Dark, but dry.

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Chapter 11: Into The Bowels

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The temple was just as dark and unwelcoming as when Kid had woken up in it. The only change were the slightly slippery tiles that made up the Temple's entrance, including a door of cyclopean proportions that nonetheless creaked open when Black Star and Kid approached. Kid hadn't paid attention the first time he left the temple, but the door somehow reacted to the presence of the Grim Reaper's Wavelength, which brought up question of how and why it had been engineered that way.

In any case, the dry darkness that stretched before them was preferable than the damp cloudy skies and the two stepped inside the Temple. Or at least it was for Kid, whose clothes were soaked, and who had to suffer the smell of slowly decomposing fish.

"I can't see a thing!" Black Star let out, his voice echoing along the smooth black stone.

"Stay close," Kid said as he stepped next to Black Star. Though he could see in the dark, his vision was made up of only vague monochrome shapes. His Soul Perception was active in the background as well, though Kid doubted it would be of much use here.

He thought about summoning one of his jets and lightly activating it, but that would barely give out enough light, not to mention Kid could have to be careful to not accidentally fling himself on a wall.

Behind them, the door shuttered close with a hair-raising creak, creating a gust of wind that ruffled their hair.

"Charming," Kid muttered under his breath as they were bathed in complete darkness. He looked at Black Star, who was staring straight ahead with a jutted chin, eyes narrowed into slits as if he could spontaneously gain night vision. Honestly, with all that nonsense they've been put through recently, Black Star might just do so-

"What are we waiting for?!" Black Star said, abandoning his quest for staring the darkness away and freeing one of his hands to point further into the Temple, his makeshift sack of fish dangerously tittering to one side. "Let's go-!"

"Wait, someone's coming," Kid grabbed Black Star before he could take a step. "Soul Perception," he added before Black Star could ask.

A light appeared from around the corner, faint and yellow-tinted. Slow but steady thumps followed soon after, as if it was held high, higher than any human could reach, and dangled as if hung from a cord. Its appearance was immediately followed by rhythm thumps of wood against stone, in accordance with the light's waggles. A figure held on it, with only skeleton-thin hands peeking through thick layers of cloth.

"Who dares intrude…?!" the figure began in a booming feminine voice, only to falter once Kid and Black Star stepped into the light. Immediately the figure kneeled, her hands still clasping a thin but tall staff where an old lantern hung via a string.

"Milord," she continued, her voice losing the domineering tone and falling on a humbler dulcet tone.

Black Star gave Kid a look and he quickly shrugged in response. "Who are you?"

"I'm but a lowly servant," the figure curtly said.

"I would prefer a name," Kid continued, unimpressed. He could technically discern a name if he took a long hard look one's the soul. However, Kid tried to avoid that. Some people found it rude.

"I'm but a lowly Priest," the woman insisted.

Kid narrowed his eyes as he examined the figure from head to toe. Was she like the figures from the village, but for Kid instead of Black Star? Considering their stories and hesitancy towards the Temple and Kid, his biggest worry was that anyone on the 'Dark Champion's' side would carry a weapon or would be hostile. However, the only thing she seemed to be carrying was a lantern.

"So, is this like your place or something?" Black Star asked as he looked behind the Priest, only to be met with more darkness. "Also, do you have like, a fire pit? We brought fish-"

"And who are you?" the Priest cut Black Star off, her voice slowly returning to her authoritarian tone.

"He's with me," Kid said, figuring that if person referred to herself as Priest of the Grim Reapers, she would at least not try and pull anything against him.

Immediately, the Priest backed down. "Ah. I see. Then apologies for my intrusion-"

"Hey, hold on you don't have like, a spiel for us or something?" Black Star asked as he looked at the Priest with a frown.

"Right," Kid continued, "no surprises held in store for us?"

"There is no need."

"Figures I got the pushy ones…" came Black Star's muttering and Kid had to hold back an amused smile. He had to agree that was oddly fitting, though the Grim Reaper would appreciate if his 'Priest' would act less asocial.

"It is known what needs to be done," the Priest continued.

Black Star looked at Kid. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Black Star, I really don't think this matters…" Kid with a sigh. "Really, what good can come out of this? That I'm supposed to romance you as well, or some other nonsense?" Honestly, he did not want to go through the same awkwardness between them when Black Star had been told he needed to go full rom-com on Kid to save this island.

Black Star flinched. "Romance, yeah…" he muttered with a grimace and looked away, puzzling Kid. He thought Black Star would laugh along and say it was embarrassing or brag about it or something.

Right, perhaps Kid's rejection was too fresh for Black Star's mind. Strange though, he never had him for the sort.

A loud rumbling noise reverberated through the walls, reminding Kid of the cries of a dying whale. He glanced around momentarily alarmed-

Only for his face to drop when Black Star scratched his growling stomach with a pout and shifted his sack of fish. "So, about that dinner…"

"Right…" Kid turned to the Priest. "You wouldn't happen to have a stove lying around here, would you? A firepit would do as well."

"There are supplies," the Priest curtly said. "I will go prepare for the night…"

Kid would take that as a yes. At least they were making progress on that front.

As the Priest stood up, they gave Kid another hurried bow. "And my apologies for disturbing you. I will remain unheard from now on…"

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They had a torch, a very rudimentary lit pit and a stone they were currently using as a stove, where rows of tiny fish were sizzling on. It was as good as they could do, in Kid's opinion.

Even the fish smell was getting more tolerable, as they were slowly grilled on the makeshift stove. Black Star certainly seemed to be enjoying them, considering he was scarfing down the smaller finger-sized fish in one bite.

"This isn't too bad," Black Star said as he licked his fingers before picking up a bigger fish and took some time to debone it. "Wish we had spices though, or even some salt."

Kid watched Black Star eat with little interest. His gaze kept darting at the shadows; in combination with his Soul Perception, he would occasionally catch sight of the Priest skittering across the edges of his vision.

Eventually, Kid's patience wore thin. "I know you're there," he said at the shadows where the Priest was hiding. Black Star swallowed his bit and glanced at Kid in confusion.

When he got no reply and noticed that the Priest's soul and by extension their body, was trying to stay very still, Kid frowned. Great, had he just made the situation worse?

"Aren't you hungry or something?" Kid asked the darkness.

"…The water sustains me," came the Priest's low voice eventually.

Kid was hoping her words had a secondary hidden meaning which implied she consumed more than just pure water, but nothing on this island made sense.

Next to him, Black Star continued eating. Kid wondered if he had noticed the Priest's presence too but just hadn't said anything.

"We have fish," Kid called out. "They're probably edible." Black Star gave him another look as he was halfway wolfing down another fish and Kid shrugged. "I mean, you'll eat anything."

As Black Star reciprocated with a harmless shoulder punch which earned him a barely concealed smirk and a light shove from Kid, a figure emerged from the shadows.

Kid and Black Star stopped their play-fighting as the Priest inclined towards Kid's direction. "If you will allow me to indulge…"

"Please do," Kid implored her, worried that she took up the offer of eating food of such dubious quality. Had she only been drinking the water here?

Wordlessly, the Priest sat down opposite to Kid and reached out for the smallest fish that had been prepared. From the way her robes -more like rags at this point- folded and bent, her frame appeared to be skeletal, as were the fingers that revealed themselves under her many cloths.

"So what do you think?" Black Star wiped his mouth, straightened his back and pointed at himself. "I, the Great Black Star, caught them!"

The Priest didn't respond, munching on the tiny fish like a mouse.

Black Star's face briefly fell before he struck another seemingly casual pose. "So like, you've been here long?"

Again, the priest did not respond.

At this, Black Star's slumped in annoyance. "Hey, you gone deaf or something?"

Like before, Black Star got no response.

Kid frowned. Why was she not responding? Her hearing didn't appear to be damaged as she had heard them before?

Oh no, was the fish really that bad?

"Are you enjoying the fish?" Kid asked.

"Yes," the Priest immediately said.

Black Star pointed an accusatory finger to the Priest. "Hey! You responded to Kid!"

If the Priest was surprised by a finger centimetres away from her face, she didn't show.

Black Star's frown turned into a scowl. "Hey-!"

"Black Star," Kid said and grabbed on to the hem of his trousers just in case he tried to lunge at the Priest. "Please calm down."

Black Star looked back at Kid with vexed expression. "But she's totally ignoring me!"

"She is, and it's quite rude," Kid agreed.

"Apologies, milord," the Priest said with a bow.

"Hey, I'm the one you should be saying sorry to!"

Once again there was no response or acknowledgement from the Priest.

With Black Star only getting angrier next to him, Kid let out an exasperated sigh. "Just ignore her. What can you do, throw her into the pool or-?"

"No!" As if electrified, the Priest stood up and backed away, her voice trembling. "No, not the Well, I'm not a Champion!"

Before Kid could ask her what she meant, she had taken off and blended with the shadows one again. Even when using his Soul Perception, Kid only saw her soul retreat further away into the Temple.

"…What the hell was that?" Black Star asked after a few moments.

Kid rubbed his forehead. He was feeling a headache form.

"Whatever, she's a weirdo," Black Star continued before he ate another one of the finger-sized fish whole. "So, what's our plan? Cuz all I got so far is kick the Goddess' butt and force her to take us home."

"Honestly, that might just do the thing," Kid said with a sigh. "But we'll need to locate her first, and also make sure that if we do end up fighting we don't cause her serious injuries… And there are all the people on this island as well."

Black Star let out an agreeing sound as he wolfed down another handful of fish.

Kid clicked his tongue, frustration bubbling. "This Goddess ought to take up the responsibilities she has for the people and stop this nonsense."

Black Star paused from eating and gave Kid a confused look.

"Honestly, having such a ridiculous 'request'," Kid continued with rising frustration. "She's not the first one who's lost a partner and she certainly won't be the last."

Black Star blinked and gulped down his food. "Uh, we still talking about Atlantis?"

"Of course-" Kid cut himself off, expression going from one of irritation to one of exhaustion. "Ugh. I just hope that's all there is to it and there isn't something else going on, or at least we don't cause further problems down the line…"

"Like what?"

Kid shrugged. "It was the death of her partner that lead to this…" He gestured all around them. "To us being stranded here..."

"I guess..." Black Star slowly said and scratched his neck. "Hey, you're not like, blaming yourself or something-?"

"Of course not," Kid said with a scoff. Really, feeling guilty for being Death was a silly notion, and something Kid hadn't experienced and doubted he ever would. Honestly, the only time Kid had come close to 'woe is me' territory about his Grim Reaper nature was when Asura had been revealed to be his brother, and frankly, any person would -and should- do some soul-searching when told that the mad, apocalyptic entity they had been fighting against for centuries was their sibling.

But…

"It does not mean we can act rashly though. Otherwise…" His frown turned into a scowl. "Asura, the Kishin Eggs… Even Arachne managed to reach terrifying strengths by improving Eibon's designs, and the reason Eibon was on Earth in the first place..."

"Huh?"

"All I'm saying is that there is no room for error," Kid continued. "Now that this Goddess is involved, we have to be careful and come up with a solution that will ensure everyone's safety and transport Atlantis back to our world, and we have to execute such plan precisely and perfectly." He glanced around the dark Temple, the mystery of this place and the strange things that had been happening to Kid sending a shiver up his spine. "And part of that includes knowing as much as we can about this place."

Of course, having said the above now brought the conversation right back into...

"In any case, I'm… glad we managed to resolve our situation," Kid concluded, feeling any previous annoyance give way to a weary quietness.

Black Star blinked. "Our what now?"

"I mean the… crush," Kid hesitantly began, fully aware he was venturing into unknown territory. "You took the rejection well."

"Oh that, yeah, don't worry about it," Black Star said with a casual laugh. "I'm used to being rejected," Black Star continued and Kid's gave him a concerned look as Black Star took pause as well. "No wait that came out wrong…"

Kid stared at Black Star in expectation and slight worry. He had listened to Liz complain about guys being too 'chicken' to dare her multiple times before, but she had never sounded this resigned.

"Uh, what I was trying to say is that I've had crushes on people before and it didn't work out...?" Black Star said, more to himself as if he was trying to find the right words before going silent in thought.

Kid kept quiet, not wanting to break Black Star out of his thoughts. Though Kid knew where he stood, it was interesting to hear other people's perspectives on the matter.

"So, like, I like guys," Black Star began, "and uh, I kinda get that you're like, meh about the whole 'guy' category but I still like you, so whatever," he quickly added with a shrug.

Well, being 'meh' was an apt summary of Kid's gender identity he supposed, though... "Didn't you try to sneak into the girl's outdoor showering area a couple of times in the DWMA?"

"Yeah, but that was to mess with Tsubaki," Black Star said with a grin and Kid shot him a half-hearted glare. "Also, you barged right into the girls' showers too!"

Kid was about to object and claim that it wasn't his intention to intrude into anyone's privacy and that he had acted on the spur of the moment but… Black Star was technically right. Kid had walked right into that one.

"So, like, I've never been grief for the whole liking boys thing - I mean there was one time when some older jerk tried to make fun of me but I kicked his ass."

"As you do," Kid said with a nod.

Black Star flashed a grin, before sobering up. "But yeah, since you got more guys that like only girls than guys who also like guys, chances were that if I had a crush on some dude they wouldn't like me back. Uh, has something to do with math I think?" Black Star scratched his head before shrugging. "Anyways, it's happened a couple of times but hasn't stopped me from being friends or anything, so there."

Kid frowned. That last part sounded awfully suspicious. "Who was it?"

"Who was what?"

"The crush-turned-friend?"

Black Star shrugged and looked away. "Some guy."

Kid let out a non-committal sound. He rarely got the chance to joke around Black Star like this, but he would stop if he looked any more uncomfortable. "I told you about Liz."

"…Soul," Black Star eventually said and blew his cheeks. "But uh, guy obviously liked Maka from the start so that went nowhere."

Kid let out a small sympathetic laugh. "You do have the worst luck."

Black Star craned his neck back and groaned. "I know…"

"But good taste though," Kid said, gesturing to himself.

Black Star narrowed his eyes at Kid, but he was holding back a laugh as well. "Oh, and I'm the arrogant one."

Kid couldn't help but laugh again, and this time he was joined by Black Star.

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:')

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