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Harry was in pain.
The war had ended with more blood and corpses of children than he ever wanted to see in his life. Then he had been pushed by his friends and family into the Veil, traitorous whispers of I'm sorry Harry, you' just haven't been yourself and how do we know that you aren't him…
Then he woke up in a waiting room where he had been greeted with the sight of a tall man, dressed in all black and eyes that promised an endless fall if he looked in them for more than a few seconds at a time.
A brush of lips on his forehead, a quiet I'll always be here for you master, live like you deserve to and do whatever you choose plagued his mind before he opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by darkness.
He scrabbled at the rocks that were in front of him, pushing them out of the tomb he found himself in. Coughing as dust hit the back of his throat, wincing as he gathered cuts and scrapes on his arms and legs.
He stumbled trying to grip onto the walls of the cave that he found himself in. He continued to go forwards, it could've been seconds, hours or days that he spent until he felt fresh air on his face. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and looked down at his hand in the moonlight, showing that blood and dust came along with it.
A fresh wave of pain swept through him and he fell down to his knees and struggled to catch his breath.
He had died. Again.
And apparently the title 'Master of Death' meant that he mastered death (the concept) and now had a permanent best friend in death (the void/reincarnation).
Fabulous.
He blinked. He had made it out of the cave somewhere in between waves of pain and darkness. It was cold and wind bit at him, piercing through his bloody clothes. It reminded him of his time in the forest of Dean, always paranoid, always moving, always in some state of pain.
He squinted and looked up at the sky.
He had dreamed of the stars ever since he was in the cupboard, longing for freedom. He had always loved astronomy class, with most of the class being half-asleep and most of the class being individual assignments it had been his reprieve for years.
In first year, the class brought silence from both Ron and Hermione. Too tired to trade what the professor had written on their assignments, he hid his works full of outstandings and praise, from Hermione who would inevitably go on a tirade later on about how stars were just balls of gas, there's really no need to study them!
In second year, the class brought refuge from everyone. Gryffindor might have shunned him, but there were a few Slytherins that just nodded politely at him. In the shadows on the way back there was always some bruising balm and in return he left a copy of his notes.
In third year, his mysterious pen pal left him a bar of chocolate and two sets of initials the first class back. From then on he passed on notes about the patronus charm and little messages from the snakes in the paintings in the Slytherin common room to T.N. and B.Z. In return chocolate bars and a notes on runes were left in the enclave until the end of the year.
In fourth year he finally met with Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini for the first time in person. Nights spent whispering about ancient runes and the stars, warming charms and cups of tea keeping them awake until the early hours in the morning. He started to ask questions and this time he got real answers without anyone telling him that he should just leave it alone. The Savior of the Light, Heir of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, all types of magic and its place in the world.
Fifth year was spent with shaking hands and a voice hoarse from holding in his screams. Books that he had pilfered from the Black family library making their way into the hands of the Slytherins and in return they started to teach him about his place in the world. He called Kreacher one morning and given him enough money to buy an extendable trunk to put all of the Black artefacts that were being thrown out into.
Sixth year brought a sense of dread upon all of them. Whispers about what the snakes were telling him and the room of requirement being used to store medical supplies. A war was looming on the horizon and it did not do well to be unprepared. Most nights ended with tea, the three of them writing in a journal about the stars and pinkie promises that they would try to stay safe.
Seventh year made Harry look at the stars even more. He had been able to recite the myths and stories about dozens of constellations for years at that point. He still carried around the journal full of stars. Theo had charmed it so that the constellations came to life while on the next page Harry wrote down the myths and stories in his cursive handwriting that he had worked on for ages, while Zabini had doodled and written in the margins.
He died with Death's artefacts in hand and his journal tucked away, never to be read again.
Now he was dead, but Death had shoved him back to life. Whispers of I will be here for you darling master, go live a life or two. I'll watch over you.
The stars were beautiful. A wonderful thing to see before he had to cough, a rattling sound that hurt and made him spit out red. As he faded into the bliss of darkness a shout came from behind him.
What a shame he'd never know what the person said.
***
Skull De Mort woke up with quiet breath in and a leather covered hand covering his mouth. The instincts of war had never dulled in the past few years, even when travelling.
He closed his eyes and put his hand back down onto the bed and let out a sigh. Nightmares and memories were normal, but it had been a while since he had relived the memory of him getting his flames.
***
He had woken up a few days later, out of the cold, finding out that he had been spotted stumbling down a mountain in the snow by a circus. They had questioned him as much as they could, but apparently all he did was mutter about how he should be dead and ask about the stars.
After he had healed he looked into a mirror, and found that he was purple and gold. Oddly enough, he was alright with that.
He travelled with the circus and slipped out one day to find Gringotts. He came out of the bank a few hours later with his head spinning. Harry James Potter was dead along with a wanna-be dark lord. Britain was celebrating and magical everywhere else was pissed.
Apparently the Quibbler was famous internationally and the only words that got news from Britain to the rest of the world. An article about what had been happening in the walls of Hogwarts and in the ministry came to light, along with undeniable proof of what the war actually entailed.
He had sighed as the goblin did his inheritance test and called for others to come. Apparently the whole 'Master of Death' was really important to them. Also the fact that Dumbledore had apparently been taking money and magical artefacts from him for years.
He had sighed again when they presented him with his Lordship rings. They were ecstatic when purple flames healed the cut he used to identify himself to the Black family. He was Tired with a capital T. He wanted a nap and for his headache to go away.
Harry James Potter was dead, but a dead man had come to the bank and left with half a dozen identities. Skull De Mort had shown up a few years ago when he had a godfather who was still breathing and teenage angst was more important than homework.
The House of Potter was gone, the Peverells had never truly died, the Blacks were always wily and dangerous and Evans was a popular last name in the muggle world. Skull De Mort was back from his hiatus that only a handful of people and a ringmaster knew the name of.
After the revelation that he truly was the only one alive, he had found a motorcycle and left, calling Kreacher to ask him if there was a place in Japan for him to live in. The Peverells did, so then re-started his magical education while exploring the world.
Stunts were new and fun, plus whenever he died he got to visit Death, his permanent and immortal best friend who just so happened to be a primordial being.
***
Skull sighed and rubbed his head. It had been years since he had remembered how he had come into his flames. It was odd that he would dream about it today.
He blinked as he registered that the ceiling was white, not painted a dark blue like it was in his room. What on Persephone's green earth was he doing in the infirmary at the manor?
"Lackey."
Skull turned to the side where Reborn was standing in the doorway.
He smiled up at the man. "Oh hey Reborn-senpai. What happened?"
If the man had any less control over his expressions Skull would've sworn that concern flashed through his eyes. He was probably just imagining things.
"What do you remember?" came the response as Reborn moved to take a seat beside him.
Skull blinked away the memories of stars, blood and the fading colour of purple and black.
"Uh…" he tilted his head to look at Reborn. "Were we on a mission?"
He got a miniscule nod in response and he ran through his memories to find out what he was missing.
"The… the Valenti family comes to mind…" he trailed off. "I think we went in for evidence, but I don't remember much after arriving there."
He frowned as Reborn hummed in response sat still while the sun leaned forwards and placed his hand on Skulls head, washing away the pain with his flames.
"We got fed some bad info, the one mist user turned out to be two mist users. One of them was a lot more powerful than we expected."
He moved his hand off of Skull's head and continued to do a standard examination that he had done to everyone in the Arcobaleno at least once before.
His voice was low and calm, despite the anger that was bleeding through his flames.
"One of them was used to distract us and the other managed to get behind everyone's mental shields for a moment, making each of us relive the night we became flame activated."
Skull hummed in response. Reborn's flames were always warm on him. Ever since the whole dying-and-coming-back-to-life-oh-you're-the-master-of-death-by-the-way thing he was always cold, like ice had entered into his body and stayed there no matter what he did.
"Most of us were out for a few seconds, but you passed out and your vitals went nuts. Viper brought you back immediately and we dealt with the family."
Skull hummed. Those had been a strange few days. He never truly had a dying will to stay alive, more of a passive mindset of I will not die and he had accepted that as reality.
The sky was blue. Grass was green. He was in pain. He was a wizard. He would not die.
Truly odd considering the nature of dying will flames.
"So, if you would be so kind to tell us why you've been unconscious for two days and why your flames were refusing to activate that would be lovely." Reborn ended his examination and met his eyes head on.
Skull's mouth dropped open. "Two days?!" he managed to spit out.
Reborn nodded in response, flames angrily swirling around him. "Yes, lackey two days." he frowned at him.
Skull mentally shorted out. It had been years since he's taken that long to heal any injuries, besides head injuries. Those always took longer, he and Verde had hypothesized that it was because of the memories also coming back while his brain matter also rebuilding.
"-key? Lackey? Answer me Skull!" the sound of Reborn's concerned voice cut through his mental tirade.
He lifted up his hand and grabbed Reborn who had risen up and looked as if he was about to run out of the room.
"I-" He paused and licked his lips. He could not fuck this up. He was supposed to be a civilian for merlin's sake! It didn't matter that they all already knew that magic existed, he had been briefed on it within the first week. It was more of the fact that he had to let them know that he wasn't as incompetent as he let them believe, and he could not do that again.
Reborn shook his arm and he snapped back into reality. "I'm back. I'm back. It’s fine. It's-" he babbled on still trying to figure out what he was going to do.
Harry was dead. Harry was a war general at age fifteen. Harry had been shoved into boxes and labels just because his parents were dead and he wasn't. Skull was freedom. Skull was teenage rebellion and a breath of fresh air rather than the air full of ash and blood. Skull had wandered around picking up labels and laughing as he kept them while stomping on the boxes that were handed to him.
A stuntman that lived off of crowds, but would refuse to be in a room with people if he had to talk to them.
Dressed in intimidating leather gear and a helmet, but he would always offer to show off a little for kids if they seemed excited to see him.
A civilian that wandered through blood and death like it meant nothing to him.
A Cloud that liked hanging around people, a Cloud that didn't have a problem with people telling him what to do, a Cloud that preferred going for the front door rather than sneaking around the back.
A perfect contradiction.
Rain flames softly entered the room, resting around him and Reborn, but giving them enough room to lash out.
Breath in. Breathe out.
He closed his eyes and gently felt around the edges for his flames. His flames had taken up a protective stance around his magical core when he first discovered it, and the flames instinctively were always around him and his body, clocking everything as a threat.
The others had been upset the first few weeks of him being there, and kept snapping at him to reel his flames in. After he admitted to not knowing that he could control them Fon had taken him aside and given him some tips on meditation and how to control them.
Distantly he could hear Reborn and others enter the room as he slowly entered into what he affectionately called the astro-physics-magic-land-fuckery, basically a mix of the magical version of a mind palace that occlumency users made mixed with his flames and gave him access to the outside world.
He had found out that he could go here pretty easily when he had learned some curse breaking in Egypt, and figured out that it was how most curse breakers could 'see' wards and magic on objects. Adding in flames just basically gave him something that he could focus on.
He reached out to the suffocating purple that had turned into a dark shimmering shade of wine and poisonous berries around him and tried to coax it back in.
The deep ocean blue lay serenely around the edges of the room, like the sound of waves crashing against the side of the boat in the sea during the night. Meditative and solid, a grounding colour that he could lean on.
A burnt yellow, the colour of the sun as it rose across the savanna. The sounds of birds and the wind and it swayed with the grass in a way that reminded him of how he had watched the lions rise slowly in the morning before they had gone out to hunt. The colour gave him something to grasp onto, something to follow.
The dark and oppressive shade of purple slowly became lighter, not quite back to normal, but to a much more manageable shade. Right now the colour was more of a larkspur, the flower that represents fickleness, first loves and laughter. A small plea for forgiveness and a hushed whispers of giggling in an empty manor.
Normally his flames were purple like the sparkling grape flavoured drinks that he had found while travelling and that came with memories of bubbly laughter and hot summers and the sound of motorcycles. It was the colours of nebulas and galaxies that sparkled and shone across the night sky that would fade into the early morning sunrise.
Breath in. Breath out.
He blinked open his eyes and met the worried stares of Lal and Reborn.
"Are you back with us Skull?" asked Lal, an underlying current of concern in her eyes giving away the unaffected soldier act. He didn't trust himself to speak, so he nodded in response.
Reborn tilted his head towards the door. “I’ll go get Shamal.” he turned and started to go towards the door when Skull yelped put a “No!”
The hitman turned towards him and made eye contact with Skull. “Did you just say no?” he asked, voice low and dangerous.
Skull held his breath for a moment before letting his eyes grow cold and icy. A look he had learned from some of the older Black portraits who had been upset to hear what had happened to the family, but ecstatic to teach him as much as they could. He had also met some of the more elusive family members after he had appeared on the tapestries.
“You just woke up after being unconscious for two days from a mist attack and panicked, and you are refusing medical attention?” Lal eyed him, a calculating gaze. “I don’t think that you’re in the position to decline anything, especially medical attention.”
Skull ground his teeth together. His Skull mask was bleeding into his Harry mask. This was bad. All of the Arcobaleno had masks, some of them were better than others, but his mask underneath Skull was not Harry James Potter but Hades Ophiuchus Black-Peverell.
He hadn’t been Harry in years.
"I'm fine." he managed to grind out. "It was just a surprise that I was out for two days. I want out."
He made a move to get up but was stopped by Reborn.
"You should rest a little bit longer Skull." interjected Lal after he snapped at the hitman to let him go.
"No," he struggled against Reborn who had moved on and was holding him down on the bed. "I want out. I want out of here. Let me go!" he had escalated from just struggling against Reborn to actively trying to push him off, doing everything he could to push the older man away.
The white walls and ceilings reminded him all too much of the infirmary wing and the countless hours he had spent in there. With those memories, brought the coppery scent of blood and the taste of dirt and ash filling his mouth.
Suddenly the white walls were replaced with a dark blue and his nose was filled with the salty sea air and he could hear the sound of waves lapping against the shore.
Breathe in. Breath out.
"-re in Italy. Your name is Skull. You are a Cloud. You're in Italy..."
The voice was low and soothing, never changing and constant. He sucked in a breath and tried to let it out as slow as he could, trying to make his breathing sound as nice as the waves crashing against the sea shore.
He blinked and saw white again. Not the nice white of King's Cross, but the ugly white of a medical center.
"I want out." he managed to croak out. He licked his lips. "Reborn please," he begged. "Let me out."
He looked up and was met with Lal and Reborn trading a look. Reborn nodded.
"You will stay with one of us tonight and we will be discussing this tomorrow." His tone left no room for arguments. Skull nodded in agreement and made to get out of bed.
"I'll tell the others if they tell me what happened to them." Skull's voice was raspy and quieter than it ever had been and Reborn nodded in acceptance, sticking his hand out to steady the Cloud who had started to tremble.
He and Reborn left the room, passing by Reborn's room and the sitting room where the Arcobaleno usually hung out before and after missions. The energy he had earlier all gone, and he slowly started to lean against Reborn who was acting much nicer and quieter than he usually did.
Skull tugged Reborn to his room, stopping at the door frame and making a small cut on his hand. Reborn frowned, but watched as Skull drew a few runes in blood and murmured a short Latin phrase and pushed his purple flames into the door and motioned for the hitman to do the same.
Abstinere ab viscus.
Refrain from entry.
Luce had given them all a manor to use and to stay in while they were together, stating teamwork and then she had promptly left to go stay at her Famiglia manor. They had all spent days removing the bugs and cameras from every room in the house and the next time Luce had come over Skull had upped his 'cloudy' behavior and his annoying stuntman mask, asking relentlessly about his room and chattering about everything and anything until the donna had been visibly annoyed.
He managed to convince her to promise that she wouldn't ever go into anyone's bedrooms or put anymore equipment in them in between his rambling about how cool is it donna-senpai to have pretty fire, what does each colour mean again? and sometimes when people would come into my trailer it looked like they hurt a lot, that why I got my own instead of sharing.
The others knew that the stuntman had a mask, but seeing him push the persona to the extreme had been hilarious. Later that week when Lal had gone grocery shopping she got him a chocolate bar. He was still the 'lackey' but now when they were alone the nickname was said more like a nickname rather than a label.
Him getting kidnapped for the first time had also left an impression on them as well. They had walked into a massacre, blood dripping from the walls and ceiling and they had been met with the sight of the Cloud meticulously snapping every bone in a man's hand as the man sobbed. He had looked up at them, a feral grin on his face.
"He touched my bike senpai." was the whispered admission. They had nodded and turned around and walked back out. Twenty minutes later the Cloud had walked back out, as happy as ever with blood smeared across his face. They had taken a pact not to ever talk about it ever again, not even to the Sky.
He walked into his room and went over to the closet full of clothes. Grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a purple sweatshirt he went to get dressed in the bathroom. While in in there he caught sight of his face and winced. His glamours still held in place, anchored by runes etched into his piercings, but they still couldn't hide everything. He looked exhausted, purple bags under his eyes and he seemed thinner than he had been in quite a while.
He brushed his teeth and washed his face with warm water. He walked out to see that Reborn hadn't moved from the doorway.
Oh.
Skull looked over and gauged his height, tossing over his biggest shirt and sweatpants. They would probably fit most of the Arcobaleno, they were all weirdly tall compared to him.
"Congrats, I'm a wizard." he deadpanned and pointed Reborn in the direction of the bathroom. "Extra toothbrushes are under the sink."
With that he went and flopped over on his bed.
Today officially sucked.
He sighed and lazily watched as constellations danced across the ceiling. He was a Cloud, but his territory was more knickknacks than an actual place. The cloak, the stone and the wand were obvious. A basilik fang that he had taken in his second year, a jar of bruise balm that he had taken to brewing after he first started wiping out on his motorcycle. The journal of stars with its doodles and tea-stained pages. A collection of piercings that he found while travelling or in the vaults, made with metals as common as iron and rare jewels that were only found every few centuries.
At the beginning he had thought that Gryffindor was his territory when the whole 'Cloud behavior' had been explained to him. He thought back to when he was eleven and happy just to belong. He remembered that he grew up, the red and gold became a brand that choked him, whether it painted him as 'good' or 'evil' it was still a title shoved onto him, no matter what he did. Now, whenever he thought back to Gryffindor, he was reminded the blood of children on its broken, stone steps of the dormitory and the feeling of betrayal and darkness that was as cold as ice running through his veins.
He managed to fit everything that he considered 'his', aside from Neville and Luna, into an old Black family heirloom, a leather satchel that was much better protection than the moleskin bag. It had been used by an older family member who used to travel, runes had been engraved to make it light and had an extendable inside alongside a shelf where he could store food, money and cursed artefacts.
To tell the truth, he had been on a redecorating kick for a while, a lot of his properties being old and outdated, and he had found an odd love for themed rooms, so adding another one wasn't too hard. In most of his places he had been ushered into the master bedrooms by Kreacher, and it was obvious that the properties hadn't been in use for years. The elf had taken to being his personal elf and in turn he had done a ritual that made the bond to him through both the Peverell and Black magic.
The Peverells had a love for themed rooms both for colours and for nature, while the Blacks had mostly had rooms that were more suited to royalty rather than a family. In his travels he had found that his love for stars and the outside could be turned into a room, so in most of his family homes he and Kreacher always redecorated for a while, otherwise he found himself climbing to sleep on the roof or balcony.
His room at the Arcobaleno manor had gone through the typical changes that Kreacher did to each bedroom that he slept in. The walls had been painted with a plethora of blues, purples, golds, and bits of pink and silver as well. When he had turned eighteen, he had spent a few weeks working on a rune sequence that mimicked the one in the Constellation Room at Black Manor, the runes let the area anchor onto a reflection of the sky in the area that he chose, and anchored it to every room that he slept in. Some of the rooms that he stayed in showed the galaxy as a whole, and others just what was through the roof.
The constellation rune sequence made the reflection appear on the walls and on the ceiling, leaving a shimmering layer of stars everywhere he looked. He had taken some inspiration from the Peverell cottage that he had stayed in for furniture. While his bed was in the middle of the room with pillows and blankets that were varying shades of purple and grey, he had gotten a few shelves that hovered around the edges holding piles of books, medicinal herbs and little trinkets that he had found in the vaults. The shelves themselves floated, anchored into place by runes, and the plants were self-watering.
As he watched a shooting star pass by him and listened to the hum and gurgling of Ootako's tank, his breathing slowly evened out and he slowly fell asleep.
***
Reborn did not how he ended up in this position.
Finding out that Skull was a wizard had been the simplest part of the night, it had been obvious to all of them. His easy acceptance of the packet about magic after reading the information packer handed to him, not asking any questions unlike how he did with flames.
Verde's eyes had gleamed when the youngest had mentioned offhandedly some obscure bits of knowledge about history before he had quickly changed the subject with a laugh.
Him paying Viper with jewels instead of money for information, no one batting an eye so he continued to do so even now.
Lal and Fon had done some deep diving on the wizarding world and passed it around, making sure that they all had been updated on what was happening.
Reborn had introduced his abilities to the rest of the Arcobaleno he used the names legilimens and beast speak, and had given a short overview of what each of them were. Skull hadn't batted an eye, and given Verde some books on occlumency the next time they met when the man hadn't stopped pestering him on the how part of legilimens.
A silent admission that he was a part of the magical world, or at least had been a part of it.
The only person who might not have known was Luce, but she had made a point to spend time with Skull, whether he noticed or not.
Back to the present, he currently found himself texting the rest of the team while Skull slept softly, curled up beside him and basking in the heat from his flames.
TheSeven:
Storm: How is he?
Sun: Asleep. He told me he was a wizard, then passed out.
Sun: He said that he would tell us what he saw if we told him the same in return.
Reborn tapped the side of his phone when no more texts came through. It had been a few strange days. None of the Arcobaleno wanted to admit it, but seeing Skull fall to the ground in pain after the mist attack had put all of them off balance.
They were the so-called strongest in the world, and having the civilian of the group have the worst reaction out of all of them made them all re-think what they actually knew about the Cloud.
His eyes darted around the room, taking in the charm work that looked like it could've been someone's life's work. It was honestly gorgeous, even he could admit that and he graduated from Beauxbatons.
He had been stunned when he had first entered the room, not having sensed any type of magic before he pressed his flames to the door. The sheer amount of protective wards that had been woven around, blocking out any ambient magic that might have been given off rivaled the wards in most old magical enclaves.
He had taken the clothes offered and gotten dressed, more casually than he had in years. Skull had fallen asleep within minutes, most likely exhausted from the two consecutive panic attacks he had after waking up from a mist attack.
They had been a team for a few months now, and just starting to trust each other. While none of them had given up personal information willingly, they all had earned each other's respect and trust.
Their true personalities had also started to shine through their masks, all of their flames aside from Luce had started to seek out the others if they were in private as well. They could not harmonize without a Sky to tie them all together, but bonding was between two elements was done when the two had an equal amount of power and willingness to be bonded. It was a much more intimate and rarer to find bonded elements, a thread of their respective flames were taken out and intertwined together.
None of them had reached a level of trust to bond, but after being together for so long it was clear to them that they all could bond if they were willing. That was a terrifying concept especially for those who grew up knowing about flames.
They truly were the strongest in the world.
***
Arcobaleno were the boogeymen of the underworld, working alongside the Vindice and acting like Gods that didn't care about what happened to the world. Most magical and mundane historical events were ripple effects from the Arcobaleno of their time being angry and throwing a fit.
Him being picked was exciting as it was terrifying.
The donna from the Giglio de Nero family had been an unpleasant surprise. She already had guardians, and while she was strong, he knew that his sun flames would burn her from the inside out even if he was the only one harmonized. Still he played the gentlemen act with her.
Viper was expected, as was Verde. Fon was an interesting surprise, but they all nodded cordially with him, a pact to stay neutral for the meeting. Having a soldier show up was odd, but as long as she didn't get offended about them essentially becoming mercenaries he had no qualms with her. Or the fact that she had brought back-up and he was watching them from the trees.
Then someone dressed in a leather suit of all things walked through the door. He had scoffed along with Viper because the stupid man's flames were poking everywhere and at everything.
Then as they were going around saying who they were, he watched as the man started to squirm and when it was his turn he listened as he introduced himself as 'the great Skull-sama' and asked why they were naming weather patterns.
He had watched alongside Fon as the donna smiled and offered Skull cookies while reaching out her flames to try to harmonize with him. The two of them watched as he accepted the most-likely-poisoned-cookie-what-the-actual-hell-are-you-a-fucking-moron with a smile and watched as his flames latched onto hers that were oh so sticky sweet and squeezed.
The donna had turned white and the man asked her if she was alright with an earnest look on his face, all while his flames danced around him, poisonous and a deep violet of monkshood, leaving an echo of harsh laughter as the donna's flames pulled back as fast as they could, burnt and trying to nurse the pain away of the flames that had been consumed so easily.
The rest of them had traded looks.
Reborn spoke up asking the donna for more details, while Viper took one for the team and let a little of their flames out to poke the cloud flames that surrounded the man. The cloud flames responded with a sheet of ice at first, then it had slowly melted and turned into untamable curiosity. After a few moments and deeming Viper's flames nonthreatening, the Cloud's flames started chasing and poking around trying to find the whisps of flames that kept disappearing, like a deadly game of peek-a-boo. The purple flames slowly changed to a softer shade of lilac, giggling and pouting when the indigo left for too long.
This was going to be an interesting team. Maybe he would stay.
***
Skull blinked awake, feeling truly warm for the first time in years. Sun flames lapping around him making him feel like he was laying in liquid gold, soft breaths and a heartbeat letting him know that he was laying beside Reborn.
He wiggled deeper under the covers, not willing to fully wake up.
This had happened a few times that they had been on missions, unwilling to rent out seven rooms even when undercover. For the most part, Viper got a room to themselves, Verde and Fon shared as did Reborn and Skull. Lal would sometimes share if Colonnello came along or stayed by herself.
It had become habit to not speak in the mornings, even at the manor. It had started out as a way to get him to 'train' his flames properly and developed into a habit that none of them could quite break. With the six of them living full-time in the manor it was inevitable that while their personalities might clash, the flames would eventually seek out the other flames to gauge their power level and see what they were like.
The mornings had slowly become the time where they all learned to relax and release the tight hold they all held on their flames. It had taken Skull quite a while to learn how to let his flames mingle with others, the violet coloured fire preferring to stay near Skull at all times. It had been quite worrying and painted a rather nasty picture for the other Arcobaleno, but after a few months his flames had deigned it safe enough to explore and poke around the others.
Soft curls of lilac purple pushed up against the tendrils of honeycomb, wrapping around them in a soft hellogoodmorninghello waiting for the yellow to answer. He didn't have to wait long before the flames stretched out and turned into the light yellow of sunrises in winter, bright and inviting and covering the shimmering snow in its colour, the colour that happened when Reborn was worried enough to do a scan with his flames. The message of goodmorningareyoualrightareyouhurt answered him and Skull turned over to where Reborn was beside him.
"Hi." he whispered in the direction of Reborn. He got a huff in response. Reborn had never been a morning person, especially before he got his espresso. It always was an odd pairing with him and Reborn, him waking before six a.m. every day and Reborn refusing to talk to people until he had finished his coffee.
He frowned as he remembered the dreams and the what had happened in the infirmary and a red flush made its way across his face. As Reborn's sun flames poked and prodded at him for the sudden change in colour he sent back over the feeling of embarrassmentshamehidehidehide back over.
The yellow accepted the answer and continued to curl lazily around the room, curious about what everything was but still sticking close to the two of them.
"It's noon lackey."
Skull choked and whipped his head over to Reborn. "What."
Reborn winced at the sudden change in demeanor. "You woke up around nine this morning, then convinced us to let you out of the medical room if you were alright with staying with one of us for a bit. Once you were awake we were all going to do a debrief."
His eyes widened at the implication and hurried to fix it. "An Arcobaleno only debrief, no one else will know."
Skull heaved a sigh of relief. The Arcobaleno Pact was the only good thing to come out of this whole mafia mess. No selling or giving away any information about any of them, no hurting, killing or experimenting on any of them without express permission and all of that was sealed with, quite literally, the essence of their souls.
There would be no getting out of this meeting.
Reborn's flames tapped him again to get his attention, "Do you want me to let them know that we're coming down?" he asked as soon as Skull met his eyes.
The younger man scrunched up his nose and shook his head. "I'll have a shower first and then go down."
Reborn nodded agreeably and took out his phone to text the others while Skull hopped out of bed and made his way into the shower.
TheSeven:
Sun: Skull is taking a shower. Will be down soon, get food.
Rain1: Alright, the rest of us are in the sitting room. You know the one.
He got dressed again, in his clothes from that morning while the shower started to run. Reborn was happy that Skull hadn't run a bath, the Cloud could quite literally spend hours soaking in the water and avoiding everyone in the manor.
After about twenty minutes, the stuntman finally came back out, dressed in a soft pair of pajama pants and a black hoodie. No sign of purple anywhere until he unceremoniously shoved on his leather racing jacket that had white and purple accents.
Skull caught Reborn's eye and shrugged. It was comfortable.
The hitman grabbed his phone and started to steer the younger one towards the door. As the two of them made their way downstairs the hitman started to fill in the blanks for the Cloud.
"After the mission we put ourselves on lockdown, aside from Colonnello obviously. We've been waiting for you to wake up and relaxing for the last few days." he caught Skull's eye and let out a huff. "Yes, even Verde relaxed for a while. I've let the others know that we're coming down so prepare yourself." and with that they made their way into the main hall and into the kitchen.
True to his word, when they entered the kitchen they were greeted with the sight of Verde typing on his laptop while sipping a cup of coffee and Fon finishing his plate of lunch. Reborn nudged Skull until he was sitting on one of the stools in the island and soon Skull found himself with a plate with plain toast and a small bowl of applesauce.
He made a face at Reborn, but started to eat the toast.
"Vitals?" asked Verde, still focused on whatever he was typing. Skull frowned, chewing on a mouthful of toast. To his surprise it was Reborn who spoke up.
"All good, everything went back to his baseline after he fell back asleep and have stayed steady."
Skulls eyes widened. He hadn't realized that Reborn had continued to scan him and had been doing so for hours.
Fon hummed from the other side of the table. "I'm glad that you are awake Skull."
Skull nodded in response, still chewing his food. Reborn walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bowl of sliced fruit to snack on while he waited.
A few moments later Skull jumped out of the chair, pushing away his plate - an indication that he was done with the food but would most likely come back for it later. Wordlessly, Reborn and Fon put away their respective plates while Verde closed his laptop.
Verde headed out towards the sitting room that they all used with Skull trailing behind him. He didn’t notice Fon and Reborn trading looks, he had only eaten a few bites of the toast - not enough for him especially since he had spent the last few days unconscious with his body refusing to cooperate. Reborn watched as Fon snagged a few chocolate bars, Skull had never turned down chocolate before in any situation.
"The great Skull-sama is awake!" he cried as he skipped through the double doors that led into the living room where the others were hanging out.
Lal and Colonnello were sitting side by side on the couch, legs tangled with each other. Viper still had their hood up, but they were curled up on a loveseat with no illusions obscuring the rest of themself.
Verde had walked into the room and started fiddling with a panel on the wall, the one that could soundproof the room and stop all electronics from working as well as any magical attempts to eavesdrop.
He pouted when no one greeted him, Fon and Reborn both walking past him to sit down in the room. Reborn heading to an armchair that let him see everyone in the room and be able to keep an eye on the door and windows. Fon sat down on the other side of the couch that held the two Rains.
Skull sighed dramatically and flopped down on his armchair that gave him a view out of the window. He grabbed a blanket and fidgeted around until he was curled up and entirely covered by the blanket leaving only his head and one of his arms out.
"So," started Verde conversationally, "now that I've activated everything we can speak without the fear of being overheard."
Viper nodded. "Mu. What about the second Rain?"
To no one's surprise it was Lal who spoke up. " I can vouch for Colonnello, he might've not signed the paper but neither did Luce and I trust him more than I trust her."
Fon raised his eyebrow in surprise. They all had acknowledged that Luce did not have any of their trust, but this was the first time that one of them actually said it out loud.
The blond looked around, "I can sign whatever you need me to. I trust Lal and if you all agree that I should then I have no problem with it." he said conversationally.
Fon, Reborn, Verde and Viper traded looks. With a nod at Viper from Verde they made a small Mist portal and Verde stepped through and returned with a stack of papers.
"This," he started to say, "is a modified NDA that you must sign with your flames. It prevents you from letting anyone know about any information about any of us. If you fail to comply with it, the flames will activate and let us know while yours are stripped from you."
The blond just raised an eyebrow and took the NDA and started to read through it. After a few moments, he took the offered pen from Verde and signed it, pushing his flames through the pen.
There was a pause, no one saying anything.
Verde cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. "I am wondering what you saw that managed to get you down for two and a half days while it incapacitated us for a few minutes at most."
They all looked at Skull who had stiffened. "Ah," he tucked his knees in closer to his body making himself as small as possible. "I relived me getting my flames activated. Same as all of you."
Reborn just raised an eyebrow while Viper sighed and spoke up to the whole room.
"Mu. We did make a deal under the Arcobaleno pact that we would all tell each other what we saw."
Lal and Colonnello looked at each other and Lal spoke up softly. "Colonnello and I both underwent CONSUBIN training. There is an activation training camp that everyone goes through at least once."
Colonnello just nodded alongside her.
Verde huffed and pushed up his glasses. "I was in a lab accident, I already was aware of the flames and in reaction to the accident I managed to activate mine."
Reborn shrugged and sipped at an espresso that he had managed to get from somewhere. "Someone tried to kill me. My flames activated and stunned him for long enough that I managed to kill him first."
The others nodded along. That was in line for the hitman.
Viper sniffed and turned to face away from the others. "It was when I was in the magical world, they activated when I had to hide to save my life."
A few eyebrows were raised at the confirmation that Viper had been a part of the magical community.
Fon's eyes flashed red for a moment and his voice was deceptively neutral as he stated "I was raised to be a part of the Triads, they activated during one of the flame activation trials that we all go through."
Lal and Colonnello winced. They went through training to activate their flames like everyone else in CONSUBIN, but the word trials implied a lot of things that they didn't want to think about.
Everyone turned to the Cloud who had been unnaturally quiet.
"Oh," he cleared his throat. "So mine activated after the second blood war in Britain, turns out that my last name had too many unsavory attachments to it so the 'light side' thought it would be best to finish off my bloodline and shove me through the Veil of Death. I went through the veil which dropped me off in a necromantic tomb that was in the middle of the mountains that my ancestors had connections with. I spent a while trying to get out and down."
He fiddled with the edges of the blanket and shrugged when no one spoke."I can't actually tell you when my flames activated, it had been weeks since the battle when I finally found out the date. My funeral had already happened, they buried an empty casket others assuming that my body had been buried under rubble in the castle like some others had been."
Silence.
He looked up at the others.
Viper had stilled an unnerving amount, Verde and Colonnello's jaws had dropped open, Lal looked horrified her hand over her mouth, Fon's hands were clenched into fists and Reborn had gone quiet and still while killing intent was flexing around him and flowed into his flames.
"Skull," started Viper, deadly calm. "Are you telling us that you were a child soldier."
Skull flinched. "No," he snapped. "I was not a child after what I went through, none of us were. And the word solider implied that we chose to fight willingly."
He made eye contact with Viper. "None of us chose to fight, we were either manipulated into doing it or given no choice but to fight. Adults were willingly blind and ignored everyone telling them what was happening, letters home were burned and it was kids who taught other kids how to survive."
He shuddered as he remembered the glassy eyes of children that he had stepped over when he had entered into the castle.
The younger ones hadn't stood a chance.
"I think I'm going to be sick." came the quiet admission from Lal who then quickly left the room, Colonnello following behind.
***
It was a known fact that Skull was the youngest of all of them.
Memories flashed though his mind, Skull sheepishly admitting that he didn't know how to drive a car, him cornering Luce and asking if Skull was an actual child, Skull looking surprised at all of the food options when he was in a store.
A memory flickered to the front of his mind of Skull humming along and saying "But Reborn-senpai I've only had ice cream twice in my life. How was I supposed to know what flavours were good? Plus purple has never let me down so it was a good choice." after he had ribbed him for choosing blueberry flavour, the only purple one in the store.
The fact that he had probably spent his teenage years in a war time made more sense.
When the International Confederation of Wizards had come out and told the rest of the world of what had been happening in Britain, he had been livid just like everyone else.
When the death of their so-called saviour had happened the Quibbler had written one article and sent it to the ICW, revealing all that had been happening in Britain for years.
A public magazine insulting and belittling children, also publicly stating that the madman wasn’t back even when they had undeniable proof that he was. Covering up deaths, how teachers torturing students all while telling the rest of the world that they were alright and the adults cowering in their homes when children fought and bled in their home.
Magical Britain had been humiliated and embarrassed, but magical everywhere else had been livid. The ICW had gone in and assessed the damage, and the evidence had been damning.
Dozens of children dead, education years behind, a corrupt ministry, torture wounds on eleven-year olds that would never heal properly, the list went on. Their saviour being dead was just the cherry on top, a seventeen-year old boy who had faced death time and time again who, according to the ministry, had died due to untreated wounds and his friends had apparently buried him.
Others apparently had other opinions on what had happened to the boy.
The rest of the world didn't even get a body to apologize to.
Now that their lackey, their Cloud told him that he had been in the middle of it.
Blood would be spilled.
***
Lal was a soldier.
She had consciously made the decision when she was eight years old and her father had sat her down one spring day and taught her how to shoot.
It was where she belonged.
Then she was recruited by Checkerface. She took her hard polished skills of how to shoot, how to kill, and adapted. She learned more skills and got her hands dirty as she spent more and more time in the underground.
She had learned about the magical enclaves, just like everyone else. Another fact that was much less known was that she had been part of the group that the ICW had sent out to help with the aftermath of the war.
They had been much too late to do anything of importance, but she had reported her findings of what she saw.
Children with blood on their hands, far too young, the word therapist non-existent, adults worshipping a dead man's word like gospel. It had been a horrifying sight.
She had scoffed and dismissed it when the Cloud had first walked in to the meeting, consciously ignoring the British accent that haunted her dreams more than the blood that she spilled ever did.
She coughed up more bile as Colonnello stood behind her, a hand resting on her shoulder to let her know that he was there. The mafia was a dangerous place to show emotions and the in the army emotions were not allowed, but her and Colonnello were always aware of the other.
The two of them moved in synch, always in orbit with each other. They had been there for training to activate their flames, just like everyone else. They had been grouped together since that fateful training day where both had activated their flames. They had both been on the mission where they had been sent out to Britain, the higher ups claiming that because they were Rains they were the best candidates. He knew the horrors that Lal was remembering, he had been sent out to the ministry while she had gone out to the ruins, the debrief had been eye-opening.
In terms of flames they were the best in CONSUBIN, she might have been selected by Checkerface, but they both knew that he was a shoe-in if something happened to her. There was no one else that she trusted more, as closed off as she seemed, and Colonnello knew that as well.
This was just another horror that she was facing. Her comrade, her Cloud, had been one of the children with blood on their hands and unshed tears in their eyes as they found their dead friends.
As she spat out more spit and bile into the sink the sound of Colonnello's quiet murmurs grounded her more than anything else. She took in a shuddering breath, and Colonnello passed her a glass of water.
They would get through this. They always did. No matter what had happened or what happened next, Skull would now be under the same umbrella as them. As much as he hated it, he was a soldier and soldiers were brother in arms no matter what happened.
***
Colonnello was at a loss of what to do.
When Lal had come up to him and quietly asked, not ordered, if he could quietly trail after her for a meeting that she had been summoned to he had been quick to agree.
He was two years behind from Lal, even though he had been a part of the army for just as long. He had become flame aware when he was young and the army had been quick to usher him into their ranks.
Both him and Lal had gone to the activation training and succeeded in activating their Rain flames at the same time. At first he had been confused, Rains were supposed to be calm and quiet, and he was neither of those things. It had been Lal who picked up on his inner confusion.
She had taken him aside after the Britain mission after he had to forcefully subdue a politician and a groups of 'aurors'. He had blurted out that his flames weren't helpful at all, and she had just punched his arm and scoffed.
"Our flames don't make up our personality, our flames reflect our personality. You being a hot head doesn't matter, you're adaptable and more dependable than most people. Now hurry up and write your damn report!"
Lal had been there for him when he needed someone and she had been there when he didn't need anyone. He would be here for her.
He had trailed the group for weeks and slowly began to meet them. Most had been intimidating, Reborn being his childhood best friend had been a hilarious reunion for both of them, and Skull had been the sweetest to meet.
The Cloud had been a bubbly personality, happy just to talk about cars and motorcycles for hours and had listened when he had responded by going on an hour long tangent about his rifle. They started trading stories from where they both had travelled to, both of them offering advice to the other and suggesting new places to visit.
It had been a start of a beautiful friendship when he had managed to see the aftermath of a prank that the Cloud pulled on Reborn. He had quickly offered up his expertise and his help for any more future pranks.
He had listened to Lal talk about the Cloud and moan about he would never last in the team. He had listened to her when she had shakily recounted the day that they had walked into a massacre that the sweet Cloud had done because someone had touched his bike.
She never complained about the Cloud's abilities after that.
Now he was here reliving his days after the Britain mission where he and Lal had been introduced to the idea of child soldiers and what the sheer incompetence of adults would do to a community.
He had accepted the Arcobaleno pact, despite not being one. He had been vouched by two of the members, even though they made a full set.
They already had a Rain, which was fine and he wouldn't interfere, but he would always be there for Lal.
Rains needed Rains as well.
He would do his best to be here for them, no matter how.
***
Verde was a scientist.
He thought in facts, numbers, and was with the belief that everything needed to be studied and each hypothesis needed to be proven or disproven through methods of scientific process.
He was also a lightning. While most lightnings were happy with being used a glorified shield for a greedy, arrogant Sky, he was not. His name quickly became known in the underground with a tinge of fear and reverence attached to it.
When a purple-clothed idiot had claimed to be immortal he had scoffed and vowed to get a sample of his flames to work with. He had watched as his flames, which he claimed not to be able to control, eat the sky flames that the donna had tried to reach out with while the stuntman, the civilian, hadn't even flinched.
He had been even more intrigued.
He had been suitably annoyed when the Arcobaleno pact had forbade him from experimenting or collecting any data unless permission was given willingly.
He had been upset when he watched Skull take a bullet to the chest and spit it out a few minutes later, knowing that he would never get the chance to work on Skull with his permission.
He had been mollified a few weeks later when Skull had skipped down to the labs and presented him with a list of certain injuries that Skull had had alongside the healing rates and what it felt like.
For the first time in years Verde felt the air rush out of his lungs.
Skull, the immortal stuntman, felt everything that happened to him. Pain receptors were always functioning on the stuntman. No amount of drugs would numb him and as he scanned the list some of the injuries on the list made him blanch, as immoral as he was.
Regrowing the nervous system, regrowing pain receptors, decapitation (head reattachment), decapitation (head regrowing), drowning, (ended in death), burning (ended in death), etc.
He had looked up at the Cloud who had whispered quietly, threateningly, "I told you I was immortal Verde." with a sharp look in his eyes and left his labs humming quietly.
For the first time he didn't want to experiment with someone's flames.
Now for the second time he felt the air rush out of his lungs when he was around the Arcobaleno Cloud.
The list was starting to make more and more sense.
Verde respected soldiers, while most of his experiments would not be looked upon kindly by the legal standards, he still respected them.
He had foolishly assumed that Skull had gotten each of those accidents and injuries through his time as a stuntman.
He had been presented with injuries of what had happened to Britain, the list of dead and how it happened. He had taken note that a large portion of them had been subjected to what could only be called torture.
He had been horrified, he had seen the mockery they made of education and the ministry-sanctioned torture and the piles of letters which had been sent home and returned to the castle with descriptions and children begging to come home.
He couldn't breathe.
He was a scientist, how could he have missed the signs that their Cloud displayed?
***
Viper was a hedgewizard.
Unlike Britain, the rest of the world had caught up with the technicalities of how to measure magic itself. There was a reason why only a few thousand kids were accepted into the Great Eleven Schools or Wizardry.
There were non-magicals, squibs who harnessed ambient magic, hedgewizards who could harness ambient magic and held a magical core of their own that ranked from 1-4 on the magical scale. Then there were creatures, their bodies had a magical gene in their families as well as creature blood. They held their own talents and knowledge, mostly staying away from people, but if you were non-threatening then they were pretty cool to be around.
Lastly there were wizards. Those who ranked from 5-10 on the magical power scale, being able to use ambient magic as well as had a magical core that they could use to power spells. They tended to live in their own life, thinking that they were above everyone even as they died easier than most.
The prejudice was awful in Britain, but like most other countries Viper had been tutored in runes, potions and minor spells, as well as gone to a regular school. They, just like everyone else, had watched as Britain crashed and burned due to their sheer blindness.
They had also watched as the adults blamed children and shoved them in the way of the fire while they tried to escape.
They had watched as Skull had flinched minutely when Reborn had mentioned about him being an legilimens and quietly given Verde a book on occlumency the next week. They noted the shaken demeanor of the Cloud after that, maybe Skull hadn't had a good interaction with magic when he was younger?
They noted the slight accent when they spoke English, but dismissed it as a fluke. Skull was Romanian, right? He couldn't've been in Britain a few years ago. Not their Cloud. Not their friend.
All they could do now was sit, horrified, at how they managed to miss the signs. Maybe a small part of them had accepted it, hackles raised waiting for the British prejudice to happen. Maybe another part calmed them down, saying that there were British who fled.
Now they knew, Skull hadn't fled. Skull hadn't left. Skull hadn't been allowed to leave. Skull had been there, chained and muzzled, on that battle field.
No wonder Skull had given up on magic after what he'd been through.
***
Fon didn't know what to do.
Hearing the words child soldier be attached so carelessly onto his teammate as a label made him ache in a way he hadn't in years.
He grew up in the triads, he knew blood and sweat and tears. He had watched as people older than him went through the trials that he went through and not come back.
He remembered sitting in a room, hands slick with blood, and someone coming in and telling him you have done a wonderful job. You will be a wonderful asset to your family.
He had blacked out.
He regained consciousness in a medical center. He was later told that after the trials he had disintegrated part of the training facilities, the forest and a large portion of the mountain.
He started training and meditating the next day.
Whispers of the strongest storm in decades followed him like a shadow.
When he went in for training with other storms he had been the youngest at twelve.
He had been in his early twenties when news had come from the British enclave with the ICW stamp attached to it.
For the second time in many years a part of the forest disintegrated.
They had been children. Came the whispers from the higher ups. No training given, just children compared to people trained to massacre.
He hadn't been the only one to lost his temper that day.
The triads may have been hell, but at least they had training. At least they had been told from birth what was going to happen.
He sat there, unmoving, trying to find the eye of his storm which had turned into a raging hurricane, while trying to stay calm.
It wouldn't do anyone any favours if he lost his cool here. Not while his Cloud was sitting there, remembering probably what had been the worst days of his life.
He had grown up in the triads, he became the neutral enforcer, he had been born and bred in the darkness of the underground with blood on his fingers. But even the mafia had standards, and while the triads definitely left something to be desired, they still trained kids instead of sending them off like lambs for slaughter.
His flames howled to be let out, to make someone hurt, to make someone pay for what been done to their Cloud.
The sweet, sweet Cloud who had come to the meeting full of mercenaries with a smile and walked out with a smile just as wide.
The Cloud that had looked at them, the killers and the worst that the world had to offer, and beamed as if they hung the stars in the sky.
They had nicknamed him the civilian and he turned around and slaughtered a room full of people that had touched his bike.
They watched as he joked around and pranked the hitman and later that night gone and stolen fourteen million dollars of jewels because he thought that they looked pretty.
He was a walking contradiction in the mafia, letting others label him as the weakest and letting the others take credit for their hits, while the other Arcobaleno saw the unhinged glee he had in toying with his victims.
He had been hurt and died.
He was a neutral enforcer and an Arcobaleno. No one would look twice if Britain burned and with the seven of them he was sure that they could make it so that no one helped them.
Someone would pay, and his most favoured currency was blood.
***
"I think I'm going to be sick." came the quiet admission from Lal who then quickly left the room, Colonnello following behind.
Skull stayed silent as he watched the Arcobaleno react to his news. He slowly let the mask of Harry Potter sink six feet deep where he had laid for years, and let the happy, bubbly, slightly bipolar mask of Skull slip back on.
Harry was a stupid boy that had died for a stupid cause, Skull was a famous stuntman who also happened to be part of the Arcobaleno.
"Skull," started Viper slowly and carefully like he was a wild animal that needed to be coaxed back gently. "How old are you?"
The underlying question of how old were you in the battle was heard by everyone.
He pouted at the question, acting as childishly as he could. "Skull-sama declines the question and ask another one. Skull-sama is immortal and age is not relevant to immortals."
He watched as Fon and Reborn traded dark looks.
"Skull," this time it was Verde who was trying to diffuse the situation. "How old are you now?"
He stuck his tongue out in response.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked, trying and failing to make himself sound important and demanding like how Lal, Reborn and Verde could do.
"When is your birthday?" came the quiet voice of the martial artist. "Mine is March third, in the spring. I will be turning twenty six." he finished with a gentle smile sent towards him and a glare towards the others.
Lal and Colonnello took this moment to walk in.
"Hi Lal-senpai!" he chirped out from his pile of blankets. "Hi Lal-senpai's stalker!"
The two of them looked spooked at the bright greeting and Lal's eyes looked red-rimmed.
He frowned. She needed some chocolate. Chocolate healed a lot of things he knew. He never knew how he knew those things from, but they always were interesting to listen to.
Like he had been listening to his thoughts Reborn stood up muttering about snacks.
"Mu. We are going around and telling each other our birthdays." said Viper. "Mine is July second." they continued, sounding like it hurt more than pulling teeth.
"Ah," said Colonnello sitting down, him and Lal sharing their space with each other. "Well Lal's is February twentieth and mine is July seventh. I'm turning twenty-three and I have no idea how old Lal is turning." he ended with a smile.
"Twenty-five." Lal filled in, sounding more put together than she had before.
Reborn walked back in and started to hand out snacks to everyone.
"Oh!" exclaimed Skull happily. "Mine is in the summer too! We match!"
"What about your age Skull? How old are you?" Fon asked gently. He smiled up at the martial artist, but paused in confusion, "Skull-sama is…" he frowned and trailed off, twisting the edges of the blanket.
"Skull-sama died and then and woke up in August. Skull-sama was seventeen but was dead for a long time before he woke up."
Reborn wordlessly passed both him Verde a bowl of grapes and handed out chocolates to the rest of the group. The hitman may deny that he cared about them until he went blue in the face, but he did have a tendency to mother hen all of them.
Or murder anyone that touched what he considered his.
Skull found it endearing, as did most of the other Arcobaleno even though they denied it.
"October thirteenth. Turning twenty-three, same as 'Nello." was the response the hitman gave to break the silence that had come after his admission.
Skull beamed at him and ate a grape.
Verde pushed up his glasses when everyone turned to look at him expectantly. "May second," he huffed. "I am twenty-six."
The room descended into silence once again, none of them knowing how to break the newly strained tension.
Verde turned on the T.V. that was in the corner, a dramatic soap opera starting to air.
That is how the Arcobaleno bonding nights began, with an agreement, two Rains, a horrifying revelation and chocolate.
***
That would be the last time that the Arcobaleno sans Luce and plus Colonnello would be able to relax, un-cursed, together for the next forty years.
***
Bonus:
"Skull," Verde whispered. "Skull wake up I have a question." He gently shoved the younger man a few times to try and prod him awake.
"Mm." he groaned sleepily. "Whas' goin' on?" he replied tiredly.
"Skull you never told us if there was a specific reason why you didn’t wake up." Verde said softly, not wanting to disturb the Cloud any more than he already was.
There was no answer from either of them for a second, just the sounds of the others sleeping or pretending to sleep.
"Death's domain." the Cloud finally whispered. "The mist flames made me remember going to the waiting room again, which would've been fine if I was dead but I wasn't. His domain is incomprehensible for mortals, I am the only one who can walk in and out but there are still requirements for when I visit. It put my body and soul into discord when I was suddenly there, but my body hadn't given out again."
"Oh." came the response from the usually unflappable scientist.
"Don't worry Verde." came the voice from the Cloud a few minutes later. "I just visit the waiting room, Death said that I'm not allowed to board the train yet."
With that the Cloud finally drifted off to sleep, unaware of the dawning horror on the Arcobaleno Lightning's face.