came up suddenly to cover his mouth as he turned away.

"I'm already paying for the containers and particle accelerator. What's a geothermal power plant in comparison. If it means nobody else gets fucked over by Checkers it's well worth it."

Bermuda flipped his hand as if to say, "Whatever," and nodded.

"I look forward to hearing from you."

Bermuda nodded again, and then vanished through a new portal with Jager.

"That went well."

. . .

"We have a problem," Daemon said.

He eyed his friend, one brow going up.

"We can't hold a meeting here of the Arcobaleno so long as Skull is contracted to Carcassa. They're on the wrong side. So either we have to secure his freedom, or hold the meeting elsewhere."

He nodded thoughtfully, thumbing his lower lip, and taking a long look around the room. "They piss me off, Yeul. It would be an amazing coincidence if they were to make the mistake of trying to attack Vongola."

Daemon smirked and quit the room.

It took a month (the Carcassa apparently had quite thick heads), but Skull was successfully liberated (read: claimed as reparations) from his famiglia after they were stupid enough (read: Daemon mind-fucked their leader) to launch an all-out assault on Vongola territory, and subsequently subjected to a brutal beat-down that had them scampering back home like whipped puppies.

Skull was promptly given a suite at the Iron Fort and told to behave himself. Tsuna may or may not have bribed him with a cheesecake, cannoli, and raspberry compote.

Reborn sent out invitations to the other Arcobaleno, and within a fortnight they were having a meeting in one of the conference rooms (Arcobaleno-sized chairs had been specially made for the occasion).

"What the hell is this about?" Verde said rudely. He looked vaguely like a raccoon with the shadows under his eyes, suggesting that he had not slept well of late, or possibly been too involved in experiments to remember such plebeian needs as sleep, food, or basic hygiene.

Tsuna smiled serenely and served oolong and various baked goods, though he did speak an admonition of, "Manners, please," as he gave Verde a love tap on his way by that slammed the chibi's face into the table.

"We have done extensive testing," he said once he was seated again, "regarding a solution—a cure, perhaps?—for the Arcobaleno Curse."

Various baked goods tumbled out of various small hands at that pronouncement.

(And yes, various Mists were capturing all of it on film for later blackmail or mocking purposes.)

"This has been a joint venture between me, my guardians, and Talbot. Our Mists have been the ones to do the initial testing, partly due to how many we have, and partly because I did not wish to risk Reborn's health or life. The Vindice have agreed to house and protect the results, which means we will all have to go there. I am personally funding all of this out my own money, not Vongola's. If anyone feels like chipping in, cool. If not, consider it a gift for your service to the world.

"Talbot had devised the new containers to replace the pacifiers and used my thoughts on particle accelerators to amplify the flames we'll have to donate in order to keep the system properly fed. The biggest question at this point is whether or not we attempt to involve Checkers. Talbot isn't sure if we could do this without him. There's probably some mystical whatsihoozits involved." He spread his hands out briefly to invite comment and sat back.

After a brief, shocked pause a cacophony of sound broke out as various small people started talking across each other and arguing.

. . .

They were all standing around the installation at Vendicare, having come to check everything over before Tsuna started his campaign of obnoxiousness to get the attention of Checkers. Naturally, that was when Wonomichi appeared.

(Checkers clearly had some form of teleportation available to him to be able to insert an agent into the heart of Vendicare.)

Reborn had warned him of the dream, so Tsuna knew their time was fast drawing to a close. If they did not finish this soon, the Arcobaleno would be dead, and Tsuna stood a damn good chance of being the next Sky Arcobaleno. He had always wondered about that, when the thought occurred to him, that is. Yuni had been dragged through time by Aria.

The Yuni of the Future That Never Was was right around ten years old, and the time-displaced Ieyoshi had gone forward not quite ten years. Yuni was either barely ready to be born, or had just been born. He never had been able to determine which, because he had not been paying attention to Giglio Nero that closely.

Either way, Yuni had been dragged through time to take Aria's place. So not only did Aria die, but the Yuni who belonged disappeared. It was a bit like murder, infanticide, with a side of suicide. It repulsed him and made him look upon the deceased Aria with some measure of contempt, despite understanding her motivation.

"I am the planner of the Representative Battle of the Rainbow," the outsider stated, the smile on his face saying that the man was clueless and didn't care. "I'm here to explain to you the details of the Representative Battle of the Rainbow." He giggled; the sound of it was off, discordant.

Tsuna's brow went up as he waited for the idiot to realize all eight Arcobaleno were in the room.

"I am Wonomichi, messenger … of…" The man stopped, the smile on his face never wavering, as he finally registered the setting. "Hahaha, this is strange."

"Yeah, strange," Tsuna said dryly. "Get Checkers in here, lackey. We have a proposal."

"…Lackey?" Wonomichi giggled again.

"Yes. You clearly don't have the first clue of the truth of this situation, and you're useless to anyone except as a messenger. So you go tell Checkers that no one here is going to play his game and make themselves stand out as candidates for the new generation of Arcobaleno, not when we have a solution that doesn't involve sacrificing yet more of our best to his lazy-ass plan. He can be a bigoted asshole on his own time."

Wonomichi giggled again, clearly clueless as to how to react.

"Kami-sama, this guy is just…" Tsuna shook his head wearily. "Even simple things seem to be beyond him. What are the odds that Checkers fucked his mind over with Mist Flames to make him into a parody of a human being?"

That got a reaction. Wonomichi's smile dropped. "He would never."

"Yeah, right, don't give a fuck. Stop stalling and deliver the message. We're not going to play along with the twisted game of your flame-killer boss."

"You shouldn't blame him. He really doesn't know anything."

Tsuna's gaze slid over to Checker Face. "Clearly. It's not like I didn't just say that or anything, Checkers. I think it's interesting that you would continue with a system that will fail utterly in the end."

"Oh?" The smile on the man's face oozed arrogance and condescension.

"All things die, Checkers, even you in the end."

"He's right!" Yuni said. "Your life will not last forever. This plan will work."

"You can see this, descendant of Sepira, the Tri-ni-set still thriving in the future."

"Yes!"

Checker Face took the time to gaze over the room (more of a cave carved out of bedrock) and take in their proposed solution. "…Explain this to me."

. . .

"So, that happened," he commented.

Reborn scowled. "I am still a baby."

"Hm. Suppose we should have asked if you'd have to grow up normally or if it'd be accelerated. Maybe Verde has some ideas. Time to update your counterpart."

Reborn nodded.

The other Reborn was nudged to retreat to his room and the larger pane used to open a conversation. "Ki-san~! We were successful!"

The look of relief on Reborn's face was indescribable, but it kind of made Tsuna want to cry. It was the face of a man seeing the gates of Heaven beckoning to and welcoming him.

Tsuna carefully dropped a set of schematics along with a set of containers into Reborn's room. "Start with this. Talbot was the one to write everything up, so it should be completely understandable to his counterpart. Once you're safe we can move on with other dimensions. If absolutely necessary I will open a huge fucking window and show that we succeeded, to him, to the Vindice, the other Arcobaleno, and Checkers. Is it all right if I keep an eye on you until things have been settled?"

Reborn nodded, eyeing the devices.

"We have plenty of spares if those get destroyed for some reason. We prepared well for this. I am not about to let you die, Ki-san, not if I can help it."

Reborn's cold black eyes warmed and his mouth twisted, the closest he had ever seen the man get to losing control out of something other than anger. He shifted his gaze to Ren, taking note of the lack of a pacifier, and exhaled slowly.

Something passed between them, some unspoken communication, and Reborn nodded.

Tsuna and his Mists kept a window open to Reborn as he went to liaise with Talbot, the other Arcobaleno, and the Vindice. It was during that time that Tsuna realized something rather important.

He had been both Gesso and Vongola. One moved through time from past to present, one lived across parallel worlds. He had been moved sideways and back, he lived forward. There existed the possibility that he could deliberately step into another dimension, though he was unsure if he would obliterate a counterpart by doing so.

There was also the issue of Ghost. Tsuna wasn't too keen on the idea of turning himself into a human-shaped mass of Dying Will Flames simply because he stepped into a dimension where he already existed. Not a problem for the ones he had died in, but it made him against the idea of trying it anywhere else, assuming he tried it at all.

He also noted that Checkers had been able to draw all of the Arcobaleno into a shared dream, which gave him ideas, but that could wait for another time and another day.

Right now his goal was to free his friend, and as many others as he could.

. . .

Tsuna looked up at a depressingly familiar ceiling and said, "Fuck."

'I agree.'

'Hn.'

Everyone else chimed in in turn.

Tsuna felt tears of frustration come to his eyes.

'At least we're all here, Heul,' Daemon said.

The party had been a joint one. Tsuna had opened a wall-sized window (and hadn't that been fun to obtain without the damn thing breaking) between his dimension and Ki-san's and provided all the food. Counterparts were freely talking through the glass, overjoyed at the return of their adult forms. Verde had come up with a way to safely accelerate their growth until they were twenty, which seemed like a safe enough age to stop at.

Tsuna had gotten up to refresh his plate, tripped, and snapped his neck when he slammed into the wall.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he whispered.

"Tsu-kun~! Wash up now~! Breakfast is almost ready."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Instead of going to wash up he set a Bounding Box around his room and opened a large window to his previous life.

He laughed nervously, causing everyone to snap their attention from the seven dead bodies in the room to the portal.

"Sorry, everyone. I always die in some hilariously stupid way. I wish I could have stayed longer. We'll keep in touch, I promise. But I have to go. Mama is calling me for breakfast."

He stashed the wall-sized window Between, and then the one he was presently using. He could update Ki-san's dimension in a bit.

"Time to find you guys bodies."

—fin—