Getting ahold of the others after waking up in the (Past?Present?Past.) now, isn't hard. Finding out that, yes everyone remembers the future-that-never-was, isn't hard.
Finding where Skulls blimp should be, is slightly more difficult when they all realize they don't even know what part of the world it's supposed to be in right now.
(Finding Skull himself or even just getting ahold of him is turning out to be impossible. He won't answer his phone no matter how many messages they leave and they can't find him.
It only turns the semi-frantic, hidden searching into full blown public hunting after he fails to show at the Arcobaleno Springs when everyone is called)
It's an uneasy feeling that hovers between them all as the weeks go by and they find nothing. Averted eyes paired with shifting, blank smiles as they wait around for a call they already know isn't coming.
The knowledge that they just don't know where Skull is, that they can't find him really sinks in, it's only when they realize Skull doesn't want to be found. That he is running from them, that things start to really get bad.
They are all uncomfortably aware of the fact that not knowing and before, not really caring where their Cloud is, was unique among the current Arcobaleno
Because the Arcobaleno always knew where the other members were. If only so as not to step on anyone toes (or egos) accidentally.
Some are easier to find than others normally, but they all know where they're most likely to be or at least how to contact them.
Reborn and Fon are the most difficult to find on short notice, with China being such a large amount of land to look in and Reborn's inability to stay in one place for long, with all the jobs he takes.
Lal and Viper were the easiest to find with Colonello coming in a close third. Viper having accepted a long-term contract with Xanxus of the Varia and Lal March helping head the CEDEF, if you really needed to find them, you just had to show up outside the buildings.
(Although easiest to find, actually getting in side said buildings? Most of the time it just wasn't worth it. )
Verde only came in fourth because he had multiple different labs to choose from, most of which he moved between frequently.
Skull though… they had known he'd made a blimp his home, no one knew what the inside looked like but they knew it existed. None if them had needed to know before, since whenever they wanted something from Skull, he was almost always waiting for them or already at wherever they needed him to be. If that didn't happen, which was rare, he wasn't exactly hard to get ahold of by phone.
But actually knowing where he was or how to find him? They just. Didn't know how. Not like they did for each other.
It was sobering to think that they actually knew very little about the Cloud they'd all fought with for over 30 years.
The Cloud that joked and laughed and cried and whined at them but never said anything.
It's only now that they start to understand how very alone Skull must have been, must have felt. They didn't know his habits. Or his likes, all the little things that people know about each other, after being friends and colleagues for so long.
Like how one of Fon's favorites foods were Century Eggs even though he hated the way they smelled, or that Lal didn't wear perfume because it always gave her headaches, how Viper wouldn't charge you if you needed advice or that Verde liked being able to make things and share them, and Colonello was always happiest when he had people who weren't intimidated by his being an Arcobaleno around.
All small, little things that you pick up or learn through time by caring about someone.
But no one knew anything about Skull. Not really, not the little personal things they desperately wanted to know now.
They knew the big things, like they knew he was a coward, ( But that wasn't true. He stood face to face with the army of a Mad God, to give them time to run, what type of coward would do that?) they knew he didn't like being called Lackey, or Underling or Stupid,
(But he hadn't seriously argued against it after they'd all been cursed. He'd just stopped at some point. Stopped really arguing about anything.) and they knew he cried over the smallest of things.
(That wasn't really true either. He'd only started crying when they'd picked at him. After they'd picked and picked and picked at him until he couldn't take it anymore, until he wanted to leave but couldn't because they wouldn't let him, until he had nothing to take his emotions out on because he was weak, weak, weak and they'd told him that constantly-)
But no one knew what his favorite food was, or if he even liked working for the Carcassa Famiglia, they'd all heard about Skull joining them but hadn't cared, even though they knew he didn't want to be part of the Mafia. Had he been forced into it? They just didn't know.
He'd probably have nightmares from dying. Did Skull even have anyone to talk to about dying in the past/future/past? They'd never met any of his friends, if he even had friends.
They didn't know, they couldn't find him, none of their allies knew where he was, no one had seen the blimp or Oodako in weeks before they started looking, because no one had cared before.
Unfortunately for Skull's success at hiding until the him-dying-for-them-thing blew over, that's the tipping point for the rest of the Arcobaleno. It's that tiny, little bit of information that makes all the guilt and confusion they felt for the future-that-never-was come to a head.
When they realize that no one had cared where Skull was or what he was doing before they started looking, it transforms a moment of empathy for the man who saved their and Yuni's lives, who they have never treated well, into a determination to do whatever they could to help him, apologize, start over. Because even in the Mafia it's not right, it's not ok, to have no one to turn to.
They all have their separate Families and Famiglia, their own responsibilities but they were supposed to have each other first. No one can understand what an Arcobaleno goes through, better than another Arcobaleno after all.
But Skull was hiding from them.
And they don't.. really know what to do about it.
It's funny really, that It's not Reborn who is tearing the Mafia apart looking for him that finds Skull first. Or even Viper who is giving out discounts on their information like crazy, for just a hint of information about Skull's location, or Colonello who's listening obsessively to gossip on Mafia island for the slightest hint of a purple biker child, or even Fon who has the whole of the Chinese Triads on the lookout, that finds Skull first.
It's Verde out on a coffee run for everyone that sees the kid wandering around the plaza he's in. The kid who's accompanied by no parent, who has perfectly none-descriptive clothes, mousy brown hair, one completely normal brown eye, and a violently purple one that looks like it's eaten the brown contact that was in it.
In that moment Verde thanks every god he's ever heard about that Skull is still an idiot who never listens to his technobabble, if a decently camouflaged one.
Because before everything else Verde is, an Arcobaleno, a Mafia Man, a modern day Leonardo da Vinci, Verde is a scientist. A Flame scientist yes, but a scientist all the same. One who's told the idiots he works with that contacts just don't work for certain Flame types, not realistically. Storm and Cloud being the hardest to manage them with.
Disintegration and Propagation respectively.
For Storms it's their bodies unconsciously burning out the 'invading' substance from their eyes. So unless a Storm was concentrating entirely on their eyes the contacts would disintegrate in moments, if not instantaneously.
For Clouds the same theory applied but had the added bonus of a Cloud having no idea it was happening, as it was happening. Since Clouds didn't normally use their Flames either unconsciously or internally (Because of how dangerous they could be to anyone, unchecked.) they could, technically, wear the contacts for any amount of time they wanted.
It was only when they used their Flames for the first time after putting the contacts in that they would unconsciously start to multiply the enzymes that protected the eyes naturally to burn out the object.
Leaving a dual colored Skull, who had one brown eye and one violet eye, both of which were staring at him with a terror he did not expect to see.
'Shit.'
Skull shoots out of sight seconds after Verde registers he's just close enough to grab at. Verde doesn't hesitate to take off after him phone already in his hand, coffee forgotten.
Reborn picks up moments after the call connects, but before he can say anything Verde is yelling into the receiver. It's all he can do to focus on Skull's back as they shoot past confused civilians, Verde's not made for this type of endurance but this is the closest they've been to finding Skull since they came back and he would not be losing him now.
"He's heading down Via dei Calzaiuoli street! Get! Here! Now!"
The call drops without another word. Verde knows he can't keep this type of running up and hopes like hell that Reborn makes it here in time, before they lose Skulls trail for another couple of weeks. He knows that if Reborn can just make it here fast enough they have a chance, even just a small one of keeping Skull still long enough to call the others in.
Because one thing neither Skull or Reborn have ever been able to do, is ignore each other. If Reborn's not picking on him, Skull will say something that will makeReborn notice him. If Skull was gone for long enough Reborn would call and force him to do 'errands' for him.
Verde doesn't know if either of them have ever realized just how much they've always influenced the other, intentionally or not but it's their only chance now of catching Skull before he's gone like the Clouds his Flames are named after.