Skull cursed in every language he knew.

He had no idea what the hell the curse the Neo-Eater hit him with actually was, but it was making him bleed almost too fast for his Flames to keep up with the blood loss and it resisted every use of magic he had tried against it. The curse had opened multiple wounds over his body and caused him to bleed faster than should be humanly possible. Trying to close the wounds by multiplying his own skin cells with Flames (after magic had failed to help) had caused the curse to not only reopen the wound but open up two more.

He'd been multiplying his own blood cells since near the exact moment the curse had managed a glancing graze of a wound against him, not even much of a nick, but it had been all it had needed to rip open what looked like four inch long deep knife wounds in multiple places. His Flames were the only reason he was still breathing- unlike the fool to have cast the damn thing. (He wished he could have taken his time with that particular kill, but blood loss meant he needed to be quick and get out, especially since he couldn't heal himself)

His magic didn't work against it, and his Flames were too busy frantically keeping him alive to do anything to help him after that initial attempt. (Not that he would since direct application of his Flames to the area only seemed to make more curse-wounds.)

Skull couldn't go to a normal hospital with a curse-afflicted wound and he couldn't go to St. Mungo's or he'd be recognized and detained 'for his own good'. But he needed help- he was woozy and lightheaded and nauseous- and if he passed out before he got help there would be no saving him.

That leaves the Arcobaleno.

He's angry about it- he hadn't wanted them involved at all and this will absolutely get them involved (violently too- Skull had long ago learned that while the Arcobaleno might push him around, yell and hit, they were the only ones allowed to do so as far as they were concerned) but Skull needs the help.

He curses some more even as he staggers.

"No choice."

The thought crosses his mind even as he prepares to use his depleted magic. It's not working against the curse- whatever it was- but he could still apparate.

It's hard to focus through the blood loss he's suffering from even with his Flames working overtime to replace the blood but he's Skull. He's Skull, he's Harry Potter and he has determination enough to topple entire governments if he wants so he apparates.

His landing is less than graceful and he crashes into the ground with a shudder, his vision greying out alarmingly, but he hasn't lost any body parts. That was good. He didn't need anything else on his person to start bleeding while these curse wounds were in effect.

He knows the Arcobaleno are heading his way even if he can't see them yet. His arrival would sound like a gunshot. That would draw them in like nothing else. (Even if they were all good enough to know it didn't sound like any gun they had ever heard before)

Which was good.

Skull didn't think he could get his weak limbs to push himself back to his feet.

O~O~O~O~

The Arcobaleno are on edge and angry.

Skull had stormed away after that fateful day where he had lost control of his Flames weeks ago and they had heard nothing from their Cloud since.

That wasn't normal.

Skull was a worrier when it came to people he cared for, he demanded updates from all of them when they left their main base of operations for any sort of job. The Arcobaleno had only ever needed to see one incident where Verde had failed to call in to decide to never break the tradition again.

It was all the confirmation they had needed to know the infamous Cloud temper did in fact lurk within their Cloud and was just as impressive as the rumors claimed (if not more so). Skull had started the habit, but it had spread amongst each other so that they kept their eyes on each other through these quick messages and updates.

It had become an ironclad rule with them- they updated each other via texts when they went out on missions, when they arrived and when they were on the way back. Plus periodic check-ins in-between or they told the others that 'radio silence' was required.

Over three weeks without a word from their Cloud and no sign of him raging anywhere in the Mafia world and they were all antsy and on edge and angry. Looking for him turned up nothing, calling got voicemail, searching for him did no good. (And when had Skull gotten so good at hiding that they couldn't find him when they wanted to?)

So that left the question: where was he?

The sound of a single shot of gunfire (it's off somehow, it's not quite gunfire and they all know it, but it definitely isn't the sound of a car backfiring and no one should be able to get that close to their home without alerting them unless they were really, really good. The only other thought for them is gunfire) gets their attention. It doesn't even cross Viper's mind that this could be apparation because who did she know that was magical and able to get onto the property?

They slide through the property like the shadows in firelight. Quick and soundless, flickering from place to place from pure speed, there and then gone in a blink.

They all still when they see the origin of the sound.

There's a sense of disbelief, of horror, but no sound. Their eyes are glued to the sight, and not one of the Arcobaleno even breathe for a moment.

He hadn't checked in, but not once, never once had any of them thought that this may be the reason Skull hadn't checked in with them.

If they had thought for even a fraction of a second that their Cloud was being hurt in any way they would have burned the world in their search for him.

(They shove the horrifying image from the Future-That-Never-Was, that image of their Cloud crumbled to the ground with the gaping hole in the side of his head out of their minds. The image that would haunt them all for the rest of time.)

Reborn is the first to break out into a run.

He is the world's best hit man and he trusts his own instincts to alert him to any danger the other Arcobaleno miss, but more than that, Reborn is the Sun and it is his job to heal the other Elements in his Sky when they cannot help themselves.

His job to heal Skull.

Skull who is sitting in a puddle of blood every single one of the Arcobaleno know should mean he was dead from blood loss hours ago even though he's not since he's still breathing shallowly and blood is still rushing from his body.

"Clever bastard." Reborn has the absent thought, recognizing instantly what Skull has done to keep up with his loss of blood even as he reaches out for their Cloud and flips him over to see the wounds.

He notices immediately that Skull is still conscious if only barely his eyes unfocused (He had been too late, one side of Skull's head completely gone, the half of his skull still intact glaring at him with one unfocused violet eye and his lips pulled back in one last defying snarl-) and not really tracking him.

That changes when Reborn brings his Sun Flames to the surface, hands gleaming, and reaches for Skull. He ignores the other Arcobaleno who have all rushed to their side even as they carefully search the area for any threats.

Something sharp and focused, something dangerous and feral flashes in Skull's eyes clearing the glassy unfocused gleam away like a lightning strike while a hand flashes out coated in blood and locks around his wrist. "Don't" their Cloud commands his voice rough like sandpaper but sharp and commanding and Reborn stills.

O~O~O~O~

Skull sensed the exact moment the Arcobaleno saw him. Their Flames had all collectively stilled.

It takes a moment before he hears one of them run to his side. He's barely conscious as he feels his body be rolled over. His eyes aren't really focusing, but he knows that Flame so warm at his side, and even if he hadn't sensed it he would recognize that dark silhouette of Reborn leaning over him long before the gleaming yellow Flames flare to life in his hands.

Skull knows he plans to help him, but he knows his Flames had just ripped open more wounds and he doesn't want to see what Reborn's will do while the curse is in place. Granted that due to blood loss this knowledge just comes across his brain as memory driven instinct that Flames can't touch him. He doesn't quite remember why it's a bad idea, just that it really is (he knows that memory loss is a bad sign too) and war instincts rear in his head.

Skull had long ago learned as Harry to ignore life-threatening wounds for periods of time while he fought to ensure he'd live after he was down. This instinct rages through his brain a surge of adrenaline and his magic reacting to his instinctive knowledge that if any more wounds were ripped open on him (what he assumes Flames will do to him) it would kill him and his eyes clear. Adrenaline and magic allow Skull to move his blood coated hand striking out and clamping over Reborn's stilling the move his Sun was making to help him. "Don't." he commands sharply his voice rough and sharp with warning and command.

As soon as Reborn has stilled Skull wavers. Adrenaline and magic fade and his hand limply falls away from Reborn's wrist his eyes rolling back on the edge of nothingness.

He knows Viper has magic. He had realized long ago. Fighting a war with magic on the front lines meant that Skull was very, very attuned to the use of it- even if it was small amounts. He'd never brought it up- Skull wouldn't know of magic after all- and since he had never really used any magic in Viper's presence he doesn't believe she knows that he knows about it. Still….Viper will be able to sense the curse magic on him if she pays attention. He just needs to make her pay attention.

He only manages to gasp two more words before his mind retreats- not unconscious but completely unaware of the world as he focuses only on his Flames and keeping himself alive. Let the others worry about the rest of it. He'll just make sure he has enough blood in his body to be alive when they finish.

"Viper….curse…"

O~O~O~O~

Viper straightens at the sound of her name her eyes narrowing beneath her hood as her mind flashes through various reasons Skull would mention the word 'curse' to her specifically.

She wants to brush it off as unimportant but her instincts are sharp, and she has long ago learned to trust them.

She'll figure it out later though, her Cloud had asked for her specifically after stopping Reborn. All of the Arcobaleno knew how to think through things like blood loss and pain, so even if most people would brush off his reaction of pushing their healer away from him, they wouldn't. There was a reason they hadn't seen yet.

And he had called for Viper, which meant she would be able to find the reason.

It takes a frantic few minutes before Viper figures it out.

Her eyes widen behind her cowl and her hands still as she stares at the Cloud.

Curse.

Curse.

It was an actual curse. Her Cloud was talking about magic.

Viper herself wasn't exactly a witch. She wasn't a Squib either. She was technically considered a Hedgewitch. Someone with magic, but not enough for a wand. She could make and use both potions and runes, and a few spells would work wandless for her, but she didn't have a core large enough to truly learn. (Not that it stopped her from finding ways to substitute with her Flames just to prove she could, but most magic was unattainable for her personally.)

She still researched, she still learned all she could because she knew the knowledge could and would save her life and the lives of others. (Plus there was the money making opportunities if she managed it right, and she was very good at her information gathering job. This just expanded her clientele.) She searched out the old and unknown for herself to use in her illusions, and she knew enough to know what she was seeing.

This was a curse, but she needed to figure out which one.

Her hands rushed forward skimming as close as she could to each wound on their Cloud before she realized what she was seeing.

Oh shit.

It shouldn't even be possible. This was a curse that was beyond ancient- she had only looked at it because it had been between her and an old Egyptian tomb full of treasure- and she had watched the man who had been hit die in moments.

They had learned over the course of trying (and later succeeding) to get the treasure that magic was useless against it, which was why Viper knew what she was seeing. Flames were the only way to survive once it was effecting a person and even then it had to be done in the proper order or it would only make the curse worse.

Sky Flames would petrify sections of skin wherever the wounds were, Sun Flames would speed up the effects of the curse like giving it a supercharge, Lightning Flames would just make it harder to stop the curse, upping the defensive properties of it, Rain Flames would only slow the curse down, it wouldn't help anything, Mist Flames created new more dangerous wounds, and considering Skull's response to Reborn, Viper figured he had discovered that Cloud Flames would just multiply the wounds already present.

(Later, when Skull finds out that he had been hit with a very ancient Egyptian curse that only Flames could fix, that Viper just happened to know how to counter due to earlier treasure hunting, he would shakes his head and mutter about 'the Potter Luck at its finest.')

"Fon!" she called.

Storm Flames had to be applied before everything else. They were the only ones that could destroy the curse itself, and even then it had to be done by someone who knew what they were doing and who had very good control or it would kill the person under the effects of the curse by basically disintegrating them.

Fon knelt at Viper's side immediately. "What do you need?"

"Give me your hand." She snagged the closest hand and brought it forward so it hovered over Skull's wounds. "Focus. I know you'll be able to feel it. The energy that is tainting him."

Fon obeyed without complaint, and sure enough- "What is that?"-his eyes narrowed. It didn't feel like Flames, but it defiantly wasn't natural or friendly and he could feel it trying to spread. It was dark and almost slimy.

And it was hurting Skull.

"Don't worry about that for now" Viper answered "I need you to overwhelm it, and only that Fon. It will fight you every step of the way and if you waver for even a moment it will kill Skull"

Fon tensed sharply even as the stillness around him told him how the warning had effected the others.

(The memory of a blood soaked field dead bodies around their Cloud, Skull crumbed in the center with a hole in his head but the evidence he had gone down fighting every step of the way, taking down an entire third of the enemy forces before the shot that killed him had struck-)

That would not happen.

Fon's determination lights a bonfire of red on his hands as he reaches for the energy in his Cloud that is wrongwrongwrong.

Viper is right.

It fights back, lashing out at him like the stinging strikes of a salted whip, writhing under his assault, and causing Skull to arch of the ground with obvious pain though not a sound escapes his lips apart from a hissed shallow breath. Fon doesn't waver for even a moment his eyes narrowed with focus as he destroys the energy that doesn't belong on anyone Fon choses to shelter in the eye of his Storm.

By the time Fon manages to destroy it completely- whatever it was- since it kept trying to hide from him like it was actually sentient and aware Fon was going to destroy it Fon is actually winded. He knows this means that anyone else would be edging on complete Flame Exhaustion. He leans back "It is done."

"Reborn, go." Viper commands and Reborn is there his hands flaring with the healing Flames he had tried to use earlier.

The wounds are sluggish to respond, and it takes more Flame then is should but eventually Reborn gets the wounds closed up, glad that the presence of Storm Flames would have killed any bacteria that may have gotten into Skull's wounds.

Colonnello is the one that picks their Cloud up and heads for the mansion while Fon takes an extra second to burn the blood staining the ground away.

Skull has a lot of explaining to do when he's actually conscious, but for now they will take care of him.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

I know a lot of you had ideas about how the Arcobaleno would get pulled in, but I have had this planed since before I started this Fic (literally- this was the scene that started it all) and I do have a method to my madness.

There are reasons for why it went down this way. (To be explained later on.) So don't freak out about it. Also: I BROKE 300 Reviews! OMGYOUGUYS.