It's funny because Skull lights a fire but he's the second one to do it.

Mammon is waiting with a coach, a magic one because that nice fairy came back when Skull called. Colonnello is making his way through the castle to grab Reborn and make a run for it.

They cracked. They watched Reborn walk away from them and they couldn't take it. Fine, they're idiots, Reborn would have ruled this kingdom with prejudice and drowned the family home in riches while he played around.

Mammon insists that if Reborn is going to marry a prince then he needs to marry a good one, a much more powerful one than this. Colonnello and Skull humour Mammon as they work on piling barrels of gasoline into the magically expanding coach with Luce looking on nervously from the background.

So they had a plan, except Skull is on the other side of the castle when he sees the first pillar of black smoke. Explosions go off next and suddenly people are screaming and running because there's an army hidden in the crowd. They strip off loose outer clothing and reveal a uniform Skull has never seen before.

Skull looks back up at the castle and hopes his brothers don't get caught up in it. He's pretty sure they're going to anyway so he shoves over the last barrel and rushes in as backup.

The door to the bedroom is kicked in and they roll away from each other. Reborn's eyes go wide when he realises it's the man from the ball, Feng or Fon maybe, with the bodies of guards littering the hallway outside.

The prince stands and pulls on a robe but Reborn throws himself from the bed still naked and drags his bag out from underneath, scrambling to find the knife Colonnello shoved on him 'just in case'.

The sound of rapid cracks makes Reborn look up to find the prince pitch over and crumple to the floor, a puddle of blood quickly seeping out from under his head before he managed to even get a word out.

Reborn finally grips the knife but Fon is already vaulting over the bed to reach him.

Colonnello reaches the room only to find the prince and his guards are dead while Reborn is nowhere to be found. Colonnello swears that he's going to trade Reborn for a better brother after all of this - one that doesn't get into so much trouble.

"You," a woman grits out.

Colonnello whips around, just realising how bad this looks for him with a dead prince and all. There's a fierce woman with dark blue hair and scary looking shotgun pointed at him. Colonnello recognises her as Lal -the captain of the guard- mostly from that bad burn across her face.

"I just got here," Colonnello blurts out, hands coming up to show he's not a threat, but he also doesn't stop inching towards the door. "Look, I need to find my brother – who also didn't kill anyone-"

"Come with me," Lal snaps and grabs a fistful of Colonnello's shirt before he can react.

She moves deeper into the room, leans out of the window after a pause, and starts dragging him away and down the hall. He was going in this direction regardless, so he doesn't struggle, not that he wants to test her aim with that shotgun.

"I really didn't kill-"

"Of course you didn't," Lal scoffs. "You think either of you fuckboys could have taken down my guards?"

Colonnello blinks. "I mean. I'm sure I could have-"

"Where would your brother run if someone was chasing him?" Lal interrupts. "He went out the window, dropped onto the balcony below and ran back into the building again."

"You're so hot," Colonnello says before he can stop himself because smart and violent women are his thing. "Reborn doesn't know the castle well, he would have tried to get outside to assess the situation."

Lal shoves him at a passing guard without a hitch in her stride. "Get blondie to a safe place."

"Wait, wait!" Colonnello cries, batting away a hand that grabs his arm. "I can help. Reborn thinks people are trying to kill him so he won't follow you. You need me there, and I've been training, I won't hold you back."

Lal stops, turns to scan him and then scoffs again. "Put him in a cell if he won't cooperate."

Colonnello waits until she turns around a corner before he punches the guard in the throat, steals a massive gun leaning against an adjacent wall and runs after her.

She trips him when he gets around the corner but looks considering as he picks himself up. "Can you use that thing?" She nods to the rifle.

"I could always swing it around," Colonnello offers. "Everything else I can pick up as we go."

"Listen," Skull tells Reborn. "I tried super hard. This man? He's a brick wall. Even you were running from him so don't give me that face."

Fon is smiling pleasantly despite holding Skull in a headlock. Skull did try, but the body slam hurt him more than it hurt Fon.

"That's why I told you to run," Reborn snaps at Skull but keeps his head turned to watch Fon as Reborn is made to walk in front.

"I did run-"

"In the wrong fucking direction! Run away, not towards us!"

"You were being chased! You're half naked! What other reaction are you expecting me to have?"

Fon clears his throat. "Excuse me-"

"You shut the fuck up!" Reborn screams at him. "I could have you flogged with your own spine and people would applaud the decision!"

Fon's smile only grows. "May I have your name now?"

"Fuck you, no!"

Skull awkwardly tries to move in the headlock to look at the man. He doesn't get very far. "Don't you already know it? Like he just got married."

"I know," Fon hums. "But I prefer to hear it from him."

Reborn sneers. "What a gentleman. Who cares about my dead husband or my ruined wedding night-"

"Technically not married," Fon interjects. "As you didn't consummate the marriage."

"You don't know what happened," Reborn fires back. "We were on the third round when you broke in."

Fon looks over Reborn's form slowly; rumpled pants but otherwise bare skin. "You must have cleaned up quickly because I certainly didn't see the last two rounds smeared between your thighs."

Skull slams his heel down on a foot and lurches forward hard even though he chokes himself. Reborn lunges but he's a step too late as Fon quickly rears back and tightens his grip to make Skull wheeze painfully. Reborn freezes.

"I should not have said that," Fon admits immediately. "That was wrong of me and I sincerely apologise."

"Go eat the tar out of your mother's cunt."

Reborn looks at Skull, shocked speechless at the words coming out of his little brother. Skull is glaring past Reborn, at the heavily guarded convoy of carriages waiting to whisk Fon and his two hostages off.

"Nello!" Mammon calls frantically, running up to the blond.

He looks down from (stolen) horseback, rifle slung over his shoulder. It's taken too long. He's too slow. People reported hours later to Lal about seeing his brothers get dragged off. It's well into the next morning now and Colonnello finally has a direction and vague descriptions about the carriages.

The soldiers are still dealing with the remnants of the invading army causing havoc as a distraction. They can't leave the castle while it's still under attack so he stole some supplies, anything at hand, and slipped away.

"It's fine," Colonnello says, leaning down to grip Mammon's hand when they reach up. "They're both caught up in this shit now but I'll bring them back. It'll be okay."

"You can't go," Mammon retorts. "You're outmatched, outnumbered-"

"What else can I do?" Colonnello laughs without humour. "Those idiots, they're lost without me. It's going to be fine, Mam. I'll bring them back."

"I'll come with you-"

Colonnello shakes his head. "Stay here – they might escape before I even reach them. Skull will make friends with rats and Reborn will train them to spread the plague." He grins, bright enough to light up the whole kingdom. "It's going to be okay. I won't let anything happen to them."

Colonnello shakes off Mammon's tight grip and urges the horse into a fast gallop. He might be late but he's not going to miss the whole damn thing.

Mammon watches their last son run off to get killed and pulls hard at their hood. "Fuck."

Maybe now would be a good time to catch up with the Varia. Let's see how far those bastards can run with Mammon's kids when Xanxus catches the scent.

.

A/N:

So I had a whole thing planned from Cinderella, to meeting Kyouya as Beast, to Skull escaping Sleeping Beauty style to get help, and then Reborn pricks his finger on a spindle as protest and so on. Verde does show up but he's a dragon and everyone is terrified of him.

I wanted to mix a few stories together and mess up the plot lines. I'm too lazy though so you only get this snippet.