Zombie!Skull should not be so adorable!

The Cloud is Alive! (sort-of)

An aura of depression hung around the Arcobaleno as they processed the fact that yes, Skull was dead and no, he would not be coming back this time.

Reborn was not taking it well. At all.

Images of Skull's terrified face dance across his eyes and an overwhelming feeling of failure tugs at his mind. Fuck, he let Skull die. Skull is dead because he wasn't good enough; because he didn't try hard enough; because he let Skull die.

Reborn bit his lip until it bled as he leant against the stone walls of his room. Skull is dead. Ripped to pieces in an undoubtedly excruciating death.

FUCK!

He tries to pull himself together, but Skull was his lackey; his to protect and nurture. And Reborn was Skull's Sempai.

The others never really got how seriously he took that title.

It didn't matter though because Skull was dead. His flame had been snuffed out. His bond with the Arcobaleno broken. And they will never see him again.

Reborn had failed.

A knock startles Reborn out of his downward spiral, making him reflexively run his hand across his face to check for tears. No, thank god. He opened the door, murder in his eyes.

"What?" Viper gave him an unimpressed look, but he could feel the desolation radiating from her.

"Stop your pity party, it wasn't your fault." Reborn cursed the bonds and tries to shut down his side of the connection, unfortunately Reborn had never been amazingly good at the more delicate flame exercises. Viper's hand thwacks him on the arm as she glares slightly, "and don't pull away, dumbass, we all feel shit but we all feel shit together. Don't hide away, we need each other no matter what you lone wolf types like to believe!" Her voice raises to an almost shout towards the end and Reborn stops tugging at the bond.

"Sides, if anyone is to blame it would be me for not being there. I chose to stay. If I had been there I could have mist-traveled him away. Instead I was sat counting currencies that no longer hold any real value." Viper's voice cracks and tears start to run out from under her hood. "My moniker is Mammon, the demon of greed; it has never seemed so accurate."

"Yes, but I was there! I should have saved him! He was my lackey! I couldn't save him." Reborn's breath hitches and he suppresses the overwhelming emotions that threaten to drown him. "I should have saved him!" Reborn's throat was painfully tight and his eyes stung. "Why couldn't I save him!"

Reborn bites his lip at showing his emotions, but they were bubbling up inside his chest and he felt like he would choke to death on them. He grabbed Viper and slammed his door shut before leaning against the cold hard stone and slid to the floor.

"I, just. Fuck. I can't. Skull is fucking dead and I just can't." His ears are ringing so loud it's almost screaming and his eyes are shut so tight he's giving himself a headache. He vaguely recognises Viper's hands cupping his face and her forehead pressing against his. He feels tears against his face and he honestly can't tell whose they are.

"We loved him. All of us, but I'm only starting to realise how much you loved, still love him." Viper's words broke through the sheen of self-hate and pain.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He mutters, but the words spoke true. Gods, he was so stupid; pulling at Skull's pigtails, never realising his own feelings. It explained why he had felt Skull's death so acutely, ripping out his heart with all the finesse of a toddler. A good thirty-something years of obliviously hording Skull; possessive and protective, he'd obsessed over the stupid, caring, purple idiot.