Cloud AU's

My Pops

They were stunned.

How could they not be?

Bermuda Van Veckenstein had just impaled Skull - his hand going straight through his face!!

Skull was thrown aback from the impact, falling past them as they watched him tumble and his limbs crash about every which way with a damp crash, blood splattering as he went.
The hole in his head was a gruesome and gorey sight.
The majority of the younger participants had to look away because it was hard to stomach - Enma looked close to hyperventilating if not for Adelheid keeping him steady.

They waited...

And waited, staring....

For what felt like 5min but was actually 30 seconds at best.

Nothing happened.

No movement. No groaning.
No pained wheezing (How even when he didn't have a face and airconducts to breathe with anymore?). Nothing but the limp form of the Cloud Arcobaleno.

He was... There was no hope, they knew that now. Skull would've signaled something by now. Though growing a face back might've been possible for Verde, but with the extent of damage on his nervous system and in the previous battle....
If anything he was sure to be brain dead after all that.

They'd lost an Arcobaleno already.

If they lost as well... It was over.

They couldn't give up. They were not gonna loose.

They threw themselves into the fight, pushing and thought or notion of him to the back of their mind, besides to note how fast Bermuda had struck him with.

...

...

...

....

Tsuna had gone one on one with Bermuda, body in full HDWM.
A nigh-impossible feat.
Bermuda had given up.

Tsuna proposed a different solution when Kawahira appeared.

Talbolt came with the solution whilst unbeknownst to them, he had already done them a favor. One of his assistants was dragging a body towards them:
Skull's mutilated corpse.

They - Tsuna, Enma, the Arcos - twitched at the sight of it.

The body was let down just as Talbot began explaining his invention. They were on board with trying it out, some ignoring the dead infant in their midst, others wondering if the night flames were the Anti-Thesis to Skull's Undead Body technique and still finding it hard to see the immortal find his end so close to their goal.

They, as best as they were able to, stood and held hands, pushing their Dying Will Flames into the apparatus.

It was, out of context, a beautiful sight of multiple colored flames. The amount was immense, so much so, that the pressure reached that not participating: the Vindice, Kawahira and Talbolt's group.

"Ugh...Krgh!"

So enraptured in their mission, they didn't pay attention to their surroundings, nor the shadow that came closer and closer until it was right behind Enma.

Only after another Flame signature joined them did they notice the addition: A brilliant, rich color of high purity and density joined their own flames, contesting with their own will. It was so strong that, when it swayed, pushed theirs aside.

"VOI! KEEP YOUR CRAP TO YOURselF-" Squalo's voice cracked, clearly from more than just shock. There was horror mixed in, which is saying something from Varia's second-in-command and Captain of their Rain Squads, regularly dealing with Xanxus' moods and the other officers antics.