Waking up with the memories from the future wasn't nice. Her head hurt and she cursed at her ringing phone. Not willing to take care of it yet.

Well one good thing she got out of all of this was that she apparently had managed to produce a portkey. Sure, it hadn't catapulted Colonnello endlessly far away when they were escaping from Byakuran's army but she had managed to give him an actual head start to guarantee he could run away. With further experimentation she maybe would be able to make them fully accessible to her again. She hadn't yet tried to experiment much with it, as even apparition had been something she shied away from.

Still… she was glad she had never let her magic out that much. She hadn't even been killed by the army. Her pacifier had cracked under her combined flames before the fiendfyre could even fully form, broken neatly in half and well… forcefully breaking the curse had quite a few negative consequences. She was glad she had never tried it before as being ripped apart by her own magic that tried to combat the curse had felt horrible. Probably the reason why her head was brimming as well.

She did understand now though why Reborn had reacted that harshly to the little crack in her pacifier… after all he probably had known at this point already how she had died in the future. She could have really fucked that up if she had died in the present.

She finally grabbed her phone even if it only was to shut it off but her eyes fell on the several dozens of missed calls and the messages asking her where she was.

She quickly typed an answer, even while it was probably full of spelling mistakes as she literally had to pinch her eyes to not die from the pain the extra light caused her. Her phone got muted straight after.

Migraines were a pain in the butt, not literally but figuratively. Even her hand was mucking around again, dropping the phone as she lost strength in it. Seriously cruciatus aftereffects when not treated were annoying. But it wasn't like she could get the ingredients for the potion here… not that she even knew how to make it or that she ever had a chance to make it work. Her potion skills had always been crap after all.

She used her mist flames to get her contact lenses in to try to find a painkiller, roaming through her drawers only to get completely startled when her door flew open and a more than just panicked Colonnello stormed inside, tackling her down and clutching onto her.

She was still stunned when she could make out that the other arcobalenos had apparently been following. Goddamn she hadn't even put on her makeup yet.

"Hey, I thought the wager clearly stated you're not allowed to do this." she managed to say while Colonnello was still trying to unalive her through hugging.

Before anyone could say anything Colonnello had lifted himself slightly up to stare at her, a harsh expression on his face but his eyes were glistening and she had to do a double take.

"Never. Never Skull. Never do that again. Never!"

Her brain was still trying to find a connection "You mean… the portkey? Did you get hurt while I send you? I'm sorry. It never worked before… i just didn't see another way."

To her horror he actually started to cry at this "Never get yourself killed again. Never force me away again. Skull you died! You died!"

Her Mouth gaped open, trying to form words but all she could manage to word out was "Huh?"

"You died! I saw you die Skull! You can't do this to me!"

"But… I sent you away?"

"Did you think I could leave you there? Skull. Never! Promise me! Never!"

"But… I had to get you to safety?" she stuttered out.

This was definitely nothing she was used to. Wasn't that what she always had been good at? Sure, she died but… she was alive again and well… it had been the right decision at that time.

"Skull. Promise me! You don't have to keep me safe! You don't! You can't do this to me!"

She really was out of the loop and her pounding head didn't help either "But… I can't."

"You have to."

"No, I mean.. I would do it again? Like… I would. Why wouldn't I?"

"No. Promise me. Please!"

The sudden even more intense pain than before shot through her brain, almost electric, shocklike and it made her wince.

The rain immediately pulled her up from the floor, his eyes still tearing up but the terrified horror in his eyes visible "What's wrong?"

She just weakly pointed her finger in the direction of ehr head, as her arm was still mucking up as well "Head."

The next second she had Reborn kneeling next to her, his hand lit in flames and she immediately flinched back.

Since she had figured out that the crucio was sunflame based she was paranoid of it. But Reborn didn't let that stop him, his hand already firmly placed against her forehead and the pain almost immediately went away.

"Better?" the hitman asked, his face serious and a way too strong hint of sorrow in it.

She was so taken back she could only nod.

She didn't even protest when the rest of the arcobalenos made their way towards her and when Colonnello buried his face in her shoulder, still crying.

A few minutes passed until she looked at the hitman again who was silently watching them "Was that the reason why you freaked out so much when you saw my pacifier cracking?"

He sighed "You should now understand that this is something you should never try again."

"I can't promise that either."

"Skull."

"No." she shook her head, her eyes falling on the wall over her bed, completely plastered with photographs of her and Nello and pictures she had gotten from Viper or toke herself when she pranked the other arcobalenos.

Her gaze lingered before looking back at the hitman "I can try my best but… There are just things that are worth dying for."

"I won't let you." Colonnello had lifted his head again, staring at her with determination and she could even see a hint of his flames in his eyes.

Leilani could actually only smile at that, leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek "You're the best, you know that?"

"Skull.."

"I think you're the one that needs the hot chocolate today."

She was already wriggling her finger, sky flames leaking out as she started to levitate the ingredients in her open kitchen.

Colonnelloe swallowed hard as he pulled her just a little closer. He would show her, prove it to her. If there was one thing in his life that he would do, that was correct then it was this. He wouldn't lose her. He couldn't and he wouldn't allow it. Even if she didn't understand he did and he would make sure of it.

Leilani leaned against him, her eyes wandering over the arcobalenos "You know what? I'm gonna be lenient today. Who's up for some gaming? I always wanted to try the 8er mode without relying on too many bots."

"Kora, you gonna pick Charizard again?"

"Naturally, there is no better way to annoy anyone." She grinned brightly in the room, her sky flames still flickering and letting the aura completely waft through the room.

She didn't know it yet but it was at that time that every last arcobaleno was certain that they wanted her as their sky and no one else would ever be enough.

No one even commented on the fact when she proceeded to abandon any kind of strategy while gaming to completely focus on killing off Reborn over and over. Same as no one criticized her when she started to dance in euphoria when she managed to kill Reborn six times in one round and won the whole thing.

And the hot chocolate she had made for everyone? Even if Reborn would never admit it but that day he actually prefered the drink over espresso.

It was late when they swarmed out again. Colonnello stayed back, he hadn't really let go of his sky for the whole evening.

He stared at her when she had already fallen asleep, just imprinting the sight of her peaceful face in his memory, trying to override what he had seen, the all consuming pain he had felt. Skull was saved though. She was safe and unharmed in his arms.

He had to force himself to ignore the crack in her pacifier, instead leaning closer to place a kiss on her forehead before he settled down completely, pulling her just a tiny bit closer.

He still needed hours to fall asleep but at least his lingering flame aura assured that Skull had a peaceful and calm sleep for the whole night.

She didn't comment on his eyebags the next day either, just decided to spend their whole forenoon in bed, her switch in her hand as she played otome games, letting Colonnello help her choose the most ridiculous answers.