Interlude: Arcobaleno V

Renato is not jealous. He's not jealous of a man with green hair and a stupid lab coat. Dimtr, or Verde as he's been called in the Mafia circles, is a genius of the kind that appears once in a generation, hailed as the second coming of Da Vinci, a weapon designer that is taking the Black Market towards a new edge of technology just with a couple of theories and blueprints. He hadn't been on their radar five months ago and yet is already making large waves.

He's not jealous. Not of his stupid intelligence or the way he held Tsuna in his arms when he opened the door. Or the way he started babbling at an incredible pace and managed to put a smile on Tsuna's lips just with a few words.

He's not.

Taking a deep breath, he stops from where he's just jumped to another building. The grip on the bag with his sniper equipment is a familiar weight, the same he's used a hundred times to kill simple bastards. Like that green-haired man.

He can still see the way Tsuna gave that man a peck before using that weird power of his to turn around and look directly at him. His eyes clearly said, 'Don't do this to yourself' and that is what pisses him off the most. How he can look so concerned towards him and yet… and yet.

With another jump, he ends on an alley, a relative dark one he can move to the next street where his car is waiting for him. A black thing made for practical purposes and to perfectly blend in with others.

He reaches his apartment in ten minutes. He opens the door, placing his bag next to the door and the keys on its bowl as he goes to his office. He gives Leon a look from where he's on his perch, the orb Tsuna gave next to him. Still intact and in one piece. It seems his little friend hasn't decided yet if to eat it or not. He still nuzzles his head with a finger.

The door is closed as always and that means Tsuna hasn't entered or he'd have known. He's supposed to have done this yesterday but he wanted to spend that time with his little Sky. The morning he used it to obtain the information he needed.

Now, he takes the pictures of the people he assassinated while on his trip and puts them on the wall.

Then, with no sign of disturbance, he takes out his gun.

His secondary is Mist so he could feel it since he entered, their presence disturbing the calm Tsuna has put in the apartment even in the room he hasn't ever been inside.

"Who's there?"

"Please, excuse me, Mr. World's Greatest Hitman," the figure says, half of his form cloaked by darkness. "I came here to see if you're qualified."

Renato doesn't blink.

"Who are you? Who sent you?"

"I came on my own." The man, for he's a man now that he can see him slowly leaning against a cane.

He lightly presses the trigger, Sun flames making the weapon lit up. "Don't move a muscle."

"Just calm down a moment." He throws something in the air. Renato sees it from the corner of his eye.

A clear pacifier?

"I'm collecting the World's Strongest," he says, the pacifier again in his hands. "I Prescelti Sette."

He does blink this time. "I Prescelti Sette?"

That old rumor?

"Yes."

"Is this a commission for work? As a team?"

"You will be compensated. First I want you all to join up." He pulls out a card. It's not hard to identify it as it being for the Vongola Ball. "Go there. Meet your colleagues."

He picks it up and turns it around. The meeting is on Vongola's neutral ground, the day after the party.

He looks up to see the man gone.

Fucking Mists.

-x-

The day is coming.

She can see it as clearly as if she were living it. Always the same.

They're introducing themselves. A confident smirk for Skull accompanied with all his titles in contrast with Lal's succinct answer is strange to hear when one is directly after the other, but not so much when Verde comes next, in the same manner, his tone clearly suggesting they should already know his name. Fon gives a calm smile as he says his name, a 'pleasure to meet you' is added, honest even if his eyes are sharp in a way that is of a killer. Viper is next, but even in adult form, Luce can't be sure if the voice belongs to a male or not, an emotionless face she can't help but stare at.

He can't find the future sadistic tutor with a penchant for cosplay in there. A young cocky man is in its place. Confident as the tutor was, but it's not the same confidence one gains from age.

They're together. Everyone leaves the pacifiers they were given on top of the table. Every one of them with a hint of flames. Hers is with flames, too, as everyone who accepted to come was asked to fill the orbs with their flames, sealing their fates.

Then she blinks and another image comes, it's almost the same, but Reborn and Fong are glaring at Verde, who is clearly ignoring them. Skull is playing with a ring, while Lal watches him, bored. Viper is looking at Skull's ring too, a thoughtful expression on their face.

She blinks and another appears, this time a bit more into the future, he sees the boy who's starred in her dreams for a while already. She knows who he is but can quite seem to see his future. Everything about him is shrouded as if hidden from her Sight.

It's impossible. He's impossible and yet he's there.

She blinks, a small sigh escaping past her lips. She Saw before, harmonized and happy for a while, then hated and scorned but determined. She still Sees that future but there's something else, something she can't quite grasp.

"I know you're behind this gap in my Sight," she says to the air.

A man appears from the ground, a shadow that turns human. He's wearing traditional Japanese clothes and glasses, white hair fluttering with the air. "I'm the one dealing the cards."

"You're cheating."

"I am." He walks closer. "I'm trying to get it right this time."

She turns towards him, her hand going to her stomach. "Getting it right? You're sacrificing another person's happiness. You'll be—"

"While not all martyrs are known, they all have chosen their path willingly."

"Has he, really?"

"I know he will accept."

Her fingers curl into a fist. "… They won't be mine."

"They've never been yours, Luce."