New Chapter!

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Jackie sat at the table and sighed. She was at a library of all places with Harvar. Justin Law had told them to meet him there. She had gotten there an hour ago with Harvar, at the right time, but Justin hadn't shown up yet. The two weapons, after having a small and very quiet battle over a book, were now contently reading at the table, with Jackie occasionally shooting daggers at Harvar.

"There you two are!" Justin said loudly as he walked up to them and sat down. There was no need for him to be quiet, since the library was empty.

"What took you so long?" Jackie asked, making sure that she faced the death scythe while talking.

"I was setting up a little test for you," Justin said with a smile as he sat down. Harvar set his book down, giving Justin his full attention.

"What kind of test?" Harvar asked.

"Well, I need to see how well you two know each other," Justin said.

"Okay," Jackie said, looking a little confused.

"And I want to get to the root of your very obvious trust issues," Justin added with an honest smile.

"You mean her trust issues," Harvar said.

"Oh no. Both of you," Justin said with a smile. "It takes a lot to have as many issues with each other as you two do."

"That's offensive," Jackie muttered. Justin gave her an odd look, showing that he couldn't read her lips. She shook her head and Justin simply shrugged.

"I think the issues that you two share stem from a deep and secretive love for one another," Justin said casually. Harvar turned to Jackie very slowly and covered the side of his mouth with his hand, hiding it from Justin.

"He's insane," Harvar whispered. Jackie nodded. When Harvar faced front, Justin had a pissed look on his face.

"That's rude, you know," Justin said. "Your test has just been changed." Jackie glared at Harvar for a second.

"Can we just get it over with?" Harvar asked with a sigh. Justin smiled and pulled something up from under the table. It looked like a spray bottle.

Jackie frowned as a semi-familiar smell from chemistry class wafted up towards her nose. Before she could ask what it was, Justin sprayed it in Harvar's face, knocking him out almost instantly. Jackie didn't even have time to glance at the death scythe before she, too, was knocked out.

...

When Jackie regained consciousness, she screamed. She was suspended in the air from the highest balcony in the school and had a straight drop to the ground, more than three hundred feet below. Now, that kind of height would be scary for anyone, but Jackie had a severe terror of falling combined with a fear of heights.

"Good morning!" Justin said from the balcony next to her. "Just barely, actually. It's only 12:03." Jackie stared at him, taking a second to register the fact that she had been unconscious for five hours.

"Are you out of your damn mind? Is this your idea of trust building?" Jackie screamed at him.

"No. I'm just a little hurt by your behavior at the library earlier today, so I thought this would be fun," Justin said with a smile. "See? Lot's of fun. All this height and being suspended from a building. Exhilarating stuff."

"My behavior at the library was fine!" Jackie shouted. A breeze caused the rope to sway, making Jackie freeze again.

"Ah-ha! You were the one afraid of heights, not Harvar!" Justin said, slapping himself on the forehead.

"Where is Harvar?" Jackie asked, feeling the sheer terror in her stomach quell itself just a little.

"Well, I woke him up before you and we had a nice chat. He was pretty mad about my idea of trust building exercises. He does not have your fear of heights, though, so he cut himself down, see?" Justin pointed next to Jackie, where some frayed and burnt rope hung.

"And he fell?" Jackie asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah," Justin said, looking at the ground far beneath them. "Take a look." Jackie glanced down and immediately regretted it. She let out a small whimper and stared at her own arms instead, where the rope held her up.

"Can you please let me down?" Jackie asked, squeezing her eyes shut.

"No! Why, that'd defeat the purpose of this trust building exercise!" Justin exclaimed with an uncomfortable amount of enthusiasm. "You have to burn through the ropes and fall all the way to the ground!"

"Are you insane?" Jackie whispered. She could feel herself begin to shake.

"Of course not!" Justin said with a grin that suggested otherwise.

"Remind me how this builds trust?" Jackie asked.

"Well, maybe Harvar will be there to catch you. Maybe he's dead. Maybe he went home for a burrito of something, I don't know. It's your problem, not mine," Justin said. He turned around and walked away. "You can either fall and trust that he'll be there for you, or stay up here for the rest of the night." And with that, he was gone, leaving Jackie alone with only the moon to keep her company.

Now, Jackie would later say that she deliberated her next choice carefully. In reality, it happened even though she didn't want it to. In frightening situations, her body temperature would raise accordingly. Right now, in the face of her biggest fear, her temperature skyrocketed. She could smell the rope beginning to singe. It wasn't long before it burst into flames. The heat increase and sheer terror began to drain Jackie's energy until she was as limp as a rag doll. She knew that, at her height, it would take less than five seconds to hit the ground, and that scared her.

Then, almost unexpectedly, the rope snapped.

...

Justin watched from a window as Jackie fell past, only to be caught by Harvar right before she hit the ground. The burning ropes around her arms were quickly discarded. He could see her throw her arms around Harvar, crying, probably a result of the fear that had just left her.

"What kind of trust building activity is that?" Justin saw Jackie say as he walked towards her and Harvar.

"A great one, if you ask me!" Justin exclaimed.

"No, I have to agree with Jackie on this one. That was horrible," Harvar said.

"But she's over her fear now," Justin pointed out. "Right?" Jackie just shook her head.

"It's okay," Harvar said, trying to be as soothing as possible while fighting the urge to murder Justin.

"So it was a failure then," Justin said thoughtfully. He shrugged. "This is probably why I'm not a teacher."

"It's because you're insane," Jackie mumbled into Harvar's chest.

"What was that?" Justin asked. Harvar just glared at him. Justin just smiled. "We'll just have to try again tomorrow! Which means later today! I'll see you two at the library in ten hours!" With that, he walked into the school.

Harvar just watched him go, his face unreadable as he quietly pondered what the hell was wrong with Justin.

...

Justin stood in front of Lord Death with a sheet of paper in his hand. It had a series of questions written out in Lord Death's handwriting, with instructions to answer them out loud. Justin was on the last few questions.

"... No, they aren't dead. Yes, they did hug. Yes, it was adorable. No, not as adorable as the picture of Death the Kid when he was a baby. Why? Because that's impossible. And no, I do not believe that it is possible for the two of them to hold a steady resonance. Why do I feel that way? Because, they struggle even when they are in a group setting with their partners. It could be that they have trouble with one of the meisters, but I doubt it. And that is all," Justin finished up.

Lord Death nodded and waved his hand, dismissing the death scythe. After Justin was gone, Lord Death had time to lay out all the notes that Stein had given him.

It was about time that he started on the battle plan to eliminate the witch.

Chapter done!

I know Justin is pretty out of character.

Or is he?

Yay!

Hope you liked it!

Thanks,

~CatKkit.