Written: October 2009
If you're reading this, you have no idea how lucky you are that it's been posted. I started this in 2006, and it's been on the drawing board since then. I've only worked on it on Halloween, which explains why such a short fic has taken so long, but I'm SO glad it's over!
Even so, this was written on my family computer (since mine died temporarily), with noisy teenagers in the background, so the end was rushed a little bit. Enjoy it anyway. Thanks to /translator/english_to_ for the Latin translations.
All Hallow's Eve
Death was in the air. Actually, it was in the stores, and all over the neighbor's lawns. Close enough. Generally, during the month of October, demons went on overdrive, popping into the human world to scare someone, and occasionally grab a snack, as humans were less likely to suspect real demons when everyone was dressed up. However, for some reason, the demons were laying low. Koenma had tried to pinpoint any factors that might have been distracting the demons, to no avail. It made him nervous, until he realized that the energy in the human plane was low. If the energy was not high enough, the demons could not visit the human realm. In theory, he did not have any real reason to worry. This, as it turned out, was good news for the Spirit Detective team, as they didn't have any new missions to work on over the holiday. Koenma didn't generally believe in celebration of human events, but the lack of demonic presence was enough to get him excited for Halloween, and he decided to spend it with his detective.
Perhaps it was just the nature of Halloween, but Yusuke and his friends usually spent that night together, making chaos and laughter erupt wherever they chose to celebrate. Often they made elaborate plans to scare others or throw large parties, and this year was no exception. The entire crew met at Yusuke's apartment to discuss their holiday plans two days before Halloween. Keiko spent every waking moment she could with Yusuke, so he expected her to be there. Botan, despite her usual cheery temperament, enjoyed Halloween to a great extent and would also be present. Kuwabara hated to be left out, and Yusuke had heard Koenma say that he would like to be a part of this year's fun.
Kurama was probably in a good mood since mid-terms had already passed, and that generally translated to his participation in the group efforts. When Kurama could be counted on, Hiei was almost always present as well. He didn't care much for human holidays, Halloween included, but he could be talked into having fun on the scariest night in the year on occasion. I can smell it!" Botan smiled from her seat near the open window. It was chilly outside, but she didn't mind.
"Smell what?" asked Kuwabara, glancing at Botan, whose eyes were wide and staring out into the night.
"That October wind! Halloween is here," she smiled, barely able to contain her excitement.
"All right, we only have a day to plan this thing. What do we want to do this year?" Yusuke asked, plopping down on a cushion next to Kuwabara.
"I don't think we should do anything too involved, after the haunted house last year," suggested Koenma. He hadn't actually been involved in that scene, but he had heard stories about it, and had almost been called in to deal with the problem. Everyone agreed with him; the haunted house had been hilariously over-accomplished, and they had sent more than one 30-year-old crying home to Mommy. Especially when the entire thing caught on fire and the props melted into the floor. Hiei swore he had nothing to do with it, but everyone was still skeptical.
"I think we should have our own party," Botan said. "We could invite everyone here, plus Shizuru and Yukina, of course, and perhaps Genkai–"
"She's on vacation for a few months," Yusuke interrupted. "Lucky hag."
"Did you have a location in mind, Botan?" Kurama asked. Keiko waved to catch everyone's attention.
"My parents will be out of town this weekend, so as long as we clean up a bit, we can have the party there," she offered. They considered it. Her house was on the outskirts of town, and she didn't have elderly neighbors who would call the police if things went a bit out a hand, as they no doubt would.
"Fine, it's settled," Yusuke said, glad that the boring part was over. "I have dibs on a pirate costume!"
Shizuru escorted Yukina from Genkai's temple (where she was staying on her own until Genkai returned) to Keiko's house. The trees in the city were changing colors, and the air felt crisp and fresh on their faces as they walked to the front door. Shizuru knocked a few times, and Keiko came to answer it in her usual outfit. Botan and I are just hanging up the spider webs," she said, and directed the other two into the main sitting room so that they could help decorate.
"My brother and Yusuke went shopping," Shizuru explained to Keiko as she found a nail from which she could hang a glow-in-the-dark skeleton.
"I hope they bought enough pizza," Keiko said. Their parties were well known for running out of pizza at pivotal moments.
"I've made a chocolate cake!" Botan said, bringing in the wrapped pastry. It was delicious-looking, with orange frosting arranged in the shape of a Jack-o'-Lantern's leering face. As the day progressed, the sun moved toward the west until it had reached the rim of land. By then, Kurama and a pouty Hiei had arrived (the latter only after the promise of a good horror movie–if humans knew anything, it was murder), and Koenma was not far behind.
As the sun was setting, Shizuru locked herself in Keiko's bathroom to change into her costume, and the doorbell began to ring with a polite regularity as the younger trick-or-treaters came along. The orange light began to fade just as Yusuke and Kuwabara arrived, carrying in bags of candy and soda and pizza boxes. Keiko had set out the Jack-o'-Lanterns that everyone had carved the day before, and Hiei reluctantly lit their candles, creating an eerie feel to the porch as the sun finally disappeared. When Yusuke deposited the bags of candy onto the counter, he turned to see a woman staring right into his face. It took him a moment to register that it was Shizuru, because she looked rather different. "I see grave things in your future," she said, in a quiet voice. "You have lived many lives in the past!" She shook a diving crystal at him, and he smirked.
"Nice costume." She wore loose clothing, beaded necklaces, a headband, and dark purple lipstick to complete the effect. From her pocket came a crystal ball, which was actually glass that made a nice clunk sound as it landed on Yusuke's foot.
"I can't wait to see Koenma's costume," she said, picking up her crystal ball and slipping it into her pocket in case she needed it later. Yusuke snickered despite the pounding pain in his foot.
"I thought you could see those kinds of things?"
"No one could have foretold this," Koenma said grandly, stepping into the kitchen. He had armed himself in medieval royal garb, complete with a magnificent golden crown. He tapped Yusuke's shoulder with a long staff. "I dub thee Sir Yusuke."
"I dub thee Sir Shut the Hell Up," Yusuke said, grabbing the staff and whacking Koenma across the knees with it. He fell to the ground in pain, and Yusuke threw the staff out the nearest doorway.
"Ow!" cried Botan, who had just walked in wearing her own costume. At the sight of her, Yusuke broke into ironic chuckles. She wore a black robe and held a large plastic scythe.
"What exactly are you supposed to be?" Hiei asked from the corner–Yusuke whirled to see him; he hadn't even heard the demon come in.
"The Grim Reaper, of course!"
"My light saber is the wrong color," Kuwabara complained from the sitting room. They moved into it to see Kuwabara dressed as Hans Solo, a character from the American Star Wars series. He held his Spirit Sword in both hands, but was regretting (for once) the bright orange color. Yukina was standing next to him wearing a black kimono, dark eye makeup, and a fake mole. There was a black witch's hat perched precariously atop her green hair, and she held a ratty old broom.
"Greetings, Yusuke," she said, smiling. He gave her a half-hearted one in return.
"What are you dressed up as, Yukina?" Kurama asked, much more subtly than Yusuke would have done. Botan, robe swishing, went to fix Yukina's hat.
"She's a witch, obviously!" The doorbell rang, and Botan ushered Yukina over to hand out candy while Yusuke got a look at Kurama wearing his costume. His teeth were longer, and by the drip of fake blood running from his lip, Yusuke guessed (correctly) that he was a vampire. He wore a silk cape like Hiei's, and Yusuke noted that he wasn't wearing false teeth–he had manipulated his own to resemble Yoko's.
"I'd better change," Yusuke said, and walked into the nearest bedroom holding a knapsack. While he was busy, Keiko came up behind Kuwabara and whispered, "Booooo." He jumped, and the others turned to her. She had painted her visible skin white, and was wearing a white dress. She'd even sprinkled a white power into her hair to make it look ghost-like.
"Don't scare me like that, Keiko!" Kuwabara yelled. "You know how much I hate ghosts!"
"Savvy?" Yusuke asked, stepping into the living room. He wore a pirate costume that much resembled that of Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, and even held a bottle of what was hopefully fake rum.
"Hiei, what are you supposed to be?" Kuwabara asked facetiously. Hiei glared at him.
"Your executioner."
As the moon rose on the east, clouds covered the sky and sent a chill through the city. However, with two pizzas in the oven at the same time, plus a large stereo system pumping dance music, and nine young bodies crammed into a rather small house, it was very warm; all the windows and doors were propped open just to keep cold air moving. Yusuke was DJ, as usual, and had picked a large variety music to suit the mood. As the final CD in the player came to a stop, Yusuke collapsed onto the couch. Their parties were known to last late into the night, the record being 4 A.M., and he sure wasn't ready to quit at ten. However, everyone needed a break after that last conga line around the room, so everyone, excluding Hiei, as he wouldn't be caught dead doing the conga, lay or sat down to catch their breath.
The trick-or-treaters had ceased hours ago, though Yusuke's party had a bit of candy to spare. Shizuru grasped a hold of a strewn Snickers bar and quickly popped it into her mouth as the lights dimmed and Keiko began talking about something or other. However, as Shizuru crunched through the Snicker's peanuts, she felt an immensely strong aura coming at her as fast as she could comprehend. She nearly choked on the chocolate wedge and jumped up from the floor, attempting to call a warning. Hiei, Kurama, and Yusuke instantly knew something was wrong, as she grabbed at her throat with one hand and pointed at the door with the other. She began to cough and Keiko and Kuwabara started performing the Heimlich while the others stood up and stared at the door.
Before anyone could really do anything but pump the mini-bar from Shizuru's throat, a cascade of events came around faster than even Hiei could comprehend. The next few minutes went by rapidly—first, a final scream of agony as the chocolate-peanut-caramel concoction flew into a white wall and slid down slowly. Second, Shizuru collapsed to the ground. Next, the wall next to the door blew apart, as if there were some demon on the other side blasting apart Keiko's house. When the dust cleared, they saw how accurate that description could be. In the air, three female demons were hovering, grins on their faces. The one in the middle wore blue, on her left red, and on her right green. The one in blue had black hair while the one in red had brown hair and the one in green had wavy blonde hair. They were all fairly pale, but they didn't look like vampires, and they were floating without wings or wires.
"Hello, Detectives," the one in the middle grinned, and Koenma squinted to get a better look at these familiar-looking demons.
"The Suzuki Sisters!" he gasped, recognizing the sisters from their mug shots. Yusuke looked at him incredulously.
"Who?" He raised an eyebrow, and Koenma ignored him.
"You three are supposed to be in prison!" he called, and the one in green laughed.
"Your pathetic Spirit Prison could not hold us on All Hallow's Eve, Koenma. You should have known that we are most powerful on this night." Koenma clenched his fists in anger, and, though he wouldn't admit it, fear.
"What do you want?" yelled Kuwabara, pulling Yukina behind him protectively. The one in red grinned, her eyes flashing mischievously.
"To let you know we're feeding tonight. Masses of people will die at midnight and we will become more powerful than we have been in years. See if your little cages can hold us then," she said sweetly, and the three of them rose higher in the sky. All nine of the friends ran out to see each sister had flown off in a different direction.
"Hurry! We've got to stop them!" Koenma yelled, and Yusuke looked around at him.
"We don't know which one is going where!" he shouted, and Koenma growled.
"We'll have to follow all three of them," he said, running for the nearest car, which happened to be Kurama's. The others watched, slightly confused, as he jumped in. After a few awkward moments of silence, Koenma opened the door and said, "Come on!"
"Who here has a communication mirror?" Shizuru asked, throat still sore from choking. Keiko had agreed to hold on to Yusuke's, Botan had her own, and Yukina had remembered to grab Genkai's.
"We ought to split up into three groups of three, seeing as we own three vehicles as well as communication mirrors," Kurama noted.
"Okay. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Keiko will follow the one in the green. Kurama, Koenma, and I will follow the one in the blue. Hiei, Yukina, and Shizuru will follow the one in the red. We'll use the mirrors to keep in contact while we're chasing them," Botan said, and everyone ran to their assigned cars.
Yusuke sat in the driver's seat as Keiko pulled out her mirror and called Botan, who called Yukina as Shizuru climbed into the driver's seat of her car. "Who can sense their energies?" asked Koenma over the mirror.
"I can," answered Kuwabara, and Kurama and Shizuru also consented that they could.
"Good, then we've got one in each car. Follow them wherever they go, and if you can, take them out. If you can't, wait for some help."
"Do we kill them?" Yusuke asked, cutting into the heart of the problem.
"If you have to," Koenma agreed. "But I don't know if you can. At the very least, we can't allow them to complete the ritual. And, if we kill one of them and the other two complete it, then the two remaining sisters get more energy. As of now, they have to split it three ways. The more sisters that are dead, the more the surviving sister gets." Yusuke smacked his forehead.
"So, don't kill them," he sighed. Kurama spoke into the mirror.
"Incapacitate them if you can, Yusuke," he said simply, and Yusuke punched the steering wheel in frustration.
"Yukina, where are you headed?" Botan asked, and Yukina spoke up quickly.
"We're going south." Koenma frowned at Kurama, who looked thoughtful.
"She's going to the supermarket!" Yusuke shouted into the mirror. Kuwabara rolled his eyes.
"There's not a place for them down there . . . at least, not more than some warehouses, but perhaps they're planning something there . . ." Kurama drifted off.
"Hey, Koenma, do you mind giving us some information on these sisters?"
Koenma took the mirror in one hand while watching the road down which Kurama drove above the speed limit. "The Suzuki Sisters, Belladonna (in the blue), Dementia (in the red), and Nebula (in the green). They're triplets, all over two hundred years old. They're demons, and they get their powers by feeding off human souls. We arrested them for stealing souls in the human realm, but apparently, they're stronger on Halloween, and escaped tonight. I should have known something like this was going to happen," he moaned. Yusuke made a hard right and growled.
"Focus, Koenma."
"Right. They're probably going to consume massive numbers of souls to become so powerful that not even you can take them down. They'll do this in a relatively private place with hundreds of people, and all three of them will be there. They say an enchantment, and at midnight, the souls leave the bodies so the sisters can consume them. I'm guessing two of the sisters are distracting us, while the third is going to the chosen location. Once the time comes, all three sisters will gather there and then they'll take the souls."
"Wonderful. How long do we have?" Shizuru asked, keeping her eyes on the road. Koenma checked the clock.
"About an hour and a half. The important part is to know where they're doing the ritual. If we can figure that out, we can stop them." Kurama nodded determinedly. "So, Yusuke, you're following Nebula. Where do you think you're going?" Koenma asked.
"We're heading west; I think she's going to the graveyard," Keiko said quietly.
"Oh, great!" Kuwabara moaned. "Why did I let you talk me into letting Yukina go without me?" Everyone sweat-dropped.
"I'll be fine, Kazuma," Yukina smiled into the mirror. He was not convinced.
"As far as we know, Nebula's going to the graveyard, Dementia's going to some abandoned warehouses . . . and Belladonna is on a country road. There's got to be something out he–oh no." Koenma abruptly stopped speaking, and Yusuke grabbed the mirror, yelling into it.
"What? What's happening?" he shouted, and Koenma winced at the loudness of his voice.
"She's gone into a corn maze. And she's walking, not flying," Koenma elaborated.
Kuwabara frowned. "Corn maze? You mean that field of corn that the owners chop into a maze, every year in a different shape?" Kuwabara asked, and now it was Yusuke's turn to roll his eyes.
"Duh, hence the name 'corn maze.' Are you following her in?" Yusuke asked, driving with one hand, which was making Keiko nervous.
"I think so. We're parking now–"
Both Keiko and Shizuru's mirrors emitted a long beep, and then were silent. "What was that?" Keiko asked, and Shizuru answered, grateful someone was still on the line.
"They were cut off, either because of their location or because they hung up."
Yusuke grit his teeth. "Stupid connection. We'll have to wait for them to call back."
Unfortunately, it was the connection, and not intentional. Botan's mirror beeped once, and then read 'No Service Available.' She growled, and shoved the mirror in her pocket. The three of them walked to the edge of the corn maze, where there was a booth to pay and a sign with the rules on it, before a little entrance in. "'No running, no cutting through the corn, no throwing corn, no cursing...' The list goes on. Shall we wait in line, Koenma?" Kurama asked, and Koenma shook his head.
"Let's go this way," he muttered, and the three of them went back into the parking lot and looked around before stepping over the small fence that blocked them from the corn maze (though they had to go through a few feet of corn first). The three of them placed their arms in front of their faces and pushed through the corn, making sure that no one saw them. "Can you sense her?" Koenma asked, and Kurama nodded once they had gotten onto a path.
"She's about in the center of the field. To avoid being thrown out, we'll have to walk, but I can lead us through." Kurama began walking with Botan and Koenma on either side, and made a left, the demon girl's navy blue energy drawing him.
Meanwhile, Yusuke had taken another left, and they were only a mile or so away from the graveyard. Nebula was far ahead, almost there already. She was a green and yellow dot in the night sky. "When we get there, we might have to get off the mirror as well," Keiko told Yukina, who agreed.
"We're still not sure where Dementia is going . . . there is nothing in this direction but those warehouses," she continued. Yusuke grimaced.
"Well, they have to have hundreds of people, right? And they have to be alive, so we can assume they're not doing the ritual at the graveyard. And probably not at the corn maze, either, so it's most likely your location that's going to have a ton of people."
"Yes, that makes sense. Maybe it's a party? We are almost alone on the road," Yukina answered.
"So are we–"
"Urameshi! Watch out!" There was screaming, the squeal of brakes, and then that ominously long beep.
Shizuru glanced at Yukina, who hung up the mirror and called Keiko once again. No answer. "It sounded like they had a wreck . . ." Shizuru mumbled aloud.
"I hope Kazuma is okay," Yukina frowned in worry.
"They're probably fine. We'll wait for them to call us back."
The three friends were, indeed, fine, though this is hardly the word they would have used. While Yusuke had been on the mirror, a truck driver that Nebula had momentarily distracted swerved into his lane. Yusuke swerved onto the dirt road to avoid the truck. He missed the truck (though the left of the car was slightly dented in–it was lucky Keiko had been on the right side of the car, or her arm and leg might have been pinched off–and scratched) but crashed into a metal gate that was between the road and an orchard. Yusuke slammed on the brakes and the car spun around, heading toward a telephone pole. As it spun, Kuwabara and Keiko opened their doors and rolled out onto the dirt, the car whirling past them. Yusuke dove out of the car and over the metal fence, while the car sped toward the telephone pole, and crashed. The front half of it caught on fire, and it began to smoke. Kuwabara and Keiko looked up from their places on the ground to see Yusuke behind the metal fence and calling to them.
"Hurry, it's going to explode if the flames reach the gas tank!" They scrambled to their feet, scraping their knees and hands on the rocks and dirt. Both of them took running jumps and dove over the fence, into the orchard. Yusuke began running, past the car, and parallel to the road. "We've got to get to the graveyard! She'll be waiting there!"
The three of them darted in between the trees, which were dead and unrecognizable in type by this time of year. As they got halfway to the graveyard, the car exploded, sending the three of them sprawling forward into the tall grass. They lay there for a while, until they heard sirens, and stood up to run again. "The car's registered to the guy I bought it from; I haven't finished the paper work yet," Yusuke grinned, happy he had not given the man he bought his car from his name or address. The three of them ran, until they had to jump an ivy-covered iron fence into the graveyard. It was completely dark there, with lush green grass and gray stone grave markers.
"Wow, it's dead silent in here," Kuwabara grinned.
Shizuru finally reached the warehouses, and it was immediately evident that this was, in fact, where the ritual would be taking place. In front of the seventh warehouse were hundreds of cars parked horizontally. The three friends parked their car and stood outside the warehouse, which had one large door that was closed and one average-sized that was open with a large man in front of it. They looked at each other, and walked to the smaller door. "Password," grunted the large man. Hiei used his Jagan and read the human's mind, revealing the password to be 'walrus.'
"Walrus," he said, and the large man gave them entry. Inside, the noise was monstrous, and unlike the outside air, which was chilly, this air was warm. There were hundreds of people in the warehouse, which was basically devoid of furniture except for a DJ station at the very back, and a catwalk made of metal hanging from the ceiling. No one was on the catwalk, but it was the perfect place to say a spell before you took the souls of everyone in the room . . .
The music playing was techno, and from the ceiling hung several black lights and a disco ball. The people wore costumes, some with masks, and were paying them no attention. The energy in the room was high, but it caused Hiei to feel suffocated. He and the girls glanced at each other. "Shall we split up?" Shizuru offered, and Hiei nodded.
"Yukina and I will look for Dementia in the crowd," Shizuru stated, while Hiei looked up to the catwalk.
"I'll be there, searching," he said, and flitted up to the catwalk, which had a guardrail on both sides. His eyes began scanning the crowd as Yukina and Shizuru mingled in with the dancing people.
"Damn, I can't find my mirror!" Botan actually swore, an illustration of the frustration of the situation. Koenma glanced back at her.
"You're sure we're heading the right way?" Koenma asked, as Kurama took yet another left.
"I am following her energy . . ." he said, but frowned. Their path had seemed ridiculously full of turns . . . he was sure the maze shouldn't be this confusing. And as they made their next right, a glinting object blinked at him from the dirt. Botan's mirror lay fresh on the ground, and Kurama bent to pick it up, angry. He handed the mirror to Botan, who sighed with Koenma.
"She's been feeding me her energy to get us confused and make us go in circles." Kurama wanted to kick himself for being so stupid.
"Can you follow her scent?" Koenma asked, as Kurama pondered their predicament.
"I can try, but I only have an idea of how it might smell. Anyway, the corn is overpowering my senses." They looked about in the darkness and it was obvious that the scent of the crop surrounded them.
"Can you fly with your oar?" Koenma turned to Botan, and she shook her head.
"Humans aren't accustomed to seeing flying cloaked figures, even on Halloween," she said wisely, then growled. "This is ridiculous! Who says we can't run?" she shouted, and took off running. Koenma and Kurama sweat-dropped, but followed.
"If anyone says anything, I'll blast them!" Botan yelled, and behind her, the other two shrugged.
"Anyone who is hit will believe it was a dream or hallucination, I suppose." Kurama mused, while Koenma grinned.
"How do you propose we find her, then?" Koenma asked Botan, who spoke to him over her shoulder.
"We'll know when we're close; Kurama will smell her! If we just keep running, we'll get there eventually!" And that was a very wise notion, indeed.
Yusuke stood and stretched, his muscles slightly tight from the running and jumping. Nebula was not visible so far, and so they felt relatively at peace for the moment. Kuwabara and Keiko followed suit, and the three began walking between the graves. As they walked behind a rather large one, a green blast of light smashed into a small tombstone next to them. "Holy shit!" screamed Yusuke, and he pushed Keiko on the ground while he and Kuwabara plastered themselves against the large grave marker, which was a marble statue of a woman in a robe.
"I know you're behind her, boys. Come out slowly and you'll die fast," Nebula grinned, hovering in the air several feet away from the statue. Yusuke grimaced as Keiko sat up and laid her back against the stone.
"W-what do we do?" she asked, worried. Yusuke gave her a glance before searching the sky for Nebula.
"You're going to stay the hell out of the way, for one. Kuwabara and I are going to take her down. Don't worry, she won't die, but she won't hurt you," he grinned. Keiko smiled nervously.
Nebula landed on the ground, frowning. "Hurry up. I'm getting bored," she muttered. Kuwabara rolled from behind the statue and behind a smaller tombstone. As he did, Nebula sent a green blast at him, which missed but caught the grass on fire. The wind put it out quickly, however, and Nebula took a few steps forward toward her prey. "Hide and seek, is it? Very well then. I'll count to three." Yusuke and Keiko dove behind the next grave over as Nebula blasted the statue to pieces. Kuwabara then brought out his Spirit Sword and took a running jump at Nebula. She tossed three blasts at him, all three of which he hit away as if playing baseball. Meanwhile, Keiko dashed between the graves to get to the back fence. While Kuwabara was running at her, Nebula caught sight of this and blasted Keiko, though she missed, and the blast hit the ground. However, it threw Keiko into the air, and she slammed into the wall. Yusuke ran to her, while Kuwabara charged Nebula. She formed her own Spirit Sword, and caught his with hers.
"You fool," she muttered, and threw him backwards. Nebula began walking toward Kuwabara, and he pointed his sword at her.
"Let's go," he muttered, and the two of them began engaging in a deadly sword fight, their energies clashing and sparking at every hit and block.
Keiko was basically unharmed, so Yusuke allowed her to step on his hands, and he threw her over the fence. She landed softly in the dirt, on the side of the road. "Keep hidden," Yusuke whispered, and she ran to the side of the graveyard so that passing cars could not see her.
"Be careful!" she muttered, and Yusuke nodded, before turning around and sending a Spirit Gun blast at Nebula and Kuwabara. The latter saw it coming and dove behind a tombstone, but they caught Nebula off-guard. They hit her and she flew into the air, landing in a tree. She grimaced and lost her Spirit Sword.
Yusuke came running as Kuwabara came out from behind the gravestone, but by then Nebula had recovered. She dived from the tree into the air, where she began to float, and took off flying. "Hey! Come back here!" Yusuke screamed, and Nebula cursed him over her shoulder as she headed to the warehouses.
"Come on!" Yusuke shouted to Kuwabara, and the two of them ran at the back fence before vaulting over it. They called for Keiko, and the three friends began running down the road. "If someone drives by, we'll ask for a ride," Yusuke said, running as fast as he could. Keiko nodded.
"We know where she's going?" Kuwabara asked, looking at Yusuke. He nodded while Keiko spoke up.
"The warehouses! We'll call Yukina and—" Keiko stopped speaking and running, and gasped. Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped and whirled around.
"What?" Yusuke spat. Keiko's hands were over her mouth, which she stretched into an O.
"I left the mirror in the car," she whispered. Yusuke groaned.
"We'll have to use the first phone we come to . . ." And the friends ran on. The first phone the friends came to was a pay phone by the side of the road not too far from the cemetery. Out-of-the-way pay phones like this were rare, but luckily, this one worked, and Kuwabara and Keiko had enough change. Keiko dialed the number for Spirit World Information, which Yusuke had memorized.
"Spirit World Information."
"I need to connect to a communication mirror."
"Please hold."
The elevator music that came blasting into Keiko's ear was probably Koenma's idea of a spooky joke, but she was hardly amused. After a few minutes, the operator picked back up. "Who is the owner of the communication mirror that you are seeking?"
"Genkai," Keiko answered, hoping that Genkai had registered her ownership.
The operator paused, and then said, "Stay on this line, but dial 667-422. That should connect you."
Keiko did as she was told, and Shizuru answered her call by nearly screaming over the crowd. "Hello? Who's this?" she shouted, discouraged by the lack of a view of whomever was calling.
Keiko screamed back. "SHIZURU! THE SISTERS ARE TAKING SOULS AT THE WAREHOUSES!"
Shizuru crept into a quiet-ish corner and yelled to Keiko, at the stares of onlookers. "Okay, Dementia is here already! We'll try and take her down and the other two as well, if they come!" Keiko could just hear Shizuru over the noise. "
We are a couple miles from you, and we haven't heard from Botan! Just take out who you can and call Botan when you can!"
Shizuru agreed, yelling, "THE PASSWORD IS 'WALRUS'", and the girls hung up. Keiko turned from the phone to see Yusuke and Kuwabara staring lightly at her, because she had been screaming into the quiet night air.
"What?" she asked, and they continued running.
Less than half a mile down the road, a black mustang zoomed up from behind the three friends. The headlights cast their shadows on the pavement, and they whirled to see who was behind them. "Hey, you guys want a lift?" A young man, no older than they, leaned out the window. A girl was in the front seat with him, but the back was empty.
"Sure." Yusuke walked to the car first and hopped in the back, followed by Keiko, then Kuwabara.
"Where are you going?" asked the boy, who Kuwabara recognized from school.
"A rave down at the warehouses on road 68?" Yusuke hoped his directions were accurate; luckily, the man reassured him.
"We're going there too! It's supposed to be really crazy. A Halloween rave, and all that. What are you supposed to be, anyway?" He looked at Kuwabara through the rear-view mirror.
"Hans Solo!" the boy muttered, and glared at Yusuke and Keiko, who were giggling.
The drive took them a third of the time it would have walking, and they parked swiftly at the warehouses. "Thanks for the ride, man!" Yusuke called as they ran toward the bouncer.
"Walrus," Keiko breathed, and the man let them in. A mass of whirling color, light, and sound instantly surrounded them. It took a few seconds before they were able to focus their minds exactly, and search for the others. In fact, Yukina and Shizuru found them first.
"Are Botan and the boys here yet?" asked Kuwabara. Yukina shook her head.
"But we just spoke to them, they're on their way."
"And the sisters?"
"Dementia was here the last we knew; Hiei's searching for her," Shizuru gestured to Hiei standing on the catwalk, his eyes moving quickly across the room. "Botan said that Belladonna had escaped and was coming here, the last they knew."
"Ditto for Nebula," Yusuke said, scanning the crowd. "When they get here, we'll know."
"What time is it?" Kuwabara asked. Keiko checked.
"It's half an hour until midnight. Koenma said the chant takes fifteen minutes at most . . ."
"So we have fifteen minutes to incapacitate them?"
"Essentially, yes," Kurama answered from behind. "Hiei?" he asked, and Yusuke pointed to the catwalk.
"Trying to find them? While he does, we need a plan." Koenma led the group to a semi-secluded corner and they stood in a circle.
"It's obvious that they will use the catwalk, so it's good our lookout is there. He can prevent them from it. The sisters will chant among themselves; it generally takes ten minutes to complete. Then, they begin taking souls–the weakest first, and once it starts, it can only stop if the sisters are killed."
"The prime time to stop them is during the chant. They will be together, and focusing, and unable to fight back. We just have to be careful and sure that they will use the catwalk, otherwise they could complete the chant right out from under our noses," Kurama pointed out. While the friends talked on the ground, Hiei was searching the crowd. And while he was preoccupied, Nebula and Belladonna met their sister Dementia directly under the catwalk. Dementia silently pointed to the above walk, and she and her sisters scaled the ladder on the wall to climb up. As they did, Yusuke noticed the three moving shapes and pointed to them. The others gasped, and their eyes followed the ladder up to Hiei, who stood unknowingly on the catwalk. Yusuke motioned to Hiei, who instantly caught the gesture and unsheathed his sword. Turning, he saw that the three sisters were grinning at him, standing together in a formidable band.
"You're in the way," said Dementia, and she released a blast of red energy at him. He dodged by jumping into the air and flying at them with his sword, but unfortunately, before he could dodge again Belladonna shot a blue energy blast at him, which hit. He fell off the catwalk and luckily landed on his feet in the crowd, which quickly swallowed him as dancers threw their heads about and jumped up and down.
"We'll look for him, you go after them!" Shizuru yelled, pulling Keiko, Botan, and Yukina along with her in the direction that Hiei had fallen in. The others turned to the catwalk and began to make their way toward the ladder. The three sisters were standing in a circle, palms together. They were all emanating brilliant, vibrant hues of their energies (which matched their clothing.) As the boys neared, they started to hear the chanting, which sounded like it was probably Latin.
"Vox of obscurum, letalis phasmatis orior oriri ortus." [1]
Kurama scaled the ladder first, as the initial wave of energy began to pour toward the crowd. Those humans who were weak-willed and had little sense of self began to feel faint and had to escape to the outer regions of the crowd, their chests heaving. Hiei got up and began shoving past people to get back to the ladder; he crashed into Shizuru on the way. "Are you all right?" she screamed above the noise. He nodded impatiently and began heading forward again. She and the girls trailed behind, anxious. As they finally left the outer core of the crowd, Hiei turned to them.
"Hide within the crowd. Do not attempt to fight them," he advised, and then flitted onto the catwalk where a mighty battle was taking place. Shizuru turned to the other girls and nodded.
"You heard the man. Move out."
Yusuke had thought that fighting Nebula in the graveyard was a challenge; he was wrong. Here, there was nothing to hide behind, save his friends, and he only had two feet to either side to dodge with. Their attack did manage to distract the sisters from their chanting for a few seconds. Dementia loosed a red blast and hit Kuwabara in the chest, sending him flying (though not off the catwalk.) Kurama barely managed to dodge a green flash of light, but his rose whip did not connect with his target. Running out of options, Yusuke fired a Spirit Gun blast at them, hoping to hit one or all of the sisters. They deflected his blast with a flick of the wrist. The sisters turned back toward each other, raising their hands and resuming the creepy chanting.
"Incendia quod glacies, silicis quod unda, permissum nos nutritor iterum." [2]
Yusuke set loose another blast, and they treated this one much as the first, flying out of the room through the roof. Kurama attempted to tie the sisters together with his rose whip, but utterly failed. Now blasts of white came from the sisters, who were beginning to glow white, as well. Yusuke looked out at the crowd and saw that the weaker humans' souls were exiting their bodies, leaving shells behind. The humans who noticed this began to panic, and many of them turned to the door, only to see the large bouncer who, apparently, was really a demon. He had grown two feet taller and wider, and had bright orange skin. The sight of him sent the crowd reeling backward; the demon had them trapped. It was at this point in the chant that Hiei broke through the sisters' defenses by doing something none of the others had thought of–he attacked without using his energy. His sword sliced through Belladonna, sending her flying, blood spattering all over her sisters.
"You devil! I'll kill you for that!" Nebula screamed, and Dementia slapped her sister.
"Sister, remember the chant! We will kill the detectives once we have absorbed these humans' souls." They resumed their Latin chanting, basically ignoring the body of Belladonna lying nearby. A white blast flew and hit Kuwabara in the chest, sending him falling back again. Kurama barely dodged a white burst before his enemy hit him with another one. Hiei's slash had sent him far, and left him vulnerable to a white blast as well. Yusuke had just seconds to come up with a plan, and only himself to execute it. Hiei's attack, he realized, had not used energy. It made sense that another non-spiritual attack would work again—most importantly, he needed to do something before they hit him. The others were stirring, so it wasn't fatal, but it would put him out of commission before he could do the same to them. Winding up and moving aside so that a white blast wouldn't hit him, he dove forward and punched Nebula in the face. She may have been a powerful sorceress, but she couldn't really take a hit. She fell off the catwalk backwards, landing in the crowd. After a moment, Yusuke faced Dementia, who had closed her eyes.
"You may have incapacitated my sisters, detective, but look around you." She still retained the white glow, and he realized that they had completed the chant before he'd knocked out Nebula. Most of the normal humans around them (not including the girls, thanks to Botan's shielding them) were collapsing in rapid succession, souls departing so that Dementia could absorb them. A white blast flew and hit Yusuke in the chest–now they were all out for the count. Dementia's laughter lived up to her name as they began to die. He felt his soul departing, and tried to kick out against her, to no avail. Botan was no longer able to shield the others, as Dementia took her soul, too. Most of the humans were gone, and Shizuru began to fall to her knees when she slipped her hand in her pocket. Hey . . . that might just work . . .
She pulled the heavy crystal ball from her pocket just as Keiko's eyes clouded over and her soul floated to Dementia's massive aura. With all of her strength, Shizuru lobbed the crystal ball as hard as she could in Dementia's direction. And then Shizuru fainted, too. The crystal ball flew over the crowd, making a perfect arch to Dementia's head. It hit her skull above her occipital lobe, crushing in her skull and sending her falling forward. Her white aura diminished almost instantly, and the souls that she had consumed since gaining her power slowly migrated back to their initial bodies. It was a long minute before Yusuke sat up, rubbing his throbbing head.
"Everyone okay?" he asked, looking around. The ravers were slowly standing, some of them throwing up or passing out again from the effort. Shizuru woke and watched with a smile as Keiko's eyes filled back up with life.
"What happened?" Kurama asked, standing up and looking around. He noticed the crystal ball, covered in blood, and smiled down at Shizuru. "A non-spiritual, but fatal, attack. Bravo."
"That's the power of divination," she grinned.
Dementia was dead, and so turned out to be the other two. Hiei's sword attack had slashed through several of Belladonna's main arteries, and the fall from the catwalk had broken Nebula's neck. The loose ends were nicely wrapped up when Hiei, who was feeling slightly inadequate since Shizuru had taken down the main sorceress, dispatched the big orange "bouncer." The ravers recovered extremely quickly, being the resilient sort, and resumed the party. Yusuke and his friends convened outside the warehouse, tired, but feeling accomplished.
"Another Halloween wasted," Kuwabara lamented. Yusuke grinned broadly.
"Next year we're doing a haunted house."
terminus
[1] "Cry of darkness, mortal spirits rise."
[2] "Fire and ice, stone and water, allow us to rise again." These are very rough translations both ways, but Latin is an EXTREMELY difficult language, so forgive me please.