A Cursed Existence
Prolog
It is a dark, stormy night in here in Death City and all is still when a single scream shatters the silence.
"Lets go…" I say to Emmer, my friend, and my partner.
"… Do w-we have to?" She asked me.
I just give her a look that says 'you know why we have to go'. She knows she can't argue about the assignment we have and nods. We leave our hiding place and head towards the scream.
When we arrive on a rooftop above the ally where the scream originated from we find a young girl cornered by the thing we were looking for. A shriveled but fat old woman with a nose that is long and teeth made of iron. She is approaching the child with a broom made of silver birch. I need to get the little girl out of their first. That is top priority. I tap Emmer on the shoulder and I put my arm straight our with my hand open palm up, then I quickly make my hand into a fist two times quickly. She nods her head and she starts to transform into her weapon form. I grab her outstretched hand and seconds later I am holding a long staffed hammer. I can feel how nervous Emmer is, I can understand why too. This is a big job, even, for someone trained by Lord Death himself.
"It's going to be okay…" I tell her as I leap off the roof towards the old woman below.
"I am not scared... I-I… have faith in you Mai!" I hear her as I start my decent.
"I know." I whisper as I start to spin to swing at the old woman like one hitting a crochet ball. It's a direct hit into her stomach. The old woman goes flying and goes through the wall with a sickening crunch.
"Did you have to hit her so hard?" I hear Emmer ask as she turns back into her regular self.
"Emmer, you know she's not human. She is a witch." I say calmly while I focus on the hole the witch went through. Since I don't sense the witch's presence I turn around and crouch down in front of the little girl. "Hi, I'm Mai, what's your name?" I ask with a kind smile.
She looks at me and stutters, "L-l-laur-en…."
"Lauren? That's a nice name and how old are you?" I ask as I reach out my hand.
"I'm 6…" She whispers as she takes my hand and smiles.
Just what I though, she the same age s the other victims, "Well lets get you out of here okay?" I say as I start to stand up but suddenly I feel something grab my ankle. I let go of Lauren as I fall forward due to loosing my balance and I am dragged towards where the witch went through the wall.
"Emmer! Beta Maneuver!" I shout as the witch pulls me. Emmer quickly responds by leaping into a front handspring and transforms into a perfectly balanced hammer the length of my arm. She flies right at the joint on the witch's extended arm.
I jump up grab Emmer off the ground and yell at Lauren to stay there as I run through the hole in the wall.
We ended up launching the witch into the wall of an old abandoned antique store, which is not uncommon to see in this area of the city. We sneak around the old furniture and trinkets looking for the witch's presence. That's when I hear a scream. Lauren!
We rush back outside to see that the witch has cornered Lauren again. "Lauren, close your eyes!"
"Emmer, full length," I whisper as I look at Emmer, who returns to full length.
I then to towards the witch and yell, "Baba Yaga! By order of Lord Death, I'm here to put you six feet under!" I then swing my hammer straight down nailing Baba Yaga into the earth. Emmer turns back into her original form and pulls a container off of her belt. She grabs the soul and throws it into the container and locks it.
I walk over to Lauren and pat her head "Its safe now, you can open your eyes," I whisper as she then clings to me and cries. I pick her up and turn to Emmer "Lets get her home, then we will call Lord Death".
Once Laure was safe at home, I pull out a special compact Lord Death gave me. It has a simple black case with an image of Lord Death's mask on the lid. I open the lid and tap my finger on the mirror three times. I wait a minute and see Lord Deaths mask replace my reflection in the mirror. I look past him to see Spirit knocked out on the ground.
"Bad time?" I ask as I look at Spirit.
"No not at all! I just finished speaking with technician Maka and her partner Soul. They just collected their 99th kishin soul." Lord Death explains.
"And Spirit was trying to be fatherly again?" I asked as I look at Emmer for the witch soul container.
"Precisely, so how did the search for the kidnapper go, Mai?" Lord Death asks. I hear Spirit ask, "is that Mai on line?" with a newfound energy. I know what's coming next, it happens every time I call. "Hey Mai! You should become friends with my daughter Maka!" He asks again for the hundredth time. He thinks that since I am technically a shikigami in terms of skill I would be a friend that could protect Maka incase he was unable to. "I see three problems with your request. One, I am not a student at the DWMA. Two, I have that little problem with my whole past. Lastly, I don't really have interest in getting close to people. I don't want to endanger anyone." I tell Spirit then I turn my attention to Lord Death. " Now about the kidnapping. I was correct in my assumptions that it was Baba Yaga."
"So what is an old witch like her doing in Death City?" Lord Death asks out loud.
"I am unsure myself but we were able to successfully collect her soul in a container, I'll put it in the vault back at the house." I tell him while I hold up the canister.
"Very good Mai, you have improved greatly since you first started 8 years ago," Lord Death tells me.
"I had a good teacher. See you later Lord Death." I respond and close the mirror. I turn to Emmer and say, "Let's head home."
Emmer nods with a smile on her face and follows me.