Chapter Text
Skull stared at his tiny hands, small, so small, too small. And the ground was so close… His vision blurred as he started to hyperventilate, his now small hands started shaking. Skull tried to look over at the other Arcobaleno, but only saw small blurs. They were tiny too. He couldn’t do this. He had to leave. Now. The now cursed Stuntman turned around, and ran back down the mountain. He ran and ran, as far as his short legs could carry him.
He ended up in a field of yellow daisies, almost collapsing from exhaustion. Purple eyes glanced up from the blurry ground, only to find black eyes staring back.. Fredbear? Skull reached a hand out, feeling the soft golden fur of his childhood teddy bear. The Cloud took a deep breath as the feeling of warmth and comfort flooded him, taking over the panic and fear. He hugged the bear close, as it whispered soft words of comfort.
RenatoReborn was the first one to notice the strange stuffed bear. It had been roughly two years since being cursed, and the hitman had thought it was time for a get together. His main adjective was to see if anyone had found any information about the pacifiers or the curse.
He ended up tracking the lackey to some abandoned mall in America that was in absolute ruins.
The place looked like it suffered a terrible earthquake, or was simply demolished and no one ever bothered to cleaned it up. There were ashes everywhere, scattered all around in a way that a fire likely happened as well. What was Skull doing in a place like this? Could this have been his territory? No one had heard from him since they split up on that day. Personally, Reborn assumed that the Cloud went back to wherever his territory was, if he even had one in the first place. Or maybe this place held some sort of sentimental value to him, the damage it had suffered looked rather recent. Likely happening sometime in the past two-three years, so it was a plausible theory.
Reborn spent a little over an hour just searching through the massive fallen building for the stuntman. He eventually found him in what looked like a daycare center. “Lackey!” He called out in slight frustration. “Let’s go!” He waved his hand to signal Skull to follow him as he turned back around.
”Re-Reborn?!” Skull shrieked at first, before trailing off in worry. “What are you doing here?” The Cloud scrambled to get up and follow the Sun.
”I am calling a meeting. You will be attending. Everyone will. Get whatever you need, we are going back to Italy. Now.”
Skull shrieked in fear as he hurried to pack a quick bag. Tears gathered in his eyes as he tried not to upset Reborn further.
It did not take long for Reborn to notice that Skull was holding on to a teddy bear (of all things) as he packed. The lackey held it close, glancing at it while smiling softly here and there. The hitman scoffed at the idea. How ridiculous. Skull was a full grown adult. And while he likely was the youngest of them all, the stuntman was still far too old to be holding onto such a childish object.
Despite his clear disdain for the situation, Reborn kept his thoughts to himself. Memories of the last time he criticized the lackey’s childish choices came flooding through his brain. Skull did not stop crying until Reborn apologized and took his harsh words back 20 minutes later. But make no mistake, he isn’t soft for the other. Not by any means. Reborn never meant the apology. It was just to shut the cloud up. He swears. And yet, he said nothing, keeping his opinion to himself. Just this once.
The plane ride was rather quiet, with Skull playing some game the entire time. It was one of those things where you tilt the thing to guide the little ball through the maze. The lackey looked like he was concentrating rather hard on the toy. It really highlighted Skull’s innocence. Reborn bet that those none the wiser wouldn’t think twice about Skull’s age. They would see a toddler acting like a toddler and wouldn’t think twice.
The hitman’s gaze shifted to the golden bear next to the lackey. Reborn had noticed that not once did the stuntman let the bear go. How odd. One of Skull’s arms was hooked around it, as its beady black eyes stared back. Oh. It’s one of those.. Stuffed animals who seem to stare into your soul and no matter where you are, it watches. His hand twitched, instinctively wanting to reach for the gun. There was just something unsettling about it. Reborn internally scoffed. The curse must be affecting his judgment. If he ever sees Checkerface again, well, he’s not called the world's greatest hitman for nothing.
By the time they were almost ready to land, Reborn figured it was time to wake up Skull, who had gotten bored of his game and fell asleep 20 minutes after their plane took off.
“Lackey! Wake up, we're almost there.” Reborn called out, but the Cloud just continued to lightly snore. With a sigh, he stood up and strode across the plane’s aisle. As he stood beside Skull, Reborn reached out his hand and poked the lackey in the check.
“Oi! I said wake up!” Skull grumbled slightly as his eyes fluttered open.
“Reborn? Are we here already? Oh, was I asleep? Sorry I’ve been having a lot of nightmares lately so I’m not surprised if I took a nap. By the way, why did you call a meeting? You never said..” Skull rambled on loudly in the obnoxious way that Reborn hated.
“Yes,” The hitman replied dryly. “We are about to land, so make sure you have your things ready to go. I will not be waiting for you. And I don’t care about your sleeping habits or nightmares. In fact, I almost prefer it when you're sleeping. At least then you're quiet.” Reborn scowled in anger. He didn’t know why, but something about the civilian cloud just always pisses him off.
After a few seconds he continued, calmer this time. “I called the meeting to discuss the curse.”
“Oh.” Purple eyes looked away from Reborn’s. “I see.”