Mammon's POV
He was dead. After what we shared, he was dead. His stupid exterior, his messed up past, his everything. Gone. Exploded. In a few seconds, he was gone. I felt tears pouring down my cheeks again, and I didn't stop them. I clenched my teeth, sobs wracking my body. I rolled over from laying on my back and sobbed into my pillow. I tasted the salty tears, and I felt like spitting them out. I hated tears. Weakness, emotion. The way you couldn't hide from them, as they came in happiness and in sadness. In pain. In joy. I hated all those things, and tears had them all. As much as I hated them, I couldn't hold them in. I curled my knees up to my chest. How had it come to this? If we hadn't gone on that mission... If I hadn't asked for payment... If hadn't decided to do laundry... If I wasn't a girl. If we hadn't fallen in love. I felt a strong pulling sensation at my heart, and I felt like I couldn't breath. Is this what they call heart ache? My throat was sore and raw, and my eyes were irritated. My head hurt, and I felt light-headed as I stood up. I didn't stop my sobbing as I went to the bathroom and stood under the cold water of my shower, trying to freeze the liquid feeling. I didn't bother using shampoo or conditioner, as I had my cloak for that. I stepped out of the freezing water and looked in the mirror. I had red streaks from the bottom of my eyes to my chin, where I had tried to scratch away the tears in the beginning. My eyes were red and puffy, and my hair was matted down in several places. I didn't bother to dry off as I changed into my usual attire, trying to calm my sobs to calm breathing. I slid the cloak hood a little lower that usual, trying to hide the now steady stream of tears from view. I looked over to my night stand where Skull's lip chain laid. I had cleaned the blood from it, and had fashioned it into a bracelet. I slipped it on, making sure it was far under my sleeve, and went downstairs, where the other Arcobaleno awaited.
Skull's POV
At first, my pain absorber was fine. It numbed the pain to a steady throbbing, which was more of an annoyance than actual pain. After a day of walking, my torn lip and ear began to hurt. To normally hurt at least. Every once in a while, I would run my tongue over the skin, looking for the familiar stud, and it would start bleeding again. Or I would reach to rub my hair back and hit my ear, sending the warm red fluid down my jaw. I was entering a small wooded area, and I couldn't see any sign of life except for small animals. By the second day, I felt like a giant bruise. I stopped once at a stream for water, but other than that I didn't stop. There was no where to go if I wanted to stop anyways. The only person I knew of was me, and the trees didn't have branches low enough to climb. My limbs were barely obeying my brain, and my feet felt like lead. But I couldn't stop. Not if Mammon could die because of my clumsiness. Lives were more precious than torn muscles. Torn muscles could heal. The Dead could not. On the third day, I was clutching my side in hunger, and I could barely keep my eyes open. The burn from the metal case was red and inflamed, but I didn't let go of the handle for a second. I was entering what looked like a sea port, with houses small and far apart. At least I was getting somewhere.
The fourth day was almost crippling. I stunk like an animal, and I knew I probably looked like one too. An old woman in a house hurried out to me, signaling for me to stop. She said a bunch of things I didn't understand, and I shrugged. She shook her head and pushed me into her small brick house. It was warm and it smelled like bread. She lead me to the bathroom, and began running the shower head. She gathered a towel and placed it on the toilet seat before leaving. I smiled. I stripped off my sweaty and bloody biking suit before stepping under the luke warm water. I didn't know if there were papers inside the case, so I left the case outside of the range of the water. I allowed myself to stay in this house for forty five minutes. It was hard enough knowing that I was across the sea from the person I loved, and even five minutes delaying that felt like eternity in my mind. But did she love me back? It didn't matter. As long as I got to see her again. I let go of some of my worries for the length of the shower, watching as the dirt and blood swirled down the drain.
I heard a knock on the door, and I quickly turned off the tap and dried off with the towel. I looked for clothes, but there was only my dirty suit I had been wearing earlier. The door opened a crack, and the old woman through in a robe. I tied the towel around my waist and swung the robe across my shoulders, tying it tightly. As much as I loved bragging about my muscles and strength, I was actually self-conscious about how I looked. I exited the bathroom, holding the metal case and my dirty clothes. The woman was waiting outside and took them, and a few seconds later I heard a washing machine run. I smiled again. She really didn't have to be doing this. I followed her into a dining room, and a plate of food was waiting for me. She bustled off, and I ate the food, happy she wasn't around to see my messy way of eating. Usually, I ate with normal table manners, but I was too hungry to care. The stew filled me up quickly, and I brought my bowl into the kitchen. The old woman wasn't there, so I washed it in the sink and placed it in the drying rack. I went back to the dining room and sat down at the same seat I was at before, holding the case tightly. I let myself sleep, and I woke up to the old woman banging my head with a newspaper.
"I'm up, I'm up!" I said. She seemed to get the message. She handed me my clean biker suit, and I nodded in thanks. She just pointed to the bathroom, and I grabbed the case before bolting to the bathroom. I checked the clock, and realized I had been asleep for two hours.
"Shit, Shit, Shit!" I quickly zipped up my suit and ran out of the house, waving goodbye to the woman. She smiled, and I smiled back before sprinting away, the case in hand.
Mammon's POV
The room was silent. No one moved, no one took a breath. All of the Arcobaleno were somewhere in the living room, all looking to the ground. I refused to look at any of them. None of them even cared about Skull. I was the only one who understood him. I felt tears sliding silently down my cheeks, but I didn't wipe them off. I didn't want them to know I was crying. Why not? Because it's weakness. No weakness can be shown. Reborn cleared his throat, signaling he was going to speak.
"I don't think I have to say why we're gathering here." He said. I still didn't look at him. He was the one who mistreated him the most. Maybe Skull would have survived if he had known he had had people caring to go back to.
"I will take responsibility for his death. He was a great Arcobaleno, a great fighter. I told him... What was inside that case. He could have escaped if I hadn't told him." Reborn stood tall. I felt like smacking him. He was maybe the reason he preferred dying to coming back. Colonello then spoke up.
"No, it's my fault for letting that soldier go passed my ranks. If I hadn't done that, he would be here with us." I could tell it had been weighing on his shoulders for a while. It was his fault. It was his fighters who let the man pass through their ranks. All his fault.
"It is mine to take, Colonello. I wasn't protecting the case. I was doing other research." Verde said. He sounded like he wanted to be doing that research rather than talking about who's fault it was that Skull died. Yes, he was right. He could have helped Skull. But no. Something else was more important.
"Only cowards blame themselves. It is none of our faults. It was meant to-" Fon began. That made me snap. Fon's attitude towards things was not what everyone needed right now.
"Skull's death was meant to be? Is that what you were going to say? Or were you going to say we would all meet after death? Because that's bullshit. If Heaven and Hell do exist, we're all going to hell, and I doubt the Devil allows friendly get togethers." I spat. Fon looked at me, surprised at my sudden outburst. I saw Reborn about to say something, but I wasn't finished.
"No, Reborn. We aren't just going to go get another Cloud. People aren't pets. We can't just go to a store and ask for another. He's gone. He's never coming back. NEVER. Do you understand that? NEVER!" Reborn closed his mouth. I could feel the tears coming back heavily, and I still didn't lift my head. Lal tried to cut me off.
"We will miss hi-" I furiously pounded my fist on the counter, shaking the pots and pans.
"Oh yah, we will mis him. Coming from the woman who woke him up by slamming a pan on his head and calling him stupid idiot, piece of crap, annoying shit! Don't anyone dare say you will miss him. You won't. He was truthful, he was human if you can believe it! Those words can get a person down! Did any of you see him hide behind that curtain and cry? And if you did, how many of you actually helped him? None. I though so." I pointed to the curtain, standing up fast, the chair I was sitting on tipping over. I walked to the foot of the stairs and went up to the first landing.
"Don't say you were his friend. Don't even bother mourning. It's all a lie anyway. None of you knew him. None of you can imagine what he went through." I was crying now, but I didn't care.
"He was a human being. He ate, drank, breathed. But thanks to you guys, he didn't live." WIth that, I went up to my room and cried. I screamed into my pillow, not caring if anyone could hear me. I hoped they all blamed themselves. They could all die. It would never be enough for how much they made Skull suffer. And now he was gone. He was dead, and there was nothing I could do.
