One Way to Death City
I could feel grime of the dust mixing with the sweat on my face, my hair smelled of grease and small shreds of hay clung to my black skinnies and sweater. At least rooming with a bunch of sheep provided some form of warmth despite their musty stench. I could hear the train give a bellowing whistle; I was suddenly jerked back by the screeching brakes. The huffs of the train reduced until it let out a heavy sigh, signaling that it had come to a complete stop. I snatched up my back and forced my way through the crowd of sheep to the freight's opening; waiting for the moment that it would slide open to reveal my freedom. I would need to bolt out of here before any of them saw my face... after all, train hitching was illegal. The locks rattled from the outside and the rusted door began to slide back but stopped, leaving about a foot and a half opening for me to slip through. I waited there in the corner, anxiety plucked at my nerves as I glared intently at the door that was left ajar. The man from the outside responded to someone's yells with his own and abandoned the small opening to address whatever issue was near the front of the train. It took no effort to pass through the gap, I escaped and there was a city waiting for exploration.
Death City, Nevada... it had a nice ring to it and the layout was charming; houses and markets set in a circular procession leading up to the focal point... the elevated center of the city, the DWMA. That's not what I was interested at the moment though, my first need was to wash all the grime off of my face, find a place to sleep, but food would have to wait till tomorrow morning. A majority of the shops were closed for the night besides the Chuba Cabra... and from the looks of the neon lights and smell of booze, it wouldn't seem like much of a help to me. There was a large fountain situated in the plaza and it seemed to me to be the only source of water that I could use to wash myself. I scanned the vicinity for any inhabitants before splashing the water in my face; I dug around the bottom of my bag and pulled out a bottle of body soap that I had stolen from the previous town. Nothing felt quite as nice as a clean pair of hands and face, I was tempted to dive in and wash the rest of my body but common decency told me it wouldn't be kind to ruin the water with all that soap... besides, if I was caught who knows what charges would be brought up. I ran my hands along my navy-blue oversized sweater then down my pants, wiping the dust and hay from every part of my body.
"Uhg... I'm going to be itchy for a while" I heard myself exhale, "Time to find sleep."
Luckily, I didn't have to be in a comfortable place to sleep, over the past month I had learned how to sleep standing up, and I believe a few times I had managed to keep one eye open... but those were in towns where crime was high and Death City was one of the places I could count on being safer. I roamed the streets and alley ways for about 2 hours, my legs were aching but it was necessary for me to scope out the place when I made my runs in the morning. I found several crates stacked near a shop which allowed me the ability to climb up on the roof. It wasn't steeply slanted like most of the buildings here, which made it ideal for sleeping... I wouldn't have to worry about falling off. The rivets in the shingles made it a bit of a pain to find a bearable sleeping position so I curled up into the fetal position to spare myself from backaches. The moon was bright here, it's wicked, bloody grin didn't make for the best image to fall asleep to, but somehow I managed to doze off under its horrific face.
Caught Red-Handed
The morning light blazed across my face, I slowly opened my eyes to see the sun's gaping smile and dark eyes staring down on the city. I stretched out my limbs making sure everything was awake and intact... though, my mind was still groggy, which made the climb down from the roof more difficult than necessary. I managed to miss the edge of the crate causing my to slip and fall off the side of the roof.
"Oi, well at least that was quicker than scaling the damn thing." I knew my side would end up bruising later.
My insides began to shift and my stomach gave a ravenous growl and I placed my hand over it hoping that it would quiet.
"Ah yes I almost forgot about you."
The market was so lively, but I figured it would be since it was the weekend now. This always made stealing that much more of a challenge. All these inconvenient eyes wandering about, getting breakfast wasn't going to be easy at all. I found myself drawn to the kiosks which held hand-made jewelry, dream-catchers, wind chimes, ceramics, all things which redirected my attention from my main goal.
"Food, right, gotta get food." I reminded myself.
A set of rings caught my attention; they were talons, dark chrome steel, that were meant to be worn around your fingertips.
"I'll be coming back for you lovelies," I whispered to them, as if they could hear... I always ended up talking to myself or other inanimate objects and I knew very well where I got that peculiar little quirk from; it was my father.
Navigating through the alley ways and streets was a quite the spectacle of its own. It seemed like this city was very diverse, but there were an awful lot of teenagers roaming around too... they all must have belonged to the DWMA. Alas I found the fruit stand and bakery; better yet they were situated close together. It turned out I had enough change floating around the bottom of my bag for a strudel and a piece of fruit, the lady at the fruit stand was kind enough to give me a banana along with my apple; she probably pitied my disheveled appearance. While walking back towards the kiosks, I whipped out my toothbrush and paste and brushed away. Yes, it was probably an odd thing to perform that type of hygienic maintenance in public, but I hated cavities with a passion and nothing felt more refreshing than a clean mouth. I used a swig of water from my canteen to wash the remaining toothpaste from my teeth and spat it into a planter. My eyes locked onto those talons resting on the table, strung together by a chain. I only needed one set; I weighed my options... tried to anticipate when the stout bearded man's attention would shift from the protective gaze he held over his merchandise to the interest of a customer. A couple approached him to inquire about a set of ruby earrings and a matching neckless.
"Well, now's my chance," I walked briskly over to the kiosk, observing the position of all eyes before I lifted the rings. It was so natural, second nature, no anxiety because I had done this many times before, and I learned from the best. Near success, but then I heard anger in someone's voice.
"Hey, you little gyp!" a younger man from the kiosk across the way pointed an accusatory finger at me. My flight reaction kicked in and before I left I grabbed a second set of talons... well they were the only set left.
"Someone stop her!" another yelled.
I shouldn't have looked back, but curiosity got the best of me and I saw a buff man, probably six and a half feet tall, barreling towards me. I dodged around the crowds of people, hoped an empty stand, which the oaf managed to flip as he ran into it, and made a sharp turn down an alley... which came to a dead end.
"Damn it, oooi where am I gonna go now," I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins, my eyes darted around the area for an escape. Suddenly I heard footsteps and light panting behind me, I stiffened in fear then cautiously turned around... the man was a few yards away.
"Hey, lady you need to hand those over!" he snarled, pointing at my bag.
"I'm sorry, I won't do that though."
He looked a bit surprised at the sincerity of my apology but persisted in stepping closer. I couldn't hand them over, I needed them to make something. I stepped back once, I could see he was getting ready to lunge... my right hand twitched. Just as he threw himself forward, I slammed my open hand onto the ground releasing electric currents. Walls of earth shot up from the ground and the man collided into them.
"THAT should take care of things", but soon after I realized I had encased myself in that alley way... a wall I had created and the brick wall behind me.
"Bloody hell, how do I get myself into these situations?" I sauntered over to the dead end, and ran my fingers along the rough surface then flattened my left palm against it.
"Destroy" I closed my eyes, to focus on the materials heating beneath my hand, electric currents, then an explosion. The dust and dirt settled revealing a gaping hole in the wall leading to the Main Street.
"Well that was easy," an impish grin danced across my mouth. I hopped out of the hole, made an immediate left turn... right into what felt like an ice block.
"Holy hell, are there enough walls around here?" I stepped back trying to regroup myself. Realization hit me once I noticed it wasn't a wall but a freakishly tall, bluish-grey skinned, muscular zombie with black dreads... it looked to be... a zombie?
"Well you've been causing some trouble for as short of time you've been hear, you know what happens to trouble-makers right?" the thing said in a gravely voice.
"Aren't zombies supposed to be... ya know... a little more decayed...withered?" I mused, completely disregarding his comment.
A long haired blonde walked up behind me gingerly. She was wearing a black patch over her left eye, a black long-sleeve blouse and an ankle length black and yellow skirt. She looked friendlier than the zombie who was towering over me.
"Sid, don't be too hard on the girl, she seems to be homeless." the woman's voice sounded sympathetic.
"Yes, I am... and I did pay for the food." I glared at the zombie thing called Sid.
"You might have but you didn't for those." he pointed at my bag.
Were their cameras situated around this city or something? I was almost mortified that I was caught so easily, Marie would have nagged me for that. He was talking about the rings.
"They're just pieces of metal, like that's any reason to be interrogated." I retorted
"And the massive upheaval you created in the alley way along with the wall you destroyed..." Sid added. Apparently the wall I had destroyed also caused part of a house to collapse.
"Oh... I'm sorry." I was astonished at the damage I caused.
"YEAH, well sorry's not gonna cut it."
My eyes widened with fear,
"I just needed some food and those rings... I didn't mean too..."
"What are you doing stealing from others, why don't you just get yourself a job like any good person would? Back when I was a alive-"
"Well I can't very well work when I'm not even a citizen now can I?" my tone was a bit too preconscious for my own good.
"Oh, you're not a citizen? you've stolen, and you're homeless. Well this is definitely not something I was expecting?" he paused thinking things over.
The blond woman placed her hand on my shoulder and I turned towards her to see her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh you poor thing, how did you get here, why do you have nowhere to go?" she seemed to get control of her tears.
"Well... my home town is gone, and I've been traveling around for the last month... I heard about Death City, it's a safe place...from what they've told me... I just thought maybe I could find a way to stay here for a while." I looked down at my shoes then looked back up at her with my pitiful large brown eyes. I may have been monotoned but I knew how to work it to my advantage. I probably looked like the epitome of a affection deprived child, my gaze innocent, and depression apparent in my voice.
It seemed to strum the lady's cords of compassion but the zombie was still set on some sort of punishment.
The lady pulled Sid aside to say something but all that came from them were inaudible whispers, a few side glances, and then both nodded.
"You'll have to stay in one of the dungeons at the DWMA for the night, until we figure out what to do with you," the zombie stated dryly.
"Oh but it's really not as bad as it sounds, there's a bed and candles for light... better than sleeping on the street." The woman was trying franticly to comfort me.
"It's fine... I can't complain, this is my fault after all."
To be honest, the dungeon sounded like a luxury hotel so there was no way I was going to fight it. Sid lead the way up the levels of city stairs to the entrance of the DWMA. I turned my head slightly to see that the blond woman was following right behind me, she offered me a half smile.
"I'm sorry, Miss but I didn't get your name."
She hesitated then told me,"It's Marie"
We stopped at the grim same name as my best friend... "well thank you, Miss Marie, I appreciate it."
"oh... umm. you're welcome." She looked confused over my gratitude, but I knew she was the one who suggested this.
Meeting Death
I was awoken by a soft knocking at the iron door... "May I come in?" a friendly voice rang. I felt myself hesitate at the absurdity of the question; what kind of prison was this where keepers asked permission to enter an inmate's cell?
"Uuuuhhh... yes..?" I answered with bewilderment.
Miss Marie forced the iron door open with some effort and then, giving an exaggerated sigh when she was finally able to squeeze in. She laughed in embarrassment, holding a stack of towels and some soap in her arms.
"I thought you probably would want to wash up before we take you to see Lord Death today." she explained jovially.
"Well, I guess I don't look or smell all that pretty, and I do want to look my best for my trial." I mumbled
"Oh don't be silly, we're not going to punish you... we just thought it would be best if you explained your situation to Lord Death, maybe he could help you." Her golden eye peered at me empathetically.
"You don't think I'm a witch?" I knew she didn't, but I wanted to know why... since no one was able to see my soul.
"No, I don't think you're a witch." she responded with frankness.
"But why? you can't see my soul either."
She thought that over for a moment, "true, but sometimes you can just tell by looking at someone in the eyes, whether they're good or not." she concluded cheerfully.
"Come now, let's get you cleaned up... and find you some other clothes?" she made a grimace as she pulled another piece of hay from my sweater. I nodded and followed her out of the dungeon to a more welcoming level of the DWMA where the lady's room was.
A Warm shower never felt quite this heavenly as before, but it was over 2 weeks since I had some sort of full body-wash... I mean, if you count taking a dive into a lake. I was always quick at washing up though, probably because I was in a mindset of constantly being on the run. Six minutes was all it took to take a shower, five minutes to get dried and dressed up. Miss Marie had left a new change of clothing for me; black straight-legged slacks, and a white loosely fitted chiffon blouse. I walked over to one of the sink mirrors to revel in the reflection of a clean face. My face looked lively once again, my eyes were amber again, and I could see the freckles sprinkled across my nose and apples of my cheeks where the dirt had covered them before. I pushed my damp hair over to the left side of my head revealing the shaved area on the right side... My dark brown hair barely touched my collarbone, but this section of my hair grew out to be three quarters of an inch from when I had last buzzed it. I stepped out of the room; Miss Marie was astonished at how quick I could clean up.
"Well, you certainly aren't an ordinary girl," she smiled.
"If I had make-up and hair product it would have taken me longer... you know, I did used to care about my looks." I said a little more solemnly than I meant, but it was true, I used to take such pride in how well-kept I was... but being forced into a nomadic life for more than a month changes things. We continued through the school and up it's many flights of stairs to The Lord Death's quarters.
"Here we are" she offered me a smile before opening one of the doors for me.
"Um... is it just going to be me..." my voice shook, I could feel the anxiety building.
"I'm sorry I can't, but you'll be fine I promise"
"okay... just wanna get over with this already," I said, an undertone of resentment was laced in my voice. She patted me on the back gently as I stepped through the doors into be archways of of guillotines leading into a room that looked to be the sky itself.
Walking through this hallway of guillotines felt like I was set up on a chopping block. A moment of fear overtook me and my eyes darted to my feet, I was still standing on solid ground. The path led to a circular platform in the middle of the room, a throne-like chair was placed in front of a large mirror at the its center of the platform. I couldn't see who was sitting in the chair because its backside was faced towards me but there was dark cloaked figure off to the right of it.
I stood there for a moment, in view of what probably was Lord Death but he seemed too absorbed in the current conversation to notice. His voice was awkward, it sounded male ,of course, but it was kind of raspy and high pitched. The other voice was lower, a melodic hum, and his speech was very precise.
I cleared my throat as respectfully as I could so I wouldn't interrupt their conversation... but I was eager to get this "meeting" over with.
"Ooooh my!" the Reaper exclaimed "I'm sorry I didn't see you there."
Well this guy was more oblivious than I had expected, he wasn't at all what I thought death to be.
"Pardon," I bowed slightly "but I was sent here to speak with you about... uuhhh.." my eyes shifted towards the chair; I didn't want anyone else present to hear. The Reaper could sense my discomfort, and so he excused whoever was sitting in the chair.
"Alright, kiddo, we'll have to put this off for later." he said to the person sitting infront of him. Two hands grasped the arms of the chair and a slender boy in a business-like suit stood up; black hair, two-toned yellow eyes, and three horizontal white stripes on the left side of his head. Well... that's an odd birthmark. He stared at me intently for a few moments... what was he trying to see, my soul? That wasn't going happen... his expression changed to one of disapproval and he sauntered down the steps shooting an intense glare in my direction.
"Liz, Patty," his voice was commanding.
"Coming!" two voices chimed in unison and the two pistols transformed into one short haired blond girl and the other one was a long haired blond. Both passed me but the shorter one smiled and winked at me.
"Hey Kid wait up!" she whined playfully before she caught up to the boy's right side.
The trio disappeared down the hall of guillotines and I was left there with Lord Death.
"You aren't as intimidating as I thought you would be," I said with surprise "your skull mask... I thought death was supposed to strike fear in people just from looking upon it."
The reaper chuckled "Oh, well I couldn't very well run a school of children if I stayed that scary, now could I?"
"You can see my soul though... you know I'm not a witch"
"Oh yes indeed, what I'm curious about is why you feel the need to hide it? and why you hide those symbols on your wrists?"
Lord Death's tone wasn't at all cynical, it was filled with curious wonder.
I glanced at my wrists which were covered by the sweater... how did he know?
"It's a long story," I could feel the sorrow sinking in.
"Don't worry we have lots of time, just start from the beginning?" he offered kindly.
I exhaled my exhaustion and then took in a deep breath... this could be painful.
Em's Story: The Destruction of Rambalt
"Think, think, think," I said to myself; retrieving buried memories was a difficult task, especially when it came to events I had no pleasure in remembering.
"You see, I came here from the west coast, a town called Rambalt. Back in the 18th century it became a settlement for Northwestern Europeans. These people brought with them the studies of alchemy and so, every generation following them practiced the art religiously." I paused for a moment trying to remember where I was going with this preface.
"There was also another group of people that immigrated to Rambalt soon after the first Europeans did, they were the Italian and Romanian gypsies; with them, they brought they're own form of occult witchcraft." I spoke with more disgust than intended.
"Our laws of conduct with alchemy and their's of voodoo varied in more ways than not; and it was cause for a lot of contention for couple hundred years. The Romanian gypsies were..." I paused to think of the words that could describe their culture, " not quite as civilized or respectable as the Italians; they're customs verged on the hedonistic, even ruthless side of voodoo... I mean, if you can get anymore degrading than involving yourself with such inhumane practices."
I glanced up at Lord Death to see if there were any signs of impatience; I didn't particularly enjoy explaining my situation, but the background information was necessary if he really did want to understand. He nodded, and I took that as permission to continue.
" Well... in our town we have a sort of academy too, much like the DWMA, but its for the teaching of alchemy and other sciences relating to it. It's a place of monitored experimentation too within the laws of alchemy, of course... but the building houses one of the arcanum stones. It's this stone that caused a lot of interest among the Romanian gypsies and there were numerous attempts made by them to gain possession of it... so it was moved to a vault deep beneath the academy."
" And what exactly does this stone do?" the Reaper questioned with amusement.
"There are two stones that exist, one was crimson that had the ability to heal illness, create longevity, and perhaps even bring the dead back to life... the other stone, which our town held, was pearl-like in appearance; it was quite a bit more unstable than the crimson but had the same capabilities. Most of the alchemists believed that the white arcanum stone had a greater potential than the crimson, but because of its instability it was put away so it wouldn't fall into corrupt hands... we weren't really sure how it would react with other crafts like gypsy magic..." yet again I stopped to think where I was going with my information, I always felt like I was going on tangents.
"Anyway, alchemists need to use transmutation circles to perform reactions," I pulled up my sleeves to reveal the complex circles that were on my wrists. "The ones I have are to create and destroy."
"The arcanum stones allow anyone who uses them to execute alchemic reactions without the need for these circles, they're more versatile and effective."
"Aaaaaahhhh, I see, so does this stone have anything to do with why you are so far away from your home town?" Lord Death continued emitting his amiable disposition.
"Yes... it was June gloom, the 23rd of that month; that's when the darkness came... that night. It was so strange, completely unexpected... but there was a massive explosion at the academy. It startled everyone awake, and that's when the darkness flowed from the depths of that abyss. It was dark matter, a thick cloud, you could feel it weighing on your lungs whenever you breathed... a horrifying fog, that materialized into the worst of abominations. Everywhere, people were screaming, being chased by their fears, consumed by monsters, scattered about like sheep at the mercy of ravenous wolves. But there wasn't any mercy, the darkness became thicker, suffocating the mind's rational... and after some time it became deafeningly silent... the darkness settled, dissipated... and there was no one left... just empty homes."
"Hmmmmm... and you're the only one who survived?", he questioned with skepticism.
"To be honest, I don't know... maybe... my friend and I were separated among all of the commotion..." I could feel the tears beginning to well up.
I quickly wiped the water from my eyes, "I understand if you don't believe me; I've been hiding these symbols because there have been too many along the way who have assumed me to be a witch, I'm really not though, I promise."
I didn't expect my word to be anything significant since I was already taken for a thief but I hoped the sincerity would be truth enough.
He raised one of his hands to stop me from speaking.
"Oh no, I can certainly see that you're not a witch... but if everything that you have told me is true and this threat is a bad as it sounds. Weeeeeellll, it's possible some arrangements will have to be made." He concluded.
"Arrangements?" I wondered out loud.
"Yes, but that's not important right now. If you don't mind we'll have to keep you here for a while longer..."
It wasn't one of those questions you could decline, I knew I had no choice but to be return to that dark little dungeon, until the Reaper knew how to address the situation.
"I understand..." I bowed, then turned to leave.
"Oh my! well I never got your name." Lord Death exclaimed with zeal.
"My name...? oh... it's Em." There was no way I was going to give my full name, not yet at least.
"Very well, thank you Em. We'll have your situation figured out as soon as possible." he concluded.
I found Miss Marie waiting for me outside of Death Room, she tried to strike up conversation with me but with not much avail. I was too lost in the memory of what happened to care for any friendly conversation. She escorted me down to my cell and left me with a kind smile and words of encouragement.
That night I resigned myself to my thoughts, I had to find a way to fix things... I needed to find solutions... No, what I needed to do first was get out of this place.
Escape the DWMA: A Dance with Death... the Kid?
"The walls, the walls are so close together, I gotta get out of here." The air was damp and clammy causing me to become dizzy. I sat on my bed and dumped out my belongings from the bag.
"toothbrush, toothpaste, matches, soap, aaaah, yess the talons!" I gabbed the two chains of rings and held them in my right hand.
If I combined these two sets, the steel would become denser, making them more ideal for weapons... or I could transmute them to increase their length. I fused the sets together and placed the five rings in their proper place; left hand destruction. Miss Marie had placed my clean navy blue sweater and black skinnies all neatly folded at the end of the bed.
"Sweet lady, kind of reminds me of mom." I thought to myself as I slipped my street clothes on.
I pushed on the large iron door, suddenly remembering that it was latched shut.
"Damn, how did I forget?" I started banging my head against the door trying to figure a way to escape... realization doesn't always come to me quick.
A spark of sense "oh! if there isn't a door, I can just make one."
I placed my right hand on the middle of the door and the symbol on my wrist glowed white. The white light transferred through my fingertips and carved lines into the iron, which resulted in the formation of a smaller door within the larger one.
"Perfect." I felt the cheer bubble up inside as I ducked under the doorway out into a dimly lit stone hallway. It was time to explore this place for any useful information before I decided to ditch. I must have wandered those corridors for at least an hour before I came across a yellow ribbon connecting from one side of a branching hall to the other.
"Well, this looks off limits... I think we should go check it out!" I was talking to myself again for company's sake.
The hallway came to a deadend of double-doors that entailed a very ornate locking system. It was time to create another passage way... I touched the door to form an entrance.
"This is just too easy." I peered around the dark room, nothing but pitch black and the echo of my footsteps. I reached behind myself and shoved my hand into one of my backpack pockets to pull out a matchbox. The light wasn't sufficient but it helped ward off the chill of darkness. I continued walking straight forward until the flame illuminated an ancient leather-bound, metal latched book.
I struck a new match to read the wording on the front cover. "Book of Eibon...?". It sounded intriguing to me so I removed it carefully from the stand. The main dungeon corridor provided better lighting for me to observe the books contents. My fingertips traced along the sketches of various magical inventions it spoke of, curious excitement kept my eyes searching for possible solutions among its pages. I knew this had knowledge that could help, I needed to barrow it until I was finished researching it. I pulled my pocket watch out, "6:37 a.m."... I had barely enough time to find my way out of this place and catch a train to elsewhere. I tucked the book under my arm and cautiously moved through the levels of the dungeon to the main floor of the DWMA. It seemed that the classes here had not started yet, but I could see some people stand outside of the doors.
"Act natural, act natural." the voice in my head was straining from the anxiety of getting caught. I clenched the book, holding it tight to my side... nothing was going to stop me. I pushed my way through the double doors; blue sky, puffy white clouds, the grinning sun... all of it, freedom. The sheer jubilation that was mounting within me was all for naught.
"You won't be leaving here with that book." a familiar voice reached me from behind. I felt the blood in my veins freeze. I was almost there, I almost escaped... I grabbed my pocket watch to glance at the time.
" 6:45a.m... ooooh I'm cutting it close," I spoke to myself. I ran my hand through my hair in an expression of discontent and slowly I turned my body around to meet the eyes of opposition.
"Oh come now, I'm really not someone who prefers being late... punctuality is key, I'm really on a tight schedule you know?", trouble always had a way of putting me in a teasing mood.
Those golden eyes gave me the same look of disgust as they did in the Death Room but his stance was that of quiet superiority. This one wasn't much for games, not light-hearted in the slightest.
"Oh... I hate sticks-in-the-mud." I gave a heavy sigh. "I'm just borrowing, I'll return it once I'm finished." I was frank with my response and turned to cross the school's plaza but a shot that struck right infront of my pathway prevented me from leaving.
"You think I'm joking? There's important information in that book and you're not leaving here with it." his voice become harsher.
"Exactly why I need it, but I wouldn't expect you to understand." my voice mirrored his intensity.
His expression didn't change so I resorted to the one thing I do best; make a game of a serious situation.
"How about this," I spoke in a friendly tone as I plopped the book in my backpack.
" Let's have a heated discussion, if you make the better point I'll hand over the book. But if I win I get to read it... and I'll be sure to return it once I'm done." I added hoping that would ease the tension.
"You mean you want a fight?" he clarified.
"Well I suppose you could call it that..." I ventured. I had yet to realize how completely illogical and idiotic that request was, knowing I wouldn't be able to win against whatever he was. Too late to back down, now it was time for me to pay for my arrogance.
By this time a sizable group of students had gathered in the vicinity to observe my stupidity... or so, that's how I felt. It seemed that even a few of the teachers had joined to watch the fight that was about to take place.
The boy lowered his guns in confusion, "how are you supposed to fight if you don't have a weapon?"
I touched my left arm with my right hand, causing the talons on my fingers to lengthen, "I am my weapon, I am my own master."
This caused him to bring his two guns back into an offensive position.
" Great, just great... I don't know how to deal with someone who fights from a distance, how am I supposed to get close enough...?!" This was beginning to prove itself to be a really stupid idea. There was a good chance this kid had more experience in both forms of combat and I was only skilled in one.
"Ooooii, I didn't think this one through at all." I frowned to myself.
I hope he wasn't expecting me to make the first move, I thought guys were supposed to take the lead in these sort of things... It's kind of like dancing, right? A few moments passed and before the stare down could get any more discomforting, I quickly slammed my palms down onto the ground splitting the earth with upheavals of jagged rock
aimed right for him. He was quick to evade it but the ridge allowed me a path to closed the gap between us. I came down at him, hoping I would be able to get a few good slashes at his flesh but he managed to dodge them. Every offensive advance I made was either evaded or blocked... he hadn't even used his pistols yet!
"Could you do something already?!" I hissed.
"Oh, I was waiting for you?" he made it obvious that he was both bored and unimpressed with my attempts.
"I'll stop holding back, when you stop holding back?" I exclaimed; my frustration seemed to be amusing him.
"Dance, dance with me; what kind of man are you if you're not leading?!" my complaints seemed to strike some cord within him because a that moment a small smirk appeared on his lips.
Before I knew it I was forced to take cover behind another wall of earth from the barrage of bullets, "this is so stupid, and how many bullets are in those damn things anyway?" I could feel my teeth gritting. Guess I would just have to fight like I did on the streets; I picked up a stone and in a single motion, I spun out from the side of the wall and used my momentum to throw the object at the boy's left temple.
I heard myself give a sharp laugh of triumph when I saw his head cock back from the impact. "My opening" I grinned, and was back to being close and personal again. Hand-to-hand combat was definitely my forte, but it seemed to be his too. We happened to be involved in some sort of exchange of strikes, blocks, and movement manipulation... which felt nothing more than dancing since neither of our strikes were landing. A brief lapse in concentration betrayed me as I mused at the way he held his pistols. At that moment I felt a sharp pain crushing down on the back of my neck, pistol whipped. I fell flat on my face and stayed there for a few moments. I knew he was standing there with pistols in hand, waiting for me to get up. I pushed myself up from the dirt, taking a knew but my right arm was still propping me up; I glanced at him from the side, my breathing was heavy and my skull felt like it was going crack open.
"Are you done playing games, yet?" his tone returned to that of disinterest.
"Not quite" I voice sounded hoarse yet maniacal.
My next move was so fluid and it almost felt as though I was defying the laws of physics, but somehow I managed to kick one of his pistols from his hand from a ground spin. He lowered his other gun in shock and I came back around with my left hand to deal a final blow. My fingers spread apart before I lodged my talons into his chest; his upper body hunched over my arm as I absorbed his soul wavelength. It was then that I felt it, warmth trickling down my fingers and some of it seemed to be pooling in my palm... blood. I began to feel sick at the thought of making someone bleed, my instinct was to retract my talons. He leaned against my left hand which was still pressed against his chest.
"Look what you made me do!" I said angrily as I pushed him away from me. He stumbled back not prepared for what I was about to do. The wavelengths shifted in my body, coursing into my right arm. Since he seemed unable to shoot me with the single gun he held, I reached out to place my right hand over the injury, but I wasn't kind in how I returned his wavelength. I heard him mumble something unintelligible as I forced his own wavelength along with my own through his body. The transfer exerted enough pressure to throw his whole body back fifty feet.
"Good riddance," I sighed, then realized his other pistol was back in his hand. The boy managed to return to his feet quickly. The two pistols at his side began to glow; their composition was changing, they were morphing into some other weapon... cannons that overtook his entire forearm. There was nowhere to run, besides, I always found it more dignified to face death rather than forfeiting due to fear.
"Death cannon", two concentrated pulsars of soul energy were fired from the weapons. I knew this blast was nothing to underestimate, the recoil was even strong enough to push him back several feet. With every amount of energy I could muster, I held out destruction's left hand to hinder the impending blast. The impact caused the ground around me to cave in and although my wavelength was successful in creating an immediate barrier around me, I had no energy left to stand once the smoke cleared. I found myself lying in the rubble staring up at the sky. I gathered my wits and propped myself onto the palms of my hands only to see the kid standing a few feet from the concaved area. The two blond girls were standing on either side of him, with the older one holding the book and my bag.
"Well look what you've done now, you've effectively ruined the symmetry of this academy." He started massaging his temples in irritation.
I glanced around the area in dismay, seeing that I had in fact, destroyed much of the groundwork.
" oh... I'm sorry, I can fix it, you know?" I tapped my right fingers against the dirt and gravel.
"Sorry wont cut it, and you're going to have to do more than just fix it." He concluded, offering a hand to help me out of the shallow pit I was in.
"As of today, you're a part of this academy, so get used to it."
"What?!" I was completely mortified.
"You dug your grave, now this is your only way out of it." He studied me for a moment, "we should get going, plans have been made."
"Yaaaay! Yaaaay! New students means new friends!" The shorter one danced around me then locked her arm with mine.
"The name's Patty!" She exclaimed cheerfully.
"Patty! Stop being so hyper, the girl's obviously in shock" the taller one approached me to hand over my bag.
"I'm Liz" she offered a friendly smile.
"Oh..." Was all I could say. I knelt down on one knee to fix the damage.
"Good as new" I smiled to myself.
"And you are?" Liz prodded.
"Em... My name is Em."
"Come on, we don't have all day" the boy had already begun walking towards the entrance of the DWMA. He gave all three of us in incredulous glare.
" we're coming Kid!" Patty giggled then grabbed my arm to tow me along.
"Is that his name, Kid?" I wondered aloud.
"It's Death the Kid, but everyone just calls him Kid. He's Lord Death's son." Liz replied.
I found myself being dragged back into the very place I was so close to escaping. There was no telling what type of debt this enrollment would entail now that I had to become a student here.