Ballad of the Femme Fatale

by SecretEngima

A collection of glimpses and snapshots of the life of Milena Cherep, also known as Skull De Mort, and whispered of as Femme Fatale in a world where Will is Flame, her family is a cranky Sky and his Elements, and her big sister is a refugee from the stars. Enter if you dare, but beware of flying knives, world-ending disasters, and Autobot/Mafia playdates.

3. Third Stanza: The Sky and The Cloud

Hi all! Still not finished with AUW or AMOSC newest chapters, holiday are wonderful things, but they are also really time consuming. The only reason you guys are getting this new chapter is I had it finished about two weeks ago and finally found time to post it. Not Christmasy as all, but hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway!

Review Response: Dear Tsukiyoko Natsume, greetings! You might have to wait a bit longer to see any collisions of Skull's Luck and Reborn's Chaos, these aren't exactly in a strict chronological order. Still, it's fun to imagine... Especially if poor Tsuna somehow got caught in the middle (sniggers).

Dear praxian-press, hello there! I'm glad you've enjoyed it! I never really thought that the Flames determined personality, more like personality determined the flames and having active flames causes some traits to be exaggerated. So, if a person's personality changes enough, they can gain a different flame. We'll have to come back to Reborn's and Skull's interactions at a later date, for now, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

Dear wolfsrainrules, hi! That is going to blow his mind, isn't it? His Lackey turning out to be the dangerous assassin he's sorta-kinda befriended over the years.

Dear peppymint, hey there! He'll find out eventually, but it probably won't be until sometime after the TYL arc. Possibly even after they are cured from being Cursed.

Dear UzuSphere, greetings! Thank you for your follow and I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Author's Note: So ... there will be a few quick explanations of some things down at the bottom of the chapter just in case people get confused by parts of this. Though, hopefully, any confusion will be minimal. I'd put them up here, but that would risk spoilers, so ... yeah. One thing I will explain up here, is that Milena now refers to herself in her head as Skull, even when not talking about the cover personality of Skull De Mort. This is because she's spent thirty+ years being referred to by other people as Skull. The name has simply rubbed off on her. Anyway! On to the show and have a Merry Christmas!

Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, or any references/terminology featured in this story. The only things I own are the plot, my OCs and my adopted version of Fem!Skull.

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Third Stanza: In Which The Sky Gains A Cloud

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Year: 2008. Season: Fall. Location: France. Age: Cursed.

Xanxus had been five when he had first met a Cloud flame user. It had been a brief meeting, more of an accidental brushing of shoulders than a meeting in the grand scheme of things, but he still recalled the feel of the flames. He could still remember the thick murmur of free-strong-wild-mine that had briefly wrapped around him mere hours before his mother had discovered his flames and taken him to Timoteo.

Men had been after him, after him because no one would miss a slum child and they needed him for something, for money or for another purpose, Xanxus had never found out. The only thing he really remembered was that he had gotten cornered and had pulled on his flames to defend himself as best he could when the air had suddenly thickened with power and rage.

The men had been dead before Xanxus could so much as blink, and standing over them had been a woman with hair as black as night and eyes the color of earth. Purple fire, so like his yet not, had danced small lines up her arms and shoulders as she had surveyed the unmoving bodies for several moments before turning those hard brown eyes on him.

Xanxus hadn't been able to move, he had been too busy trying to think through the floating sensation all around him, like he was being covered in downy feathers and shielded by impenetrable walls. The purple flames had been so thick in the air that he had tasted them, tasted the freedom and strength and possessiveness and wild, unchainable spirit that made them.

When he had been able to think for himself again, he was been standing on the street outside his rundown home with his mother crouched in front of him, begging to see his fire. There had been no sign of the woman with purple fire and he had never gotten a chance to ask where she had disappeared to because he had been distracted by his mother's declaration that he would meet his father and then he had been adopted by Timoteo and had been swept away with learning to be a Vongola.

He never forgot the taste of the flames though. Xanxus had memorized them to the point where when it came to picking his Guardians, one of the biggest reasons he had never bonded with a Cloud was that not only were Clouds incredibly rare, but any Clouds he did meet were instinctively compared to the woman who had saved him and been found so utterly wanting they were Rejected within seconds.

To be honest, Xanxus had all but given up on ever finding a Cloud worthy of his standards. Worthy of joining his Pride.

Then he happened to walk down a random street on his way to the airport to go home after a horribly irritating and boring mission and nearly got run over by a motorcycle.

Varia reflexes had him leaping to one side just in time to avoid an actual collision, his mouth opening to viciously curse whoever was stupid enough to almost run him over. Him, Xanxus of the Varia, when his Sky flames jerked forward without his conscious consent and even though the bike had already disappeared around the street corner, Xanxus felt a strong, answering pull.

Xanxus would never, ever admit to standing there stupidly for a full three seconds with his mouth hanging slightly open and his flames singing mine-mine-mine-Cloud-Cloud-mine under his skin before he managed to shake free of his daze and launch into action.

Ripping his cellphone free of his pocket, Xanxus hit the speed-dial and held it to his ear as he started running for the nearest Varia safe-house. It was only a few minutes away, but he hadn't planned on stopping there because he'd wanted to be back at headquarters with his Guardians as soon as possible. He hated when the Varia were stretched thin enough that he was forced to be completely separated from all of his Guardians, even if doing so would ultimately lighten the mission load and help prevent it from happening again for a while, so he had completed the mission as fast as possible with the intention of heading straight back to Italy to rejoin them.

But he was on the hunt now, his flames surging wildly through his veins despite the rapidly increasing distance between him and the Cloud and the safe-house would have vehicles. Fast vehicles. Fast enough to possibly catch up with that Cloud if only someone would answer the d*** phone already.

Finally, it picked up, "Voi! Boss, what do you nee-?"

Xanxus rattled off the country, city, and district he was currently in and snarled, "There's a motorcycle chase going on. Get someone on those f****** street cams and plot an interception course to the lead bike from my location now!"

Squalo didn't question further, he just switched phone lines and started relaying orders. After a handful of minutes that whittled away at his already tiny reserves of patience, Xanxus was tearing down side streets and back alleys, following Squalo's instructions on which streets to turn onto or off of in order to catch up with the Cloud.

His body hummed with adrenaline as he urged the bike to greater speeds, nearly tipping over from taking a sharp turn at such high speeds before shooting up a different street. Squalo's voice was focused and serious as he continued to relay instructions through the earbud connected to Xanxus's phone, "Almost there, Boss. Turn right at the next intersection and you should see them in three, two, one…"

Xanxus shot out onto the main street and was forced to bank hard to avoid colliding with one of the bikes pursuing the Cloud.

Just ahead, the motorcycle that had nearly run him over weaved back and forth on the road slightly to avoid the bullets that had been sent its way moments before Xanxus's arrival. It was an unknown make, something he had never seen before. A large, armored affair with a strange canopy of darkened glass stretching over the entirety of the seat and handlebars so as to completely encase and hide the rider within. From its size and the amount of metal it was built with, Xanxus would never have expected it capable of going as fast as it was, to the point of outpacing the upgraded kind of bike the Varia used.

His entire observation took less than two seconds before he turned his attention to the idiots chasing the Cloud. One hand left the handlebars to reach for a pistol even as he roared over the wind, "Squalo, who is this f****** trash?"

"Identification programs are finishing now … they're from the Bouchard, Boss." Xanxus growled faintly as the Bouchard riders decided that Xanxus's presence was no longer welcome in the high speed chase and fired a few warning shots to chase him off. Or at least, he thought they were warning shots. It could have been their aim was just that bad.

Squalo was continuing his rundown of information, "A minor French Family into some pretty nasty stuff. Human trafficking, drugs, that kind of s***. There are rumors-"

Xanxus snarled low in his throat as a bloodthirsty smile curled on his lips, "Don't f****** care." Swerving around another round of warning shots, Xanxus returned the favor, minus the warning part. Three of the seven Bouchard riders died in fiery explosions as Xanxus shot their gas tanks with flame bullets. The rear end of his bike wobbled slightly under the force of the explosions' aftershocks, but Xanxus stubbornly steadied it.

Two more of the riders were knocked out of the chase from the shrapnel of the exploding motorcycles and the remaining two were forced to swerve down different streets to avoid the same fate. Xanxus huffed, "Track the b*******."

"Right."

Turning his eyes firmly forward again, Xanxus followed the motorcycle of the mysterious Cloud who had caught his attention. Narrowing his eyes, Xanxus roared over the howling wind, "And Squalo-"

Squalo answered in the pause Xanxus had been forced to take to regain the air necessary to shout, "Already working on identifying that bike and its rider, Boss, but so far nothing in the d*** database. Highly probable that it's a f****** unknown." Internally Xanxus cursed, because how could a Cloud that strong be an unknown?

Guess I'll just have to find out personally. Xanxus revved the engine, trying to coax more speed out of his bike. The motorcycle ahead of him wavered fractionally, as if the rider had been too busy looking over their shoulder and gotten distracted, then it smoothed out and did something he would have considered impossible. It picked up more speed. What kind of engine does that thing even have?

"Voi! You've got f****** incoming! The trash is getting back on the main road in five seconds, coming from both sides!" Xanxus didn't respond to Squalo's report, but he did unholster one of his pistols again and take aim in preparation. Four, three, two, one, now! The two bikes shot back into view and Xanxus snapped off a shot just as they swerved to drive side by side behind him. The targeted motorcycle exploded, spinning to one side and taking out the second along with it.

Perfect. Holstering his pistol, Xanxus focused on catching up to the Cloud ahead of him. Instead of slowing down now that the original pursuers had been taken out, the bike somehow sped up again. Squalo, still watching through the street cameras, sounded peeved as he blurted, "How the f*** is that s***** thing still gaining speed?"

Xanxus grit his teeth, his eyes were stinging from the wind and he was at a loss as to how to stop the bike without shooting the tires and thus marking himself as an enemy to the Cloud. Straightening up slightly in his seat, Xanxus roared, "Oi! Slow the f*** down!" As expected, the rider either didn't hear or just didn't listen. Instead, the motorcycle he was following screeched through a busy intersection, Xanxus barely avoided getting hit by a bus as he followed, and then down a side alley.

A new chase ensued between Xanxus and the mystery rider that lasted for several minutes, during which Xanxus learned something about the Cloud he was pursuing.

He or she not only had no survival instinct, but was, even by Varia standards, just plain crazy.

Though, according to Squalo's thunderous yells as Xanxus matched the mystery rider stunt for stunt, including the roof-hopping incident that happened halfway through, Xanxus was just as crazy.

Xanxus's bike groaned underneath him as they slammed onto the pavement again after hitting a speed bump at seventy miles-per-hour. It apparently wasn't meant to take the same kinds of structural abuse as the custom bike ahead of him. They screeched another turn, blew yet another intersection in which Xanxus yet again nearly got run over by bigger vehicles.

He hissed through wind-numbed lips as his flames snarled with increasing frustration. Either the rider had extraordinary luck when it came to intersections, or they were somehow timing it so that they crossed just as the light went green, leaving Xanxus to deal with the moving traffic that followed.

"Voi! Boss! If that bike keeps on the projected route, its gonna hit the highway in another minute!" Xanxus cursed, if the bike was faster than his when it still had to be slow enough to maneuver past the everyday city traffic, if it reached the highway, it would probably leave him in the dust.

The on-ramp came into sight and, frustrated beyond reason, Xanxus reached for one of his pistols. He was going to shoot out that tire and have a chat with that Cloud, bad impressions or not.

The moment his pistol left the holster however, something shot from the back of the motorcycle ahead of him and attached to his. He barely had time to register the tiny disk-like object when a sharp wave of electricity rolled over the motorcycle and the engine went dead.

Xanxus coasted on the now unresponsive bike, barely keeping it from crashing at sixty or more mph and cursing richly. The bike eventually lost too much momentum to remain stable and overbalanced. Xanxus rolled clear of it, still cursing, and propped himself on his elbows in preparation to get up. As he did so, he glared forward in the direction the other bike had been going, expecting to see it either gone or rapidly disappearing onto the highway.

The custom mystery bike sat perpendicular to his position almost fifty yards away, its black paint with rich violet flames glinting in the afternoon sunlight. Xanxus froze for a second, wondering why the rider had chosen to finally stop. For a long moment, nothing happened, an air of expectancy hovering in the space between them.

Cautiously climbing to his feet, Xanxus flared his Sky flames, reaching inquisitively for the pulsing, rolling Cloud flames he could sense from the other rider. Sky brushed against Cloud and there was a brief rush of strong-wild-free-untamed as the Cloud flames flared in response to the touch.

Xanxus immediately pulled back his flames, not really wanting to set off a Cloudy Rage no matter how frustrated and furious he personally was. The standoff lasted for another minute, with both parties examining how their flames pulled and called to the other with no conscious decision of the persons in question.

Then the mystery motorcycle's engine revved and it sped off down the highway without a word. Xanxus cursed breathlessly as frustration seethed through his veins. Should've shot the tires while I had a chance, consequences be d*****. Whirling, Xanxus stalked back to the defunct bike and kicked it to relieve some of his temper. Squalo had been eerily silent over the course of the standoff, but Xanxus knew he was still on the line, so he paused his muttered curses to growl, "Send a d*** car to f****** pick me up." Then he resumed exercising his database of creative words. Though whether he was cursing the defunct bike, the elusive Cloud, or himself, Xanxus wasn't entirely sure.

He arrived back in Italy two days before Mammon. Two days of fruitlessly searching the Varia and Vongola databases for a match on the custom motorcycle with no results. By the time Mammon had returned to the castle, Xanxus was almost ready to climb the walls and even more ready to tear the walls down because he had no idea why he was this agitated.

Sure, he had finally come in contact with an unknown, skilled, powerful Cloud who had been able to call to his own flames and visa versa without getting instantly Rejected, and yes, it was the instinct of every Sky to complete their Element set, but this? Xanxus was better than this. He shouldn't be so restless over a mere prospect that as likely as not wouldn't work out.

The Cloud could reject him, or he might end up rejecting the Cloud anyway. The Cloud might already belong to a Famiglia, though he highly doubted that because no Famiglia in their right mind, minus Little Trash, would keep the fact that they had a Cloud in their midst a secret. The status boost would just be too great to resist.

Which meant he'd stumbled on a Cloud that had somehow managed to remain unaffiliated with anybody. Which was perhaps the reason behind the chase Xanxus had interrupted. It wouldn't be the first time a mafia family was stupid enough to attempt to capture a Cloud against their will.

But that also meant that the Cloud would likely be beyond paranoid of capture attempts and forced Harmonizations. And he'd attempted to shoot out the tires of the bike, which pretty much guaranteed a negative association between his flame signature and the concept of being hunted. Great.

Curse his temper. It was going to be the death of him someday, just like Enrico had always said.

But no matter how many times Xanxus told himself to calm down and not get so worked up over the Cloud that had escaped, he couldn't. It got to the point where the Guardians present in the mansion began to feed off of his tension and fight over the littlest things.

By the time Mammon got back to the castle, the majority of the Varia, aka anyone not a member of his Element Set, had already evacuated to the nearby safe-houses to wait out the inevitable explosion.

It said something about their harmonization level that the tiny Mist went straight to his office rather than take her customary brief shower first. Five seconds in Varia HQ and she'd already picked up on the fact that Xanxus was going stir-crazy and he was dragging the others down with him.

"What happened?" Flat and to the point as usual, completely ignoring the sounds of Levi, Squalo, and Belphegor brawling in the living room to let off tension.

Xanxus pushed a picture and his credit card across the desk to Mammon without preamble, "Who owns that d*** bike, where can I find them, and how the h*** do you court a Cloud?"

Because there were certain procedures that needed to be followed when courting a possible Guardian, rules that changed from flame type to flame type and Xanxus barely had a working knowledge of Sky-to-Element courtship as it was, let alone on the rituals involved in attracting the most aloof of Elements.

Mammon stared at him from under her hood for several long moments, incredulity bouncing to him over their bond and Xanxus growled over the top of his wine glass. He knew very well why Mammon was staring. The only time he had really, truly courted an Element was Mammon herself. The others hadn't been near as much of a hassle.

Squalo had clicked the moment they were in the same room and had been perfectly content to follow a Vongola Sky. The only thing they'd done that could count as a courtship had been the brutal sparring match to which Squalo had challenged him soon after their first meeting. After Xanxus had defeated him, though not without bruises of his own, Squalo had harmonized without hesitation.

Levi had courted Xanxus rather than the other way around until he'd impressed the Inverted Sky enough for Xanxus to return the interest. The moment Xanxus had, harmonization had happened.

Lussuria had first come to Xanxus's attention in an incident involving Christmas tinsel, feathers, and several bottles of whiskey which forevermore would be a secret known only to the two of them … and probably Mammon because the Mist was insufferable like that. Either way, Lussuria, just like Squalo, had clicked near instantly with Xanxus and there had only been minimal courtship between them before Lussuria had harmonized.

Belphegor … Xanxus didn't really even know what had happened there. Not that he regretted it. The brat had simply shown up one day, demanding to join the Varia, and somewhere in between training the juvenile flame user to not get himself killed and trying to resist the urge to shoot the kid himself, they had harmonized. Xanxus wasn't even sure when, he'd just realized one day in the middle of a sparring match with the knife-happy brat that he could feel a budding bond with him and that was that.

But Mammon. Mammon had been picky. Mammon had insisted on the best, and only the best, of courtships. It had taken months, and a lot of money spent getting information on just what a Mist required in a courtship in the first place, to convince her that Xanxus was worthy of being her Sky.

Now he was asking Mammon to not only identify someone, but locate them, and inform him on procedures he wouldn't bother learning unless he really, really wanted to impress a Cloud specifically. He was even offering his credit card as a wordless sign that Mammon could charge as much as she wanted for the information. His Mist was not stupid, she could read the signs.

Finally Mammon looked down at the picture and studied it. A few seconds later, he detected a tensing in her shoulders and a thrum of surprise and disbelief over their bond. Xanxus clenched his jaw, "Well?"

"Are you sure you want to find this one?" Mammon's voice was flat as ever, but Xanxus thought he detected a hint of skepticism in it.

Xanxus's lips twitched with the urge to snarl, "My flames called to that Cloud without my conscious intent and the Cloud called back. Pulled back. So yes. I'm f****** sure."

His Mist stared at the picture for a minute longer before she swept his credit card under her cloak and replied, "Moue, I cannot be certain that the rider is the same, but that bike originally belonged to Skull De Mort."

Xanxus sat up sharply, "The Arcobaleno Cloud?"

"Yes." Mammon tapped the desk and conjured a world map with her flames, "If it is Skull, you will most likely find him here around this time of year. He has a safe-house and … training ground there and it is his favorite place of residence according to his movement patterns."

Xanxus memorized the location of the glowing spot Mammon had placed on the map before his Mist canceled the illusion and continued, "There is very little information on Cloud courtship. However, gifts that benefit the courted Cloud's territory have been shown to be moderately successful. These gifts can vary drastically depending on the nature of the Cloud's territory. If it is a location, it might be anything from money for building reparations to flower seeds to help improve the land itself. If the Cloud has claimed a person, item, or pet as territory, winning the favor of the person or giving gifts of a similar item or a care product for the pet is recommended. Winning the favor of a Cloud's chosen person is an essential step to earning the Cloud's loyalty, but if that person is approached too quickly, too often, or while unsupervised, it will incite a violent reaction from the Cloud instead. Open invitations to freely explore the prospective Sky's territory in order to judge its worth also appear to have a moderately high success rate."

Mammon tilted her head to one side and leveled a stern look from beneath her hood, "Whatever you choose to do, do not crowd, push, yell, or attempt to hurry a Cloud's decision in any way. Do not insult a Cloud, do not mock a Cloud, do not curse a Cloud. In short, do not do anything that could count as disrespect or a challenge to the Cloud's territory and freedom."

His Mist gave the picture a bland look from underneath her hood, "Not even Skull is immune to a Cloud's temper, for all that he is an ex-civilian and a coward in general. Skull has been burned by weak Skies in the past and pushy Skies are one of the two things I have ever seen that can cause him to actually act like a Cloud. At the very least, you would be permanently rejected as a candidate, but it is more likely that Skull would attempt to forcibly drive you off."

Xanxus mulled over that information for a few seconds, feeling a flicker of something, unease perhaps, twist his insides. Clouds were infamously hard to Call, let alone Harmonize with, and now he learned that the only Cloud to ever call him and be called in return was most likely an ex-civilian who was known for his incompetency and cowardice. On the other hand, Skull was the strongest Cloud in the world and for all of his supposed incompetency, he had remained both alive and unaffiliated from any Famiglia for many years. The failed chase flashed through his mind and Xanxus smirked to himself.

That had not been the driving of an incompetent.

Mammon had been waiting patiently to see if he required any more information before she returned his credit card. Xanxus propped his chin on his hand and asked, "What about Skull personally? What would I need to know?"

The Mist Arcobaleno hummed faintly in consideration, "Moue, Skull is … dual-sided. Arrogant in his abilities, but terrified of actual conflict. He is very open for a Cloud, his opinions are always written on his face for all to read, which is why he wears that helmet of his all the time. Skull is easily bullied on basic matters, his food, training, doing things for others, etcetera. However, if his bike or stunt equipment is threatened, he is as possessive as any other Cloud. While not impossible … I find it difficult to believe that anyone could steal the motorcycle in this picture from Skull, no matter his incompetency compared to the rest of us. Though I do not see how Skull could ride it now, considering that it was his stunt bike from Before. He has been using his Octopus or a miniature bike as transport for the past few decades."

Xanxus's credit card reemerged from Mammon's cloak, "If you are truly interested in … courting Skull, speak softly, don't curse if at all possible, praise honestly if you can, and show interest in his … work. Skull is very partial to flattery and acknowledgement. Gifts of motor oil or other mechanically oriented items will go a long way to win his favor, but the process will still take a very long time."

To anyone else, Mammon would have sounded as apathetic and neutral to the idea of Xanxus courting Skull as a potential Guardian as she was of the sun rising in the east. But Xanxus had known her for years and was Harmonized with her on top of that, he could feel how skeptical and dismissive she was over the concept.

Xanxus snatched his credit card and the picture off of the desk, already making plans to travel to Skull's favored safe-house with a gift of some kind. He needed to make a good impression to get back on his potential Cloud's good side. If Skull did turn out to be his Cloud, Mammon would just have to adjust.

Xanxus's flames had finally been called to by a Cloud and had called back in return rather than reject it, he wasn't going to pass up this chance just because of someone else's opinions.

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Year: 2008. Season: Fall. Location: United States. Age: Cursed.

"Someone's at the gate … it's the Varia leader." Skull grunted in acknowledgement of Silhouette's warning, more preoccupied with the random car engine she was fixing than the possible threat of the head of the Varia thundering in. She'd worry in a few more seconds, after she had finished tightening that stubborn bolt.

A buzz and a click sounded through the huge, two story garage as the intercom on the front gate turned on. After a brief pause, A rough voice with an underlying edge of permanent anger growled, "Oi, anybody home in there?"

Skull paused. She had expected the man to just break the gate down and have done with it, Varia only ever visited non-Vongola on violent business after all. But he was using the intercom? A low growl sounded over the device in question before, "Look, just open the d*** gate-." The sentence was caught off by another low growl that sounded vaguely like he was reminding himself to use manners before he tried again, "This is Xanxus of the Varia … requesting … permission to enter the grounds."

That lack of swearing and the clearly painful use of actual manners had Skull getting up from her work desk and sauntering over to a wall with monitors all over it. Since Skull spent most of her time in her garage with Silhouette anyway, the thing was actually bigger and more lived in than the house to which it was attached and she had long ago transferred her security station to the second floor of the garage.

Silhouette shifted slightly from where she was leaning against the wall and cleaning her weapons while Skull pulled up the video feed of the gate. She commanded the camera to shift and look down so that she could stare directly at the Varia Sky. Her heart pounded slightly at remembered feelings of flames pulling at hers and she frowned.

Xanxus looked … twitchy. Impatient. She could see his free hand drift briefly to one of his pistols as he eyed the lock on her front gate before he snarled to himself and forced his hand away again. She glanced down at the control panel to ensure that the intercom was still only one-way before resuming her study of Xanxus and asking Silhouette, "What do you think he wants?"

Silhouette tilted her helm as she accessed the security feed on her HUD. A moment later, she shrugged, "No idea. Perhaps it relates to that Flame Call you felt a few days ago. He doesn't have a Cloud of his own yet, does he? Perhaps he is here to see if you'll join him."

Skull scowled at the thought, just as wary of the notion as Silhouette sounded. Skies had tried to chain her down before, tried to call her in only to smother her and nearly take her freedom away. She refused to let another one do that. She refused to let another person try to put their manacles on her under the guise of 'harmonization'.

Then again, none of those Skies had Called to her so strongly she'd nearly lost her concentration during the escape, nor had they ever managed to track her down to her own home before.

"Is anyone even f****** home? Because I'll be pretty p***** off if I'm standing out here talking to myself." She watched as Xanxus's mouth snapped shut a moment later and he looked frustrated. He clearly had no natural brain-to-mouth filter and was struggling to consciously use one.

That made her laugh for some reason. Just a snigger, but it was an impressive feat considering how suspicious and hostile she felt toward most Skies that either weren't little Yuni or didn't already have a Cloud. Ignoring Silhouette's warning look and pulse over their bond, Skull switched the intercom feed to a two-way one and asked, "What do you want with the Great Skull-sama? And how did you find my home?"

Red eyes glanced up at the camera on the gate, a tiny bit of tension leaking out of his shoulders now that he knew he wasn't talking to himself, "I'm just here to … talk. I had an … encounter with a custom bike a few days ago. I asked Mammon where I could find it's owner and got directed here." There was an awkward pause as Skull waited for him to elaborate, even though she knew what this was about, and he obviously tried to figure out how to speak without swearing. Finally, with a muttered italian curse, Xanxus shifted his left arm so as to hold the box he'd been carrying up to the camera view, "Look, I bring a gift and swear on Varia Quality that I'm not here to shoot s*** up. Can I come in now?"

Silhouette and Skull exchanged another long glance before Silhouette made a "do what you will" motion and Skull keyed in the command to unlock the gate, "I'm in the garage."

Xanxus strode through the gates without so much as a thank you and Skull triggered them to close and lock the moment he was through. With that done, she turned off the intercom, stepped back from the control board, and commanded in Cybertronian, "Housing Unit Shift: Minibot. Additional Shift: Guest."

With minute clicks and whirs, the garage began to immediately alter. Plating shifted, certain items disappeared into the floor only to be replaced identical ones of much smaller sizes. She knew without checking that the house was experiencing the same internal transformation, though absolutely no sign of it would show up on the outside.

The entire thing was Silhouette's doing. As a former engineer and a member of a mechanical, super-advanced race, the femme had had whatever Cybertronian technology she could replicate with Earth resources built into the framework of every safe-house and bolt-hole Skull owned.

In addition to the high-tech security measures that would have baffled even Verde, training areas and garages that could accommodate Silhouette's bipedal form, and holographic projectors through which she could transmit a hard-light hologram anywhere in the house, was the ability to internally shift the building into different modes.

There was Skull's favored mode, where everything was adult sized and she could wander around or work or train in her old adult form using her Mist spark-fire. There was a defensive mode where any and all intruders would find themselves up against not only Skull and Silhouette but also technology at least a hundred years more advanced than anything they'd ever seen, such as plasma cannons and very angry cleaning-drones with mini-guns.

Then there was Minibot mode, where various items and pieces of furniture were swapped out with identical pieces that were sized appropriately for her cursed form. It was that house mode she used whenever she was too tired to use her Mist spark-fire to artificially restore her adult form. The Additional Shift: Guest, made it so that there were still a few pieces of furniture around to fit a grown adult and that all of her too-advanced-to-go-unnoticed tech would be locked down and out of sight.

The Additional Shift had been made just in case she got a rare visit from either one of the other Arcobaleno, such as Reborn come to "train" her, or if she had to entertain a stranger such as her current situation.

By the time Xanxus had stalked up the long, winding driveway leading up to the massive garage and only slightly less massive house, the transformation was complete and Skull had dropped Mirror: Adult in favor of her true form and Mirror #1's personality.

Skull shot Silhouette a long, stern look to which her sister rolled her optics, "Fine. But if he tries anything or you zone out again, I have full rights to blast him." With that, Silhouette subspaced the last of her weapons and transformed into her Alt Mode.

Skull placed her mini-sized helmet on her head, wandered over to the front of the garage, and slapped the button to open the door, allowing the huge thing to roll slowly upwards just as Xanxus got there. Xanxus paused on the threshold, red eyes snapping instantly to her helmet visor as the feeling of their flames calling to each other grew even more intense. From behind her helmet and Mirror #1, Skull swallowed hard. Xanxus's Sky flames felt nothing like the previous Skies who had tried to cage her. He felt like power and rage, protection and home and endless expanses in which to wander all rolled into one.

For a split second, the sheer temptation of it, the want she felt deep in her core, made her mouth go dry and all other thoughts flee from her head. Then Silhouette poked her sternly over their bond and Skull snapped out of her stupor. Crossing her arms over her chest, she demanded, "Well, are you going to come in?" Xanxus blinked once, then twice, seeming to have to drag himself out of the same stupor into which Skull had fallen before he carefully stepped inside the garage and put the box down on the floor in front of her.

Curiosity begged her to open the box, but she refrained for the moment, tilting her helmet to indicate she was staring at him instead. Xanxus was looking around the two-floor garage, his gaze landing on Silhouette's Alt Mode at once. He grunted and crossed his arms, "So, that really was you the other day."

Skull scowled internally but outwardly puffed out her chest, "Of course it was! As if anyone else could drive as supremely awesome as me!"

Xanxus inched further in as Skull trotted over to Silhouette's bike form and leaned against it. His eyes left Silhouette's form to scan the rest of the garage as he commented curtly, "Your driving is f****** insane." Skull scoffed from within the privacy of her helmet, but did not outwardly reply. Finally, Xanxus added dryly, "That EMP you used broke that bike, you know. Utterly destroyed the control box and the solid-state ignition system."

Skull layered her voice with a childish whine rather than the anger she truly felt as she recalled just why she had fired off an EMP round, "Well, you were about to shoot out the tires of my bike!"

Xanxus hissed faintly for a second before he gritted out, "Yeah … sorry … about that. But you wouldn't stop and let me talk to you, so I lost my d*** temper. Won't happen again."

Skull snapped off an acid-laced question before she could think better of it, a bit of her true self and her suspicion leaking past Mirror #1's usual whininess, "Which? Losing your temper or trying to shoot my bike?"

Xanxus huffed, "Shooting at your bike." Skull noted the lack of excuse over his anger issues and reluctantly added a mental point in his favor, at least he hadn't tried to lie to her about not losing his temper around her. Everyone had heard of the infamous Flames of Wrath and the temperament of their current wielder.

Xanxus awkwardly waved toward the box he had left just inside the garage threshold, "Got you that as an … apology."

Skull tilted her head to one side and asked suspiciously, "Are you trying to bribe me for something?"

Xanxus scowled, "No."

Mirror #1's voice went up a few octaves and cringed away from him, "Then are you here to assassinate me? I haven't done anything to the Vongola!"

Xanxus bristled, "Oi! I already swore that I wasn't here to shoot s*** up!"

"But you never said anything about bombs in boxes!"

Xanxus exploded, his Sky flames swelling like ruffled feathers around him as he roared, "Like h*** I would use a s***** trick like that! If I wanted to personally kill someone I'd d*** well shoot him and have done with it! I wouldn't go around leaving f****** bombs in cardboard boxes to do my work for me!"

The swell of Sky flames had Skull's mouth snapping shut with a strangled noise, the sheer power and depth of his flames stunning both her and her Mirror #1 into silence. Primus, she thought distantly as she struggled to keep her own spark-fire from flaring in response, his flames are stronger than any of those other Skies combined. And Reborn's student is stronger than him?

Silhouette hissed over the private comlink in Skull's helmet, the sound being automatically blocked from leaking outside, "What's happening? Is he trying to force a bond? I'll shoot the little glitch-"

Skull hastily silenced the speakers in her helmet so she could answer Silhouette without being overheard, "No! No, don't … don't shoot."

Xanxus's flames suddenly curled back into his core, his red eyes widening as he seemed to realize what he'd done. A part of Skull, the part of her that was jaded to the world after so long, especially toward Skies who thought they could chain her to them, wanted to run Xanxus off for flaring his flames. Wanted to shoot him herself, or at least let Silhouette drive him off.

But … she didn't. She couldn't. Something about his flames had caught her attention from that moment she nearly ran him over by accident in France and no matter how much she distrusted anyone other than Silhouette … there was a niggling instinct in her mind that whispered "give him a chance".

She pushed those thoughts aside and told herself she couldn't shoot him or let Silhouette run him off as that would not only attract the wrath of the Varia, but would reveal Silhouette's true nature. Skull clicked her helmet speakers back on, but couldn't find anything to say.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air between them before Skull took the initiative and, pulling Mirror #1 more tightly around herself, walked over to the box and cautiously pried it open. She blinked. Then blinked again. She then slowly lifted the contents of the box out so that she could confirm it really was what she thought it was.

It was motorcycle polish and a rotary buffer.

But not just any polish or rotary buffer. They were absolute quality, top-of-the-line, ridiculously expensive motorcycle polish and rotary buffer. The kind that millionaires and billionaires with automobile collecting hobbies bought to care for their rare, one-of-kind vehicles that never saw the outside of their hyper-sanitized garages. These were, aside from Silhouette's jealously guarded tin of cybertronian polish and the cybertronian-sized buffer Skull had hand-built her sister for Christmas, the holy grail of polishes and buffers.

Silhouette must have scanned it discreetly because she murmured, "…Well. I'll be a cyber-cat. Those, are pretty impressive apology gifts."

Mirror #1 gushed and cooed over the perfection of the items and how they were "worthy of the Great Skull-sama's precious motorcycle", more than a little bit of sincerity leaking through from Skull herself. Xanxus positively preened at the praise his gifts received, looking oddly relieved at her reaction for a touchy, rage-filled leader of the greatest assassination squad in the entire Mafia World.

Skull darted back and forth across the garage, putting the new items in their proper places and gushing for a few more minutes before tapering off and resuming a mostly normal conversation.

Well, as normal as an awkward-as-pit conversation could get. Xanxus spent too much time futilely trying to lower his volume and censor his language and Skull was too suspicious of the rough Sky because of the lack of bullets flying at her person for them to really relax and talk. Plus, their close proximity and the way their flames kept poking and testing the other without their conscious consent was too distracting to make the conversation anything less than painfully flat and cautious.

Eventually, Xanxus gruffly announced that he was leaving and strode for the garage exit, his coat billowing out dramatically behind him. Skull got the oddest impression that he wanted her to say something, that he had been hoping for a signal of some kind.

Perhaps it was that feeling, perhaps it was her spark-fire/flames acting up because of the retreating presence of the Sky, perhaps it was just because she had gone a touch insane with only Silhouette for company, true company, the kind that spoke plainly but did not belittle her every other sentence for so many years that she said something.

Instead of keeping her silence, or calling out a generic goodbye, or even letting Mirror #1 yell out something about Xanxus being free to bask in the "Great Skull-sama's" presence again, she dropped her mirror for a split second and called, "Next time you drop by, if you could bring an ignition magneto system with you, I'd appreciate it. My last one got blown up."

Xanxus actually froze in mid-step, his head whipping around to look over his shoulder at her. Disturbingly, Skull could not decipher the expression on his face despite her decades of experience. He stared down at her for several seconds before he snorted and resumed walking, "F****** whatever, Chibi."

Skull rolled the garage door shut once he was through and hurried to her security monitors to watch him leave. When Xanxus reached the outside of the gate, he abruptly turned and slammed his fist on the intercom button. The system had just enough time to connect to the garage speakers before Xanxus barked out gruffly, "Oi, if you ever feel like teaching my s***** trash how to properly ride a motorcycle like you do and not smash their own d*** skulls in, swing by the Varia Mansion." He paused and then added, "I'll pay you in that f****** expensive polish and whatever motorcycle parts you need if you ever show up."

With that declaration, he stalked away to his car and drove off.

Skull blinked once, blinked twice, then looked over at the now-bipedal Silhouette. Silhouette shrugged helplessly, "Don't look at me, I've been living on this planet for well over eighty years and humans still baffle me. Especially human mechs."

Skull glanced over at the shelves were she had stashed the polish and buffer, a hum of contemplation escaping her throat, visit the Varia and teach them to stunt drive, huh? Weird. Surprisingly, the thought did not repulse her as much as it should have, though she still decided not to do it. Just in case this was all a trap of some kind.

Over the next few months, Xanxus dropped in at random intervals, usually when she was in, but sometimes when she was off on a mission, in which case he just growled into the intercom a few times and left. Each time he came, he brought something with him. Polish, a motorcycle decal, whatever random part or tool Skull offhandedly mentioned wanting or needing. After accepting his latest gift, which Skull still couldn't decide if it was some kind of bribery or not, Xanxus would hang around in the garage for an hour or two and just … listen unless he was required to give an answer.

Skull began to notice that he always left the moment she began to act uncomfortable in his presence, that while he had given up filtering his profanity he never called her "trash" or "scum" like he did ninety-nine percent of the human population, and that he actually payed attention when she began to cautiously talk about motorcycles and vehicle maintenance. He even helped her once or twice with the larger engines she enjoyed working on despite the tiny size of her cursed body.

He never brought up his invitation to visit the Varia mansion again, but Skull sensed it was a standing offer even now.

Each time he visited, their flames instinctively pushed and nudged at one another, feeling each other out with tentative touches and pokes. It was strange and beyond flummoxing. She had no clue as to what he could want and everything about his character pointed against underhanded trickery and long-term manipulation. Xanxus preferred to just shoot things and have done unless absolutely necessary.

Still, despite her lingering suspicions, his visits and company were … nice. A change of pace to the monotony into which her life as Skull De Mort had fallen. She even took to inviting him inside the house for lunch or dinner sometimes and stocked up on rare kinds of alcohol just in case he dropped by.

Without realizing it, Skull began to make room in her life for the cranky yet non-pushy Sky. Without consciously acknowledging it, she grew to look forward to his visits, and slowly, piece by unconscious piece, she began to use her Mirrors around him less and less. Inch by hard-won inch, Xanxus came closer to her than anyone else save Silhouette. Came closer to being allowed full access behind her Mirrors. If given another few months to a year, there was good chance she might even let that happen and introduce him to Cybertronian sister.

But that was later, much later what with the severely slow pace of things. Still, Skull was content with the way things were.

Until one day she was working a short-term contract for a very powerful, very rich American Mafia family and Xanxus was dragged in by two roughed up grunts, the Varia Sky injured, unconscious, and disarmed. Skull went rigid, instinctively wrapping Mist spark-fire around herself in a manner that made the others in the room forget she was there.

Oblivious to her presence, the exhausted-looking grunts dropped the unconscious, and how had they managed that? Varia Sky on the carpet at their boss's feet, "Here he is, Boss. Everything happened just as we were promised, but it was still one h*** of a fight to bring him down. Showed up at the address right on time and his car blew up just as he got out. Threw him across the pavement and stunned him long enough for our snipers to hit him with a few of the specialized tranquilizers. B****** took out at least half of our Storm Company and twenty of Esmerelda's Mist users before Richard's Rain Battalion and the sniper squad managed to finally knock him out. Most of the men that survived are already in the infirmary."

The boss smiled broadly, immediately ordering the grunts to take him to the prepared room and keep him heavily drugged until they had use for him. Skull barely heard him, she was staring from behind her visor at the pool of blood slowly creeping out from under Xanxus and across the carpet.

The boss wandered over with a sneer and kicked Xanxus as the grunts hauled him up. The unconscious Sky wheezed faintly in pain at the action and more blood dripped to the floor.

Something inside Skull snapped. Her muscles went taut beneath her skin even as her normally revolving, seething spark-fire stilled. Her heartbeat sped up until it pounded against her ribs like a trapped, vicious hummingbird and the surge of her blood roared in her ears. Time crawled meekly to a stop beneath her gaze as her eyesight sharpened, cleared of previously unnoticed imperfections until the world was like a picture frozen behind a window of fragile, crystalline glass.

Inhale.

Exhale.

She Raged.

The two men holding Xanxus died mid-word. The two toothpicks that whipped through their left eyes and out the backs of their skulls moving so fast it took a few seconds for their lips to stop moving with phantom signals of halted communication. They began to fall, their grips going slack on Xanxus's arms.

The other bodyguards in the room died from more tiny wooden projectiles driving through their eyes, comlink-bearing ears, or foreheads with the force of bullets all before the first two men had finished hitting the ground. The boss faltered and gaped in horrified confusion at the sudden way his guards all dropped to the ground without so much as a single cry of pain.

Skull's Mist barrier vanished as he whirled to identify the direction of attack. His eyes settled on her, hands reaching for his gun as he opened his mouth to call for backup. Skull took a single step forward, the whiny, cowardly, silly personality of Mirror #1 shattering into pieces as Mirrors #2 and #3 forced their way forward. They merged seamlessly with the bloodied framework of Mirror #51 as the form of a shrunken, toddler Arcobaleno gave way to a languid frame, jet black hair, and hooded brown eyes.

One hand whipped out to touch the boss's shoulder, Mist spark-fire shooting up from the point of contact to bind his mouth shut with a tight gag. The other hand swatted the man's gun aside, breaking his fingers on the way as she sent it spinning to the far wall. His eyes were wide with pain, terror, and confusion. A low, rolling hiss escaped her lips, "Fragger," leaning close to him, she whispered gutturally in English, "never touch what is mine."

She slammed her fist against his head with just enough force to knock him unconscious and then pushed him so that when he fell he would not land on Xanxus. Her flames rippled faintly at the move, at her rage, before they went still again, predators awaiting the signal to start the hunt.

Crouching down, she checked for the location and severity of Xanxus's wounds. Determining him safe to move but in need of medical attention soon, she carefully slung him over one shoulder. She would have carried him in a more comfortable manner, but she would need at least one free hand. Her eyes glinted dangerously at the feel of Xanxus blood seeping into her clothes as she strode for the exit to the conference room.

Silhouette prodded frantically at their bond, trying to uncover the source of Skull's rage. Skull only growled through her com for Silhouette to come around to the front entrance and prepare to transport an injured patient back to the house.

Members of the mafia family, either just passing by or drawn by the suffocating feel of her flared yet utterly still flames, were killed the moment they came into sight. Toothpicks, flicks of her Cloud-extended piercing chain, swift strikes of her Mist flames that convinced people they'd been shot through the head or stabbed through the throat, nothing survived the methodical clearing of her path.

Eventually, the enemy figured out they were being attacked from the inside and regrouped in the front mansion foyer in an attempt to pin her down with sheer numbers and firepower. Her eyes blazed a brilliant yet eerie purple as she gently set Xanxus down behind the cover of a stairway corner and turned on her ear com again. She couldn't risk leaving him there in case someone approached from behind, but she couldn't fight off that many by herself while under fire and carrying Xanxus.

But then again, she didn't have too. She wasn't alone. Skull snapped her teeth and growled in Cybertronian over the opened channel, not wanting to risk sending that much rage over her bond with Silhouette, "I can't move. Take them out."

A moment later and the roar of an engine cut through the rattle of gunfire. The double-doors slammed down as Silhouette barreled inside in a whirl of transformation and sweeping energon katanas. Horrified screams cut off mid-sound and almost as soon as the cacophony had started, it was over again. Silhouette glanced around with blazing ruby optics, Skull's rage effecting her despite Skull's best efforts to shield her side of the bond.

Silhouette subspaced her humming blue katana as she straightened up as much as she could in the mansion foyer, "Clear. Where's the patient?"

Skull carried still unresponsive Xanxus around the corner and placed him in Silhouette's gently curled palms, "Take him to the house, patch him up as well as you can. I'll be back in a few hours."

Silhouette rumbled faintly at the sight of the limp Xanxus with his torn and bloodstained clothing. She may have been even more suspicious of the Inverted Sky than Skull, he reminded her too strongly of Megatron at times, but she knew Skull enjoyed his company and appreciated the gruff courtesy the man extended to her. Pulling him close to her chest and rumbling her engine in a subconscious, soothing manner, she asked, "Where are you going, Bright Spark?"

Skull bared her teeth and pulsed her spark-fire out in a thin wave, using it to sense where all of the remaining members of the household were hiding, "They've seen me as Femme, Silhouette. They have hurt what is mine." Her eyes shone so brightly with her rage and spark-fire that her pupils were no longer visible beneath the glow, a primal noise escaping her chest that made the air tremble with power, "More importantly, I have a traitor to find." And when I do, he will suffer, hovered unspoken yet acknowledged between them.

Silhouette nodded and acquiesced without protest. She had no problem with the insinuation of what Skull was going to do. Silhouette had trained the girl all her life, it was Silhouette's training that prompted this response in the first place. Silhouette had lived through a several-billion year war. Had fought it from the shadows and the filth of Special Ops. She was a Cyber-Ninja, and had been a citizen of lower Kaon before all of that.

"Leave no loose ends, tolerate no betrayal of trust" was a lesson that had been ingrained into her from her very youngling-hood, and it was a lesson she in turn had hammered into Skull. Silhouette turned and slipped through the broken doorway with a partially conscious but unmoving Xanxus cradled in her servos while Skull whirled and made her way back to the conference room.

She had a slagging rat-spawn of a boss to interrogate, a house worth of scum to deal with, and a traitor to uncover.

---

Silhouette transformed gently around Xanxus, making sure to tuck him neatly on the seat and inside the special glass cover that would shield him from both bullets and view. His heart rate spiked further even though he remained immobile and Silhouette murmured softly, "It would appear that you have won my charge's favor, Xanxus of the Varia, and that we have much to discuss when you are bandaged and more fully conscious."

Red eyes flickered open and his body twitched spasmodically with the urge to get up, fighting the astounding amount of specialized sedative and Rain flames Silhouette's scanners picked up in his bloodstream. Silhouette carefully filtered a mild sleeping gas through the glass dome over her seat, just enough to re-trigger the sedatives already in his bloodstream, and forced Xanxus back into the unconsciousness he had been slowly coming out of for several minutes before.

Once he was truly unconscious once again, Silhouette picked up speed, whipping down the long roads toward the nearest safe-house to treat his injuries and finally get some answers to questions that had been bothering her for some time. Skull wasn't the only one with plans of interrogation on her mind, though Silhouette would be sure not to actually hurt the man draped across her seat. Her charge was very fond of him after all.

---

When Skull finally left the enemy mansion, it was only her subtle use of Mist spark-fire that had kept everyone and their grandmother from seeing and smelling all of the blood on her clothes during the journey back to her safe-house. She ditched the motorcycle she had stolen from the now deceased mafia family several miles away from her home in case it was bugged with a tracker and ran the rest of the way back at Cloud-enhanced speeds.

Her rage had faded, sated by the destruction she had wrought earlier and now there was only exhaustion in its wake. Stumbling through the door, Skull dropped her last illusion, revealing her true, toddler-like form as she staggered over to the couch and clambered onto it with a grunt.

A moment later, Silhouette's hard-light hologram appeared and picked her up. Skull remained limp and unresponsive as Silhouette carefully helped the exhausted Cloud shower and change into clean clothes. She then forced some food down Skull's throat and made to put her in bed. Skull finally stirred as they passed the guest wing, her spark-fire flickering to the surface at the brushing contact with slumbering, limp Sky flames.

Purple eyes blinked fully open and she rasped, "How is he…?"

Silhouette nodded and detoured momentarily into the guest room Skull had prepared for Xanxus on a whim several weeks ago, "He has some very unpleasant burns, bullet-caused flesh wounds in his right leg and left shoulder that I had to close, several cuts and gashes that I had to stitch up, and a lot of bruising. But, he is alive and he will be fine. He just needs to take it easy and rest for a while. Considering the vid feeds I pulled up after treating him, I'm honestly shocked he came out with as few injuries he did. He fought a little over two battalions of Flame users on his own, while injured and pumped with tranquilizers."

Skull hummed as she overlooked the slumbering Xanxus from her position in Silhouette's holographic arms, "He's pretty deeply unconscious."

Silhouette shrugged lightly and resumed carrying Skull to her bed, "His flames are still burning out the tranquilizers and Rain flames they forced into his body. I'm mildly surprised he managed to stay awake and coherent for the duration of our … chat while I patched him up. He'll be asleep until at least late tomorrow morning, possibly into the afternoon."

Skull sat up in alarm at that, "Chat?"

Silhouette chuckled as she deposited Skull on her bed and forced the Cloud Arcobaleno to lie down, "Don't worry, I didn't harm him in any way. We just talked. I explained a few things to him, he explained a few things to me."

Despite the exhaustion dragging her down into sleep, Skull pushed it away long enough to ask, "And?"

Silhouette stroked Skull's short, spiky hair softly, "He still reminds me of Megatron. However … I now believe he is what Megatron could have been had he chosen a different path." Skull's eyes had drifted shut against her will before Silhouette had finished her second sentence. The last thing she heard before sleep claimed her was Silhouette's reverent whisper of, "You have chosen a good leader, Bright Spark. A strong Champion, who will defend you in any ring."

Then blackness claimed Skull and she drifted away into a sleep too deep for dreams.

Xanxus was still unconscious when Skull got up very late the next morning, so she took it upon herself to finish what she had started and shamelessly decided to use his phone, which she had retrieved along with his signature guns while "clearing out" the enemy mansion yesterday. After breaking the encryption that was only laughable to a person trained all her life by a hyper-advanced cybernetic alien refugee, Skull scrolled through the Varia contact list and randomly picked the one listed as "S***** Shark".

It got out maybe half a ring before it was answered and a bellow shook the living room windows, "Voooiiii! Where the h*** have you been? Your car's tracker went offline and then your f****** phone tracker went offline too! Little Trash and the Castle has been going f****** crazy trying to locate your sorry a**! You better not be injured you crazy-"

Skull interrupted him, the low, silken voice of Mirror #3 cutting through the man's roars like a knife, "Ventura Mirto."

Dead silence fell for several seconds before she detected a muffled click and the man hissed, "Who the f*** are you and where is Xanxus?"

Skull turned her head to watch as Xanxus stumbled down the stairs groggily, his eyes still slightly unfocused from the tranquilizers and Rain flames his system had been attacked with. Huh, Storm flames usually burn off tranquilizers faster than any of the others, but despite his flame strength he's still not completely awake. She scowled darkly, they had to have pumped him full of enough of that scrap to kill any other Flame user a dozen times over just to knock him out. Fraggers. But he's up now, did the "Voi" wake him?

Pushing that line of thought away for the moment, she answered "He's with me. His car was blown up during an large, coordinated ambush yesterday because of information given to an enemy famiglia by Ventura Mirto. He's a petty officer in your Storm Squad."

She heard the slither of steal, enraged sniggering, and low growls and idly concluded that the first man had put the call on speaker. Xanxus paused at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes sharpening slightly at the sound of her voice and the sight of his phone against her ear. A deep voice, not the man who had first answered the phone, snarled, "What are your plans with the Boss, you d*** b****?"

Skull rolled her eyes, "I plan to return him once he can move on his own without ripping open his stitches like fragging idiot." The last part was yelled pointedly at the limping Sky just before Silhouette's hologram arrived and forcibly carried the snarling man to the nearest armchair. Silhouette slapped the back of Xanxus's head before she disappeared back into the kitchen. Skull visually checked Xanxus for any signs of ripped stitches or major discomfort before tuning back in to the bellowed death threats coming from the other side of the line. He'd better not break my windows with that volume of his. By the AllSpark, does he have the lungs of an elephant or something?

"Look," she interrupted curtly, "I don't care what you think of me or what you plan to do to me in the, highly doubtful, event that you catch up with me. Take care of the leak in your ranks, or I will do it for you and I will make sure that you regret your incompetency while I'm at it."

Yet another voice joined the conversation and Skull recognized it as Mammon's, "Moue, why do you care? Are you associated with the Vongola, the Varia, or one of the allied Famiglias?"

Xanxus was watching her intently now, the haze gone from his eyes as he listened in on the conversation, it was certainly loud enough on the other end for him to hear both sides. Skull curled her lip, "No to all three. But, I am associated with one of Xanxus's contacts and, more importantly, I hate traitors. It does not matter who is being betrayed or to whom the traitor goes, anyone who pulls a stunt like that, for money rather than any kind of personal conviction, should be destroyed. Painfully. Besides," here she hesitated and glanced at Xanxus before shaking off her unease and snarling deeply into the phone, "The fragger not only hurt your leader, he threatened something that is mine. For that if for no other reason, I will hunt him down and make him scream if you do not do so first."

Xanxus had an unreadable expression on his face and the silence on the other end of the phone was stifling. Finally, the first person to answer the phone growled, "Voi. Who the h*** are you, anyway?"

Skull's lips twitched into a sneer, "Why don't you ask your Mist? That one is supposed to know everything, right?"

Xanxus leaned his chin on his hand and rubbed his temple with a look of exasperation as the shouting on the other line became loud enough to shake some of Skull's furniture. Rolling her eyes again, Skull snapped, "Ventura Mirto, either deal with him or I will do it for you in a very public and embarrassing way." Without further preamble, she ended the call and turned off the phone to prevent anyone in the Varia from calling her back.

She shot Xanxus a long look, her voice going back to its natural pitch, "How the frag are you not deaf by now?"

Xanxus gave a faint scoff, "Selective hearing and a liberal use of bullets."

Silence fell over them several seconds before Skull shifted uncomfortably and made to stand up, "Silhouette's making breakfast in the kitchen, it should be ready soon. I'm getting glass of water, do you want anything-?"

"So, I'm one of yours." The question was really a statement brought Skull's rambles up short.

Swallowing hard around the sudden lump in her throat, she struggled to answer past the feelings of too soon, not ready, too-soon-too-soon-he's-seen-me, "Yes. You are."

Xanxus smothered a pained grunt as he forced himself out of the armchair and limped over to the couch Skull was standing on. He dropped into a crouch in front of her, the height the couch granted her and his position on the floor causing them to be eye-to-eye. His expression was the most serious she had ever seen him before, his red eyes clear of anything except sincerity as his Sky flames coiled and pulsed through the room.

Xanxus held out a hand, not attempting to touch, just letting it hang in the air patiently as he asked with uncharacteristic quiet, "Would you agree to being one of mine as well?"

Skull struggled not to gasp and yank up her mirrors, when had they fallen? at the question. Her muscles went taut, her lungs froze, her heart crawled up her throat. Xanxus didn't speak further, didn't push. For once, he was utterly still and calm as he waited for her to choose. His Sky flames swirled around them, whispering of free-free-safe-home-mine? The flames called to her, pulled at her in the same maddening way they'd done since that moment in France.

She knew what he was asking, he was asking for a bond, for Harmony. He wanted her to be his Cloud. The part of her that hated Skies, was jaded to their chains and false promises, snarled defensively. Don't trust, it hissed, don't trust. He'll ensnare you with chains and expectations and orders. He'll bind you. Run away while you have the chance!

But another part of her pointed out something different, He waits. He leaves when you feel too crowded, he respects your privacy, he listens when you speak. How long has it been since someone other than your sister listened, truly listened, and did not mock you for being a "ex-civilian" and a "weakling"? He offered you access to his territory, he brings you things that benefit you and yours. He is one of yours already. Would it be so horrible to be his in return?

Without taking her eyes away from Xanxus, she reached out to Silhouette over their bond, mentally begging for an opinion to help her decide. Silhouette just nudged her away with the thought of, "Stop worrying about the past and listen, Milena. What does your spark say?"

Skull pulled reluctantly away from Silhouette and briefly closed her eyes. She reached for her spark-fire, her flames, and listened, really listened to what they had to say about Xanxus for the first time rather than pushing the whispers away as a weakness and a possible trap. Sky-wide-free-fierce-home-want-pack-mine-mine-My-Sky.

Her eyes snapped back open as her spark-fire suddenly flared and spiked with desire and trust and possessiveness. Xanxus was still kneeling in front of the couch despite how uncomfortable it had to be for his injuries, his hand extended and his expression patient. Slowly pulling off one of the riding gloves she always wore, Skull reached out and gently placed her hand in his. Their flames trembled at the skin contact but held back, waiting for one last sign-

She locked gazes with him and breathed reverently, "My Sky." Xanxus inhaled sharply and his Sky flames lunged.

Sky, Cloud, and Mist flared and coiled around each other without reservation, mingling and pulling and singing until balance, understanding, Harmony was reached. The bond snapped into place, bright and new and strong. Something inside her that had been silent for years, decades, sang and Skull gasped.

She knew this. She knew this feeling. She remembered this from that night, that horrible night where her world had shattered and made way for a new one of mirrors and lies. She had searched for this feeling for years before giving up on ever finding it and now here it was. Here it had been for months, right in front of her and she'd refused to see it because of old burns and fears.

Warmth-home-safe-mine.

Something wet slid slowly down one cheek as Skull gasped like someone who had been drowning and now finally had access to air, pulling desperately on the new bond, stroking it, relishing in it as a conviction settled deep in her bones, into the very core of her spark-fire.

She was home.

---

Xanxus felt the last piece, his missing Element, finally click into place and something deep inside him relaxed. It was like a muscle he had never known existed had been taut and knotting, driving him to distraction without his conscious knowledge until it finally came undone and his instincts purred.

Skull was his now. His and no one else's forevermore. Skull's flames tugged desperately on the bond as a tear slid slowly down the Arcobaleno's cheek, hungry for the feeling of Home and Belonging at last. Xanxus obliged immediately, flaring his Sky flames until heat waves rippled through the room. His flames wrapped around his new Guardian without hesitation, supplying the feeling of Home and Harmony in as great a strength as Skull desired even as he resisted the urge to laugh with glee.

The World's Strongest Cloud. Not just that, but a powerful Mist as well, one who showed signs of having freely mixed his primary Cloud with his secondary Mist in order to boost it to otherwise unattainable levels. A Misty Cloud, arguably the rarest of all flame combinations, and he was Xanxus's now.

Mammon was going to have a heart attack when she found out about this.

Xanxus shifted his weight a bit and grunted faintly at the sudden surge of pain the motion triggered from his burns and other injuries. Skull instantly bristled with worry and two seconds later, Xanxus found himself being held bridal style in Skull's arms and carried back to the armchair, "Hey!"

"Shush," Skull scolded, "you're injured. So, it's either I carry you or Ōdako does. Your choice."

Xanxus glanced across the room at the tiny octopus happily swimming around its wall-sized aquarium and grunted, "I'm not letting some slimy-a** octopus carry me around in its d*** tentacles no matter how well you've trained it."

Skull snorted good-naturedly, then paused in mid-step when Xanxus began to poke the chest he was being held against curiously. Skull asked slowly, "…What are you doing?"

Xanxus moved to roughly prodding one of Skull's shoulders, trying to figure out why it felt perfectly real when he logically knew it couldn't be, "Trying to figure out how the h*** you went from being a chibi who needs a stepladder to climb onto the d*** couch to an adult big enough to pick me up against my will."

Skull shrugged, "Oh, that? Mist spark-fire. I anchor it to my Cloud spark-fire and use the propagation property of my primary to boost the construction property of my secondary. The end result is a solid form that feels real and comes in whatever size, shape, and age I want."

Xanxus opened his mouth to ask how in the world she came up with the idea, and why she called flames spark-fire, when Silhouette's voice drawled from the kitchen doorway, "I thought that in human culture it was the man who carried the woman. Not the other way around."

Skull jolted and nearly dropped Xanxus, causing him to curse at the jarring of his injuries, "Silhouette! Don't tell him that!"

The human … construct that the transforming robot alien used raised an eyebrow, "Why not? I'm not having him wander in on my charge while you're changing or something because he thinks you're 'one of the guys'. Breakfast is ready by the way."

The new bond thrummed with agitated embarrassment and Xanxus shifted grouchily as Skull carried him into the kitchen. To distract from his wounded dignity and lack of guns with which to shoot the cause of his indignation, he asked, "Wait, she's serious?"

Skull set him down gently on a chair at the kitchen table and then flopped onto the one next to him, still in an adult version of his, her? real form, "Yeah, I'm a girl. I was going to tell you myself later, but Silhouette's a spoilsport."

That … explained some things about Skull's character actually. Xanxus blinked, processed the new information, then changed the subject because he sensed it made his new Cloud uncomfortable, "How the h*** does a giant alien robot know how to make f****** waffles and scrambled eggs?"

Silhouette put a plate down in front of each of them and drawled sarcastically, "Since she's been taking care of a human child for years. Oh, and call me a 'robot' again and I'll smash all of the wine bottles Skull's collected for you in front of your eyes. Call me Silhouette, femme, Autobot, or even cybernetic organism if you have to, but don't call me a robot again."

She leveled a stern look that Xanxus promptly ignored, even though he grudgingly filed the list of acceptable terms away for later. It wouldn't due to anger his new Cloud by insulting part of her Territory right off the bat, "Whatever, femme." Silhouette gave a look of approval before moving to retrieve drinks.

The morning, despite his injuries, his new bond, and the fact he was holding an argument/conversation with a "cybernetic organism" from space, was surprisingly normal. Sure, it didn't have Squalo waving his sword around, Belphegor trying to stab everybody, Levi thundering, and Lussuria laughing while Mammon complained about the expense of replacing the dining table again, but it still held an offbeat, chaotic air that made him feel oddly at home.

The wet, tiny octopus engaging him in a tug-of-war over the saltshaker and the transforming tea kettle with claustrophobia issues was kinda weird though, even by his standards.

Once breakfast was finished, the war over the saltshaker was won, the tea kettle convinced to go back into its cupboard by Skull, and pain medication forced down his throat by an agitated Cloud, Xanxus turned his attention away from basking in his new bond to the panic and rage flickering across from his other ones. He held out his hand from where he'd been forcibly carried by Skull and deposited onto a plushy chair in the huge garage, "Oi, give me back my d*** phone so I can call the trash and tell them to calm the f*** down."

Skull paused in disemboweling a truck engine, still using Mist flames to create an adult version of her true self, long enough to obligingly toss Xanxus his phone. He turned it on and scowled when it booted up to the main menu rather than the locked encryption screen he'd been expecting, "You f****** hacked my phone."

"I needed to make a call. Which you overheard. Who is S***** Shark anyway?"

Temporarily diverted from his original task, Xanxus began painstakingly rebuilding the encryption on his phone, "Squalo Superbi, my Rain and Second in Command. He keeps the trash from getting into s*** … when he isn't d*** well getting into it himself and- How the h*** did you break into Varia level encryption this thoroughly? The old codes are f****** shattered! Even that b****** Giannini couldn't break these codes!"

Skull snorted and waved a wrench lazily in his direction before resuming her tinkering, "Hello, raised by hyper-advanced alien, remember? I've been cracking cybertronian A-ranked encryption codes since I was 17."

Xanxus paused in mid-motion, then asked, "Think you could program the Varia's electronics with that level of encryption?"

Skull blinked, then glanced down at Silhouette, who was in her robot form cleaning two giant katanas. Silhouette looked up, and Xanxus felt the a foreign bond pulse between his Cloud and the Cybertronian for a few seconds before Skull turned back to Xanxus and said, "Probably not A-ranked, Earth technology generally can't handle that level of coding, but I could probably swing a C-rank or a B-rank. The encryption on your phone is roughly the equivalent of an F-rank, by the way."

Xanxus processed the implications of that and swore. The Varia had some of the best, if not the best, encryption and security measures known to man and Skull said it was at least six levels below what she could hack and three levels below what she could encrypt into Earth technology?

Well d***.

Xanxus pointed his phone at Skull menacingly, "We'll discuss that later, Chibi." Skull nodded amiably, still too busy tinkering and drinking in the sensation of Harmony to really care about anything. Xanxus shook his head, set his phone to speaker, turned the volume way down, and selected Mammon's number.

A ring and a half passed before the phone clicked and Mammon's voice drifted coldly through, "This had better be the Boss this time."

"Trash," Xanxus acknowledged curtly, "what the h*** this I hear about all of you running around HQ like f****** chickens with your d*** heads cut off?"

"Moue, Boss, you are well then?" His bond with his Mist, stretched by distance though it was, hummed with relief.

Xanxus grunted, "Like the traitorous scum and his employer could f****** take me down."

He heard a loud clatter-thump from the other side of the line and felt Mammon's exasperation as she put her phone on speaker for the other Guardians without prompting, "The woman who called on your phone earlier mentioned stitches."

Xanxus shot the eavesdropping Skull a nasty look to which she responded with a smirk and a wink. Great, his Cloud was a cheeky s*** on top of everything else. That would be fun to introduce to the others, "Nothing serious, just a d*** scratch or two." Silhouette made a grinding noise he decided to interpret as an incredulous snort and resisted the urge to shoot her with his newly returned guns. For one, it probably wouldn't work, for another, his bond with Skull was only a few hours old and he didn't want to risk misunderstandings over his disciplinary measures just yet.

He made a mental note to get revenge on the femme later while Squalo thundered through the phone, "Voi! Where are h*** you? What's your situation? Is that d*** b**** causing you trouble? I'll f****** slice her to pieces!"

Skull had slapped a hand over her mouth about halfway through and was clearly holding in sniggers. A pulse of amusement rippled across to him so strongly that he had to bite back a laugh in return. Squalo cut off mid-word as he finally sensed the new bond with his Sky. Even though Elements didn't necessarily share bonds with each other, they could always sense when another bond was active or when it was used to communicate with the Sky they shared.

Mammon was the first to break the silence, curiosity leaking audibly into her voice, "The Cloud you were courting is there? And you've harmonized already?" She had warned him that Clouds could take years to properly court depending on how strong their flames were, so he supposed it was a valid question.

Xanxus grunted in affirmation and his Guardians positively exploded with questions and demands. They apparently hadn't figured out yet why he'd been regularly disappearing to America. Idiot trash.

Skull lost the war with her laughter as the sounds of the Varia thundered over the phone and nearly shook the garage, her whoops of mirth fitting in rather well with the usual sounds of screaming, brawling, and chaos Xanxus was used to as his Guardians fought over who got to hold Mammon's phone and demand answers.

Xanxus grinned smugly to himself as he basked in the racket. He had a feeling that things at the Varia Headquarters were about to get even more interesting than before.

.

.

---

So! Explanations! First off, because I just know my head is at risk over this one, Xanxus's near-capture. I can just hear people demanding to know why I would dare have something like that happens to him. Well, in response to the possible-impending questions, yes, I know Xanxus is a bad-aft, yes he is Varia Quality, and yes he's scary as pit, but in my defense he is still human. And as a human, he can still be (occasionally) caught off guard, particularly since it was partially an inside job. Furthermore, I have hinted very strongly in the story that he did not go down without a very good fight and that the bad guys were cheating like crazy. They had a little over two battalions of flame users up against him, plus snipers on the rooftops with specially designed, flame-resistant sedative. Considering that a battalion can have anywhere from 400 to 1000 men, I felt that the odds were sufficiently evened up.

As for Xanxus moving around so soon after his injuries ... this is anime. Specifically, this is the anime that features a special bullet that when shot at somebody, does not kill them but instead makes them lose all clothing save their boxers and run off to do some task or other with flaming foreheads. I think enhanced durability and pain resistance is the least of the improbable things in this universe.

Point number three, Xanxus was partially conscious through a good portion of Skull's Rage/rescue, he was just too drugged and injured to really do anything about it, so he pretended he was still out cold in an effort to get more information. Silhouette could tell he wasn't because she can read his vitals, brain-wave activity, and 'spark-rate' with her scanners. Xanxus only tried to get up and move because he was being carried and spoken to by a giant robot that could turn into a motorcycle and somehow knew he was semi-conscious.

The talk between Xanxus and Silhouette was essentially just Silhouette explaining what she was and where she came from before demanding he tell her what he wanted with Skull. In return, Xanxus told Silhouette what he wanted from Skull and why it had to be Skull and not some other Cloud.

Finally, just in case anyone is wondering, the woman Cloud that saved Xanxus as a kid was Skull in disguise, she took him back to his mother and left with the intention of arranging protection for the juvenile Sky, but by the time she got back, Xanxus's mother had already taken him to the Vongola and Skull figured he was as safe there as anywhere she, a recently Cursed Arcobaleno, could provide. Neither of them are particularly aware of this fact yet, as it was a very long time ago for Skull and Xanxus hasn't quite put the pieces together yet as to her illusionary abilities and the mysterious Cloud from years ago.

There. I think I've covered everything. Hope you enjoyed!