In one universe, Skull was mortal, fully constrained to the limits of the human body (even if his cloud flames helped him heal quicker than normal). In that universe, a man in a checkered mask dooms him to a fate of never growing old inside the body of a child. In that universe, Skull is woefully unprepared and spends decades wallowing in his fate. In that universe, immortality seemed all the more appealing because Skull was mortal.

This is not that universe.

The first time he "died," it was from the plague. Boils on every part of his body, their purple and black hues even more pronounced due to his deathly pale skin tone.

(Bright purple eyeshadow and a teardrop carefully painted on to his cheek. Purple lipstick applied with the utmost care. Dyed purple hair spiked with purpose. A bodysuit carefully added to with purple padding. An ode to his old life.)

He remembers the fear and terror as he puked his guts out as his head spun in circles. His family wasn't wealthy enough for a doctor to visit them, so he quietly resigned himself to an empty room, slowly waiting for his own body to kill itself. As he dies he clutches a purple octopus that his younger sister had carefully crafted for him from leftover scraps of cloth.

The last thing he remembers is the determination to live. Purple seems to flash beneath his eyes.

A week later, he wakes up and leaves the empty room.

A week after that, he leaves his late family's home, their meager possessions now in a rucksack he carries on his shoulder.

And a week after that, he finds himself inducted into a ragtag group of runaways.

(It's the start of his actual life.)

The group calls themselves "The Runaways of Death". Jester, their leader, says that their only rule is to leave a purple teardrop at every new town they visit, to signify that they had already been there.

The Runaways are comprised of five people before Hugo joins.

("Hugo? But that's so plain! Here, why don't we call you… " Jester looks at their surroundings, searching for something fitting for Hugo's deathly pale skin and almost violet eyes, and says - )

Skull stays with them for years. Skull stays with them long enough to see Alice ("Wouldn't it be funny to name you Angel? People won't be suspecting a thing when you manage to punch their lights out.") die from rotten food they stole from a dumpster.

He stays long enough to see John ("Jester! I swear to God if you don't stop that right now - ") die from a drunk fellow who stopped yelling and started swinging at them when they wouldn't move from their spots.

He stays long enough to see Edith ("Elf, what with those cute little ears,") and Walter ("I swear to god you could get out of anything with that silver tongue of yours, Snake.") die from the same plague that killed his parents.

(It also killed him, although he doesn't know that yet.)

He stays long enough to see as Maud (Cherry) grew older and older. He stays long enough to see Cherry marry a kind man, one that would look after her. He stays long enough that people began to question his age. He stayed long enough that people began mistaking him for Cherry's son. He left before they could ask if he was her grandson.

(Skull feels like his fulfilled Jester's wishes. To see that at least one of them saw the rest of their lives. He ignores the longing he feels that it couldn't have been Jester and Skull, not Cherry and Skull. He ignores it like how he ignored the fact that his eyes tended to linger on Jester's lopsided smile rather than Angel's perfectly symmetrical one.)

So Skull leaves again. This time also because of death, just not in the same way. Death in the way that he isn't anywhere close to it.

Skull travels. He leaves every place he goes to before he can experience another situation like the one with Cherry.

He leaves a purple teardrop every chance he gets.

He keeps his name close to his heart, only speaking it to himself at the dead of night.

For years he learns languages, cultures, foods. For years he dies and dies and dies and comes back.

For years he meets new people and leaves them. He meets a woman in Spain who is generous enough to allow him to stay for a few years until she realizes that he doesn't seem to age.

He gets kicked out of China when he accidentally dies in front of someone and gets up too fast.

He falls in love with countless people and leaves them before they can hurt him as Jester did; before they could die and leave him alone again.

Along the way, Skull learns how to fight. Skull's almost always been good at running, but fighting is something new. He learns how to fight dirty, how to handle a knife, how to shoot a handgun properly. He learns how to survive off the bare minimum and how it feels to nearly kill someone over a scrap of food.

For years he doesn't have a home other than the beat-up hand-stitched octopus he had clutched as he clung to life the first time he died and the clothes on his back.

And then.

And then, he meets John Bill Ricketts.

The circus is like…

Well, it's nothing like Skull's ever experienced. Suddenly there are people even weirder than him with his deathly pale skin that seems to draw the attention of every well-meaning social worker on the streets.

There are people of all different types. People who swing from ropes like they're immortal; people who tame lions; people who jump off of impossible heights. There are so many people like Jester, with big grins and jokes for days.

And then there's Skull.

Skull, whose last memory of staying in one place for a long time is a blurry image of a woman named after a type of fruit, finds the circus terrifying and relieving at all the same time.

("Skull? That's your name?" "Yeah, I know, a little weird - " "Well, we sure can do something with a name like that. Tell me, Skull, have you ever ridden a bike?")

He gives himself the last name "DeMort" as an inside joke that only people ten feet under (or over him, depending on the religion) would understand.

(DeMort: Of Death.)

Riding a bike is like nothing Skull's ever experienced.

Correction. Riding a bike through a flaming ring is nothing like Skull's ever experienced.

(He doesn't know it yet, but it's the beginning of everything that makes Skull, the secret immortal, into "Skull DeMort: The Immortal Stuntman!")

(He doesn't know it yet, but somewhere in between learning how to walk on a tightrope and living in a tent, Skull was lost and Skull DeMort was found.)

So Skull dons a leather bodysuit (purple, of course, like the boils that had killed him the first time). He puts a purple teardrop on his cheek, just like the one the Runaways used. He puts purple eyeshadow on, just to finish off the look.

(Skull suddenly feels as though something inside him has finally put itself back together.)

Skull stays with the circus so long that he forgets life outside of it. He forgets how life was before stunts and tricks and dying but no one noticing because he's Skull DeMort; of course he'll get back up.

Skull stays so long that, when they shut down, he's at a loss of what to do.

Some of the circus members invite him to stay with them. Skull refuses. He knows that time is almost up and he might as well leave before he can't bear to anymore.

So he leaves again. He learns and learns and forgets and dies and rinses and repeats.

He finds out about stunt doubles. About movies where they need someone who has enough grit and determination to pull off feats that the actors are too scared to even attempt.

He finds out about motorcycles and his whole damn world changes. Instead of hitchhiking and biking everywhere, suddenly he's speeding down roads, sometimes being the one to pick up hitchhikers.

But. Even with his newfound success as a stuntman, he finds himself wishing for something like what he had in the circus. He's lonely, he supposes. He's always lonely.

That is, until a man with a checkered mask shows up while he's in a shitty hotel in Canada in between jobs.

It goes uphill from there.

The man with the mask tells him that he is part of the I Prescelti Sette, the Strongest Seven. Skull almost can't believe it - only almost, because Skull knows that living as long as he has is the sign of something that's not quite normal.

The man with the mask - Checkerface - tells him to meet the other six at a super-secret location. Skull is both excited and hesitant; on one hand, he needs money. On the other, he doesn't want to risk becoming attached again. He doesn't want to risk the other six growing old while he stays young.

In the end, he goes. Not because he necessarily wants to, but because he's scared of what will happen if he doesn't. (Checkerface never says it, but Skull gets the feeling not going has very bad consequences.)

So, here Skull is, sitting at a table in a cabin in the woods with precisely five people glaring suspiciously at him while one other smiles threateningly at him. (Skull finds that people who smile too often are markers for trouble.)

"I'm glad to see we're all here." The smiling woman says. "Why don't we all start by introducing ourselves? My name is Luce, boss of the Giglio Nero. Sky." Luce turns expectantly towards the man to her right, who had a self-confident smirk and very curly sideburns.

"Reborn, the world's greatest hitman. Sun." Okay, that was weird. Sky? Sun? Hitman?

The green-haired man with glasses that obstructed his eyes went next. "Verde, genius and world-renowned scientist. I'm a lightning." Okay, Skull was definitely not getting this whole "secret code" thing. Had Checkerface forgotten to tell him about it?

"Mammon. Learning what I do and what element I am will cost you money." Mammon wore a black robe that obscured everything but their cheeks, which held these purple markings. Almost like Skull's purple teardrop.

"Lal Mirch, a COMSUBIN trainer. Rain." Lal, one of the only woman in the room, looked like the type of person who doesn't take crap from anyone. Skull is scared of her immediately.

"My name is Fon. I'm a member of the Triads, as well as a storm."

It was Skull's turn and he still didn't understand the whole code the others were using. Everyone was staring at him, too.

Well, here goes nothing. At least the circus was good for one thing: Skull knew how to fake confidence.

"The name's Skull DeMort! I'm the world's greatest stuntman and I, um, don't get why everyone is going on about skies and lightning and stuff? I mean the man in the mask never told me anything about a code before he - "

"Wait, are you a… civilian?" Lal asks. She doesn't even seem to mean it in a bad way, either.

"I mean, yeah. Are you guys… not?" Skull asks. Then again, it seems like a stupid question the minute it leaves his mouth. Hitman, a Triads member… They weren't being exactly subtle.

"I can't believe a civilian is a part of the I Prescelti Sette," Reborn scoffs. Luce is still wearing that motherly smile. It's starting to unnerve Skull.

"Now, now, I'm sure the man in the mask had his reasons for bringing Skull to us." Luce's voice is soothing, yet almost every instinct Skull has in his body is telling him that something's wrong.

(The last time he felt like this is with Jester. Jester, with a goofy smile that seemed to be able to calm the then-Hugo down from anything.)

"Whatever. I won't be wasting my time babysitting some hyperactive civilian, no matter how good the pay," Lal says. "If he dies it isn't my responsibility."

"Say, Fon, would you be objected to participating in some experiments of mine? I'm afraid I don't have a lot of information on storms, so - "

"Are we just going to ignore the fact that we have a civilian with us? I don't want to be the one to explain all this stuff to some privileged brat." Ah, Reborn. Skull still doesn't know how to feel about the self-proclaimed "greatest hitman in the world," but he does know that he's 50% sure that it's not all bravado.

"I couldn't care less, so long as we get paid," Mammon says.

And that's the end of that.

Except it isn't. Skull is stuck on getaway duty for the majority of the missions Checkerface gives them. He doesn't really mind it, despite the fact that he knows he could help with the fighting. If they don't want his help (or need it), Skull sees no reason to object.

Along the way, Fon takes pity on him and teaches him about flames and about the different types. Skull practices the exercises Fon showed him and is both surprised and unsurprised that he's a cloud; according to Fon, clouds are supposed to be protective yet aloof, constantly drifting.

Fon remarks how different Skull seems from every cloud he's met before.

"How so?" Skull asks. After all, he knows exactly how it feels to drift from place to place. It's what Skull DeMort is best at.

"Well, my sister is a Cloud, and she is rather stoic. Not even half as energetic as you, Skull."

"Well, of course! No one can match Skull DeMort!"

"I suppose that's true." It's at moments like these where Skull truly appreciates Fon, who always seems to know exactly what to say. He'll probably always be Skull's favorite arcobaleno.

(Roughly a year later, in a body that is both his own and yet not, Skull will wish for the days where Fon and he could talk without the weight of the pacifiers around their necks.)

Reborn never seems to warm up to the Skull. After that fateful first day, when he learned that Skull was a civilian, he seemed determined to bully Skull into shape.

Day in and day out Reborn shoots bullets at him. (Skull never finds out whether all of them were real or not.) Skull dodges and screams hysterically.

Skull gains yet another name, but this one doesn't fit quite as well as Skull ever did.

"Lackey! Go get me some coffee."

(Years later, when Skull faces off against the former arcobaleno, he will wish for days when he was just Hugo, a boy with only a ragtag group of runaways to his name.)

Lal still thinks he's useless. Which, fair. Skull doubts he'll ever be half a proficient as she seems to be at everything.

However, she is a very good teacher.

"No, don't hold it like that. If you're going to go on missions with us I expect you to at least be able to protect yourself," she says. Lal pretends like she doesn't care, but Skull can see the concealed worry in her eyes (however small it is).

"Hahaha! The great Skull DeMort doesn't need to worry about getting hurt; he's invincible!" Sometimes, Skull wishes he could drop the facade. Right now, though, with Lal's Hell Training, he's eternally grateful for the fact that the arcobaleno see him as nothing more than an idiot.

(In the future that wasn't, Skull will wish that he could do more to protect this new family of his, however distant they were. All he ended up being able to do is slowly deteriorate, not even able to die with them.)

Verde experiments on him once before losing interest.

Skull knows that dying and coming back, even with his cloud flames, should be impossible. He knows how it feels to die - to truly feel nothing and everything for a split second.

Verde asks him if he really is immortal and, if not, would he like to check?

Skull laughs and says that the grim reaper himself is afraid of him and that he won't be scared by some little experiment.

Skull puts on enough of a show for Verde to collect some cloud flame data, but not enough to keep him interested.

(It's better that way. The last time someone found out he was immortal it didn't turn out well.)

Mammon knows that Skull is pretty useless as far as information goes. While Skull had been to various countries and knew various languages, he's pretty sure Mammon doesn't know that.

Besides, what use are languages to people of the underground?

(Very useful, he thinks, as Xanxus goes on a killing rampage before getting frozen by his grandfather. If only mafia members learned how to talk to each other.)

Luce smiles ever imploringly, that unnerving sensation always following them up.

It's not that Skull dislikes her, either. It's just that he knows something's wrong, that she's hiding something

Skull should know. He's been hiding something since the first time he died in that old house.

(Skull revisited England, once. He searched for his house, only to find that a hospital had been constructed where it had once stood. He searched for where Hugo had become Skull, only to find that it was on private property.)

And so, Skull tries to let Luce feel like she can tell him. Lord knows that Skull could have used someone like that.

(Later, he will laugh at his own stupidity.)

Skull should have known all of it was too good to last.

Skull's life doesn't quite end when they take their last mission with Checkerface, but it does stagnate.

Of course, the arcobaleno don't know that it'll be their last mission.

Skull won't ever forget what happened.

Skull's been betrayed before, but never did it feel as heavy as a pacifier around his neck.

(The weight pulls and pulls on him every day.)

Being in the body of a baby doesn't affect Skull as it affects some of the others. Skull can still go about his daily life. Skull doesn't have any true obligations. Skull was immortal way before Luce's betrayal. All the missions from Checkerface had set him for the next century.

The only good thing that came with him shrinking is Oodako.

Oodako, who seemed to know exactly when Skull needed to cuddle. Oodako, who was so kind and caring. Oodako, who promised to never leave him.

It takes him a week to accept his fate.

It takes two decades for the others.

It takes no time at all to decide to not go to Luce's funeral. Skull's been to enough to know that going will just be worse for him. He knows he'll catch hell for it later, but Skull can't bring himself to care.

Life goes on, as it always does. Skull avoids the arcobaleno. He rides the miniature motorcycle he commissioned from Verde and rides away from everything and everyone.

He eventually joins the Carcassa family, having kicked the current boss into shape. It's not that their ideals are bad; rather, it's their morals when trying for those ideals.

(Skull suddenly understands the pleasure Lal, Colonello, and Reborn get out of beating people into shape.)

He attacks mafia land countless times, reveling in the chaos he causes and the headaches he's sure Colonello gets.

His life is peaceful and almost like his life before the curse, before the arcobaleno. He does whatever he wants and goes wherever he pleases. Traveling between countries is a lot easier than it used to be. Being a baby makes it easy for mothers to trust him and maybe even buy him a meal if he plays his cards right.

Everything is good, even though he hasn't talked to any of the other arcobaleno (his new/old family) in years. Everything is good, even though sometimes he stares off into space and wonders what it would feel like to be able to grow old with someone.

Everything is good until he gets called to the arcobaleno spring.

Skull's never said it before, but Checkerface is a bastard.

However, as always, one good thing always comes out of situations like this.

Skull meets Enma Kozato, boss of the Simon Famiglia.

Skull gets his ass kicked. The Vindice are unrelenting, and Skull can't help but feel justified over the fact that even Reborn would have a hard time fighting against them.

However, he feels guilty over the fact that the Simon Famiglia is also hurt, although to a lesser extent. Skull feels in his gut that the Vindice would have killed them, had Skull not been there to continuously fight them off.

In the end, however, good always triumphs, and Reborn's student (the Vongola Decimo) prevails over Bermuda, and the curse is lifted.

(Colonello and Lal get married, and Skull can't help but feel a little bit of bitterness over it.)

Skull's life is the same as ever, except, this time, people will notice that he doesn't age. This time, without the cover of a curse.

So he tries to enjoy it while he can. As his body slowly but surely ages back to its original state he feels himself going through the motions of growing up all again.

Skull spends time with the Simon Famiglia, poking fun at Adelaide, playing the coward with Enma, and pretending to be sleazy with Julie. He tells himself that, eventually, it will all be over and he will have to move on.

Today's not that day, however, and Skull is determined to make the best of the time he has left.