Caelum clapped excitedly as cheers from the guests echoed when his older sister, dressed in pure white and her husband, officially, kissed. He couldn't help but smile so widely at how happy Eleanor was that his cheeks actually hurt. He was absolutely delighted for his sister, and he could see that the rest of his family member was too. Alaude, who was beside him, dressed in a suit for once, clapped as well.

The wedding song soon turned into waltz, where the newly wedded couple danced slowly to it in the middle of the hall, joined by several other couples, with no one except each other in their eyes. Caelum lowered his hands as his eyes soften. His sister was finally tied together with her beloved, and he couldn't be more relieved for her. Mark was a great person, and Caelum was glad that Eleanor chose him. He trusted Mark to take care of his sister.

He exchanged a look with the beige-haired man beside him and nodded his head to the courtyard, walking out of the rather crowded hall. Alaude followed him out as he sighed, loosening his tie. It was a bit too stuffy for him inside the hall. He ed the vest he was wearing and plopped down under a tree with white flowers at full bloom.

He smiled at the older man who sat down beside him with a relief look. He chuckled. Alaude really didn't like crowds. "Tired?" He asked, which was replied with a hum. "Me too." He glanced back into the hall through the window to see his sister smiling and laughing happily and sighed again, this time, in contentment.

"Thank you for inviting me." Alaude suddenly said. Caelum raised an eyebrow at him and patted him on his back roughly. "Why are you thanking me? It's obvious you're invited. Everyone regards you as one of us now." True to what he said, his family had taken a liking on Alaude and he was officially considered as their family member. Caelum had no complain to that and simply laughed when Alaude tried to convince them not to, which was a futile attempt for the beige-haired man.

Alaude rolled his eyes at him and leaned back on the tree trunk. "It has been a year, huh." Caelum said in a way that Alaude could hear both the pleasure and weariness in his voice. Alaude nodded. "It has been a long year." He actually couldn't believe that he himself would get involved with Caelum after the first time they met, well, maybe he did, but that was beside the point. He wasn't exactly used to it, honestly. He was more of a distant person, so even he himself found it unbelievable.

He wasn't complaining, however. It was a really nice change.

"Hey," He broke out of his trance and glanced at Caelum. "Have you found anyone you want to spend the rest of your life with?" He blinked at the question. He didn't understand why would Caelum ask when he clearly knew the answer. "No. You?" He questioned back, to which Caelum shook his head. "Of course not." The ginger sighed.

"There's no one who caught my attention, honestly. The girls of this village are beautiful, yes, no point in denying, but I just don't find them..." His face scrunched up, thinking of a kinder word. "Appealing."

"Did your mother tried matchmaking you with the baker's daughter?" Again was left unsaid as Caelum's shoulder sagged. He looked somewhat sheepish. For what reason, Alaude didn't know. "You noticed, didn't you?" Alaude scoffed. "Of course I did. That woman was giving you that look the whole time when we were in the bakery." Caelum groaned and buried his face into his palms.

"I had clearly said that I'm not interested in finding a significant other but she wouldn't relent." He raised his head and looked at Alaude, who was clearly amused, in mock horror. "She was persistent." Alaude shook his head in exasperation. Of course the woman would. Caelum was one of the kindest men in their village, not to mention good looking too. (Caelum would rather die than admit that he was handsome, much to everyone's chagrin.)

"I don't get why mother wanted me to marry someone. Her nags has increased each day!" Caelum huffed. "She really didn't understand whenever I said it was still too early for me. Commitment is scary." The last part was muttered under his breath but the beige-haired man heard it just as clear.

Alaude could only hum in agreement. While he was one who would definitely commit to anyone (or anything) he liked, case point; his job, he understood why Caelum was afraid of commitment. Commitment meant pouring everything one has to someone or something, showing and doing everything for them or it, even if it meant that one would be vulnerable for a period of time.

Caelum, he wasn't one who liked showing anyone his vulnerable side. He wasn't like Alaude himself, who had forgotten his vulnerable side after all the years of blood lust. Caelum knew very well of his vulnerable side and always tried his hardest to hide it everyday to the point it wore him out. He couldn't just forget about it, not with how he was.

Alaude patted the ginger hair as Caelum stiffen before laughing slightly. Caelum gave him a grin, the tensed, serious atmosphere dispersed almost immediately as though it was never there before. He suddenly straighten up, brushing the dirt off his black trousers and held out his hands to Alaude.

"Let's dance!"

Alaude gave him an incredulous look, to which Caelum scoffed. "Come on. It's not like anyone would see us." Alaude rolled his eyes and grasped the hand. Caelum pulled his up and they both swayed to the distant music from the hall. Caelum laughed as they themselves fasten their pace without a care, twirling and twirling as the wind softly blew.

Alaude smiled.

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Business was slow. It was as expected, but it was still slightly depressing for Caelum. He sighed to himself as he played with a pocket knife. He was fixing the spring and decided to test it out for a few moments (since there was no customer) when a bloodied Alaude staggered in, clutching his side.

Caelum looked up from the knife, only to drop it in surprise at the beige-haired man's entrance. He gasped, rushed over to the man and placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him. He gave Alaude a once-over and cursed under his breath. "Damn hell. Come!" 

He guided the man to the backroom, stumbling a few times when Alaude almost fell. He helped him onto the chair and rushed to get the bandages and alcohol stored in the cabinet before rushing to get a pail of water and cloth.

He pulled another chair over the man and placed everything on the small table. "Strip." He said as he soaked the cloth. Alaude didn't say anything as he peeled his button-down shirt off, ruined with blood stain and dropped it on the floor, seeing that Caelum doesn't care much about it. "Hold still." He instinctively tensed when Caelum started cleaning the blood and dirt off his wound.

Caelum made a sound at the back of his throat when he noticed that it wasn't all too deep and didn't need suture. He concentrated on cleaning the wound and applied the alcohol with care and as gently as he could. By the time he finished bandaging Alaude's torso, he was sweating and exhausted. Both mentally and physically.

"Thanks." Alaude murmured, dizzy from blood lost. Caelum pinned him with what it seemed like a concern-yet-angry look. "What happened?" Alaude stayed silent, not willing to answer. Not when he was still filled with anger and emptiness. It was expected, that his agency would fall one day, but it was his life, his pride. When it crumbled into dust of nothing and dark, red blood and corpses, all was left of him was merely a husk.

His fingers twitched at the ghost sound of gunfire and screams, the pain of being stabbed by the agent he had partnered up with the longest and the feeling of his throat under Alaude's hands, constricted until there was no longer the need for air passing through it.

Caelum frowned but didn't pry when Alaude didn't reply him. Instead, he sighed and stood up to clear the mess. He washed the dried blood of his hands and cleaned the pail, disposing both the stained cloth and bloodied shirt into the fire he started on the coals, letting it burn. (After making sure that there wasn't anything in the pocket of the shirt of course. Hell, Alaude didn't even protest when he threw his shirt in.)

He disappeared from Alaude's sight, leaving him to collect his thoughts slowly with the soft sound of shuffling indicating that the ginger was still in the shop. Alaude didn't even shift into a more comfortable position despite the dull pain on his side, merely staring at the burning fire with a blank look.

Caelum came back with a rather baggy shirt and a cup of tea. He sat the cup down and wordlessly helped Alaude into the shirt, who didn't show any resistance before handing him the tea, making sure that the beige-haired man wouldn't drop it and burn himself. With that, he sat back and they both stared at the fire.

The strong smell of iron was slowly replaced by the smell of burnt woods and coals.

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It wasn't until night time, after Caelum had brought Alaude back to the man's home and decided to stay the night, that Alaude finally spoke. He was changing his bandage and checking for any infections when Alaude slowly recounted what had happened. How the agency reached its peak and everything was set alight, how he killed everyone for hours, non-stop because of the adrenaline and will to survive until he was the only breathing person standing above everyone, soaked in blood that wasn't his.

Caelum didn't interrupt him, didn't say anything even as Alaude's voice seemed so cold yet so shaken and distant. He simply listened tentatively, all the while grasping Alaude's hands tightly. He was silent even when Alaude finished. The beige-haired man wondered if Caelum was disgusted by him, by how he was. He had to resist the urge to pull his hands away from Caelum to keep him from tainted, but Caelum wouldn't let go. Hell, he didn't even have the energy to fight back.

He knew he was tainted long ago, ever since he was a child. (In the back of his mind, the high-pitched shriek of his aunt- who's dead dead dead- who screamed at him, calling him a cursed child, satan's son.) But he had never felt the need to scrub the invisible blood off his skin until it was raw and red so badly before. He was disgusted by himself.

He was surprised when Caelum pulled him to his chest, holding him tightly as he patted him on his head.

'I'm here. I'm alive. It's alright.'

He balled his hands on Caelum's shirt tightly, hands shaking.

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Two weeks passed as the incident was left unsaid. Alaude disappeared a week after Caelum patched him up, leaving the ginger on the edge every second. He knew that Alaude hadn't left the village somehow, but he couldn't seem to find the injured man. He had went to his house a few times but Alaude wasn't there. He was so worried to the point that he kept spacing out and almost cut himself while he was making dinner with his mother, who was talking about something that never registered in his mind.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, successfully breaking Caelum out of his trance. He blinked at her before shaking his head slowly, resumed cutting the vegetables. "No..." He murmured, not willing to look at her, knowing that she was frowning. She sighed and patted him on the shoulder.

"Caelum, it'll be fine." He hummed, nodding. He had never told her what happened but she always knew that something was wrong. It was almost impossible for him to hide things from her, really, but her reassurance was nice. It took some of the weight off Caelum's chest. Honestly, while she was insufferable sometime, she was the best mother he could ever ask for.

He smiled. "Yeah."

His mother smiled as well and slapped his bottom, making him yelp in surprise as he whirled around with a red face. "Get yourself together!" Caelum gave her a look torn between exasperation and indignity as she skipped to the stove. He huffed and shook his head. Colette, who came back into the kitchen with the dried fishes just in time to see it giggled into her hand.

"Cael!" He perked up when Noella, carrying baby Leo, came running into the kitchen with a huge grin. "Alaude is here!" The moment he heard the name he had rushed out, dropping the knife onto the counter without much thought. Right at the porch was Alaude was smiling and patting Naeva's head, who was clinging onto his leg.

Alaude looked up at him the moment he noticed his presence and nodded. Caelum stared at him blankly, softly asking Naeva and Noella to leave for a moment. The twins exchanged a look before skipping away. The moment he was alone with Alaude by the porch, he stalked closer and punched the beige-haired man in the face.

"You arse." He seethed as Alaude brought a hand up to nurse his cheek. "You are injured, and you disappeared without a word. You-"

"I'm leaving." Caelum's eyes widen, mouth snapping shut. His hands that curled tightly into fists slacken as he processed the two words. ".. What?" He choked out. He did a double take and covered his eyes with his right hand. "Okay wait wait wait. One second." He heaved, millions of things running in his mind. "Okay. Upstairs." He said before peddling back into the house and up to his room, closely followed by the other.

They both sat on the Caelum's bed, facing each other. "Talk."

Alaude closed his eyes and sighed through his nose, shoulder slumping where exhaustion settled in as he showed Caelum a weaker side of his. "I've told you about the acquaintance of mine in Italy, have I not?"

"You have told me about your friend, yes." He gave Caelum a glare that held no heat for that correction, but said nothing else about it and continued with his explanation. "Things had gotten worst and he required my immediate assistance." 'They're my family and they need my help. I cannot leave them.' was left unsaid though Caelum could hear them just fine.

"But your injury haven't fully heal yet." "It has." Lies, Caelum wanted to say but stayed silent instead.

Caelum rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, both in weariness and resignation. Seeing that the other had made up his mind, there was literally nothing Caelum could do. Besides, who was he to stop Alaude from doing what he wants? Even when he was worried about him. He looked up and met the icy blue orbs without hesitation.

"So you'll be leaving."

"Yes." He smiled wryly at that and slowly nodded. He sighed again and flopped down onto his bed. "Well, when?"

Alaude really wasn't surprised by that, seeing that it was Caelum he was talking to. Really, it was no surprise at all. He was, in fact, grateful that the ginger was so understanding, even though he had just punched him in the face. (It wasn't as though it hurt, physically, but he probably deserve that for worrying Caelum sick like that, if the eyebags had anything to do with him.)

"In three days time."

"Will you be coming back?" He looked up to the sky through the window before answering. "Who knows."

Caelum huffed at that, eyes lowering for a moment. "Okay. Okay." He ruffled his hair and sat back up. "Then let's go hunting tomorrow morning. For bear meat."

"No." Alaude deadpanned, causing the ginger to laugh, slightly strained. "It's a joke." Caelum shook his head, a small, sad smile on his lips. "It means that we'll have to really make use of these three days. I'm going to make you go crazy." He grinned. Alaude rolled his eyes, but if anything, he agreed to it.

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"Alaude!" The said man turned around at the shout, in the midst of climbing up the black horse. He patted the horse's mane to calm it down as the ginger ran up to him. Caelum smiled in relief that he had made it in time as he slowed his pace to a stop in front of Alaude.

"Good, you haven't left." He laughed breathlessly. "I was able to catch you, good." He heaved loudly, ruffling his already messy hair, a black soot staining his cheeks. Alaude raised an eyebrow. He was sure that they had properly bade each other the night before.

"Here." He was taken aback when Caelum handed him a dagger, wrapped in leather. He wordlessly took it and inspect it. He glanced at the ginger, who nodded at him before taking the dagger out of its sheath and blinked. It wasn't perfect as it was slightly crooked and out of shape but it was a dagger. A proper dagger.

"It's not perfect, I know." Alaude ran his finger over the single amber jewel on the handle. It was a fake jewel, he knew, but it was nice. "Did you made this?"

"Uhm, it was a work in progress since awhile back, but I managed to finished it just in time." Caelum smiled just as Alaude saw a minuscule carving at the end of the handle. A 'C'. "It's for you." Caelum scratched his cheeks sheepishly. "Well, I wanted to give you something. Initially I thought of giving you one of father's work but..." He laughed nervously.

Alaude smiled. "It's perfect. Thank you." He really appreciated it. No one had personally made him anything, for a reason or not. He tighten his grasp on it. "I'll cherish it."

Caelum nodded, hummed cheerfully. The sun had started rising, rays of sunlight shining across the sky. Caelum's smile turned loop-sided, eyes half lidded. "This is it then." Alaude nodded.

Caelum breathed inaudibly through his nose as Alaude kept the dagger into the small bag he had slung over his shoulder, making sure that it was properly kept. Caelum reached out his right hand. "Take care, Alaude."

Alaude shook his hand one last time (for the time being) with a solemn look, their touch lingered ever so slightly as they let go. "You as well, Caelum."

Alaude nodded at him before turning to his horse and mounted it as it whined and shifted at the extra weight. Alaude pulled up his hood and gave the rein a sharp tug. The horse galloped across the road and disappeared into the woods, Alaude never once turned around.

Caelum could only watch him go, could only stand there as cold loneliness slowly seeped into his heart, a shiver running down his spine. He looked up at the sky, colors slowly filling up the previously dark sky. He smiled and whispered to the wind. "Should fate allow."

As Alaude's horse galloped through the woods, passing by the trees and bushes and going deeper into the woods, he couldn't help but smile to himself. 'Until we meet again.'

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A/N= Weellpp, there goes Alaude. Oh don't worry. He'll reappear.

I was proofreading this and saw I wrote Alaude smiling more than twice and such and I was like, wow did I made him more human than the fandom had deemed him to be or did I made him slightly out of character.

Two new character! Mark and baby Leo! I suppose everyone know who Mark is but baby Leo is Lucien's son. 

Fun Fact= I didn't plan for Alaude's agency to fall...? It just happened because I've no idea how to fill things in. I think. 

Fun Fact= Headcanon for Alaude, his parents had died when he was seven, because of an ambush or something. His mother's sister, who had hated him the first time she saw him, was forced to take him in for the first few years. She abused Alaude, both mentally and physically until she suddenly died. (Maybe he killed her, maybe she didn't, who knows.) 

Fun Fact= Alaude met Giotto when he was on a mission. Giotto somehow managed to get Alaude owe him a favour. Who knows what happened, but Giotto certainly wouldn't say anything.

Time set about a year after Caelum and Alaude first met. Vongola was making themselves famous even though it was still unnamed. (Vongola gained its name after Shimon was formed as a shadow. It wasn't a drunken mistake to name it after clams. Nope. Definitely not.) Somehow, the authorities and the rest of the Cosa Nostra saw the group as a threat and tried to annihilate them. This was the time when the rest of the First Generation guardians flocked to Giotto and helped him and never left.

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