I do not intend to garner any revenues from the use of the Soul Eater universe or its characters
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Parisian Misdirection
Act 2
A Night at the Louvre
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Eruka sighed as she watched her acquaintance sleep. He looked much gentler when he was at rest. Breathing steadily in rhythm with the gentle rise and fall of his chest, one would never suspect he was a convict, or an immortal werewolf, let alone both. He could very easily rip a man to shreds with barely even an afterthought of remorse. It would be just as easy for him to rip her to shreds.
She bit back a nervous croak as she left the threshold of his room. He was a nice enough guy she supposed. At the very least, he never failed to amuse her. Still, it bothered her that she couldn't explain why he'd decided to follow her around. Moreover, that the man himself had failed to state his reasoning as well. That more than anything bothered her. People always had their reasons for doing things. Even Free, though a large portion of those reasons were whims. There was a good chance that the reason he'd followed her was just that: a whim. But what if it was something more sinister? And even if it wasn't, what if, on a whim, he decided to kill her?
As she made her way out of the apartment, she found that a cadre of mice had gathered behind her. She knelt down to their level. "Mizune, I'm going to need your help tonight." At this, the band of mice melded together to form a tall slender woman. Her style of dress was fairly immodest, though from her placid expression she didn't seem to notice. The woman nodded "How may I be of service?"
"Watch Free for me. Okay?"
Mizune cocked her head a little at this request. "What about you Eruka?"
Eruka shook her head "I've already gotten you into enough trouble already. I'll be fine Mizune."
The woman sighed "Be careful Eruka."
"Always."
With that Mizune dispersed, as the many mice that composed her returned to the shadows from whence they came.
---
Re-entry into the Louvre was a simple affair, even with the lights on for custodians and security. Her frog form allowed her to keep out of sight and avoid the more autonomous forms of security. The trick would be getting out undetected. She couldn't carry the artifact in frog form, and even if she could, it would hardly be inconspicuous.
She was going over how to deal with this when she approached the aborigine exhibit. She put thoughts of escape aside as she sensed the soul of a guard inside the exhibit. He didn't appear to be very strong, but that wouldn't matter if he was loud. This in mind she stuck to the shadows, scaling the inner walls of the exhibit in frog form and coming to rest on the ceiling just above the man.
As a frog she was already secreting a hydrating substance to keep her skin moist. It was a simple matter to increase production so that she could drop a more concentrated amount of the liquid on to an unsuspecting victim. It took two drops to get the guard to notice that some form of gunk was caking in his hair. Three drops later the man couldn't stand it anymore. He hurried out of the room to wash out his hair.
Eruka smiled. It would take hours for the guard to rid himself of that particular concoction. Plenty of time for her to take care of business. Summoning one of her larger tadpoles, she returned to her bipedal form and rode the tadpole down to the floor. She then summoned many smaller tadpoles, and set them about the business of finding and cutting the power to the alarm systems that she knew were present. This only took a few moments.
Alarms disabled, she turned her attention to the tribal masks, weaponry, and instruments of varying levels of enchantment that surrounded her. Under normal circumstances, these items would merely cause a chill to the spine of any sensitive human. However, with Asura's release their magical properties were heightened to a level of base sentience. Those who could sense such things, would notice this fact rather quickly.
The artifacts knew a witch when they saw one, all reaching out to her, tickling her senses with their magical energies. Asking, wishing, needing to be used. Though it was a significantly smaller ambience, it reminded her of the witch masses she used to attend. The difference was that all of the attention was on her. She relished this rare moment of adulation, basking in the unabashed desire that emanated from all sides. It was, in a word, intoxicating.
As much as she would've liked to remain in that state of bliss, there was work to be done. Focusing her senses, she searched for the artifact that had caught her attention while she and Free were trundling the Louvre earlier that day. It was only moments before she found it again, as its energies were somewhat distinct. It thirsted, much like the weapon Medusa's kid used, however, it appeared that it literally needed moisture to sustain itself. What really made it stand out was the fact that it very much reminded Eruka of herself. In basest terms it was something that was inextricably mixed with frog.
The artifact in question was inauspicious enough, hiding in a display case amongst many other ceremonial staffs. About one head longer than she was tall, the staff was bone white, adorned with etchings of frogs from every corner of the earth. She recognized most of the species represented, including one very large stylized one that sat at the center, drinking what she could only assume was the ocean into his enormous gullet. Cyclorana platycephala was his species. Molok Tidallik was his name. She remembered stories from human circles about a greedy frog who drank the ocean, only to lose it all in a bout of laughter. Though she was doubtful that Molok had swallowed the entirety of the ocean, she was certain that the parched amphibian had existed at some point. If she had to guess, this staff was carved from one of his back legs.
"I can slake your thirst" she cooed as she reached for the artifact "If you'll let me use you." The artifact replied with a pleasant ripple of acceptance. She could feel the jealousy from the other artifacts in the room as she took hold of Molok.
"If I'm right about you, I may have a means of fighting back now." She noted, running a hand across the staff's etchings. Molok appeared to be eager for her to test its limits, but the frog witch shook her head. "Not yet." With this she sheathed Molok in a javelin holder she'd found in a corner of the room and started about the business of getting out of this museum undetected. It would definitely take some doing, but this was the sort of thing she specialized in.
She began slinking her way down the halls, avoiding both windows and guards without much trouble. It seemed that she was home free. Then the lights cut out. This was no cause for panic of course. The darkness only made it easier to escape. Then the cause of the power outage made itself known: crooks. well-armed crooks. And organized too from the way they moved. Like some sort of special ops team. Eruka frowned. She should've known this wouldn't be so easy.
---
Free awoke to the face of a teenage pink-haired witch, gazing at him through squinting eyes. Sleep dampened surprise registered on his visage as he mumbled "The hell is this?" before closing his eyes and falling back to sleep. The young witch was not amused by this display, promptly delivering a slap to the groggy wolfman's face.
At this Free opened one eye lazily. "Whuz? Wha' you wan'?"
She shook her head in annoyance. "Eruka's in trouble." She accented the statement with a definitive "chi".
Whatever grogginess was in his demeanor left in an instant. He leapt out of the bed toppling the pink haired girl to the floor. Rushing to the balcony he sniffed the air, searching for Eruka's scent. When he found it, the scent was slightly unfamiliar. It was mingled with something else he didn't recognize. He couldn't tell what it was for the undercurrent of gun-smoke that was masking the second scent. "I'm comin' Eruka" Free said as he made to leap off the balcony. He stopped short, turning back to see the pink haired witch brushing herself off. A curious expression formed on his visage.
"Who are you?" He asked incredulously
She replied simply "I'm Mizune."
Free cocked his head slightly at the statement, but, noting that her scent was almost identical to that of the Mizune he saw at Shibusen, decided he'd find out how she turned her age back a few decades some other time. Right now he had a witch to save. In one fluid motion, he turned and leapt off the ledge into the streets below. Mizune heard the surprised cries of several humans through the balcony doorway. She shook her head. That man had no restraint.
---
Leaping off cars, awnings, buses, and whatever else stood in his way, Free blazed across the Louvre district. He knew he wasn't being very inconspicuous, but caution be damned if that meant not getting to Eruka in time. He didn't want to miss any of whatever was going down at the Louvre, and of course he didn't want the frog witch to die. He still owed her after all.
He arrived at the Louvre courtyard with only the light of the crazed moon that hung in the sky to illuminate the five men clad in black body armor who stood watch over the area. Free cracked his knuckles. It was time to go to work.
"Hey," he called out to the five, "You wouldn't a' happened to see a girl with long grey hair wanderin' around here, huh?"
The only reply was a gunshot from one of the five's silenced rifle. It caught Free in the chest, but garnered no reaction from him. "I'll take that as a no" he replied simply as the others quickly brought their guns to bear. He grinned evilly as he lunged forward. Their fear was almost palpable, and a delight to his heightened senses. It was unfortunate that it didn't last long. Free frowned slightly when he tossed the last of them asunder, the victim's broken body a mere echo of the pain he'd inflicted upon the other four.
"Guess they really didn't see her." Free said as he found Eruka's scent once more. He followed it to the cemented area that surrounded the glass pyramid. It looked rather barren without humans milling about, the fountains trying futilely to alleviate the ominously forlorn atmosphere.
Eruka's scent was all over this section of the courtyard. She'd apparently been a busy little witch before he'd arrived. This abundance of her aroma was a little problematic, but not insurmountable. He would just have to search the entirety museum, top to bottom, until he found her.
"Hold on, Eruka. Free's comin' for you"
---
Eruka cowered behind one of many large bullet ridden statues that filled this new room she'd been forced to hide in. She'd been unfortunate enough to run into one of the thieves as he was taking out a guard. The man had been quick to notice her presence and even quicker on the trigger of his silenced rifle. Without time to give an incantation, Eruka could only run for cover. Unfortunately, artifacts weren't bulletproof, and whatever it was these men were looking for wasn't in the section of the Louvre that they were in.
She'd taken a bullet to the shoulder during the commotion, which was why she was so relieved to find herself in one of the Louvre's sculpture rooms with its multifarious shadows and hiding places. Keeping silent, she treated her wound with a solidifying form of frog glop. She frowned nervously. Though she was in a better position than before, she was by no means in a position of advantage. From its position on her back, the staff seemed to echo that sentiment. She bit her lower lip, wracking her brain for a way out of this predicament. It always turned out like this. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't catch a break. Was she just destined to have bad luck? Considering what all else she'd been through, the notion wasn't that outlandish. Then again, she'd had the good fortune to survive it all, if one could call it that. Dumb luck was more like it.
A reassuring wave of magical energy rippled through her from the staff on her back. She smiled slightly. It might have been flattery in an effort to get her to use it, but the frog witch took what confidence she could from Molok's gesture. She slowly edged up to a standing position, a plan forming in her mind. Whispering ever so quietly, she manifested three small black smiling pellets in hand.
Kneeling to the floor, she took a pellet in each hand and rolled them towards opposite sides of the room. A moment later, both pellets exploded, spewing forth profuse amounts of smoke. As the thieves who were searching the room turned towards the explosions in surprise, Eruka sprinted for the room's exit. Unfortunately, one of the thieves had had the presence of mind to block the way out. It was regrettable for him that Eruka still had one bomb left. The man got one shot off as Eruka hucked the pellet at his face. The ensuing explosion sent the man crashing to the floor at the edge of the windowed hallway that connected to the sculpture room.
Shrouded in the newly set smokescreen Eruka quickly produced a stickier form of frog gunk, and swiftly scaled the walls of the adjacent hallway. It didn't take long for her to find a resting place on the darkened ceiling just above the sculpture room exit. Thrumming with anticipation Eruka held her breath as the smoke below dissipated.
Now five well armed men stood below the frog witch, all warily scanning the area. She could hear their frustrated ramblings as they found that she'd eluded their vigilant eyes once more. It was fortunate that none of them had the forethought to look up. Then again, she was certain none of them had reason to believe she could stick to ceilings. Not yet anyway.
She waited until the five had dispersed to search the rest of the Louvre before letting out a sigh of relief. She allowed herself to slide down the hallway's wall, landing lightly on the floor. Suddenly, she realized something with alarm: a weakened soul was still there in the hallway. She whirled about in time to catch sight of the man she'd caught with the explosive earlier. He was leveling an unsilenced pistol at her from a prone position.
"Ha" he said with breathless triumph as he pulled the trigger.
The staccato roar of the gun masked the sound of Eruka casting a retaliatory spell. The frog witch took a shot to the thigh, losing her footing as the affects of her spell kicked in. A giant tadpole appeared in front of her as she stumbled backwards. It absorbed the rest of the man's shots and charged him head on. She mouthed an apology to her oversized pet as she staggered into and through one of the hallway's windows.
As she fell from the second floor window, she wondered just how much worse her luck could get, and more importantly, if she'd survive long enough to see it turn around.
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More to come...
A bit of a change of pace I know, but that's where the story went.
Was it enjoyable? Good or bad let me know