Chapter 3
Contrary to popular belief, Colonnello was not his rank but his last name.
He’s never bothered with the Mafia aliases and all that nonsense, preferring to let his military background mislead people into thinking there was nothing behind the name but a reference to that part of his life.
Of course, Lal found it so hilarious that she refused to call him by his actual first name, Andrea. Even once they started dating —well, as much as they could date when stuck in an infant’s body— she kept up with it. When she got her own alias, he retaliated. He was petty like that. It has gotten to the point where they don’t remember to use each other’s actual names anymore.
So when he joked that Verde and Reborn were going to be announcing another apocalypse, he expected a smack on the head, not a softly whispered, “Andrea” and an anxious frown.
"Right. Too soon?" he said awkwardly, and they packed their bags.
Upon arrival, they greet the Vongola heir and his Gardians sedately and wait in tense silence in the meeting room Tsunayoshi has set up. The Sky doesn't look too worried, which relaxes Colonnello somewhat.
If the most recent victim of Reborn's shenanigans and the possessor of the famed Vongola Intuition doesn’t think there is anything to worry about, they would probably be fine. The kid hasn't even screeched once yet.
"Viper's here," says Lal, staring at an empty corner.
"Hey, Viper! You could come say hello, kora!"
"Mu, Lal, must you ruin my fun?" they say before materialising themselves into the room and sitting in front of them.
"I'd say I'm sorry but that would be lying," she snarks before turning to the door.
Fon is the next to slink into the room, his monkey on his shoulder. He offers them a nod before enquiring. "Does anyone know why we've been summoned?"
"Mou, I might have an idea. But that will cost you."
Colonnello rolls his eyes and lets his fiancée haggle for the price. As they agree on a few thousand euros, the lackey makes his entry.
"It is I, the Great Skull-sama!"
"Shut up, lackey," snaps Collonello before turning his attention back on the information broker. "So?"
"A Storm from the Cardello Famiglia reported an unidentified civilian leaking Sky Flames in Napoli, who was taken out of the streets by the World's Greatest Hitman. A day later, Trident Shamal was sighted in the area. Soon after his departure, Verde arranged transportation to the city."
"You mean—" murmurs Fon.
"They Harmonised? To the same Sky?"
"Mou, it is very likely."
Colonnello and Lal exchange a look.
They haven't brought up the subject since the fiasco with Luce decades ago, not even when Lal had tried and failed to Harmonise with Iemitsu, but they are both intimately aware of how much she wanted a Sky.
The dangled prize of a home, of belonging, had been what Checkerface had used to lure her to participate in his farce. For all that Lal Mirch is a hardened woman who took no shit from anyone, Lakshmi Ohja is an orphan who wanted a family.
And Lal is Lakshmi as much as she is Lal Mirch.
Colonnello resented that at first. He used to think it meant he wasn't enough for her, but he's grown to understand with time that there was no comparison to be made. He's grown to love both parts of her too and has kept a lookout ever since for someone who’d fulfill this dream she’d buried deep within herself.
It seems that this someone found them instead.
"Let's meet this Sky then, kora."
***
"So. Luna was actually being literal for once," says Harry to his enchanted mirror as they drive to the Vongola mansion.
Verde and Renato are too busy bickering with one another to listen to his conversation —though he has no doubt they are as vigilant as ever for any drop in mood he might experience, the worrywarts.
"About what, mate?" asks Ron as Hermione's eyes widen.
Harry explains as briefly as he can about Flames, Guardians and the consequences of his death. When it came to the time to talk about the Mafia and his new Elements, he hesitates before soldiering on and continuing. He doesn’t want to hide anything from his best friends. Last time he did that, he walked to his death.
"The Mafia?!" shrieks Hermione.
Verde and Renato pause their conversation to throw him a look. He grimaces.
"Don't worry about it," he mouths, his head turned away from the mirror.
His two Elements shrug and turn back to their conversation, though Harry isn’t thick enough not to notice that both Leon and one of Verde’s miniature robots have their eyes still fixed on him. He isn’t very observant, but his Guardians aren’t as slick as they pretend to be. Or they don’t bother to pretend, he thinks, and his Flames curl around them at the idea.
He resolutely does not look at them, instead focusing on his ranting best friend.
"Let me get this straight," says Hermione after having given a brief gist of what the Mafia entailed to her boyfriend. "You got kidnapped off the streets by a muggle Mafioso who said you had a mystical connexion and you believed him? Ron, we're going to Italy."
Harry sighs.
"See, I knew you'd say that so I found you books —muggle and magical— about the subject. They're being sent to the Burrow right now. Read them, do your research, and if you think you still have to come I won't argue about it."
Hermione glares. He stares back evenly.
She sighs.
"...Fine."
Ron raises an eyebrow.
"You're surprisingly reasonable about this, mate."
Harry grins.
"It was Verde's suggestion."
"Huh."
The call goes on a bit longer, with Hermione asking details about Flames so she can cross-reference properly the sources he's sent her and with Ron interjecting with jokes and appeasing teases to his over-eager girlfriend.
After a while, Hermione agrees to leave the questions for after she's read the books.
"Harry?" says Ron as he was about to end the call.
"Yeah?"
"Even if they turn out to be telling the truth, we're still going to Italy. You know that right?"
Hermione nods.
"What about your jobs?"
"Eh, we literally saved Wizarding Britain, they'll give us some slack."
"Especially if we say it's to check up on you," exclaims Hermione with a bright smile.
"The press is still going nuts about your mystical trip. They haven’t sighted you since Egypt and everyone gossips about it. They’ll be thrilled to get some news,” Ron says with a grin, full on cackling at Harry’s disgust. “Besides, as your first ‘Guardians’, we have to make sure these newbies are treating you right after all," he adds cheerfully before smirking in a manner he's stolen from the twins. "And I wanna meet this Reborn guy."
Hermion echoes his smile.
"Verde too of course. There is no reason why we would want to meet Reborn in particular, is there?"
Harry blushes and looks away. He mumbles a non-answer, his eyes determinedly not fixed on Renato who is raising an eyebrow in his direction.
"Have to go, bye," he ushers out before he turns off the enchanted mirror to the sound of his best friends' snickering.
Verde, who is closer to him, sends him a judgemental look. Harry definitely does not pout, though his Flames stir in a way that seemed to convey enough petulance for his new Lightning Guardian to shake his head in amusement.
"We've arrived," says the scientist, taking pity on him.
Harry looks out the window to see a building that makes Malfoy manor look like Hagrid's hut in comparison. The extravagance of the Vongola mansion is unbelievable, but the fact that it looks like it could withstand a siege is even more so.
"The mansion is designed to withstand a Flame-based assault," explains Renato, who noticed his assessing look and the curious flick of his Flames. "It can even resist a Storm's Disintegration attribute."
Harry ignores the now familiar embarrassment at having his feelings out in the open for all to read and whistles.
"How would you even go about doing that without wards?"
"There are magical wards on the property, but the primary protections are made from a balance of Mist, Sun, Lightning, and Cloud Flames. The wards themselves are the work of Talbot, commonly known in the magical community as Nicolas Flamel."
"He's still alive?" murmurs Harry.
He doesn't know why that bothers him.
Dumbledore lied to him about the Stone having been destroyed, so what? He lied about so many other things, that was par for the course.
Harry shivers.
He’s been groomed to die by the man, led around on a chase without being told it would end with his death —however temporary—, and yet the fact that Dumbledore led him to believe in first year that Flamel and his wife gave up on immortality hurts him more?
It’s silly, really.
He feels himself shaking.
His Flames’ temperature drop.
“Harry, what’s wrong?” asks Verde, frowning in concern.
“Flamel is the alchemist, isn’t he? The one who made that immortality stone?”
“He is, why?”
Why. Why did he even lie?
Harry was only eleven, he didn’t give a shit about the Stone, he just wanted to know he hadn’t endangered his friends for nothing. He wanted to make sure it was safe and not in the hands of his parents’ murderer. He can feel his breathing quickening as his anger and disappointment resurfaced from the depths where he had tried to bury them.
This was so… pointless. So many things Dumbledore had done were pointless. Making him stay at the Dursleys after his fourth year, when the blood protection afforded to him was rendered null by the fact that his own blood was circulating in Voldemort’s veins.
Not telling him in fifth year about the reason why he was avoiding him.
Taking entire months to talk to him about the horcruxes instead of simply meeting him over the summer.
Crumbs and crumbs of information, half-truths sparsely given, twisted, just because he had to control everything.
“Shit,” he mutters, staring out of his frost-covered glasses.
The Discord isn’t simply affecting his Flames anymore, it was reaching his magic too.
“Harry, you need to focus on my voice —”
“His Discordance is—”
“—Harry—”
“—shit, he has to stay awake—”
Death hadn’t been so cold, he thinks a little nonsensically. What point is there to living if his soul was freezing over?
“Colonnello, we need you here—”
“He’s getting colder— … didn’t know— … possible
“— Zero—”
“—he’s coming—”
“Harry, can you—”
Harry blinks rapidly as a feeling of complete and utter peace washes over him.
It’s like he’s woken up from a bad dream and looked outside for the first time since trapped in his nightmare. His mind is so quiet suddenly; he can feel his breathing slow down, his trembling subside. He takes off his glasses and feels them dripping with water, the frost melting under his warming Flames. The sensation is grounding.
He looks up.
His sight is blurred, but he can make out four people hovering over him, with another crowd a bit further. He feels Reborn and Verde’s Flames intertwining with his as his Sky settles again, and welcome their subtle embrace with a sigh. He tries to gather his wits and pushes down his embarrassment to address the blurs he doesn’t recognise in front of him.
“Thank you,” he whispers at whom he guesses are Rains at his side, unsure what else to say. “And er, nice to meet you? I’m Harry Potter.”
He hears a hiss in the background, and a whispered threat to Verde. Harry’s lips twitch. This must be Viper.
“No problem, kora! You sure gave us a scare, though!” says one of them with an energetic tone, which seemed like it belonged to the taller Rain. They sound a little shaky, though, probably rattled by having felt his Discord up close and personal. Renato did tell him the sensation was unpleasant.
Harry winces.
“Ah, I did, didn’t I? My old head of house used to say my father and I were responsible for every single white hair on her head. Apparently attracting trouble runs in the family. She calls it the Potter Luck.”
“Well, at least you’re better now,” observes the other with a husky voice that sounds smooth and measured, though their Flames betray they are just as worried as the first Rain.
Their Flames are so soothing he wants to bask in it. The Rains twitch, as if sensing his intent, but don’t withdraw away from him. Harry tries to hide how much that pleases him, but this is pretty much a lost cause when his Sky is an open book to every Element he tries to Attract, too unstable to be controlled or withdrawn.
He’s literally leaking Sky Flames all over the place. He wonders what Renato’s student, the other Sky kid thinks of this. He’s interrupted in his musings by the second Rain speaking again.
“And since the idiot forgot to introduce us, I’ll do the honours. I’m Lal Mirch, and this is Colonnello. Nice to meet you, Harry Potter.”
***
Lakshmi doesn’t know what to make of Harry Potter.
He’s been taken to medical by a Vongola nurse while being fussed over by Verde and Reborn, but his Flames still call to the Arcobaleno on the other side of the building.
Back in the meeting room, she allows herself a shaky sigh at the feeling of loss coming from having to separate from such a strong Sky. And he wasn’t just strong, his Flames were gentle too, welcoming.
Everything she’d wished for all those years ago.
Now, it just made her wary.
There has to be a catch, she thinks, and remembers the intense Discordance Potter had been in when they’d been called by Reborn. They had needed a combination of both their Flames and Sawada's mastery of the counter to the Zero Point Breakthrough to calm him.
Well, she could guess what the catch was.
After her small display of emotion, she puts back the mask of Lal, the Arcobaleno and CEDEF operative.
“What was that?” asks Fon.
He and Skull had elected to stay in the meeting room with most of Sawada’s Elements while the Sky, his Rain and Colonnello were called over. Yamamoto hadn’t been needed after all, since Lal and Viper hadn’t wanted to wait to find out what was going on and joined them in the courtyard to see Reborn frantically pouring Flames into a Discordant Sky.
Lal waits for Viper to do try and haggle for the price of an explanation, but the Mist is uncharacteristically silent. She exchanges a look with Colonnello who seems just as surprised as she is. Lal braces herself to try and explain something she barely understands, but thankfully she doesn’t have to.
Reborn enters the room with his student a few seconds later. His fedora is pulled over his eyes and his expression blank, but the uncharacteristic heat around him tells her all she needs to know. Sawada looks back and forth at his Guardians and at his teacher, looking increasingly distraught.
They wait in tense silence as the Sun sits down at the meeting table, right in front of Fon and takes off his hat to run his fingers through his hair.
“So you’ve met my Sky,” he says simply.
“What is happening to him? Your explanation over the phone was lacking, kora!”
“I can’t tell you everything,” he warns, “Harry will tell you if he wants to. The gist of it is that my Sky used to have a full set of Elements, but his bonds snapped after he temporarily died. When he woke up, his Flames practically doubled in volume and density.”
Lal is already burning with questions, but a warning look from the hitman stops in her tracks. Huh. He’s serious about this.
“Something similar happened to a Triad Sky a few decades ago,” comments Fon thoughtfully. “The child was sealed yet still managed to attract Elements. When the seal was broken, her heightened Flames rejected her prospective Guardians.”
Sawada blanches.
“Hieee?”
Reborn shakes his head.
Lal remembers this story. The girl leaked Sky Flames because her seal was shoddy and Attracted dozens of Flame users. Her clan chose two promising ones and freed her Flames to begin the Courting process, but their Flames turned out to be incompatible. Trying to force the bond killed her.
“That’s why I broke your seal progressively, Dame-Tsuna,” says the Sun. Despite the smirk on his face, he doesn’t look so good. “The situation is similar, yes, but not completely. That girl you mentioned hadn’t Harmonised yet, and she tried to force Harmonisation. That’s what killed her. Harry’s Flames believe his Guardians are dead and doesn’t recognize their Flames because they are too weak for him now. They’re not even Active so they can’t even try to adapt to him. Though I don’t know if that would even be possible.”
He looks fiercely satisfied at that, and Lal can guess what he’s thinking. If Potter’s ex-Guardians had gone Active, he would have probably never had a chance.
But then again, why hadn’t they? Their Sky’s heart stopping should have done it if the Courting hadn’t.
Something didn’t add up there.
“Harry’s going into progressive Discordance, not dealing with Flame Rejection,” Reborn summarises before pausing. “Verde looked into it. It was Harry’s main concern when we mentioned similar cases.”
They all contemplate that for a moment.
Lal remembers Luce’s Rejection all too well, and the pain her death had caused them despite it. She can’t imagine what Potter must feel like, having lost several tangible bonds. Reaching for them and only grasping nothingness. She grimaces. That’s kind of what happened when she tried Harmonising with that buffoon.
It was like her Flames didn’t even see him. Would she have Rejected him if he had tried to Attract her?
“What does progressive Discordance mean exactly?” asks Skull. He’s looking uncharacteristically serious.
Lal is surprised he’s here at all.
They haven’t heard from him since they returned to their adult bodies. He’d returned to his stuntman work, making occasional appearances in Mafia circles so Famiglias didn’t bother him but still stirring clear of the Arcobaleno. She wonders why he came at all. She tries not to think about how much she’d noticed his absence.
“It means he has no control over his Flames, and his temperature drops with every mood swing to the point where he can go from suffering hypothermia to literally freezing his surroundings. That’s what happened earlier; we stumbled over a trigger we didn’t know about in conversation, and he spiraled. He’s getting better, though. He's more consistently warm and only emotional upheaval triggers his attacks.”
So his Sky had PTSD, huh. That must be a joy to deal with for someone as trigger-happy as Reborn was. Still, Potter was so young, when did he ever have to fight in a war?
“Harmonising with you stabilised him,” concludes Viper. “So you want to get him a full set of Guardians.”
“I do,” he admits, completely shamelessly. Lal can’t even blame him. If that was her Sky, well. “You’re the most likely to be compatible, his Flames are just too strong, and he doesn’t have the time to go through a Courting process.”
“And if we refuse?”
“Then Verde has a plan to increase the Flame potency of his ex-Guardians to recreate their bonds.”
“That might kill them,” says Sawada, his eyes gleaming amber under the force of his Intuition.
Reborn stares at him evenly.
“It might.”
“You’ll still risk it, kora.”
The message is clear.
For their Sky, they’ll do anything. They don’t want to cause him distress, so they searched for another alternative before risking his ex-Guardians lives, but they were willing to do it if necessary. The ex-Guardians would probably agree too if they showed even an ounce of the devotion she’d observed from the Arcobaleno Sun and Lightning.
“Fufufu, how interesting,” snickers Rokudo Mukuro, and Lal is left to wonder once more why this kid is still allowed to roam around free.
Sawada’s Guardians don’t seem to protest; though some of them look a bit uncomfortable, they seem to think Reborn and Verde's plan is perfectly reasonable. They would do anything for their Sky too. In this room, they are the ones who understand Reborn best. Lal’s not sure the World’s Greatest Hitman would have appreciated their sense of kinship a few weeks ago.
Sawada looks torn, though. After a moment, he seems to make a decision.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that. You’re welcome to stay in the Vongola mansion with Harry until he’s stabilised. You said he’s a civilian; he would be in danger, leaking Flames as he is.” Reborn looks strangely amused at that, and Lal suspects his Sky isn’t as harmless as he looks. Sawada also shoots a wary look at his tutor, but soldiers on. “And you guys,” he addresses the Arcobaleno, “are welcome to stay if you want to attempt a Courting.”
Lal exchanges a look with her fiancé.
She knows Colonnello will follow her lead, so she needs to be certain. Lakshmi’s not sure if she wants to put herself through this again. Luce and Iemitsu had hurt her in ways she’d never let herself be hurt by anyone.
But.
But Luce hadn’t wanted them for anything but a sacrifice to the greater good and Iemitsu was too self-centred to bond with anyone. But Harry Potter wants Harmonisation. He’s reaching out to them, his Flames echoing a yearning she’d felt for so long.
“Maybe,” she says after a beat, “I can take a vacation. I certainly deserve it, after so many years of putting up with your father, Sawada.”