The man appeared way too often. Even after Leilani read the letter she just got more certain that she didn't want anything to do with him or the group he planned to assemble.

No matter how often she declined he always came back. Checkerface noticibly grew impatient and she even knew that the original meeting date had passed. She still declined though.

One evening as she pointedly ignored him he seemed to have enough of it and before she could even jump aside, he had grabbed her by the neck and teleported.

Leilani had never ever experienced something like that. It was like entering a thick layer of mist only to have the fog clear up in a matter of seconds and she found herself in a living room and six heads turned towards her who was still held up by Checkerface.

"I brought the last member of your group. This is Skull de Mort, your cloud." He dropped her on the floor and vanished.

Leilani could only stare speechless at the group before her as a heavily pregnant woman stepped forward "Hello Skull! We have waited a long time for you but I'm so glad you finally joined us! I'm Luce. I'm the donna of the giglio nero and the sky of this group. Next to me is Reborn, the sun and the greatest hitman-"

Skull immediately jumped on his feet. this was bad, this was worse than bad. Did she really just say hitman? She was fucked. She was totally fucked!

Leilani backed up, almost stumbling over her feet "I never agreed to this! I don't want to be here! Get away!" her voice was even more shrill than normal, outright hysterical.

The woman stepped forwards, hands placating in front of her "Skull-"

"No! No! No! Stay away! I don't want any criminal near me! I'm not evil! Bugger off! I want out!" She was already trying to run for the door, only to get stopped by a chinese man with a serene smile, the dangerous, unamused glint in his eyes didn't calm her hysteria though.

"Might I recommend you calm down-"

"No! You can't keep me here! I want out! I never agreed! Let me go!" she even stomped with her feet, trying to evade his grip to get out, only to feel a gun pressed to her temple.

"Keep your temper tantrum down, lackey."

She could feel tears rising in her eyes but she had frozen in place.

The woman almost looked sad at her "Maybe Skull should rest a bit in his room? To calm his nerves? It must have been harsh for a civilian to just get dropped her without explanations"

The chinese man grabbed her shoulder again pushing her grimly up and she stumbled over her feet, actually afraid and still in her hysterical breakdown.

She got pushed into a room and the door closed behind her.

Skull was still panicking though and then she saw the window. Trying to open it up didn't work though, as it was clearly locked. Not that it would stop her.

The magic burned red as the lock melted off and she hurriedly pushed open the window. The fall would be quite a distance but she felt confident in her fall training and without a second thought she jumped out. her magic aiding her, flickering yellow and purple as it helped her with running faster than ever before and to not need a break.

Leilani was lucky though, she actually was still in Italy where her circus was currently stationed.

She was about to get on a bus to take her to the location when Reborn appeared in front of her.

She stumbled backwards, this time actually falling down only to get gripped by her collar again and without any word he pushed her into a car.

Skull wasn't as panicked as before but she still pushed herself against the door, trying to open it up again only to hear the locking mechanism click into place.

Reborn had sat down in the driver's seat, cigarette already lit "You know you have no chance to actually run away. Checkerface stated that we need you. I don't understand why something like you is needed but as long as the mission is going on I will personally make sure that you won't get away."

Skull was too afraid of the man to actually hurl abuse at him. She had no wand, she barely was able to control her magic without it… and the man had a gun and was a killer. She knew she wouldn't give in but she knew that just lashing out and trying to run away would make it even more impossible. If she could only apparate!

She didn't manage to slip away again that night and she didn't sleep. She was in over her head and she had no clue how to get out of this. She didn't want to be involved with the mafia, especially not with a killer and if one of them was a killer then probably all of them as well.

Leilani truly had no hint of a clue how she could get through this and so the only thing she had learned took over. The personality of Skull de Mort was annoying, yes but she had ingrained it into her and while she was afraid she knew Skull wouldn't be… okay, he would but it wouldn't stop him. Maybe if she was annoying enough Reborn would actually leave her alone as well? If she was too much of a nuisance at least.

She was partially right. The disgust and annoyance she encountered the next day as she kept on boosting about them only keeping Skull here because of their infatuation with her and how she could totally understand obsessive, stalker fans was partly what she wanted.

She had lived with sneers all her life so it wasn't even hard to withstand it.

The next morning she was able to wake up early and as everyone was still asleep for once she managed to slip off again.

She came further this time, only to get dragged back again.

Something in her told her that she had to get away and so she followed these instincts. Whenever she was there she maxed out her Skull performance and at every chance she got she ran away.

At their first mission together she ran for the hills as soon as everyone was busy. She wanted to be part of this even less when their mission actually had the goal to take out several people.

Leilani was no killer, no matter how she had killed Voldemort and Quirrell before. She wasn't a fan of violence and assasination? No, just no. It was wrong.

Them being busy led to her getting away even further than before. Naturally just before she could actually walk the distance to the circus she got caught again.

Leilani knew everyone was completely done with her and several of them had already tried to convince Luce to get a replacement for Skull but to no avail.

The next time she managed to slip away she had waited until everyone was busy with the mission, leaving one of her gloves behind, massacring the floor slightly to make it seem like there was a struggle and even going as far as injuring herself to leave some blood behind. Maybe she could lose them if they thought she died or got kidnapped?. This time she didn't even bother running, instead she stopped a car to hitch a ride.

To her wonder it actually worked. She managed to get home.

It wasn't nice to get cornered about where she had been, especially as some of them assumed that she had managed to land a bigger gig and left them. Leilani gave her best to convince them otherwise, it wasn't fruitful. Worst of all was that everyone seemed to understand. It wasn't fair. How did she manage to find such sweet people that were completely willing to let her go if it opened bigger possibilities for her?

She couldn't appreciate them enough.

To her luck the circus was done with their current location and she had barely managed to come in time as they were leaving for france.

She was actually more than just happy with it. Maybe another country would mean that she would be left alone from her persistent kidnappers. She still wasn't calm though. Sure, it was the first time she had managed to go that far and long without them but she feared that they still hadn't given up. Didn't she prove enough how she was more a nuisance than any help?

She might not have been an expert at faking her death, especially as she wouldn't stop performing for the circus but… maybe, maybe it would convince them that she wasn't willing to submit to their wishes.

Leilani was stubborn, more than just stubborn… maybe they would realise that now. How there was no chance in hell that anyone could come close to her stubbornness and she would finally be left alone to be happy with the circus and to wait for her friends to rescue her and take her back home.