Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"You... Sit down... Shut up! Not a word out of your fucking mouth!"

"Lal-" A thunderous crack of a gun sounded. She was there in Reborn's lap, in his face and noses touching. A gun under the man's chin forcing his head up to meet her cold dead eyes. There was a hole in the back of the chair, a millimeter from the Sun's bleeding ear.

Lal Mirch was done.

"Try me, bhosadike." Lal's steel barbed hiss sent shivers through the room. "You've recovered from having your brains blown before. A pleasant perk for a Sun of your renown skill. Even covered in viscous, I will enjoy watching every second of your recovery.

It was the second day of this bullshit meeting and they'd accomplished nothing. Her involvement had been minimal so far, and that wasn't good enough. As former military she never left a fellow comrade behind to suffer. She might not have really known Skull or even cared; that didn't stop him from being one of their group. One of Hers.

"You are the reason he's a flight risk. If it's conductive to this meeting, you will raise your hand like a good little boy and not make a sound... That goes for all of you."

It's satisfying to use the man's own tricks. She slowly slinked out of Reborn's lap to drape herself over the back of his shoulders, gun still drawn to keep his head up and eyes locked on her. She had the Arcobaleno to wrangle and a room full of guests to address after all.

"I'd like to humbly apologize for the unseemly display of Acrobaleno hospitality over the last couple days. If you could graciously consent to stay, better accommodations will be provided. We've taken much of your valuable time; however, we do believe your knowledge is paramount to the situation at hand."

She'd even given them her best pearly smile. Hundreds of men had fainted at the sight of it.

They'd stooped to an all-time low having to call on these people. However, the Carcassa Famiglia and the Simon Famiglia had one thing the Arcobaleno didn't -ample and amiable time with Skull. If anyone could find the cloud or predict Skull's thought process, it was these people.

"It's alright." The Carcassa's regent was an unknown young lady in a lab coat. A meeker version of Verde, with lavender hair, surrounded by a rag-tag of vagabonds.

"What could we provide the I prescelti settle that they don't already know themselves?" Enma Kozato, the Earth Decimo of the Simon Family, gave her a condescending smile. Twisting the preverbal knife deeper. Now the verbal sparring could truly begin.

"I agree. The Carcassa Family cannot help you. As his fellow guardians, you know more than us."

"We disagree. He showed for battles, then immediately left when things were over. Skull was never around--"

"--his own gaurdians? Color me surprised. A single stranger was his only ally at the Rainbow Representative Battle and that was the only time we spent together. Where was the Carcassa Family?" When did Kozato become a shark? The pointed glance at the unease and nervous air of the Carcass blatant. Their faces were poorly masking their thoughts. Their regent gave the room a delicate cough.

"Despite popular opinion, the Carcassa Famiglia is not Skull's to call home."

The room filled with quiet murmuring as the Carcassa exchanged looks and panicked glances. They had a secret. One the rest of the room probably wasn't going to like. Nudging Reborn's head to the side, she put a hole in the ceiling to shut them up.

"Start talking."

"The Carcassa Family isn't Mafia."

What?

"It's a science facility with one goal. Run the Fuoco Familiare Program. We didn't intend to create Flame Animals, didn't even know what they were. The Vindicare gave us a visit. We didn't care for any of the mafia's dealings but realistically realized the facility could not go unprotected after our discovery. Because of the nature of the animals we have no Flame Actives in our Famgilia."

"Quiet." The mutters had returned and louder. The Carcassa looked resigned at her hiss; like they'd just signed their death warrants. She didn't blame them. The Vindicare had allowed this farce. "Reborn."

"Skull and your enforcers?"

"We apologized to Skull. He was not an intended front or member of our group. He came to us for a familiar but could never flame-bond with any of them; not even Oodako, the octopus. We don't know why but it resulted in rumors after he started spending time with the animals. The income from the familiars allowed enough paid mafia-outcasts to enforce the illusion of being more. They were not in on the secret and truly believed the image of Carcassa."

Verde - "The drugs, prostitution, and trafficking? The Vindice should have incarcerated you years ago."

"No one bothered us if we were the lowest of the mafias underbelly. No one looked deeper. No one asked for things of us because there were no expectations."

Colonello - "Wait… It was all rumor?"

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't. We hadn't broken any laws after all. The Vindice thought it was hilarious."

Colonello - "We were hoodwinked?"

The young lady scientist gave the room an awkward shoulder shrug, and a decrypted smile. The flash of razor teeth was all for Colonello.

"The enforcers acted as our liaisons. They outsourced the weakest of the mafia to spin tales. Flame actives that had no true talent; therefore, no future. People we couldn't give a home too, but we could still help make ends meet. So, yes, the Mafia World was suckered in by a bunch of brains and small fry."

Someone needed to take charge of these meetings, but why the hell was she the spokesman of this shit storm?

Did these people even know anything about Skull?