Disclaimer:

I am neither C. S. Lewis, nor Akira Amano and so own neither Chronicles of Narnia nor KHR.

Chapter 12

Skull frowned behind her helmet as she lounged at the bridge of the ship. It was fortunate, she supposed, that the Carcassa had a ship anywhere in the area, but Taiwan was still a ways away from Japan. Oodaku lifted a small tentacle to brush against her helmet and Skull stroked him absently, her mind having gone back to the reason she was checking in on their newer Eastern branch of business.

"Skull, good timing. I need you to go to Namimori, Japan."

She'd had to backpedal and had taken a few moments to respond. "Okay then. Why do you need me in Japan?"

"The Vongola Decimo Candidate needs seals from the Arcobaleno in order to make further progress."

Skull had hummed. "So I hop over and give him my seal?"

The tone of Lal's voice made it obvious she was rolling her eyes. "You're not giving away anything. Nothing comes free in the mafia, you know this."

It was Skull's turn to roll her eyes. "So how is he supposed to be getting my seal then."

"The details are yours to decide. Each of the Arcobaleno is to give him a trial to test a specific area of leadership. How you do this, like I said, is up to you. I'm proctoring the whole thing and if you do not decide the rules I will do so instead."

"Fair enough. Think anyone else will take charisma?"

Lal had paused for half a second. "Go for it. Although I'm curious, why charisma?"

Skull had been sure her melancholy had been audible. "Being able to mobilize a force, regardless of your own feelings and fears is a valuable skill, especially for a mafia don. Doubly so for one of his age and background." The same was true for young kings, leading an army against a terrifying force such as the White Witch.

Lal's voice had softened almost imperceptibly. "I won't ask. Yet. See you in three weeks. Remember, Namimori, Japan."

"Right-" Lal hung up.

All that had lead to Skull on a ship in the East China sea, bound north and trying to figure out how to best test a fourteen year old's charisma. She had a vague idea, and it was the main reason she'd flown to join a ship already in the far east, rather than flying straight to Japan. She needed the men.

After all, she knew from Dino that Reborn preferred a 'throw them into the deep end' approach, and she knew from Aria, that the method was surprisingly quite effective for Sawada Tsunayoshi. As such, the best way Skull could think of was the same way her brothers' learned. By having no option but to lead an unfamiliar army in pitched battle against an unconquerable foe. In this case, herself and Oodaku.

It should suffice. Reborn's resistance to let his student fight her when they first met had not gone unnoticed.

The army would have to be made up of her own men. The weakest of the fighters on hand, to further stack the odds against the Decimo's side. It would be like Carcassa War Games, or so her men would believe. No punches were pulled during War Games.

The real test for the Decimo would be in motivating her men to attack her. She'd have the stronger fighters all backing her, rather than scattered between sides as was normal. The men she lent to the Decimo would be perfectly aware of just how badly the odds were stacked against them and were likely to be hesitant and frightened, if not terrified.

A smirk lifted her lips. Any hesitance would be further exacerbated if she were to withhold team assignments until the trial itself. She'd allow the Decimo to include one of his guardians in the army, as having someone he was close to would hopefully increase his determination.

The next question was, how long would she make them fight. It was a test of charisma, not of fighting ability. The odds needed to seem insurmountable, but they didn't need to actually beat them. That was a whole other test.

So it came down to this. At what point should she call the match? And what exactly would mean failure? It bore thinking about, but she had time.

Skull arrived in Namimori on the first day of the week Lal had said she had to give her trial. She had told her men to prepare for Wargames with the Vongola Decimo while she went to search out her fellow curse bearers. It actually proved easier than she thought. The explosions helped, as did the towering sky flame in a clearing outside of town.

Skull was only just within eyesight of the group and was concealing herself, but she arrived just in time to see Sawada remove a badge from Colonello's bandana. Creeping just a bit closer, she studied the boy. It had been only a few months since they had first met in Mafia Land, but he had changed immensely. Gone was the frightened child without a clue, and in his place was a more serious boy who was willing to fight.

Skull would deny until she died that her mouth dropped open, but the change was impressive. The chances of him being able to mobilize her men went up. She followed at a distance, trying to decide when to start her trial. She was allowing the participation of one guardian, but she preferred it not be the same one who had participated in Colonello's trial.

The cursed infants sent the teenagers ahead when they reached Sawada's street and Skull chose that moment to join them.

"Lackey." Reborn greeted before she even showed herself. "Cavallone became the third wealthiest mafia family last month."

Skull scowled at him. "I'm aware." she stated dryly. "Hello Lal. Colonello."

Lal didn't smile (she never smiled), but she inclined her head. "Hello Skull. I appreciate you coming."

"Of course. Anything for a famiglia I have no alliance to and am regarded as an enemy by." She rolled her eyes, primarily at Reborn. With a sigh that was much heavier than need be, she continued, "Such is the life of an Arcobaleno apparently."

The other three ignored her dramatics.

Colonello narrowed his eyes. "Why are you here Skull?"

She straightened. "If you must know, I'm scouting for the proper grounds for my trial. You're lucky I have a soft spot for civilian boys thrown headfirst into positions of leadership, Senpai. Otherwise I might have actually tried to kill him, me being from a rival famiglia and all. Instead he's getting the Trial of Kings!"

Reborn looked unimpressed. Colonello's blank stare was giving the impression that he'd just lost brain cells. Lal just looked exasperated.

Skull sighed. "Okay, I'll admit I could have named that better, but I'm trying to keep it mostly a surprise."

"Oh good." Reborn said with faux-cheerfulness, "I look forward to seeing your grand plan."

Skull gave him a dead-eyed stare, slouching and shaking her head, before snapping out of it. "Good. See you then."

She hoped her retreat was elegant, but she rather doubted it. Especially since she practically tripped over Viper almost as soon as she was out of sight.

"Oh! Viper, hello! Did you get my invitation ten years ago?" It had been a decade since her hundredth birthday party, but she had always wondered whether her unconventional delivery methods had worked.

"It's Mammon." the Mist responded flatly, "And you'll have to pay me for the answer to that question."

And Skull really should have been expecting that. Did she really care for the answer? Skull debated that for all of three seconds before coming to a decision. "Mammon then. And deal."

Mammon seemed to give her a long look. "Yes, I received it."

Skull clapped. "Oh good! Where should I send the money?"

The Mist handed her a piece of paper, on it a series of complex instructions to transfer the money that would make it quite difficult to trace. Skull rolled her eyes.

"Complicated as ever Mammon. Well, good to see you again. If you'll excuse me, I need to track down Sawada. War Games don't organize themselves you know!" She turned away, waving over her shoulder. "You're welcome to watch by the way!"

With that, she left the Mist behind. She did have quite a bit to do. On the spot battles really were quite hard to put together when they had as many moving (and living) pieces as hers had.

Really, Sawada's decision to go to the abandoned amusement park, whatever his reasons, was a blessing sent from Aslan. Skull had been just about ready to pick the spot herself and kidnap the boy to it. She happily ignored the fact that that likely would have been much harder and there were plenty of other solutions to the issue. That was not what happened, so she didn't have to worry about it.

Tapping Oodaku's tentacle, she braced herself as her octopus threw her through the air. She rolled into the landing and came up on her feet, hands in the air like a gymnast. Skull was actually quite proud of her landing. She'd been practicing it since she found out Oodaku could grow and throw her into combat. It was one of the ways she commemorated her brothers. Both of them had had a fondness for getting airdropped into battle, Peter especially, that she had never understood as a queen in Narnia. Now though, it was her favorite entrance to just about anything she could get away with.

Unfortunately, Sawada did not seem to share her enjoyment of the stunt if his shriek was anything to go by.

"Greetings little Vongola! It is I, the great Skull-sama, ready yourself for the Trial of Charisma!"

At her words, the Carcassa swarmed in, rapidly drawing battle lines and otherwise setting things up. Meanwhile, Skull frowned at the teenager, who aside from Reborn, herself and her men, was alone.

"Where are your guardians? Didn't you have two with you last time?"

"Oh- uh, they're at home right now I guess." Sawada answered nervously.

Skull scowled behind her helmet, mentally going over her plan and muttering to herself, just loud enough to be heard by her fellow Arcobaleno and his student. "Hmm, well I guess he doesn't need to have a guardian with him. I was trying to make things a bit easier though. Can't be helped I suppose."

"What's going on here?" a brash, if somewhat young voice demanded. The Arcobaleno and Vongola Decimo looked over to see a blond teen snarling at the assembly. Behind him was a taller boy wearing a beanie and shades. He was holding a yo-yo.

"Ken, Chikusa." Sawada muttered.

Skull cast him a sidelong glance. "Are either of them your guardians?" The boy shook his head. "Well then. We're about to stage a battle. You're welcome to watch. I'll set the rules as soon as the proctor arrives."

"Kufufu, a staged battle you say. Between you and Tsunayoshi?"

There were several mutters of "Mukuro" and "Mukuro-sama".

She nodded, her pleasant smile hidden, but audible. "With my men scattered between us. You wouldn't happen to be one of his guardians would you?"

The teenager nodded, his mouth creeping into a rather villainous smirk. "I am."

Skull clapped her hands together. "Delightful! Then you're welcome to join us! You're friends as well if they so wish."

The teen, Mukuro twirled his trident and Skull took it as his agreement.

"Perfect, the players are all here then. Now we just need our proctor."

Her pacifier flared and she twirled around. Lal and Colonello landed next to Reborn.

"We are here Skull. You can begin the trial."

AN:

And we've reached the Cloud Arcobaleno's Trial. This was extraordinarily difficult as the way it went down in canon simply would not work with Susan as Skull. I managed to get it finished within a week of my last update, barely, so here you go.

Next chapter will either be up next Monday, or the Monday after.

Thank you all for your support.

Please read, review, and have a remarkable day!

-Glorificate