Sorry for the dry spell, been very busy lately :P
If you will excuse my absence, that would be nice, lol
The bright full moon shone brilliantly in the night sky, amiss the sea of darkness that threatened it's very existence. It's only companion, the stars that flickered ever so slightly, trying their best to shine in correspondence with the moon's grand performance.
Those companions in the sky were the only source of light, and they did well in it's task, basking it's pure white light upon the dimly lit alleyway. In that alleyway stood a slender and mysterious silhouette, an existence that in itself was out of the ordinary. Upon walking silently, and swiftly, down the path of light, the silhouette's true form was revealed ever so slightly. A young boy with the long black robe of a mage, it's sleeves longer than necessary, the trim and cuffs a white silver that matched and reflected the moons. At his side, a handle of white and a pummel of gold, slightly poked out of his robe. Upon reaching his destination at the end of the alleyway, the boy looked both left and right at the 3 way intersection, before pulling out a used page of parchment paper and reading it's contents. The young boy, who based on his stature was no older than 12, swiped his black bangs from his line of sight, which blocked his vision when he had looked down to read the parchment papers directions, his eyes were a cold and icy blue, sharp and cautious.
The disturbance of a small amount of dirt grinding against the cobblestone below, a footstep, made his heart skip a beat. The boy turned a sharp 180 in the blink of an eye, his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to be drawn at any moment. A new mysterious figure stood where he once stood only a few moments ago, a robe matching his. Upon the recognition of the mysterious figure who bore no soul, it's identity was made clear at that moment.
"Ayo, don't scare me like that." The young boy hushed out his whisper.
"I never thought to see you here." Ayo said underneath his robe, his voice tinged with a slight surprise yet mostly filled with a smooth and gentle confidence that he always seemed to have.
"I was in charge of the retrieval." The young boy said, releasing his hand from the hilt of his sword and regaining his normal posture.
"You brought the item?"
"Yes." The young boy replied. His tone always seemed serious, only doing what he needed to do before moving on to the next task, a perfect machine.
"As I thought, I knew the Kannaji clan wouldn't get their hands dirty." Ayo said in a predictive tone, how he knew all this beforehand was a question even the young boy couldn't answer.
"What are you going to do with it?" The young boy asked, diverging from his usually serious tone to a more curious one. The two of them were good acquaintances now, and their shared curiosity grew that bond.
"Curious as ever, Kazuma, unfortunately it's something I have to keep a secret."
"What a let down." Kazuma said, crossing his arms. Ayo didn't have to see his face to know that a pouting expression lie behind that hooded robe.
"I'll tell you once it's safe." Ayo promised, holding out his hand palm up.
Kazuma let out an exaggerated sigh, before reaching into his robe and putting said item into Ayo's outstretched hand. Inside his hand laid a small golden ring, it's outer layer decorated in a variety of gemstones embedded into the ring, a truly beautiful sight.
Ayo then reached into his robe, pulling out a small purple sack with a yellow braided rope tying it's opening shut. He tossed the bag through the air, letting Kazuma catch it.
The bag was dense and heavy. Curiosity getting the better of him, he opened the bag to reveal a cluster of solid gold coins, their size roughly equal to one of a purple quarter commonly used.
"W- Whoa." Kazuma said with surprise, his eyes glittering as bright as the coins themselves in the white moonlight.
"Don't let greed get the better of you, that's for your boss. Of course, you should be receiving a compensation of some sort as well."
"I know." Kazuma sighed, closing the bag and putting it in his robe. "We should meet again some time, it's been a long while."
"Unfortunately, I won't be here for much longer." Ayo said, shaking his head underneath the robe.
"Eh? Where else would you go?" Kazuma asked, once again letting his curiosity getting the better of him.
"The Human World."
"Ayo, wake up." Maka said, poking his face.
"Ugh." Ayo groaned, opening his eyes. He had fallen asleep on the couch in Maka and Soul's living room, with the rest of the gang sitting around the coffee table either in dining table chairs or sitting on the ground, consisting of Maka and Soul, Kidd and Liz/Patty, Blackstar and Tsubaki.
"Sorry, it seems like I've been a little sleepy lately." Ayo apologized, running his hands through his blonde hair, before putting his hat back on.
"All of us are pretty tired as well." Tsubaki said, setting her bowl of udon on the coffee table. Ayo remembered making some for the group to apologize for the fuss he had caused, although in his mind it was still pretty fun and he wouldn't mind doing it a second time if he had the chance.
"Speaking of that, I think it's time we head out." Kidd said, standing up. He stared at Ayo for a moment before walking around the table and looking straight at his face.
"What are you-"
Kidd adjusted Ayo's hat, then nodded his head and turned a sharp 180.
"Alright, now we can head out!" He said, pointing his right finger into the air.
"You're still at it huh." Liz said before standing up and stretching.
"Uwooh? I still haven't finished my coloring for Maka." Patty pouted, her deep blue eyes practically doing all of the talking.
"You can take the crayons, it's fine." Maka gave in first. "You can always give it to me at school tomorrow."
"Okay!" Patty said, grabbing the yellow and brown spotted sheets in one arm and the box of crayons in the other, completely unused except the yellow and brown crayons.
"We're off, thanks for the food Maka." Kidd said.
"Don't thank me, I'm not the one who made it." Maka said nervously and waved her hands in front of her as if she was avoiding the credit in a tangible form.
"And Ayo as well I guess." Kidd smiled before walking out the door, his two weapon partners following behind him also gave a gesture of farewell before leaving.
"Hey Blackstar, wanna stay the night?" Soul asked with a toothy grin. "I got this killer new video game."
"Oooh, what is it?"
"Black Ops 3."
"Nice, that just came out today didn't it!?"
"No Blackstar, you have to study for the test this Friday didn't you?" Tsubaki said in an authoritative tone
"Pleeeaaaase?" Blackstar turned towards Tsubaki, practically begging at this point.
Jeez, saying no to a face like that is hard. Tsubaki thought.
"Alright, you have to make sure to study to make up for it." Tsubaki gave in with a defeated sigh.
"I'm gonna take a quick walk real quick." Ayo said, standing up and stretching. "I won't be too long."
Ayo maneuvered around the table and chairs towards the door, putting on his shoes.
"I might as well head out with you Ayo, being cramped up in here for too long sure does tire you out."
"Eh? But... the game?" Blackstar said, pointing at the TV.
"I wont be too long, we'll start once we get back okay?"
"Oh... alright."
Soul grabbed his jacket and slung it on, putting on his shoes and walking out behind Ayo, shutting the door.
Maka stared at the door with a troubled countenance before giving out a sigh and slumping back against the couch.
"Is there something between those two?" Tsubaki asked.
"I don't know, maybe, maybe not." Maka said. "It's not like I care or anything." She grabbed a cup of warm tea and began to drink it heavily.
"Maybe he still holds a grudge against him or something against that facade he put up." Blackstar said, looking at the back of the game cover.
"Soul usually doesn't get mad at something that simple." Maka said. "It's probably nothing."
"Maybe it's jealousy?" Tsubaki pondered.
The drink that was currently residing in Maka's mouth mid-sip was blown out in surprise.
"W-What?! That's not possible he couldn't think of me that way right?" Maka said with blushed cheeks.
"Oi Oi Maka, that got all over me." Blackstar complained, using a nearby washcloth to wipe his hair.
"Deal with it." Maka said coldly.
"You're right, Soul doesn't like girls in the shape of a wooden plank." Blackstar teased back.
Maka gave Blackstar a cold and icy stare.
"I'm just joking, jeez." Blackstar said, looking back at the cover of the game.
"Have you tried asking Soul?" Tsubaki asked.
"Yeah, he said he was just tired and cranky." Maka said, running her hand through her hair which rested on her shoulder.
Now that I think about it, he was just fine this morning, and through the ceremony as well.
The moon rained down a white light along with the stars on a cloudless night.
"Just like then huh..." Ayo trailed off, looking into the sky.
Soul and Ayo walked side and side together along the sidewalk, the streetlights illuminating their path in a yellow light.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Ayo asked, turning his gaze to Soul.
"It's nothing." Soul said.
"Really? No 'Don't go near my friends' or 'If you touch my partner I'll kill you' at all?"
Soul tensed up a little before relaxing again.
"No, it's not like that, I went for the same reason as you, it's too cramped in there."
"Really? I left cause I knew you wanted to tell me something with nobody else around." Ayo said, returning his gaze to the sky again.
Soul stared at Ayo for a moment before returning his gaze to the sidewalk in front of him. "It's nothing, just wanted to walk."
"Don't tell me you're going gay for me? Glaring at me all the time and leaving with me for a chance alone."
"W- What?! Dude, that's not cool at all, nothing like that!" Soul defended. "It's just that, I don't really trust you, and you irritate me, but it's not you or anything, you're cool and all." Soul contradicted himself.
"Hm, it seemed that way." Ayo said, not breaking his stare. "You're jealous."
"E- Excuse me?" Soul said in an offended tone.
"That's the emotion you're feeling." Ayo said, turning his gaze towards Soul. "It's jealousy, although it's not jealousy towards me specifically, which is why you both do and don't like me."
"Then who am I jealous over? Hm?" Soul asked with a slight retort.
"You're jealous of anyone who comes close to your partner that she has an attraction to, although it doesn't have effect if you know the person well enough to know that she won't be attracted to them, or vise versa. I guess a better way to put it would be..."
"Would be what?"
"Possessiveness." Honoo bluntly said out of nowhere.
The two continued to walk side by side for a few minutes.
"Anyways, what I really wanted you to tell me was this." Soul blurted out.
"Hm?"
"Why did you visit the Witch World?" Soul asked, returning his gaze to Ayo. "If you weren't part of the DWMA, then that means you were working for yourself or for..."
"Witches?" Ayo guessed.
"Yeah." Soul said.
"Hm, that is an interesting question. However it's the wrong one."
"Huh? How can the question I wanted to ask be wrong?" Soul asked.
"The question wouldn't be 'Why did I visit the Witch World', but 'Why did I visit this world'."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I didn't 'visit' the Witch World." Ayo said, returning his gaze to Soul. "I was born there."
"F- For real? How can a human be born in the Witch World?" Soul asked.
"Same as Crona." Ayo said. "Medusa raised us there, that's how I learned my magic, and multiple stuff."
"So you're saying you went from that world to this one, and became a 3 star meister anyways? And then went back into the witch world again before returning?"
"Indeed." Ayo replied.
"Then why did you go back?" Soul asked. Ayo stayed silent for a moment before answering.
"I can't say."
"Why not." Soul demanded.
"Because you aren't ready for such news yet. Well, I'm going to head back now." Ayo said, putting his hands in his pockets and turning around.
"Hey, what do you mean by 'I'm not ready'?"
"Your mind is stuck in a paradigm, caused by biased teachings." Ayo said. "Once your mind grows, then you will be ready."
"Don't give me that bullshit, this is why I don't trust you." Soul threatened.
Ayo said nothing, walking the other direction, leaving Soul behind. Soul walked the other way, the two boys headed separate ways.
Tsk, 'I'm not ready yet', who does he think he is, a spiritual adviser or something? Soul thought to himself.
Soul put his hands in his pockets, but couldn't help but fidget around in irritation. It had been half an hour since that talk, and he was still walking around the city.
Possessiveness? Yeah right, if Maka heard that I'd be dead.
Besides, what does he even mean by paradigm? I don't even know what that means. Biased teachings? Does he mean that the DWMA is one sided? That's not true, we eradicate evil in this world, without us it would be destroyed by the witches.
Jeez, that guy's just too mysterious.
Soul took a stop after feeling a mysterious feeling crawl upon him. He touched his chest, trying to figure out what it was.
What was that? I felt like my soul was just with something? Is that what that was?
He looked up to see a strange tall man in a large black cloak. Upon his right chest was a strange pin that had a design on it.
A blue cloud?
"Who are you?" Soul asked, slightly threatened by the man's presence.
"Troubled?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I can feel it." The strange man said, pointing at his chest. "You don't trust him, don't you?"
"How did you-"
Suddenly the man in front of him disappeared. A hand touched Soul's right shoulder.
Soul turned his hand into a reversed blade, turning a sharp 180 and slicing the air behind him, only to find nothing behind him.
"Right here." Soul heard to his left. He turned to find the man a little ways into the road, staring at him from underneath that dark cloak.
"Whatever you do, you shouldn't trust that man." The strange cloaked man said.
"Who are you-"
"Ayo of course."
"How do-"
"I knew him from the Witch World." The man said, disappearing once again.
"Why should I trust you instead?" Soul asked out loud, irritated from the multiple interruptions.
"Do you want to know why he went back into the Witch World?" Soul heard the voice behind him.
Spin, Slash, nothing once again.
"Hm?"
Soul heard it from all around him this time.
"Stop toying with me." Soul said. "Of course I do."
The strange man appeared right in front of Soul this time.
Teleportation?
"The reason why he went back is to help Medusa."
"Why's that?"
"Curious one, aren't you?"
"Just tell me already." Soul said impatiently.
"Sometimes the truth can be hurtful you know, you sure you want to hear?" The strange man said again.
"I'm tired of this 'my mind isn't ready' shit already, just tell me, I want answers."
The man disappeared again.
Seriously?
"He helped Medusa revive the Kishin." Soul heard the voice behind him.
Expecting it to be there, Soul slashed again, this time hitting the man.
No, it went through him, the man that was slashed in half turned into a black smoke, withering away.
"No resistance? A decoy?"
"Meet me here 3 days from today if you wish to know more." This time the voice seemed to come from his own soul.
Suddenly the strange feeling in his chest disappeared, and all was normal. Soul leaned up against the brick wall nearby.
Did he just say...
He helped her revive the Kishin?
Just how did he do that?
Why would he leave the DWMA to help a witch?
Why did he become a Meister at DWMA in the first place?
Does anybody else know about this, does Death-sama know about this as well?
If they do, why did they want him back?
Soul put his hand on his head, adjusting his headband. He looked back up into the sky, questions still flooded his head.
Can I really trust him?
A huge blast of wind suddenly erupted in front of Soul, a streak of blue could only mean one thing.
"A- Ayo?"
"Did you see a witch around here?" He asked.
Soul didn't know what to say at that point. Do I tell him and target that witch, or...
Do I keep it a secret to get more information?
Soul shook his head. "No, I haven't felt anything."
A few more bodies came to an abrupt stop as well, as if teleporting.
"Blackstar? Kidd?"
"Oi, you okay?" Blackstar asked.
"Yeah, he seems fine, I guess the witch must have been somewhere else."
"A witch? Was one around?"
"Yeah, a crazy powerful one." Ayo said with a sigh.
He seemed, suddenly relaxed? It was as if he was just worried earlier, worried about me?
Maka came to a halt as well, breathing heavily.
"Soul's... okay..." She panted out.
"Just... just how powerful was this witch for all of you to show up?" Soul said with a concerned face.
"It must... have been more powerful than Medusa's soul." Kidd said.
"More?!" Soul exclaimed.
"Yeah, he is a Clan Leader in the Witch World, he was actually after Medusa." Ayo said. "His name is Kannaji."
"Kannaji? Never heard of him." Kidd said.
Maka seemed to tense up for a moment.
"Well of course, not all witches come to this world and make a huge scene, more powerful ones, such as Clan Leaders, usually avoid coming here to avoid the DWMA, much easier to send underling witches or clan members."
Why did that guy come talk to me then? Soul thought.
"That's crazy, to think a Clan Leader has come to Death City." Maka said.
"Yeah, it has to be reported immediately. Right to Death." Ayo said. "That guy has an ability to read a soul's memories."
"A soul's... memories?" Blackstar asked.
"Yes, in essence, he can read your memories right from your soul, although it only works if you aren't paying attention or you're distressed emotionally or physically."
"What is his attack capabilities?" Kidd asked.
"You're seriously asking that?" Ayo said, turning to Kidd. "ALL memories, even ones you don't remember. Imagine him getting into Stein's or another Death Scythe's soul with top secret confidential information including future battle plans, where top secret items are kept, peoples weaknesses, the layout of the DWMA, anything is possible, you're concerned about attack ability?"
"Okay, okay, I get it." Kidd said with a troubled expression.
"How do you even fight against something like that?" Maka asked.
"As long as the top people know about the existence of the ability and are on alert at all times, he wont be able to do it." Ayo said. "The soul needs to be unguarded to be accessed."
"Well then let's waste no time, let's go to the DWMA and tell Death about this." Kidd said, summoning Beelzebub.
The group ran towards the DWMA, Soul the furthest behind.
So that's how that dude could keep cutting me off.
Does that mean he knows everything I know now? How embarrassing, not cool...
Jeez, this just keeps getting worse.
"That was close." A man in a strange black robe said aloud.
To be more precise, there were 5 of them. The leader's chest bore a pin, the shape of a blue cloud. They were crouching on a rooftop from a distance.
"No, I could tell from his memories how close Ayo was to his position."
"You didn't scour his whole soul did you?" The boy to Kannaji's left asked.
"Yes, I did."
"Tsk, what a waste."
"How so?"
"If you read a whole souls memories too many times, your brain becomes clogged right?" The man asked again.
"It was necessary, I needed names, plus he knew about Ayo, I needed info on him as well."
"No, that isn't our mission and you know that." The boy argued.
"It isn't our main objective, but it would be nice to crush that traitor." Kannaji threatened. He stood up and looked at the boy to his left.
"Kazuma, go spy on that group, make sure to stay concealed. If they catch you, consider yourself dead." Kannaji ordered. With the snap of a finger, the group of 4 jumped off the roof into the darkness.
The last thing that Kazuma ever thought would happen when joining the Kannaji clan, was going against Ayo.
He was a good friend, however, the Kannaji clan members never knew of their friendship, otherwise when Ayo left for the human world and broke their contract, he would have been tortured or held hostage as threat to Ayo.
However Kazuma knew that Ayo wouldn't break a contract for no reason, especially against one of the strongest clans in the Witch World, and that reason was probably greater than their friendship, another reason he was lucky the Kannaji clan never knew of their friendship.
Knowing Ayo, he would have found a way to get what he wanted and save him as well, but that situation was narrowly avoided. The problem now was the current situation.
Will I go against the Kannaji clan and team with Ayo, or help them kill him?
Honestly he really didn't want to kill his friend, but at the same time, going rouge and becoming a member of the Kannaji clan hit list was a very scary thought. How Ayo could handle being their target, Kazuma had no idea.
Does he even know about our presence? I'm sure he does, Kannaji released his soul protect, I am sure that Ayo noticed it, he isn't stupid.
He doesn't know about me joining the Kannaji clan however, what should I do?
As Kazuma dashed through the alleyways, catching up to the group, his mind was reeling with the decision he faced.
Will Ayo's new friends even accept me, even if I wanted to join?