Necro: I FEEL SOOOOOO GOOOOODDDDDDD!
MP: Translated, that means thank you to Dragon of Selene for favoriting and following this story! You have inspired our dear writer to keep going! You honestly made his day! With that, let's go!
"Liz, Patti, stay close." Kid spoke calmly as he reached out with his hands, attempting to feel for the walls that he was sure were close by, but everywhere he turned, no matter how far he went, he couldn't feel anything, much less a stone wall.
"I must ask that you stop moving for a moment. You're messing with the map." A slightly distorted, deep voice, which reminded Kid of a large waterfall, filled the space around him and the sisters. "I apologize for catching you within my reach. I had no idea anyone else was down here." Slowly, the darkness surrounding the three partners lifted and the sounds of footsteps approaching them echoed off the walls. "So, who's decided to come down for a visit?" The owner of the voice stepped around the corner in front of the small group, stopping to lean against the wall.
"John?" Kid asked. "What was that? What did you do?"
"John?" The green-eyed man titled his head slightly to the side and crossed his arms over his chest, his jacket rustling against him from the movement. "Ohh, you mean the ves-ahem, the man who has recently become your teacher. I am not John." He paused to brush something off jeans and smooth a winkle in his dress shirt. "Most refer to me as the Master of Shadows, but you are welcome to call me Shade. Sounds far less formal, don't you think?" John, or rather, Shade smiled.
"Hey, sis, is this like a split personality thing?" Patti asked loudly, turning to her, now mortified at her sister's choice of words and volume, elder sibling.
"Patti! You can't go and say something like that about a teacher! Not in front of them, anyway." Liz added quietly.
"She is correct, in a way. I am a separate personality, after all." Shade chuckled, rolling up his right sleeve to check a wristwatch. "Oh, time's almost up. I only get the body for another seven minutes." Shade sighed and turned away, waving at Kid as he began to walk. "Catch you another time, eh?" The man turned the corner and before Kid could rush after him, Shade's footsteps disappeared.
"He can't have…" Kid rounded the same bend in the hallway and discovered, much to his surprise, that Shade had indeed disappeared without trace. "Interesting talents." He muttered, continuing down the hall.
"Kid, what are you doing?" Liz called, refusing to move further into the dungeon despite Patti happily following behind their meister. "I don't think we should follow him."
"I still need answers and John is the only person who is likely to give them to me, if I can obtain a straight response to my questions. Now come along. I'm sure John would not attempt to hurt you." Kid replied over his shoulder, his stride unbreaking and insistent.
"Maybe not him, but what about that Shade guy?" Liz finally began moving, albeit a little slowly.
"I don't think he cared very much about us. And for all we know, that was John trying to get us to leave him alone." Kid reassured her, finally stopping to allow Liz to catch up.
"Yeah, so stop bein' a chicken, Liz." Patti said playfully.
"I'm not scared. I'm just being...reasonable. John didn't want to answer any questions and I think we should respect that." Liz shot back, nodding to herself.
"If it was anyone else, I would be attempting a different method, but I don't know how to approach John." Kid explained, starting back down the hallway now that he was sure Liz would follow.
"Then why not wait until you do know?" Liz asked, hugging herself.
"Because I have a feeling that this cannot wait that long. It would take months at best for me to understand John, years at worst." Kid stopped outside a cell door and peered inside. "Not here. Where else could he be?"
"Well, what else is down here?" Liz asked, staying well away from the door.
Kid thought for a moment, pacing in the hallway, then came to a stop in front of Patti. "Will you two wait here for a moment? There is a room I need to check."
"We can go with you. If Liz isn't too scared." Patti grinned, earning herself a glare from her older sister.
"Normally I would have to ask for father's permission before entering the area in question, but since I need to sure that John isn't in there right now, I cannot wait for father to decide. I don't want you two in trouble as well if I am caught." Kid started walking again, this time with clear purpose, down the hall.
"Well alright, but what if he comes back here before you find him?" Liz called to her meister.
"Tell him that I wish to speak with him." Kid called back before turning a corner and leaving their sight.
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John listened as Kid walked into the room, his footsteps, no matter how quiet they were to him, acting like a beacon to the green-eyed man. "You know, if I'm not supposed to be in here, I wonder if you are." John chuckled, standing in full view of the young Shinigami. "So Kid, what did you want to me earlier? I was a little preoccupied." The man 'looked' over his shoulder and smiled, but only slightly.
"I wanted to ask you a few questions about why you came to DWMA." Kid answered, moving to stand beside his teacher. John had been standing in front of one of the machines in the vault Death built in the dungeons beneath the school. The device was Eibon's Eternal Spring, a Demon Tool capable of allowing a machine to run without fuel or maintenance for eternity.
"A friend of mine built something similar to that." John said, pointing at the contraption. "Funnily enough, he also called it a spring. Oh, you can ask your questions. I don't mind." John shrugged and moved away from the machine.
"Why did you come to the school?" Kid followed John further into the room, using the light from the open door to find his way.
"The official, or your father's, reason is that I was hired to teach the students advanced combat moves in the event something like Asura crops up. The unofficial, and real, reason is that I trying to find someone to fill a position that was recently created in an organization that I founded a very long time ago." John paused for the briefest moment in front of a massive painting then kept moving, barely sparing it a glance or even a twitch of his ears.
"What organization?" Kid tried to move in front of the man, but was easily sidestepped as John moved in another direction entirely, so fluid was the motion that it appeared to have been his plan all along.
"You will have to ask your father that. I am not allowed to say so long as I work here." John stopped in front a small cube that resembled, in his mind's eye, a Rubik's cube.
"Will my father even answer me?" Kid tried to grab John's arm and met only air as John moved again, not even appearing to notice the hand that had just missed him.
"Isn't that a question you should ask yourself? Not that it's my business." John replied, now making his way back to the door. "Well, I am feeling tired, so if you don't mind."
"I do mind! You have given me no real answers!" Kid made a grab for John's jacket and just barely managed to snag the end. And then...the jacket was gone, along with John.
"It wasn't a request." John said from behind Kid, surprising the younger man. "We are done for now, Little Shinigami." John stepped around Kid and once again headed for the door. "The key will be in one of the sconces outside. Be sure to lock it before you leave, mm?" John chuckled and left Kid standing in the semi-dark room, even more confused about the man that had become his teacher than when he started asking questions.
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Meanwhile, in the home of the witches, Eruka Frog ran through the streets, her polka-dot dress fluttering, her orange frog hat held to her head with one hand, the other hand holding a single sheet of paper. She flew down one road and sprinted across another in her desperate need to reach the Witch Queen, Maba.
Bursting through the door to the Witch Assembly, the same building the Witch Court is held in, Eruka skidded to a stop in the center of the room, out of breath and bent over. "Queen...Maba! I have...a... report...you should see!" She waved the paper in her hand frantically. "It's...from the...Death Scythe over...North America!" When another witch took the paper from the frog themed young woman, she gratefully collapsed on the floor as the document was handed from one member of the assembly to another, carefully read by each and then reread to be sure of what they were seeing.
"Is this accurate? Have you checked the calculations?" One aged witch demanded of Eruka, standing up so quick that her chair almost fell over.
"Yes, ma'am! I checked them three times before heading here!" Eruka had dealt with a lot in the last few years and hadn't honestly thought much could top the Kishin incident, but what was written in the report had the potential to be so much worse. If the Kishin were to be compared to any disaster, it would be Chernobyl, but what they had all just learned, the resulting crisis would be many times more disastrous, so much more terrifying, that even their little community in its sealed off dimension would likely be wiped out. "We are so fucked."
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"Vessel, we need to speak." The gravelly voice was very familiar to John, as was the room he suddenly found himself in.
"Was pulling me really necessary? You could have just asked." John glanced around the room, something he could not do in the real world. There were more mirrors on the walls than when he last visited and it only served to remind him of why they were up in the first place. "You've added some more...decorations, I see."
"My choice of interior ornamentation can wait for a different conversation at another time. For now, I need to speak to you and you will listen. Understood?" The man seated across from John fixed his eyes, if they could be called that, on his vessel.
"Again, if you wanted to talk, a simple request is all that you would have needed." John turned his attention to the other man. "After all, I can't possibly ignore you, can I, Third?"
"No, you cannot. And will you drop that ridiculous accent? No one can hear your thoughts, especially not with me actively speaking with you."
"Hey, the Scottish are amazing, as is the accent. And I've never met a dishonest Scotsman. Except Larry. He still owes me twenty-five pounds. That's about thirty-two and a half dollars, for you Americans." He added in a murmur.
"Stay on topic! And stop breaking dimensional walls!" The Third sighed and rubbed what would be temples on a human. "I didn't know I could get headaches until I met you, vessel."
"Blah blah blah. What did you want?" John watched the Third's hands then, when those moved away from his face, focused on the man's 'nose'. "It has to be seriously if you decided to pull me."
"It is. It would appear that your latest reincarnation attracted attention. The kind of attention that neither of us enjoys." The Third rarely disliked, or even enjoyed, anything, unless it was completely psychotic.
"Shit. Shit!" Then the accent dropped, as did all of use of any human language. "I thought the process was supposed to be subtle!" John jumped to his feet and began pacing, searching his pockets for his Watch.
"It's still in the physical world. And usually the process is subtle, when you aren't incompetent!" Now the Third had shifted to his own language as well, which only served to make John even more agitated.
"How was I incompetent?" He shouted at the shadowy man. "Quite frankly the process would be much easier with already dead bodies! You're the one who enjoys shoving me into living beings!"
"I have already explained why that approach won't work!" Now the Third was on his feet, too.
"Threesies, you need to calm down. You woke us up!" The shrill, grating voice came from the maddeningly festive looking man who had appeared to the right of the Third, who had shivered slightly right before the odd man's sudden manifestation, which was quickly followed by a figure shrouded in a darkness so complete that whatever light that went near him was snuffed out.
"Yeah, Third, we were trying to take a nap. Don't want to overstress us now, do you?" The dark figure spoke in a warped, deep voice that sounded like how he looked. The man leaned against the Third's abandoned chair and smiled, flashing slightly less dark teeth.
"Shade, Bringer, I apologize. The vessel and I were just discussing his failure-"
"Your failure, you twisted piece of dondra crap!" John's interjection went largely ignored, except for giggling from the festively adorned man, Bringer.
"-to stay hidden during the process. A homeless person robbed him in the in-between state and, while chatting with a friend about his wonderful find, was overheard mentioning the strange state of the body, covered in scars from head to toe and seemingly shrinking. The comment was heard by a man who just happened to be passing by. A very dangerous man, it just so happens. Very dangerous for us." The Third suddenly rounded on his vessel, his 'eyes' burning with a deep rage. "Now explain to me how that is my fault."
"I...I uh...may have misspoke, Third." He had looked. He tried not to, but John had looked into the Third's eyes and so many things were rushing through his head, things better left forgotten or, failing that, buried as deep as possible. "I apologize for my attitude." John slowly and gingerly sat in his chair once more. "I understand the danger of the situation. If I may ask who it is that heard about me, I can begin to plan accordingly."
The Third smiled and moved closer to his vessel, kneeling in front of him, and leaning in close so he could whisper into John's ear, pleased by the slight shiver of dread he felt. "The man with the seven lands legion. Are you sure can prepare, my vessel? Because if that man catches you, his strange tastes won't be the only thing you will have to endure." The Third chuckled, setting off a round of laughing from Shade and more giggling from Bringer. "Do good. For me, do very good." The Third rose and, with a flick of his hand, sent his vessel tumbling back to reality.
"That was quite a rude thing to do, Threesies, scaring our vessel like that!" Bringer sniggered, now studying the blades of the ceiling fan.
"Why warn him though, Third? Usually you let the vessel fend for himself." Shade grabbed the back of Bringer's outrageously colored jacket to keep him from climbing the chair.
"It felt different this time."
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"Lord Death, we have just received a report from the Death Scythe monitoring North America and a follow up from the witch Eruka Frog that confirms the original document." Sid stood in front of the Shinigami known as Death, two manila folders in his outstretched hand.
"What is written in the reports?" Death asked without reaching out to take the folders.
"Sir?"
"It's difficult to read through the mask and much quicker to hear a summary." Death answered simply, leaning slightly to the side, seeming for the all world like a very odd lamp bent sideways.
"Uh...yes, sir. Basically, the report covers a recent surge in energy on the Eastern seaboard and a subtle rising in the population in cities throughout the coast. Eventually the growing numbers caught the attention of our North America Death Scythe, who investigated and discovered-"
Just then John ran up and shouted, "Death! Death! I have important information that has to do with what Sid is currently telling you! And my convenient arrival is not a plot device! Uh...ignore that last bit." He added as he skidded to a stop in front of his new boss.
"What information do you have?" Death completely overlooked the added comment in favor of the odd man's possibly helpful news.
"I may be the reason behind these events. I also have a very good idea of who it is that is directly responsible for the extra people in those towns. But, if it is who I believe it to be, this could be bad. Like Kishin times a million bad, and that is not a hyperbole." John watched as Death processed the information.
"Oh, that does sound bad." John and Sid both almost fell over at the completely nonchalant response. "Good thing we have you close at hand to help with the situation, hmm?" From the tone of Death's voice, John would swear a stack of varied religious texts that the man in front of him was smiling.
"Are you entirely sure that you're sane?" John knew the answer to that question was yes, but for the first time in his life, he really did not quite believe what his powers were telling him.
"Pretty sure. Millennia of existence make the line a little blurred at times." Death replied, once again in a completely unconcerned tone of voice.
"I...completely understand that feeling, actually."
Doesn't mean he isn't crazy. Thomas suddenly said. And where the hell were you earlier? Everything suddenly went quiet!
I'll explain later! "So I guess I'll be helping deal with the problem?" John glanced at Sid then turned his attention back to Death.
"Well, since you admitted to being partly responsible for it, of course!"
You might be in deep shit. Thomas commented.
Deeper than the ocean, boy. Deeper than the ocean.
Necro: This chapter was half done and I finished it in a day thanks to the motivation of a special someone who will be reading this!
MP: Well we are done with this chapter, but not the story, and if my friend can keep himself together, more chapters are to come! Don't forget to check out our Tumblr! If you need the name, pm us! If you want us to set up a Facebook or Twitter or whatever, let us know and we'll work it out! Necro: Until next time, my darling readers!