Cloud AU's

Losing Game Pt. 2

Nonononononono- don't leave!! Don't go where I can't follow!! Skull's pupils were blown, his anguish and despair fueling his Rage further.

He dashed to Uni, only for his chest to get speared through. He coughed into the remains of his visor, vision officially tinted red.

He slouched forward, a puppet without its strings.

Byakuran laughed deliriously at his empty chest, having reduced the mighty 7 Arcobaleno to Uni and the past Sun Arcobaleno. Weak and helpless, both of them. His gaze had switched to Uni, only for that Vongola to screech at him to leave them alone.

The two resumed their fight, Byakuran utilizing his murky black wings.

The barrier had crumbled enough for the other mafioso to enter, although it was only the few who were able bodied enough who did.

Reborn hurried over to Uni, his student equal parts distracting and draining their enemy.
He spared a glance at Skull, seeing Lal stumble her way over with Dino and, surprisingly, Mukuro.

Those three weren't interacting that much in the past; what brought them together?

"Uni! You must stop this. The battle is almost won and we need you to live." Reborn said, close enough to touch her.

A hiss, and he jerked his hand back. He was burned? By his sky? He furrowed his gaze to meet her eyes. Eyes that held so much wisdom and anguish at such a young age. She looked at him before shaking her head.
She reached into her coat, pulling out pacifiers.
Their colors reflected in his eyes as they refracted the light: green, blue, indigo, red and yellow.

Her gaze lingered on Reborn's own visible pacifier.

Oh.

Oh.

He wasn't her guardian.
He wasn't her element.
Her Sun had died. He doesn't exist at this point in time.
The broken bond repels his existing one. There can't be two Arcobaleno of the same flame type, it's why Lal's pacifier is corrupted. Nevermind the fact that the same wavelength cancelled itself out, causing the repelling pain. A divide.

A blaze threw him forward and he dug his knee into the ground to not fall into Uno's flames that only seemed to grow in determination.

He tilted his head for the source of the blast, surprisingly finding Dino not that far from him.
He was injured, heaving a little heavier than earlier.

Reborn looked up, seeing Tsuna and Byakuran still visibly engaged with each other; only difference was that Xanxus was blasting shots between them, likely just for the sake of getting a hit in.

Another blast and he fell towards Dino this time, the shot propelling him away from-- "No!!"

He looked up just in time to see Unit's clothes flutter to the ground, her flames absorbed by the pacifiers and her life gone.

He stood for a minute, hearing the others cry over their friends death, Gamma having joined Uni and Aria in the afterlife.

He gulped, feeling his own anger bubbling to the surface at the sight of her pacifier lying among the others.

He wanted to scream. To kill.
To die-- die?? Where'd that thought come from?  Was he getting affected by the phantom pain of not feeling the other Arcobaleno's bond with him? Was this what future-him went through? What Lal felt?
What caused—

The heat spiked and Tsuna was having a final standoff with Byakuran, both yelling battle cries and putting everything to burn through the other's attack.
They were both determined, but it was clear Byakuran would lose either way. Even if Tsuna couldn't land the finishing blow, this much damage and exhaustion would make it easy for him to die after the battle.