14Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment!
I'd just like to remind everyone that I have fudged with the timeline a bit because somethings will be different than canon and many things in canon were left kinda vague, so I'm just putting my own spin on things. Also, I'd like to note that I don't plan on making this fic a romance.
Yuni quietly opens the door to her mother's bedroom, closing it softly behind her, and walking silently across the floor to the bed.
She carefully sets the wooden box in her hands down on the nightstand, not letting it make a sound. The sleeping medicine she'd slipped into everyone's drinks at dinner is effective, but she doesn't want to take any chances.
Climbing into the bed without shaking it is a challenge she doesn't manage and she curses silently at her tiny form. She can definitely appreciate what the other Arcobaleno went through on a whole new level, but she pushes that thought aside. She'll have time for it later.
For a long moment, Yuni can't do much else but stare at her mother's sleeping form, drinking her in. Aria had died when she as only fourteen, passing on the Sky Pacifier to her only child just before her death. Part of Yuni wants to toss the whole plan and just curl up with her mother like the child she suddenly is.
But she can't.
With a shaky breath, she takes her mother's hand and carefully tugs the Mare Sky Ring off her finger. Reaching to open the wooden box, she places the Ring with the rest of its Set that she'd collected before coming here.
Now for the hard part.
Calling her Flames to her fingertips, Yuni cups the Sky Pacifier in his palms. She feels a familiar tug in her core and the Pacifier begins to glow softly. Yuni had been the bearer of the Pacifier for years. She'd supported the Tri-ni-Set for over a decade and that leaves a mark. The Pacifier recognizes her. But it's can't have two bearers.
Yuni grits her teeth as she forcibly stops it from withdrawing from Aria's Flames and latching onto hers. Such a sudden separation would result in her mother's death and that is something she does not want. Slowly, carefully, she untangles the threads of Flame the Pacifier has woven into her mother's Flames, leaving behind threads of her own Flames to replace them.
When she's finished, she's sweaty and out of breath and there is the familiar weight of the Sky across her shoulders. But her mother sleeps on even as the Sky Pacifier now rests in her hands.
Yuni takes a deep breath and releases it slowly, curling the Pacifier close to her chest. It's done. The burden is hers again. Leaning down, she presses a light kiss to her mother's cheek, then slides off the bed and grabs the wooden box, leaving a letter in its place, before heading for the door.
She pauses at the threshold and glances back. She mother is silent and still, her breathing even. She's alive and free and Yuni has only ever wanted the world for her.
"Goodbye, Mother," she whispers.
She leaves the room, the door closing soundlessly behind her.
Tsuna is freezing.
He'd forgotten how it felt to have his Flames sealed. His mother has been throwing him concerned looks all morning since he walked downstairs in three sweaters and a scarf. In the middle of summer. Luckily, it is summer vacation, so he has some time to get himself under control. Which is easier said than done.
He knows why Nono sealed his flames, understands the reasons. But knowing what he knows now, about Flames in general, about his own Flames personally, he can't believe this was done to him. He feels so empty. Like a part of him is missing – a very large part – and all that's been left in its place is a dark, gapping, freezing void. His body feels awkward, like it's ten sizes too small, and it doesn't move the way he wants it to, as if there is some kind of disconnect between his brain and his body.
He'd never noticed this the first time around.
Then again, growing up not knowing anything else would do that, he thinks wryly.
He's currently sprawled out in the backyard, sweaters and all, soaking up as much sunlight as he can in an effort to warm up. His fingers and toes still feel numb. He wants to groan in frustration, but he doesn't. He closes his eyes and evens out his breathing and sinks into meditation like Reborn taught him to so long ago.
In the beginning, Reborn had already cracked the seal, so there was a spark that Tsuna could follow. Now, there is nothing, so Tsuna dives into the void. He wanders through his own mind, through empty space, pulling, calling, tugging, watching and listening for any kind of reaction. He walks for what seems like hours.
Eventually, he stumbles upon a wall.
A wall that looks suspiciously like Zero Point Breakthrough.
Tsuna narrows his eyes and places a hand on the wall. He can feel Nono's Flames within it and the faintest echo of his own Sky beyond it. Brow furrowing, he reaches out towards that echo, trying to cox it out.
He feels the moment Nono's seal rebels.
Something clamps down on his Flames and they screech, writhing, trying to escape, to reach him. Tsuna grits his teeth and pushes against the wall, cracks forming against the ice.
It hurts.
It hurts far more than he was expecting it to and he's thrown out of his meditative state.
Tsuna blinks up at the sky, head pounding, jaw aching like he's been clenching his teeth for far too long. He's still cold and when he reaches for his Flames, there is still nothing but a void.
"Huh," he says blearily, "This could be a problem."
Byakuran hums softly to himself as he reclines in a tree.
He's somewhere in the woods behind the Giglio Nero mansion, near one of the exits to the secret passages that run under it, waiting. It's a quiet night, the silence almost stifling after being surrounded by constant noise for years. He relishes it because it makes this more real.
Sneaking away was ridiculously easy. Physically, he's thirteen, but he feels so much older and slipping out of Gesso territory without getting caught was child's play. Out of all of them, his Famiglia is the one they are most likely to keep ties with even though it's small and relatively unknown at this point in time. He is, technically, the Boss already; his father having passed away when he was a child and his mother in ill health. So instead of cutting and running, he'd left a specific set of instructions with his caretaker – his mother's Rain Guardian.
This leaves him both free to act and to maintain the Gesso. He'll have to set up a firmer framework for it once they reach Tsuna, but this will do for the moment.
Now, he just has to collect Yuni and –
Speaking of.
He glances down just in time to see Yuni crawling through some tree roots.
She's small, is the first thought that crosses his mind. He'd known that, of course. Planning on going this far back, with Yuni being the youngest of them, she'd be little more than a child. It's one thing, though, to know it intellectually and to see it as a reality. She'd been a child when they first met, technically, but now, she doesn't even reach his waist.
Her clothes aren't exactly practical – a forest green dress with birds and flowers embroidered around the edge and a pair of soft, brown boots with shallow heels – though considering how tiny she is, he doubts that she's got that much to choose from. She has a backpack and a messenger bag with her and both look filled to the brim.
He hops down from his perch just as she's pulled herself free.
"Well, hello, little Sky~," he purrs, "Fancy meeting you here."
Yuni spins at the sound of his voice, a smile lighting up her face that he only has a second to enjoy before she's throwing herself into his arms.
"Byakuran! You're here!"
He laughs softly. "You say that like I'd be somewhere else."
She pulls back and rolls her eyes. "You know what I mean."
He grins at her, bright and innocent. A flash of orange catches his eye and he looks down to see the Sky Pacifier resting against Yuni's chest, held in place with a pale orange ribbon. He reaches out and lightly taps a fingertip against the glassy surface.
"Yours again, hm?"
Yuni gives him a sad, understanding smile, and then reaches into her messenger and pulls out a wooden box. She holds it out to him and Byakuran can feel the weight of the moment. Sure enough, when he opens the box, the Mare Rings gleam up at him.
He smiles the same sad smile Yuni gave him. The Sky Mare Ring is a familiar weight on his finger and he can hear whispers in the back of his mind again.
"I'm sorry," Yuni says, with sad, sad eyes.
Byakuran smiles and presses a kiss to her forehead. "Don't be silly, Yuni. This Ring has always been mine." He holds out a hand to her, the box with the Mare Rings held in the other. "Shall we go? I believe we have some errands to run?"
Yuni smiles, this one bright and anticipatory, and takes his hand. "We do!" she chirps.
"Off we go then~!"
And so begin the Adventures of Smol Tri-ni-Set Skies!
If anyone was wondering, Yuni is ~4 years old, while Tsuna is ~10 and Byakuran is ~14.
Until next time,
~Elri