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.

4. Fourth Stanza: In Which Minds Are Blown

Hello all! Here is something of a Part 2 to the previous Stanza. Since the last one covered Skull harmonizing with Xanxus, this one covers her introduction into the Varia and such. I had fun with this chapter, the Varia are highly entertaining to write. Leaves off on a tiny bit of a cliffhanger, but still.

Review Response: Dear Freddie4153, greetings! Aw, thank you! So glad to hear you think it's brilliant!

Dear wolfsrainrules, hi! (laughs) Whoo! Oh, just wait till you read the rest of this chapter, Mammon is in for quite a surprise indeed!

Dear Guest(s), hello! While I am pleased that you think this story is good, I will not be changing my method of showing curse words. I personally despise curse words and, if I possibly could, would not use them in this story at all. However, if I left them out, I'm sure a lot of people would complain about the Varia being OOC for not cursing. This is my middle ground. If it truly frustrates you that much well (shrugs helplessly) you don't have to read it. There are literally hundreds of other KHR stories here on FanFiction that do not censor their curses and use them a LOT more than I do. Personally, I wish people would censor the curses in their stories a lot more, but whether they do or not is their choice, just as this is mine. I hope that did not come off as antagonistic, because I am merely trying to state and explain my reasoning/opinions. I also hope you will continue to enjoy my story despite "annoying censoring".

Dear StepOnLego14, hi there! So glad you love it! I hope you find this update just as enjoyable!

Dear Youko Artemis, hey there! Thank you for your compliments! I was really hoping that my blend of Transformers and KHR was enjoyable! Please enjoy this Varia and Skull-centric update!

Author's Note: So, a quick explanation or two about later sections in the chapter for the curious. One, Silhouette is partly responsible for the Ombra's quick and thorough work. She hacked the network of the enemy and got a list of all their members, safe-houses, bases, etc and forwarded it to the Ombra. Two, Silhouette is also the reason Skull completes her mission the way she does without fear of being discovered. Silhouette hacked into the enemy cameras and deleted all video evidence. So even if the witnesses try to figure out how she did what she did, they would have to work on their adrenaline/fear-hazed memories and not clear video recordings. Also, for all who want translations for Japanese or Italian words used in this chapter, please refer to the bottom of the page, just like in my Fairy Tail story. Finally, for all those waiting for updates on either AUW or AMOSC, I will try to have AUW updated sometime tomorrow (no promises though) and I'm still working on the next chapter of AMOSC. If it's any consolation, the AMOSC chapter looks like it's going to be a long one.

Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Transformers, or any terminology from the respective fandoms. The only things I own are my OCs who have run off with my plot (again).

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Fourth Stanza: In Which Walls Are Smashed and Minds Are Blown.

Year: 2009. Season: Early Summer. Country: Italy. Age: Cursed.

Skull stared up at the Varia. The Varia stared down at her. Silence reigned in the Varia Headquarters for a new record of three minutes while Xanxus just leaned against the wall in the background, careful not to agitate his healing injuries, and smirked in anticipation.

Mammon was the one to break the silence oddly enough, her voice as flat and dead as a wasteland even as her disapproval hummed pointedly at Xanxus, "You are Xanxus's new Cloud Guardian."

There was a spike of irritation, then vindictive mischief from Skull's bond and she puffed out her chest, "As if anyone but the Great and Immortal Skull-sama would be worth Xanxus's time!"

Xanxus blinked in distant surprise at the pompous, whiny tone. He'd almost forgotten how Skull usually acted around people. Skull hadn't played the idiot ex-civilian around him in months, showing her more sarcastic and witty side instead as he'd gained her trust. Then his smirk grew. So that was Skull's game was it? Test the other Guardians the same way she'd tested him?

This was going to be even more amusing than he'd first thought.

Though it also meant he'd need even more alcohol than usual to deal with the impending headaches.

Squalo's scowl deepened, "Voi! Then who was the b**** that hacked the Boss's phone?"

Skull shuffled slightly, "Eto …that was probably Kawena. She dropped Xanxus off at my safe-house a few days ago. She must have hacked his phone around that time." Xanxus gave no indication that he knew Skull was lying. Technically, by mafia standards, Skull was actually still telling the truth. People used multiple aliases all the time and there was no rule against referring to that alias by its name and not as yourself. Not that the mafia followed non-Vindice rules in general anyway.

Mammon tilted her head, suspicion in her manner, "You were the contact with Xanxus of whom the hacker spoke?"

Skull shrugged, "I suppose so-ieee!" Skull danced back, flailing comically as she dodged the knife that had gone flying her way from Belphegor's fingers. Pointing with exaggerated agitation at the blond, Skull shrieked, "You dare throw that at the Great Skull-sama?"

Belphegor flicked three more knives at Skull, all of which were dodged with much shrieking, protesting, and flailing that Xanxus knew was a total act. He may have been mostly unconscious during Skull's intervention at the enemy mansion, but he did recall enough to know that Skull was much more coordinated and dangerous than she was currently pretending to be.

After Skull stopped shrieking to take a breath, Belphegor's lips twisted into the smile he used when he was particularly annoyed, "Ushishishi. Boss, can I skewer this one? He's annoying and useless."

Levi crossed his arms and scowled, "I fail to see how you managed to impress the Boss."

Xanxus growled, "Trash, you got a problem with my choice?"

His Guardians glanced at each other meaningfully, none of them daring to say that they did in fact have a problem with his choice. Xanxus glowered at them, though internally he was smirking. From the feelings vibrating to him from his new bond with Skull, they were going to regret underestimating her so badly. Eventually, Levi mumbled about how they did not doubt the Boss's judgement, just Skull's capability to handle their kind of missions.

Xanxus growled at them and straightened up. His burns and stitches twinged and he took a deep, slow breath to keep from showing any other signs of pain. Instantly, his Guardians shifted their attention away from the newcomer. Lussuria hurried over, "Boss~, does something hurt? Let me have a look!"

Xanxus sneered, "I don't need-"

His Cloud didn't say anything, but the sudden "agree or else" vibes over their new bond made him pause and shift his attention to her. His eyes narrowed, "Know your place, Chibi." you may be my Cloud, but you can't give me orders, was left unspoken but heard between them.

Skull shifted defensively, still putting on a show for his other Guardians, "B-but every good stunt rider knows that you cannot perform perfectly if you refuse medical treatment!" stop being stubborn and let you Sun have a look, was the unspoken retort.

His other Guardians glanced back and forth during the exchange, obviously trying to figure out Skull's place in their pecking order underneath Xanxus. Xanxus meanwhile, was debating whether his stubborn distaste for medical treatment when he didn't absolutely need it was worth risking a fussy Cloud. He had only been stuck in Skull's safe house for three days before they'd headed back to Italy, but Skull had already proved to be very … protective in ways he hadn't anticipated from a wielder of the supposedly most aloof Element. Then again, she was Inverted and part Mist.

With a snort, Xanxus turned away and headed for his office. His Guardians followed him silently up the various flights of stairs, scattering cautiously around the room as he sat down on his throne. He shot Lussuria a look and his Sun Guardian grinned and came forward without further prompting.

Sun flames gently swept through his system and Lussuria went very still, "Ma, ma, Boss~," Lussuria purred dangerously, "these are not just a few scratches."

Xanxus gave Lussuria a bland look, "It's fine."

Lussuria sent Sun flames through his deeper scratches, "With all due respect, Boss~, second degree burns, two bullet wounds, and seven different sets of stitches that are at least ten stitches long each is not fine."

Absolute silence fell in the wake of his words. Belphegor froze in mid-motion from where he'd been about to throw another knife at Skull. Squalo's mouth snapped shut from where he'd been arguing with Levi. Mammon, who had been steadily glaring at Skull from underneath her hood, now shifted her gaze to Xanxus.

Two seconds of stunned silence later, Squalo exploded, "Voi! I'm going to hunt every last one of those b******* down and f****** gut them!"

Belphegor started twirling the knife he'd been about to throw, "Ushishishi, maybe we should have kept Ventura alive for a little longer, it seems we didn't play rough enough with him."

Levi growled and clenched his fists, "When our men finish tracking down those b******* and their boss…"

Lussuria didn't look up from his work as he practically sang, "I'll bring the stapler and the pencil sharpener~."

Xanxus cracked an eye open, "There's no one to hunt down. They're all dead." Silhouette had personally confirmed that. Apparently, even though Skull wasn't affiliated with any of the Mafia families, she'd taken over a famiglia or three by accident over the years, though Skull had refused to explain how somebody took over a Famiglia by accident. After combining the famiglias, she'd placed a chosen subordinate as its Don. The Don dealt with day-to-day affairs and politics and could run the Famiglia mostly as he pleased, but had to perform any orders Skull relayed in payment for his position of power.

One phone call was all it had taken and Xanxus had gotten to watch via Skull's expansive monitors as the Ombra Famiglia tracked down and systematically wiped out every adult member of the american family that had ambushed Xanxus. The children had been taken away, to be absorbed, Skull explained, into the Ombra Famiglia.

It had been fast, efficient work that had reluctantly impressed the Sky. Not Varia Quality, but close enough to make him sit up and take notice.

Mammon tilted her head, "All of them? How so?" She didn't doubt his words, but as an information broker, it was an important factoid.

Lussuria stepped back, his work finished, and Xanxus leaned forward to pull a bottle of wine from his desk drawer, "The Ombra hunted the trash down and took them out."

Squalo rubbed his sword arm agitatedly, "Voi! Why the h*** would they do that? They aren't associated with the Vongola or the Varia!"

Levi crossed his arms over his chest, "Better question is how the h*** they did that. It would've taken time to track down all of the bases. They had to have left stragglers behind."

Xanxus let them debate, argue, and yell for a while until Mammon spoke up, "You know something about this, Skull?"

Skull twitched and flailed, "W-well- I- It might possibly…" she settled down and shrugged helplessly, "The Don of the Ombra Famiglia might, might, mind you … owe Kawena a few favors?"

Conversation erupted again until Xanxus got irritated with the noise level and threw his wine glass at Squalo's head, snarling at everyone to shut up and leave as he did so. His Guardians hastily filed out, most of them probably plotting various tests for Skull, with Mammon being the last one to leave. Mammon hesitated, looking as if she wanted to ask a question, but one long look from Xanxus had her leaving without a word. Xanxus reached into his desk drawer, pulled out a spare glass, and filled it with more wine.

It was time for the real fun, and headaches, to begin.

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The next two weeks passed just as Skull thought they would.

Squalo ordered her around at top volume and many insults while waving his sword-hand too close to her helmet for most people's comfort.

Lussuria tried to push her psychological buttons by acting exaggeratedly clingy. He also cooed over Skull's "cuteness", attempted to startle her in the halls by popping up at random or even attempting to hug her, gave orders hidden as sing-song requests, and performed something dangerously similar to flirting. Thankfully for Lussuria, Skull's mirrors were strong and she managed to refrain hitting him between the legs with her sword-shaped letter opener over the last one.

Mammon just ignored her unless necessary and spoke with thickly veiled, but still visible, contempt whenever interaction was required.

Belphegor seemed to think she was his newest knife and prank target. Anything from smelly paint-bombs to barrages of knives were thrown her way at random intervals in the hallways, the various common rooms and the outdoors. He also pushed her boundaries incessantly. He stole the food she selected from the fridge, stole the remote and changed the channel if she tried to watch the T.V., and broke into her new room repeatedly to remove items and set traps at whim. He also took part in everyone's new favorite pastime of ordering her around.

It was Levi that gave Skull the most trouble, funnily enough. The man was overbearing like the others, but he was also a fanboy of Xanxus and made it clear that he perceived Skull as an unworthy interloper to Xanxus's attention. The biggest problem she had with him was that Levi wouldn't let her go anywhere. She hadn't left the Varia castle in all of those two weeks because of Levi, he was too busy testing her on all of the Varia recruitment requirements when the others weren't trying to force her onto the bottom rung of the Guardian ladder.

If she hadn't spent so long keeping her Mirrors from cracking under the force of the Arcobaleno, she probably would have snapped and beat them all into the ground a week ago.

But, even as her patience steadily dwindled and they tested her Mirror #1, she watched and tested in return. She didn't do anything as obvious as traps, but she reacted, raised and lowered sub-mirrors in complicated patterns to provoke reactions with which she gauged their character.

Squalo was loud, rude, and blunt, but he also treated the other accepted Guardians and everyone under his command equally. He wasn't nice by any normal definition of the word, but he didn't actually punish without due cause and he never dished out levels of verbal and physical abuse to that were beyond what the target in question could handle. He had rigid standards, he didn't play favorites, and any dissension in the ranks was dealt with almost before it could form.

Lussuria, for all that he acted crazy and vaguely air-headed, was observant. Dangerously observant. He could pick people apart and figure out how to either annoy them or calm them down within mere minutes of meeting them. He figured out Mirror #1's "hidden" ticks within that timeframe, and she suspected that over the past two weeks Lussuria had already managed to catch a glimpse or two behind Mirror #1. Though she honestly didn't mind too much that he had. Lussuria was the "mom" of the Varia Guardians and she knew that while he would continue to test her for a while, he had mostly accepted Xanxus's choice of Cloud Guardian already.

Skull had picked Mammon apart long ago and deemed her unworthy of seeing behind Skull's Mirrors. That original opinion still stood. However, since she knew that she would have to let the woman in sometime now that they were both Guardians of the same Sky, Skull simply decided that when she did allow Mammon past the Mirrors, it would be in such an obvious, dramatic way that it would shatter Mammon's view of the world into pieces.

Belphegor was simultaneously the bratty youngest sibling and the homicidal watch-dog of the Guardians. As a "watch-dog", Belphegor had learned to channel his bloodlust into both a way to keep the lower ranks safe, and an efficient threat-level assessment. For the grunts, Belphegor's pranks and fits of knife-throwing were carefully designed to keep their skills sharp with only minimal injuries. If anyone was seriously injured by his antics, it meant that they were a liability to his Sky and had to either be retrained or removed entirely.

For unknowns and possible threats to his Sky, like Skull, Belphegor's over-the-top attacks, pranks, and bullying were specifically geared to run her off if she was too big of a liability to be a good Guardian, or expose her if she was too large of a threat to allow close to Xanxus.

For all that Levi drove her Cloud instincts up the wall and across the ceiling with his rules and demands, she could still see that he was a good Lightning Guardian. He confronted things head-on in a manner that would make any fallout hit him and not the others. He was devoted to Xanxus and he made sure everyone knew it and that anyone who got close to Xanxus was just as loyal as he. Any signs of dissension or disloyalty were blocked from reaching Xanxus and pushed back on itself. He may not have been the brightest flash of lightning in a thunderstorm, but he was arguably the most focused she had ever come across that wasn't an Inverted Lightning.

Slowly, Skull was determining that these were people worthy of allowing past her Mirrors like she had allowed Xanxus. If she could just retain enough patience with them to not beat them all over the head with her favorite wrench. She had mentioned that desire to Silhouette earlier and something about her dark snarl and her fingering of said tool had caused the cybertronian femme to reflexively flinch and mutter about demon medics for reasons lost on Skull.

Then one day, Levi pushed too far and things came to a head.

Skull glared from within her helmet at the man who was preventing the garage door from opening. Levi glared back, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised suspiciously, "Where do you think you're going, Lackey?"

Oh yes, that was another reason she wanted to hit Levi with a wrench. He had somehow picked up Reborn's nickname for Mirror #1 and now used it whenever he was irritated with her. Which was ninety-nine percent of every daytime hour and fifty percent of the night ones. Silhouette had run actual calculations to conclude that.

Straightening up behind Silhouette's handlebars, Skull gritted out through Mirror #1, "Out? Where does it look like I'm going?"

Levi continued to glower down at her, "You haven't been assigned a mission."

Skull waved her arms, "So? I c-can take a ride around town if I want! My bike needs a good run to make sure everything's working righ-"

Levi growled and stomped toward her, "Who cares about your d*** bike, Lackey? You were not given authorization to leave the premises! You'll just get into trouble and bother Boss! Go back inside! You're hunk of junk isn't going to rust between now and when Boss deems you worthy of a mission."

Skull had stiffened during his first sentence, but at his last, she had gone dangerously rigid. Silhouette attempted to soothe her over their bond, saying she wasn't insulted, that Levi was just an idiot, and that it wasn't worth Skull's time and effort. Skull almost, almost, listened to her.

Then Levi gave off little jolts of Lightning Flame static, static she knew was strong enough to hurt Silhouette if it touched, while reaching to roughly grab Skull off of her sister's alt mode.

Now, Skull was an inverted Cloud. She was normally very easygoing compared to Classic Clouds and she tried to give people the benefit of doubt and circumstance. But being cooped up for two weeks in a castle full of people who treated her like either a threat or trash had already agitated her Cloud instincts and need to travel to dangerous levels, and now Levi was threatening one of Skull's people. Part of her Territory. It didn't matter that the threat was unintentional, it was enough to tip her Cloud side over the proverbial edge.

She barely managed to restrain her instincts enough to make sure Levi would have enough air time to harden his body before he went through the far wall of the garage and three more inside the castle itself.

Levi had barely landed in a shower of debris and the occupants of the living room had barely had enough time to process that it was Levi who had just gone whipping past them into the nearest wall and not a threat before Skull caught up with the Lightning Guardian. She landed on top of him as he fell out of the crater in the living room wall and to the floor, her boots digging into the nape of his neck.

Pressure flooded the room as Skull's shadow twisted and morphed into the shape of the adult Skull De Mort. Everyone in the room went utterly still, even Squalo freezing from where he'd been leaping up from the couch to demand an explanation. Skull leaned down so that the mouthpiece of her helmet was next to Levi's right ear, "My bike is not a piece of junk and you will never refer to her as such. You will also never approach her while giving off static Lightning Flames, or I will take your umbrellas and thread them through your vertebrae. Am I understood?"

Sweat slid down Levi's forehead as the pressure in the room grew to a near unbearable point. Squalo's muscles were wire-tight, his sword twitching with restrained intent and Belphegor kept making aborted movements towards his knives.

Just as things were reaching a breaking point, Xanxus's Sky flames filled the room, "Skull." Skull looked up from where she was leaning over Levi, danger screaming from every line of her tiny body. Xanxus leaned against the doorframe to the living room, his red eyes scanning the situation with implacable calm. Skull tugged harshly on their bond, silently conveying her feelings of smothered-enraged-need-to-move-need-to-be-free- and Xanxus jerked his head toward the hole in the wall, "Go. Mission when you get back."

Skull stared at him for a few more seconds before she nodded curtly and stomped through the holes she'd made in the walls back to the garage. Slapping the garage door controls, she clambered back onto Silhouette and they took off at top speed.

They did not return for three weeks.

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Squalo paused mid-word in the mission briefing when Xanxus sat up on his throne and shifted his attention to the window. Mammon tilted her head to one side, "Boss?"

Xanxus rested his chin on his hand, a vaguely smug look in his eyes, "Change of plans, trash."

Squalo scowled, "Voi! What the h***, S***** Boss? We've been planning this hit for a two weeks! What the f*** do you mean 'change of plans'?"

Xanxus shot Squalo a warning look, one hand drifting toward his guns at the disrespectful address. Belphegor hummed and spun one of his knives between his fingers, head tilting curiously at his boss's words. Mammon jumped over to the window and peered down, trying to identify what had changed Xanxus's mind.

After several minutes of Xanxus refusing to explain himself, Squalo yelling at him and Belphegor twirling his knives impatiently, the door to the briefing room opened. All heads save Xanxus's immediately turned to see who had entered. Skull dropped down from the doorknob and stalked inside, seemingly oblivious to the absolute silence that had fallen over the room.

Skull jumped up onto the large table with maps and other data spread across it and turned her gaze expectantly to her Sky. Xanxus drawled, "About time you showed up, Chibi."

Skull flinched and waved her arms slightly, "Gomenasai, Xanxus-sama! But the traffic on the way back was terrible and-"

Xanxus flicked a hand lazily, "Be quiet. Squalo's going to explain your mission. Oi, trash get on with it."

Squalo looked positively thunderous, "Voi! This f****** wimp isn't part of the plan, S***** Boss! There's nothing to explain!"

Xanxus's gaze sharpened, his Flames flaring in a subtle display of power to garner silence, "Yes. He is. This is now officially his initiation mission. Mammon will be his backup and the on-field judge of his skill-level."

Belphegor hissed, "This was supposed to be my and Mammon's mission with the peasant Shark as backup. Surely you can't want to replace us on the mission roster for this … squeaky toy of a Cloud."

The pressure of Xanxus's Sky Flames grew fractionally as Xanxus dropped one hand onto the grip of his pistol, "Shut up, Trash."

Belphegor's mouth snapped shut as he sensed that his Sky was serious about the order. Squalo looked ready to wave his sword around and bellow, but the steady pressure in the room coming from Xanxus warned that his boss was very serious and would not tolerate being questioned on his decision.

Mammon clicked her tongue in disapproval and turned to Skull, "Fine then. Moue, listen up idiot, this is a vital mission on behalf of the Vongola Famiglia. It is also your official initiation into the Varia, so do try not to mess up too badly."

Skull gave a squawk of protest at the "too badly" part, but Mammon pressed on, obeying her Sky's wishes in including the newest Guardian. Pushing a dossier of information over to Skull, Mammon intoned, "The mission is political assassination and information retrieval. The target is Fulberto, an officer of the Pessolano Famiglia in charge of their human trafficking activities. Vongola Decimo has attempted to negotiate with them to stop, but their response to his advances were … less than satisfactory. It's been decided that a more forceful demonstration of displeasure is required."

Skull flipped through the dossier as Mammon continued, "The mission, which was originally going to be handled by myself and Belphegor, is to retrieve all available information Fulberto has on the Pessolano's human trafficking ring and eliminate him in order to discourage the Pessolano from continuing the practice."

Skull had closed the dossier and had moved to study the maps and extra data the Varia had collected in preparation for the mission while Mammon continued to list known information, including estimated guard strength, the established patterns of the target, and the most likely locations for where the desired papers or computer data would be kept.

Eventually, Mammon fell silent and Squalo slammed his metal hand on the table with a snarl, "Voi! You got all, d*** trash? You'll be wearing surveillance equipment so we can watch how badly you f*** up from here!"

Skull looked up from the photos she'd been studying, her helmet hiding all expression. Through their bond, Xanxus felt a soft thrum of serious concentration even as his Cloud continued to posture and brag as was expected of her. He wondered briefly over that, the chosen mask his Cloud wore. He could see its advantages, but he wondered how she suppressed the Cloud instinct to not be caged by anything, even expectation, long enough to maintain the facade.

As Skull jumped down, dodging Belphegor's idly thrown knife, and headed for the door, Xanxus called after her, "Chibi."

Skull paused in the doorway, helmet turning to acknowledge him, "Y-Yes, Boss?"

Xanxus leaned back on his throne, his hands lightly gripping the armrests as he growled, "Don't f****** hold back."

Skull stared for a few seconds, before she nodded seriously and left, Mammon trailing along behind to prepare the surveillance equipment and serve as backup which only Xanxus was sure that Skull wouldn't need.

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Skull lay on her stomach on the rooftop, using the zoom function built into her customized helmet to observe her target one last time before moving. She had been given a week to complete the mission, six days of which she had spent observing her target and setting up her plan while Silhouette secretly hacked into the hard drive of every computer and phone connected to the network of the Pessolano and copied every scrap of information they contained.

Beside her, Mammon practically radiated skepticism and disapproval while below her, Fulberto went about his business on the open street. Even though strict radio silence was being enforced between herself and Varia headquarters, Skull could practically hear Squalo, Belphegor, and the by-now-returned Levi yelling at her to grab a sniper rifle and take the shot.

Skull made no move to do so. She just watched as Fulberto climbed into his car and was driven away by his chauffeur. Mammon hissed softly, "Moue, you really are a stupid Lackey. That was the fifth perfect opportunity to complete half of your objective you've passed up this week."

Skull shook her head and stood up, "Hmm, you doubt the Great Skull-sama's strategy? I have a brilliant plan that requires nothing so petty as a sniper-rifle!"

Mammon clicked her tongue, "You're wasting time and time is money."

Skull's helmet HUD pinged and pulled up a small window. Data scrolled down rapidly through the window as Silhouette's voice drifted through the private com, "This is the last of it. I've checked everything over and from every indication, this is all of the important data. Anything on paper would either be copies or miscellaneous."

Turning off the external speaker for a moment, Skull made for the stairs leading off of the roof, "So it would seem. Schedule?"

"You called it correctly. He's visiting the Pessolano Famiglia's headquarters today to report." Silhouette paused, then asked, "Are you really going to do this? So soon?"

Skull hummed quietly to herself as she took the stairs five at a time, "Yes."

"…Why?" There was a pulse of worry from Silhouette's end of their bond, the doubt about Skull's decision, "They could turn on you, Skull. He could leave you."

"You don't understand, Silhouette. I … I don't even think I understand it fully. But he is my Sky now, just as he is theirs and we are his. I can't hide from them forever, Silhouette. Elements have to protect our Sky and to do that, we need to integrate." Skull sighed faintly, "It isn't as if I will tell them everything. But I cannot protect what is Mine if they think I am too weak to do so and end up getting in my way."

Walking out the back door of the corporate building she had snuck onto the roof of, Skull murmured darkly, "I'm going to make a point Silhouette, a point that has been far too long in coming."

Silhouette sent a gentle pulse of support, "Alright. I'll follow your lead on this one, Bright Spark, but do be careful."

Skull clambered onto Silhouette's alt mode and smirked to herself, "Now where would the fun in that be, Sil?"

Silhouette revved her engine in grudging laughter as they pulled away and made for the Pessolano manor.

It was the middle of the afternoon when Skull arrived at the mansion. Mammon was somewhere overhead, Fantasma keeping her airborne as she observed Skull on her mission. The tiny camera setup attached to Skull's suit, one in the front on her chest, one on each shoulder, and one between her shoulder blades, allowed the others back at Varia Castle to observe her as well.

Security at Fulberto Pessolano's house was tight. Efficient bodyguards and frequent patrols would have made it difficult to enter the grounds unnoticed. However, compared to the security at the Pessolano's main house, Fulberto's home was practically unguarded.

Security cameras lined the high stone fence with its iron-spiked top as well as the very eaves and hallways of the house. Guards and trained attack dogs patrolled the perimeter of the property while Flame-users patrolled the manor itself. No one, not even Famiglia members, could get in without a verbally spoken passcode that was randomly generated and made for one-time use. The concept of sneaking inside the grounds, let alone the house, and remaining unnoticed for very long was insane.

So it was a good thing for Skull that she had no intention of sneaking in.

She was going in through the front gate.

Silhouette slowed to a stop obediently as the guards at the gate waved their weapons menacingly and ordered her to halt. The protective canopy rolled back and Skull sat up. She waved an indignant fist at the nearest guard, "What are you doing? You're going to make me late!"

The men had tensed at the sight of an Arcobaleno and raised their weapons, "You don't have an appointment-"

Skull waved both arms childishly, "Oh, bother. What was that stupid number code- Ah! I remember! My passcode is 067-452-910. There, see? Now let me in, or the Great Skull-sama will be most displeased!"

The two men glanced at each other, confused expressions on their faces before they reluctantly stepped aside and called for the gate to be opened. The large iron-wrought gates slid open and Skull drove in with a high-pitched huff and a, "About time! I'm a busy man, I don't have time for waiting around!"

By the time she had gone up yet another long driveway and parked Silhouette at the front door of the manor, the guards at the gate had already called ahead. A butler was waiting for her as well as three well-armed guards whom she sensed had weak but active Sun Flames.

Skull smiled thinly from within her helmet as she was escorted inside and led toward the Pessolano Boss's office.

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Back at Varia headquarters, Squalo was practically rabid with ire, "Voooiiii! What does that b****** think he's doing? He's going to d*** well get himself killed and tip our f****** hand!"

Levi's hair was giving off occasional lightning bolts he was so furious, "Wasted a perfectly good opportunity for a shot! Again! Idiot!"

Belphegor sharpened his knives, his smile strained and too-wide, more closely resembling the snarl of a wild animal, "Boss is going to be looking for a new Cloud Guardian soon, ushishishi…"

Lussuria sighed and cradled his cheek with a hand, "I don't understand it~, I thought Skull-kun was smarter than this. Though, I have to wonder … how did he get an entry code into the Pessolano manor in the first place?"

Squalo rounded on Lussuria, "What the f*** does it matter? He's going to get f****** killed unless Mammon pulls him out in time, and either way we'll have to start the d*** mission over from scratch!"

Xanxus, from his chair in the center of the room, snarled abruptly, "Quiet, trash."

His Guardians reluctantly fell silent and turned their eyes back to the monitoring equipment. Skull had been escorted into the very heart of the Pessolano manor and was currently being told by the butler to please wait there while he was announced. Skull squawked indignantly, a sound the Varia Guardians were already growing to hate, and said, "Well, make it snappy! I didn't come all this way to sit around waiting! Your Boss is the one who summoned me!"

The butler disappeared into the office and a moment later, the door was opened again and Skull was ushered in-

Only to be faced by a seven-man wall of firearms, the barrels all pointed at his head.

Squalo clenched a fist and swore under his breath, shooting a glance at Xanxus to see how his Sky would react to the sight on camera. Belphegor shook his head with a sneer while Lussuria gasped in concern and Levi muttered a "I told you so". Xanxus was still, his red eyes never leaving the huge monitors in front of him, nothing leaking across his bonds with his Guardians. He was utterly unreadable.

The idiot Skull had been yowling high-pitched protests and demands for explanations during the entire time the Varia were reacting to the sight of the guns. From behind the protective wall of bodyguards, the boss of the Pessolano called coldly, "I did not summon Skull of the Arcobaleno to my home. How did you get the passcode to bypass the guards outside?"

The rapid bobbing of the arm cameras suddenly stopped and fell into neutral positions that indicated Skull had lowered his arms loosely to his sides, "Why, Mister Pessolano, I'm hurt. Do you not recall? You emailed it to me."

The Varia in the security room went very, very still, eyes wide with confusion at the silken alto voice that filtered over the speakers to them. There was a faint blurring of indigo that blocked off the cameras' view for a few seconds, then it cleared to reveal an entirely different perspective. A much taller perspective.

The rich alto continued with tiny traces of amusement, "You did wish to employ my services, did you not, Mister Pessolano?"

The bodyguards on screen took nervous steps back as one name, one title, hissed from their lips almost unanimously. Xanxus sat up straight, his eyes glinting with an almost unholy light while his watching Guardians tried to put their world back on its axis.

Because seriously, what?

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Floating near the ceiling of the office in a corner, Mammon felt her heart freeze in her chest the moment the powerful Mist flames erupted from Skull's body, burning away the image of the weakest of the Arcobaleno and revealing another form underneath it. It can't be…

A ridiculously painted helmet gave way to elbow-length black hair tied up in a braided bun, faceless visor with wide purple eyes and overdone makeup underneath faded to sharp cheekbones and hooded brown eyes. The tiny toddler body morphed and twisted into a slender, five foot four inch frame of pure muscle while the black and purple jumpsuit and gloves seemed to burn away to reveal a button up silk dress shirt of dark ruby, black dress pants, and long coils of wire bracelets on both wrists. It … that's impossible. It … it can't be her.

The woman's lips twitched into a deceptively tiny smirk as she purred, "You did wish to employ my services, did you not, Mister Pessolano?" The guards took uneasy steps back, all of them murmuring the infamous title rattling around in Mammon's brain, "Femme Fatale…"

Data clashed within Mammon's mind, repelling off each other every time she tried to reconcile them. Femme Fatale, Skull, Femme Fatale, Skull, Femme Fatale-. Can't be Skull, it can't be, and yet… It was only decades of professionalism that had Mammon reflexively listen in as the Pessolano boss stood up from his chair, "What is the meaning of this?"

The smirk dropped from the face of … Skull? Femme Fatale? The woman, in favor of a blank neutrality that Mammon knew far too well, "Too much? My apologies, I believed a demonstration of my skills were in order. The Pessolano have never contracted me before, and most are … skeptical of my true capabilities for all they hear of tales of my talents."

The woman's voice rolled and fell in certain patterns, patterns Mammon had made a point to memorize years ago, before the Curse, before she had ever even heard the name "Arcobaleno". Fingers of the woman's right hand twitched minutely, as if twirling an invisible pen or toothpick between them while her weight shifted subtly to her left hip more than her right. All of these were patterns, tics, that Mammon had made it her business to learn and remember decades ago.

It wouldn't have done to have been unable to recognize her favorite client, no matter what Femme Fatale's chosen form had been on any given day.

It's her. But it had been Skull earlier. Mammon knew it had been Skull. She had spent each and every hour of the past six days by the idiot Cloud's side, watching as Skull steadily botched opportunity after opportunity to take out Fulberto in favor of some unknown and most likely flawed plan. Mammon had felt Skull's flames as they subtly shifted and swirled underneath her fellow Arcobaleno's skin, unique in their eternal movement through his body.

Flames were unique. There were no two Flame signatures that were truly identical, even twins had trace differences in their Flames. Mists could mimic Flame signatures to a certain degree and get away with it because most people either weren't that Flame sensitive or didn't know the impersonated person's Flame that well.

But Mammon was Flame sensitive and she had had years to memorize each of the Arcobaleno's signatures. To learn the tiny flaws, quirks, and hidden flickers of each one of her fellow cursed "babies".

It had been Skull she had followed those six days, Mammon was sure. Absolutely sure.

Yet just as she was sure that Skull had been the one she had followed around, she was certain that this was the woman she had not seen in years. This was Femme Fatale. Not a successor or a descendent as the rest of the Mafia world assumed, but the original Femme Fatale.

B-but that would mean … that would mean…

The Pessolano boss had waved his bodyguards back to their original positions around the room and made a dismissive motion to Fulberto, who had been about to leave the room when Skull- Femme Fatale- the woman, had entered, "Yes, well. As you know from the original offer, the Pessolano wish to employ your services to remove an … inconvenience to our business."

The woman tilted her head and ghosted closer to Fulberto as he made to leave the room, not acknowledging Pessolano's words "And who would you be?" Her murmur was low, thick, seductive in a way that sent shivers up the spines of every man in the room. Mammon felt a shiver crawl up her spine as well, but for a different reason. There were Mist Flames coating that simple sentence, Flames that implanted the suggestion of attraction, snagged and pulled at the attention, coaxed the listener into lingering to answer the question.

Lacing vocal cords with Mist Flames was a tricky, dangerous business that only the very skilled could perform. To lace it so subtly that a person had to be Flame sensitive in order to sense the manipulation was indicative of prodigal skill. Or decades of time to master it.

Fulberto's pupils dilated and his hands twitched as he mumbled his name in answer to the woman's question. The Pessolano boss scowled, "Fulberto, leave us. Miss Fatale, if you would kindly focus on the business for which you were brought here-"

The woman's lips twisted into something predatory as she leaned closer to Fulberto, "Oh, but I am." There was the faintest blur of motion, the glitter of steel, and Fulberto dropped to the ground with a knife driven through his temple. The guards raised their weapons, words of alarm beginning to drop from their lips when Mammon heard faint whistles of displaced air and they dropped like stones, identical knives buried in their skulls.

The Don of the Pessolano flinched back against his seat, fear in his eyes as he spluttered, "What is the meaning of this? What are you doing?"

Femme Fatale, it had to be her because Mammon had never seen anyone else so picky about killing targets by stabbing or shooting them in the head, gave the Don an unimpressed look, "What else would I be doing? Completing my current job."

At the flabbergasted, terrified expression on the man's face, Femme Fatale drawled, "What, you truly believed I would be stupid enough to accept a job against the Vongola, against their Decimo? I did not get so far in my career by burning bridges with the powerful, important players of the underworld, Don Pessolano."

Don Pessolano pulled out a gun and pointed it at Femme Fatale shakily. Mammon tensed in the air, ready to provide backup even though somewhere in the depths of her reeling mind, she realized that the woman who had been Skull a few minutes ago wouldn't need it. With shaking hands, Don Pessolano hissed, "So that is what this is about? You were hired by that filthily little upstart to get rid of me because I won't cooperate with his stupid ideas? Guards! Guards!"

The walls shimmered with Mist that only Mammon could see or feel as Femme Fatale drawled, "One, your guards cannot hear you. Two, do you really think that the Vongola are the only ones you have angered? Even if they were, why would Vongola Decimo bother with the exorbitant fees of a freelancer when he could just send the Varia to make a point?"

The man paled at the thought of the Varia. Femme Fatale took a lazy step forward and the Don snapped off a shot with his pistol desperately. The lithe woman sidestepped milliseconds before the gun actually fired, dodging the bullet with seeming ease before the fingers of her right hand flicked in a lazy motion Mammon recalled from years ago.

The toothpick went straight through the metal of the gun with a loud crack of steel, ripping the now-broken weapon out of Don Pessolano's hand. Mammon had seen the move twice before, but this time, she was paying close enough attention to realize a very important fact she had somehow overlooked those previous times.

The toothpick wasn't an illusion made to intimidate, it was a real one that had been thrown with enough force to perform a seemingly impossible act. Only Cloud flames could propagate enough force for that…

With the Don now disarmed, Femme Fatale stalked closer, her voice taking on an almost whimsy air as she spoke, "You know, this is not the first time Femme Fatale has been hired to perform a hit against the Pessolano because of your little trafficking ring. No, the first time was back in … 1974, I believe. Back when your Famiglia was just a young upstart of a thing that had no idea just how out of your league you were. If I recall correctly, that first hit was because the Pessolano Don of the time was careless and sold a member of a much more important Famiglia. Femme Fatale was hired to … express extreme displeasure over the Pessolano's activities back then, which she did by killing the Don of that time."

There was a blink, a breath's worth of time between sentences, and suddenly Don Pessolano was pinned against the wall by deceptively slender arms, "It would seem that the assassination of that Don all those years ago did not adequately relay the desired message to the Pessolano. Therefor, I have been hired to make the point anew and make sure it sticks this time."

Hooded brown eyes flickered lazily over to the dead body of Fulberto, then back to the squirming Don, "Any and all individuals placed in Fulberto's now-vacant position will be disposed of. Anyone who attempts to prevent me from removing Fulberto's successors will be disposed of. Furthermore, for every dollar of profit you gain from your trafficking ring, I will ensure that you will have to pay a minimum of a hundred dollars more to repair damages to your house, estates, and equipment, starting with your main headquarters as today's first example."

A grin that was disturbingly similar to Belphegor's spread across her face and Mammon saw a flash of dark purple flicker through the woman's eyes, "Considering that your last quarterly profit was well into the millions of dollars, I'm going to be making a lot of noise before I leave. Again, anyone who attempts to stop me will be removed, and you will have to pay for the undertaker on top of structural and item damage. So once I remove the sound dampening from the room, you may want to tell your men to stay back, hmm?"

Don Pessolano hissed in her face, struggling to get free of her grip, "W-who hired you, b****?"

The Don was backhanded to the floor while Femme Fatale answered flatly, "Like I stated earlier, someone who is paying me very well to make sure that the Pessolano get the message and that this time it sticks."

Without waiting for a further reply, Femme Fatale strode toward the doors, one hand idly slapping the Don's expensive mahogany desk on her way out. Mammon felt her breath hitch at the pulse of Cloud flames that exuded from the move, causing the reverberations of the seemingly little blow to shatter the desk into four jagged pieces.

The wall of Mist flames that had been preventing any sound from leaking out of the room faded out and Femme Fatale … Skull? knocked the door down without hesitation.

What followed next took Mammon's already shattered view on the world and her fellow Arcobaleno and ground it into dust before dancing viciously on its remains. The woman who was Femme Fatale yet also Skull strode through the manor, smashing through walls, slashing through paintings, demolishing vases and expensive furniture with deceptively light strikes and a lazy expression. Members of the Pessolano Famiglia ran to stop her, only to be knocked aside, thrown through walls, or killed by lightning quick illusions that could only be created by decades of practice and strong flames.

By the time the Pessolano Don had gathered enough of his wits to order his men to leave the woman alone, no matter what she was doing to the property, the death toll was already up to seventy and collections of holes caused by the many bullets that had missed their intended mark had been added to the property damage.

Mammon followed along numbly, a part of her mind automatically cataloging techniques used and the amount of damages caused, while the rest of her tried to breathe through the haze of shock that wrapped around her.

By the time they had left the manor, which had incurred damages well into the hundreds of millions and Femme Fatale was straddling her bike to leave, Mammon felt like she'd just been slapped, shot, turned upside-down, shaken vigorously, and then dumped into a mid-winter lake as she asked herself over and over again "how had she missed this?"

There were no words spoken as the motorcycle and its rider drove away from the scene of destruction. Nor was any conversation exchanged once they were well out of sight of the Pessolano and the form of Femme Fatale flared out of existence to reveal Skull's tiny cursed body, familiar bodysuit, silly helmet, and an unassuming bumbling demeanor that gave no hint of the destruction he … she? had just caused.

Mammon finally regained use of her tongue when they had reached the airport and boarded a private Varia plane, with Skull's beloved bike safely stashed in the cargo hold, "…How?"

The helmeted head turned fractionally to acknowledge her whisper, "Hmmm?"

"Who are you?" Blurted Mammon as she sat heavily on the seat across from Skull-not-Skull, "Who are you really?"

The helmet tilted further, "What are you talking about, Viper? I'm Skull De Mort."

Mammon clenched a fist and hissed, "You can't. You can't be. Skull De Mort is weak, a coward, a lackey! Skull De Mort-"

A voice, so like Skull's yet flat and hard in a way that the whining ex-stuntman's had never been, cut her off, "Is the strongest Cloud Flame user in the world and," here, tiny hands reached up and pulled off the helmet to reveal glittering purple eyes as hard as amethysts, "the greatest fragging stuntman to ever live." Skull's nostrils flared slightly as he hissed, "I was the best, Viper, I was peerless in my chosen field. I didn't get the luxury of a steady paycheck, I lived solely because of my ability to work the crowd."

Mammon felt off balance, like she'd gotten drunk without ever touching alcohol, or like she'd been hit by a powerful illusion. No, she corrected herself dizzily, not hit by one … freed from one. One that I've been under for over thirty years. Despite the raw, astounding realization, a denial still slipped from Mammon's lips, "But … you're just a civilian…"

Something dangerous flashed through Skull's eyes even as a wide, feral smile curled over his lips, "Wrong, Viper. I am a showman. I throw myself at death and escape without a scratch because that kind of thrill is what it takes to make the crowd pay for my supper. I am the one who walks onto the field and screams of my fame and skill to all who can hear because the crowd expects arrogance from the World's Greatest Stuntman. I am what my audience believes me to be. I am an arrogant punk with piercings and a fancy bike. I am a daredevil that is hated by Death itself. I am unstoppable, I am incorrigible, I am immortal because that is what the crowd expects to see and I have to give them whatever they desire because that is how you survive in that world."

The feral smile dropped and Skull sat back calmly in his seat, "When I walked into that mansion for the first time over thirty years ago, all of you, all of you, took one look at me and labeled me an ignorant, arrogant civilian with no clue as to what he was getting into and no stomach for violence or weapons. You took one look at me, barely even listened to me say my name, and decided that I was the weakest, the lackey."

Another smile flashed across his face, but this one was as bitter as the other had been savage, "You were my audience. So I gave you exactly what you wanted and, just like every other audience I have performed for, you never once bothered to question what you saw. Not during all of the times I survived our missions together, or got you out of a bind with my driving or my perfectly timed and 'coincidental' clumsiness. Not even after we were all Cursed and I continued to survive the mafia despite being supposedly ignorant of its workings and none of you could be bothered to so much as look at me."

Something dark flickered through Skull's eyes as he traced a tiny circle dangerously close to his heart and Mammon had the decency to flinch as Skull added, "Not even when I took a fragging bullet for you from a sniper that a 'stupid civilian' should have been wholly unaware of."

Skull crossed his arms placidly over his chest, "All of you were the greatest minds and strongest flames in the world, but you never stopped for a moment to think that I was one of you for a reason. That a stuntman is a showman and do you know what a showman's greatest asset is, Viper?"

Mammon swallowed hard, things clicking into place with brutal clarity that made her wonder how she could have ever missed it. How could she have been so blind? Why was it that it was only now, after it had been bluntly pointed out to her, that she saw the inconsistencies in the facade of Skull De Mort? Why had she, the World's Greatest Esper and Information Broker, not seen the truth right in front of her face? She had known Skull for over thirty years, over three decades, and it had taken watching Skull demolish a Famiglia manor like a living, breathing natural disaster for her to realize just what he could do.

Skull was watching her, apparently waiting for an answer to his pointed question and Mammon could barely speak, barely breathe the answer past her reeling mind, a showman's greatest asset… "Misdirection."

Skull scoffed softly, contempt overflowing from the noise at just how long it had taken, just how obvious he'd had to be, for Mammon to acknowledge that simple fact. Sliding out of the seat, Skull moved to sit on the far side of the plane, leaving Mammon to futilely attempt to put her world back on its broken axis.

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The Varia sat in utter, absolute silence as Skull walked away from Mammon and, with a curt mutter of taking a nap on the flight, disconnected the cameras attached to his suit. The large screens went black, static hissing through the speakers, and still the Varia didn't speak.

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Belphegor fingered his knives reflexively, mind dancing with memories of the swift, brutal deaths inflicted by the little purple-haired chibi he had bullied for two weeks. The mental image of the shrieking, flailing, bumbling Arcobaleno clashed with the recently witnessed coordination, calm, and destructive capability. He had always known that Mists were unpredictable, capable of hiding behind masks … but to see a Mist's cunning and deception mixed with the clearly blood-thirsty temper of a Cloud…

It was probably a good thing Belphegor hadn't had a chance to pull off that latest prank he'd been planning. He might be a blood-happy psychopath, but even he knew that with some people, there were lines that you just didn't cross if you wanted to keep your limbs.

A grin flickered over his face as he rearranged his mental lists of people-who-were-fun and people-to-stab-for-fun. Prince could use that savagery on his side when he is bored.

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Levi wondered if this was what having a heart attack felt like. So that's why Boss picked him, he thought dizzily to himself. Memories of crashing through four walls for getting too close to Skull's bike flickered through his mind and Levi blanched against his will. If he had actually hit or damaged the bike… Levi shook his head to clear it, there was no sense in thinking about that. What mattered was that after that performance, Skull was in fact worthy of Xanxus-sama's attention. Not that Levi wanted to admit that out loud. Or that he didn't still consider the Misty Cloud a possible threat to his Boss.

He would have to keep testing … though more discreetly and far, far away from the Cloud's precious bike.

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Lussuria fiddled with the rim of his sunglasses, a bright smile crawling up his lips. So, he'd been right. There had been a much more dangerous side to little Skull-kun than the Cloud Arcobaleno had let on. Now he could see why Xanxus-sama had spent so many months disappearing to America to court the Misty Cloud. And that destruction … oh, I think that one is going to fit in just fine around here. A new thought occurred to him and his smile turned just a bit tetchy, which also means that Skull-kun has probably been skipping his … her? Medical checkups for a while. Now that just won't do.

Shaking off the shock that had fallen on his limbs, Lussuria was the first to break rank and leave the room, his mind already categorizing all the things he would need in order to run a full and thorough checkup on their newest addition. He recalled how aggravatingly difficult it was to pin down the members of the Cloud squad for their checkups and idly wondered if he still had any of those flavored candies laced with mild paralytics. Just until he had Skull-kun trained to recognize the futility of running away of course.

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Squalo exhaled slowly as he processed everything he had seen and heard. Then he snorted with explosive contempt, weakest of the Arcobaleno my a**. He shot a brief glance at Xanxus and suppressed a flinch at the expression of pure, unholy glee on his Sky's face. He knew that look. That was the look that usually preceded chaos, massive amounts of property damage, and equally massive amounts of headache-inducing paperwork.

Squalo had only seen that look three times before in his life. The first time was just after he'd Harmonized with Xanxus, an event which dragged Squalo's life into its current perpetual state of chaos. The second had been after some hotshot with an impressively strong Flame and disgustingly tiny IQ had been stupid enough to challenge a young Xanxus for his place as head of the Varia. The third time had been right before his Sky had caused an International Incident that was afterward declared a Vongola Famiglia secret, never to be spoken of in detail again.

Shaking his head at the thought of the impending mass destruction and paperwork that expression heralded, Squalo nevertheless allowed a predatory smile of his own to form, The world's going to get one h*** of a wake up call about Skull De Mort, and I'm going to enjoy every f****** minute of it. Especially when it comes out that the Varia have not only the World's Strongest Cloud, but That Woman as well…

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Xanxus was grinning. Not smirking, not giving a relaxed half-glower that indicated amusement, but really, truly grinning like a cat that had just been left alone in the same room as a flightless canary. His red eyes sparked faintly with amber hints of his Sky Flame as something deep inside him purred smugly. Femme Fatale. Skull De Mort was the one and only Femme Fatale.

He had to bite back laughter just thinking about it. The Varia had been hoping to recruit the aloof freelance assassin for years, since the time Tyr the First Sword Emperor had been running it, only to be rebuffed again and again by the simple fact that no one could find her outside of her jobs and not even the Varia were reckless enough to interrupt Femme Fatale while she was working. Assassins tended to be … touchy about interruptions during work and touchy assassins tended to be the ones that ripped out your eyeballs and sold them for earrings as punishment.

Decades of attempting to find and recruit Femme Fatale the Mist, or her successor as the years went by, and he had Harmonized with her as his Cloud.

The irony of the situation was almost more disturbing than it was hilarious. He went and courted the "weakest" of the Arcobaleno as his Cloud. The lackey, the coward, the ex-civilian, and not only gained the woman who was the World's Strongest Cloud, but who was also Femme Fatale, renowned as the World's Greatest Female Assassin.

And that wasn't even counting her metallic alien sister figure, who also happened to be her precious motorcycle and the implications that went with "giant alien robot refugee from space".

Luck was a fickle, fickle thing, but for once in his life that thought was not accompanied by the intense desire to somehow shoot it.

He stood fluidly to his feet, his eyes sweeping over his Guardians, sans Lussuria, who had already disappeared somewhere with a creepy smile, and growled in as close to a pleasant tone as he could get, "Any more problems with my Cloud, trash?" The shifty glances that were exchanged and the emotions flickering across his bonds with them were answer enough.

Xanxus gave a short nod, his grin sliding down to a sharp, dangerous smirk, "Good. Now get the h*** out and do your f****** jobs."

His Guardians murmured, or shouted in Squalo's case, their assent and scattered, leaving Xanxus to make his way back to his office with languid strides and a smug aura pouring off of him in waves.

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The rest of the plane trip, as well as the drive from the airport back to the castle, had been spent in silence. Mammon seemed too busy trying to piece her world back together and Skull was in no mood to soothe. She wasn't angry at Mammon … not really. Not anymore. Her anger at the Esper had faded years ago, right around the time she had simply given up on the Arcobaleno ever earning the right to see behind her masks.

But she was still greatly disappointed in the Mist and as such, felt something akin to vicious satisfaction at ripping the proverbial rug out from under the normally unflappable woman's feet. Skull's display of power at the manor, as well as the unspoken but acknowledged fact that the only reason Mammon was allowed to witness said display was because they had the same Sky now, not because Mammon had earned the right on her own, made the atmosphere too awkward to speak through.

Skull sat back as Silhouette coasted into her chosen corner of the Varia garage and turned off her engine. Her sister's kickstand snapped into position just as her canopy rolled back to let Skull out. Skull jumped down from Silhouette's alt mode and paused for a second as Silhouette murmured over their bond, "They are all gathered in the foyer waiting for you. Be careful, Bright Spark."

Skull tilted her helmeted head in silent acknowledgement as she strode for the door leading into the castle. Without prompting, Mammon floated up to the doorknob and opened the door for the tetchy Cloud. Purely out of habit, Skull dipped her head a fraction in thanks before heading inside.

Sky flames washed over her the moment she stepped into the large foyer and something tight in Skull's chest eased. Pulling her helmet off of her head, her gaze locked for several long seconds with Xanxus's before sweeping to examine the other Guardians. They seemed … different. Muted yet more vibrant and Skull braced herself for another round of unpleasantness. She wasn't sure what kind, but being treated poorly by others in the mafia was so on par the course for her life as Skull that she instinctively pulled her Mirrors up higher.

When they said nothing, only watched her with unreadable expressions, Skull forced her gaze back to Xanxus and automatically let Mirror #1 pull her lips up into a goofy grin, "Mission accomplished, Xanxus-sama! Not that there was ever any doubt as to the Great Skull-sama's capability to complete-"

Squalo bristled and thundered, "Voi! Cut the c***, Chibi! You can't expect us to swallow that s***** act after that demonstration you made!"

Skull faltered, so unaccustomed to people calling her out on her Mirrors that even if she logically knew they could now, it still stunned her. She reached for Mirror #2's personality defensively, but a strong pulse from Xanxus made her pause and refocus on him.

Xanxus watched her with hooded red eyes, "What about the other half of the mission, Chibi?" Everyone paused as they recalled that Skull's mission hadn't just been assassination. Skull smirked and pulled out a deceptively tiny flash-drive.

She tossed it to her Sky, "That should be everything. It's all the important parts anyway." Skull refrained from mentioning that the flash-drive had literally everything from the Pessolano network. Silhouette had been very disappointed with how lax the network security was, even compared to other human systems, and so had amused herself by ripping through every single firewall in the network and copying whatever lay within.

Xanxus rolled the flash-drive in his fingers for a moment before he pocketed it. His eyes flicked questioningly toward the garage, silently asking if Silhouette had been the hacker, to which Skull gave a brief nod of confirmation. Xanxus smirked, "Not bad, Femme Fatale. Not bad." A swell of pride and almost overwhelming smugness washed over her and Skull couldn't stop herself from showing off a bit.

Flashing quickly into the form of Mirror #2, she bowed deeply and purred, "But of course."

She straightened up and almost dropped Mirror #2, when a finger tentatively poked her arm. Skull looked down at Belphegor, who had seemed to teleport to her side and was now poking her roughly, his lips twisted in a way that conveyed puzzlement. Skull waited until the fifth poke before she drawled, "Yes?"

Belphegor stepped back and tilted his head to one side, "The Prince demands to know how you can make the illusion feel solid even when he knows that it is not real."

Skull shrugged, trying not to feel unnerved by current her lack of personality Mirrors to shield her as she answered, "Cloud Flames."

Belphegor hummed as he leaned over and poked her illusionary midriff again, "What else can you look like?"

Mischief, or perhaps petty revenge for two weeks of pranks, had Skull waiting until Belphegor was in mid-poke before she answered his question. Just as his finger dug into her illusionary skin, she threw up a Refractive Mirror and snarled in the deep voice of her Sky, "Trash."

Belphegor shot backwards like he'd been burned, instinct overriding logic for a moment as the perfectly mirrored appearance and annoyed voice of his Sky made him retreat for fear of getting shot at. He stopped after only a few feet and whirled to stare at the second Xanxus in the room in astonishment.

Xanxus didn't wait for the other Guardians to stop cursing in shock as he intoned, "Chibi." The unspoken command drifted across to Skull along with his hidden amusement and exasperation. Skull obediently dropped the Refractive Mirror, reverting to her true appearance.

An awkward silence fell as Skull waited to see if they needed to yell at her for anything and they tried to figure out what to say. Squalo appeared to be gearing up for a loud barrage of questions when Lussuria interjected, "Well then. Since Xanxus apparently doesn't need a debriefing, I'll need you to come with me, Skull-kun~."

Skull shifted, internally reaching for her Mirrors again, "Oh?"

Lussuria leveled a dazzling smile at her that had no real affect, "After-mission check-up, darling~, everyone in the Varia get's them."

Mirror #1 snapped up so fast she could have almost heard it click, "The Great Skull-sama is fine! As if such incompetents could lay a scratch on me!"

Lussuria was suddenly at her side, gently but firmly shooing her toward the stairs, "None of that, Skull-kun, you need a checkup. Oh, and I'll need to know where you went to get your checkups previously, I'll need to look over your medical records later, after all~."

Skull carefully ignored the part about Lussuria wanting her, non-existent, medical records and glanced over at Xanxus. Xanxus flicked his fingers in a motion that indicated it was fine and to go along with Lussuria, so she reluctantly put up with his herding.

She was not entirely sure why all the others felt the need to follow them though. Maybe it was because they had yet to say their piece. Or maybe they had questions. Or maybe this was just yet another test they'd made up to see if she was Varia Quality.

"-Skull-kun?" Lussuria's voice broke through her thoughts.

Skull tilted her head to look up at the Varia Sun, "My apologies, could you repeat that?"

Lussuria tilted his head, "I asked who your previous primary physician was. Someone on Mafia Land? Or perhaps a private physician in America?"

Skull's first instinct was to lie, but she knew that was pointless and counterproductive so she reluctantly said, "No and no."

"Then where did you go for checkups, Skull-kun?"

Skull's prolonged silence must have been telling because Lussuria stopped in the hallway, stared down at her sternly through his glasses and said, "You did have regular checkups over the many years of your career, didn't you?"

She debated what to say before she settled for a grudging, "I'm my own medic."

She half-expected Lussuria to scold her or shout or something to that order. Instead, the Sun slapped his forehead and sighed with a tone of extreme long-suffering, "Not another one … I thought I was through with this after I had that talk with Squalo."

Belphegor snickered while Squalo bristled, "Voi! The h*** are you implying? At least I don't pull the s*** Bel does to get out of it!"

Belphegor stopped snickering and folded his arms over his chest, "…The Prince does not get sick. So there is no point in checkups."

Levi glowered down at an increasingly bemused Skull, "Boss ordered that everyone gets medical checkups after missions. You had better not follow Belphegor's or Squalo's bad habits of insubordination to Boss. Just because you completed one Varia mission does not give you free-"

Squalo interrupted, his sword hand swinging dangerously close to Levi as he roared, "Voi! What the f*** are you talking about? I am not insubordinate! I'm the f****** second in command! I'm too busy to get poked by Lussuria all the d*** time!"

A hand lightly nudged Skull's back, almost startling her, and she looked up inquiringly at the crouched Lussuria. He wordlessly motioned to his shoulder and, after a moment of staring at him skeptically, she accepted his silent offer for a ride and jumped aboard. Lussuria stood up smoothly as Skull settled into a sitting position and idly grabbed his shirt collar for support as the Varia Sun resumed his trek through the halls.

Somehow, without seeming to acknowledge Lussuria's departure, the others followed along behind, still arguing at increasingly painful volumes and with a multiplying number of curses. Skull stared at them with a blank expression, trying to understand their behavior. At a glance, it looked no different than from when she had first arrived. But she had spent years surviving solely because of her ability to read people and their subtle nuances in expression and manner and she could tell that something was different now.

It disturbed her a bit that she could not pinpoint how their demeanor had changed. The volume hadn't changed, the insults and curses hadn't changed. She tilted her head to one side automatically even as Lussuria danced aside so that Belphegor's knives went harmlessly past and mused that the level of violence hadn't changed.

But there was still something different. Almost a change in the atmosphere. A … a feeling she couldn't pinpoint even as she studied them for several minutes on end. A low chuckle vibrated through her perch and Lussuria whispered, "Oh, Skull-kun, I forgot to tell you something when you came in."

Skull hummed and glanced at him in acknowledgement and Lussuria smirked as he murmured, "Bentornata a casa."

Lussuria turned his attention back to where he was going without another word, leaving Skull to blink in bafflement at the realization that settled on her. Oh. That's what's changed. The subtle aggression toward her, the ever-present hostility that had underlaid the Varia Guardians' interactions while she was around was … gone. For the most part anyway. She was still detecting faint traces of it from Levi, but on the whole the aura of the castle and its top occupants was … warmer now.

Another knife flew past and the sound of Squalo's sword cutting through the banister heralded Mammon's dry declaration that all non-mission related damages would be repaired using the paycheck of the perpetrator. Which of course kicked the violence up several notches as they began to argue over who was at fault for said damages in the first place.

Skull amended her previous thought. It is warmer now … in a homicidal sort of way. Strangely, Skull found she already wouldn't have it any other way.

Lussuria cut into the argument with playful exasperation as he stopped outside a door labeled, "medical wing", "Boys~, is there any particular reason you're following us?"

The wall-shaking argument ground to a halt as the other Guardians looked at each other in something that would have been sheepishness if it had been on the faces of anyone other than top-ranking assassins. Finally, Levi crossed his arms and answered with a blunt, "We needed to have a question answered about Skull."

Skull kept her shoulders from going tense even as she braced for the worst, "What?"

Squalo ran a hand through part of his hair as he roared in exasperation, "Voi! Are you a guy or a woman? Cause I ain't letting a Cloud who can f****** throw people through four or more f****** walls sleep down the hall from me if you get 'times of the month'!"

Skull couldn't stop the short bark of laughter that escaped her at Squalo's wording and the way Levi and Belphegor nodded their heads in emphatic agreement, "I'll sleep down in the garage with my bike then."

Belphegor stopped nodding and tilted his head, "Then you are a female?"

Skull debated playing coy and dodging the question. But then she recalled all the times Belphegor had broken into her room because he wanted to and decided not to risk the mental trauma and property damage that would arise from him ambushing her in the shower or something.

Skull shrugged, "Yes."

Levi and Belphegor miraculously seemed to become a foot or so farther away from her in the blink of an eye. Squalo looked like he was considering following their example while Mammon just snorted at her fellow Guardians. Skull rolled her eyes expressively, "No, it isn't that time. Already done for the month."

All males in the nearby vicinity, minus Lussuria who was trying valiantly not to crack a rib from muffled laughter, relaxed a fraction. Skull shook her head at them, men. You would think Varia Officers wouldn't flinch at this stuff. Her amusement must have leaked over to Xanxus because her Sky sent a mildly amused pulse back. Whatever he was picking up from the other Elements must have been pretty interesting to garner that reaction.

Lussuria shooed the other Guardians away at last and took Skull into the medical wing, lecturing her the entire time once he finally got her to admit that she hadn't had a basic medical checkup in around two decades. She decided not to tell him that she had technically hadn't had a medical checkup since her father had died. Silhouette had always just scanned her for signs of disease or illness and her Cloud flames had boosted her immune system to the point where going to a doctor was just … never necessary.

That and she hated the sights and smells of hospitals, lab coats, and medical people in general. Getting partially dissected as a young teen kinda put a damper on the civilian-esque assumption that "hospitals" or "doctors" meant "healing" and "helpful".

She protested Lussuria's fussing at first, but quickly gave up when the Sun steamrolled over her protests with the expertise of someone who had been wrestling cranky psychopaths into submission for years. Finally, after grudgingly allowing herself to be poked, prodded, questioned, scolded, and sacrificed to the vampire that was medical blood tests, Skull questioned softly, "How come you didn't do all this when I first got here?"

Lussuria didn't even pause as he fluttered around the room doing … who knew what that was somehow vital to the medical checkup, "Because you weren't part of the family darling~. Not officially anyway. But that display you gave earlier on your mission~… ooh, you're going to fit right in now!"

"You refer to the Varia, a collection of crazy assassin psychopaths with blood, knife, sword, and money fetishes, not to mention a raging Lightning fanboy … as family." Skull kept her voice intentionally deadpan, testing one last time to see just what she was getting herself into.

Lussuria somehow gave her an innocent look from behind his glasses, "But of course~! What else would I call them?"

Something about Lussuria's tone, about the warmth of his Sun flames as they filled the room and added to the imprint of warmth-healing-sunshine-protection already present in the walls, made the last tiny knot in Skull's chest unwind. She gave him tiny smile, a real one this time, not one from her mirrors and put up with the resulting declarations of "kawai!" with patience she hadn't known she possessed.

Funny, while she wasn't ready to tell them everything about herself, especially not about Silhouette, a little part of her was already contentedly purring "mine" as Lussuria finally let her get off of the medical bed and escorted her out of the room. I guess they are, aren't they? Elements of the same Sky… Skull kept the laugh that bubbled in her throat safely tucked away as she realized, I am the "weakest, ex-civilian lackey of the Arcobaleno" and I just claimed, and was claimed in return, by the Varia. If that doesn't beat all other ironies.

"Oh, Skull-chan?" She looked up at Lussuria and the larger man held a finger to his lips, "Don't mention the 'family' thing to the others, okay? They get so touchy about open sentiment. They think it will damage their reputation or something~."

Skull chortled, "The secret is safe with me, Lussuria-san."

He tapped her lightly on the head, "That's 'Luss', 'Luss-nee' or 'sorella' to you, Skull-chan."

Skull slapped his hand away as she followed him down to the living room where she could hear Belphegor and Squalo getting into yet another fight, "Hai, hai … Luss-nee."

Skull arrived in the living room patiently suffering the indignity of being carried by Lussuria as he squealed about her "cuteness". Belphegor proceeded to laugh at her.

He stopped laughing when she calmly threatened to pick him up and throw him through the television like a human javelin.

Of course, this prompted her inclusion in her first ever Varia Guardian Brawl. Which in turn led to her first time fleeing from an irate Xanxus armed with wine glasses and a half-full bottle. Which in turn led to her baffling the Varia en-masse with her extensive repertoire of Cybertronian curses. Which, finally, led to her sitting on the central living room couch with the Varia sprawled around her, trying to teach them the intricacies of a language meant for metal vocalizers and not squishy vocal cords.

All in all, by the end of the month, Lussuria's prediction had come true and she had filled the hole none of the Varia had really been aware was there in their group dynamics. By the end of three years, Xanxus's Element set had stabilized enough to form inter-Element bonds and Skull was settled in a home far better than she had ever known.

Then one day a famiglia named Millefiore turned Vongola HQ to cinders and forced Skull to watch as her world burned to the ground shortly thereafter.

But that is a story for another time.

---

Rough Translations: Eto - Expression of uncertainty. Japanese version of "um".

Gomenasai - "My apologies" in Japanese.

Hai - "Yes" in Japanese.

Luss-nee - "Big Sis Luss" in Japanese.

Kawai - "Cute" in Japanese.

Sorella - "Big Sister" in Italian (I think).

Bentornata a casa - "Welcome Home" in Italian (I think).