Six months after his Arcobaleno Curse is lifted, Skull decides it is time to tell the others where he is from.

He gathers Tsuna, his Guardians and the Arcobaleno together for that first retelling. It's on one of Tsuna's Family Nights. At least once a month, Tsuna pulls his family together and insists that they sit together and talk, tell stories, play games...

That for a night at least they be a simple family with no talk of negotiations or jobs, hits or the Mafia.

When it starts Skull commandeers the attention of the entire room.

He'd always had a gift for tales. He had been told many times that his voice was mesmerizing when he spoke and told stories. That it seemed to echo and boom to his listeners, like the voice of an ancient god or being speaking of things that have happened or will happen.

He uses that ability to call the attention of all in the room to him.

"Once, many, many eons ago," he begins and his voice is low as all eyes turn his way "right in the center of what the world now calls the Bermuda Triangle there existed a city."

The room falls silent as Skull talks of a city of warriors, who valued loyalty and devotion, honor and strength. Of a city of warriors that recognized all sorts of strengths, that was ruled by a powerful and fair King and Queen.

They room is silent as Skull speaks of a boy who grew into a man. A man that would become a Warrior. A Warrior that climbed his way to the top until he stood as General. Of a General that searched and searched for the right King to pledge himself to, for no warrior of this great city gave their loyalty to those who had not earned it.

Skull spoke of this man going into battle many, many times until he found someone worthy of his loyalty in the city's King. He spoke of how the man tested the King in many ways before he pledged his devotion many years later, and what the difference between loyalty and devotion was to the warriors of this great city.

He spoke of battles fought and won, of missions the man took, of the many situations this man found himself in.

Until he spoke of the day this great city fell. Of the volcanos erupting, and the earthquakes that shook the earth. Of the man being herded away, struggling to avoid both molten lava and fissures ripped under his feet that filled with ocean water superheated by the lava.

He spoke of how the man eventually fell into the ocean when a fissure ripped open under his feet, and how rubble of his falling home had followed him down.

He spoke of the man falling into the darkness of oblivion.

And he spoke of the man waking up. How he discovered on the ocean floor, surrounded by the collapsed remains of his city, choking on the ocean water that burned like fire that he was drowning before falling into oblivion again.

Skull spoke of that man waking up on an unknown island, having drowned but somehow lived.

He spoke of the man traveling from place to place and discovering his city had been destroyed, of how no matter what happened this man was immortal and could not die.

Skull fell silent for a moment, meeting each of the other's eyes, taking in the interest and curiosity until he came to Tsunayoshi. Tsunayoshi who's eyes gleamed that telltale orange of his Intuition, and were wide with a kind of horrified awe and understanding.

Skull's lips twisted into a bitter and tired smile as he spoke again "That man lives even now, eons after the fall of his city, having watched all those he cared about fall and die while he remained unchanging in the face of time. Having lived so long that he withdrew from the world with no hope…until a Curse was placed upon him that finally changed the unchanging. That man's name…was-and is- Skull De Mort, and his great city was once known as Atlantis."

The room stills, and fills with a kind of disbelieving tension. Skull grins to himself, standing from the large armchair he had collapsed into over the course of his story. He straightens himself out, falling into the old salute of Atlantis given from one warrior to another (left arm straightened out and close to his side, right hand fisted and lifted sharply to rest diagonally across his chest and over his heart, head up and eyes forward to meet the eyes of the others) even as he releases the binds on his presence and power, letting it crest and pour over the others in the room.

He knew what his presence felt like:

The current of the ocean, unending and going only in the direction it chooses. A tidal wave cresting on the horizon- unending power with no hope to change his course. The undertow, catching enemies and yanking them under the ocean before they can catch a breath down and down until the pressure crushes them into nothing. Darkness, able to shield those it chose, but also able to hide the assassin that would kill his enemies.

He pulled his presence back and more than one of the others draw in a sharp breath as if they had been underwater too long.

"Skull…" Tsuna breaks the silence "How old are you?"

Skull scoffs silently "Too old. I lost track after the first eon. I have seen many, many dynasties come and go." He paused and this time the smile that pulls at his lips is mischievous.

"I was there long, long before Giotto di Vongola, Primo of the Vongola created his Famiglia, and I am still here long after during its Tenth Generation. I told you all from the start: I am the Immortal Skull. You all just assumed it was a nickname from all the 'close shaves' with death."

Skull moves on after a moment, thinking of his old friend and smirking as he settles back to share some of the Primo Generation's finest (and worst) moments.

He enjoyed himself as he shared some of Giotto's Incidents with the family, smirking as he informs Tsuna "Your luck was actually inherited from your grandfather you know….and I even know what caused it.'

(The source of the Sawada Family Lines' legendary luck technically wasn't known. Giotto had sworn his Guardians and everyone else involved in it to secrecy and forbidden anyone from ever mentioning it ever again or recording it anywhere.

But Skull had been present for what he would eventually term The Greatest SNAFU of All Time and he had made no such promise.

It had involved Giotto, his Guardians, bandits, a runaway carriage, a noble woman, the noble woman's two-year-old twin girls and her father, a donkey, Daemon- who as a main part of the cause deserved a separate mention from the rest of the Guardians- Mist Flames, Skull himself, and an accident with another powerful Chinese Mist User.

The end result had had a very angry but also amused Chinese Mist User looking Giotto dead in the eye and telling him 'May you and all of your family live in interesting times.')

After sharing the entirety of The Greatest SNAFU of All Time- leaving many with amused reactions ranging from wide smirks to wheezing laughter and no ability to breathe or in some cases with their face buried in their hands with utter mortification and/or secondhand embarrassment- Giotto himself had appeared from Tsuna's ring waling about how Skull was never, ever supposed to mention that ever.

(Incidentally, it is this revelation where Giotto accidently confirmed to everyone that Skull had been present for the incident and thus was telling the truth, that caused the group picture of shocked faces Skull made so many copies of.)

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The Greatest SNAFU of All Time actually stands for The Greatest Situation Normal All Fucked Up of All Time for those who didn't know what SNAFU meant.