Yeah, I have no clue why I'm doing this. XP This idea just came to me, and I was gonna put it in my Idea Dump, but, hey, why the hell not?

This is going to be a crossover between Katekyo Hitman Reborn, The Gamer, and No Game No Life. And it's gonna be starring Skull, obviously...

This is going to be more humorous than serious. And it's sort of a side thing, so updates will be slow at best. At this point in time, I'm not even sure where I'm even going to go with this, so suggestions would be appreciated as well. XP

As for pairings... It'll probably be Arcobaleno/Skull. Nothing explicit or anything (this is rated T!).

Seriously, though, I have no idea why I'm doing this. I hope people like it. XP

I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, The Gamer, No Game No Life, or the cover image.

XXX

Restart and Try Again

Chapter 1: You Lost the Game

XXX

In most of the infinite number of parallel worlds there are, the Cloud Arcobaleno is the first to have his life snuffed out by Byakuran. It's the most probable outcome. He is the weakest of the current generation of Arcobaleno, after all.

Not all parallel worlds follow this norm, however. There are some worlds where he is the fourth, or fifth killed. Worlds where he was never killed. Worlds where he never became an Arcobaleno. Worlds where he was never even born.

We will not be looking at any of those worlds, however. Instead it will be about a world where Skull was the very last to be killed by this psychopath.

In this world, Lal was the first to die. She was strong, but no match for all seven of the Mare Ring holders. Colonnello died right after her, killed trying to avenge her. Next was Verde, who, when it came to fighting, was no match for them. Fon was killed next, and after that was Viper, who killed himself, seeing the entire situation as hopeless. Reborn was killed afterwards, though he put up the best fight of them all. He is the strongest of the Arcobaleno for a reason.

Skull in this world was the very last to die. It wasn't because he was stronger than the others, or smarter than the others, or more durable than the others. It was because he did the intelligent thing to do in such a hopeless situation: run and hide.

This kept him alive for a much longer time than his parallel selves, but he would be lying if he said that he didn't hate himself for it. He felt like the stupid coward that the other Arcobaleno always treated him as.

By the time Byakuran finally caught up to him, he was more or less ready for it. His fellow Arcobaleno were dead, he couldn't protect himself, and he was just so tired of the constant running and hiding.

He had his regrets, though, as he watched those sky flames heading towards him, ready to engulf him and leave nothing but his pacifier behind. He regreted that he was unable to do anything to protect himself or the other Arcobaleno. He may have hated the way they treated him, but they sure as hell didn't deserve this.

Skull wasn't someone who would claim that he knew what would happen after he died. Maybe go to heaven, maybe see people he knew who'd died, maybe become a ghost, or maybe nothing would happen at all and the world would just keep turning regardless.

But whatever it was he was expecting, it definitely wasn't this.

XXX

"What the hell?"

That was the only thing he could really say at the moment. He was in only what he could describe as a dark oblivion, with only two things inside it. One was himself, of course. The second was four big words in front of him that were outlined entirely in white, making them look like a sort of beacon.

You lost the game!

"No, seriously, what the hell?" Skull said again, reaching a hand towards the words. As soon as he touched them, though, they disappeared. The Cloud Arcobaleno snapped back his hand just as some more words appeared in their place.

Would you like to play again?

Yes or no?

"Uh...yes, I guess?" Skull said in complete and utter confusion, watching as the words changed once again.

Welcome! I see you died. Must suck, huh?

"Um, I, uh..." Skull slowly looked around the black oblivion. "Who are you?"

I'm kind of a god, I guess.

"A what?!" Skull guffawed. "You're god?!"

No, I'm not god. I'm a god. There's a difference, you know!

"S-So, you're a god...?" Skull stuttered. He was silent for a moment before letting out a loud groan and running a hand through his hair. "I know I'm dead now, but still...I didn't really expect to meet god..."

A god. Look, I'm kinda offering you a chance at life here. You may wanna hear me out?

"R-Really?" Skull asked, eyes wide in disbelief. "But...why?"

A good question. Tell me, have you ever heard of an Ability User?

Skull paused and frowned. "A what?"

An Ability User. You see, there are many different kinds of gods. Gods of fire, of water, of light, and so on. Sometimes, we decide to let humans have powers similar to ours. These kinds of humans are called Ability Users. Are you following me?

"More or less... To be honest, I think I'm still kind of in shock about the whole meeting a god thing..." Skull admitted.

Eh, that's fine. You'll probably suffer your mental breakdown once the shock wears off.

"That's...not comforting at all," Skull muttered.

Anyway, gods generally create Ability Users for two reasons. If there's a big, world-crushing disaster, for instance, although those are rare. The second reason is that that particular god found a human who he or she likes or thinks is worthy of those powers. But, sometimes, they don't even have a reason for doing it, but I'll get back to that later. I'm here to offer you a chance to become an Ability User!

"Whoa, seriously?!" Skull exclaimed in complete and utter disbelief. "Wh-Why me, though? And how is that even possible if I'm dead now?"

Haven't you been listening? I'm offering you another chance at life! Don't you want to save your comrades from Byakuran this time around?

The violet-haired boy paused at that. "Well...yeah, of course I do."

Even if they bully your? Or belittle you? Or even attack you?

"I...well..." It was true that the other Arcobaleno bullied and belittled him, never taking him seriously. Reborn and Colonnello always beat him up whenever he did anything that they considered wrong or cowardly.

Lal sometimes scolded them for it, but she never really tried to stop them. Fon was polite to him, but he never did anything to stop them either. Fon was nice whenever he talked to Skull, but most of the time he just kind of ignored him.

Viper and Verde both saw him as just some idiot and usually ignored him. Unless of course they were messing with him with illusions (Viper) or insulting his intelligence (Verde).

"To be honest..." Skull muttered, frowning at the memories. He hesitated for a long moment before saying what he had been wanting to say from the moment he had met Reborn and the others. "...The other Arcobaleno are assholes."

Really?

"Yeah, complete assholes!" Skull repeated, crossing his arms and huffing. "All they do is insult me and treat me like their lackey! I am not anyone's lackey! And they beat me up just because I can't fight like they can! Especially Reborn! That guy's a dick!"

Wow, sounds like you really hate them.

Skull froze for a moment before shaking his head. "Hate? Nah, I don't hate them."

Really? You've pretty much done nothing but insult them.

"I said that they're assholes and that Reborn's a dick. That wasn't insulting them, those are just facts," Skull defended, putting his hands on his sides and frowning. "But saying I hate them is kind of harsh. I mean, I've met worse people. I've already accepted that the Arcobaleno are just natural assholes a long time ago."

Huh... You're kind of a weird guy, aren't you?

Skull glared at the floating words in irritation. "Hey..."

Not that that's a bad thing. In fact, it makes it all the better.

The Cloud Arcobaleno blinked in confusion. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it. Anyway, I'll ask again. Are you willing to go back and try to save them? If you don't, that won't change the fact that I'll be willing to send you back and make you into an Ability User. I'm just curious.

Skull frowned and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Wait, if that's not the reason you're sending me back, then what is?"

There's no point in telling you if you refuse. So, if you wanna know, you have no choice but to accept my offer.

Even though all Skull could see of the god were the white words floating in front of him, he could just imagine him or her having a giant smirk on their face at this. That image made his eye twitch as he glared at the words.

The Cloud Arcobaleno then sighed and nodded. "Yeah, well, I just so happen to like being alive, so I'll accept your offer. And as for the other Arcobaleno..."

Skull winced as he thought of Byakuran. That man was a monster, no other word could describe him. Even if he became an Ability User and became strong enough to fight, could he really win against someone like that. He really, really, really doubted it. But...

"Well, I don't make any promises, but I'll try..."

Excellent! I'll be sending you back to one week before you first meet the Arcobaleno.

Skull's eyes widened. "W-Wait! Right now? But I still have a lot more questions!"

Don't worry, I'll explain everything to you later. Until then!

With that, the words disappeared, the black oblivion was filled with a blinding light, and Skull knew no more.

XXX

Hm, well, there's the first chapter. :/ ...No flames, please?

Yeah, the way Ability Users work in this fic is different than how they work in The Gamer, but, hey. XP I wanna make a kind of humorous friendship between Skull and the Mystery God (Although, if you've watched No Game No Life, you should be able to guess who he is :P).

I still really have no idea why I'm writing this. -.-