Something was wrong. This entire assignment screamed "wrong" in the same way her end-of-the-year adventures did, and if that wasn't a big enough clue then the fact she could feel magical build up on the mountain told her something was going to happen. Something bad.

They were near the top when she felt the magic spike, and she reacted on instinct.

The others were only alerted when the light around them flared, but they all felt Lal's Flames flare in warning.

All of her Flames.


Groaning, and feeling like she had gone ten rounds with a bludger, it took her a few seconds to register something.

She was tiny!

Her eyes looked at her body in horror, but the thing that terrified her the most was the bright orange pacifier around her neck. Her Sky Flames were refusing to return behind her secondaries, and what was more they had clearly bonded with the others.

She wanted to scream, but then she realized they weren't on the mountain anymore. Instead she was in a room with books.

She saw one with a bright orange cover and cautiously opened her. Her face fell flat and she became enraged.

How dare he. HOW DARE HE?!

Like she would abandon Colonello, now when she had finally found someone who could chase the darkness that haunted her away. She'd rather be stuck a child and spend whatever time they had left together than even consider returning to her real age.

Walking out of the room, she barely registered the shock of the others upon seeing the color of her pacifier. She was so pissed off that it took her a few moments to register Colonello holding her.

Apparently she wasn't the only one who had lost several years. They all had.

Viper stared at her in disbelief, as did Renato.

"You're a Sky?" he said in shock.

"That day in the park... you were the one with the scarred flames that we felt," said Viper, staring at her.

"How? Why did you hide your true Flames?" asked Fon. He almost sounded hurt.

Lal flinched openly.

"I never wanted to be a Sky!" she shouted, almost crying. If not for the soothing feel of Colonello next to her, she would have. "Do you have any idea how much it hurts, having Guardians and then having them killed right in front of you, with a smile on their face because they died knowing they were helping you end a monster? To feel the shock of the bonds cut off because you were too weak or too slow to save them?"

Viper stared at her, before it suddenly clicked.

"You. You're Lilac Potter," she said with stunned realization.

"No I'm not! That person died years ago, and I hope she stays dead!" said Lal hysterically. This was not a good day for her at all.

First she ends up bonded with the others as their Sky, despite holding it in for almost a decade, and that's on top of learning they were all now cursed to stay toddlers and act as the newest generation of the Arcobaleno.

Renato grumbled. Probably because the woman they spent a month searching for turned out to be right under their noses the entire time. The bond was so new that he felt the urge to go and comfort his Sky, but it was clear Lal didn't want them at all.

If she had, she would have revealed her real Flames months ago.

Skull had no such delusions. He went up and hugged Lal as hard as he could, letting her cry on his shoulder.

It was pretty clear she was going to be difficult until this settled in and they got used to being children again. Today had simply been too much for her to handle.

It would take a few days for her to calm down, and that was mostly because Colonello knew how to handle Lal when she was like this. Skull stayed with her like some sort of puppy, which seemed to help.

Once she was able to behave more like her normal self, she reluctantly explained to them why she didn't want Elements.

All of hers were either dead or had the bond forcibly broken when she had martyred herself to save them. How the magicals had been so drawn to the Sky Attraction she was never told about to the point they either vilified her when she did something they didn't like or agree with (like speaking to snakes or the whole mess with the Tri-Wizard tournament when they "assumed" she was cheating), or they put her on such a high pedestal that they automatically thought they could do whatever they wanted so long as they kept heaping "praise" on her.

That anything done in the name of "keeping her safe" was obviously acceptable because she was supposed to be protected.

Considering her strong Cloud secondary, the implication that this would involve a lot of time being trapped in a house with people who believed anything they did to keep her safe because "they knew best" made them cringe. Especially Fon, who had faced a few enraged Clouds before.

But the worst part, the absolute worst part, was the fact she had literally been raised as a lamb for the slaughter and hadn't known it until she had walked into her own death. To feel all her Guardian bonds shattered because of her own actions and almost driving her Elements straight into Discord.

It was little wonder she had fled, abandoning her original name and hide the only way she could in the military.

It wasn't that she was rejecting them as her Elements... it was that she was absolutely terrified that having Guardians would mean she would have to feel those bonds shattered all over again. To lose them and the people she had grown fond of and know it was all her fault.

She wouldn't be able to take that sort of pain a second time.

Through it all, she was crying her eyes out and leaning on Colonello heavily.

This was a Sky who had been through hell, all because of a Discordant nature against two older, more vindictive Skies. One of which who should have known better, but had instead used her for his own gain.

And then Lal dropped another bombshell on them. One that would only lead her right back to the source of her traumatic nightmares.

"There isn't any cure for the Arcobaleno curse."

Viper froze, shocked.

"What?!"

"Bill mentioned it in passing once. How the seven strongest magicals would be gathered in a ritual that would change them into smaller forms that were no less deadly than their original ones. But there was never a cure found to reverse the change, and they all died in the end. They were little more than batteries to uphold the stability of the world and never even given a choice."

Viper was beyond furious. Renato had a the darkest expression she had ever seen on him. He didn't like being played like this.

"What exactly does this curse entail?" he asked, his voice cold and pissed.

"For starters, we're never going to age past this. I could, but I'd rather stay a toddler than live a few short years as an adult. Skies are the only ones who can change into their adult forms, but at the cost of dying that much sooner. They can also revive the others, however the cost of that is sacrificing their own lives in the process. You're unlikely to get sick, you won't die of old age, and you'll be nearly impossible to kill by conventional means," she informed him.

She had looked it up out of morbid curiosity, and because it had sounded so much like her own fate.

"Anything else?" asked Verde, pushing up his glasses.

"I only have limited information on the subject. What little I did find was all general information. An experienced Curse Breaker might have more, but I don't have access to their resources and I really don't want to waste time on a subject that might not even help," she said flatly.

"But you do know someone who is," said Viper.

"I haven't spoken to any of them in close to ten years. You all know that," said Lal tensely.

"Then it's past time you reconnected with them. You don't need to stay there and pretend you're back, but we do need as much information as possible to hopefully break this damn curse," said Viper.

Lal winced. She didn't even want to go back, but it was clear she might not have much of a choice.

"Shhh... we'll be right next to you this time," said Colonello, rubbing her back. "You really think a bunch of idiot magicals can really handle all of us? They barely know what Flames are, and you were just a civilian last time."

Lal almost flinched when she felt a calm hand on her shoulder. She looked and found Fon beside her with a comforting smile on his face.

There was no judgment in his eyes. Anyone who was around Lal knew she had been damaged by that war, and was only now starting to finally come out of the shell she had wrapped around herself out of desperation.

Colonello tried a bit of humor to get her mood back up.

"Besides... can you imagine Greg and the other's reaction finding out you were hiding such a strong Sky Flame from them this entire time, with how much the familigias put into having it?"

Lal's mouth quirked upward, just a little.

They'd never believe she was a Sky, much less the Sky Arcobaleno unless she showed up and they saw it for themselves. Then they'd be kicking themselves for years because she had hidden it from everyone for so long. Especially with how much the mafia familigias went on and on about a Sky and their Guardians.

It was sure to be absolutely hilarious to see their expressions, never mind her former superiors. And don't get her started on the sheer shock it would give her students!

Colonello grinned, relieved. That had managed to bring out Lal's impish side and make her smile again.

Each of them went to sleep in their "rooms" one last time...and all of them walked out with a new animal partner.

Even if Viper did a doubletake when she saw the phoenix chick on Lal's shoulder. It wasn't a normal phoenix either, but a rare frost phoenix.

Rare, because the creatures lived in such inhospitable conditions that even getting to one in time to see it, let alone bond with one was almost impossible. The normal variety were difficult enough to get near.

"So what's it's name?" asked Colonello. He had named the falcon on his shoulder Falco...mostly because he sucked at names.

"Gabriel, after the patron saint of messengers," said Lal. It was almost like she had Hedwig back again. And while she hated Dumbledore her disdain had never carried to Fawkes. It cooed at her, and preened her hair.


Everyone more or less split up with the agreement to meet back at the park Lal favored before heading to England. It was going to be awkward enough explaining to the Weasleys why she was back, much less seeing if Bill would be willing to help her research.

Even if she loved her apartment, the knowledge she wouldn't be able to keep her status as the Sky Arcobaleno secret for very long meant it was a bad idea trying to stay here. The Mafia Families were annoying enough when trying to attract strong Elements... they'd kill to get their hands on an unattached Sky, much less someone like her.

Then again, that's why she had bought some land and warded it to hell and back to the point if someone stumbled into the forest surrounding the house, they'd assume it was cursed by something they didn't want to mess with. Most of the familigias assumed the area was a Cloud's territory, one that had Mist secondaries and left it alone.

Clouds were hard enough to deal with when they had a Sky, pissing one off by trying to force them to join was something only the most stupid would do. And there were enough traps to dissuade all but the most stubborn.

Those that did make it that far ran right into the Black Family style of warding, which went from horrific maiming into some rather terrifying degrees of slow, and very graphically painful deaths.

You did not piss off a Black, especially a powerful witch with paranoia honed from a nasty magical war and far too much time on her hands. It made the wards around Hogwarts look like amateur hour. Then again, it was a school, not the home of someone who very much liked their privacy.


Colonello was barely hiding his grin when they decided to make a visit back to base for a bit. Mostly to inform their old friends that it was highly unlikely they'd ever be able to come back to work.

Greg had laughed for all of five seconds finding out Colonello had walked right into becoming the Rain Arcobaleno, thinking Lal was now the Cloud.

His laughter cut off dead when he saw the orange pacifier around Lal's neck, rather than the purple one.

"Holy mother of god. Am I drunk? Or is this some sort of sick Mist hallucination?!" he damn near yelled in shock.

Lal huffed, before sending a nasty kick to the leg. She hadn't gotten used to the height difference yet, to her annoyance. Greg hopped on his newly injured leg, and realized no, this wasn't something his imagination had come up with.

Needless to say his shouting drew the attention of the others, with varying degrees of disbelief and shock at the pacifier around Lal's neck.

It would take hours before people believed that Lal was in fact the new Sky Arcobaleno... mostly because they were in disbelief she had hidden such a rare and prized Flame from everyone so long. Though it did explain why she was such a natural at getting her students to follow orders. Skies were natural leaders!

Colonello cheerfully paid Verde for the camera recordings of the entire event, and they all watched it for a laugh. He had been taking multiple pictures of the expressions on their faces, especially when Greg started swearing when he realized Colonello had known damn well she was a Sky and kept up the ruse that the new state of his Flames was because they were "soul mates".