Teaser
Firyal fell to her knees, exhausted from fighting, and from being in pain.
"Fi what's wrong?" Asked Max worriedly with a hint of exhaustion. In the year that Firyal had spent with Maka and her friends, she had grown close with her weapon partners for the first time in the two years they had known each other before. Now was so much different than before. Before they could barely stand to be close to each other, but now they were like siblings, but maybe closer.
The kishin they had been fighting charged its attack. It looked like it was going to be something like a giant cannon ball. Fitting since the kishin looked like a giant caterpillar made of marbles. If they hadn't been having such a hard time fighting it, then Black star might have been laughing at it, and she would have said something like "What a creative attack for a caterpillar."
Her body was damaged…probably beyond repair by now…the pain and blood loss from her wounds made it impossible to stand let alone run now. Her life had always been worthless, and it still is, but at least there was one thing left she could do to make her life seem not so worthless to other people.
A small smile crept onto her face. She knew in her heart she wasn't going to make it. She looked down at the twin katana swords she held. She could still save them. She couldn't run, but they could whether they wanted to or not.
"I'm fine Max. We'll be okay, don't worry." She lied. Neither of her partners could tell she was lying; she was too good for that. She promised she would never lie to him again, but she just broke it. This time for sure, would be the last time though.
She drew her arms in, and threw both of them across the clearing, just as the kishin's attack was fully charged, and was thrown straight at her. At least she had saved her only family from dying, and gave her friends an opening.
Friends…family…months ago those words were meaningless, and things she hated to think about. Thinking of the words now made her smile grow. She was miserable before, but then she found happiness.
Maka…that girl had some ability that no one else had. She had drawn her from the dark hole she had enclosed herself in. She made her dark world bright, and for once worth living. She had something no one else she knew had. She probably didn't even know herself. What Maka had was never ending kindness and forgiveness.
"What are you doing?" Kid yelled from nearby. Her eyes widened in shock from how close the voice was to her. Last time she checked everyone was on the other side of the clearing fighting off the witch.
"Kid!" She heard Liz shout. Moments later a body crashed into hers. From the black clothes she could tell it was Kid. Why? Why would anyone save her? Let alone a reaper she left for dead a year ago.
One year ago
Firyal stood by the balcony, looking out at the city. This city wasn't as beautiful as others but it had its own beauty. The houses were built in a unique way to accommodate for the cold nights and occasional sandstorms, and the academy had its own special uniqueness that no other building had.
"Hey," Max said from behind her. He must have just come from inside the academy. Classes weren't out yet so that means someone important needed me, or Max just got dumber and thought talking would earn him something other than a slap across the face. "Lord Death wants to see us." He said annoyed. "When I say us, I mean all of us, including you." He said after he saw she wasn't moving from her spot by the balcony.
"Really? No shit I already knew that dumbass." She responded. They might be partners but that didn't mean they had to like each other. She could change her wavelength to match his and his twin brother's no matter what. So for her, she didn't have to like her weapon partners.
"Well then let's go. Kim's already been there for half an hour waiting for you, since you like to be the difficult one. Why again can't you come to class like a normal person for once? That would make finding you a lot quicker." He said already starting to walk away. She sighed and followed him. She broke into a jog and ran ahead of him to remind him who was really in charge. She was the leader and if he wanted to be a better weapon he had to listen to her for now.
Firyal
"Hiya, Hiya how's it hanging?" Lord Death asked as happy as ever, when the three of us walked in. I noticed there was more than just Kim standing here. There was also a girl who was known as Maka and her partner Soul. There was also the ever annoying Black Star and his gentle partner Tsubaki.
Every time Firyal went to class, they were always doing something like arguing or goofing around. All four of them were a combined reason not to come to class; also Max and Kim, and lastly because it was boring as hell.
"Good Morning Lord Death. What is it you need?" I asked pretending to be all nice, totally opposite of my real self. I swear, I have trust issues, I'm mean, I'm selfish, and I'm possessive at times, but being nice was something mandatory if I wanted to kill Death one day.
"Yes some information has turned up on a witch known as Tigurs. She has been missing and thought to be dead for almost a thousand years now and for some reason she has shown up. Everyone thought she was dead, but it seems she was just hiding away." He said.
"What information do you have to support that it's really her, and not some copy-cat?" I asked. Tigurs was said to be dead and to be one of the strongest witches in all history…even stronger than Death. As much as she hated the reapers she didn't need the head one dead before she was strong enough to kill him herself.
"Trade suddenly stopped from the small town of Tortuna. Investigators reported seeing tiger like creatures patrolling the inside of the city. They haven't left the walls of the city thankfully, but it's only a matter of time. A witch's soul has also been sensed, so we think it might be her." He said. "I would like all of you to search the city, and see if this really is the witch Tigurs or as Firyal, suggested a copy-cat witch." He said.
Death couldn't be going on just that. There has to be something else that tipped him off that this could be her. He wouldn't need all of us to check out a small town like Tortuna. Unless he knew about the tunnels, then maybe, but that was a guarded secret among the town folks. He couldn't know about them, so what?
"Is that all?" I asked innocently. Fishing for information wouldn't get me anywhere with him. It never has. Making sure he hadn't forgotten something was always beneficial though.
"If it is her, don't confront her. Come back as soon as you have something. " He said staring at me. I studied witches from the old times when Death was still…not friendly. It was fascination I had. No doubt Death suspected me of something. Too bad I wasn't planning on working with a witch anytime soon. Maybe that's why the rest of them were here. He didn't trust me. It Made sense since I left his son for dead two months ago. That might not have been the smartest choice of my life, but it was satisficing for a time.
"Why are we here?" Soul asked. By 'we' he must mean him and his group of friends.
"All of you will be working together on this." He said. Really? It wasn't that hard for me to figure out, but really? We didn't need this many people. The less people, the better. It doesn't work the other way around.
"I could do this all by myself Lord Death. Why do I have to-" Black Star started. He was interrupted by me slapping him on the back of his head.
"Thank you Lord Death. I know where the town is, and all of us will prepare for departure right away." She said to Death respectively. "All of you, please meet me by the North Gate as soon as you are ready." I said to the others and walked out before Black Star could say anything stupid to me. To me it felt like his voice repelled all intelligent thought, and it gave me a head ach to try and figure out how he even got into this academy.
My apartment was on the other side of town, opposite of the gate. Unlike the others though my bag was already packed, so all I had to do was retrieve it. By the time I get to the gate whoever was there would go on the mission and whoever was not, wouldn't.
An hour later
"Where the hell is she? She told us to meet her here so where is she?" Black Star asked looking at the twin boys Max and Kim. The twins looked almost nothing alike except for their faces. Max was tall, black hair, dark eyes, and pale. Kim shared the pale skin and dark eyes but he was shorter than his twin and had blond hair instead of black.
"Why are you looking at us when you say that?" Max asked not looking up from the card game he was playing with his twin brother.
"It's not like were her keepers or anything." Kim said. He put down a card. "Your turn."
"How can you two just sit there and play cards when your weapons master is late?" Black Star yelled after a few minutes, huffing and puffing from pent up anger.
"Calm down Black Star." Soul said leaning against the wall coolly.
"He is right though. She should be here by now." Maka said slightly annoyed and impatient to get moving.
"Will you all stop already?" Max asked.
"Playing cards is kind of hard with all your yelling Black Star." Kim finished.
"Firyal's apartment is on the other side of the city by the South Gate. Going from the school to her apartment then back to here would take at least an hour." Max said. "I win." He said putting down his last card.
"Yeah, you beat me." Kim said bored, and threw the rest of his cards down. Max picked the pile up and began to reshuffle the deck.
"Then how did you make it here so fast?" Soul asked. The two boys had gotten here before anyone else. If they lived on the other side of town then how they get here with their bags before him or Maka who live 5 minutes away.
"Our apartment is right there." Kim said pointing to the middle floor of the building right behind them.
"We live separate. It's too difficult to live with three people." Max explained.
"Why so far apart though?" Tsubaki asked confused.
"This was the only other available place." Kim responded. Soul could tell that both of them were lying. No one else seemed to notice it though. He would keep it to himself and ask them about it later. There must be an underling reason.
"Reason you both are sitting on the ground?" Firyal asked as she walked up the street toward them.
"Because we got bored," Max said cleaning up all the cards.
"We're going to have to walk to the city since Lord Death doesn't have any vehicles to spare. Apparently there are more kishin than normal around the world. Keep up with me. If you don't, you'll fall behind and freeze when night comes." She said walking right past them into the dessert. The others followed while the boys put their stuff away. By the time they finished they had to run to catch up.
Soul looked at Firyal, who had suddenly made herself leader. She had Tan skin, black hair, braided down her back and secured with a golden ribbon at the end, and almost black brown eyes. She wore a long black dress with a rope lightly tied around her waist. A hood or veil hung down her back. If she put the hood up she would probably look like a nun. Was this girl religious?
He had seen her once or twice, but not very often since she skipped class every single day. She always seemed to dress the same, except her dresses weren't as plain as the one she was wearing now. They always had some kind of deign sewn on the dress.
