Leilani didn't apparate far, instead tumbling down on the roof. Her hand was missing, not even able to regrow it as the lingering magic from the splinching registered it missing but not lost, all her flames could do was keep producing blood to stop her from bleeding out. Splinching was a magical injury that couldn't get regrown, only attached after all.

Leilani couldn't even make a sound while her tears were streaming out. Everything hurt, the physical pain barely even noticeable in comparison to the emotional. She was shaking, silent screams and sobs finally coming out as everything crushed down on her.

Her mind completely muddled, forced to face what she lost, what all of this meant. She could make no sound, the pain so immense and strong. Her bond burning her very soul, not breaking but scalding hot and raw, the fringes unruly and cutting. Her whole world crashing down on her, making her suffer more than ever before. It hurt, it hurt unbelievably bad but still no sound came out, not even able to properly breath.

She had lost him.

La was furious "Did you lose it? Have you lost it? I told you already that she's no object!"

Reborn pushed himself up again "She's a child!"

"She's not yours! She never was!"

Before Reborn could answer she immediately interrupted him "Skull is right! We all messed up and it's horrifying to know. It's sickening but it doesn't change how long she lived. We never treated her like a child. We can't start now. Goddamn Reborn! Get your fucking head out of your ass! The moment you decided to keep pushing you caused this! Your shrewd opinion doesn't matter right now."

"You expect me to ignore this?"

"No, I expect you to think things through!"

"I am! That's why I can't let this go on!"

"No, you're panicked and overwhelmed by this! You project your own issues on this and are trying to redeem your mistakes. Nothing more. You're not doing the right thing Reborn. Not even close to! She's gone. You made her run and you ripped them apart."

"Colonnello agrees."

"He would have gotten over it! They were working on it! They need time to figure their relationship out but Reborn, get your head out of the gutter! They aren't fucking! They were doing nothing! They were friends for 19 years! You know as good as everyone else here how much she relies on him. She doesn't trust any of us but she trusted him. Completely.

The only reason she even was in our lives is thanks to him! Their relationship wasn't wrong. It never crossed boundaries. Nothing happened. I know what you see between them and I see it too but that doesn't mean it will happen in the way you imagine it and Skull isn't 15. She isn't. Her body is but that's that!

We all are toddlers with an older mind. You know how hard it is to be treated like one while you aren't. What should she feel? You're trying to keep this up."

"She's a teen!"

"It doesn't matter! We never treated her as one and she never wanted to be treated like one! She doesn't need you to put rules on her. She doesn't need you to be her father! She existed like this for decades. You can't just suddenly ignore everything that happened between all of us and who she is just because you found out the truth."

She stepped closer to him, staring him down "I get it. I get what you're feeling. What we all are feeling. It's horrifying. But you can't lose your head. You can't. You got to know her. Do you know what this information means? We can be better. We can adapt. We can understand her and we can finally help her but not like this!"

"What do you expect me to do?"

"Adapt! You're the greatest hitman in existence Reborn. You're better than this! We have the chance to finally understand her behaviour and to help her. She's no child. She isn't but she got a messed up childhood. She isn't immature. The whole Checkerface thing? The way she handled the battles? The way she handled the tenth generation? She doesn't need you to hover over her. Don't you understand? We had a chance now! We had a chance now to understand her.

For fucks sake she probably made up her childhood with the thing you to had going on. She's not stupid or someone that needs you to rule over her. She isn't like that! But you could have given her guidance!

She always listened to you! She ingrained your lessons since back then. You have an impact on her so fucking use it! You could have helped her grow! Assist her! We finally knew and we could have used it to help her, to treat her accordingly! Would you have flipped at her back then when she threw a tantrum if you knew she was a child? No, you wouldn't. We could be assisting her and helping her come to terms with all of this and what it means. But she's gone now! She's gone! She came back to us because she wanted to give us a chance. For whatever unbelieving reason she didn't want to lose us. She had trust in us and she wanted to help us but… she's gone now.

Just imagine this. A 19 year old who did amazingly for her age over all these decades and suddenly everyone treats her like a toddler just because of her age. Stop doubting her capability, taking her right to decide for herself. She doesn't need you to take over her life. She never needed it. She could use guidance but that's it. Nothing more. She isn't searching for a father who grounds her."

Lal twirled around facing Colonnello "You gonna let that sit? You really ready to abandon her because of that? To throw it away? Yes, you are freaked out and overwhelmed but Colonnello goddamn! You never gave up on me! Never, no matter what I did or what happened! Why now? Why do you let anything come between you! This isn't you! You didn't do anything wrong! You were there for her and yes you had skinship but what is wrong with that? Or were you lusting over her the whole time? Trying to fuck her?"

The rain just stared in horror at her "No! But-"

"But what?"

"I helped her change!"

"So what?"

"I…"

"Did you touch her? Groom her to be your sextoy? Did you do things against her will? Force yourself onto her and used the justification that she's an adult and that she would know better? Did you ever do anything like that?"
"No! I would never! Never!"

"Then what is going on with you? You can freak out about it! You can talk it through! She knows you! Same as you helped her through all of this. She knows you! You could have worked it through! Why did you let anyone come in between this! You're a fucking men Colonnello! You know better! You stared down Reborn when you knew Skull wasn't ready to talk. Why now?"

The rain seemed to search for words, completely overwhelmed and desperate. He didn't know what to do.

Lal furiously threw her hair back "She's still near! Goddamn I will talk to her. I will get her to stay but give her time! Let her calm down. You can think about your apology for the meantime and yes, Colonnello you are out of her room. Not because it's indecent but because you fucked up when you let Reborns panicattack affect you. Get your shit together! All of you!"

She was about to leave the room when Fon's cursing stopped her.

The martial artist was kneeling on the floor "We have to find her immediately!"

Lal gritted out "I'm about to."

"No, all of us! She needs Reborn!"

"Didn't you hear anything I just said?"

"I did. But Lal.." he had stood up again, the object in his hand clearly visible "She lost her hand."

The room froze, all of them just staring at the tiny, blood leaking hand, neatly severed just above the wrist and undoubtedly Skulls.

Vipers hand was trembling "Can't she… just… her cloudflames. They heal injuries. She often did that."

Verde wasn't much better with his staring "No, no… she's duplicating skin cells when she heals herself, fastening the growth process through duplicating it but… Regrowing a hand? That's… that's not natural that's… that's sun flames and even then probably only possible with the original hand to attach it to."

"She has sunflames."

Fon just shook his head "She lost her hand while getting away. Do you think she had the needed control she needs for this right now? The mind for it? This isn't just blasting flames through your hand, far from it. I hope I'm wrong. I really do but… in all honesty? She's probably walking outside with a missing hand, maybe even still a fatal injury, a complete outburst of emotions and… we have to find her."