Knuckle was half awake when he spotted Caelum in the kitchen. The man was staring into space as he waited for the water to boil, not realizing that the priest had woken up. Knuckle yawned, covering his mouth as he stood and walked to him. "Good morning to the ultimate." He paused on his steps when Caelum jumped and turned to him, eyes wide. 

"A-ah." The ginger laughed awkwardly, realizing that he was overreacting. "Good morning. Sorry about that." He rubbed the back of his neck as Knuckle shook his head. "No, it was my fault. Sorry to the ultimate." Caelum gave him a loop-sided smile. "Why don't you wash up first? I'll prepare breakfast."

Knuckle wanted to help, but he was still half awake. Not to mention that he hasn't done his morning routine yet. 

He blinked and frowned. He looked out to the window to find that it was still dark outside. He raised an eyebrow at Caelum, who turned back to the kettle. 'He didn't sleep last night, did he?' Knuckle was an early riser, his biological clock set to wake up before the break of dawn to do his morning runs and stuff, and he was proud enough to claim that he was the earliest among his comrades.

Deciding that he definitely needed a wash-up, he left Caelum to his own devices, trusting that the man would be alright.

Caelum could hear the door closing and water running from where he was as he poured hot water into two mugs carefully. He had a sudden flashback to the dreams he had, causing his hands to shake slightly. Pursing his lips, he steeled himself and steadied his hands again.

Once he was done, he moved to prepare some toast with the bread Alaude had brought. With little to no ingredient at all, Caelum couldn't cook anything. He didn't really feel like going out to buy as well, not like the stalls have opened anyway. However, before he could even touch the bread, he heard a series of knocks on the front door.

He froze at his spot, staring at the door. He paled slight, because there was no way that was Alaude. Alaude would just open the door unannounced. He didn't want anyone other than Alaude or Knuckle to see him as well. Even though he hoped loudly internally, hoping that whoever was by the door to leave, they never did. 

The knocking was constant even though there was no answers to it. If anything, it increased in pace and had gotten louder and louder.

Knuckle came rushing down, his hair damp and a towel draped across his shoulder. He frowned at the knocks and looked at Caelum to see him all tensed and stiff in the kitchen. Immediately knowing what was up, he held up a hand to Caelum, gaining his attention and mouthed. 'I got this. Calm down.'

"Yes?" He said loudly as he rushed to open the door half-way, making sure to shield the kitchen from view. He blinked when a man and a woman stood by the porch. The man felt familiar. It was a little strange since that thought sounded logical in his mind. (Though, he wasn't going to say anything about it because the last thing that exist in the life he has was anything but logic. God, do you know how long it took for him to properly wrap his head around the fact that he could physically emit flames out of his own body? Gosh.) He briefly wondered if he had met him before.

The blond woman was surprised, which puzzled Knuckle even more. It was like she didn't expect to see him. "Is something wrong to the ultimate?" He said it in English, half expecting them not understanding him. (He meant no offense to any of them, but he was sure that English wasn't a frequent language that has being used in this village. Minus Caelum. The ginger's English was very accurate that Knuckle had thought that the man was an English man at first.)

"Oh! Uhm." The woman choked out upon the different language. She stumbled upon her words, trying to form a proper sentence when the man took a step forward. "Signore Knuckle." The man bowed slightly. 

Knuckle's smile faltered. 

"My name's Percy. I'm Signore Giotto's man. I was stationed in the one of the army Leader's to monitor the Capital's movement by him." He raised an eyebrow at that. 

"Proof."

The man, unfaltering, handed him a glass marble, the same glass marble he had showed it to Alaude before. Knuckle rolled it on his palm, feeling the familiar flames seeping out from it. No wonder Percy felt familiar. He had Giotto's mark on him. It also meant that the man was speaking of the truth. 

He handed back the marble, well aware that Caelum was looking at him. "What is the matter?" Percy gestured to the blond woman, who looked increasingly confused at their conversation. (None of them held a grudge against her, for they were speaking in Italian after all.)

"She wishes to speak to Signore Caelum." Knuckle's lips pulled thin as he glanced at the said man, whose hands were gripping the counter tightly. He hesitated. Caelum had made it clear that he didn't wanted to see anyone with his body language. Knuckle himself knew that the man wasn't ready yet as well. Just when he was about to reject them, the woman jumped closer, making Knuckle to lean back just so she wasn't too close to him.

"Please!" She said in heavily accented English. "Please, I need to speak to him. Please.." Her words faltered as her head bowed, hands trembling as they clutched onto her dress, her blond hair shifting.

Knuckle made eye contact with Caelum. The ginger, having to hear her voice the first time, was unnerved. He looked as though he wanted to bolt, but had decided against it upon those words. He broke the gaze first, looking at the ground and gritted his teeth. He ruffled his hair roughly, clenching his free hand into a fist.

He gnawed on his bottom lips, contemplating for a long while before he nodded. He took deep breathes, ignoring the concerned look Knuckle was giving him. It was true that he didn't want to meet anyone, but it was Azura he was talking about. She wasn't just anyone. She-

He had to force down the bile that threatened to rise up from his stomach and closed his eyes.

"Please, come in." Knuckle stepped aside and let them in as Caelum turned to pour two more mugs of water for them, cursing his shaky hand internally. 

The priest led them to the sofa and gestured them to sit before he went to help Caelum with the mugs. Caelum's head was down the whole time, purposely avoiding Azura's eyes as he set the mugs down, hands trembling. The moment he placed it on the coffee table, the moment he noticed Percy's presence, his eyes flashed murderously as he backed away, fingers twitching as though they wanted to grab a weapon.

"Why is he here?" He hissed lowly, making sure that everyone in the room sense his hostility towards Percy. Percy had both of his hands up in surrender, but other than that, he did nothing else. He didn't want to agitate the man even further, not when he knew why the man was like that. Caelum had all the reasons in the world to be hostile towards him after all.

"I told him to accompany me." Caelum looked over to Azura, finally meeting her eyes. She flinched when his metallic blue eyes glared at her and she bit her inner cheeks. She had never seen him like this before and honestly, she was scared. (She could still remember the dull look on him as he, without a single remorse, ended those men's lives. She could still remember how those pair of eyes glanced at her with not a single recognition in them, how those metallic blue eyes she had loved made her shake with the sole intention to kill.)

She was scared of Caelum, even though she knew that he was not the one at fault. 

Caelum felt a pang of pain when he noticed her flinch and fear, and glanced away. His shoulders sagged as he sat down beside Knuckle, who was on the edge. If anything were to happen, Knuckle would be the first to jump up and in action after all.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about?" He muttered quietly, but was loud enough for them to hear. He just wanted to get on with it and hide after it was all over.

Azura clenched her hands together. "What.. What's going to happen now?" She didn't need to hear what had happen that night, for she had already knew. She didn't want to hear it again. Caelum scoffed so monotonously that all of them were unnerved by it. "Who knows? I don't." He answered curtly.

"You," Azura hesitated. "You're not planning to leave, are you?" 

Caelum gave no respond to that as she pressed on. "You're not going to leave your sisters behind, are you?" Caelum's hands curled into fists. His silence had only showed that he wasn't denying on that. "How could you?! Noella and Naeva need you! You're their only family left!" Her voice rose at the end as she panted, face slightly flushed with anger. "I need you.."

Caelum snapped. 

"How could I stay," He slowly said, voice shaking. "When you wouldn't even believe in me anymore?" Azura's eyes widen at that accution. "I never-" "Then look at me in the eyes and tell me that you're not afraid!" She swallowed when their eyes met again. She opened and tried to say something, but nothing came out. She tried again and only met the same result.

Caelum laughed dryly. "See? You're afraid, because I'm a murderer. A monster." He spat out in disgust with himself. Azura's eyes were watery as she tried to deny it. "N-no. You're not-"

"Don't try and twist the truth." She stayed quiet, trying very hard to keep the tears in. It pained Caelum's heart at how hurt she was, but he didn't reach out to comfort her. He wanted to, but he couldn't. He turned his attention to Percy instead. He had known that the man was a spy. It was so obvious. If he wasn't, why would Knuckle even let him in? Why would even Alaude allow this man to protect Azura and the twins if he was an enemy?

"Tell me, were you there when they killed Lucien?" Percy lowered his gaze in grim. "Yes."

Anger bubbled in Caelum and overflowed. He could no longer stop himself and leaped for the man, clutching onto the collar of his shirt. "Why didn't you save them?! Why did you let them kill him, when you can stop them?! Why?!" 

Knuckle and Azura both shot up and tried to pried the ginger away to no avail. "Caelum- no!" 

"Tell me!"

"Because I couldn't fight against ten men all at once!" Percy shouted in return.

"You-!" A loud slap resonated in the room as silent fell across them suddenly. All eyes were on Azura as tears finally fell from her eyes, cascading down her cheeks. "We're leaving." Her words were final, as she finally managed to pull Caelum's hands away from Percy and tugged the latter out. 

Caelum stared at the spot she once stood just as she stopped for a moment by the door before leaving the house. "I.. I'll take care of Noella and Naeva."

The moment the door slammed shut, he could hear loud sobs from outside as he dropped down back onto the sofa. Knuckle was talking to him, but he couldn't hear anything. He could only feel the stinging pain on his cheek, the sharp pangs in his heart.

He teared up and slowly curled into a ball, clutching his head as he cried. He cried out in anguish, breathing heavily as he could barely registering that Knuckle was calling out to him and tugging his hands, trying to pry them away before he hurt himself. He lost them. He had lost all of those he loved. They were all gone.

He pushed them away.

Something snapped in him and he jerked, vision fading before he crumpled like a puppet with cut strings. Knuckle's eyes widen. What hit him first was the wave of flames, lashing out and no longer in control. The second was the fact that Caelum was lying on the sofa, unmoving and unconscious.

"Caelum!" He called out, reaching out to touch the man only to pull back when the flames attacked him. Knuckle clicked his tongue and pulled out his own flames, trying to push back Caelum's flames without overwhelming him. It was a risk. A risk of accidental harmonization. It was a risk that Knuckle shouldn't take, but he had to. If Caelum's flames wasn't under control soon, it would go berserk.

When it does, not only Knuckle would be injured, Caelum's life would be in danger. (If only Giotto or Asari was around. They would be able to calm the ginger down, if that was what the man needed at the moment. Knuckle could only do so much.)

Knuckle gritted his teeth as he prayed to God. He prayed to his Lord for His guidance and His aide. He prayed to his Lord for their safety. With a deep breath, he released all of his restrain on his own flames and let it flood the room.

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Alaude twitched and gazed out the window, a hand grasping the handle of giant mug, half-filled with beer. He stared for a full minute before turning back to the beer. He was taking a break, having to work through the whole night non-stop, only to decide that he need a drink when the sun was high up in the sky. He had infiltrated into his target's house and killed him before burning down the place and escape. Said target was one of the high-positioned government workers, and also one of the most corrupted one.  

That target would have been spared if he had not stepped on the wrong side. Not to mention that he was actually the one who approved of making his village a government land.

Alaude huffed, remembering the actual mission from Giotto. It was to find something left by a man named Talbot. According to Giotto, Talbot had left it in France many years ago and had told him to retrieve it. None of them knew what it was, but Talbot had said that they would know once they found it. So far, there was no progress to that.

His eyes narrowed and he whirled around, a small knife in hand and pointing at the throat of the man that had sent him here, Giotto. Giotto met his eyes unflinchingly, the ever gentle smile on his face. He didn't even bat an eye over the knife. Beside him was Daemon Spade with his usual smirk, which annoyed Alaude as it always did, but he ignored the man.

"What are you doing here?" 

Giotto hummed thoughtfully. "To lend a hand on the mission." Alaude twitched at that. He didn't need help in the mission ever, and Giotto knew that as well. Hell, Alaude could go solo and come out victorious if he wanted to. And of course, Giotto knew that too.

"I know what you're thinking, but I felt that this mission isn't something that you can do alone, Alaude." The said man glared at the blonde before shifting it to the chuckling blunette. "My my, you still don't get it do you? What he meant is that his intuition was acting up, and it led to you, Skylark."

"Daemon, please don't call my instinct intuition."

"It is and will always be intuition."

Giotto sighed and shook his head in exasperation. Alaude clicked his tongue. He understood what Daemon was talking about, and more often than not, Giotto's intuition was accurate. Granted, it wasn't as though Giotto could see the future or anything, but Giotto's intuition had saved them countless of times. It was a very, very accurate but sort of ridiculous sixth sense.

He lowered his knife and turned back to the counter to down the rest of the beer in one go before placing some coins down on the counter. He stood from the stool and walked out, followed by the other two. Just as he stepped out of the building, doors swinging close behind Daemon, he heard an eagle call. 

Looking up to the sky, he saw a bald eagle circling above where they were, calling. The villagers stared in awe, children pointing at it with excitement but Alaude paid no heed to it. Instead, he frowned. It was his eagle. He had left it at his home just in case Knuckle needed to contact him if there was an emergency that needed his immediate attention. Namely, emergency that has anything to do with one still unstable ginger. He had hoped that there wouldn't be one, but it seemed like there was. Alaude could already tell the excitement and exhilaration the message would bring. (Note the sarcasm, which, had Alaude grimacing internally.)

The eagle circled once more before diving down and landing on Alaude's shoulder. Alaude brushed its feathers as he took the small rolled up paper tied to its leg and unrolled it.

The moment he read those exact words, he rushed to the stable where his horse was with a hasty order to Giotto and Daemon. "Follow."

Giotto and Daemon exchanged surprised looks before running towards their horses as well. 

The eagle took its flight, the message crumpled in Alaude's pocket as the three of them rode off into the woods, leaving trail of dust behind.

'S.O.S. Caelum's flames gone out of control. Danger; Red.'

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A/N= The word count of this chapter is literally 3K. Like exactly 3000 words. Damn.

Fun Fact= Yes, Knuckle is the earliest riser among the First Gen, but he was also the heaviest sleeper of all of them. Every morning, without fail, he would pray first, then a wash-up before going for his daily jog around the mansion for two times, which, mind you all, is very big, before he goes for a quick shower. And then breakfast. 

Half asleep Knuckle equates Dangerous Knuckle.

I decided not to italic the words whenever Knuckle speaks in this chapter because he speaks in English. Italic words are in Italian. Though, the part between Alaude, Giotto and Daemon are in Italian instead of English. It's like, reverse. But note that when Caelum talked to both Percy and Azura, they were speaking in French.... This is messing with my brain more than I like. Goddammiittt-

The part where I cut short on Caelum's description on Azura, the 'She-' part, was because Caelum cut himself off when he remembered the look Azura gave him on that night. The look of rejection.(?)

Fact= Imagine this; Caelum's flames when he became active, were in this glass cage. So when he snapped, the glass cage shattered and his flames no longer had something to stabilize itself. During the time with Alaude, his flames didn't go berserk because the information hasn't truly sinks. Or something like that.

Fun Fact= Giotto called his Hyper Intuition instinct, but the rest of them called it Intuition. Although, once, G. had called it screwed-up-sixth-sense-that's-too-creepy-for-his-sanity.

Fun Fact= Alaude has this system that almost everyone in the Vongola (Unnamed) knew, and that is the Danger system. It is a system that should only be used when they were absolutely, positively, definitely and undoubtedly needed his help. (If not, don't even bother to call him unless he come himself.) There are only two level of Danger, which is Red and Orange. Orange is that they need Alaude's help but it's not exactly immediate and not that life threatening. Red is when they need his immediate help and it is life threatening (and/ or it involves Giotto).

Fun Fact= The Historian ring was, indeed, made by Talbot. I'm not going to give any information about this until much later.

A rant here; feel free to ignore it.
Just now, my best friend called. He just broke up with his girlfriend, and he was really heartbroken. He.. He had a really unfortunate and hard life with his parents baring physically and emotionally abusive and he has depression. Although it wasn't clinically diagnosed, my other best friends and I can tell that he has depression. So when he called, I really didn't know what to say even though I can tell that he's really really depressed at the moment. I'm not good with my Emotions and more often than not, I don't understand them so I didn't know how I could help him. I've never went through what he had, so I don't understand. It's really hard for me to not being able to help him. Heck I even felt like made everything worst I just- I feel so frustrated right now.

Ugh I feel like an . I shouldn't have spoke when I knew that I wasn't a talker. I don't even know if I should've written this here.

This year is sooooo going to be a very lonnnnngggggggg year with all the misfortune dropping here and there.

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