The Graceful Reaper
It was a normal day just like every other day in the town of Lumaria. It was lightly raining, the sun brightly shining down upon the town, the streets bustling with activity as always. Yes, a normal day. However, today was a day out of the uniform – October 31st, Halloween. Legend has it that on Halloween, if a crescent shaped moon was shining down upon the town, a storm of rose petals (aptly dubbed the "Storm of Roses") is said to appear near an old, decrepit shack, cloaked within the shadow of the woods surrounding it. It is also said that anyone who gets caught up in the "Storm of Roses" will vanish, and return the next day with "The Mark of The Reaper" engraved on a part of their body. The reaper, whom was called Marluxia, had pink hair, a large scythe, and was about 5'10'' – so he was easily distinguishable. However, he only appears on the night of a crescent shaped moon of Halloween. Unconceivable, you may say – but tell that to someone who experienced it first hand, which is just what this story is.
~Halloween Night~
The night was filled with the glee of children as they went from house to house collecting their goodies and treats, while the adults were walking alongside them, taking pictures of their children in their costumes and making sure they didn't run off. Then you had the teenagers and adolescents - They were hanging out near light posts, benches, electricity boxes, and all sorts of places. However, there was one group of teens that were walking down the street to the nearby forest. They didn't believe the legend of Marluxia the Reaper, and they went into the forest to prove that it was just a lie. Fortunate enough for them this Halloween just happened to have a crescent-shaped moon this evening.
They were walking around inside the forest for what seemed like hours, traveling deeper and deeper into the darkness within with each passing step. They were too distracted, however, to notice the moonlight shining down on them, nor did they notice the figure following slowly behind. After sometime they arrived at the location of the shack; cut off from civilization the shack looked very old, nearly 100 years old (It was only, in reality, 20 years old). Parts of it were slanting over to the side, other parts were rusted over. The whole foundation looked like it could collapse, but not a single part used to construct it was out of place. One of the male teenagers, whose name was Zexion, stood there staring at the door with his indigo-colored eyes. His blue-purple hair was lightly swaying in the weak wind blowing around him and his friends. One of Zexion's friends pushed him ahead, edging him to the door. Zexion was slightly afraid – he wasn't quite sure what to make of this scenario. He walked hesitantly up to the pale, wooden door, reading the nameplate on it.
"Ho…se of Ma…l…xi…"
The nameplate was nearly gone, and some of the letters were missing, however, it was quite easy to make out what it implied.
"House of Marluxia…" Zexion said in a quiet voice, looking around, examining the rest of the house. Upon closer inspection of the house, he noticed that there was a small mark engraved into the outer wall – it looked like a rose petal with a depiction of a scythe next to it.
After seconds of reading the name aloud to himself, the wind suddenly kicked up – violently, to be exact. Zexion and his friends immediately turned around and were amazed by what they saw – A flurry of rose petals flying around. It almost looked as if they were dancing to the winds movement. Behind the petals there stood a man – he looked about 5'10'', had pink hair, and was holding a large scythe in his right hand.
"I-I-It's Him… It's Marluxia…" Roxas, a blondish-Orange, spiky haired male teenager, who looked about 5'6'', said stutteringly.
"…The Graceful Reaper." Zexion concluded in a quiet voice.
Marluxia stood there, smirking at the petrified teenagers, waving slightly. The teenagers blinked their eyes in disbelief, and Marluxia, along with the rose storm, was gone.
Puzzled and bewildered, they all looked around trying to see if it was all an illusion or not. They couldn't find any trace of Marluxia, even if that really was him, or the rose petals. Zexion, who was still standing at the door, took a deep and heavy sigh of relief, and started to walk away. However, he didn't get far when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. The hand felt cold and rough. Zexion felt his whole body stiffen up, as he slowly tilted his head to the side, glancing at where the hand came from. The pink haired devil was there, tightening his grip on Zexion's shoulder. Zexion shrieked in slight terror and tried to struggle away, to no avail though.
The rest of Zexion's group immediately turned around, as their jaws almost dropped from the sight of Marluxia having a grip on their purple haired friend. Roxas darted at Marluxia, trying to attack him, however, Marluxia held up his spare hand, and said in a deep, semi-evil voice "Scatter to oblivion!". As he said that, his scythe appeared in the hand which was held out, as did a massive gust of wind which knocked Roxas, as well as the rest of Zexion's friends, back, and blocked them from re-entering the area within the storm of rose petals. Roxas had risen to his feet, as well as the other teenagers, and started to bang against the flurry of roses, trying to break through; however, Marluxia snapped his fingers and, along with Zexion and the rose petals, vanished into nothingness. The group of teenagers ran up to the door and started pounding on it, only to be blasted back by another massive gust of wind.
