Alright, hopefully this chapter will start to do some of the explaining that I know this story has been desperate for. The whole point of this story was for me to do some practising of a new way of writing. I like to think I did a pretty good job of it. Hopefully you enjoy it. I know it's been a while since I updated, but I just have so many things going, not least of which is a host of new stories. Fairy Tail, Destiny, Steven Universe, Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Tokyo Ghoul, D&D, A second Monster Hunter story, and an Accel World one. And that's all in addition to college (Master's degree), and a full time job. I always had trouble delegating, and I always end up trying to do way too much. My real downfall is in the stories though. I always want to write yet another one, and each new anime I watch makes me want to write another. Now I'm tempted to write a One Piece one too! Crazy right? Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this chapter.


"They don't respect me." He muttered sourly. His partner sat quietly, unsure of herself. When he got this way, an errant word might trigger his aggression directed at her. While he may not look like much, he was a sadist with an anger management issue, leaving her rightfully cautious around him. "They underestimate me at their own peril. Isn't that right my pet?"

Despite the danger to being in his company, she felt a thrill race through her when he called her 'pet.' She felt a thrill just being in his presence. The dark chills he sent through her, the threat he carried around him directed at everybody around him. It was stupid, it was dumb, it was terrible and probably abusive, but she loved him.

God did she love him. He was powerful, mysterious, and not too bad to look at either. While he stormed along the alley and back, pacing impatiently, she simply enjoyed being near him. Enjoyed his appearance, his presence, his smell. She could feel the rapid fluctuations of his soul as he raged, it was exhilarating to have a sense of him so deep inside of her. To have this bond that was so difficult for most to even comprehend, his soul just bonded with hers perfectly. From the moment he first touched her, holding her hand gently as he placed a kiss on the back of it, she'd known. She'd known perfectly that he was the only one for her.

"They're going to pay, you know that?" He was more mumbling now than anything. She was only a few feet away from him and even she was having difficulty hearing him. "I've got too many plans to be set back by this little hiccup, and they barely even know what they did to upset that one."

He slammed a fist pointlessly against the brick walls. "Shinigami-sama." He sneered. "Everybody always begs for Shinigami-sama to show up and save them. Well, I'm one threat that even Shinigami-sama won't be able to save them from." His eyes shone violet, flashing violence and danger toward his partner. "Isn't that right?" She nodded helplessly, worried about upsetting him. "I'm going to kill Shinigami, and his son. I'm going to eradicate the entire species. And then we'll be free to live our lives without his incessant domineering."

She stayed quiet, not wanting to distract him from his monologuing.

"It's almost the full moon. Two more days and then it's all over. The entire clan of Shinigami, the entire species, gone. No more obedience, no more symmetry, no more death!" He spun to her, startling her. "Isn't that just wonderful? Just think of the possibilities!"

She tried to smile, but she was sure that some of her nervousness was bleeding through her grin. Luckily, it seemed that he wasn't paying that much attention to her. She was very familiar with that. More often than not, she was ignored as part of his day. She didn't really know what his personal vendetta against the Shinigami was, but she didn't question it. That would probably just make her his enemy too.

"Death will no longer be an obstacle. With eternal life, will people age? No cell death? What would happen to the starving masses? Will people just continue to age into dotage? And from there into helplessness?" His breath was coming in great heaves as his excitement grew. "Just think, if only somebody had stood up against them like I will, then we wouldn't be orphans eh? I might even have had a chance to get to know my family. Come on. We've got an appointment to keep. We don't want to be late."

If we didn't want to be late, maybe you shouldn't have spent so much time monologuing. She thought uncharitably about her partner. She wouldn't dare say that out loud of course.

Before she'd been orphaned, she'd learned some very important lessons from her mother. Never speak when dad was speaking, submission to men kept you safe, make sure you stay useful in some way. She'd learned those lessons early, and used them nearly every day with this partner. He was so similar to her father, angry, aggressive, the only big difference was that her partner didn't drink nearly as much as her father had.

She still followed after him loyally as he led the way through the cramped, dirty alleys of Death City.

She didn't really have all that much of a choice after all. He took a circuitous route through the city, slowly make his way to the center of the city. To the Demon Weapon Meister Academy. DWMA, Shibusen. Their school.

Every time she thought about it, a smile found its way crawling across her lips. The two of them, who only wanted to destroy everything Shibusen stood for, were hiding right in plain sight, right under Shinigami's missing nose. Probably her favorite part in her partner's plan.

She knew from the get go that they weren't going to be entering the school though. It was too dangerous to speak of their plans, and even more dangerous to meet some of their allies that close to Shinigami.

He stepped toward the wall of the building and began to float, climbing an invisible staircase all the way up to the roof.

Not an option for her. Unfortunately, she was a demon weapon, a curse that she hope her ancestors for hundreds of generations were burning in hell for the rest of eternity. Still, despite how much she hated her existence, she recognized the benefits to it. Such as right now. With levitation unavailable to her, and a partner who honestly couldn't care whether she showed up to the meeting or not. She needed to have her own way to reach the roof. Where her heritage came in. Luckily, Shibusen was designed horribly. Obscenely. She took a running start and jumped, inhuman muscles stretching to propel her up into an easy eight foot jump, then from there, nearly twelve feet higher to snag one of the jagged protrusions. A scant few more jumps and she'd reached the roof, well ahead of her partner.

She wondered who they were waiting on. The rooftop was eerie in the darkness, not that that meant much. With their allies, with her partner even, eerie was the usual feeling.

Only twenty minutes of waiting gave her her answer.

Jack.

She didn't like most of their allies, but she had a particular distaste for Jack. He was a demon sword, a vile weapon that fed on innocent souls. Her honor as a demon weapon, even a reluctant one, wouldn't let her tolerate him. He was just a vile perversion of something once pure. All demon weapons were powerful, but demon swords like Jack were powerful in a was that just seemed wrong. His presence was nails scratching on a chalkboard, a dark corner in a well-lit room, a black spot on a white sheet. He was wrong, so wrong that even normal humans recognized it when they saw him.

"What's up J-" He started to say, but was immediately cut off by her partner.

"No names here you idiot." His cold eyes reflected his anger. "How goes our plans?"

"The Shinigami's boy is strong, stronger than expected. He faced down trials almost exactly the same as his father, and conquered them with little difficulty. He did to Vito Cascioferro what Shinigami did to Al Capone, to Ammuit what was done to the Wrath of the Pharaoh." Jack smiled. "That was expected, although he did it with a rage that was unexpected. He has a seed within in, a needfor perfection that mimics his father's madness. Aside from him, the students are rather lackluster so far. A Teldier? And his partner show good unity, great teamwork. But they are new to each other, still learning. Tyler, Synnar, Faust, Lorelei, Tracy, Stacy, Ulrich, those are the names that echo through the halls. Teldier and his partner have been on exactly one mission together so far, and it wasn't even their success, but rather Akuma and team."

"Oh? They went to Egypt as well?"

"Not sure why. Still, of the five hundred or so students here, weapon and meisters alike, only a dozen or so of any real note? It won't be much of a challenge to eliminate them all. Even better, just over half of the students are away from school right now, among them, all but three of the one I listed off, are gone right now. The school is a ghost town, whether from missions, or training, or special exercises, it's empty."

"Perfect."

"Jenna's out on the bluff, slowly building up an army with her protectors, and milady rests about a day's walk to the east, in her coffin. Our egg is growing strong. With a full coven of witches devoted to protecting her exclusively, we're expecting a kishin soon." Jack's grin sent shivers down her spine. "Akuma and his team went out south to fight the demon dogs. If he's such a threat, should we send somebody down to ensure he doesn't return?"

"Hmm, who do we have in South America?"

Jack thought for a second. "La Mujer Verdugo comes to the mind immediately. Dragon Lady might still be down there. There are a few witches who might stillbe loyal to our cause. After all, nobody was happy when Morganna decided to betray her kind."

"No... We weren't." His fists clenched. "I can't believe that that bitch would dare to show her face here. I warned her what would happen if I saw her again."

"Maybe she needs reminding?" She spoke for the first time, a threat that caused her partner and the monster to grin.

"Exceptional idea. Why don't we give her, and all Shibusen a taste of what's coming?" Her partner's grin began to twist as he took on his true form. His body squirmed, like there were hundreds of thick worms twisting around under his skin. Slowly, his bones grew, skin stretching nearly to the breaking point briefly before muscle and skin extended as well to match his new size. His hair darkened and turned lavender, then darkened still further until it was a deep, rich, velvet purple. When his transformation completed, he stood nearly a foot taller, fit and powerful. He waved a hand over his uniform, which rippled like it was caught in a windstorm. It quickly changed from that into a long brown-green duster that swept along the ground, along with an almost military style uniform, although it seemed severely outdated.

She licked her lips looking at him. She really liked it when he took his real form.

He twisted his head back and forth, loosening his neck with a few crunching noises and then let out a relived sigh. "Oh that feels good." He continued to stretch his muscles for a few more minutes. "God, that little brat's body is annoying. It's so small. I feel like a damned contortionist in there."

"i doubt it's really necessary to hide like that." Jack offered.

He turned to face the demon sword. "Of course it isn't. Shinigami is a trusting fool. Hell, he offered an unconditional agreement to protect them, cutting the demon weapon's potential to turn into a death scythe. I sure as hell showed him how stupid that idea was." He chuckled. "I feel pretty damn good about that. Do you know how it feelsto be the entire cause of a law to be reversed? To be the whole reason your entire species is now being hunted to extinction like rabid dogs? Because it's a damned good feeling."

Jack smiled. "I'm sure it is. There aren't enough of my kind to warrant a law being passed, no matter what I do."

"Do you want to stick around and watch the show?"

Jack shrugged. "Why not? Sounds like it'llbe pretty good."

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Der Doktor is in the house." He spread his arms wide and called forth his power. "I can feel the Pullgrowing ever more powerful within me. The Pull of Magic, a taste of the almighty powers that be. Oh, Shinigami... You truly should have slaughtered us all when you had the chance! Before we got to the Realm, beyond your reach!" He laughed long and loud, causinghis partner to look around worriedly.

He may not have been worried about Shinigami-sama, but she certainly was. She wasn't a death scythe, nor a demon sword. She was a demon weapon, and had been on the path to death scythe, to be usedby Shinigami-sama, to make him more powerful.

She would be easy prey for him right now.

"Don't worry, you have much bigger parts in my plan." He whispered to her.

"Johann..." Her voice cracked a little. Despite it all, she knew that he cared about her, in some manner at least.

He threw arms wideand began to chant. "Nach, nachz, nachzehrer." His voice took on a throaty gurgle. The darkness reflected his voice back at them in a resounding echo. Slowly, a fog began to rise from the ground, thin at first, but thickening in a rush.

She shivered and stepped closer to him, wrapping arms around herself. Even as his loyal partner, she'd never actually seen him use magic before.

The mist billowed up and out, slowly wrapping the entire city in its grasp. The streets disappeared rapidly, lost in snaking streamers of fog. The buildings went away too, slower, as the mist built up on itself and grew taller and rose higher. The entire city soon became a . of white, only broken by some slight drafts of air and the glare of the streetlights. Those lights created a ghostly air to the fog. Pretty fitting to her mind.

"The Grave Mist." He said, reverently. "Be careful breathing this in. The Grave Mist infests the mind, drawing the thin barrier between life and death ever thinner. The more you breathe it in, the more the barrier thins. Then comes the dangerous part. The visions. You'll be visited by geists of your past. By those you've known who have fallen. By those you care about most. More than just that, they'll tempt you. They're lonely. They want you to join them. They needyou to join them. And they'll do anything to get you to. Don't worry about them though. They're honestly just images created by your own mind, trying to cause you to commit suicide. Against somebody strong-willed, there's no real danger, just a momentary distraction."

Already she could see it coming. A phantom slipping through the mist across the roof. The phantom was dressed in a neat suit, creases and tie perfectly steamed and all of the lines aligned with rigid precision. Like her, he was a stoic soul, quiet and calm. Living with him for nearly five years, she'd never heard him utter a word. He was just a solid rock in the middle of a swirling river. Where others would react with excitement at their child's accomplishment, he simply took it in stride, as if expecting it all along.

"Father." She whispered. He was her idol. Even if she wasn't his actual blood daughter, he'd taken her in when her actual parents, his son and daughter-in-law, had passed away.

"Marie." She heard Jack whisper. The knowledge barely helped her. Sure, it was apparent that they were both seeing figures in the mist, but that didn't help her visualize that it wasn't real.

Her father looked so real, standing just in front of her. Her idol come back from the grave. He was there. He was there to take her back to peace and serenity. She took a step toward him. He was stoic, an absolute wall as always, but when she took that step, she saw his firm slit of a mouth turn up slightly in pleasure. The only time she'd ever seen that before was when she did something in which he could take pride. He was proud of her. Proud of her for taking that step. She took another, coming just in front of him. He turned from her and began to walk off, beckoning for her to follow.

She started to step, but then felt a hand on her shoulder. A hand as cold and thin as a long dead skeleton's. The fingers dug into her flesh like bones, and she turned, anger flaring, to see her partner holding her.

"I thought you'd be stronger of will than this." He sneered, before gesturing for her to look down at her feet.

During the interrupted step, he'd stopped her with one foot on the edge of the building, the other hanging over nothing. She staggered back, falling at his feet. Her eyes filled with tears, but she wasn't sure why. She wasn't sure why she'd actually come so close. She knew it wasn't real. It was too good to have been true.

But she could have gone back to her father. Back to their villa where they'd always lived.

To peace and harmony, hope.

It would've been a dream come true. To see that little smile of his as they stayed together for eternity. As they lived in peace with only one another and nobody else to disturb them.

More than a dream come true. It would have been paradise.

Of course it was far too good to be true. She slumped, red-faced in embarrassment. She knew better than to expect something good like that to happen to her. That was why she was stuck with him anyway.

Nothing good ever happened in her life.

She shook her head, wiping the last remnants of the illusion away as well. The vision of her father disappeared, fading back into mist. She turned her gaze back to her partner, who was gesturing at the mist around them. Slowly, a small stream of the mist rolled around, roiling like boiling water as he drew it down between his hands. As it floated down, it slowly began to solidify, becoming a milky white crystal ball.

From that orb, he pulled a smaller chunk off, tossing it up into the air where it began to float down and around the school. The part that stayed behind cleared quickly, while the smaller piece floated down and followed a path around the school.

"Let's see what the kiddies are up to shall we?" He said quietly.

She looked over to see Jack staring at the orb as well. Of course he hadn't had any trouble escaping the illusion. Nope, only her. She stepped closer to improve her view. Looking over her partner's shoulder was pretty easy considering how short he was. She stood nearly a head taller than him, and she wasn't exactly that tall either.

Just another reason for him to be mad at her.

She watched as the orb floated in through an open window of the school, seeing the peaceful expressions of the sleeping masses. Peaceful students, training to annihilate everything her partner stood for.

She didn't believe in his cause, not for a moment. Nor did she really care about any of the students dying. She didn't care that her partner was fighting a war begun several hundred, even thousands of years ago. She didn't even care how long ago it had begun. She didn't care that the students were fighting a war they truly cared about. She just didn't care.

The first screams were already rising into the sky from the outermost regions of Death City. She imagined that she could actually see the mist blowing from the force of the screams.

She shivered and pretended it was the chill of night.

"Now let's see how well these children do against a real witch." Her partner was grinning.

After his statement, Jack was grinning like a fool, probably because his ally was forced to call himself a witch. The first few times, she'd found it funny as well, but by now it was just normal. Standard state of affairs. She'd mentioned before that they should probably call him a warlock or something, something male, a better description of what he really was.

He was proud of the title however, and shut her down every time she'd mentioned changing it. She looked into the orb as the view changed, traveling through the school's hallways. Surprisingly, there were still a few students up and walking around despite the hour. Some might even have been awake because of the hour. What did she know?

Her partner raised an arm, black lightning coursing along it to cut across the sky. She loved seeing him use his power like this. He was so strong, so ruthless.

"They might have been training hard to defeat kishin eggs and witches, but I highly doubt that anybody will be ready to fight against their dearly departed." He was smiling as he spoke. "And even if they are, it's not like anybody is going to stop us. To stop me."

"Great great, stop posturing and actually do it." Jack said impatiently.

"You have no flair for the dramatic." He complained. "There's no point to this if you don't punish them. If you don't make them realize their crimes, it's just killing, and there's no need to kill without reason. People need to be punished, and more than that, they need to know whois punishing them. Like this. I want Shinigami to suffer. I want him to realize his stupidity before his fall. I want him suffering, I want him to want death. I want Shinigami, the lord of death, to want his own existence to end before I allow him to die. Where better to start than with the death of all of his students and the people of the city? Death City, thought to be the one place safe from witches, mostly safe from demon swords. Where the civilians have no need to fear the night.

"It is a primal feelings. The fear of the dark, of night. The unknown creatures that call it home. Do you happen to know why that is my pretty?" He turned to face her.

She gulped, staring into those violent, violet eyes, an echo of his wild hair. His eyes were fierce, seemingly lit from within. "N-no I don't." She said weakly. "I'd think it's uh... cause nobody like the unknown?"

"Not quite." He smiled at her. "It's because in the dark, humanity knows." He turned to face Jack. "What do they know Jack?"

"I didn't come here for schoolhouse lectures." His face was still twisted into an almost painful looking smile, baring the jagged, razor sharp teeth he was so proud of. "But it's because they know that they are not the top of the food chain."

"Exactly! Humanity realizes in those precious moments in the night. When darkness is everything surrounding them, when their senses are reduced by one and their sight is worthless, that is when they realize. When they find that they are helpless against the real hunters. The monsters. Us." Now he was smiling wickedly, almost a mirror to Jack.

She sighed heavily and went back to looking into the faux crystal ball. Of course the two of them would know the answer. That was all she was really here for, for them to laugh at. She turned away abruptly as the orb revealed the terror-stricken face of one of the students. She walked to the ledge of the roof, and sat down.

"Where are you going?" Johann snapped, obviously distrustful of his partner still. Even after all of the help she'd given him.

She slipped down from the roof, holding onto the edge with one hand. "Don't you think it'd give it away pretty quick if one of the students was missing from the attack? Unless you were planning to leave my corpse behind as an explanation for why I didn't fight?"

His smile went from wicked to contemplative, more of a smirk now. "Right, yes of course. Don't worry my dear, if I were going to leave your corpse behind, it would have been some other girl's, probably burned so her real identity wouldn't be discovered. Corpses happen to be a specialty of mine you know. Still, it would be better if we could continue having somebody on the inside I suppose." He actually looked down at her with concern. Concern or the more likely pity. "Be careful, while I may be the controlling the bodies, I can't see everywhere at once. They'll try to kill you just as much as any of the other students."

She let go of the roof and fell, legs twisted so she tucked into a roll upon hitting the ground. Then she raced into the school and began knocking on the dormitory doors, hoping to wake somebody up that much quicker.

She wasn't going to let Johann just kill everybody in their sleep. She may have been his partner, but a willing party to wholesale slaughter of innocents she would not be.

She didn't owe Johann that much.