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Chapter Text

Prologue
Chuuya was working on some paperwork at home, the one no one knows about because he's been a paranoid fuck since the sheep betrayed him, when his phone dinged. He grabbed his phone, before dropping it as he saw what was sent out to the underground network
Wanted Dead
Ex Port Mafia Executive
Chuuya Nakahara
Age: 17
$100 million
Flames: Storm
Wanted dead for helping ex-port mafia executive Dazai Osamu deflect for the mafia.
Chuuya started laughing hysterically, of course Dazai couldn't help but ruin everything he had worked for as a final fuck you before he left. Chuuya quickly moved the rest of his money to an offshore account under the name Hoyū-sha Arahabaki, meaning Arahabaki's holder or holder of Arahabaki. He has his house, motorcycle, and bank account under this name, never using the name Nakahara Chuuya on anything for fear of either the French or Japanese government finding him using it. After this he contacted a mist under his command in the Port Mafia, he was paranoid enough that he had literally created a mafia familia inside the Port Mafia, and got him to create a new identity for him as he went to find someone who could permanently change his appearance. Only for someone to appear before him with a deal.
A man appeared before him, "I hear you're searching for someone who can permanently change your identity?"
Chuuya was on guard as the man appeared before him, checking for anything that could be manipulating him in any way. "Oh and how much would this cost me?"
The man smiled, "My name is Kawahira and all you would have to do is accept a mission from me in a few years, you will be going as a cloud though."
Chuuya thought of the offer and agreed to it, however he had his questions. "My cloud flames are my weakest though, wouldn't it be better if I went as a storm or sky?"
Kawahira shook his head, "I can't find any cloud even close to your power, so I would need you to do it. The mission requires strong flames from all flames. What name will you be going by?"
Chuuya sighed, before telling him, hating the fact that both his familia and this man would know his new name, "My name will be Skull de Mort, or Zugaikotsu Shinda in Japanese. I will be advertising myself as a stuntman, model, and actor. I already applied to them and only need to send in a picture of myself with it."
Kawahira nodded, "I will find you in a few years, also how old are you, and I know you lied to the Port,so how old are you really. You're not seventeen."
Skull sighed, "I'm nine years old"
Kawahira blinked "I'm sorry what?"
Skull had a tick mark on his head, "I was five when I created the sheep, seven in the Port, I'm nine now."
Kawahira felt like an asshole now, the boy looks older that's why he was fine with approaching him. "You know I will come back around the time that you are thirteen."
Skull nodded. "I never had much of a childhood anyway, so I'm fine."
Kawahira felt like an even bigger piece of shit now but nodded, never had he ever made someone this young be an arcobaleno, but at this point there was nothing he could do. "Very well, you will be on the mission on June 5th.1983, the mission will last exactly a year from that date."
Skull nodded, "so from my thirteenth birthday to my fourteenth birthday, I can do that"
Kawahira felt like he could just die from how guilty he felt, he was cursing this boy to be fourteen for the rest of his life, never being able to mature as the pacifier makes those under aged freeze at their age. He swallowed uncomfortably, and after helping Skull pick how he looked and locking it with a small tattoo on his hip, he was done. He left and drowned himself in as much alcohol as he could.

Chapter Text

Skull looked at the card in his hand, and it was addressed to him by Kawahira, telling him about the meeting. He quickly read through the small letter.
Skull,
You have been selected as one of the strongest seven, you will go on missions for a year with six others. After the mission is over, you will be known as one of the strongest seven in the underground. After the mission is over you are free to live your life however you want.
-Checkerface/Kawahira
Skull sighed and left to talk to his crew, along with his manager. It had been four years since he saw Kawahira, and he hadn't had any trouble with the PM. His familia, the Scatenato familia, is one of the best when it comes to information and is one of the top five families in the underground. He named the familia Unchained as they were mostly clouds and other flames that ran after discovering the Mafia or were experiments of the Estraneo familia.
Skull walked up to his manager and started talking to her, "I have to leave for a year but I'll be back."
Lilith looked back at him and sighed, "Where are you going and what are you going to be doing."
Skull sighed "I have to fulfill a favor so I will be gone for a year and working in the underground for that time."
Lilith looked at her clipboard and then at him, you have two shows during this mission, will you be able to show up for them. Ones a concert, the other is a stuntman act."
Skull nodded, "I should be able to do them as all I will be doing is living with them and they don't need to know much about me for the mission to go through."
Lilith looked ready to throw her clipboard, "so I assume you won't be going as chuuya, but as the annoying idol Shinda Zugaikotsu or the headache that is the Stuntman Skull de mort."
Skull nodded, "I won't expose myself by acting like chuuya, but I can still show my cloudy self when it comes to fighting."
Lilith sighed. "I'll tell the public that you are in a year long hiatus, and tell Sarah that Chuuya won't be available for modeling anymore as they have sighed to be an actor for a show, and then I will tell Rinascere that Shinda will be busy as he has found out that he is failing one of his classes and will come back in a year. But you will only have a year, understand?"
Skull nodded, looking at her sparking hands in unease. "Don't worry about it, it's only for a year."
Skull left after she started calling people, he started to go back to Italy as he was in France at the moment. It took him only about six hours to get to Italy, where he headed to the meeting area and staked out the place for a few days. After deciding that Kawahira wasn't setting a trap with the PM, he walked into the building looking at the other six people sitting at the table already.
One of them sighed loudly "Finally the clouds here, can we get this over with."
The sky sat at the other end of the table directly across from Skull who sat down, waiting for the sky to speak. The sky stood up from the orange seat, "I'm Luce, sky, and will be the go between Checkerface and the group. Would you like something to drink?"
The man in the yellow chair sighed "Renato Sinclair, hitman, Sun. Espresso please.
The scientist next to him, in the green seat, stopped using his computer for a moment, "Verde, Scientist, and Lightning. I will take water."
Skull sat up, from the purple seat "Skull, Stuntman, and Cloud. I will take some wine if you have any."
The man with the long braided hair in the red seat sighed, "Feng, Triad, storm. I would like some tea"
The military lady sat up all proper from the blue seat, "Lal, ex soldier, rain. I would like some coffee."
The indigo seat next to her was occupied by a person cloaked in mist flames, "I am Viper, Info broker, and Mist, I will take strawberry milk."
Renato sighed "now that introductions are out of the way," Renato stood up and pointed at Skull, "Why is a Civilian here of all places."
Skull let out an exaggerated gasp, "how did you know??!?!" He enunciated with a dramatic flourish.

Chapter Text

Skull was almost dying of laughter inside at the look that appeared on Renato's face at his dramatics, he had seen that face on himself when Dazai would do it, now he understood why Dazai liked to do it so much. Viper scoffed, "He is a stuntman with a large amount of cloud flames, for what I can tell he appeared a few years ago in a circus."
Skull almost pouted when renato looked at Viper, he wanted to see his face like that for longer, Viper ruined his fun. Fon held back a laugh as he saw the pout appear on Skull's face very briefly before disappearing.
Luce caught their attention and started to talk to them, "Unfortunately this mission requires the strongest flames, each of you are them and all of you have a unique skill, Skull's skill for missions is infiltration and the escape. Just like Viper is recon and information, Fon for fighting and infiltration, ecs. All of you were chosen for a reason."
Renato scoffed, "him in infiltration, I doubt it. He's just going to get us all killed"
Luce sighed, about to answer, when Viper cut in. "Skull is connected to many families and invited to many important celebrations for celebrities and even mafia dons. As such he will be good in the event that we can get him on the list as entertainment."
Renato looked affronted at that, "But he's a civilian"
Verde sighed, shutting his laptop, "Yess you have said this a few times now, however that's not something we can change, we can teach him or we can use him till the mission is over in a year. We don't have to get along, we just need to get the missions done and live together. Now that we are done with the obvious things, can we get to our rooms I need to get some stuff done."
Skull nodded along with him, "I still have shows I have to do and then public appearances so that no is any the wiser to what's happening, so I need to talk to my manager." Skull said bullshiting his way through, he just couldn't stand being in this enclosed room without his familia with him.
Luce sighed and nodded, "We have a mission in two days to steal a diary from a museum, as long as you all come back here and don't leave until them we will be fine, this job is to tell the employer that we have accepted the job." Skull nodded, along with the rest. "Your room will correspond with your chair color, the room has been modeled off your previous living standards, so that you still feel comfortable."
Skull was the first to stand up and leave, walking to the purple door and closing it. His room had a large red bed, there was a wine rack near the base of the bed with his vintage bottles. He also had a walk-in closet filled with suits (normal and motorcycle) on one side, and hoodies and sweatpants on the other.
The floor was dark wood, the walls were black, and the ceiling was covered in the constellations. The one thing he disliked was the symbol of Arahabaki on the top of the bed, that was hidden by the canopy, but you could see it when you layed in it.
Skull sighed and found sixteen bugs and five cameras in his room, he crushed them with gravity before laying traps, and going to bed.

Chapter Text

Skull looked at the time, 5:35am, and walked into the kitchen Italian baked eggs and sausage, with croissants for everyone. He also made Espresso (for Renato), Russian breakfast tea (for himself and Fon), British coffee (for Lal), green tea (for Verde), Strawberry milk (for viper), and blueberry juice (for Luce).

This was a test for Luce, and the others, if no one tried to say they made breakfast or asked how he knew their favorite drinks then they would be able to work together, if not. Then we'll not work well together at all, and will have a problem. This was a test of trust and bonding, to see if everyone could get along, he had seen ane-san do something similar with new recruits. Skull walked back upstairs and waited for the rest of the group to wake up and come downstairs before he went back down the stairs.

.
.
.
They failed the test, almost immediately, when we got down the stairs. Luce claimed to have made breakfast, and the other started to throw a fit about her having knowledge of their favorite drinks. Skull sighed and shook his head, before leaving and calling Kawahira.

"Skull-san?" Kawahira asked, confused.

"They failed the team test, I don't think that any of us will be able to work well with the others unless we spend more time with each other before we go out on missions." Skull said, sounding defeated as he was going to have to change his schedule to make up for this inconvenience.

Kawahira sighed, feeling age creep up on him hearing the young boy talking like an adult. "Very well, I will tell them about the changes to the schedule due to this. Thank you for doing this little test"

Chuuya sighed, slipping back into old habits, "Ane-san would have killed me if I didn't test a group before working with them, it's like a rule with her, you don't do it once and you're sentenced to a week long lecture about the whole thing. Plus I needed to know if this was going to another Dazai and Mori situation"

Kawahira was confused, "A what situation"

Chuuya looked at the wall, "Dazai and Mori both failed the Test at least two times, after that they only adhered to it after learning what it was. Regardless of this I trusted them, and look where that landed me, no offense."

Kawahira sighed and after everyone was done eating he used his mist flames to appear in front of them. "You all failed a test I set up for you."

Everyone looked at each other confused, and for once Luce was confused too. "Checkerface, what do you mean by that? What test?"

Kawahira looked over at Skull, making everyone else do the same. "Skull helped me understand that I needed to see how well you would work with each other, however the test failed. Skull, would you like to tell them."

Skull nodded, "I made a test like this a long time ago when I started taking in street kids in my agency. I made food, and everyone's favorite drinks, then I would leave and come down last, based on this I can see if they are trustworthy, or if I shouldn't believe things that they say, I also use this to see if anyone will overreact to this, and see if they will be able to look past this. All of you failed this test when Luce claimed to have cooked it, and when you all threw a fit on how they knew about your favorite drink."

Renato and Lal scowled at him, Luce and Fon frowned, while Viper and Verde both looked approvingly at Skull. Kawahira sighed, "Because of this you will all spend a week without leaving the house, with the exception of Skull on Tuesday as he has a show. After the week is out I will see you all on Thursday, and will create a different test for you."

Everyone grumbled about it but agreed, Skull left and went to his room, he need to get away, as everyone was starting to crowd (he does have high cloud tendency's, like Kyouka). Fon stopped him at his door, "Thank you for the Tea Skull, it has been a long time since I had some good tea, and the breakfast food was delicious."

Skull nodded to him and walked into his room and closed the door, hearing Luce talk to Fon threw the door. ”Can I see Skull?"

Fon stopped her "No his cloud tendencies are showing, he doesn't seem to like talking for long periods of time, and has problems being in the room with eight people, he was fine with the seven of us, but when our benefactor came in he was chafing in the room. It got worse when the man asked Skull to talk."

Luce sighed, "Very well" and walked away along with Fon.

Skull sighed against the door, before grabbing his phone and texting Lilith to tell everyone that he won't be back this week except for one Tuesday for the show. Skull didn't leave his room until late in the after noon, when.

Chapter Text

Skull walked out of his room the next day and made breakfast again for everyone before eating, and heading outside and sitting on the roof. This time he heard none of the group complain about someone knowing the food they like and just ate it even though he cooked something different then before. After breakfast, Skull stayed on the roof even as he heard them looking for him, until Fon sat next to him. Fon stayed quiet for about twenty minutes before Skull started talking to him. "What brings you here Fon?"

Fon smiled his trademark serene smile, and looked over to him. "It has been a while since I saw you Skull?"

Skull sighed as he looked at Fon, "that it has, how have the triads been Fon, I heard you became neutral recently."

Fon frowned, "yes however I haven't seen you since the triad gave up on you about three months ago Skull, I was surprised to find out that you knew our benefactor when you avoided the mafia."

Skull looked at the forest surrounding them. "Checkerface helped me out with getting me away from the mafia about a year ago, he said that I would do this mission for him and we would be even. I did it, however the test was something I did in order to continue my shows while I am here."

Fon frowned "so the triads weren't the first to find you then," it was quiet for a few seconds before fon turned to skull " How long are you going to keep up the mask?"

Skull hummed " I'll keep it up until I know that I can trust them, and not a moment before then. Skull looked down at his watch, it was 10:26. He sighed, "come on," he said to fon "We need to prove we can work together in order to actually get the mission done, and want out of his debt."

Fon sighed and jumped down with Skull, before they both headed inside the mansion. Skull was immediately stopped by Reborn, holding him up to the wall. "You didn't answer me last night lackey, Who were you talking to on the phone with?"

Skull sighed inwardly before screeching as loud as he could, "Senpai let go, that hurts, I'm not into that kind of thing."

Reborn immediately dropped him and scoffed at him in disgust. "Whatever" he walked away from him before turning to skull again eyes glowing yellow in the dark hallway with no windows, "I will find out lackey, I always find out"

Skull looked around and made sure he was alone before breathing a sigh of relief, Reborn was gone and Don had gone to his room during the confrontation. Skull rubbed his neck, "well that went better than expected, I'll have to tell Makov to stop calling me about the familia, otherwise Reborn and the others might find out sooner than they need to.

Chapter Text

Skull sighed on the roof as he watched Lal, the soldier rain, and Reborn, the hitman sun, fighting once again. Verde, the lightning, was working on something, and Viper, the mist, was on a call with someone. Fon was on a job for the triads that he had already agreed to before he arrived. Kawahira was sitting next to him on the roof also watching the fight.
“Usually the Sun and Rain get along, this is the first time I've had trouble with them getting along.”
Skull looked at Kawahira before looking back at the fight, “Usually they are all in the mafia, Lal was a soldier who was recently discharged as her flames were noticed, and Reborn was a hitman who killed when he wished, they were on the opposite end of the spectrum.” Skull said before wincing and grabbing his head.
Kawahira looked at him and sighed, “Is Arahabaki giving you trouble again?”
Skull sighed “he’s drawing comparisons between luce and mori, and throwing a fit that I am still here. He's worried about how this could end”
Kawahira sighed, “Luce doesn't know when to stop does she?”
Skull nodded, “she has been taking advantage of the way skies are viewed to cause conflict between Lal and Reborn, she's also angry that we called her out, and has been causing trouble with Reborn, saying I rejected her even tho I'm a civilian and it's a ‘great sacrifice’ that she was making”
Kawahira looked disgusted, “she tried to court another sky.”
Skull laughed “that's not even the worst of it, she tried to court Fon”
Kawahira looked angry this time, “she's trying to poach another sky's guardian, does she not know of boundaries.”
Skull sighed looking at Kawahira “reminds me of Mori far too much, oh and Dazai finally did it”
Kawahira looked confused, before he went livid, “Your cloud broke the bond! How could he?”
Skull looked ten years older as he spoke next, “according to Lilith, he is being courted by Fukuzawa, who didn’t know he had a bond already until Dazai broke it.”
Kawahira’s eyes narrowed, “How could he not recognize a flame bond?”
Skull smiled at him “because not even Dazai knew I was a sky, and he didn't know about the bond. Plus I had another cloud I bonded to instinctively when I was four, so Dazai was only a secondary bond”
Kawahira looked at skull confused before realizing who Skull was talking about, “PAUL VERLAINE, but I thought he was dead,” Kawahira yelled before his volume went down in confusion.
“No Mori kept him alive so he could teach new assassins, last I heard, he killed every assassin he taught other than kyouka and gin, before leaving the port. After all he only stayed because I was there” skull told Kawahira.
Kawahira sighed loosing his shock, “sounds like him, what are you going to do if he finds out where you are?”
Skull shook his head, “Paul is the one taking over a Don for me right now as payment for Lilith helping him find me, though he doesn't know that it is my Familia, just that I know them well.”