In the realm of blackness, 'Hell', as humans call it, there is much more to be feared than Death.
Accompanying this form of dread are the Demons, creatures that are to be feared equally, if not more, than Reapers themselves. Alone they are the bringers of fear, lighting the way for impending doom. But paired with their soul Reapers the two bring about utter destruction and a wave of fury that leaves nothing but death and fire in its wake.
Demons are the "unholy" spawn of the Black Dragon, taking the Human form they blend within the madness of "Normal" people, posing a threat to only those who get in the way of their affairs. They posses Magick like that of Necromancers, but on a much darker level.
Without the pairing of Reapers and thier Demons the creation of new Reapers and Lords would cease to exist and the world woul plunge into the darkest level of Hell.
Because every Reaper has his Demon.
The wind blew something fierce, whipping around the trees and buildings of Death City, blowing in from the desert just outside the city's boundaries. Leaves were being kicked up and tossed in huge flurries, occupying the air that would normally belong to the birds on nice, sunny days.
The clouds overhead thickened with a deep gray undertone, threatening with the pelting of rain and, if all conditions permitted, hail the size of peas. The last three days the city had been burdened with this black clouded storm, leaving the streets more or less empty, save for those brave enough to beat against the wind.
After Asura had been once and for all put in his place the seven students had taken some extra time off, sleeping in, eating late and laying around. For two days Soul and Maka had ordered out, neither having the will or interest in cooking, often leaving small messes here and there about the house. Black Star and Tsubaki at least made efforts to keep active, training outside for short periods of time before the weather began acting up again. In Gallows Manor it was something of a miracle if ten minutes went by without a periodic squeal from Patty, at which time Kid and Liz either yelled at her or gave up trying, Liz only wanting peace and quite and Kid being bed ridden for a few days per doctor's and father's orders.
The Academy itself was still up and running, but there were far fewer attendants, students and teachers alike. The halls were mostly empty of any sign of life and a student thought it somewhat amazing is they happened to pass another creature, human or not, somewhere in the building. Students who hadn't participated in the fight against Asura or had anything to do with any sort of evil goings on had to attend to classes as normal, though not many took that rule seriously.
Having no death scythe to chop or son to bother, Shinigami-Sama busied himself as much as possible, making sure all of the repairs were wither being attended to or at the very least noticed. On occasion he'd step out of the Death Room and ponder the halls since if anyone needed to speak with him they usually, as of recently, came to him personally. When he wasn't checking to see which teachers were actually working and which weren't he was dealing with trying to find a new school nurse to replace the temporary replacement.
He wouldn't usually admit certain things out loud but in his opinion Medusa was, or had the potential to be, a wonderful nurse, problem being her horrible attitude. Actually, he truthfully thought Witches made perfect nurses, he just wished they weren't all so... evil. Of course they weren't all evil, but coming across "Good Witches," or "Wiccans," as modern religion had named them, was more difficult than most would imagine.
Thankfully only about half of his hours were empty and dull. The other half were usually occupied with talking to Maka and Soul, Black Star or Patty, as no one else dared to set foot outside. They'd come by often, letting Lord Death know that themselves, and everyone who either couldn't (Kid) or wouldn't (Tsubaki and Liz), were recovering just fine.
Maka stayed for longer periods of time, as the others just sort of popped in for a moment or two. She didn't fancy spending all of her time keeping both Soul and Blair happy, and talking to Shinigami-Sama had become almost like talking to family. She almost did consider him family, seeing as she stopped by the Manor every day to check on Kid and baby him like he was seven.
The two would sit for anywhere between two and four hours in the Death Room, talking about anything and everything over a cup of hot tea. Maka did most of the talking however, as Lord Death usually never had anything interesting to say since he was mostly confined to the Academy, which was almost deserted completely.
After about a week of off time Maka had made it routine to stop by the Academy after lunch every day, no matter what horror was going on outside. She was thankful that the Manor was on the way so she didn't have to make multiple excursions or stay outside for too long. But usually by the time she'd finished dealing with Patty's unnecessary squeals of joy and Kid's spoiled and bratty attitude the only thing she looked forward to was the hot cup of tea.
"So? How is everybody?" was the usual conversation starter, but on one particular day it started with; "My, you look a little grumpy."
Maka huffed and sat on her respective pillow, glaring hotly at the cup of tea in front of her. "How'd you know?" she asked, making it more of a statement than anything.
Shinigami-Sama sat across the table from the meister and looked at her knowingly. "Well you aren't exactly smiling. Is something wrong?" He took a sip of his tea, waiting for her to speak.
At first she felt like screaming to the world how she felt, but it was useless since it seemed to be pretty empty at the moment and she hated wasting energy. "Just the usual. Soul's being difficult again and Blair never helps... at all. AND my worthless father is spending twice as much time with women."
"You should drink your tea before it gets too cold, I'm sure it'll make you feel better." Shinigami-Sama sipped at his own tea, hopefully encouraging Maka to do the same.
The meister sighed and did as he said, knowing he was right, he almost always was. Maka always loved the tea she was given, the thick aroma, the sweet taste. But today it tasted bitter to her, just like the rest of her day had been, bitter and dry. She set the cup down and slouched her shoulders forward, giving another loud sigh. "It doesn't taste the same."
Lord Death had never really been able to understand women on that emotional level, even Kid's mother hadn't stayed around long enough for him to "read her mind," like all women expect men to be able to do. "Listen Maka, you know that every time you and Soul go at it that it always gets settled in the end, I'm sure this time wont be any different. I mean it's not like you two every really get into serious arguments anyway."
Maka couldn't hold back the tiny smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth, because he was right. "Thanks, I needed that."
The two finished their tea and rambled on about useless subjects as usual, touching on anything from fighting techniques to 'what happens now?' Often the main subject is Kid's condition, which always causes Maka to rant about how spoiled rotten he is and how much she wished he'd stop being such a sissy all the time.
"Well I understand he can be a bit difficult at times, but-"
"He's got OCD to where he WAILS at the mention of his hair and yells at how he doesn't deserve to live! He left his partners in a pyramid ALONE for some stupid painting! Seriously! The boy has issues!"
"I know, but-!"
"Not to mention the fact that he's gonna get premature arthritis in BOTH hands 'cause he shoots with his freakin' pinkies! He's a health accident WAITING to happen! AND he never listens to anything I have to say as far advice goes because he thinks he knows everything! He is SUCH a MAN!"
By now Maka had almost visible steam pouring from her nose and ears.
"I though you said he acted like a sissy. It sounds to me like you're ranting more about Soul than anyone." Lord Death sat quietly while Maka realized that she had been going off about Soul on that last comment.
She looked down sheepishly at her hand folded neatly in her lap. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't take it out on Kid, Soul is the one being an idiot." Once again her brow furrowed in irritation and she glared at the tall black mirror beside them, which, up until now, had been quiet and blank.
Sid's face appeared on the screen. "Lord Death, I have news!" he said enthusiastically.
Shinigami-Sama bid Maka a good-bye before giving Sid his full attention. "Hi there! What's up? What have you found?"
"While Professor Stein and I were out hunting for the Witch's congregational meeting place we found a large area of the nearby forest completely destroyed. There was fresh ash all over everything, like there had been a fire. And we also found a large number of trees morphed and mutated, it looked to be the work of a Witch." As Sid had finished Stein stepped in and nudged him out of the frame.
"I'm certain it was the work of a Witch, or should I say Witches. There was a struggle here no doubt, over what we're not sure. But aside from all of the ash and mutated plant life we found one fallen tree that was still on fire." Stein reached up and turned the screw in his head 'til it clicked in place.
Lord Death looked at him oddly. "And? Did you put it out?"
Stein shook his head. "No, we contained it instead, we're trying to keep it burning."
"Why on earth would you do that?"
"Because, the flames that burned these trees weren't orange," He looked up and gave a sadistic smile. "They were black."
Author: Well look at that... a Soul Eater fic... Thank you SilverBlood for fueling my addiction!
Voice from far off distance: YOU'RE WELCOME!
Well it's a prologue... but story none the less! I'm going to be honest, between updating this, my IZ fic and modified chapters I don't know how often it'll happen. So don't expect a weekly thing... but I will try!
If you click this button the Magical Pinata will grant all your wishes!
Kudos to ANYONE who got that reference.
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