Decision made, he took another shaky breath, reaching up to cradling Yuni's hand against his cheek for a moment. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to spill everything right then and there….but he wouldn't. After a moment he opens his eyes again and lifts them up to stare at the others, all of them hovering close by and looking...actually, he doesn't have a word for the emotions on their face. Anger is one. Perhaps there's worry in the corner of their eyes, the curve of their mouth?

It doesn't matter. Duty calls.

He takes another moment, to sit in Yuni's Flames before inhaling and closing his eyes once more.

When they open again, they're hard and steady in a way the Arcobaleno have never seen before. Skull kneels on the ground, emotionally exhausted and feels the way apathy is slowly creeping in to replace the anger. Still, words must be said.

"I am sorry," he tells them, and he means it, he means it more than he will ever be able to convey accurately to them.

He knows they realize this when he sees them all lean back just a little, their eyes narrowing as they wonder what it is he is apologizing for. He knows the way he says it is different, knows they won't understand how he layers it with magic, with Flames and intent. But he needs them to believe him, just this one thing.

A lot of things they aren't going to let go, so for the lies, for the danger he has unknowingly brought to their doorstep….for the way he is going to leave them without the answers they will demand. For many things.

"I am sorry," He repeats it, but he says it in English, says it the way he had to Ginny before-

He held her hands in his and tears on his cheeks and bags under his eyes. He pressed a kiss to her lips and went off to face his destiny with Voldemort's voice ringing in his ears. It's not quite the same, but he remembers all the same. He says it in his first and best language, in his true voice, in a way he had never quite managed to with them. His voice smooths into proud, tilting tones, with a faint Scottish brogue curling his apology. His words are firm and a far cry from the shrill tones they have always heard from him.

Harry knows when they try to track him down, they'll start with the U.K. because of this, but he feels this needs to be said in the sincerest way he knows how. He pushes up with his hands, standing to his feet, his back unbending and straightening into a steel line, his eyes hard and jaded and dark with the memories he can't quite shove behind his barriers.

They're green now, he knows. The use of his magic always returns his eyes to their original color. If he stops using his Flames, his hair will begin to fade from vivid purple to his natural black, but he can't decide that now.

Instead, he scans the faces of his friends, of his family.

He'd searched for family for so, so long. Even before he had known he was searching. The Dursley family had been the start. He'd been three years old and couldn't understand why he was treated so differently from Dudley. And then the Wizarding World had given him hope- Ron and Hermione and the rest of Ron's family….it had all been shattered during the war. They had all perished in the war aside from Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred and George.

Harry had left with their blessings and he still kept in contact with the five of them. He had been made a godfather again. He had wept when Bill first told him, holding Victoire as Fleur watched him break into pieces. But the wizard had not hesitated in choosing him. Neither did Fleur. He was family.

Fred and George had also acknowledged his engagement to Ginny and told him that even without that, he had been family since they busted the bars on his windows and freed him for the summer of his second year. It was challenging to maintain contact because of the people looking for him, but they never stumbled. Determined to keep in touch and the Wizarding World away, because they had seen what the pressure the Ministry was exerting on him was doing to his well being.

(destroying his soul)

He hadn't found out until later that part of the suffocating feeling was that he was a Cloud and he had been caged and forced into actions and roles that he did not chose. All he had known was the expectations on him had been smothering his spirit and he left and began to heal.

Potter Luck had attacked with a vengeance after that.

All the things he had done in the war had strengthened his Flames. He knew now he'd been using them and causing them to grow even more thinking it was just another part of his magic. No one in the Wizarding World had realized it either, thinking it was just some sort of wandless or accidental magic that manifested in purple flame-like magic. Either way it had made his Cloud Flames the strongest in the entire world and so Checkerface had come to him and offered him a job. Something inside him had whispered to take it-that job. He'd thought it would be a good distraction from the war.

Next thing he knew he was sitting in a room with the World's Strongest and being thrown headfirst into the mafia. The mafia.

But he had found family while he flailed with this new world where no one knew of him. At least he thought so until he literally ran into Blaise Zabini at a mafia party.

That moment of stillness when neither of them knew if they should attack the other, try to speak or what had been intense. Thankfully no one important had noticed and Harry ended up sitting down with the Slytherin in a quiet conversation on loss and what was happening in the Wizarding World at the moment.

That turned into something of a regular occurrence. Once a month or two, he and Blaise would meet and discuss the new laws, the latest news and they became something like friends. Still, Harry had saved the Italian's life once and allowed him to leave. Blaise also chose not to curse him in the back or alert anyone from Britain where he was so things would never manage to be completely okay between them, but they were...calm.

Something like friends, but not quite.

There was no warning from Blaise over this though. Nothing even whispered. So the Ministry was denying things and ignoring issues in hopes they went away again. There would be blood. If he didn't go...

He couldn't see it. He couldn't go through this again. He would shatter like fragile glass if the magicals managed to get in a lucky shot, if any of them died. So he would leave them. They would be unaware. Safe. Those wizards had found him by mere chance. They'd been in the bar for food not because they thought Harry Potter would be inside. There was nothing to connect the Arcobaleno with Harry Potter save for Blaise Zabini and he would not have done so.

"I will be leaving now," he says as Harry Potter, with an edge of command in his voice.

He whirls around and begins his return, leaving behind the Arcobaleno, leaving Skull behind.

A hand clamped down on his shoulder, a flare of Sun Flames and of course it wouldn't be that easy.

The only thing that saved Reborn from the war honed response of violence so close to the surface after what he had seen and what he would need to do, was the fact that Harry knew it was Reborn. He still tensed up. Reborn was not above physical responses. In fact, he delighted in them. Skull would allow it, but Harry would not. Never again.

"Reborn."

His voice was quiet, in those same lilting tones, but there was an unmistakable warning in them.

He refused to allow these people to get involved.

"Let go."

The hitman's hand tightened on his shoulder and the man leaned in, pulling Harry in closer to his body.

"Lackey…" Reborn growled as his fingers sparked with Flames.

Emerald eyes turned his way and pinned Reborn in place with the rage and pain in their depths, but as he watched the green faded into vivid purple. It took the Sun a moment to realize that Skull's eyes were glowing with his Flames and not just the normal amethyst he had always had.

(He ignores the memory of Skull jokingly quipping about 'lanterns for eyes' that would 'give you away for miles Senpai!')

That was bad news. It meant that something was pushing Skull into dangerous levels of rage and managing to prod at the instincts that came with being a Cloud at the same time.

Clouds were the second rarest Flame Type after Sky. They were rare because most didn't survive into teen years much less adulthood, mainly because they were possessive little fucks and were perfectly willing to get into the face of anyone who stood in their way. Most of these Clouds would eventually run into someone who was stronger than them and they'd keep going back for more until they won or were dead. Other Clouds were found by Families and recruited due to the status boost that came with having a Cloud following the Family.

Some were lucky- like Hibari- and were recruited properly so they wanted to be there. Others were forced into serving the Family and would die trying to escape or would be smothered to death. No Cloud could be chained. They needed freedom like they needed air. If a Cloud was 'chained' somewhere for too long it would smother them and they would go out in a blaze of rage and death. The stronger a Cloud was the worse it would be.

Something had stepped all over Skull's instincts. Reborn allowed the Flames to die, and eased his grip, shifting his weight backwards as he did so. He kept his emotions out of his voice, going for neutral instead of commanding.

"What happened?"

He watched as Skull took a breath. His eyes slid closed.

Harry wanted to be selfish. Just once, he wanted to do what he wanted. Damn everyone else, ignore them all and do whatever the hell he wanted.

He knew he could wipe the memories away from the Arcobaleno, that he could make it so they didn't even know anything was wrong. He knew he could make the whole issue go away, but he didn't want to. He'd already lied to them about his past, Harry refused to play with their minds the way he had played with Death Eaters and Ministry workers. They were the closest thing he had to family, beyond the Weasleys and the closer surviving members of the D.A..

He refused.

These were his family members staring at him. You didn't do that to family. He didn't want to do that to them.

So told them a part of the truth, his eyes blazing violet as he allowed his anger to ignite and overcome the temporary apathy and calm he was forcing on himself, and gave this one thing.

"They took something that is mine and I will ensure it never happens again. As I should have done years ago."

Harry pulled his shoulder away from Reborn's grip and begins to walk away again, this time without interference.

LINEBREAK

The Arcobaleno's eyes widen.

They had long ago realized that Skull was a Cloud that claimed people as his territory. He had informates and crews for his airships and people who he took a liking to who he provided protection for, regardless if they asked. The pieces they had been given rearranged in their head, snapping to form another picture entirely of the situation.

Skull was angry in a way they had never seen before.

Skull was angry enough to unhesitatingly and unflinchingly render that man in the bar braindead and then burn his still living body as he walked by.

'They' had taken something Skull considered 'his'.

Skull was in a towering rage even now, and he was leaving to 'deal' with it, 'to ensure it never happens again'.

So that left them with the knowledge that someone had taken someone their Cloud considered important and had either hurt them or killed them. They remembered the way he screamed.

Had some fucker killed someone precious to Skull? Had they then been sent to either inform him or bring him to see?

The Arcobaleno remember that phantom sensation of chains locking down over them, the one that had pulsed over their links with the Cloud and they still.

Had this entire situation been arranged to force an appearance from their Cloud, to make him react? To maneuver the Cloud Arcobaleno in a way that he could not ignore? That would force a response born of emotion?

LINEBREAK

Skull takes the moment the Arcobaleno are absorbing what he has told them to stride away from them. Each step is painful and he can feel as Skull slips away and The-Man-Who-Conquered rises from the ashes.

That's painful too.

All the more reason to ensure he is never called upon again.

The sneer that pulls at his lips is worthy of his old Potions Professor at his finest.

They had taken Fred and George with Bill and Fleur to lure him in. Their children had escaped and Harry suspected the survivors of the D.A. had intervened. That man-wizard in the bar had had it all in his mind, laid out in neat little plans. Skull knew what they planned now, what was happening and what they wanted from him and how far they were willing to go to get it.

Fair enough.

Harry had learned quite a few new tricks since the last time the Wizarding World had seen him. The populace was about to get one hell of a wakeup call about their 'Savior.'

They were about to meet Skull the Cloud, Skull, the Arcobaleno and these bastards would quickly learn just how far a Cloud, how far Skull was willing to go to defend what was his.

There was only one thing Skull miscalculated in all the plans in his head. That his feelings towards Reborn, Colonello, Viper, Verde, Fon, Lal and Yuni were, in fact, returned sentiments. How far he was willing to go was also just about how far the other Arcobaleno were willing to go for him. For family.