These chapters are not in chronological order, as I'm sure most of you have realized, we like to jump around the timeline. We are now back to the first chapter- don't worry the in-betweens, and other moments WILL be covered even if we hop around while we do so.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Sekhmet?"

Tears spill over her cheeks and she smiles. She speaks deliberately and clearly, no matter the hoarseness to her voice. Those around them can easily hear the words and with depth of emotion in them leave many speechless, regardless of their meaning.

"Hail the Shining One, the Just Ruler, the Strong King and the Sun God of the Land of Egypt," says Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decima, as she kneels before a long thought dead god and radiates pure happiness from her very being.

"My Great and Beloved Father," says Sekhmet, Goddess of Destruction and Healing as she reaches out for the tiny body of Ra, the Golden, the Giver of Life.

"My daughter, my daughter, my first joy and my last regret," Ra holds his child as best he can, his tiny finger fisting her clothes and does not even realize when he automatically slips into the language of his kingdom.

He can feel her Flames fluttering weakly against his own and his breath hitches and tears sting his eyes because she's suffering. Her soul is too large for this awkward mortal body, delicate and fragile and he allows his eyes to shut as he comes to grip with his reality.

There is silence about him and he cares not for Reborn, for Colonello, his men are more than capable of stopping any who might interfere and Ra knows well enough that there would be questions the Sun Arcobaleno would attempt to gain answers from their interaction alone. His secret would be spilled, but he could not bring himself to care.

"Daddy, Daddy, I missed you, I couldn't- I'm so sorry I failed you, I didn't mean to leave you," Sekhmet begin to sob into his ear, her body folding over around his own even as she trembled in the bright sunshine.

And oh. This was not what Ra was expecting to hear millenia after her death.

His heart ached in his chest and he managed to speak through the tightness in his throat.

"No, my brightest star, no you are not to blame. It was I who did not look after you, I who sent you and did not understand the risks that Apep brought into my lands. My daughter, my fierce lioness, if there is anyone other than those who planned the ambush, who swung the sword and rejoiced at your demise to blame, than it is I."

His daughter shook her head weakly in denile and Ra only tightened his grip before he pulled back enough to look at the new features of his child. At first, Sekhmet resisted, but he tugged gently and she leaned away. He raised his infant hands and laid them against her cheeks.

For a moment he cursed the First Ones, those arrogant men and women who were first on this planet and their pride and ignorance regarding the safety and needs of the planet. They did not ask for help, merely did as they pleased and such was the reason there was only one left, still blind to a solution and an answer other than human sacrifices.

The one who bore the iron mask was the reason he could not properly hold his daughter. And just for a moment, he hated that man more than any still living in this world.

"Daddy," Sekhmet whispered as she took on the thick white makeup on his face, the tattoos and bandages and the Flame colored hair. "Daddy, what did you do to yourself?"

Ra's heart skipped a beat. He was dressed as Skull, his appearance, his manner and it had been so long since he had allowed himself to be Ra- nine years since that day when her Flames vanished- and she had seen him as Skull.

He opened his mouth, but hesitated, finally allowing his gaze to look away, to all the people watching.

Reborn, Colonello, teenagers who all bore a striking resemblance to the first generation of the Vongola, his men, loyal and already in the know. Still, explanations would have to be given, as Ra would never let his daughter willingly out of his sight again.

Especially considering how damaged her Flames and body were. Who had DARED TO TOUCH HIS DAUGHTER?

Ra took a breath and reminded himself to speak Japanese and spoke to his men, softly, yet clearly understood.

"Return to the blimp, all of you and send Asim out," Ra commanded his men who were surrounding him in a defensive position.

He watched as both Reborn and Colonello stood in silence and merely observed as his men obeyed his commands without a moment's hesitation. His daughter's Guardians took that time to move closer, an action that made him happy. He spotted her Cloud easily enough, a Fon lookalike who hung back and he inwardly smiled at the higher ground the boy stood on.

There was something in that one's gaze when he looked at Ra's daughter though…

He narrowed his eyes and made a mental note to address that later, once he had his daughter to himself for a while.

He was not surprised when Asim came hurtling over the railing of his blimp, dressed in a traditional white shendyt, which was belted at the front with leather. A khopesh hung at each side of his hips and he born golden jewelry wrapped around his ankles, his upper arms and the Eye of Ra about his neck.

Asim was tall, golden and dangerous, very obviously Egyptian even as he stood undaunted and confident at the side of the small Cloud Arcobaleno. He stared in almost awed shock at the small girl wrapped about his lord.

"My king? Is this-"

"My daughter lives, Asim, my loyal hawk," Ra proclaimed in softly happy tones, "Sekhmet returns to the land of the living."

Asim turned, awed eyes to her, and Tsuna- Sekhmet- met the eyes of her father's right hand. He immediately dropped to a kneeling position as she set her attentions on him, his voice a soft revenant whisper, "My Lady. We have searched for you a very long time at the side of our King."

There was a moment of stillness and silence before Sekhmet- for she was more Sekhmet than Tsuna in this moment, knelt with her father in her arms- spoke, "It took me too long to find my way home. I thank you for standing with my father while I could not."

"We would follow him into death My Lady, for he has been a good and just King for those that follow."

Sekhmet turned her eyes to meet amethyst, warm and bright and smiling.

"Just as I asked of you so long ago."

Ra shook his head.

"It was the last thing you asked of me, and for those that chose to stay at my side, how could I not be as you asked?"

"Lackey, what is going on?"

Reborn's tone is sharp and biting, a hint of what could almost be called sarcasm lining his tones as he interrupts the moment.

Aisim was not the only one to turn burning angry eyes on Reborn, Sekhmet joining him as her own eyes narrowed at her tutor. She had grown to enjoy Reborn's company, despite the situations he got her and her own into on behalf of the Ninth (may that man rot in the darkest pits of the Underworld), but she would not allow the Sun to talk badly of her father. Regardless of what persona he adopted since the millenia after her death.

"Reborn," her voice was dark, a deeper rumble than Reborn had ever heard, lined with a lioness' snarl as she reprimanded the hitman. "You will not speak that way to my father."

Reborn's surprised eyes lifted to meet glowing amber, that sense of Other very present in her eyes, more so than it had ever been before. He was not considered the world's best hitman for no reason however, and he would not be talked down to by his student. He straightened, opening his mouth to respond when Skull- Ra though Reborn was not yet aware of that particular distinction- interrupted.

"Enough."

The words was heavy and loud in a way that was echoed in one's bones. Ra's voice was commanding and Sekhmet responded instinctively to the voice of her parent and king, snapping her mouth shut, although her eyes remained narrowed on Reborn.

Reborn himself found he had closed his own mouth without thought, responding instinctively to the tone of the Cloud's voice, as it reminded him so strongly of a time nine years before when he had lost control of his temper.

Ra shook his head at both his daughter and his right hand.

"Do not worry about Reborn's lack of respect in addressing me. He knows not who he speaks to, and I have allowed him liberties in how he addressed Skull. I presented a certain personality and he responded to it. It is no fault of his that I did not correct him nor give him reason to believe 'Skull' was any sort of competent."

They both frowned deeply at him, but dipped their heads in grudging acceptance.

"Yes sir."

Ra turned his eyes to Reborn, and returned to Japanese as he answered the man.

He shed the screeching annoyance of Skull's normal voice, allowing his tones to become only the natural high pitched tones of a young child rather than grating as he had often done.

"There is much that you do not know of me, of all that I have seen and done. Long have I awaited my daughter's return, and long have I walked the earth. I have been here before you, and I will be here after you, which is why I do not concern myself with your opinions of my behavior."

Ra could not help the wry smile the tugged insistently at his lips.

"I am immortal, Reborn," he said almost in sympathy at the hitman, "Imagine if you could live forever, if there was no mortal who walked this Earth who could defeat you, who could bring any amount of hurt to you that would actually linger, imagine who youwould become, Reborn. Centuries drag on, people die, die and die some more and the world changes and you change to suit the demands of the people around you."

Ra flares his Flames, beautifully amber and warm as the Egyptian sun in the spring, his Blessed Flames of the Sky and watches as Reborn's facial expressions and body language locks down. Colonello, on the other hand, cannot help his reaction.

Shock is painted across him entirely and a part of Skull is pleased, before he lets it go and turns back to this daughter. Reborn can be called his, but he doesn't have either the time nor the need to explain himself when there are clearly more important matters to attend to.

"Now, Sekhmet," he says, keeping to Japanese for the sake of those around him even as the weight of the air grows heavy and his faces darkens and twists into a snarl, "What was done to you? What was done to your Flames, your body, your soul that I felt you die?"

Around him, his men go down to their knees and the pacifier about his neck begins to glow, along with the ones about the necks of Reborn and Colonello.

His daughter's face twists up in rage and the desperate glimmers of hope and her words tumbled out almost breathlessly.

"That man came to my house. I was five and okaa-san called him my tou-san. He brought an old man with him and named him my grandfather, that he was to be called Nonno."

Ra has a moment to truly understand what his daughter is explaining to him in the space in which she takes a breath and already he can feel the utter fury rising in him.

"I already knew about my Flames, they were always there and I used them to get out of trouble, or to have fun, and I climbed up a tree. I was not yet aware of who I had been Before, I was not yet Awake. My fingers slipped and I fell from the branches. I called my fire to get me down safely and- and he was looking at me and it scared me," Sekhmet says and there is a hitch in her words and Ra takes a deep, tightly controlled breath.

"He turned to the old man and said something I didn't understand and the old man knelt in front of me and he- he- his finger had a flame on the end and he-"

There are tears gathering in her eyes, and she looks at him like she's pleading for him to understand, like she tried her best and she didn't know. His daughter, his precious child, his brightest star is looking at him as if he's going to react negatively, as if it's her fault and Ra-

Ra had officially ran out of reasons to give a shit and he let go.

His Flames ignite higher and unfurl themselves in all their glory, bright and shining, and no longer hiding behind his Secondary as he reaches, stretching as far as he Wills, covering his people. He gathers his Flames at his back to manifest two wings that shimmer like golden sand under the sunlight- just as he had long ago, in a way that had seen the depictions of himself in Ancient Egypt painted onto temple walls- and they surge forward to wrap themselves around his little girl, his fierce lioness, who is no more than a cub now. He used to do this when she was an infant, back in the days they called him pharaoh.

His Flames resonate with hers now just as they did so long ago, only there is a darker, stained and filthy Flame suppressing a mass of brighter Flames deep in her soul.

Ra can literally feel chains wrapped around her entire being. That is not acceptable.

His Flames surge like the tide, washing over and into his bright one, sinking into that which did not belong in her core. "Be gone, filth. Return to the soul from which you spawned."

It fights. Of course it does, and Ra takes pleasure in ripping it out by the root in Sekhmet's head.

He doesn't utterly destroy them, he wants them to return to that scum, after all. He wants Vongola Nono to wake in the middle of the night in terror. He wants the famed Vongola Intuition to scream at him. He wants Timoteo to suffer in the suffocating fearuntil Ra makes his way to stand in front of the arrogant, ignorant filth and informs him of just how much of a mistake he had made. Takes pleasure in speaking on exactly what Ra will do to make him pay for it.

Sekhmet tenses in his arms, a sharp gasp escaping her as his own Flames cleanse her of the intruder that has chained her very soul in filth. A hand absently soothes through her hair as he hums an ancient hymn their people used to sing in their honor. The way she pressed in closer even as he is too small to wrap his arms around her, made his heart ache, but she lives, when before he thought she lay dead nine years ago.

It doesn't take long to assess exactly what damage that fool has inflicted on his child. It's obviously all throughout her body, in her bones, in her brain and all her organs and oh.

His lips pull back in a snarl, his wings snapping open and mantling behind him as hands wreathed in golden Flames pull slowly back from her brow. He could have burned the sad excuse for Flames out from her without this step, but it would have made the aftermath of what Ra had been made to do worse, and he wished those present to see what had been done to his brightest star.

Blackish burnt orange Flames are gripped in Ra's hands, appearing to almost drip from Ra's fingers, obviously jerking and flailing as they attempt to return to Sekhmet. Ra's fingers tighten their hold, jerking backwards hard and furious, his Flames flaring higher, brighter, purer as he focuses on separating every single piece of the foreign Flame from his child.

When he finishes, Sekhmet is curled up in the ground, her skin slick with sweat and her body trembling and a part of him weeps, but he breathes and returns to his task.

He pulls all of the invading flames into his hand and watches as they writhe in his grip. He rears back, lifting them and hurles them into the sky. It's a very useful technique he developed, making sure a Flame returns from where it came from. He doesn't need very much. These remains are decayed and it will hurt when they begin to reintegrate with the soul it originated from.

They'll carrying the taste of whatever pain Sekhmet has endured while suffering underneath them. Nine years worth.

Ra wonders if Vongola Nono will scream.

He hopes so.

LINEBREAK

Reborn had not expected this.

Nothing could have prepared him for this. He had hoped that perhaps he would have gotten some answers for the oddities of his student, but all he had found were more questions to replace those that had been answered.

And more than that, the Lackey had revealed facts that shook him. He had locked down his expressions and body language, but the moment Skull had released his Flames to reveal he was a Sky and not the Cloud he had presented himself as, Reborn had felt the foundations he had based his beliefs on crumble.

And, even disregarding the new facts about the- about Skull, his student had been sealed.

Reborn had not been informed of that little tidbit. He and Nono would be having words about this willful withholding of information. Important information. He fought to control his own Flames, taking deep even breaths as he tried to keep his reactions contained. Still, his shadow writhed on the ground at his rage.

Sealed. Really. What kind of stronzo sealed an Active Sky?

If he had mishandled even the slightest thing while Tsuna had been sealed he could have killed her. It was lucky she was such a powerful Sky- and she had to be, if her Flames were this powerful while sealed- as it had probably been the only thing that saved her.

Sealing an Active Sky Flame! A child. What had they been thinking? That was grounds for a sanctioned Hit in and of itself, and he knew Nono and Iemitsu both knew this.

His hands ached for a gun. If he had known of what the two pezzi di merda had done, he would have shot them both before going to fix the seal himself.

Still, he had not known, and now he was watching the Lackey- no, he did not feel like a Lackey now- shed masks Reborn had not been aware of.

Reborn had scoffed at his title for years. Immortal Skull. How was he to know it had been a warning and not a boast? How would he have expected Skull to be Sky?

And oh, but that put an entirely different light on on their interactions up until now. A Sky and not a Cloud. No wonder Skull- Ra?- had not acted in any way that the Arcobaleno had expected of a Cloud- even an Inverted one.

Reborn was still as he watched wings of Flame sprout from Skull's back, large and in the image of hawks. He did not move as those wings folded around his student- who Skull called daughter- nor did he react as Sk-Ra soothed Tsuna in his arms.

No, Reborn did not react until he watched Ra pull sickly blackish dripping Flames away from from his student. Only then did Reborn move, as he could not help the way he recoiled from the rotting Flame. It was the most subtle of flinches, but Reborn was horrified.

How could he have missed the sickness that slept in the Ninth's Flames?

How had he not seen? His eyes are narrowed as Skull snarls his Sky Flames flaring as he rears back, infant hands clenched on the Flames that do not belong, that have smothered his student's fires.

And when Ra has those sick Flames balled in his hands, and he snarls, "Be gone, filth. Return to the soul from which you spawned," before he throws the Flames away from them, Reborn has a sudden moment of understanding.

He understands that day, nine years ago, he had been so much luckier to survive Skull's Rage than he had believed. He had not confronted a Cloud as he believed, dangerous enough on its own, but a Sky who had a Cloud secondary. Skull had been a Sky on the verge of a breakdown. The stuntman had had much better control over his emotions than any of them had given him credit for, as the Arcobaleno House had not been ash in the wind despite being demolished.

He had not lashed into them as they approached in his grief, had instead walked away with a snarled warning of what he would have done.

There were stories, told of Skies who lost control. The world, the Mafia, those that knew of Flames and all they entailed, told the world that Guardians were meant to protect the Sky.

This was not wrong, but it was not the true purpose of the Bonds the Sky formed with their Elements. Skies were forces of nature given form. A living, breathing, natural disaster when they finally snapped.

Guardians were not just there to protect their Sky. They were there to act as tethers. A grounding force for their Sky. Guardians were there to protect the world from their Sky's Rage just as much as they were there to protect the Sky. In return for Home and acceptance, Elements would provide their Sky with calm, and an outlet for their Rage. Would act as their Sky's hands, enact their vengeance and anger so that the Sky never had a reason to unleash the full force of themselves on the world.

It was said that Sky Flames were a gift from Gods, a little bit of a deity passed into mortal hands. And when a Sky Raged, it was said to be akin to the Wrath of Gods still whispered about in modern times, told of in stories meant to be a warning even if none believed anymore.

Reborn couldn't help but wonder, staring at the form of Ra- Ra, the Sun God, Giver of Life, King of Kings, Ra the Golden- how true those whispers he had dismissed and scoffed at happened to be.

Reborn jerked as Tsuna- Ra had called her Sekhmet- arched against the ground, crying out in agony.

He took a step forward, noticing the smallest flicker of Flame at her forehead, burning the last of the Ninth's tar-like Flames from her body. That was as far as he got, before the small flicker surged.

It was with a roar reminiscent of a hunting lioness that previously bound Flames exploded from his student's arching form.

Reborn could literally hear the moment when all the potential Guardians lit their own Flames and all their Bonds snapped into place with such strength there was a shockwave of colors.

Cloud, Storm, Rain, Sun, Mist, Lightning and Sky all collided in the visible spaces between the people that wielded them in a brilliant display. Reborn couldn't help but stare in awe at the overwhelming strength and purity in the manifestation of his student's Flames, along with her Guardians. It lingered, as each and every one of her Guardians basked in the Harmony of the Flames of their Sky.

When Tsuna's Flames receded, the hitman couldn't help but twitch as his student collapsed to the ground. There was no need to interfere, as Skul- Ra caught his daughter and lowered her gently to the sand.

Ra sat by her head, carding his tiny fingers through her hair and he could not help the tears that blurred his vision and spilled over to drip down his cheeks. His infant body shook and his breath caught and hitched on almost silent sobs, but he couldn't quite stop himself.

His precious child, his brightest star, he shouldn't have taken it for granted that she had died. He should have searched for her. He should have at least looked for a body to bury, a name to remember, something, anything. Instead, he did nothing. How could he have just left it there?

There was a swelling of Mist Flames at his back and Ra would have reacted, save for the fact that when he turned his gaze, it was only that little slip of a girl who Sekhmet claimed as hers.

However, she melted away to reveal that of a boy who looked remarkably similar, only taller, with sharper features and a crimson eyes stilling where the other had none. And soon enough, as the boy drew closer, even that visage dissipated to reveal someone who made his heart stop once more.

Ebony skin, with the head of a jackal, dressed in formal attire, but without his weapon, there stood Anubis and Ra cried out, reaching for the boy who had been as a son to him.

"Anubis, my wild child, Anubis," Ra hoarsely sobbed even as the intimidating head shifted to a more human look and Sekhmet's Mist dropped to his knees, his own eyes filled with tears.

"Father of my Sky, God-King of Egypt, long have I awaited this day," Anubis breathed, projecting his Flames out to curl protectively and affectionately around his reunited family.

Ra's Flames stretched outward, finally freed from the vice grip he had kept on them as he gathered them close around his daughter and his adopted wild child. He had never thought to hope that he would see another of his family beyond his daughter again, and yet…

Yet, here he stood, and not only had he discovered that his Sekhmet lived, but Anubis as well. He was not sure why or how, but even as he mourned how long it had taken him to discover his brightest star lived, that he had not found her sooner than this, he celebrated their life.

They lived.

For the first time in lifetimes he had found not one child, but two. Anubis had followed Sekhmet into the cycle of rebirth shortly after Ra had lost his daughter. It had been a blow to Ra, that two of his own children had been taken from him. He had not known what happened to his Judge, his son, and to see him again was a gift he had not expected.

This was a joyous day. Even as he knew his carefully constructed lies, his masks, would crumble in the face of this, he could not- would not- regret it. His tears were silent, carving shining lines down his cheeks and towards his throat, but the smile that pulled on his lips- shaking though it was with emotion-was a bright and wild genuine thing.

He could not have stopped the way his Flames- his true Flames, amber and gold and shining- danced around his little family in a reaction to his euphoria. And though tears, and gasping silent sobs that escaped him, he could not stop the little bursts of laughter that joined them.

Oh, the stories of a God's Wrath have been told for centuries, but so too had stories of their joy. And this day, this day Ra set aside the burning fury that sat in his breast for what had been done to his daughter. There would be time to plan out the meticulous fall of Timoteo Vongola, his Guardians, and Iemitsu Sawada for their sins.

That was not this time. No, this time was to celebrate the discovery of Ra's family.

His eyes, soft and warm, glowing the color of desert sands, even as his once amethyst hair begins to bleed into the shining amber-orange of his Sky Flames, focused on his lioness. His wings, huge and powerful things that did not quite fit this tiny body stretched wide and threatening for a moment before Skull folded them down and around his unconscious daughter.

It was underwhelming when he was trapped in this too small body, but remarkable all the same, as for the first time in thousands of years, mortals were getting a glimpse of a once god as he had been.

Stained in the colors of the desert, oranges and ambers, golds and not-quite browns. Surrounded on all sides by sands that were not quite like home, but a reminder all the same.

And Anubis, stood beside his family, could not help as his Flames reacted to what he wanted, layering over the scene, presenting to the Arcobaleno and Guardians present in this moment with a scene of ancient times. As Mist condensed over them all, their bodies and changed what was into what had once been.

Biker suits in their violently purple coloring, along with the modern clothes worn by the others faded away, quickly replaced by linens and jewelry fit for the Royal Family they were now a part of.

Pale skin tones were darkened into tans and olive, bodies aged upwards, grown to what he once remembered, as old calluses lost in rebirth formed, weapons favored and beloved materialized at their sides, fastened in leather belts or laid at their feet. As pale sands of a beach were replaced by dark golden desert, the ocean fading and replaced instead with an Oasis straight out of legends, a palace rose in the distance, glittering and shimmering in its splendor.

Reborn was still as the scene changed before him, and suddenly he could see what had once been. Oh, it was one thing to hear what Skull- Ra- had said, but to see a scene straight from ancient legends take form around him…

Reborn did not believe yet- not quite- but it was still awe inspiring, to see the beach of Mafia Land shimmer and fade to be replaced by golden sands and palaces. To feel the heat of this desert scene, the dryness of the air, the power that radiated off those who Skull claimed as Gods.

Ra, Sekhmet, Anubis…

Reborn knew those names, knew the legends behind them. Of course he did, when he thrived on learning what he could.

He had already failed to see a Sky standing in front of him, hiding behind Cloud cover as it had been, but Reborn didn't quite believe Gods walked the Earth. Could not quite accept that his student, his lackey, and the criminal his student had taken a shine to had once been deities.

And yet...Reborn had always trusted his instincts over all other things, and even as he did not want to believe celestial beings were real, he could not deny that now the blinders had been pulled away there was something...more to the three people huddled together on the steps leading towards the palace in the distance.

Did not want to acknowledge the way certain facts, habits, and quirks were suddenly making sense when presented with the idea that his student and lackey- who was not a lackey- were ancient, immortal beings who once ruled Egypt several thousand years ago. There were still temples dedicated to Ra, Sekhmet and Anubis, and entire monuments and statues scattered throughout the Middle East as well.

That they were all depicting Skull was almost unbelievable.

Almost, and yet...looking at him now, his image aged up, and feeling his Flames as they were meant to be, Reborn can see it.

He can see the way this Sky, this ancient being, could have been called a God.