IMAGINARY ENEMIES

set 3 weeks 4 days after Asura

Agnes eyed the blade in her hand; a sleek katana, swirling with power. She gave it an experimental swing downwards before sliding into an attack position, transitioning into a defensive position. She wiggled her fingers around on the hilt, trying to get a better grasp on it when she heard a bubble of laughter.

"Don't wiggle your fingers, it tickles!"

"Shut up, I'm trying to focus. You're so much smaller in this form." Agnes felt the energy shift in the blade; the weapon glowed, a bulkier sword in place.

It was a good five inches longer than the katana, the jagged edge made sharper by the wind properties. It was a light blue, glowing between the plate-like blades that made up the cutting edge. There was a petrified skull at the handle, eyes glowing the same blue. The mouth was curled downwards in a grimace, but Agnes saw the corners of its mouth twist upwards with a smile. This was Rudy's soul.

Agnes tossed the larger sword between her hands before Rudy turned back into a katana. A few more experimental swings, balancing it on her palm - Rudy's voice startled her back to reality.

"I feel like I've been crammed into a tiny box. Are we done training?" She stuck the blade into the ground and after a blue-ish glow, Rudy was standing before her again. Stretching, she pouted at her sister. Agnes, as usual, ignored the plight of her younger sister -and her cowardice, as she was sure Rudy was going to say let's go home again- and turned away from her. They had been in NOT! class for almost two weeks, and to be fair, it was draining. Agnes acted clumsily as a meister, and Rudy never could fully transform - either she had no blade or she had no hilt. They were fitting in well among the students.

But what were they expected to do at this point?

Agnes told Rudy that they had to be ready, they had to keep training and progressing in private. The pair was still adamant on not joining EAT class. So here they were, on the outskirts of the desert in the wooded area designated for academy training. The sisters were able to walk through the desert now, able to stave off the draining effects. Kilik had promised them it would get easier the longer they were there, and he had been right.

"Oh, what time is it!" Agnes rarely lost composure, but the look on her face was of panic. Rudy's eyes got a little wider as her internal clock told her they were more than most likely late for their game of basketball with their friends. They ran out of the woods and into the sands, hoping they hadn't started the game without them.

"They're late again? Let's just start the game!"

"Black*Star, calm down. We don't even have two full teams yet."

The ninja huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, but said no more as Tsubaki assured him that the girls would be there soon. The dark arm also wondered why they were late almost every time, but she assumed that they were still prone to getting lost in the spiralling city. Tsubaki recalled when she had first arrived; the culture shock, the confusing layout of a bustling city. Everything was so different from her home, and she knew they must be struggling.

Kilik and the Pots seemed to be a bit antsy as they paced the court together before he snapped his fingers.

"I'm gonna go see if they're home."

"Hey! We're here!" Rudy stopped a bit behind Agnes and hunched over, trying to catch her breath. Agnes was jogging over to the group with a small smile on her face.

"Sorry we made you wait."

"Oh, it's alright. We're actually waiting for Soul and Maka, too. She's allowed out of the hospital for a few hours today."

Rudy stood up straight, excited to meet the girl that Soul spoke of so fondly. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of someone - clad in all black. She turned quickly to see who it was and they shrunk back, a nervous look on their face. Soul and a pretty, young girl walked up beside the figure, a smile playing at the girl's lips.

"Hey guys, we brought Crona. Is that alright?"

Black*Star clapped them on the back, a grin on his face. He began to go on and on about how lucky Crona was to be able to bask in his presence, and Agnes watched them inch away from the boy. They weren't exactly scared, but just unused to so many people.

Maka approached the siblings, holding out a hand. Rudy grasped it tightly and smiled back at the girl, and Maka turned to Agnes to greet her as well. Something lingered on Rudy's hand for a split moment, and a shared look with her sister told her that this wasn't just a coincidence. Rudy immediately began to chat with Maka, asking her about her partnership with Soul and asking her about her meister training. The two seemed to hit it off.

This time, Kid and Soul were the team captains. Soul, Black*Star, Agnes, and Patti made up the first team. Kid, Kilik, Rudy, Liz, and Crona made up the second. Maka, being fresh out from the hospital, took the bench and cheered for her friends, calling out encouraging words to Crona. Rudy couldn't help but slide into place beside the mysterious meister, wanting to get aquainted with the only person she didn't know.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Her core went cold as pure black bubbled from their back and Ragnarok was in her face. Her immediate reaction was to shove the weapon away, startled by their sudden appearence. They pushed her back and she cocked her head to the side. Her investigation would have to wait as Liz had passed her the ball. Rudy ducked around her sister and threw the ball back towards Crona, who had that skittish look about them again.

Crona surprised her when they defended against Black*Star's brutal offense and they even managed to get the ball to Kid, who scored a point.

Yes, Rudy would have to find out more about Crona.

Things continued like this for the girls, meeting up with the EAT students to play a round or two of basketball. Ever since their first day in the city, everyone had welcomed them warmly and accepted them in their activities. Soul and Maka had taken them to Death Bucks, recommending they apply for a job in order to keep cash flowing.

Two weeks had passed since their first night in the strange new city. They trained between school and friends, and they slowly found that they had interests outside of each other. Agnes liked to invite Tsubaki over to cook, and Tsubaki promised to help them furnish their house once her and Black*Star caught a single kishin egg. Rudy liked to galavant around town with Black*Star, finding herself drawn to not only his physical strength, but his character. This often lead to short interactions with Death the Kid, who quickly figured out that the weapon held ill-feelings towards him.

Either way, she feigned friendliness whenever others were around, but something about her was a bit off to the reaper. He ignored this feeling every time it popped up.

Currently, the sisters were training in the forest again. Their class was in a few hours, so they figured they had plenty of time to kill by practicing katas. Agnes and Rudy had already perfected soul resonance and were working on summoning the Witch Hunter, which seemed to be just outside of their grasp. She tried it one more time before giving up, going back to a series of katas.

"That's pretty impressive, considering it's informal training. Thinking of joining EAT class?"

Death the Kid popped out of the shadow of a tree, startling Agnes into dropping her sister. Rudy immediately transformed back and if he didn't know better, he could swear he saw her glaring at him before a smile replaced it.

"Me and Agnes have been trying really hard, we think we can do it!"

"How far are you, exactly?"

"Oh, I can transform and we can almost resonate, but we aren't much passed that." Agnes allowed her sister to continue; after all, Rudy was a much better liar than she. Agnes hoped that Kid would leave and forget about this, but something told her that the reaper never trusted them to begin with; as such, it would be much harder to talk their way out of this one.

Kid's eyes narrowed before he closed them. Upon opening them he gave the pair a small, forced smile. Something was definitely wrong about their advancement. Didn't Soul mention that they were still trying to grasp the basics? Didn't he see Kilik trying to help them understand the simple transformation process, only for them to botch it?

All of these questions came together in his head and he was frustrated because there were no answers. These girls were as much an enigma as when they had first appeared. He turned away from them -not wanting more questions to pop up, and to avoid counting their freckles- and motioned for them to follow.

"Well, let's get you enrolled in the proper class, then. It seems like we need to talk to my father."

Agnes shot her sister a look that promised pain, and Rudy hung her head. They had grossly miscalculated the competency of this reaper.