Sun's Lament
"You know Skull, at this rate the sun will be set before you finish with that"
Harry dully pointed out to Skull who was busy staring at the potatoes in each of their hands. His cloud was observing and trying to weigh the potatoes for about five minutes now.
It had come as a surprise to find out that Skull was one of those picky buyers when it came to groceries. He always checks the labels and the expiration date, observes the vegetables, and proceeds to haggle with the prices.
He was lucky that the haggling and unabashed inspection of the goods amused the vendors rather than annoyed them.
Zia Elena chuckled and encouraged Skull's actions by boasting about the quality of her vegetables and happily haggling with the teen.
Harry just shook his head in amusement with a small smile on his face as he watched his cloud try to badger the older woman into giving him a discount, his hands waving and moving in ridiculous motions.
They were lucky and the weather was fine aside from being a bit hot outside. You could see the people passing the streets wearing light clothes and whites while they did their business. Harry himself wore a simple white shirt with knee-length beige cargo shorts. He also decided to bring a yellow umbrella on this trip to shade them from the sun.
While Harry was fine with using the umbrella but Skull avoided it and tended to run childishly when he tried to get the younger man under it.
"Skull-sama chooses nothing but the best! Zia Elena, two of these please"
Harry rolled his eyes as Zia Elena laughed and proceeded to bag the two watermelons that Skull pointed at.
The wizard had already given Skull a tour of the place before they went on their grocery trip, so he wasn't worried that his energetic cloud would get lost. But just in case, he made Skull bring his phone with him.
He checked his watch and saw that it was about time for lunch already so he told Skull that he would be off to that nice small restaurant that they passed by and order them some food in advance.
Skull agreed but not before pulling him over for a quick peck on the cheek. Harry squeaked in surprise but then playfully smacked Skull's head in retaliation.
"Don't go overboard Skull, we only need enough to feed the two of us"
He remembers the tiny fridge that sat in his kitchen and Harry began to consider Engorgio at it and see if it goes well or if it blows up. Magic and Technology don't really mix well.
"Yes Harry", Skull winked and Harry resisted the urge to smack his cloud again. It seems that Skull has a hard time toning down the flamboyant attitude when in public. Harry guessed it was an ingrained habit of being a flashy performer.
He huffed when fixed his umbrella and walked on the cobblestone streets towards the restaurant.
The restaurant wasn't fancy but was a family-run dinner that Harry frequents when he goes out.
They serve fresh and warm meals for the customer and are generally very friendly. The owner and her daughter weren't a nosy bunch and respected Harry's privacy while maintaining a friendly relationship.
When he entered the restaurant, he first saw the owner's daughter who worked as a waitress and was taking the customer's orders.
When she finished listing down the food ordered by the couple on the table at the right, she let out a surprised gasp upon seeing him.
A smile soon bloomed on her face as she called out to him.
"Ciao Signor Potter, welcome to the restaurant"
Harry nodded back politely and returned her smile. She then continued to take the orders of the other customers.
Normally Harry would take one of the seats provided for customers dining alone, but this time he decided to take the ones on the right beside the couple which part of the restaurant provided two seats.
When it was his turn to order, surprise flickered in her eyes before continuing her job professionally.
"Here is the menu signor, may I ask if you have a guest and whether they would order separately?"
Harry shook his head and proceeded to take the menu and scan its content.
"No, I'll order for the both of us now", he looked at the antipasto section. "We'll have a Calamari ai Ferri and some Caesar salad for Insalante"
He paused at the main dishes and decided to just order his usual while he picked a pasta dish for Skull.
"Some Chicken Parmigiana for me and a Spaghetti Pomodoro for my partner"
The owner's daughter, Gemma, wrote all his orders down on her little notepad.
"How about drinks?", she asked while looking back at him, pen still at hand.
"Just some water please"
She nodded and afterward began to recite all the orders to clarify it and with Harry's consensus she turned back towards the kitchen.
Soon the entrance to the restaurant opened again and Skull waltzed in with two bags of groceries. Fresh cabbage and a couple of other fruits and vegetables are tucked inside the green grocery bags.
He waved his cloud over and Skull excitedly sat on the chair in front of him and they chatted for a couple of minutes before their lunch arrived. The pair of civilian sky and cloud enjoyed their lunch in peace, unknowing of the chaos that had spread over the underworld since Harry's flames lit up Florence.
Gunshots resounded in the empty parking lot. In the barren dusty grey space of the place was a lone car parked at the side. A sharp contrast to the nearly crumbling building was a clean black Ferrari.
A large thump swept across as the last body fell. A gunshot straight to the chest and he dropped beside his companion who had a bullet embedded in his head.
The pile of corpses on the floor made a pool of blood that soaked their black suits. Their flames flickered out of existence as they died.
A scoff followed after and footsteps neared the dead Mafiosos. Wearing a sleek tailored black suit and a yellow dress shirt was the Greatest hitman of the current time. Renato Sinclair sneered as he tucked his gun back into his pocket and fixed his fedora.
The mission was simple enough, he had to track down a couple of backstabbing rats who ratted out their allied family. The said familiar would pay him handsomely and the traitors are to have a bullet in their skulls.
Normally, a mission done this quick and clean would raise his mood. Another job well done for the greatest hitman.
But he had been high-strung and frazzled since that incident back at that little rural town of Florence. Renato arrived at the place for a quick scout for information from a minor family acting up against Vongola. Vongola Ottavo had called him in for the job despite it looking underneath his class. But when Vongola hyper intuition told you it's suspicious then it's fucking rigged alright.
He was right when the mission swerved into something above a normal mafioso's paycheck when it turned into a trap. But the vermes didn't expect Renato Sinclair to be the one sent and they ended up being the ones dead.
Their little scuffle got some attention and Renato decided to split since he already had the information in a USB and the main perpetrators were dead. He had already sensed a pair of incoming storms and a mist running to his location.
He ran to the balcony and decided to jump down to the cobblestone path and mingle with the crowd about a street away to escape when his world was bathed in sky flames.
The sudden presence of such pure strong flames shook him enough to lose his focus and he instead plummeted down. He prepared himself for the rather unpleasant fall when he felt himself be caught.
Renato's first instinct was to pull out his gun and point it at the person. But the moment he reaches for it, his flames raged with fury and for the first time in his life it burned him. His sun flames rebelled against him.
The thought was so ridiculous that he would have thought he was hallucinating. But the feel of it against his skin proved him otherwise.
In a midst of a few seconds, many theories and possibilities crossed his mind. Was he drugged? Did he not notice something? Was it airborne? No, they were too unskilled to do anything like that.
Renato looked at his 'savior' and saw the most vibrant green eyes he had ever seen. Then everything clicked like a well-placed puzzle.
Ahh, he was drunk. Fucking flame drunk. Him, the strongest sun, was flame drunk. Suns were the least likely to be flame drunk because activation allows their bodies to burn out sky flames faster than any other elements.
And here he was, flame drunk out of his mind in almost an instant. Carried like a fucking Principessa by a confused Sky.
A sky that was literally flooding the streets in potent pure sky flames. If Renato was drunk then the other flame users in the area are knocked unconscious. He will not need to lose them anymore since they're already out.
That brought in the question of where is this Sky's familigia and just why did they fucking let him out without a group of guards and his elements. He needed to give a good talk –and maybe a bullet— for the sake of everyone's sanity. A sky like this wouldn't last a second before being nabbed by the nearest other famiglia or even flame user.
As a reminder, his own unbounded flames flickered into existence like a puppy whose name has been called by its owner and jumped at the chance to play with the man's sky flames.
His eyes widened when he felt that feeling of warmwarmwarmhomepeacesafe. His flames nipped and twirled with the warm orange flames that screamed of home. The tell-tale signs of a start of a Harmonization.
There was no way. A sky this powerful could not already have a sun guardian.
A weaker sky could not have stronger elements. This was why Renato didn't bother looking for a sky. There was no sky that could hold his sun. And the ones that try only disgust him as they try to force their weak flames at him. Well, they all ended up burned or with a bullet in them afterward.
But a powerful sky can harmonize with weaker elements. Elements would offer up all their property, money, and life for the chance of even trying for a Harmonization with a Sky like this.
Dios Mio, the feeling of those pure flames whirling and exploring the whole town was making him drown. He had never been this careless and unfocused since he was a kid.
He looked up to the sky and saw the distinct Caucasian features. Dark messy hair and those emerald eyes looking at their own flames in confusion and shock.
He heard the man say something but he was too flame drunk to comprehend it. The sweet temptation of Harmonization and the warmesafesafehomesky feeling made him feel like mush.
The hitman part of him wanted to run and shoot something, maybe himself for being affected like this.
But the part of him that is a sun flames user is screaming at him to STAY. To bond with this amazing sky and finally find his home.
He felt the man shuffle him to help him land back on his feet but to his embarrassment, he instinctively gripped the sky's arm
The sudden contact of skin made sparks between them and his flames soared. He stared slack-jawed as his flames cheered at the sudden harmonization between them.
He now suddenly understood why those guardians don't hesitate to die for their skies. The sensation of home and being accepted for everything that he was. The bond that connected souls. The undeniable feeling of homehomehomelovesafewarm.
Renato stared at HIS SKY with awe and adoration. This was his sky! He was not a roaming sun. He has a sky to return to.
Then he blinked in shock when he felt himself forcefully drop with only his grip on the jacket preventing him from letting go of his sky.
Then that was useless too when the raven-haired man swiftly took off his jacket and began to run away.
It took for a second for Renato to understand just what was going on before indignation and distress choked him.
He called out to the sky and tried to chase him but the effects of being flame drunk and post-harmonized made his legs feel like jelly.
He stormed up and cursed and when he finally managed to burn out the flames, he scoured the whole town looking for him. But it was no use.
Now he was left with a Harmonization bond and a sky that ran away from him.
While Renato loves chaos, he only adores it if he's the one causing it or if he can sit back and watch it. NOT when it affected him.
He clenched his fist and threw his head back laughing when he remembered that day.
It did not sound happy, it sounded like he was downright pissed and ready to burn this whole place down.
His flames whimpered sadly, trying to reach and search for its sky. He cursed and shot the body at his feet again.
He would have stayed to search that place until he found his sky but he already stayed there for a month and it would be dangerous for him and his sky if he stayed any longer. Plus his jobs wouldn't wait for him.
Then of course the news of his sky spread in the mafia world. A sky and flames that fucking lit up Florence doesn't go unnoticed. Much less one that is civilian.
That tidbit of information came from that miser of a mist. Viper is the best information broker that money could buy and damn did that bastard charge heavily.
Now every famiglia is scrambling to try to find his sky first to place on their own family. Even Vongola Ottavo asked him to check it out.
Renato is a freelance hitman. He didn't do famiglias so he was actually relieved when he heard his sky was unaffiliated. But then fear strikes as soon as he realizes that his sky didn't have any backing whatsoever as a civilian who probably just discovered his flames.
Which brings in the question of just how did his sky managed to hide for so long from everyone's eyes. Even Viper didn't know exactly where in Florence his sky lived and even what his name was.
If the best mist and informant couldn't find him then who could?
The only thing keeping Renato from flipping Florence upside down is the fact that their bond is still there and he could feel his sky safe and happy.
He knew that as a newly flame active civilian, his sky wouldn't have a complete set. He was lucky to find him as it was.
But the green-eyed sky must have already bonded with a mist. A good one at that.
This brings the hitman's suspicion that Viper wasn't being all that honest.
The bid for information about the civilian had reached even millions from what he heard. Yet even then that money-loving miser kept their mouth shut. The only thing that could drive that mist to look away from money could only be a bond.
No guardian in their right mind would try to sell out their sky. Hell, even crazy ones would not.
But Renato has a bond with him. And a guardian will always find their sky.
He will find his sky again. Mark his words.
Harry was called over by Gemma before they left the shop. He thought that the young girl was going to congratulate him on finally finding a friend like she always bugged him to.
But he was surprised when that was not it.
"Eh, what do you mean someone is looking for me?"
Gemma sighed dreamily while she clasped her hands together. A look of infatuation on her face.
"Sì, a very handsome Signor. With those dark eyes, sharp grin, and cool suit. Ah, that fedora looked too good on him", she gushed while staring into space, remembering their encounter.
Harry's face paled but the slight stutter of his chest made him confused. He shook away the odd feeling of his heart and flames before trying to rationalize things.
It was clear that the guy he caught and somehow triggered the final needed step to permanently activate his flames were looking for him.
While he knew that elements actively try to search for a sky to harmonize with. His instincts told him something was up.
'Maybe... he harmonized with the guy?', he narrowed his eyes and horror painted his mind
'Oh Merlin no, please don't tell me I have a soul bond with a fucking stranger that's flipping Italy looking for me right now'
He couldn't fathom the results of things that were true. The only word he could describe it was 'Chaos'.
Damn it, he needed to ask Viper next time how to figure out if he was bonded to someone. The poor miser is going to have an aneurysm and charge him for mental and health damage damnit.