Sorry this one's a bit shorter, I didn't want to continue on as it would probably add at least another thousand words to this chapter. But I hope it'll do for you guys.
If you guys find anything wrong just let me know…I did do this in like three hours late at night…
The small girl scampered across the field "Daddy, Uncle Reborn! Look at all the flowers!" her short blue hair waved wildly as she giggled and ran to and fro.
The man in the purple race suit called out "Baby, don't go to far" she nodded before scampering into the forest. The mask the man in purple wore fell and his easygoing smile faded into the deepest grief. Four years and still it seemed like just yesterday that he lost her.
Luce had meant more to him than everything else. But he focused his everything into his little girl now. She came back holding a grown man's hand "Here we are! Here's my daddy!"
Skull recognized the man. Luce's right hand. Time seemed to slow, every fiber of his being ripped and tore to move faster. To get her away from that man who would steal her away from him. But something entered the back of his head. As he fell he turned to see Reborn's remorseful frown. It was the second time he had ever seen the hitman cry.
"Sorry Skull…I-I have to" were the last words he heard before it went black. But from there he remembered nothing.
Aria quietly gasped as her once fuzzy memory came back into sharp perspective. She believed that the man that had run after her was a kidnapper. That her mom's best friend had saved her. That her dad was gone. Purposefully left her in the safe hands of her famiglia.
Uni slid off the bed softly before coming to rest beside her mother. Aria had told her daughter the story once. The lie she had believed for the past twenty-six years. Both the skies glared at the sun who only dropped his fedora lower. So carefully Aria ran her fingers through her father's hair. Such a bittersweet word 'father' she believed that he left her to keep her safe for so long that the knowledge that he was betrayed by someone she cared for so much was….impossible.
They stood like stone. Nobody but the mother moved and only then to try to comfort her father. Then he awoke.
His eyes were much different than the baby that they tormented so. They reflected the true Skull. But he still didn't have all his memories back. But he had some that meant more to him than anything. The birth of his daughter, the first time he saw Luce. The betrayal.
The lanky arms wrapped around his family. Aria felt the same warmth that she so often dreamt of, the father that loved her, though she had no memories of him the feeling had woven itself into her soul. Uni leaned into it as her famiglia stepped away, giving them some space.
The teenager leaned back before kissing his daughter and granddaughter on the forehead then rounding to Reborn who held his gun pointed down in response to Skull's knife in the same position.
Those around couldn't believe it. Reborn was sweating. The more proficient killer twirled another knife in his free hand carelessly "You have ten seconds to tell me why you shot me. You kidnapped my daughter from me" the words were thrown like the knives in his hand and each one hit it's mark. Reborn winced before he crept back a step and leaped out the window and into the field.
The cloud followed out and then again the two stared down. The remaining second ticked by before the Sun nodded and the gun and the knives disappeared "I was asked to. Luce wanted to make sure that everyone she cared about was taken care of. Raphael tried to convince you that Aria should be under the protection of the Gigilo Nero. You said no, I can't blame you. And I didn't disagree…but she needed to know, that's why I was so against Iemitsu-he tried to keep his child out, but the Underworld hunted him down. The week I got there I had already dealt with two assassins after him. Raphael made me believe that he could take better care of her…I just wanted to do what I could for Luce…"
The cloud's roaring snarl cut through everyone "BUT SHE WAS DEAD! You took away the last part of Luce I ever had! You betrayed me! I called you Fratello di Sangue!"
The sun growled back "Don't pin this on me! You had your chance to help her and be in her life!"
"Then who should I? You were the one who betrayed me just to steal my daughter away from me!" Skull's harsh face faded to sorrow "I lost so many important things" he whispered, rage gone "and gained nothing. What was-am I supposed to do knowing that for all those years I didn't even know my own child? That she believed me nothing more than an annoyance?"
Reborn put his hand on the shoulder of the distraught man "I don't know. But you need to stand strong. That's all you can do. All any of us can do" and he left. They all did.
The only one who stayed was the other immortal.
Daisy watched as he listlessly stumbled to the side of the building where he slid down, she joined him. How could she not? He was so fragile that he was shattering before here eyes. She felt a pull, his purple eyes weren't looking at the trees surrounding the estate but to somewhere much further.
This was the one that interested her the most of the Arcobaleno, the only other person with the inability to die. But hers was provisional. She needed her ring while he just couldn't. But he was the one that committed suicide in the other world.
Lal Mirch had not come out of her room for the past week. His was the last pacifier to glow, it's purple growing stronger as time went on. But his will was fading. He stood on his dresser and took off the symbol of the curse and placed it along side his helmet before setting the simple folded paper down and walking out. For the first time in years he felt the sun on his face. But his skin slowly flecked away as cracks shuddered down his body, like clay he cracked before he fell to the ground never to move again.
The woman who fooled all the others offered him Bubu, slowly he took the bunny.
From somewhere far above them Aria glared at her uncle "Those without the ability to die, why are they suffering like that?'
Reborn could only shrug "To live through anything isn't a gift but a curse. I never believed a man couldn't die until he showed up. I don't know what god they offended but I can't fix them."
Below Skull stared through the rabbit "What did a woman like you do to deserve be cursed like this?"
"What cu-how did you know I was a woman?"
He snorted "You can't hide from me. I may be stupid but I'm not blind. What did you do?"
Daisy shook her head "I don't know. I just wish that I…that I wasn't an outcast…"
He laughed harshly "Get used to it. Nothing we can do can change it. I've spent fifty-six years and two puberties fighting it. Hell exists in the world for us in the here and now" he stood and walked back into the house leaving her to think.
That night Daisy couldn't sleep, too many thoughts played around in her head. What did he mean by what did she do? Was immortality a curse by god? But hers was different than his, did that mean that he did something that warranted the cruelest of punishments? She shuddered at the though. But by the same token she couldn't help wonder more and more about him. The one man whom every assassin trembled at. Reborn himself didn't want to stand against him.
But one thought came shooting from the depths of her mind, unbidden and more unwanted than her own secrets being revealed, if he still loved Luce after all this time what would it be like to be in that circle? How much loyalty and dedication would he give her? She couldn't help the thought, like a cancer it kept coming back bigger and bigger until she finally gave in.
That night she dreamed of a place much different with company more different then that of the funeral wreaths.
Skull stood on the small balcony outside his room as he raised the bottle to his lips, the alcohol didn't make him forget, but it numbed him enough that the thoughts that went through his head didn't keep him from sleep. The moon painted him in mysterious ways his onlooker noted.
He stood with his back against the rail as he looked over his shoulder, his elbows propped on top of the shaped stone, his shirt lay somewhere in the bathroom leaving all the scars on his torso exposed for the moonlight to stain dully compared to the unmarred skin "Sk-Dad…father" he looked to Aria and bowed his head deeply. She sat on the bed and patted the spot beside her. He sat and offered the bottle. She thought for a moment before taking a sip, the smooth elixir wasn't harsh and she took another drink before handing it back. The shared silence was companionable. For the first time she could remember Skull wasn't just a runt to her. She never knew why his presence had angered her.
But now he was a balm against her stress. "Did you love mom?"
The bottle at his lips fell without a drop "I loved her more than anything before and since there has only been two things that I cared about as much. But until recently I didn't know why. I thought about giving up several times. But now I won't ever." he turned to face her "No matter what, if you want me to or not I care for you. I love you and not even God himself could change that" Aria couldn't help the few tears that crawled out of her eyes as he pulled her into his chest. The hard bone that she rested against was more comforting than anything else. So this was the love of a parent. She laid her head on his thigh and his humming was absent minded but something she recognized from the long ago. Two voices that hummed in unity-the most beautiful duet she would ever hear. Her eyes closed and she wouldn't wake till morning.
Even when the assassin came in through the window or the two shots entered Skull's back, when the Arcobaleno wrenched the attackers neck, she slept through it peacefully. By the time the two others were dealt with the room was covered in copious amounts of blood. Yet she was untouched.
She would wake in her room in the same position that she had fallen asleep in, she noticed the pants he wore were no longer the ones he previously wore. But she didn't ask him, Gamma told her. Aria couldn't help but relax. Her father had never left her even when he couldn't remember her. Loyalty and love she could only hope to prove right.