Reborn cleared his throat the next day at breakfast "Skull?"

"Yeah?"

"If it's alright with you I would like to hold your lessons today."

"Why? I've got stuff to figure out."

"I would feel better if you could fall back on this."

"On what?"

"Flying."

She froze immediately, barely managing to choke out a "What?"

"It's a skill most skies use. Especially as you love to climb way too high places. It would come in handy for you I'm certain."

"...I can fly?"

"Yes."

She slowly sat her mug down "...skies can fly?"

"Indeed. "

She was speechless. Sure, in theory she had known that there were a few mages who had been able to fly aidless but… the level of raw magic it required was immense… she had never even considered that she could pull it off "...You sure?"

"Tsuna almost immediately pulled it off with barely any training. I'm certain you will figure it out quite quickly."

She still had struggles to put her mind around it but… wasn't this what she wanted to do with the arcobalenos as well? Shake and destroy the way they saw their flames? She had been certain by herself that she wasn't able to… but apparently it was different.

Maybe this would help her as well? Maybe she would figure out the last tidbit she needed to finish the puzzle and… flying!

"What are we waiting for then?" she had instantly stood up.

The hitman smirked "I told you you would like this present."

"Less talking, more flying!" and with that she was already out in the garden.

Reborn had followed in a more appropriate tempo.

She was looking up expectantly at him "So what do I have to do?"

"You want to push out your hard flames to give you the boost. Soft flames help you keep balance in the air, they are suitable for hovering or maintaining a stance in the air. It's very simple. Hard flames for the movement and soft flames for outbalancing it."

She tilted her head "Soft and hard flames?"

"Yes."

"I… don't understand."

He raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?"
"What are hard flames?"

He paused "Skull? You don't honestly want to tell me you have no idea what soft and hard flames are."

"But… it's the truth."

"How do you even use flames?"

"I just do."

"But…" he sighed "I'm not even going to question this…."

"So… any explanations?"

"Alright. Soft flames are what you normally give out, the energy is dispersed, it's in general just soft, gentle flames.

Hard flames have a higher purity, They get released by an increase in explosive energy. You would use them for bursts of speed or raw power. If you lash out with your sky flames and attack you use them so I'm certain you have already felt them."

Leilani was still confused, more than just that. She never had such a concept… magic was magic and magic just… well did it.

Could she even rely on magic for this? Probably not… so… her flames…

She had never once tried to use her flames, her flames were a byproduct, nothing more, at least for her.

The hitman leaned against the wall behind him "Just try it."
"How? You're not really giving me any kind of instruction."
"You're smart enough to figure it out."
"I think this is the first time anyone has ever called me smart."
"Just push your flames out Skull."

"Wait… like your primitive try when you attempted to heal me?"

"It's not primitive and not quite. You want them to flow out."
"But… that is wasteful."

"Just do it."
"It sounds stupid."

"Skull."
She rolled her eyes but let her flames roam free.

"Not like that. Push them out of your palms."

"I do?"

"But with force, they are not supposed to float around you."
"Fire does that."

"You want to use the force of it to fly."
"Sounds like a similar approach to let's put paper wings on our back and jump off a cliff."
"Then you should like it."

"...true." she focused on her flames, trying to concentrate it more but it still didn't change anything. "You sure you know what you're doing?"

"I'm an expert. Try to push them out more forcefully. You want to lift up after all."

"Like pushing oneself up?"

"Exactly."

"You want me to jump?"

"You're horrible to teach."

"You're just bad at it."
"I'm an excellent teacher."
She snorted "Are you really certain your method works best? I swear I will return the favour."
"If you don't figure it out I will shoot you with a dying will bullet."
"I thought no running around in underwear for me?"
"If you're struggling that hard with something easy then I think it's appropriate. Tsuna learned perfectly fine like this."
"I think I get now why Tsuna's flames are that clueless."

"Excuse me?"

She shook her head "So.. we gonna go brutal then… no thinking… alright." and with that she cut off her magic for a moment, firmly focusing on her flames and the full power and in the next moment she darted upwards only to immediately cancel it out while cursing "Are you insane?"

"You did it."

"This… this hurts! Who in their right mind thinks this is how one should use flames?"

"It's how it works."

"I refuse it."

"Then you won't be able to fly."

"Watch me" she gritted her teeth, before sitting down on the floor, eyes closed.

"What are you trying now? Sitting won't help you."

"I'm trying to do it the sensible way."
"You want to change the way one flies? Cara I fear to inform you but this is incredibly foolish. It has been done like this for decades."

"Just because all of you just accept this fuckery doesn't mean I need to. So shush you, I need to concentrate."

He shook his head and sighed but kept on watching her.

The sky took a deep breath, trying to remember everything she knew about flying. The feel of being on a broom… What did she know about brooms? How did they operate? It wasn't a topic she really went into but… wingardium leviosa… floating but.. similar.

How did she do that? Sky flames… a process of willing an object to move to where one desired it. Forcing it to listen to her… it was similar, right?

Flying equaled forcing one's flames to propel one ahead…

She needed to connect it, The way flames worked and the knowledge from her magic.

She spend several more moments just coaxing out her flames, letting her magic mingle with it and motivating them, carefully watching the display.

Maybe… maybe her flames were clueless too? They just followed her magic after all… maybe…

She spend several hours actually, just nudging her flames, trying to make them understand. They were willing and under deeper scrutiny she did feel the same motion she had felt in every flame user but… hers were more developed. there was something there, more prominent in her cloudflames if she was honest… but the way they usually healed her? it was almost sentient but still a learned behaviour under the command of her magic.

She furrowed her brows, just focusing on connecting them, letting her flames bleed into another. They were the same after all. She had always said that, just different aspects but one in the same.

She wasn't sure how long she had already been trying, maybe hours when something finally snapped. Something clicked and… it felt more consensual, more uniform.

Her magic twirling around it. it was almost like a rainbow core and it felt like it was whirling together.

Leilani finally lifted herself up from the floor again, trying to feed her flames but… it didn't quite work. She… she had to evoke sentience in them, sentience that solely lived in her flames.

They had to learn how to fly on their own, not relying on her magic… They had to grow to be like her magic. She had to aid them to go over the last hurdle of sentience.

Her fists were clenched together, she refused them to act, not letting them run wild while simultaneously demanding them to fly, slamming them back into her whenever they wanted to reach out to her magic or try to repeat the primitive way Reborn had taught her.

It was almost… odd to see it. To see them trying to work it out and suddenly… after she had no clue how many tries they snapped back and… it was there. it was sentient, fully thinking and she could for the first time say that her flames weren't just a byproduct. they were there, a force, same as her magic, mingling and just being an union. Flames and magic, sentient twins only differing in appearance.

She almost had to giggle at the rush of adrenaline and when she gave them the order to make her fly once again it only took mere moments until she finally lifted up.

Her flame was not volatile rushing out of her, not harming her in their brutality but aiding her in the sky.

She could only laugh. This? This was amazing.