I just want to thank my two reviewers for reviewing the first chapter! It means a lot to hear from you guys!
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The sound of a keyboard's scurried clicks reverberated throughout the room, the only illumination being the tableside lamp and the blue light that radiated from the laptop. A small shadowed figure could be seen hunching over in the chair as she scribbled notes into a small paper journal with the right hand and typed with the left. Soon enough, another exasperated sigh echoed throughout the room and the figure stood up, turning off the remaining lights before walking away to gain the much needed sleep she had lost from days of futile research.
Yes, although Maka thought to make it her mission to give back the ID, the only clue she had was the name of a school that apparently didn't exist. She had checked every data base she possibly could, but the school wasn't mentioned once! The thought of it being a fake ID kept reiterating itself in her mind, but she just couldn't get herself to believe that. Something about both the boy and the school had intrigued her, and deep down in her heart, she wanted to find out what it meant. It couldn't be a fake ID. It just couldn't.
Whether it was the continuous research or her mind finally going towards the point of insanity, Maka didn't know, but she had been having strange, eerie dreams as well. Dreams about things that she wouldn't have thought her mind was capable of producing… The girl shook her head once and plopped it down on the pillow. Hopefully this night would be different. Hopefully this night she wouldn't have to relive the ending…
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When the girl opened her forest green eyes, she was back in the world she was in before, a scythe in her hands and a monster in front of her. She was back to wearing that black buttoned cape with the little scull-like silver buttons that went down her chest as the bottom of the coat fanned out behind her. The white collared shirt and green tie were arranged neatly once again, covered up by the sharp V the coat made. White gloves peaked out from the ends of the long black sleeves and a small checkered red and black skort adorned the bottom half of her body. The black and white boots went up past her ankles and protected her feet, although they felt strangely similar to cement. Her hair, and Maka was thankful for this, was tied up into two pigtails in order to stay out of her way during the fight.
Smirking, Maka swung the red and black scythe around, letting the silver hilt catch the monster's attention. Calmly, Maka shifted her weight to the right foot and placed her hand on her hip, her body moving of its own accord with no consideration to the thoughts that she was hiding. There were two parts of her that she felt in the dream—the confident, skilled woman that would take over her body during the unrealistic fights that she had experienced in her sleep and the scared little girl that was quaking in her boots, anxiously wanting to run away from the scene that was unfolding before her.
"Let the games begin," she said coolly, in a voice she hadn't even known she had until the dreams started appearing. Almost immediately, the giant bug-like creature charged towards her, its five foot long brown pinchers snapping in anticipation of the kill. Maka smoothly jumped to the side and did a cartwheel back in order to avoid the bug, which was probably twice as large as she was. As if dancing, the two creatures charged at each other repetitively, neither one wanting to back down. Maka would jump around, avoiding the bug's attacks as she swung the scythe at him, barely nicking the surface of the creature. No matter how many times she hit the thing, it seemed like she wasn't making any progress, the hits she landed on his shoulder had barely made a mark, and Maka wasn't invincible—she was somehow out of breath and was starting to get tired. Her reactions were delayed, and the bug was starting the catch her back as she narrowly avoided being completely pummeled. The wheezing that Maka could hear herself make were embarrassing, and her lungs burned for the cool night air that it so desperately wanted. Again, the monster charged and Maka burst out to the right, her legs shaking, barely able to propel her out of harm's way.
Standing up shakily, Maka raised the scythe in front of her for protection against the razor sharp pincers that were bound to race her way. With her whole body burning in agony, she decided that things couldn't get any worse, but she was dead wrong. For the bug, this was his time to strike as the thing stood on its hind legs and let out a high-pitched screech, causing Maka to let out a pained cry of desperation as she fell down onto her knees, hands clutching frantically at her ears.
Suddenly, all Maka could think about was the invasive noise. It entered her mind, her body, her entire being! And it made her weak—weak enough to be crushed in an instant. Sensing its opportunity, the brown bug barreled towards her, its large pinchers getting closer and closer until there was only one stride to go. No… Maka thought desperately, not again, please no! Her mind screamed in agony although no she shed no words. The split second passed and she looked away painfully, hearing the snap of a spine and feeling the splatter of liquid fall onto her face. Her body seemed to have a mind of its own as she unwillingly looked up to the devastatingly familiar scene that had plagued her endlessly over the last week. There in front of her was Soul, the boy she once met at the café, his stomach impaled by the razor sharp pinchers that were meant for her.
She tried screaming but nothing came out, nothing at all. Silence engulfed the dream and nothing could be heard except for the slight "squish" as the razors came out of Soul's body, letting him fall to the ground, the blood rushing out onto the ground next to her. Maka could hear the frantic beating of her heartbeat rushing through her ears as she took her cape off and tried tying it to the weak man's wound. She was cut short however, when the screech of the bug came again and charged towards her, impaling the girl and killing her instantly… The last thing she heard was the phrase "42-42-564, Portal 4" before blacking out completely.
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This was how the dream always ended, every night she would try and make a different ending but she never could. Soul would protect her from the bug in vain as she was impaled soon after. Trying to keep herself occupied, Maka stood up and decided to take a shower, the dream echoing through her mind, haunting her every movement. What if it wasn't a dream? What if Soul had died? What if… What if… What if? Maka punched the bathroom door, angry at herself for not being able to change the dream yet again. She sighed as the shower faucet turned on, fogging up the glass.
"42-42-564… I wonder what that means…" She mumbled to herself as she leaned against the sink, pressing her hands on either side of it. All of a sudden, her eyes lit up and she hurriedly turned off the faucet. "42-42-564! Portal 4!"
Laughing, Maka went into her room and took out a small book. "42-42-564!" If anyone had heard her, they would have thought the young girl was crazy, laughing and reciting numbers. It was now that Maka had finally remembered where she had heard the numbers before.
When she was younger, her mother had always read her a bedtime story, each one about a human weapon. At the end of the story, she would always smile and recite the same numbers that were in her dream: 42-42-564. But there was nothing about a portal, was there…? Maka groaned exasperatedly as she plopped her back onto the bed. She knew that this was some sort of hint, but what was she supposed to do with it?
Her body was still coated in a small layer of cold sweat from the dream and although there were no physical marks from where the bug had hit her last night, she could feel the small amounts of pain that still shot through her stomach whenever she moved. Restlessly, the fair-haired girl paced back and forth through her small little apartment, ignoring the legs who were currently buzzing, still recovering from so much exertion. Maka paused suspiciously. If this were all just a dream, why was her body feeling the after-affects? There was no possible explanation for that—not to mention the strange feelings she got when she read the school's name.
Shaking her head frantically, Maka reminded herself that she was not in fact crazy, just involved in something very, very strange. Closing her eyes, the girl rubbed her temples, feeling an oncoming headache. Hurrying to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, Maka failed to notice what her body had started to do until she opened her eyes. As if on impulse, her arm had traveled to the still foggy mirror, ready to write on the surface. Blinking slowly, it took Maka a moment until she decided on an inkling of a guess to start writing. Slowly, she wrote the numbers that had been on her mind for hours.
42-42-564
Pausing for a moment, Maka read the numbers out loud to herself, already realizing how stupid she had been to write on her mirror. Of course nothing would happen—what was she even thinking!? Besides, the words that the numbers had formed were eerie, creeping her out to a great extent. The words, "die, die, kill" echoing throughout her mind. The spooked girl recalled a rhyme that her friends had always recited when they were alone. Slowly, Maka repeated the rhyme to herself.
"Die, die, kill (42-42-564), whenever you want to knock on Death's door…" The first verse of the rhyme was definitely unnerving, although it was the only part of the rhyme that had stuck with her for all of these years. Shaking her head, she took a rag to clean off the mirror.
But before she could wipe the digits off and walk away, a black hooded arm extended out of the mirror and grabbed the girl around the waist. Stunned, Maka froze up, not understanding what was going on. Once she came back to her senses however, she started struggling against the giant hand, kicking out and trying to pull herself away. But it was all in vain; the hand was already sucking her through the mirror, into a black vertex. All Maka could do was close her eyes in terror.
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"You can open your eyes now," An overly cheerful voice said as a pair of forest green eyes hesitantly opened and curiously looked around the room.
Maka felt like it was another dream, with the strange steel floors and small clouds floating at different elevations. She lifted her hand up to touch it and couldn't help but break into a smile as the soft objects went by her fingers. She brought the hand to another cloud as the part where she had touched it turned into liquid water, the other parts continuing on their way, unaffected.
Shimmering eyes looked around in wonder as she noticed the windows placed around the room. If it weren't for them, she would have thought that the ceiling was actually the blue sky, as it stretched up endlessly. Wooden crosses littered themselves on the outside of the room and a large mirror stood by one of the walls, candles on either side of it. When Maka was done observing the unique room, she turned to her captor and stared at him seriously.
"What is this place?" She asked him strictly, taking in the man's strange appearance. A black body that was hard to describe with many squiggles looking not unlike lightning sporadically spouted from different parts of the body. For his face, the only thing Maka could see was a skull mask, his eyes a deep expanse of black.
"Awwww, don't be that way Maka-chan!" The man said as he bounced on what Maka assumed was his "leg." Taken aback, the girl eyed him warily, multiple questions spouting into her mind.
"How do you know my name?" She questioned, trying to stay calm and collected. The thing grinned, if it COULD grin, and bounced closer, much to her displeasure.
"My name is Lord Death, and you just entered my office!" He replied pleasantly before continuing, "Welcome to Death Weapon Meister Academy, otherwise known as DWMA! We've been waiting for you," the man smiled as confetti blew down from clouds as if celebrating her arrival as well.
There was a pause as Maka let that fact sink in…
"Wait, WHAT!?" She blurted out, taking Lord Death by surprise
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So about the "die, die, kill" thing, apparently if you say the numbers out loud, it actually says the words die, die, kill or something like that. Like, if you say out the numbers 4 and 2 it can also mean "die" an would be "kill." Get it?
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Reviews? I really appreciate them all and you can tell me how much you did/didn't like it and how I can make it better!
It only takes a minute to do!
