Chapter Length: 1, 433 words

First Published: 01 December 2015

Edited: unknown date: basic grammar corrections and flow changes. | 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information. | 05-24-2016: added the missing line breaks; further grammatical corrections and minor details added.

Meeting

17 October 1987 – 18:28 – Sunshine Park, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England

Skull had just finished a rather simple, but still tiring, hit assessment on an unsuspecting businessman. He didn't know all the details and he frankly didn't really care. Some rival company probably wanted him dead for petty reasons he couldn't really care for. The man's death would just be another paycheck for the tiny hitman.

The toddler sighed. He missed the thrill of doing outrageous and death-defying stunts for a raging crowd. Things were so much more simple back then. And definitely much more fun.

He had decided to take a short walk in a random neighborhood park a rather long drive away from his target's office. It was his usual and most effective stress reliever to drive aimlessly on his custom motorbike. He enjoyed the looks of disbelief on fellow motorists when they saw his small form on such a large vehicle.

His trusty motorbike was parked a few blocks back in an empty alley. Oodako was doing her best to watch over his self-created metal monstrosity. He trusted his partner to take care of herself and the bike. His adorable octopus had mastered the art of being unseen after many awkward moments trying to explain why there was an octopus on a motorbike. Experience was the best teacher, after all.

He sighed again. He was tired. And not just from him scouting out his target. He was tired of the mafia as a whole, of the deaths he had caused, and of the numb sensation he felt wash over him ever since the Curse. He had lost his purpose in life.

He tiredly ran his hands through his black hair before stuffing it into his hoodie's pocket. He always dressed in casual clothes whenever he was scouting out his targets. His stuntman suit was too recognizable. Even if he was the weakest of the Arcobaleno, he was still one of the strongest seven. It wouldn't do to alert anyone of his presence and cause a ruckus that would complicate his assassination mission. He looked like a completely different person without his makeup, piercings, and dyed purple hair. It's amazing what those little details did to make him completely different from the Cloud Arcobaleno Skull.

It was dusk and the dark orange glow of the setting sun bathed the small park in warm light. The trees swayed in the cold, late October winds. His jacket barely kept the cold bite away from his skin. The park was rather empty and he liked it that way. No matter how boisterous he was in public, he was still a Cloud. He generally still preferred solitude.

He was surprised, however, when he saw the small figure sitting on the swing set. What was a child doing out so late? It was highly suspicious. Not that he wasn't suspicious being alone as well, with him looking like a two year old toddler, but at least he could take care of himself. The child looked really out of place in the fading light of the abandoned park.

As he slowly approached, he finally noticed the scrapes, bruises, and bleeding cuts the little child had.

"Holy–!" Quickly approaching the wounded kid, Skull's mind was racing. What happened to the little guy? Where were his parents? What was he doing all alone being this injured?

The noise must have attracted the kid's attention, and what Skull saw made him stop abruptly. The child's green eyes were dead. There was no spark, no light, on such a youthful face where innocence and laughter were expected to be found.

He had seen that look many times before in his rather long life. The underworld was filled with many unwanted and unloved children. No matter how many times he saw it, the dead look never failed to crush his heart. No child should ever look like that, even more so in such a nice and rich neighborhood.

Skull made up his mind then. He was going to help this poor child.

Little Savior

17 October 1987 – 18:33 – Sunshine Park, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England

Harry felt someone running up to him before he saw them. The other person's shoes crunched heavily on the dead leaves littering the park grounds. Once his eyes met the smaller kid's, he had stopped in his tracks looking quite surprised.

'What's up with him?'

The toddler seemed to have made a decision, nodding his head to himself. The other kid approached Harry with determination. The green eyed child on the swing just tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Hello there, little one."

He was even more confused with the smaller kid. 'Little one? He's smaller than me.' The other kid looked normal enough if not for his strange purple eyes. Harry had never seen that color in someone's eyes before. His family would call it freakish but he liked it. It was prettier than a lot of other people's eye colors.

"Are you alright?"

Realizing he was staring, Harry flinched. His aunt hated it when he stared. He received many a beating for being rude.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stare! Please don't hurt me...I'll be good from now on! Promise!" He cried out, frantic and scared. He had received a rather harsh disciplining session earlier that day when he spilled the bucket of soapy water used for mopping the floor. He had run out of the house when it was too much for him to take. He always hated it when his uncle pulled out the belt. In his haste to leave, he tripped a lot and those falls added more cuts to the numerous wounds he already had.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, kid. I'm not mad or anything. Calm down, please?"

The smaller kid's voice was really soft and gentle. The seven year old had never heard that tone directed at him before. Harry hesitantly looked back at the kid, slowly but not completely uncoiling from his earlier flinch. Man, he was being so silly. This was just a little kid. He had nothing to be scared about, even if the smaller kid was weird.

He ended up staring at the younger kid in front of him again but he really couldn't help it. The purple eyed kid was completely different from all the people in Little Whinging.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Harry blurted out, suspicion in his eyes.

"Nope. I'm just passing by after my work," came the honest and gentle reply. The smaller kid smiled so kindly that even Harry's hardened heart felt like melting. He was too nice. No one was that nice to him.

"How can you have work? You're smaller than me. Doesn't that mean you're younger than me? My teacher said only adults worked," suspicion colored his green eyes yet again. The kid in front of him was really weird.

"I'm older than you think," a wry smile covered his face. "I'm just small because of a...condition."

"Oh, you mean you're sick? Like those people I saw on the telly once?" And Harry really meant once. He had only watched that one documentary on small people before he was caught by his aunt and punished for disobeying The Rules.

"More or less," came the vague reply. The smaller adult (and wasn't that weird? There was an adult that was smaller than him and he was smaller than most kids) looked like he wanted to laugh at something only he understood before he turned serious again. "Just what happened to you? Do you want me to take you to the hospital? You look pretty bad."

"It's okay. This always happens. I was just being a bad kid," Harry shrugged. Wasn't this only normal? "Besides, I'm a freak. I'm not allowed in hospitals."

The purple eyed adult looked shocked at what he said. Harry was confused. What was there to be shocked about?

"Kid, you seriously need help," a serious and determined look dominated the smaller adult's face. "Come on. I have enough experience to patch you up but it would have been better if you went to the hospital." He had held out his hand for Harry to take and looked at the injured child with an expectant look.

The little, bespectacled boy looked so confused but he eventually went along with the rather pushy adult.

In the future, when Harry would look back at his life, he would point out that this was the day he was saved from a much darker life. Skull was his little savior.

AN:

Welcome to Silver Lining! This will be a Skull and Harry centric story. It will focus on familial bonds and a lot of fluff and will cover a lot of Harry's childhood years. As this is a story set in the mafia, things may get darker the older Harry gets, but hopefully, not too dark to go past the T rating.

I welcome prompts! As this is a drabble fic, I tend to look at prompts to get the story going. As a drabble fic, chapters may vary in length, though I try to aim for 1,500 per chapter update.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to review! Enjoy~