Well... I managed to write it before the X-mas. That's... something?

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Disclaimer: KHR belongs to Amano-sensei and her publishers. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and her publishers. Idea's mine

Betaed by SuspiciousKiwi o/

√ -√v-√ -√v—

"Good morning" deep rumble broke her from where she was tracing visible parts of Fon's tattoo and making her raise her head to be able to look at his face from where she was laying halfway on his chest.

"Oh definitely good morning" Skull purred, sated and lazy in a way that other than mind blowing sex only some seriously overdone stunts on the motorbike could make her.

He chuckled under her, his arms raising to properly encircle her and pull her body up on him and almost squeezing until she gave in and molded herself to the body under her.

"I was not aware propagation can be used like that" The Strongest Storm rumbled again… And if Fon's usual, deep voice could make Skull's knees weaken a bit, that that gravel-like tonation… That did things to her. And the fact that they were already laying in her bed, didn't help.

"Flames have a lot of uses." She murmured, lowering her eyes from the usually placid black pools hiding Storm's real feeling to the milky throat still full of her bitemarks. She really should bite it again… Flames. Flames are a good thing to focus at. "They just take a bit of… creativity"

"Creativity, huh?" He murmured nuzzling her hair. As much as Skull never considered herself mushy… that could make her melt. Almost did.

"Well, that and practice… A lot of practice" And a bunch of memories and feelings, insisting on learning as much as possible about new weapon at their hands.

"Practicing in pairs is the most efficient kind of practice" Strong fingers dug into her scalp in a lazy kind of massage, coercing a purr out of her throat. Which she readily let out, her fingers twitching a bit from where they were sliding over all those muscles she was using as a mattress.

"Speaking from experience?"

"Well I am a martial artist" At the deflection she short circuited for a split second before catching onto what he so carefully didn't say.

Spars…

Alright, she could work with that.

"Oh yeah… You had to have a lot of paired practise"

"You've been enjoying their' fruits."

"So I have" Especially after Fon stopped to try and limit his own Flame use in their spars… She doubted that was what he tried to say though.

"Good" There was a murmur and there were strong fingers coaxing her head up… And then there were warm lips on her own.

"We should get down for a workout" Skull whispered once she reluctantly tore herself out of the kiss. It was absolutely not fair for him to be so good of a kisser… Wasn't China rather conservative country?

"In a while" Fon promised, pressing her hips down to his own and latching his lips on her throat, making her forget what it was she was protesting for a few important seconds.

"Training is important" In direct opposition to her words, she pressed Fon's head to her neck just a bit harder and got a scraping of teeth for her trouble.

"We could work on our stamina today" The words murmured right next to her throat painted a tantalising picture for her. Picture she was tempted to reach for. But…

"I don't think that was what gathering I Prescelti Sette was supposed to lead to" Purple eyes met the Stormy-red ones when Fon raised his head. And the slightly fond but still sharp look that passed between them said it all… No strings.

"It's a good thing we're professionals then, isn't it?" Calloused hands of a martial artists dug into lithe muscles of the thief in his lap, while he waited for Skull's nod of consent. Then his lips came back to the weak point on her neck, found the previous night, his hands moved towards the front of her waist and up… And then Skull didn't have enough mind power to spare to talk anymore.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

"You said something about going to train" Fon's murmur broke Skull out of her delightful post-coital phase. And once she opened her eyes with a groan there was such a pretty, teeth marked neck just asking to be bitten… So she did. And only then she rolled down from where she was still straddling the Storm.

"Yes. Training. That's important." The Cloud murmured trying to psyche herself to do that one more roll and get out of the bed.

"It is, isn't it?" The Storm's hand on her hip didn't help… At least until there was a burst of fire and low thrill of the phoenix in the room.

Then all of the living beings in the room exploded in the flurry of movement.

Fon jumping out of the bed, getting in the defensive position and sending burst of Storm Flames towards Ares.

Ares himself shielding himself in his phoenix fire and getting out of dodge.

Athena, taking offense to the attack towards someone definitely more welcome in Skull's rooms than the strange human, who came and stayed the night, jumped with her fangs bared and poison dripping.

And Skull jumping right on the heels of Fon's movement, standing in a loose position with her front towards the other Element. Her Flames Propagating density of the air and the amount of carbon dioxide to slow down Storm Flames flying towards her Familiar, her hand catching the basilisk before she managed to get near the Storm.

Both Elements stared at each other in silence before forcibly relaxing their stances and reigning their Flames back into each other. Or at least trying to in the purple haired woman's case. Her instincts were torn between wanting to sooth the jumpiness of the Storm in what should be a safe space for all that were hers… And by the Loki, she already decided that he's hers, didn't she? And tearing him apart for attacking her Familiar!

"This is Ares and you've already seen Athena" Skull's voice was about as gentle as a naked blade, which made Fon openly wince and incline his head towards both Familiars in the room.

"My apologies. I got startled." He said and Skull had to give it to him. It took something to stare placidly at the Cloud still tense from the near violence in her bedroom while butt naked. That realisation didn't calm her down though, rather it made her temper spike even more.

"Mhmm… That workout sounds like excellent idea, at the moment" Her Flames were fighting against her control to flare. To defend. To attack. To do something!

"In fifteen minutes down in the hall?" Fon's proposition was met with a smile that was more teeth than anything else.

"Lets"

√ -√v-√ -√v—

Skull felt definitely out of sorts. Conflicted between even basic desires of her Flames. And just the imaginery of the sarcastic commentary she just knew she'd be subjected to if Dorea was paying her attention, wasn't helping.

There was that need to make sure what's hers was safe (and the echoes of the scolding from the previous incarnations about the idiocy of getting attached to two out of potential dangers in the trap).

Then there was the fact that her Familliars were hers. Were they more hers than the Storm? Was it just because they were with some version of her for so long?

Then of course the still very much repressed fury on the fact that there were Mist Flames in her head! And if they were there, then they'd be also in the heads of the rest of them. As such… How much of her Mist and her Storm were in them really and how much was the Mist Flames?

And since when there even was her Mist? When has she…?

Were they even really hers?

Was it all just a lie?

…

Fucking Mists and their 'reality is just a suggestion'!

Fucking Atlanti Mists and their overpowered bullshit!

Adding the fact that Skull was still reeling from Alexis pointing out her naivete and short sightedness…

She was more than willing to smash something.

And out of the rest… Fon was the one that not only could but also would give as much as he got. Even if her healing dealt with injuries almost the moment she got them.

With all those thoughts circling in her mind, causing her to walk faster and faster… Abandoning her hard earned control, when Skull get down to the training hall (or as she heard Verde call it once 'official smashing hall') and found Fon already looking and her with deceptively loose posture (by then she knew exactly how fast he could react when attacked), she didn't wait for any acknowledgement.

She lunged.

…

As usual their spar quickly devolved into definitely more lethal kind of the dance… With Fon's excellent skill and experience, her own excellent self-healing and the awareness that if they'd seriously injured each other, Reborn was only a panicked flare away they usually didn't worry about the damage they did to each other or their surroundings (Checkerface could at least pay for fixes).

As such she let herself to be swept by the pace they always achieved… After all quick fight should help clear that confused head of her, right?

There was pleasant ache of the muscles they already warmed up…

There was hum of her blood flowing faster and faster to the staccato of her hearbeat.

There were glowing red eyes and vicious grin of her partner… Of her target…

There was a dull ache in her hands when a blow connected to something (not necessarily Fon, he was fast), painful sting whenever The Storm managed to land a hit to her body.

There was a burn whenever Storm Flames managed to latch onto her body and the counterburn of Propagation growing new cells to rebuild her body.

There was silence in her head, with just occasional growls from the Beast locked deep inside their psyche.

There was instinct to fight, to dominate, to win!

There was occasional spike of pain whenever some bigger stone from the ceiling landed near enough to hit her with a ricochets.

There was dulled concern at the way martial Artist face become grimmer and grimmer as the time passed.

And most of all… There was purple light in her eyes, while her Flames purred at the violence.

There were no more worries about falling into the trap.

No more worries about the way as the acknowledged World's Strongest Cloud she still was treated as inferior by most of the previous incarnations.

No frustration at being berated by someone who gave up on the control of the body.

No rising fury at the mocking smirks of the stunt artist!

No helpless anger at being created specifically to deal with the trap as a sum of components of other personalities with no qualities and achievements of her own.

Just her… And the purple mist around her, pointing her at the red of her target.

…

And then there was a loud crack.

And a shout.

Explosion of red.

Pain…

The red started to withdraw.

It hurt…

There was another shout once she finally managed to hit the pulsing source of that red, to make it stop hurt.

A bit of burn, when her purple was healing her body once the red flown far away.

A BANG.

Streak of yellow.

And the pain from going through something hard.

Burn of healing…

Anger!

Yellow hurt her…

Let's hurt it back.

The yellow was moving towards the flaring red, it shot some more streaks at her.

Some were dodged but some hit, hurting more!

She was so close… so close and then yellow exploded hitting her again.

It threw her through the air and again through something hard.

There was a yowl of pain. Hers yowl of pain.

The purple around her flared, burning all around her, fixing her.

Only purple was good, only purple was hers… Only purple was worth the trust…

Two blues, orange, green and indigo appeared close to the yellow flares.

…

One of the blues disappeared as fast as it appeared.

The other moved to the red and yellow.

The orange tried to reach to the purple, only to be stopped by indigo.

Indigo, which met the purple without fear, in calm embrace before surrounding the orange and pushing it away from the purple.

Good indigo…

Why?

Wasn't it scared? Shouldn't it be scared?

…

Indigo trusted the purple enough to touch it even with all the hurt around her.

Why?

But the green…

The green stood itself between the purple and the rest.

Between the purple and the red that hurt her.

Between the purple and the yellow that burned!

Between the purple and the orange that was a prey…

Between the purple and the indigo that trusted the purple!

…

The green had to go.

…

She and the purple both lunged.

Her hands lashed out whenever the green was in reach.

The flares moved and exploded when the green was far away.

But the green stood its ground.

Stubbornly between the purple and their prey.

Once the green stood as hard but breakable wall.

Other times touching it, caused it to shock her.

The green bypassed the purple and made it hurt!

And even when purple was exploding with her fury, the green…

DIDN'T…

MOVE!

So she hit it again…

And again.

Opening arms for the purple.

Letting the purple to cover more of her.

Letting it explode with more power.

Letting it free!

…

But the green no longer just stood there.

Oh, nooo…

It started to form the walls.

And she knew that the walls wouldn't shock her!

She jumped in, to explode the wall and then grab that insolent little green!

…

Just… it didn't work like that.

She jumped. She hit. And she got shocked.

She screamed.

And she kept screaming.

Only once the purple healed everything on her, did she notice that the green surrounded her in a dome of sort. That yellow and blue were still merging with red.

And that the green of the dome hurt when touched.

It hurt…

She wanted to break it!

Then it was a blur…

Of anger and pain.

Of getting up and attacking…

Blue came close to the green and tried to touch purple. Purple attacked the blue.

At some point indigo came and sat down with just a thin green barrier between them.

Red stayed close as well…

There were some sounds from different colours.

At some point the sounds started forming words.

"... Set … off"

"... idea"

"Verde… okay?"

"... hit hard..."

"... warned..."

"... Strongest Cloud"

"Why… Sky…"

"... hates… Giglio…"

"... Mist Flames… our minds…"

"What?"

"Need… check…"

Then the purple faded and came the darkness.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

When Skull opened her eyes again, few things came to her immediately…

One - Thank Loki that Verde can hold her down if needed, since the Lightning dome held true even with her hazy recollection of throwing some impressive Cloud Flames at it.

Two - somehow between her grand escape from the Hitman and the lackluster missions they were given, she forgot that Renato is The Strongest Sun and what does it mean… Ouch. She wasn't sure what was worse - the phantom pain of Activated burn from Sun Flames or the electricity Verde used to keep her down.

Three - thank Him also that when so deep in the Cloud she hasn't even thought about using magic.

Four - Either Viper is in it for the power or they are really fond of her, since she had the impression of indigo flames trying to intertwine with her own and the Miser was meditating right next to a barrier.

And finally Five - What was wrong with her? Even half an hour before that disaster of a spar, she was fine… Stable. And yet… Few hours after she spread her legs for Fon, she did her very fucking best to murder the Storm.

She was wrong…

Whatever the fix Alexis and Dorea found, would be, they cannot wait for the next Beltane… Especially since nothing good ever happens to them at Beltane. Or Samhain.

"Coherent again?" For all that Verde sounded pretty tired, the dome around her didn't dim even for a second. Electricity was crackling at the green walls and remembered pain from ramming into it, made sure to keep her ass on the floor when she raised herself to at least sit and look at surrounding her Elements properly.

"Did I break something that couldn't be fixed?" Not that she actually looked at them for long, closing her eyes almost immediately after asking the question. The hall itself was a mess of lose boulders and broken walls and the Elements around her looked only marginally better. There were small burns on Fon, Verde and Colonello, the last one she didn't even remember attacking. And Renato, Verde and Viper were looking visibly exhausted.

She felt… guilty for causing those looks…

Fuck her sideways and call her Daisy…

She actually managed to care about the potential-Arcobaleno and now she fucked up… Fucking great!

"What was your last theft?" Verde insisted on her answering and at that… Purple eyes opened up and properly took in the tension of the people around her.

"I stole a shiny… Faberge Egg, The Pelican. My name is Skull de Mort, I'm in the mansion we were told we're supposed to stay after the I Prescelti Sette meeting. I was sparring with Fon right before." She recited with a weary sigh and a bitter smile when the others visibly relaxed but the barrier stayed around her. She did it to herself after all. "Did I break something that couldn't be fixed?"

"No." Fon answered, coming closer to the barrier and quirked a tired smile. "Renato and Viper fixed the most important bits. Viper also told us what they think set you off"

"Oh?"

"I told them that you found Mist Flames. We checked each other, mou."

"We were all infected" Renato crouched right next to the barrier.

When Skull didn't react in any explosive manner but just grimaced, the barrier flickered out of existence and Verde sat down, carefully just in her reach… The Cloud was really touched at the lack of immediate rejection.

"You're not surprised" The Lightning noted carefully, causing Skull's lips to twist in another bitter smile.

"I'm a Cloud. It was already pointed to me what kind of danger someone controlling me, would cause. And I've taken steps to make it hard to do so."

"And it happened anyway." The Storm narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, his voice carefully free of any kind of censure.

"It has".

"Viper also said you have a lead on Checkerface" Verde cut in, probably to intervene before anything could happen to set her off again. Just in case. She felt another not-so-happy smile try to show on her face and squashed it ruthlessly. Being careful near her after the lack of control she displayed was just self-preservation. Even for those that already proved to be able to keep her down in that state.

"There is a distinct lack of a question there" Purple brow went up but the deliberately teasing voice softened the question. There was no need to be that tense near her. She was at least half-way sure there wouldn't be another outbreak of the problems.

"Were you going to tell us?" Renato asked seriously, deliberately catching and holding her eyes. The Cloud was rather surprised at not seeing any wariness in there. There was respect and there was anger in there. But no wariness. No fear.

"That we have a lead the rest of you can't really follow? Or later, once we'd confirm or debunk our suspicions?"

"The first one"

"No."

"Why?"

"There are reasons for some information to be hidden so deeply"

"Those information are about us, kora!" Colonello cut in at seeing Renato get thoughtful look and inclining his head. The blonde's blue eyes bored in the Cloud with righteous anger and just causing her to bare her teeth at him in parody of a smile.

"Not really." She explained mockingly. No matter how much something down in the manipulative, lying little heart shared with the rest of them warmed up at the lack of fear from the one that were with them the shortest… That kind of disrespect… Was something that would not stand. "What we have on Checkerface is about Checkerface. Our suspicions about Arcobaleno on the other hand… Those are about I Prescelti Sette."

"And those suspicions?" Renato immediately latched onto the topic, yellow eyes boring into her own.

"Here?"

"At least we know this place is not bugged." Fon started and then corrected himself with small, exasperated smile. "Or at least it is no longer bugged" Then he sat cross-legged down, almost right next to Skull. Dark eyes were looking in her in the same way, they were looking at her when they woke up.

That warm…

Skull felt grateful smile blooming right up.

"True." The Cloud agreed and then bit her lip in thought… How to explain what they knew or at least strongly suspected while not giving up their sources to the rest? Damn it all… She never hated Statue of Secrecy as much as she did at the moment.

"Mou… Once every two centuries or so there is a Mist Territory casted on the entire planet." Viper started and Skull didn't even bother with stopping herself from throwing grateful look their way. Even if that 'Mist Territory' thing was still just a suspicion, that was still better start than whatever Skull herself could start talking about. "It erases all knowledge about 'Arcobaleno' from our minds."

"As far as we're aware the Territory works on all living beings so the journals, chronicles and other texts are safely preserved. Just no one remembers to look into them for the information." Skull cut added quickly almost seeing the question forming in the Lightning's eyes. Trust the 'New coming of Da Vinci' to immediately start having questions.

"According to those texts Arcobaleno were 'the strongest Flame users of their centuries', mou"

"So just another title describing us?" Renato's smirk was cocksure in a way of someone who knew there was a 'but' somewhere in there but were hoping that if they ignore it for long enough, the 'but' would go away.

"The Arcobaleno were also 'cursed for their arrogance' I believe was the quote" Skull was quick to shot it down. The title was bad news and it was important for the rest to be aware of that.

"In one of the journals Arcobaleno were depicted as toddlers with a minds of adults, mou".

Silence.

For all that they were all too experienced to exclaim or otherwise react visibly in any way, the loaded silence and stone cold faces all around gave up their feelings strongly enough.

"When you say 'toddler'..." Renato started leadingly…

"We mean form of a child around two years of age but with fully functioning muscles and most importantly brain." Whatever it was that the Hitman was thinking about it probably wasn't anywhere near enough the pure horror Skull felt at just a thought of being back in a toddler body. While being a target for all that would jump widely acknowledged the Strongest Cloud or The Greatest Thief… either to bind her down or eliminate her while she was an 'easy target'. Especially with all the enemies the previous incarnations managed to make.

Though… From the sight of the faces of the rest of Elements… They imagined the very same scenarios…

They understood.

"Muscles, brain… We'd lose our Flames?" Trust Verde to connect the dots some of the others haven't even noticed yet… Well, he was called a genius for a reason after all. Skull closed her eyes for a moment to brace herself…

"The Strongest Flames are being sucked from their vessels and used to do whatever that bastard uses them for, mou"

"Sucked? On which rate?" There were sparks in green hair, it was fascinating to watch the way one of the fastests if not the fastest mind of the world was coming up to a problem.

"Just a bit higher than what'd be our natural output." Yes, she was bitter, so what? They were discussing a really slow death for all of them. Constantly on the run. With a very visible target on their backs. The Cloud could almost feel the shackles closing around her and that was… a revolting feeling if there ever was one.

"How much higher, kora?" From his grave tone of voice it looked that Colonello also caught onto how slow it'd be to die that way… So there's some brain under that blond hair…

"The longest living Arcobaleno up to date, got to the eighty years of that kind of… life." While usually Viper would be the one Skull'd suspect of being able to be patient and cruel enough to dole out similar punishment, their usual get up did nothing to hide the repulsion they felt towards that kind of fate.

That announcement was met with pained frowns of everyone else. Logically they knew that by then it was too late to simply run and even if they'd be able to run away there was no way their own pride as the Greatests would allow them for such a move… Nevermind that even if they'd decide to run, they'd be probably caught almost immediately now that Checkerface had enough time to get proper imprint of their Flames. Only Colonello could be expected to be able to successfully get away, though from what Skull read on his face he probably wouldn't choose that option. There was too much stubborness in there.

Renato had to follow her thoughtful look since he decided to shatter the tense silence.

"You could still run…" His leading sentence brought the attention first to him and then to the soldier himself, once the rest processed who The Hitman was talking to.

"I am The Strongest Rain. If the Strongest of the Elements are targeted then it's my duty to be in here, not to run away." The blond's words acted as a blatant reminder that they were in the presence of another soldier. Not matter how much more personable than Mirch he was, there was still that mentality that was so different from the one of the Underworld.

Duty… Dorea knew Duty… Alexis knew Duty… Skull had echoes of allowing 'Duty' to dictate the way those two acted. She didn't like it very much… After all Noir and the first Skull de Mort were a… reaction to being duty-bound to do something. To care. And to protect. So as much as Skull wanted to scorn knowingly walking into a trap because of some elusive Duty, as the others' slight frowns and scowls were saying they did… She couldn't. What she could was incline her head in respect of his decision and silently celebrate the excuse to finally get rid of Mirch. Permanently, if she's lucky.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

The discussion of Arcobaleno derailed any kind of discussion they could have about what happened. Fortunately or unfortunately… that was yet to be seen. Though any kind of hope for some peace disappeared when Viper slithered into Cloud's room behind her. And then just stood there without making a sound. Just stood and observed.

"Viper?" Skull turned towards the Mist and raised an eyebrow at them. She was tired both physically and mentally, so just perspective of another verbal spar with as tricky opponent as the Mist always proved themselves to be was… not really appealing at the moment.

Viper was quiet for a moment longer.

"Up to now I thought that Magic and Underground understanding of the Flames didn't blend with each other." They announced loud enough that Skull couldn't pretend to not hear them, no matter how much she'd want to do so. It was only her experience that kept her from freezing, tensing her muscles or reacting in any way other than raising her brow even higher in a display show of incomprehension that was beat into the body's muscle memory as young as when Freak had the control over the body. Even if it didn't help with Dursleys, other adults were lenient.

"Pardon?"

"You're hiding really well, but I am The Greatest Information Broker for a reason, mou…" They elaborated, but did not even try to come closer. They stood in silence for a bit when Skull had her resigned break down that her efforts to lead Viper to the theory of the Cloud being a squib weren't half as successful as she'd like them to be. It was only when Skull admitted defeat of that particular endeavour and allowed her magic to fill the room and more importantly clean her person, the Mist continued. "To be fair I probably wouldn't notice if not for Giglio Nero congratulating me for finding my own Sky and trying to snoop for My Sky's identity."

"..." Outwardly Skull might have managed to show just shock and denial (barely… she was good actress, not great one), but inwardly her attention went to something else…

"Oops"

"Noir?" Skull growled inwardly… They were riding her ass about keeping up the facade and here… For fuck sake…

"There's a bond with a Mist" Noir admitted sheepishly… If not for the Mist in her room, Skull would do something drastic but as such… She had to leave the scolding to the Alexis. Which would be a punishment on its own.

The Mist that was explaining.

"Mou… Only then have I connected your occlumency training, obviously magical texts on Arcobaleno and all the clues that were niggling at my mind before"

Oh…

Okay, she could deal with that.

She should be able to still not disclose information on their magical parts… She should, right?

"And what did you get from those puzzles?" Her voice was still steady when she asked her question, purple eyes piercing into the hooded Mist.

"That you are an actual witch and that you are also the only one that I've had a moment that could potentially lead to harmonization. You know, when I broke in your arms, mou."

"So you decided that I'm a Sky then?" Second brow joined in the arching… Damn it's been a while the muscles in there got that kind of workout. Viper shrugged, their cloak flowing around their silhouette.

"It's only fitting that the Sky of Strongest Mist managed to hide behind Cloudy facade" They droned, making a tiny step towards the the Cloud. The Cloud, whose temper spiked at the implication that she was not who she was.

Damn Noir and her Sky.

Damn the entire situation.

And damn their Flames for fracturing like that.

"Not a facade" She gritted out, barely keeping the snarl in and her face blank… Or at least as close to blank as was possible.

"Mou… Then you're even more fascinating, My Sky" There was unmistakable air of smugness around The Mist at the announcement. And Skull…

Skull was tired.

The day was terrible enough…

So she let her shoulders sag and for the first time in what was probably years for their body, Skull let the tiredness and a note of resignation to bleed into her voice.

"What do you want Viper?" And quickly added "And please don't insult my intelligence with a tale about Harmony, Home and all the rest of stereotypization of Skies in the Mafia"

"What I want, mou?" The Information Broker took another step towards the freshly unmasked Sky. "I want to know why a Sky stronger than potential Sky Arcobaleno hides their nature. I want to know who My Sky is. I want to know whether you have any other Guardian. I want to know what do you expect from me. I want to be able to bask in My Sky's Flames" With every added 'I want' The Mist moved a bit closer to the purplette to finally be close enough to touch.

And as much as most of what they were saying was something that could be expected, there was one thing that brought Skull's thoughts to a screeching halt.

"When did I give you impression, that I needed to be Guarded?" The word was spit like a curse. Guarded! Her! Fucking Mafia and their stereotypization…

For all of the frustration and distaste that Wizarding World as a whole caused to Skull and all of the previous incarnations, there was something they all approved of. And that was characterisation of 'Sky' as a 'King'. As a ruler and so the one who's move against others meant that shit finally hit the fan. Not as someone that would and should hide behind their… Guardians.

"The name is quite unfortunate, true, but the function…" Viper didn't finish their sentence, probably stopped by the glower Skull just knew she was sporting. She did not needed to be Guarded. Not even Freak needed to be protected. All of them were able to protect themselves and gut anyone trying to take it away from them.

"Element if you need, no Guardian." At that Viper inclined their head in agreement.

Now that Skull called them her Element though… She was reminded about it being a Soulbond… And what kind of a Soul resided in the body…

Curse Potter Luck.

Curse being Chosen One…

And curse the rest of that nonsense.

Skull groaned despondent and flopped gracelessly on the couch.

She was too tired to deal with that bullshit.

"How much of a magical education you have Viper?"

"I'm a fully educated magical"

"Good… Then you know about magical definition of a Soulbond"

"I do, mou"

"Good… Sit with me, My Mist" Skull patted space right next to her in invitation, giving in to the inevitable. This conversation will be hard enough even without the fight about nomenclature.

Her easy defeat had to be absolutely out of what Viper decided was Skull's character since the Mist did come too sit next to her… radiating suspicions and readiness to bolt should they need to.

"Mou?" After a too long for Broker's tastes they prompted quietly Purplette.

Well… There was no easy way to break it out to someone.

And they always despised finding out someone kept a secret about her from her.

So…

RIP her secret identity.

"There was an incident in my youth…" finally Skull decided on the way to approach the topic and started with a grimace. "Several incidents in fact, that… should leave me deader than simply dead. But they didn't"

"Mou… magical medicine is much more efficient than on a non-magical side of the world" Viper answered trying for but not quite reaching the soothing tones.

"Think more surviving being bitten by basilisk and less of something curable." She corrected with twisted kind of smile. Lockhart was not the only problem of her second year in Hogwarts.

"They're called Flames of Dying Will for a reason?" They tried weakly, though their intonation and the steel like grip on Skull's forearm gave away that The Mist was reaching straws.

"There has been other incidents over the length of my life…" Now… like a band-aid. "Among them that one time I publicly got hit by an Avada."

"..." The no longer truly hidden 'Saviour of Wizarding World' was probably first in a long while to be able to shock The Greatest Information Broker so badly, so she sat in silence and allowed Viper to gather their wits. They deserved to know. Hell they should know before becoming Soul bonded with her, even if given the way they bonded, that wasn't quite possible. After a long few minutes The Mist finally moved out of their stupor and inclined their head in a shocked kind of respect "Lady Potter"

Not like Skull blamed them. They were a smart cookie. Smart enough to connect the dates, those rumours about her immortality Teddy warned Alexis about and her intro about incidents.

"Skull, Viper." She was never a 'Lady Potter'. But as big of a secret that part of her life was… It wasn't even the most relevant to her new Soul bonded. "But that's not… Have you heard perchance about artifacts called The Deadly Hallows?"

"You're-" World's Best Information Broker cut themselves off and took a deep, deep breath. Has Skull mentioned that they were smart? "Mou… They're considered a fairy tale on the continent."

"They're considered a fairy tale on The Isles as well." She agreed mildly… She considered the damn things a fancy tale up to the point when she got caught in that. At palpable air of curiosity of… her Mist, Skull explained what they found in old journals "The 'Master of Death' title is both literal and not. There's no such being as 'Death' for a person to be Master of. And yet there is a… not a place, let us call it a plane, called 'Netherworld', where the shades of Souls that passed on stay." She knew that those Souls that decided to pass went on… But what that 'on' is… Is something that she won't ever know. Even the demons she summoned in her younger years confirmed that that knowledge is forbidden to her. "Together when collected and mastered The Hallows freeze their 'Master's' physical age and allow them to connect with The Netherworld… In short, I'm almost literally unkillable and so are you now. I'm sorry." Even she wouldn't be able to survive obliteration of her body. Implosion of her own magic could still kill her… The day the sun would have its final explosion before transitioning to its next stage of life, will kill her for sure… But up to then?

"Immortal?" From Viper's voice she deduced that immortality was not on a list of Mist's nightmares. Yet.

"Yeah. Age wouldn't touch my body or Soul and physical damage… someone would really need to work on it to keep me down."

"I… see"

"Mhmm" she hummed in kind sprawling on the couch and closing her eyes for a bit.

After what felt like just a minute, feeling of a warm body curling up next to her, brought her out of her doze.

Damn it all to hell… she was more tired that she thought.

"Your overhaul of British law is… inspiring" the Mist murmured quietly almost cuddling to her. In the back of her mind the part of them that carried Noir and the Sky Flames purred in content at having the Mist close.

Skull could say only two things at that.

"You're going to stay here tonight?" And "I sure hope you didn't introduce another country to what I did to my motherland."

"Mou… After Lady Potter took over Britain, it finally climbed up to the level of no longer being a joke to the magical community. And few years later the country even started being considered respectable. Beauxbatons is very proud of having you as a graduate" Viper explained, completely ignoring the first question, which Skull took as a 'you're not getting rid of me now' sign. That's clearly what she needed. An Element near her while she's so unstable…

"I already lost control today once" As much as the bond ended up surprising her, she didn't want to hurt the Mist. After all entire life of any part of the Soul residing in the body was all about protecting what's 'hers'.

"You didn't attack me then" Viper levitated the duvet from the bed to over to them and soon Skull had to widen the couch so that they could comfortably lie on it and not clutch to each other as to not fall out. Especially when Athena slithered over to them rather than make use of that tank Skull wasted so much time on decorating. "I was meaning to ask… What breed is it, mou?"

"Athena is a basilisk." Skull smiled infungently at the immediate stiffening of The Broker she was almost cuddling with. (Who is she trying to kid? There was no 'almost' there) "She agreed to have her eyes spelled as to not kill anyone and she won't bite unless you'll give her a reason to do so." She has hoped that that information would help the Mist to relax a bit… Which unfortunately failed from the feel of still tense muscles.

"Agreed?" Though Viper was emoting their voice much more when there were just the two of them, than to simply speak in the flattest possible tone they were using when in bigger company, it was still nothing at the obvious faintness displayed in that question.

"Last parselmouth before me in House of Black was Lady Bellatrix Black the Tenth, 4 hundred years ago? Maybe more."

"Oh… That makes sense, mou" They relaxed, moving a bit to sneak their head onto Skull's body and then doing their very best to imitate a cat and liquify around her.

"What were you worried about then? If not about me being born with the gift?" She knew there were still prejudices towards the parselmouths in Europe as a whole, but she didn't really expect Viper with their… snakey theme to be one of those prejudiced.

"It's…" They started and trailed off, raising their head and focusing their attention on Skull fully. The hand that up to the moment was stroking the snake cuddled with them stilled. For a beat it even seemed like they stopped breathing… Then the spell was broken and the Mist put their head down and cuddled a bit closer to the Sky. "Parseltongue is considered a language of those 'truly noble' in Spain. As such it's popular among Magical Grandes to put their sons and daughters on the brink of adulthood through a ritual. For the price they are able to could speak and hear the language." There was hint of bitterness as Viper was explaining situation, followed by even closer snuggling into her… It took Skull more time she'd be normally admit to catch onto the fact The Broker was trying to feel Sky Flames… Sky, which release ended with Mist almost melting into her.

She hesitantly brought her hand up to stroke hooded head and smiled at the puddle of Mist over her… Meanwhile her brain was connecting all the things Viper let her know more or less willingly. They're from Spain, they were born as a magical and finished their education, they recognised Atlanti, they are from Beauxbatons, they're a 'snake', and they're bitter about the ritual… Wasn't she contacted by Prince de Serpenti about the marriage contract at some point?

"What's the success rate of the ritual?" She found herself wondering with a shudder… Parselspeak was something coded down in the very core of a person, to change it on the brink of their adulthood… That was dark if not outright black magic. Especially if that did not require consent of a changed.

"If the ritual is done properly? Around 85%" If? Skull stopped smothering her Mist only after they let out a pained grunt. Usually she'd scold Viper for not alerting her right out of the bat that she used too much force, but this time…

"And when it fails?" She had a bad feeling. A bad, baaad feeling. And the way The Broker kept their body forcibly relaxed? It didn't help.

"Depends. If the person is lucky the changes are of a bit less… desired kind. If they're unlucky they die… If they're really unlucky they lose their magic." Well, they obviously weren't 'unlucky' since they were still with her, but otherwise? Skull swallowed and finally asked the question, their conversation was hedging around.

"What happened to you?"

As an answer Viper raised their head and then… raised their hood.

What to that point Skull took for a tan in the shadows of the deep hood, in proper light (and without some misty help) showed themselves to be delicate-looking slightly bronze scales with the 'painted' triangles being just purple coloured ones. The scales were growing over entire Mist's face transitioning into vulnerable looking skin near the hairline. Viper's eyes were of indigo colour, a bit lighter than to their hair, even if they were slitted in a snake-like manner.

In that moment Skull send sincere thanks to Loki and whichever other deity would deign to listen to her, for all the training and strange situations she found herself in. Otherwise she was sure, she'd tense or react in any other unfavorable manner, that would just hurt her openly vulnerable Element. As it was? She took the Mist in and raised her brow, while taking advantage of a lack of the hood to pet the indigo hair.

Athena on the other hand… The basilisk moved her head towards the Mist and started to check them over, using her tongue to taste the air around other snake-like being, ignoring the surprised, wide eyes of her target.

It was cute. Cute enough for Skull to bite back a coo.

"I was disinherited and the ritual's failure… my failure was used as an explanation why the contract with House of Black was not signed" Huh… okay, she remembered that one.

"Contract with the House of Black was not signed because that… sire of yours dared to ask for my only child to be given to your House. And here I quote 'After all we're asking only for your godchild milady'. After getting something like that… For all that it'd be nice to introduce a source of parsel into the bloodline, there are others, more magically interesting bloodlines with more intelligent Head of the Houses" through all of that Skull didn't stop petting the Mist, which reverted into their puddle form and was rewarded for that with a somewhat shy but vindictive little smile.

"No parselmouth from Spain can give birth to a child with the gift, mou. Besides the ritual even successful lowers ones fertility exponentially." Longer fangs flashed behind the scaled lips and Skull could swear she caught sight of forked tongue but made sure to keep her trap shut. The Mist was still insecure and vulnerable and there was no way she'd risk misunderstanding with someone in such a state. Especially someone hers.

"Huh… that is interesting, thank you dear" again she smiled at the sight of honest, if unsure smile blooming at Viper's face. If she's right (Dear Loki don't let her be right) then the Mist didn't get positive or even neutral reaction to their post-ritual look… ever. They laid together in silence and Skull started to doze again when Viper brought her out of it. Again.

"Aren't you going to ask me questions?"

"Hmm… Which questions you'd like to answer?" After all…

"Most people would at least ask about my gender by now, My Sky" Viper murmured with amusement.

"I'm more interested in how the failure of the ritual affected your health." Skull answered right back. Why would she ask more about their gender? She knew that the proposed contract for Teddy was for a physically-female wife. Whether the genderlessness they displayed was part of simply being a Mist or if the ritual had something to do with that? Magic could and would sometimes extract stranger kind of prices. And for all the need of modernizing magical views, even in Britain magicals agreed that one's sex was largely superfluous. After reaching adulthood of course. After all potions and rituals could go a long way to help to produce an heir if needed and for those not needing to worry about their duty to The House and those under House's protection the need for heirs never existed. Magicals were not muggles who needed children to work to keep their parents fed and clothed later on in their lives. Their conservative views were much more about the shades of magic, magical religions and creature rights than anything about how people identify.

"... My health, mou?" They asked after a beat of silence.

"Mhmm… Those are snake-like scales, how far the transformation went?" It was a good thing she already knew how to deal with reptiles generally and snakes specifically… Even if she doubted Viper's care would be very similar to the one needed to be lavished onto the basilisk or runespoon. "Are you cold-blooded now? Do we need to worry about your temperature? What about illnesses? Can you still catch a cold? Or should I worry more about septicemia and the likes? And what about exuviae? Is it something we'll need to deal with?" As soon as she started to count down her concerns Viper tensed in her arms, but did not move out of them. That… was a good sign right? How do one care about their soul bonded, again?

"There's a lot of we's in there, mou" The words were said just barely above the whisper and that… That was too similar to the reaction Neville, had when Dorea dragged him to their tutoring session, for Skull's comfort.

"If you didn't want there to be a 'we' shouldn't admit to the bond and help I wouldn't notice it." She answered with the very same blithe hand-waving as when Dorea declared that of course Neville would be helped. They were god-siblings, why was he so surprised? This was similar situation. Viper deserved to be protected and if Skull needed to give the body up to Alexis for her to stomp over Serpenti? That should at least give Viper reason for a smile. But for now… With a bit of maneuvering, she managed to raise Viper's head and make them look at her. That was important. "You're my Mist. Mine to protect. Mine to take care of. Mine." That last was growled with all of the possessiveness of the dragon animagi.

For all the troubles animagi transformation brought onto their person… None of the incarnations denied the dragon part of their nature.

"Mou…" Viper closed their eyes and moved a bit so that they'd be able to stick their face into Skull's neck rather than stomach. "I need additional warmth to properly function. My immune system was almost completely destroyed and I can catch both human and snake illnesses, but my Flames deal with most of the bacteria and viruses. Luckily I don't have exuviae."

"Good…" She murmured, going back to lightly petting the Mist. If she'd be lucky they'd even go to sleep.

Or not.

Skull sighed, resigned at the whoosh of flames from Ares' arrival. Specifically at the package he brought with him.

Sometimes it seemed like entire world disagreed with her need of rest.

And that was one of those days.

…

Luckily Ares was not an owl, but an intelligent magical creature and when he recognised that there was no way for her to get out from under the Mist, he glided towards them and even stood still for her to take the package from his wings so to say. Soon enough both of the humans in the room were reading Hermione's brief on what Black family managed to find about the curse and most importantly the Creature. It wasn't pretty.

My Dear Lady of a Sister…

I'm not even sure what to write here other than to congratulate you on the mess you've managed to get involved in. This one could be even more annoying than Riddle's crusade against you. Getting out of it will be problematic but before I'll start with what we know or suspect let me thank you for sharing your newest findings. They did in fact help us paint a whole picture.

Imagine our surprise when our trip to the Department of Mysteries did in fact bear fruits. Apparently our Ministry knew more about Atlanti that they wanted to admit to anyone. When entire Riddle mess started the knowledge was… let's say misplaced, as to prevent him from ever finding out about the depth of knowledge gathered there.

According to all the research there, even with magical inclination towards the Soul Fire it was not available to the wider population before the fall of the Atlantis. In fact even with all the propensity to the obviously magical presentation of our very Souls, it were only Atlanti bloodlines that were able to produce the physical proof of their character in the form of Soul Fire. It was said that Namer (The Pharaoh that united Lower and Upper Egypt, you should know that by now but just in case…) was one of the first Kings that were more human than Atlanti. Bill asked around and apparently one of the other curse breakers found mentions about King Namer leaving his city and his family to raise up humanity with his vision and natural knowledge. Since then the strength of one's Soul Fire seems to no longer be determined by amount of Atlanti blood in their veins but as we know it now - strength of character. (Such fascinating area of our history, thanks for pointing it to me.)

It is also confirmed that there was a dramatic raise of humans able to use Soul Fire when the Atlantis fell. That was also the first time it was confirmed that muggles could produce it. None of the Unspeakables had any idea what is the connection between the two, though there were different theories both presented and discarded by the researchers. With the journal you send us though… It seems like the 'Gift' Sephira was talking about was availability of Soul Fire to all of the humans. Not only for those of Atlanti blood but to all of us. (Magic of that kind of a reach… It's fascinating!) What is interesting though is that Soul Fire in its dormant state exists only in those of Atlanti descend, just to be suddenly awakened when human-of-not-Atlanti-blood needed to… ah defy Death. There were floated some theories saying that the Soul Fire is being used up and redistributed from time to time again. And that the distribution had to be in the form of some kind of artifact though no one had any idea what it could be or even what form it'd take.

It's still a theory but… And here Barty agrees with me… It looks like the toddlefying curse you send to us is not entire thing. From all the accounts of Arcobaleno you send to us, it was written, painted whatever… that Arcobaeno had a pacifier around their neck. One matching their Aspect. It is our theory that the pacifier is the artifact that's redistributing the Soul Fire among humans, or at least entire Tri-Ni-Sette is. Meaning (take a deep breath here), that the pacifiers are leeching some quantity of Arcobaleno's Soul Fire (as you already theorised more than what human or even Atlanti body could comfortably produce) and then together with entire Tri-Ni-Sette it's distributing it among the world's populace. Of course where there's more parts of Tr-Ni-Sette there are stronger Soul Fire users, though there are some outliers. Of which you are an example, though that might be Atlanti blood in House of Peverell (Edward managed to mine that information from Peverell's grimoires).

If Tri-Ni-Sette works like we think it works, it needs to have three wholes made out of seven parts to be stable. Destruction or even absence of one of them would cause Soul Fire to be wonky or even dangerous for those who wield it… More dangerous than normally that is.

We'll try to find a way to stick Flames into the pacifiers, though I'd like to recommend destroying entire thing. Even if the Atlanti you said acts as Administrator of the entire thing would be a big problem.

Please give us an update of what you want us to do.

Love

Hermione.

Both The Sky and The Mist looked at each other…