Left Us Falling

There's no one in town

I know

You gave us some place to go

I never said thank you

for that

I thought I might get

one

more

chance

What would you think of me now,

so lucky,

so strong,

so proud

I never said thank you

for that.

"Are you sure this is what you need?" He asked dubiously as he handed the small blonde the object he'd gone to retrieve.

The child looked up, then broke into a large grin, snatching the object from his hands and turning back to fiddle with the contraption he'd been working on for the past few days. The man had tried to get his charge to sleep, and had succeeded... to a degree. The boy was stubbornly dedicated to his work in a way the man had never truly encountered before.

"Yes! This is exactly the size I needed!" The boy exclaimed, then turned around and launched himself at the man once he'd finished partially attaching the gear he'd been given, hugging his caretaker around the leg. "How did you know it was the right one?"

The man stiffened, but quickly relaxed and leaned down to hug the boy back. He still wasn't used to the affection. It had been a rather long time, after all. Not even his boss was as friendly toward him—and back then, he really had tried. But the people around him, even his fellow co-workers, had been wary of him(and he could never figure out why. What made him so scary? Even that bird had had more friends than he did—!)

Instead, he lifted a hand and ruffled the blond hair with a hesitant smile on his lips. "Well, you know I'm not as good at this stuff as you. I just guessed and picked a random one. I least I didn't get the wrong item, right?"

The child laughed, turning back to his work and starting to explain how each and every piece of it would contribute to the final product and keep it working, while the man leaned over his shoulder and tilted his head; listening, even know he didn't really understand half of the words the boy was using. The first few times since the boy had gotten comfortable enough with him to ask him to fetch parts for him, the man had been confused and ended up mixing all the parts up, grabbing all the wrong ones. Eventually the boy had given him a lecture and taught him what each of the more usual parts he used were called, and he was getting better at grabbing the right ones now, even having enough intuition to choose the ones that would better suit the projects.

"I guess this would be better when attached to this, but then that would throw off everything else I've already added, so—"

The man smiled and sat down, watching as his charge trailed off and began to murmur his thoughts aloud as he fiddled with the contraption, taking and replacing parts and tightening a bolt here and loosening one here.

He'd had such huge plans, but they had taken so much from him. He'd been to blind to see it before, but this little boy had opened his eyes. And now the man just couldn't leave him alone again. Where would the blonde go? He didn't have anywhere but here, and no one else to take care of him. He couldn't do that to the kid, the kid needed him.

Besides, this boy instilled such a strange feeling in his chest. It had begun to grow over the past few weeks—was it almost a month now? Or two, possibly? How strange, time just seems to fly by now that he had a child to look after—and it had startled him so badly, at first. It was a warm feeling, tingling like a shock and then dissolving into a strange... static, residing in his chest. It filled his lungs like he was breathing it—and, oh, he could breath so much better, now.

"Or, maybe a little to the left here, so I can connect—yes, that would make it function a lot smoother! Now, if I could just—"

He was content, for the first time in his entire life(not that he'd ever been living, until now. No, whatever he'd been doing, it wasn't living. He'd been like a leech, denying himself any opportunities of happiness that cropped up. It was a half-life, a tragedy, a lie so black and cold it had been shredding at his own soul), and he didn't want to let this go.

Well, not completely happy yet, of course, but content. After all, there was that feeling that nagged him, in the very back of his consciousness. Something that told him there was much more to come.

And not all of it was entirely bad.

(May angels lead you in)

Rain was sitting next to him, watching avidly as his fingers flew across the keys, striking them so fast that they might as well just be a blur. There was a small bruise on the side of his left hand from where he'd tried to catch the ball with that one instead of the one with the glove—for which Rain totally had scolded him for, no matter what the other boy says; Rain scolded him, like he was some kind of grown up!

He'd told Hayato that you were suppose to catch the ball with the gloved hand, so it wouldn't hurt you. Hayato had complained(he was left handed, and instinct had had him lifting his left hand to catch the ball, not his right hand, which had the glove on it), saying that it was too hard and that he wanted to go back to the library. Rain had refused, telling him he needed fresh air and that all that talk about aliens was taking away his childhood—he might miss out of something if he didn't take a few breaks!

Still, the concerned look on Rain's face when he'd started fretting over Hayato's injured hand had somehow been worth it. The fact that he now had other people who cared about him never ceased to amaze the young pianist. It sent a light, warm feeling through his chest and, unlike other times before, it didn't leave. Because these people, his Otouto-sama and Bianchi and Rain, and even Hibari-teme—they didn't leave him.

So this feeling, it was always there. And that made Hayato so happy that he could cry. And he did, sometimes—and that made the others so worried, when they couldn't understand that they were happy tears, and that just made Hayato cry all the harder.

E, F, G, then A, G, E, and F, G...

Rain was leaning forward, so slowly, while he played, transfixed by the song. It was a soft melody that intensified after the third repetition of the chorus in the higher notes—adding a sort of urgent feeling to the emotions the writer of the music wanted to convey; this was a thank you, expressing gratefulness and sadness all at the same time—thank you for this, the notes were saying—that is what I wish I could say. That is something that I need to tell you. I just never got the chance to.

Hayato smiled when Rain's shoulder bumped his, but he didn't falter playing, letting the other lean against him. He had that chance now, though, and he wouldn't dare give it up. His friends were there for him, and he would always be there for them, in turn.

Thank you for that.

(Hear you me, my friends)

Sagi waved cheerfully at his Uncle and his Uncle's family before turning and disappearing from the red-brick and 'abandoned' apartment complex. He tugged on the brand new orange hoodie his Uncle had zipped him up in that morning. He'd dressed Sagi in a new set of black pajamas to match the ones he'd left in Mr. Reborn's room, and had stuffed his suitcase with an entire new wardrobe—not anything different, just new clothes that Sagi hadn't worn yet. His old clothes were too worn, and Uncle had claimed that Sagi had outgrown them. Sagi didn't believe him, of course, because he hadn't grown even an inch for an entire year since—Well, he'd thanked Uncle anyway. Uncle always did like to spoil Sagi.

He'd spent the entirety of last night curled up in Bermuda's lap, his Uncle stroking his hair. It was a foolproof way to get Sagi to sleep without any nightmares, those bandaged hands running through his hair and massaging his head. Sagi's head sometimes hurt, a lot, but when Uncle massaged it it didn't hurt as bad.

He pulled out the copy of the ID card of that nice Oji-san he'd met at the hotel he and Mr. Reborn had spent the night in, which he'd forged before he'd returned the original. Sagi wasn't sure whether Mr. Reborn had realized Sagi actually now had a copy, but Mr. Reborn didn't mention it, so Sagi assumed that he didn't.

Sagi giggled and entered the information and special numbers into the phone he had into his hand, sending them to his friend. A few minutes later, as he was sneaking onto a bullet-train heading for Kyoto, he received a message.

It is done.

Sagi smiled happily and took a seat in between two nice looking young women. Each of the women smiled at him before going back to their phone or book, assuming he was the other lady's child. The other passengers either ignored him or gave him a friendly smile as they settled down the the journey. That was the nice thing about Japanese people. The tended to keep to themselves and were a lot less nosey than, say, Americans or the Spanish.

Sago made a small face at the thought of meeting another Spaniard—they had absolutely no idea how to keep their hands to themselves! So rude!

He risked a quick glance out the window as the train took off from the station—because bullet trains didn't just 'leave' like normal trains. No no, they were far too fast for a simple description like that—just in time to catch the sight of the person who'd been trailing him since he'd left Uncle's stumble onto the platform. His long hair trailed behind him, flaring out at his abrupt halt, and Sagi didn't need to be within hearing distance to know the man was cursing up a storm. His glare aimed at the departing train was more than enough.

Sagi ducked down a bit—unnecessary, because he knew the man couldn't see him even now, but it paid off to be excessively cautious anyway. Especially in a line of work like Sagi's.

The little thief placed a hand daintily over his mouth and smothered a giggle, orange eyes alight with glee at the mental image of the man he'd just left in the dust, raving loudly and waving that pointy stick of his about at the random passerbyers. Sagi almost felt bad, because they wouldn't have to deal with the shark if Sagi hadn't just ditched him there like he had, but…

Sagi was actually selfish, you see. He tried not to be, all the time, but it was a bad habit of his that he just couldn't break.

That didn't mean anything in the end, though. Sagi knew.

In a world such as the mafia, none of them were particularly good people.

(On sleepless roads)

Reborn cursed loudly—somewhere, someone was drawing parallels between him and a shark. Of course it didn't make any sense, but that was what the voice was telling him—and dodge another blow aimed for his head, nearly tripping over himself in his attempt to scramble out of the way of the follow-up attack.

That just wouldn't do. He was the World's Greatest Hitman, he didn't trip. Or scramble. For anything. Today just wasn't turning out to be his, he supposed.

Unacceptable.

"When I said I wanted the pace to pick up again," he snapped, slicing a hand for the tendons in his adversary's ankle just because the resulting screams would make him feel better about himself, "this was not what I had in mind!"

His companion, violet eyes narrowed against his own opponents, snapped back in voice just as sharp, "That's hardly my fault, you know! Maybe you should think about that next time, before you go and jinx us like you did—!"

He yelped in surprise as one of the enemy managed to get the drop on him, somehow (Reborn would need to rectify that immediately, later, because no lackey of his was permitted any slacking off like this!), and the fedora-toting Hitman dashed forward to engage one of the others in an effort to get the lot of them off his fellow's back. For some reason they'd taken to swarming the lesser threat (in Reborn's humble opinion) and the Italian found himself feeling highly insulted at the lack of consideration being directed at himself.

Still, let no one ever say Reborn didn't have the backs of his compatriots.

You have a knack for finding the worst situations and turning them into bloody messes, don't you.

Really not in the mood, Reborn snarled back mentally.

And hadn't that just been the discovering of the age—apparently, the voice really was inside his head, and could hear Reborn's responses without the Hitman having to speak them aloud.

Which, to be fairly honest, Reborn should have guessed at in the beginning of all this. Whatever it was.

And Reborn was always honest, if only to himself.

"Senpai," his lackey huffed, one powerful kick aimed at a head admittedly lacking in brainpower bringing yet another one of the enemy out of the game. "Focus on the matter at hand, if you would?"

Reborn actually paused in his quick and calculated cuts to the enemy (because for some goddamn reason Leon had seen it fit to take a day off?! Somehow?! Literally where was his lizard), which he had indeed been making a dent in the numbers of, and pinned his lackey with a flat look.

"... Don't fucking tell me what to do, useless lackey."

He was a little… unsettled, however. Skull had never been one to act like this before, especially with Reborn. He'd pulled the sarcastic-little-shit card a lot more lately than he'd ever in the entire time he and the rest of the Arcobaleno had known him, and even the others were beginning to grow uneasy about the whole thing. Reborn was beginning to wonder if one of them shouldn't just sit down with the stuntman and attempt to talk him through whatever the hell it was that was happening with him, but…

Well, Reborn was an asshole who didn't give a rat's ass, to put it nicely.

Obviously.

The Hitman finished off the last thug with a sharp uppercut to the soft underside of the jaw and barely withheld a wince of disgust as his hand ripped through soft tissue and red with a loud squelch. He didn't need to look to know Skull was beginning to turn green and had turned away from the sight—he'd always been the queasiest of them all. Which made sense, because he certainly was the baby of the Arcobaleno; for sure.

The life of the mafia wasn't the one for Skull de Mort, that was a known variable, but it's not like any of them could do anything about that, now was it?

He pulled out a handkerchief with his clean hand and went to work in a try and wiping of the worst of the sticky mess from his fingers, turning half his attention away to survey the exit strategy as he continued to address his suspiciously quiet partner.

"I've got the rest of this handled; God knows you'd screw up work as simple as gathering information like this, even if the guards are all already eliminated."

Here was were Skull would either whine a long-winded protest, or grumble an irritated and half-hearted argument if he was in a particularly bad mood. But the younger assassin only stared at him silently, urging him on. Reborn scowled inwardly.

He turned back to assess the damage he'd—they'd, it was better to just admit the facts, even if Skull had barely helped...—wrought. "Go on to the rendezvous, the contact shouldn't be there for another day at least, but setting up base before the meetup is a good idea anyway."

"Hai." Skull replied quietly, disturbingly obedient, and Reborn whirled around to snarl and order the brat to just spit it out already, what the hell is bothering you goddammit, but—

Skull had already left, somehow. And Reborn hadn't sensed him doing so.

Just what the hell is going on with him?! The Hitman mused in frustration.

Even more aggravating was the fact that the voice was being altogether silent in the light of this new topic.

Reborn glanced down at the disemboweled man at his feet, and scowled.

"Dammit," he hissed, and kicked the body with a blood-splattered dress shoe.

(The sleepless go)

Rain bounced in anticipation; no, Sky-sama wasn't coming back today, like he wished for every single day since the younger boy had left, and usually nothing else could get Rain to show even a single ounce of excitement except training to be stronger (a slow endeavor, surely, because it wasn't like the Vongola had a surplus of swords masters. Which was somewhat depressing, but he wouldn't give up! He'd keep looking no matter what! He had to get stronger so he could protect his Sky-sama!) but this was something almost as interesting as that.

Maybe.

At least it had something to do with Sagi, so who could blame him?

The mysterious phantom thief who'd saved Rain had done it again, with two more friends! And weathers, at that. More to add to their sky!

Fon had told Dino that Sky-sama had sent a message to them, and the subject had been referring to the Sun and his Moon, who Rain and the other kids had been hearing a lot of gossip about amongst the adults ever since Sky-sama had first brought it up.

Apparently Sky had finally found them! After heroically rescuing them (because that was what Sky-sama did, he was a hero who saved everyone), Sagi had reportedly sent them off to the Vongola to stay with them until he'd finished his important game concerning some ring or other.

"What are they like, do you think?" Hayato asked from beside him. The silver-haired boy was fidgeting with the cuffs of his dress shirt nervously as they waited with Bianchi and Dino in the canteen.

Rain inwardly made a face at Hayato's fashion choices. The other had told him his dad wouldn't let him or Bianchi dress in any way less than formal, which Rain thought was obviously crazy and insane because weren't t-shirts way comfier? And that was the entire point of clothes anyway. If they weren't comfy you might as well just not wear them!

"I dunno," he replied, sotto voce. Which was fine, because none of them were expecting his voice to be loud or ear-wrenchingly cheerful or anything. That was, he considered, one of the best parts of being here, with them. They just took him as he was. "Since it's the sun… bright, maybe? We shouldn't guess at it and make assumptions, though. Wait until you meet them and find out."

"That's very mature of you to say, Rain." Dino smiled at him kindly, and the raven haired boy ducked his head with a slight blush gracing his cheeks at the praise.

"Um, thankyou." He whispered, and Hayato leaned purposefully into his side to get his attention.

"You're right," the pianist allowed, a mock act of reluctance playing across his features. Then, he winked. "Hey, I bet we'll all be good friends though!"

"Obviously," Hibari drawled in that flat voice of his that really shouldn't be drawled in, as he appeared out of nowhere like the demon he absolutely was. "We're all otouto's weathers. If we aren't friends then he'll be sad, and that's unacceptable."

"You've been spending too much time with Reborn," Iemetsu muttered from beside him as he slinked off to go and order himself a meal. They all ignored him, as per usual.

"Right!" Hayato jumped up, fists clenched and stars in his eyes. "Otouto-sama deserved to be happy always, with a real face forever and ever!"

Dino sweatdropped as he hunched over his udon. "I really don't get you and your fixation on plastic surgery, Hayato…"

Rain lurched forward, eager to avoid yet another lecture about "fake faces" and the inevitable waterworks it'd bring. It was all a very touchy subject for his silver-haired friend. Hayato could get very emotional about it, sometimes.

Of course, it apparently had something to do with Sky-sama, so Rain didn't begrudge Hayato of that.

"Look, look!" Ipin began pointing excessively, with her stubby little fingers, eyes gleaming with excitement. "New brover an' si'ter!"

Nono—or, Timoteo, as he'd asked the children to call him. Which had backfired on him rather aggressively, in Rain's opinion, as now half of them had taken to calling him Mr. Tomato, but hey, what could a mafia boss do?—entered the canteen (which was the Unofficial Meeting Place for Clandestine Meetings, according to Dino), before turning back to the doorway and smiling down at someone. Or two someones.

Rain paused as his chest suddenly burst with an impossible warmth, something along the lines of sky, but… no Sky-sama. It was a different type of warmth. Starker and more firm, and not as flexible as Sagi's flames. Something about it settled something deep inside Rain, and when he glanced back at Hayato and Hibari, it seems they'd felt a similar something. The girls, for some reason, were exchanging wide, incomparably eerie smiles.

So, Bianchi stepped forward and extended her arms in a wide, welcoming gesture, and called. "Ah, Sun and Moon! We're so glad you came!"

Rain shrunk down a little, into Hayato's side, at the grin on the light-haired boy's face; there was no other way to describe it than big. It reached all the way up to his eyes—Rain followed the corners until they got their with his own, and for a second thought the boy was gonna burst into tears because of how watery they were.

Then he recognized something in them, something very familiar. The sharp, stark, utter relief. It was exactly the feeling Rain had experienced when it had been explained to him that Con was dead and couldn't come after him again.

The little girl peeked out from behind him and immediately began to smile at the greeting Bianchi was practically broadcasting to the entire base. Her shoulders slumped a little, and she sniffled.

Hayato gave Rain's arm a light squeeze before moving forward to greet them himself with a big smile and a loud hello. Ipin skipped after him and immediately began to cling to the roughed-up boy's legs. He laughed and swung her up into his arms. Rain blinked after a moment, before letting a smile finally slip onto his own face and joined in the welcoming committee.

Hibari only grunted, eyebrow raise and all—but that was parallel to raucous applause from him, so Rain decided he didn't mind the new kids that much.

The children were dragged over to the table nearest to the door, all of them chatting happily to one another and awaiting their various orders of (probably vastly unhealthy) snacks, while the grown-ups contented themselves with moving to the side and murmuring to one another, probably about work stuff. Rain thought he heard something about "Varia" and "going to be issues," but as he surveyed his own little group, he decided that he didn't much care. He closed his eyes and sighed in contentment.

All that was missing from the picture, really, was Sky-sama. Hopefully he'd return soon.

(May angels lead you in)

Haha… There is totally an explanation for this, I swear… Ahaha… my dog ate my updates? For three years, I guess?

Sagi frowns, "Ano… but Skye doesn't have a dog-mmf!"

The Author sweatdrops and smother's the adorable little thief's face to her chest, laughing even louder in order to smother his protests. "Yeah that's right… my dog ate them." *smiles sweetly*

Okay, enough joking around. I know haven't updated in forever, and to be honest at first I didn't really understand why. I'd gotten another review for this story asking if it was abandoned or not, which I was of course insulted at because hello these stories (especially this one) are my babies and I would never-!

But then I realized: Holy shit, it's been three years?! Like, where was I, stuck in purgatory or something? I never meant to leave it alone this long!

After thinking about it after a while, I finally realized why I haven't updated in so long. 2012-2013 was The Lull in Life for me. I was in my final years of junior high back then, when suddenly I was struck with this really heavy, really unreasonable bout of depression that kind of just. Seriously tore me down to nothing. I felt awful about literally everything, I basically skipped my entire eighth grade year of school, there were more days when I couldn't drag myself out of bed than not. It was just a really terrible time for me and I have absolutely no idea how on earth I actually pulled myself out of it? It took longer than wanted, I guess, since I really didn't have anyone to be there for me. My parents sort of just left me to my own devices and I'm not a really social person, especially back then, so I didn't exactly have many friends that I could turn to and just cry and slobber all over like a damsel in distress. And it's only recently that I actually look back on it and say to myself, hey Skye, y'know that was depression right? Literally didn't have anyone there to help me through it or explain to me why I felt like such a waste of space the entire time.

I love this story so much; nothing else I've ever posted has gotten such large and unanimous positive feedback. I was having trouble sleeping last night (again, damn you insomnia!), and saw that last review, and I told myself; hey, let's pass time re-reading some of the reviews for this story of mine. Maybe I'll get tired and finally fall asleep.

Did I fall asleep? Yeah, at seven in the morning because once I went back to the first page of reviews and started reading through them, I vowed that I wouldn't stop once I'd read all 505(holy shit, you guys!) reviews because I was literally crying and felt like such a terrible author, you guys, I haven't updated in three years and I still have recieved so much support from you guys that I was just like? How the hell did I slip into depression with such amazing people complimenting my writing skills everyday?

Just. You're all amazing and I really need to thank you guys. You are a gift, and I'm so sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long. This chapter has actually been sitting on my computer half finished this entire time. I finished reading those reviews at like 5 am but stayed up until seven because I had this urgent need to finish this and get it to you all as soon as possible, because it's the very least(the very very least) you all deserve.

It's terrible timing on my part, of course(when isn't it) because I'm going to be in Africa for the rest of this month and after that I'll be leaping right into my final year of highschool. It'll be bumpy roads until then and I honestly can't tell you when I can get another chapter out after this, but… I just needed to give you guys something. As a thank you, I guess.

Also, shoutout to Tiger723 and WinterAngel24... You two... If it wasn't for you two, I have no idea how I would have pulled through that depression. I mean, I have no clue anyway, but I'm very certain that the two of you and our conversations and eventual friendship had something to do with how well I survived. So thank you, both of you, so much. And you especially, Teags, I don't know if I've ever said it, but you're aware of how depression sometimes comes back in little doses to bite at one's ass as a "hey, remember that time I ruined your life?" reunion, and you've never left me hanging.

HEY! It's like the song I used for this chapter TwT It was a nod to the last chapters, because I listened to Jimmy Eatworld "Hear You Me" while writing a good chunk of that, but.. It fits, doesnt it? "I never said thank you for that…" But I got a chance to after all ^-^ love you guys!

That goes for the rest of you too. We may have not developed close relationships and held long-winded conversations about stupid things the way that besties do, but seriously, you all are so awesome and I'm so, so grateful I had you all in my life.

Please accept my apology, and I'll try to get out another chapter as soon as I possibly can.

Thank you, again. Really.

~Skye

...

And if you were with me tonight

I'd sing to you just one more time

A song for a heart so big,

God wouldn't let it live

May angels lead you in

Hear you me my friends

On sleepless roads, the sleepless go

May angels lead you in

...