Why did this always happen to him? Why?
He had gone to bed, trying to draw up the energy to even leave his home for the week...and woke up the next morning with an orange pacifier on his chest and a splitting headache with no freaking idea of where the hell he was!
He made it to the bookshelf and found an orange book. As soon as he picked it up he knew his life had once again found a way to become hellishly more complicated than it needed to be... and for once it wasn't even his fault!
According to the book he was now an 'Arcobaleno', one of the Seven Strongest Flames in the world. His pacifier was that of the "Sky", or the core of the seven, and he had to make a rather awkward choice.
And by awkward, he meant that he could either stay his actual age and life a short life only for the burden to be passed on sooner rather than later to some other poor bastard, or be turned into a toddler and have a much longer life span but at the cost of his height and being taken as an adult.
In the end it wasn't that hard of a decision to make. His life had been crap before and no one took him seriously as a person anyway. Besides, he had long since realized that his "relationship" with Ginny would never work out in the long term because she still saw him in some ways as the same "Boy-Who-Lived" she had grown up hearing stories about and expected the same things out of him as everyone else in the magical society.
I/E that he would become an Auror, deal with the 'dark' wizards and generally act as the poster child of the Light despite the fact he hated being put into the spotlight like that. All while pumping out future generations of Potters and Blacks with a girl he had realized looked far, far too much like his mother to possibly be healthy.
No. Just, no.
Once he decided to lose his actual age and become a toddler, he was very relieved to find clothes that more or less actually fit him in the room.
After that he decided to make the most of it and actually read the others, to see if they had anything useful in them.
And that, sadly, lead to his current situation.
No one told him that these... Flames... were connected to the bloody mafia, or that his particular Flame was like catnip to the bastards! It only got worse when they registered the stupid pacifier around his neck.
He took deep, calming breaths and was thanking every pagan god he knew that at least he still had his magic and that his core was still the same as it was before he turned into a toddler. And that the Elder wand didn't care either way about his new predicament.
Once he had his breath back, he flipped over the hood of his cloak (which fortunately had charms on it to resize to fit the wearer, making it so much easier to hide) and went invisible.
The mafioso ran right past him and he didn't dare let a sigh of relief out. He knew better.
Which was why he was able to respond rather quickly when someone went to try and pick him up.
He might not have a proper handle on these...Flames...just yet, but he knew how to bite and throw a proper hex at someone. These bastards were clearly asking for it.
The man yelped loudly, and he vaguely registered someone about the same size as him with a pacifier around their neck...before he took off running.
He didn't see the look on the toddler's face.
Lal set up a conference call with the other Arcobaleno, something that Luce insisted they use when they had important news to share. Verde had bitched the entire time he was stuck working on something so trivial though.
It certainly came in useful now.
"I think I found the new Sky Arcobaleno."
Dead silence.
"Are you sure?" said Reborn serious.
"I couldn't see the pacifier, but I sure as hell felt the Flames. The guy was practically leaking them all over the place and I think he's a lot like Skull in that he was blindsided by all this when he got the job," said Lal flatly.
The way the new Sky had reacted to being chased by Flame Actives, and the fact he wasn't even trying to reign in his Flames said that this was a civilian who had gotten way in over their head because they were unlucky enough to be picked over Aria.
However the mere fact he hadn't been captured yet said a lot that Lal really didn't like... things like the guy was probably used to being hunted by other humans, which really begged the question of why. It would certainly explain how he evaded capture the second word got out about a possible Sky Arcobaleno who had no idea what was going on and was leaking Flames everywhere.
The Giglio Nero, Vongola and even the Gesso Families (among others in the Alliance) were working hard to find and retrieve the new Sky, if only to avoid an all out war between the weaker Familigias seeking to use the new Sky to improve their own situations.
"So what does the new one look like?" asked Skull eagerly.
"European, with possible English roots considering he's only spoken in proper English like the kind you'd find in the UK with a slight Scottish accent. He has really pale skin about the same shade as Fon, except it seems to be more due to a lack of proper sunlight which again suggests he's British. Green eyes, like jewels, messy black hair like he'd been sitting too close to an open window traveling at speeds, and a really odd fashion sense. I'm pretty sure I saw something silvery under his clothes hiding the pacifier, but I'm not certain."
"And?" said Reborn impatiently.
"From the way he's evaded being caught up until now, I suspect he has a large amount of experience of being hunted by other humans. He's also very aware of his surroundings to the point he's spotted every single one of the tails on him and managed to vanish whenever they came too close, and he wears broken glasses that I think are the wrong prescription. I'm almost positive he's a civilian though, considering how much his Flames were leaking all over the place when I got close."
Lal then took the one photo they were able to nab, even if it was a bit blurry and not very good.
"This is the only ID we have on him. He's very good at avoiding cameras when he realized he was behind chased."
The kid looked young, and very jaded. He had a haunted look in his eyes that said he hadn't had an easy life... likely why his Flames were strong enough to be considered over Aria in the first place.
"...Perhaps if we all attempted to contact and explain things to him, he might be willing to listen?" suggested Fon slowly.
"Not all at once though. If he reacted this badly to being noticed by our world, then he won't react any better to us. I doubt he even knows what's going on," said Reborn.
"I'll have to wait until my vacation if this drags on too long, kora. I can't leave until my contract is up for review," said Colonello.
"We can each take a turn to see who he might respond to best. Lackey, you'll go up first considering there's a very distinct possibility that he's a civilian," said Reborn without any chance for Skull to argue.
The Cloud pouted, but he was really curious about meeting someone else who had been dragged into this mess like he had been.
And with that, the conference call ended.
Skull decided to try something simple... namely he set up shop in an area that was easy to duck into and hide in for someone their size, but close enough to the shops that the guy could survive for a bit if he was as tricky as Lal said. He found a sand pit in an open enough area, but with plenty of plants around to use as cover and started playing. Oodako was the bait to try and lure the new Sky in, because who wouldn't be curious about an octopus in a park so close to the sand.
Especially when Oodako started helping him build towers.
As he thought, the guy had the most baffled look on his face seeing Oodako in the sand pit, as well as the pacifier clearly around his neck.
He was pretty, in a boyish sort of way. But there was a haunted, almost guarded look in his eyes that said he had suffered far too much in too short a time period.
He would have to take things slow with this, otherwise he'd be suspicious about the others.
Reborn would kick his ass if that happened!
"Okay, I have to ask. Is that an actual octopus or is it some sort of odd squid? I know it's a cephalopod, but..." asked the Sky. Lal was right, he did speak with a British accent with a distinct Scottish burr. Maybe he was a Brit who spent a lot of time in Scotland?
"He's an octopus, and his name is Oodako," said Skull cheerfully. The guy didn't really bat an eye when Oodako waved at him. "I'm the great and powerful Skull!"
"...Call me Cory," he said quietly.
"Want to play?" asked Skull, motioning to the sand box. Once you got over the embarrassment factor of behaving like a kid, it was really fun.
Cory looked around, as if trying to spot any tails, before he sat down in the sand box and quietly helped Skull try to make a proper castle. Skull took heart in the fact that Cory didn't treat Oodako like a thing, but more like a 'person' with an actual mind. Needless to say he won both their favors for that, especially when he was clearly listening to what Skull had to say and took him seriously. He didn't really offer much, but he did get some tidbits that would be useful.
Like the fact Cory was an orphan from a young age, had no relatives he was willing to claim or stay with, and was in fact from England. Oh, and the real kicker for him, he was only a few months away from eighteen.
The poor kid must have been completely confused when he woke up with the pacifier around his neck. But Cory seemed more resigned than anything about the whole situation.
Skull was almost angry when one of the idiots showed up, but created enough of a distraction for the other to escape within seconds.
And the second he set up the conference call, Reborn practically leaped at him.
"Well?"
"He's not even eighteen, he's from England and an orphan with very little in the way of family he's willing to claim. He calls himself Cory, but I don't think it's his real name," said Skull.
"That's not much to go on, lackey," said Reborn.
Skull glared at him, which he could considering he hadn't put his helmet on.
"He also didn't really bat an eye about the fact I had Oodako out and seemed more comfortable around animals than people. I think he was heavily abused for a while," said Skull.
Child abuse was something of a sore point for all of them, especially considering their current condition. So the idea that this "Cory" was more comfortable around animals wasn't that shocking.
"Who should go next? I might be able to introduce one of you as a friend, if I do it right."
"...I'm in the country at the moment, and I might have an idea that could help ease the way. If he really is as partial to animals as you say, I'm sure he wouldn't mind meeting my partner," offered Fon.
Something about this Sky unsettled him, but he was hard to pin down what.
That seemed to placate Reborn for the moment. He had very little regard for Skull, but Fon was another matter entirely.
Skull was back in the same park, although this time Lal managed to get the more competent CEDEF agents to keep the idiots away a bit longer.
Though he would openly admit to doing a doubletake when he saw what Fon was wearing.
"...Is that a Panda outfit?" he asked incredulous.
Why?
"If the boy has been abused like you think, then perhaps a bit of silliness will help him to open up a bit. If nothing else it's something to open up a proper dialogue between us."
That and his daughter was planning to toss it out anyway, so it was no hardship getting it dirty.
Seeing Cory, Skull waved cheerfully at the boy who did his own doubletake at Fon's outfit.
"Why panda? You look more like a dragon."
Fon smiled at him. The boy immediately went to look at Lichi, who calmly sat around Fon's neck.
Skull was right, the boy definitely felt more comfortable around animals.
"Oh? What sort of dragon," asked Fon, humoring the boy.
The boy looked at him and it felt like he was peering into his very soul. Very disconcerting.
"Chinese Fireball, I think. You don't feel like a Japanese Clouddancer."
Fon said nothing, though he was starting to suspect Cory was in fact a wizard.
It was clear Cory loved animals, because he brought some snacks for Oodako and a few fruits that he shared with Lichi. He was much more comfortable around them than he was with Fon or Skull.
Once he left, mostly because it was getting dark out, Fon and Skull reported to the others.
"What in god's name are you wearing?" asked Verde incredulous.
"Something my daughter was planning to throw out. It worked well enough, though I think there's more to the new Sky than just being a civilian. I'll have to check my sources first," said Fon cryptically.
If he was right, then things just got infinitely more complicated than just educating a civilian about the mafia.