Knuckle downed the glass of water at one go before placing it on the counter, clutching on. His heart was still beating faster than usual, which wasn't surprising. He had overexerted himself and it was hard to rile in his flames again. It has been years since the last time he fully released his restrains on them after all. 

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead on the wall beside him, leaning against it, taking deep breathes in even tempo. Soon, his heart rate slowed to normal, finally able to get himself together fully. Although, his hands were still shaky from the adrenaline. He clenched his hands into fist, willing them to stop shaking and breathed in deeply once more.

Turning, he walked back into the living room, where Caelum lied on the couch. He crouched, brushing the ginger hair away from his forehead and felt the temperature. It was rather high, which meant Caelum was having a fever. His body was struggling to cope the stress his flames were causing. 

It took Knuckle a really long time to finally contain Caelum's flames, even if it was only temporary. Caelum had drifted in and out of consciousness during the whole time, so it made it almost impossible to talk him out of his shock. Not to mention that his flames kept on pushing against Knuckle's, stinging the whole time. It was probably out of sheer luck that they didn't accidentally harmonize when Knuckle's flames pushed back, coaxing and forcing.

No. That wasn't it. They were fortunate enough that they didn't accidentally suffocate each other to death with their flames.

Caelum's breath hitched, breaking Knuckle out of his reverie but he didn't wake up. He was panting slightly, eyebrows pulled together in pain. Knuckle couldn't help but smile a little. At least he managed to control the damage before it got worst for the time being. He thanked his Lord for that. (Though, he couldn't help but worry about what Caelum's flames would do inside the ginger. If Alaude doesn't come back soon and help him, it would eat Caelum inside out, damaging his internal organs. When that happens, God knows how to save the man.)

Knuckle perked up when he heard rhythmical thuds of hooves against the ground and hurried to the door. When he swung it open, Alaude had pulled the reins and the horse came to a stop. His attention wasn't fully on the beige-haired man, however. It was the two men who followed him. 

He blinked in surprise just as Alaude jumped down and barged into the house, almost knocking down Knuckle in process. "Giotto! Daemon! What are you both doing here?"

Giotto patted his horse as he unmounted it, smiling at the priest. "Instinct." ("Intuition, Giotto. Intuition.") Knuckle nodded, immediately understanding what the man meant and ushered them in.

Alaude knelt beside Caelum, pressing his hand against his forehead with a scowl. The fever was concerning, yes, but Alaude was more worried about the hint of flames in the air, haven't fully disperse. He could feel Caelum's flames unstable as well. "What happened?"

Knuckle's lips pulled thin as he closed the door. "This morning, Percy and a lady named Azura came." Alaude twitched when Giotto came near them and brushed his hand across Caelum's pale cheek, but he did nothing to stop him. "They had a conversation and.. And he broke." 

"Percy was here?" Giotto asked, pulling his hand away the moment he felt the flames and how painful it was. (It was trashing painfully against the hold Knuckle had placed, no doubt trying to break it.) Knuckle nodded and explained what had happened according to what Alaude told him. Giotto frowned and looked at the unconscious ginger solemnly.

Daemon hummed. "His flames went berserk, did it?" He tapped his cheek lightly. "And even if you try to talk him out of it, if he's really in the state like you said, then it won't work. Not when his resolve and will to live is weak." He smiled, albeit loop-sided. "He's going to die, isn't he?"

Alaude's eyes flashed murderously at the blunette. He growled at him and stood up, body tensed and shoulders squared, as though he wanted to attack Daemon right there, right then. Daemon looked at him right in the eyes, not backing down. In fact, his lips had tugged into a smirk instead. 

Giotto sighed, intervening the two of them. "Stop it, you guys. Now is not the time to fight. Alaude, you know that we wouldn't let him die." Alaude clicked his tongue and turned away. "And Daemon." The said man hummed as Giotto turned to him. "You can feel it don't you, his flames."

Daemon nodded. "Yes. He's the first one."

Giotto nodded back. His gaze dropped to Caelum, who seemed to be in more pain than a minute ago. ".. The only way we can save him is by harmonizing with him and grounding him."

Knuckle frowned. "But the discordance.. He'll suffer the effect of discordance if things goes wrong, and we haven't truly know what it would do!"

"Yes. Which is why Daemon, you need to do this." Daemon mocked a sigh and shook his head, arms crossed. "My my. How troublesome." Giotto gave him a pointed look, to which Daemon sighed again. "I will do it. You know I will, Giotto. He's a rare specimen after all."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Knuckle was confused. Their conversation had totally flew off his head, but he knew that he wasn't going to like it. Alaude looked more or less wanted to deck the heck out of Daemon and Giotto, but he was quiet about it.

"Daemon's going to try and communicate with Caelum." Giotto said. 

"But he's unconscious!" Then something clicked in his mind as they all looked at how his facial expression changed. 'Oh.' His eyes widen. "You don't mean.."

"Yes, Knuckle. We meant exactly what we meant." Daemon huffed. "Mind communication."

"I thought that you still haven't get a full grasp of it?" The aristocrat shrugged. "Perhaps, but it should work." 'After all, he's the same.'

"Well then, shall we get started?"

---------------------------------------------------------

Somehow, Caelum had grown used to the darkness. It wasn't a reassuring thought, but at least it was better than his usual nightmares. He sat in the middle of the blanket of black, knees pulled to his chest as he curled up into a ball. He felt cold. Colder than usual and emptier as well. He didn't feel the pain of being alone nor the heartbreaking sadness. (Nor the pain his flames was afflicting.)

He just felt, empty. So empty that he thought that it was actually a bit lonely.

"My my, broken already? How disappointing." His eyes widen at the voice and lifted his head up the moment a being appeared in front of him. It was a man of his age, maybe older by a few years, with a smirk. He was slightly glowing in indigo, but that was probably because of the darkness around him. 

"Who-" Daemon held a hand up and Caelum paused, mouuth clicking shut. A second later, another man with blonde hair appeared, but instead of indigo, he glowed in orange. The man looked around, before his warm, orange eyes landed on the ginger. Caelum was stone-shocked. 

It dawned him that he should be in his own mind, so were the two men a part of his dreams, or had he gone crazy?

"No, you're still sane and you're definitely not dreaming." Daemon said. "Daemon Spade." He nodded to Caelum, ignoring how the disapproving look Giotto was giving. "And I'm Giotto." The blonde reached out a hand. "You must be Caelum."

Caelum eyed them warily before he slowly reached for the outstretched hand and shook it briefly. He nodded. "Yes. What's going on?"

Giotto smiled before he moved to sit in front of Caelum, Indian style. Behind him, Daemon made a noise at the back of his throat and grumbled as he sat beside Giotto. Caelum stiffen at how close they were but didn't move away. "We're Alaude and Knuckle's friends." At that, he visibly relaxed, but he was still guarded. 

"We're currently in your mind. I'm sorry we didn't ask for your permission, but you weren't conscious."

He gaped. "What- How?"

"Flames." He looked at them incredulously. "It's a long story, and we'll explain it one by one. First of all, do you know what Flames is?" Caelum pursed his lips, wondering if it was a trick question. If in terms of the word, yes. Fire. Flames is fire, that he knew. But he knew as well that the Flames Giotto referred to wasn't that, so he shook his head.

Out of nowhere, Giotto lifted a hand and clenched it. Almost immediately, his whole fist was coated in Orange flames. The ginger's eyes widen. "This, is the Flames that I'm talking about." It extinguished as Giotto lowered his hand. "Dying Will Flames, to be exact." He absently added, remembering the newest term for the Flames.

"It.. It doesn't burn?" Giotto shook his head. "Unless I wanted it to, it doesn't burn. Its a sort of energy that certain people have. Its like blood, a form of life-force. We call it the Dying Will Flames is because almost all of those Flame Actives found their flames through their resolution to live and/ or strong emotions for something."

"In short, Flames is the energy that forms when one's in a very dire, life-and-death situation. Even so, there's only one-eighth of a chance of the Flames actually appearing." Daemon chipped in. Caelum nodded slowly. It sounded unbelievable, but it had his full attention. Plus, the fact that he was actually talking to two men who definitely weren't a fragment of his dreams or anything was actually making him believe it. 

"And what does it have to do with me?" 

Giotto's head tilted slightly. "You're a Flame Active, Caelum." The said man sat straight at that. "We didn't exactly have the time to ask what happen, but its going berserk, your Flames. Knuckle managed to at least contain it, but not for long. It was, and is lashing out at everything. If we- you, don't get it under control any time soon, it's going to break out of its restrain and attack your inner organs.

"In another words, it'll kill you from inside out."

Caelum rewound the words in his mind again and again, taking it apart one by one to fully understand it. His lips pulled thin as everything sank. He really wanted to believe that all this was just a dream, but it wasn't, not when he confirmed it himself that he wasn't dreaming and everything was real. He knew that, but he wanted to doubt it. 

He was going to die.

Giotto, at the look on his face, though wanted to reach his hand out to the man, refrained himself from doing it. Not yet, he told himself. "If you allow us, we can help you. We can help you, but there'll be side effects and consequences." Caelum looked at him in the eyes. Giotto coughed into his hand.

"There are seven types of flames, as far as we know. Seven flames with different colours and different traits, all named under the element of weather. Green, the Lightning flames that hits harder than anything else. Red, the Storm flames that shatters everything in its path. Blue, the Rain flames that calms and dulls the storm. Yellow, the Sun Flames that brings life to the living. Purple, the Cloud flames that increases in number as second passes. Indigo, the Mist flames that hides the truth from the eyes.

"And lastly, Orange. The rare Sky flames that brings peace to all. Of all these flames, the leader of the complete set is usually the one who posesses the Sky flames because of its perk. The ability to bring harmony among the different type of flames."

Caelum recalled the colour of Giotto's flames. "So, you're a Sky." 

The blonde nodded. "I am. And so are you, Caelum." Caelum blinked in surprise at that. "Impossible." There was no way he's a Sky. Of all of the flames, and he had one of the rare types? Not to mention he wasn't a leader material. 

"But you are." Daemon mused. "You're a Sky and a Mist. I've to admit, it is indeed a surprise to find someone with dual flames. You're the first that we've encountered." 

"Indeed. Anyway, the idea is for the both of us to Harmonize." Giotto said solemnly as he added. "But the side effect to harmonization is that, if we're in anyway possible break the harmonization by force or by will, is that we'll suffer discordance. What discordance does is still largely unknown, but we gathered that whoever suffers discordance will fall into despair and depression because of the lost."

Daemon leaned in slightly, gaining Caelum's attention as their eyes met. "Do you know why we still haven't obtain much information on discordance? Because most of those who went through it are dead." He ignored the alarmed call from Giotto. "They've all committed suicide."

When Caelum didn't flinch, Daemon was disappointed. He had half-expected the man to be frighten, but there wasn't a single reaction to it.

Now, why was that?

"Caelum. That is only if the harmonization breaks. Right now, we need to get your flames under control again. I can help you by grounding your flames, but that is if you allow me to harmonize with you."

Caelum had heard that loud and clear, but his thoughts weren't exactly letting him come up with an answer, nor did his mouth wanted to cooperate. His mind was telling to accept the offer, side effects be damned, but his heart wasn't. He still have the feeling, albeit not continuously, but its there. The feeling of wanting to die. The want to die. He could actually understand why those who went through discordance committed suicide. The pain of losing someone who truly knows you is excruciating.

Honestly, he would be lying if he say he didn't feel like giving everything up the moment he heard that he was dying. More so when he heard of the harmonization. He don't think he could take it if he were to lose anyone else. Twice was more than enough for him.

His mind drifted to the beings called Death and Judgement, his sin, his duty. (The chain was heavy even when it wasn't physical, but it was somehow giving him a small sense of security.)

Is he worthy enough to die, should be the question rather than is he worthy enough to live. He felt like he doesn't worth the quick relieve.

It felt like he doesn't worth anything but pain and suffering.

"Caelum." He lifted his head up. Giotto could barely hold back the urge to flinch at how hopeless and resigned the ginger's eyes were, as though he had surrendered to Fate. He held out his hand. "Caelum, we will help you. You're not alone in this. We are all in this with you. We will face this with you. So please, don't give up."

Caelum wondered for a moment, if the blonde had seen through him, if he understand what Caelum was thinking. Perhaps he did, perhaps he didn't, who knows. Caelum doesn't.

He sounded so convincing though. Caelum felt a bit wary, even though he knew he could trust this man, who Alaude follows.

Without a word, he nodded and grabbed the hand. Giotto smiled at him and squeezed his hand reassuringly as Daemon huffed, muttering a soft 'finally' under his breath. He then disappeared, leaving the younger two alone in the dark. 

Giotto paid no heed to that as he relaxed himself, getting ready. "Well, then. Shall we start?"

---------------------------------------------------------

Alaude felt restless as he leaned against the wall, watching as Daemon stretched from his position, standing up from the bed. His hand that was previously on Caelum's right hand left an unpleasant feeling in Alaude's gut. Giotto, who was unconscious as beside Caelum on the bed, was holding onto Caelum's left hand. There was a buzz in the air, Giotto's flames that seeped out slightly filling the air.

At least the buzz was more reassuring than Daemon's smirk, which was pointed towards him. It irked him, and the Mist knew that very well.

"How did it go?" Knuckle asked, intercepting the stare-off. Daemon turned towards the priest and hummed. "He agreed. Although, I would say that it wasn't because Giotto managed to convince him." He said thoughtfully. 'No, definitely not.' It would be hard to convince the man to actually live on his own will and not because of whatever was tying him down. Daemon smirked to himself. 'Things will be interesting from now on.'

"Well, at least he agreed." Knuckle breathed out, thanking his Lord.

A sudden burst of flames filled the air, surprising the three men. They weren't surprised by the burst, actually. They were expecting that. What they weren't expecting was how the flames, same and different, coiled around each other, matching each other like puzzle pieces. It was like the flames was a whole once until it was forcefully torn into two. (The flames with tint of indigo submitted to the pure one, letting it hold it protectively, hold it like a pillar for it to support, letting it wrap up it without a fight. Cracks were present, but that was that.)

Daemon's lips tugged into a fairly large grin as Knuckle fell in awe. "This never happened to us when we harmonized with Giotto, did it?" Knuckle could feel the thick harmony in the air, smoothing. "No. So this is how the harmonization of two Skies feels like. Definitely a different bond from ours. It's almost like they're soulmate or something."

Alaude scowled as the two chattered about the harmonization and all. He could feel the flames brushing against his skin. The familiar one seemly cooed around him- them- while the other one, Caelum's flames, it lingers around them, not daring to touch either of them. Caelum's flames were shying away from them, for who-knows-what reason.

Alaude pulled out his flames, just enough not to alert the priest and the blunette, and let it grasp onto Caelum's flames. He let it hold onto it, as though telling Caelum not to be afraid of him, that he was there, waiting for him.

(Caelum's flames stopped trying to shy away. Giotto's cooed and purred louder at that.)

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A/N= Lore is a pain in the to write in the story because it disrupts the flow so much I just wanna cry. I apologize for not much warning on the suicidal thoughts.

I'm sorry for not updating earlier. I was busy applying for scholarships and it just mess me up internally. I'll be fairly busy for awhile, so I'm not sure when is the next update.

Did anyone pick up the hint I dropped here and there before the revelation about Caelum's flames? :3 And yes, it was actually on purpose that I made Ryuuichi and Caelum the practical opposite. 

The explanation given by Giotto on the flames wasn't all accurate. It was similar, but not accurate. This is because their research are still a work in progress and they haven't found out about all the attribute and perks of the flames. Nor about the other type of flames.

Fact= Giotto and Caelum harmonized, but Caelum and Alaude didn't. Caelum only harmonized with Giotto, and a handful of others in the near future. Those others will be named afterwards.

Fun Fact= They've actually moved Caelum to Alaude's room, to start the harmonization. Daemon lied on his right side while Giotto on his left with Caelum in the middle.

Fun Fact= Daemon is very creative with his flames, much like Mukuro. He experiments with his flames and push his limits to find what he can do with them. He and Alaude actually leads the research on the Flames. (Initially I wanted to put G., but G. would have to deal with a shiit ton of work because he has to deal with legal works with Giotto as well soooo, ya.) 

Honestly, I can't remember what else I want to put here. I like, started writing this chapter on 6th of March and... Welp.

Oh by the way, I've posted a part of Second Life on AO3 under the same name.

[I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]