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Not that Skull looked for it, but he had been always closer to Death than anyone was supposed to be, especially for one that supposedly was far from the Death’s Door.Regardless of many had thought, their first meeting was not his fault. Nor did he die during that, although he was quite close.At the time Not-Skull (yet) was watching serenely at the rain, feeling strangely calm as if the water washed away all his problems. The Skull then did not even notice a strange looking woman suddenly appeared in his small room, shared with the woman that gave birth to him and sheltered him but nothing else. Not-Skull had confusedly blinked at the Lady cloaked in Red, who morosely gave him a sad smile.She was pretty in the creepy kind of way. Yet strangely, he did not feel scared, like he always did. Probably because he had no strength left to feel so, but he had enough to screech somehow. It was best if he was underestimated, he knew that.Even then he knew not to hope that She would help him. This world was broken, bleak. He had wished a lot before, for someone that would whisk him away, or that the darkness that would finally embrace him. But a few months ago, a small, purple tinged fire had danced across his wound. It was then he realized what he wished was impossible, because he wanted to live. “We’ll meet again, young Child,” She had said with weirdly distorted noise.A few days later, his Mother’s client screamed when he found her lifeless body. Lying beside her was badly beaten 3 year old child, his condition was only a little better than the corpse that started to rot.If his world before was bleak, the next one tried hard to compete with it.Yet that first encounter had burned itself to his mind, so Skull tried his best to make do with his living condition. The orphanage was crowded, full of children saved from the War. Unfortunately, the supplies they got were not balanced with the demands. The shortage of food, clothes and living spaces soon became a big problem.It was not long before a lot of them fell sick and short after, died one by one.The Lady was always looked so sad when She visited that he felt guilty just looking at the scene.“Sorry,” he mumbled, even though he was not sure why. His stomach felt like eating itself. It probably did, but he kept struggling to survive.The Red Lady chuckled. Her voice was still ringing even though she did not open her mouth. “For what?” Once again, he stared at the cloaked figure, wondering why She was there. “Dunno.” “All that live will die, it’s The Rule,” She explained gently. “I am just doing what is required for me to do.” “But you look so sad when you did so.”The Lady tilted her head gently before lifting Her hand to pat his head. Skull somehow did not screech in fear when he saw it was all bones, like that time he saw a rat’s remains in the gutter.
“You’re a sharp one, aren’t you?”
“Am I?” he questioned, drawing a quiet breath.But the figure was not there anymore.He did not remember his original name. Somehow, he did not think his mother had her mind clear enough to even give him one. She was almost always high, if not taking care of her ‘clients’. Thus, when asked by the other street kids he befriended with, he gave “Skull” as his name.“Why you choose such a weird name?” one grumbled, clearly not happy with his choice.“Well…”He could not exactly said that because the kind, sad smiled Lady reminded him so. The Lady was always in his memory, even more so than the hardship he had to go through. It made him having courage, to be brave, to fight and live.It made him hope. *** “I see you are finally out of your mind,” The Lady grumbled, angry. Skull laughed it off.“Well, I like stunt driving!” he explained. It did not ease the glare She could not give him with Her hair hiding Her eyes. “On the plus side, it helps me meeting with you!”She glowered at him even more.“I will stop if you give me your name! I can’t always call you Death, can I?”The Lady was gone with the wind, as if She was never there.Skull made name of himself. Skull De Mort, the immortal stuntman, the one that hated by death.In his heart, he knew that Death probably loved him a little more than anyone else.During one of his stunts, he had probably gone too reckless again when he fell to the warm blackness.Skull’s smile fell again when he saw his only friend’s blurry self. She looked worse than before. That was startling, because She was always sad but she had never expressed her emotion like that. “What happened?” he asked gently. “It’s nothing,” the other replied curtly. They stayed like that until She left.“I’m sorry,” he whispered to the wind.Skull tried to not visit her so much anymore after that. Because seeing her like that hurt a lot.Then, the Arcobaleno happened and he saw her a lot more than before. Even when he did not die or when someone else died around him. But She was stalking/avoiding him. It was frustrating, because his only friend was there and he could not talk to Her.Skull looked towards where She was hiding, torn. “I’m not angry?” “I know,” was Her only response before She vanished.Skull still did not understand what happened and stared dumbly at her location before.The next visit was unexpected. Well, he should not be surprised, but he did anyways. He was now toddler sized and everything seemed so much bigger and scarier, even his friend. He wanted to be mad at Her, because She knew what was going to happen the last time they talked. She even followed him around.However, he was reminded of Luce’s words, those defeated expression the Sky held. If the World was going to burn, he could help to prolong it a little. He was only a spec of dust amidst of this huge world that still full of wonder.But his Lady suddenly appeared out of nowhere when he was on his last straw: the Mafia was hunting him, now saddled with the title of ‘The Strongest Cloud’. He had no idea how they knew, but now he was running around hiding out in the street. “Skull,” She greeted.“Ah! Long time no see!” he forced himself to sound cheerful, controlling his anger and frustration and hopelessness. For Her that had seen countless horrors of the world, the least he could do was offering Her a small kindness. He had said he was not angry at her, so he was going to fulfill that promise.
“Go to one of the Famiglia. It will keep you safe.”
That was unexpected.Skull glared at his old friend.
“Listen, you can look into them. It’ll be much better for you if it’s on your term.”
“I won’t,” he declared, voice quivering with unshed tears. How could She even say that? Even at his end, Skull never wanted to hurt others. If he agreed to their terms, he surely was going to. “Skull!” She scolded. “For once, listen to me!” But he was running already.In the next few weeks, he understood what She was telling him. It was far nicer if he aligned himself to a strong but good Famiglia. But it was too late.He was caught, beaten, locked up as if he was a cattle. There were people with white coats who broke him again and again as his Flame mended his body. Not for the first time, he glanced on a silhouette not far from his cell. “Sorry,” he said again, wondering if he imagined her. He kept repeating that word to Her.She vanished. Miraculously, he survived. He weakly realized that the other Arcobaleno probably helped but they did not speak of it so he played dumb too. Months had gone by, even more passed as he was recovering at the hospital.A folder was left on his doorstep, a black file he once saw his friend played with.The first thing he did when he got out was aligning himself with the Carcassa Famiglia. He did a lot of things he wished he did not do, but the phantom pain his body felt was a silent reminder that he was, and always had been, a coward.The Curse was lifted.Three decades, and the weight was lifted from his shoulders.It felt like a dream and he almost could not believe it.Maybe he had finally lost his mind? “You’ve not, my friend,” a familiar voice rang. His lips stretched up, grinning, happy that he finally saw her again. “Will you finally tell me your name?”She was beautiful in a creepy kind of way. Their meetings were never good, filled with pain, desperation and hurt. Yet he never feel fear whenever he was with Her. The only person that had been walking beside her, making all the hardships seemed easier to handle. It made him having courage and living.She always made him felt hope.***Bonus:Reborn frowned, “who is that lady, Lackey?”“Ah?” Skull responded cheerfully, fond. “This is my friend, senpai! She has always been with me since I was young! Wait, you can see her?”“Of course we can see her, kora!” Skull blinked, “you guys can see her? All of you?”Yuni smiled kindly. “Would you introduce us?”"Guys, Death but I always call her Lady! Lady, this is the Arcobaleno, they take care of me, even though they hit me a lot too!"The Red Cloaked Lady gave them a small grunt of acknowledgement, bowing her head in thanks of that time Skull had been in a bad situation before She vanished into the air with her signature move."Ah, that means she is happy!" Skull translated. "And she said thank you!"Lal frowned. "For what?"Skull grinned secretively, "reasons."