This idea was requested to me by Shizuka Taiyou, and not gonna lie it sounds pretty cool. Let's just hope that I can do it justice. If you know me from Death Suit, you know that this is my second story to be posted. I've made a lot of improvements since last year and I have a lot in store. But for now, this is Rendered Down.
OAO… Kid's POV
I pulled Beelzebub to a halt as we arrived at our destination. We were a few miles east of Death City, in a rather sketchy neighborhood. The streets were dimly lit by lamps and the windows of surrounding stores. Everything else was covered in bleak darkness, like the town itself knew what was about to go down.
Our targets were in the lone warehouse on a dead end street, the ground covered in trash and dead grass. The smell of cigars couldn't help but waft into my nostrils; every window was broken. Not only did these crooks hold such a disgusting hideout— with no symmetry whatsoever— they didn't even try to cover it up. Absolutely wretched.
"They're going to pay for their atrocities," I said.
Anyhow, it's probably best if I explain. My father sent me here with Liz and Patty after a pair of witches. Recently, humans around the area had been disappearing, and we had reason to believe that they were the cause. There was only one witness able to catch one of them in the act. He followed the witch and recorded her killing a person and stashing the soul in vault with others. The mission is to find out what they're planning, stop them, and safeguard the human souls.
"The question now is how do we get in?" I asked aloud.
"I think this place used to be a winery years ago," Liz said. "Maybe there's a cellar door."
"Possibly, let's check around back." We searched the perimeter and eventually found a set of stairs leading to an entrance. "Bingo." Liz and Patty transformed into pistols and I caught them in the upside down position.
I slowly opened the door and scanned for signs of life. It appeared that the basement hadn't been touched since the winery closed years ago. But I could sense the dead human souls and the unluckily lively witch ones. And I heard their cackling above, along with the scream of another victim.
I dashed past the shelves of barrels to the other side of the room and up the stairs. They're not getting away with killing another person, I thought. Not on my watch. As I approached the door I braced myself for whatever I would see on the other side. I slammed it open and met with… nothing. The witches and human were nowhere to be seen.
"Where did they go?" Liz took the words right out of my mouth.
"This doesn't make sense, I should feel them," I said. "Even if they had their soul protect on, I would notice that two human souls took their place. But it seems like they've vanished." I figured they must have teleported somehow along with the human soul. What now?
Suddenly, I felt their presence again, and I was almost too slow to dodge as one of them aimed for my head, somersaulting away from the attack. I regained my footing and turned to see my opponents.
It was indeed a pair of witches, but they were hopelessly lacking in symmetry. That made my task a lot easier. They looked young, almost like teenagers. The witch on the left had long black hair held back by a white headband and a ghostlike complexion. Her eyes were gray as if she were blind, though I could see her staring right into my soul. She wore a crazy smile that stretched wide across her face. The white-on-black, ripped-up, exposing top and skirt she wore was in stark contrast to the witch on the right, as well as their other features. The other witch had a long-sleeved black-on-white dress and white hair that covered half of her face. Her visible eye had a black pupil, of which was avoiding my gaze with a look of shyness.
The witch on the left spoke first. "Lookey here, Twixie!" She said, pointing in my direction and laughing while squeezing her partner. "We gotten so popular that Death's son 'imself came to see us! Ain't that just dandy?"
"You know it's Twixess, sister," she whispered, sounding a little more articulate than the other. "And this isn't good at all, it means we've been been caught."
"Shoot, he ain't gon' do nothin'! Ain't 'chu, boy?"
She can't be serious. "You really think I'd let you get away with murdering so many people?" I asked. "Tell me who you are and why you're doing this."
Her smile didn't deteriorate, actually growing even wider. She jabbed a thumb at her chest. "You probably know me as the Witch Lainie, and this here is the Witch Twixie, my kid sister."
"Twixess," the other corrected.
"As for the plan, I can't rightly say," Lainie said. "If I told you, you'd go an' spoil the surprise fer yer pa."
"What does this have to do with my father?"
Lainie put a finger up to her mouth. "Well, now, I can't you go runnin' off and tellin' 'im now, can I? S'pose we'll have to fight, then."
"But, sister, that's dangerous! He's a grim reaper!" Twixess warned.
"What's it to me? He ain't got no magic, just some fancy pistols. And there's two of us against one of 'im. Now get ready!"
She sighed and spun her fingers in the air, summoning purple balls of fire behind her. Lainie followed suit and brought forth her own magic, looking like hot globs of wax. "Say yer prayers, Reaper boy!"
"It's you who should be begging for mercy," I replied.
The wax formed into life-sized dolls, and Twixess placed a flame in their chests. I quickly noticed the reason why as fire shot from their mouths. I quickly evaded their attacks and blasted away with my own. Once I successfully destroyed enough of them that I could see the witches, I dashed past the remainder of the small army and fired at Lainie.
She whizzed out of the way and tossed a glob at me, grazing my shoulder and burning my skin. I let out a little growl and returned with a blast to her abdomen. Lainie staggered backward and fell to the ground, her minions returning to wax.
I was too distracted by her to notice her sister creeping up behind me. In an instant my coat caught fire and I frantically tore it off, turning around to shoot at the ground beneath her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Twixess cried as she leaped away from each attack.
Once again as I thought I had one under my thumb, another sprang back into action. Literally, as Lainie sprang up from where she fell, the wax aimed for my feet and quickly hardened where I stood. "Damn it!"
"You shouldn't use that kind of language, Death Sir!" Twixess said from above, she hanging from the ceiling upside down like a bat and a fiery blade resting in her hands. She was going to cut me down right through the middle. I only had seconds to fall forward as she fell to meet me, freeing my legs instead. Twixess didn't waste any time in recovering, somersaulting over the rubble and effectively slicing my upper leg. Before she could make another move, I jabbed a pistol into her chest and shot her down.
I had to kneel from the incredible pain of the sword. It stung and burned and bled all at once, making me let out a loud groan. "Kid, we need to hold them down somehow and use Soul Resonance!" Liz said.
"Their fighting styles are so different from each other!" I replied. "There's no way to get them together at one time."
"Not unless you somehow manage to get a hit on the younger one," she explained. "The older sister would probably go right for her."
"Good thinking." I spotted Twixess trying to grab her bearings while on her hands and knees. Now's my chance. Aiming for her back, I fired several times and left her sprawling out on the ground, effectively unconscious.
"Twixie!" The second I heard Lainie cry out for her sister, I jumped backwards a few feet away and watched as she shook her limp form in an attempt to wake her up. But she wouldn't be fast enough.
"Let's go, Soul Resonance!" We said simultaneously. I could feel Liz and Patty passing their wavelengths through my body, and I in turn sent them my own, reaper wavelength. The three of our powers combined sent heat to my core. A soothing feeling that just never felt right with only one partner. The black needles slowly rose from my shoulders and heavy cannons formed around my arms, making me crouch.
"Resonance stable," Liz said. "Noise: two point seven percent."
"Black needles are fully charged with soul wavelength," said Patty.
"Feedback ready in five seconds." As they began the countdown, I heard Lainie scream my name. Instantaneously, she began running towards me, no doubt to avenge her sibling. "Ready to fire," Patty said nonchalantly.
I aimed at them. "Death Cannon," and boom, colorful beams light blasted, smoke and the smell of cooked flesh filling the air. Liz and Patty changed back into pistols and I stood upright once more, one leg still sore from the cut.
"Did we get 'em?" Patty asked.
"One of them is definitely dead," I replied, "but I'm not sure who. It doesn't matter though, with that blast, she's sure to be one move awa—" I was cut short when the lights went out. I heard doors slam and objects crash to the floor. The ground beneath me shook.
"What's going on?" Liz yelled.
"I don't know!" The chaos and tremors grew greater and greater. Suddenly I felt Liz and Patty whizzed out of my hands. They started screaming. "Liz! Patty! Where are you!?" I ran blindly in the direction I heard them, arms outstretched trying to feel them out.
"Kid, watch out!" I stopped just as my body seemed to take on a life of it's own and lifting off the ground slowly. I couldn't move. I slammed against something hard, and I felt blood trickle from my nose. Then I hit it again even harder. Whatever force had a hold of me kept shoving me against this wall until I was a bloody mess. Some of my ribs were definitely broken.
"It's almost funny," I heard a voice say. It sounded like Twixess. "I thought you would have pleaded for me to stop by now."
I let out a low growl, wishing I could set release myself and make her pay for the lives she and her sister cost. For taking my partners. But I was still pinned down.
"Where are my weapons!?" I yelled. "If you've hurt them, so help me—" I was flung at the wall once again, hurting enough to make me yelp.
"You killed my sister… and you think that you are in the position to be threatening me?" I quickly felt a hand touch my lower back, and saw flames lighting up the darkness in the corner of my eye. "It's not your friends you should be worried about. It's you."
There was no chance to brace myself when my lower back was set ablaze. I couldn't hold back the screaming as I was being burned alive. Only after a few minutes, my vision started to blur and I could barely hear Liz and Patty over the sound of my own voice. Just as before, everything faded to black, and my legs went slack underneath me.
OAO… Later
Liz… Patty… where are you?
I'm dreaming that I'm underwater, and the surface is just above me. The sun is shining and it's cold in the water. I want to get out. I manage to move my arms a little, but the sleepiness is weighing them down. It doesn't matter, I'll just use my legs. My legs don't move. Not an inch. They're completely numb. At first, I was confused, then horrified. I was falling deeper and faster in the water. My fear and the abyss were choking me to death.
I can't die yet! Liz and Patty are in danger! Liz! Pa—
Coughing up blood as I woke up, I realized my head was cradled in Liz's lap. The both of them were looking at my face intently and worriedly. We were still in the warehouse. "Kid," Patty whimpered.
"It's alright, we're here now," Liz said, stroking my hair gently. "You were calling for us in your sleep. Some agents from the academy will be here to get us soon."
"Liz," I muttered.
"What is it?"
I slowly clenched the fabric of my pants, hot tears flowed from my eyes. "Why can't I feel my legs?" I cried softly.
Now if you would kindly leave some reviews for me, that would be wonderful. They make me happy (Death knows they'll probably make Kid feel better, too. I'm so sorry, baby!). Later!