Alright, well I actually this written up for a while, I just guess I never actually got around to uploading it, sorry everybody. It appears that my stories are slowly (or quickly) losing followers. Not that I write for people to read, but still, if nobody likes it, should I even bother continuing? Reviews equal the life of my authoring! The more I get, the more motivated I am.
Maiko had cut easily through the shadows, as one would expect for a razor sharp dual bladed naginata should. Plus they were barely existent anyway. It was nothing to sever them, Hell, it probably wouldn't have taken much even if she were completely dull. But, while they had saved Nyx and her sister, whatever her name was, Akuma seemed a little angry at it. They had saved his partners, shouldn't he be happy about it? But no, he looked more angry than she'd ever seen somebody. Right now, she was just glad that she was in weapon form.
Akuma's pencil tip was broken, and even worse, the picture was ruined! He continued sitting in his seat for a while, Glaring at the shadows emanating from the sarcophagus, he looked like he was going to explode.
Nyx was gesturing to Teldier and Maiko to try to get them to hide, in the hope that Akuma might overlook them.
Akrid didn't care so long as she was fine. And so far, no matter how often Akuma went into his psychosis, he never laid a hand on them that he did not mean to. She and her sister were safe. And if Maiko and her maester die in the meantime, well, that wasn't her problem. Besides it was their problem, they'd ruined his picture.
Akuma was growling, a deep guttural sound resonating from his throat, echoing through the small chamber. He held his left hand out for Akrid to go to weapon form as his mind whirled, analyzing angles and following calculations.
"Uh, Akuma, th-they didn't mean to ruin your picture I'm sure." Nyx said softly to the side.
"Shut up." With Akrid in hand, he aimed directly for the ceiling, firing only a single shot. That shot hit dead center on a metal spire dangling down. From there, the soul energy spread apart into five parts. One of them hit a pillar just above Maiko and Teldier, while another went deeper into the pyramid. One slammed right down onto the sarcophagus, one shot up into the stone above the spire, and the last blasted right back past Akuma's head, close enough to make his long hair flair up.
Maiko and Teldier both flinched, expecting to be hit by something, but nothing seemed to come. The sarcophagus exploded up in smoke and dust from the shot, revealing a grisly linen wrapped body. Waves of effluvia were visible as they spread out from it. The mummy was missing an entire half to its head, from its crown down through his left eye was disturbingly lacking. The fourth shot knocked the spire loose, tossing it like a spear down onto the monster's head. And just like that, with a single shot from Akrid, Akuma slew Ammuit. After the death, he stormed over to the couple who had accepted his challenge.
Once more, the pair flinched when his attention landed on them.
"What're you worried about? We won!" Akuma had a wide grin across his face. Even Akrid was shocked at him reacting like that.
"Wai-what?" Nyx was confused. "Aren't you mad about the pencil?"
"Of course not!" He laughed. "I finished the picture before they cut you two down!" Nyx joined him in laughing. Akrid gave a soft smile. Maiko and Teldier both laughed weakly, unsure of how to respond. "But if you actually screw me up, I'll kill both of you. I hate it when my beauties are disturbed."
Teldier wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. After all, he thought Akuma was kidding, but he was the son of Shinigami-sama, the son of death. Hell, his nickname was Death the Kid!
"Can I see the picture?" Nyx asked innocently.
"Sure," He held the sheet of paper out to them. On it was a great sketching of the shadows holding the two girls up in the air. Akuma had even managed to make the scene come alive, almost as if the torches were truly moving even in the picture. In the picture, Teldier was only just walking in, and Maiko was only halfway changed into her weapon form. He had captured every detail in only a few scant moments while the pair charged in heedlessly.
"Wow." Was the only statement Nyx could think of to describe it. And that failed miserably in describing her awe.
Her sister scoffed at her mastery of the English language. "It's good." Was her response.
"I like it." Teldier put in his two cents.
"I look weird in it." Maiko complained.
"Of course you do. You're weird looking." Teldier mocked.
"Shut up asshat."
"Asshat? Really? That's your insult of choice?" Teldier groaned. "You should at least put a curse word in there. That was it really sounds like you're mad."
"Bullshit asshat." A confused look crossed her face for a moment before she said. "Wait a second, ass is a swear word!"
"She's pretty but all of her brains went straight to her tits." He flicked her right breast with his middle finger.
She squealed. "Ow! Bastard! What the hell was that for!"
"I'm better than you."
"So you flicked my boob!"
"Yes."
"And you're not better than me!"
"You just admitted it."
"Admitted what?"
"That I'm better than you!"
"Shut up both of you!" Akrid snapped.
"Jeez, who put a porcupine in her britches?" Maiko said softly.
"What?" Nyx was the one most surprised by that one.
"Who put a porc-"
"I know what you said!" Nyx sighed. "I meant, what the hell kind of expression is that?"
"Um, I don't know, it's a me kind of expression." Maiko answered.
"And that means?"
"One of a kind." Teldier sighed. "That's the only way to explain her properly, one of a f*cking kind!" He gave his partner an affectionate shove to her back. She immediately spun around and punched him in the arm. "Ow, bitch."
"Pussy."
"A loving relationship." Akuma said with a smile as he dropped his arms around his own partners. Nyx ducked her head into his shoulder, pleasantly burrowing into him. "Shall we head on back to Death City?"
"Whenever." Akrid said with a sigh. Nyx just smiled.
"Change out then, time for liftoff." He flipped Beelzebub into the air. The two girls changed into their weapon forms to slide into the sheaths he had on his hips. Just for rides like this. "See you back in Death City." He gave them a two fingered salute.
Teldier waved, Maiko responded with a one fingered salute. Akuma pulled Akrid free and shot a warning at her feet.
The ride home was uneventful. In fact it was downright boring. At least, for the weapons it was. Akuma was able to gaze out over the ocean and see the brilliant reflection of the sun as it shone bright upon the dark blue water. It really was quite serene. Sometimes along the way, some few dolphins chose to leap high into the air. Whenever they were around, he chose to fly low, just skimming the surface. Almost communicating with them, a simple communication of being with others who shared that simplicity.
As the other shore into sight, he slid Nyx from her sheath and lowered the tip a few inches into the water. She sighed gratefully. "It feels wonderful." She said serenely. They sped along their way.
He felt almost bad for their opponents, it really must suck having to get a plane to go everywhere. Beelzebub made life so much easier.
The first thing he did when they arrived was report to his father. He didn't even give his weapons the opportunity to change back into their human forms. Not that they were eager to. Nyx loved keeping in her sheath. It was comfortable, in a leather sheath lined with velvet. It was very enjoyable.
"Ohohohohohoho!" Came his father's goofy laughter. "Welcome home Kid!"
Akuma faced his father, looking past him into the mirror. Getting a peek at what his father was up to. With the seeing eye he had through the mirror, he was spying upon one of his teachers. A meticulous teacher for that matter. The teacher had a hundred scars all over his body, thin surgical scars that crossed his cheeks, down to massive ones that crisscrossed from one shoulder down to the opposite hip and then some. He wore a long open lab coat that revealed his well-built frame and almost seemed to brag about his scarring. Oni, the mad surgeon. The angel of death. Josef Demikhov. The chimera builder. The demon.
Nobody who ever went under his knife returned the same, and it was rare that they came back alive. The ones that did though were truly horrific. As a teacher however, he was incredible. A pure genius.
On a slab in front of the angel of death, two human body shook as electricity flooded through them. But they were least of the experiment. Next to those bodies, a large wolf, nearly seven feet in length, lay helplessly. A dozen tubes sprouted from the wolf's throat, digging into the human bodies in neck, eyes, chest and wrists on both. The wolf wasn't moving, but it was clearly not dead. The chest moved every so often, only just barely. Clearly it wasn't in good shape, but it was still alive.
"What's he up to?" Akuma asked, almost afraid to ask, to break the gentle tension flooding the mirror room.
Josef whirled, glaring, it seemed, directly at Akuma. But that was impossible right? One way mirror and all that? It was magic, there was no way he could possibly see him. But still, it seemed he did.
"You said you would stop trying to peek on me Death." Josef muttered, just before the mirror went dark.
Well that was unexpected. Akuma smiled. "An old friend? Seems pretty mad at you spying on him."
"Ohohohoho! You have no idea Kid!" The goofy grin widened on the skull mask. A tradition begun by his grandfather, the child-like mask did serve its function, to avoid scaring children when they came to shibusen. But to Akuma, it was just silly, pointless. He did not plan to continue the tradition.
"So what was he up to?"
"Resurrection of a nearly extinct race." Death's voice turned much darker, incredibly ominous. "A race that was like that for a reason. A very good reason."
"Oh? So you were trying to stop him or something?"
"Not at all. I just want to keep an eye on the maddest of my allies." Death was still serious, quite intimidating for his son, who was so used to the goofy appearance and attitude of Death. "After all, he'll cause us all problems without actually intending to!" Akuma was a little disappointed that the seriousness had already worn off.
"Ah, so he's going to make trouble for us all right?"
"Supplemental classes." Shinigami-sama said quietly.
"What?"
"Not trouble, supplemental classes." Death gave another lopsided grin. "We call them supplemental classes here! Ohohohoho"
Akuma sighed. "So long as I don't need to participate, I don't really care."
"This is for some of our less capable students." A new voice said as his newest Death Scythe strode into the chamber. A young woman, she was still almost as tall as Akuma. "Welcome home Akuma, enjoy your trip to Egypt? At least this time you didn't destroy and kill something that wasn't a part of the mission."
"What can I say?" He smiled. "I guess I must be learning."
"I remember a mission of your father's out in Egypt, many long years ago."
"We don't need to go over silly little details like that." Shinigami-sama laughed. An edge creeped into his voice, almost as if he were...embarrassed? Akuma's lips spread into a slow smile. Poor Shinigami-sama, caught in an embarrassing past?
"So what were you up to?" She asked.
"Funny you should ask that Himeko." Akuma said with a grin. "One of father's old companions was just in the mirror, up to something that father though important enough to spy on him for. Even after promising not to spy on him apparently."
"Well your father always one who wanted to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders."
"What do you expect?" Came his father's aggressive retort. "If I don't, they'll all end up killing themselves and ruining my delicate balance. And that's simply unacceptable."
Maiko was stretching out cat-like on her bed, across the room from Teldier. He was leaning back and calmly watching the white tiles of the ceiling, using the patience and control of a Buddhist monk. Every time she moved he nearly got a nosebleed. She arced her back and her breasts nearly spilled out of her tightly laced up corset. The corset was barely even there, just barely covering maybe half of her chest, and only coming down to above her navel, leaving most of her midriff bare. She was only wearing a short, tight pair of bike shorts too.
Damn her. He thought miserably. And damn me too. What had he been thinking? Taking her as a partner? All he was doing was constantly teasing himself. The girl dressed like a slut! Hell, for all he knew she was.
"Damn I'm sore." She complained. "That last mission really took it out of me."
"What the f*ck did you do? Akuma was the one who killed the thing."
"Yeah but-"
"And I'm the one running around swinging you to kill people!"
"Shut up." She muttered. "It's not easy being a weapon either."
"What's so difficult about it? You change bodies and then your partner does all the work."
"You're a f*cking idiot!" She yelled at him. Then she stormed off her bed and swept out of the room, grabbing along leather jacket on the way.
"Where are you going?" He asked with a sigh. But she was already gone.
He sighed again. Way to f*ck that up Teldier.
Maiko ran as fast as she was able to, racing across Death City. She wasn't exactly sure where she meant to go, but she knew that she had to escape, to flee from where Teldier was. The bastard didn't know anything!
She made it almost thirty blocks before she fell to her knees gasping for air. A dark alley? Go figure. Gets mad and ends up doing the stupidest possible cliché from a horror movie, talk about a damsel in distress. Except this damsel could kick ass. At least, she hoped whatever was going on could be handled. She didn't want to have to deal with that bastard.
She crept down the alley, thinking about her mother. A huge fan of horror movies and bad sci-fi films, right now she'd be screaming, "Don't you watch horror movies? Get out of there! You're going to die if you continue! And look up! The monster's always above the person who's going to die!"
Despite herself, Maiko did look up. There was nothing above her though. She actually felt a little foolish for having looked up as if she were afraid of some badly made B-movie monster.
Hell, she was foolish. Because she was afraid. But there was nothing here to be afraid of.
God, five minutes after leaving her meister and she was almost ready to scream in a panic. Almost ready to flee in terror. She took a deep breath to steady herself. Her arm melded into its weapon form, along with her leg from knee down. Not because she was scared! Just, as a precaution. B-better safe than sorry right?
She crept down the alley, always alert. Who knew what could be there with her? It could be anything from a kishin egg, to a witch, to a full-blown kishin!
She was surprised at how boring an answer she ended up with. There was Faust, busily doing...something...
He was doing some kind of work behind a trash can, but from her angle, she couldn't discern any details about what it could be. She looked around quickly, but Lorelei was nowhere to be seen. That was odd. Despite almost never working as meister and weapon during battle, Lorelei was almost always by his side. In all the time she'd known either of them, she couldn't think of another occasion when she'd seen only one of them. Honestly, that detail alone was close to the scariest detail about the whole situation. Especially since there really wasn't anything even remotely scary about the scenario.
She was just about to step forward and approach him when he stood up and looked around conspiratorially. Obviously he was doing something which he shouldn't be doing, otherwise, why be so secretive?
She ducked down behind a dumpster, hiding from his quick glance. Her blade foot scraped along the ground, making her heart jump into her throat.
Had he heard that? Does he know I'm here?
He didn't appear to. He finished his look and turned away from her, leaving the alley entirely. Was he running now? Why's he running?
Unfortunately, now she had another problem facing her. To follow him? Or to see what he had left behind? If he was running away, she didn't have a chance to scope out what it was properly before he would escape. She had to follow him immediately. She ran as fast as she could, switching her body back to full human to increase her speed. As she passed the trash can, she took a quick peek.
What was that? A brown wrapped form, with a large red streak running midway up? Was that blood? What the hell was going on? What the hell did Faust do?
It didn't matter right now. She was chasing after him. She knew where the body- was it a body?- was, she could always come back later and check out what it was right? First she needed to see where Faust was headed. It might make some more sense then. After all, who would Faust need to kill? Sure he was weird, but he seemed to get along pretty well with the other students.
She chased after him, running for all she was worth. For a stocky, nerdy guy, the little bastard could sure sprint. She followed him onto an actual road, but because she didn't want to get too close so he could see her, that was where she lost him.
She took a few steps down the street, glancing into each and every path she saw. Where had he gone?
She couldn't even fathom where he had disappeared to. And here she was, thinking herself a talent, letting the little punk disappear on her. She was a joke. Wait- was that an edge of his coat? She sprinted after him, her boots clattering on the cobblestones and echoing off of the stone walls. One good thing about the punk, he wasn't exactly able to blend well. Long, pale purple hair that fell down over his eyes, a long not-quite-trench coat but very close, and hefty hiker's boots? No, he caused quite the stir whenever he went anywhere.
And then there were his eyes. Dull and lifeless, but still a very alluring shade of green. She'd tried to be his weapon long ago, but there was just something off about him, something she couldn't pinpoint, but was disturbing nonetheless. He could manipulate his soul wavelength to resonate at any level, but whenever he touched her, it felt like she was touching some sort of slime, cold and greasy.
She shook her head. It didn't matter how much a creep the little bastard was. She was trying to catch him. Had he turned again?
But no, there! Still right in front of her. What was he running from that he had to run in such a sprint? It looked like all the demons of hell were chasing after him. Given that he was Faust though, that might not be a bad guess. He was always doing something to end up being sent to the Death Room, or reprimanded by another teacher at least.
She was actually getting closer to him now, but did she want to catch him or just follow him?
Right as she made the decision to actually catch him though, he disappeared. He didn't turn down a hallway or anything, he just simply disappeared. Like a ghost returning back to his own dimension, like a phantasm in the sun, like a dream when a star died, he was just gone. There wasn't even a swirl of dust to show he had ever been there.
And this just added to all of the reasons to not like Faust. The little creep, the right bastard. There was obviously something wrong with him.
Maiko stopped her run, coming to a halt in the same spot where he had disappeared so suddenly. She looked around quickly, to just see if she had missed him turning, but no, there was nothing. She turned, still looking, and started to back away, back toward the corpse, back toward Teldier's. Yeah, she'd go back to his house, get him to come with her. It didn't even matter if he was a f*cking bastard. It was better than being out here alone with Faust.
She had just turned to head back when his fist came out of nowhere and slammed against her chin. She dropped, hard, onto the ground. She could barely put up any sort of struggle as he mounted her, straddling her stomach.
"Now that's equal rights." He chuckled under his breath. "Now, why don't you tell me why you're stalking me?" His purple hair flashed in the light of a street lamp as he cocked his head in question. "Otherwise I might become a little more, interested in your response. And worried over it." The threat was plain.
"Ugh, f*ck." She bitched, reaching up try and shove him off. He was immobile, clearly she'd done something to get a rise out of him. Who'd have figured the creep as afraid of a little old stalker. "If this is how you treat all your friends, I can see why you're always alone. Why the hell did you hit me? Freak."
"You aren't my friend." He said almost gloomily. But that didn't make sense, after all, he chose to be alone right? "Now why were you following me?"
"I wasn't." She groaned, now rubbing at her bruised chin. Luckily, there wasn't any blood. "Jeez, a girl can't take a midnight stroll without getting decked? You're a goddamn psycho you know that?"
"You followed me for one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven feet, most of a mile. I took several detours that increased the distance, just to make sure that it wasn't a coincidence. You followed me down every path, even the two occasions when I doubled back on myself. You are following me!" He lifted her a few inches off of the ground before slamming her back down. "Now, tell me why?"
Now, Maiko was afraid. And she felt that she had a right to be. After all, who could really keep their cool while a psychopath was threatening them? Especially from such a close distance. On the bright side, she thought she was doing an excellent job of keeping herself from panicking.
"Alright, alright. I was following you."
"Really? I had no idea." Faust was very droll with his sarcasm.
"Shut up okay? I've been having a bad day. Teldier's a f*cking bastard and we aren't resonating as well as I originally thought." Maiko was working up the lie even as she spoke it. Luckily, she had a lie with a heavy dose of the truth, the best kind. After all, nobody was stupid enough to believe a complete lie. At least, that had been her experience. She contemplated changing her fist and leg back into blades, try to fight her way away from him, but figured he had ways to kill her outside of Lorelei anyway. Best not to chance it if she didn't have to. "I was following you, since I've already resonated with you, I know that we could do it again, and I may be finding myself fast in need of a new meister."
"Well, unfortunately for you, Fraulein, I do not seem to be finding myself in a position where I require a new weapon." Or any weapon at all. She could almost hear him add silently.
"You're a great meister, I know that you could manage both of us at once. After all, Death did it a long time ago. And you can resonate at a much more capable wavelength."
"It would be rude to Lorelei."
Since when do you care about being rude to her? Maiko thought, but instead said, "I guess I'm just out of luck for now."
He backed away, pushing himself off of her using the cobblestones. Better that than have the creep touch her some more. He may wear gloves but it was like the slime coated the air around him. Like she was forced to breath it if she got too close. She shivered in distaste, hoping he wouldn't see.
"Maybe once I've made Lorelei a Death Scythe." He offered before turning and heading away again, this time much slower.
Maiko let him go. If he caught her again, she could no longer manage to use that lie again, and then he really might kill her. She decided she'd go back to check out the thing he had left behind. And what the hell was wrong with him? Her jaw hurt from where he'd punched her. What kind of asshole hit a girl? Wasn't that in the manly rulebook or something? And more than that, he still called his partner Lorelei? Why not Lorrie or something, give the poor woman a nickname goddammit! Everybody gave their partner a nickname! It helped with resonating.
She bitched and complained in her mind, but kept all of it locked right up in her head. After all, it wouldn't do for the guy to accidentally overhear her. She headed off on her own route. Soon enough after, she would go fetch Teldier to talk about it. And about their own issues. She did not want to end up like Lorelei, abused and neglected, barely even communicating with her partner, that was no way to be a proper weapon.
When she got back to the garbage can, she found that there was nothing behind it. She thought long and hard about it, but no, she'd definitely taken the same path back as she'd taken to get away from it. This was definitely the same trash can, just, now there was no body.
Or was there ever a body? After all, she had been in a rush. Maybe it had just been a cardboard box, or a hobo? But no, Faust had definitely been doing something to the... whatever had been behind the can. Now it was gone.
She backed away again, this time wary of any fast flying fist coming out of nowhere.
None came and she sprinted all the way back to Teldier's. She burst through the door, about ready to scream bloody murder at him. A very, very, very, very, important reason why she did not was because of the state she found him in. A state that was very half naked, very wet, and very, very muscular. She may have screamed for another reason right then.
In his shock, Teldier almost dropped the towel he had wrapped around his waist after his shower. It was a very close almost. And she had a very painful scream. He clutched hands to his ears and nearly screamed himself just at how powerful her lungs were.
She was blushing furiously, but she thought she had turned away in time to hide it from him. "What do you think you're doing!" She shouted at him.
"Well I certainly hadn't thought I'd be giving a free peepshow!" He turned away from her as well, still a little angry about their fight earlier.
She heard the towel hit the floor and turned an even darker shade of red. "You f*cking know that I'm living here now too!" She sighed theatrically. "What kind of a f*cking moron are you?"
"Oh f*ck off you priss!"
She heard a zipper and turned around. Yep, he was wearing pants now. Much better. Although he still wasn't wearing a shirt, although he definitely had the physique to make it work. Oh yeah, he could certainly pull the look off. "Now, are you finished being a dickwad?" She demanded angrily.
"F*ck." He quieted. "I'm sorry about earlier."
"Forget about that." Well that shocked him. He'd judged her to be the type to bear a grudge pretty hard. "After I ran outside, I found Faust."
"And started meddling."
"I wasn't meddling!"
"What happened next?" He sighed.
"He was doing something behind a trash can, so I waited to see what it was."
"Meddling!"
"Not meddling. Being concerned. When I ran by it looked like a dead person. But some stuff happened and when I came back it had disappeared."
"This is what you get for meddling in other people's affairs."
"I wasn't meddling."
"You're telling me all this because what? You're afraid? You think he's evil? Gonna sneak up here cause you're a stalker?' I highly doubt he care."
"No, I'm telling you, Faust is bad news." Maiko tried again. "You weren't there, but trust me, he is."
"And you're basing this off of?"
"I just know it okay!"
"Ah, women's intuition?"
"Maybe." Maiko sulked.
"Alright, well, we'll keep an eye out."
"Wait, you believe me?" Now she was really confused. She had absolutely no proof, a theory honestly and a bad one at that, but Teldier was willing to believe her? That said more about him than his earlier argument. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he'd seemed at first.
"Of course. But there's no point in trying to do anything when he's prepped, and we have nothing to go on. We need at least some form of proof right?" Honestly, he was just glad she wasn't trying to kill him. He'd be willing to agree that the sky was orange and the sun wasn't laughing, he was crying so high in the sky. Probably just her time of the month.
Maiko knew that she had stumbled onto something big, now if only she could manage to figure out what it was.
If she knew quite how important it really was, she might have been a bit more determined. After all, there was a lot more at stake than they could have guessed. A lot more than anybody could have. Death itself might never be the same.