Chapter 12: Who Killed Benny Morgan?
"Um, shouldn't we pack, or something?"
Hikaru rolled his eyes at Haruhi's question. "Relax, Newbie, it'll only take a day at most." Since the D.A. scare only half an hour before, he had seemed to become less hostile towards her, although Haruhi was dubious as to whether it would last.
Since she had met with the others and relayed everything Death had told her, the other three Reapers seemed to lighten, and were far less panicked and serious than before. They had changed into simple summer clothing, except Kyouya, who wore a rather formal jacket and tie, but they all had their clocks still around their necks. Kyouya was being trusted with D.A.'s replacement clock.
"I don't know," she sighed. It was clear none of them grasped how far they actually were from pinpointing where D.A. was. They had a vague notion, nothing more. Surely they should pack a few things as a precaution, in case they were hurt, or ended up taking much longer than expected.
Kyouya piped up, "We better get going. The sooner we leave, the sooner we find D.A."
"Aw, but Death said this could be a field trip," Hikaru and Kaoru whined, "So why not go back and stay a few days after we find her?"
"Let's get there first, and then we can debate over how long to stay." He slid his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and then turned to the gargoyle in front of all of them. They were back in the common room, and Haruhi had been given a few quick instructions on a large group teleportation.
Once all four Reapers had placed a hand on the head of the statue, Kaoru was given the honor of stating, "Group transportation."
"Skraaaah! State location and number of individuals, skraaah!"
"Monte Carlo, Monaco. Four individuals."
"Skraaah! Transporting!"
Haruhi shut her eyes, and felt the familiar rush of wind blowing past her, ruffling her simple yellow sundress, which Kaoru insisted on dressing her up in, and made Hikaru turn a little red and grumble something incoherent. Haruhi thought it was too inconvenient for a rescue mission, and had at least negotiated with Kaoru enough to allow her to wear brown capris underneath.
When she felt her feet on firm ground and the wind had stopped, she opened her eyes, and saw that they were all in a busy street, with a variety of people walking past, and a few vendors on the side, yelling in a foreign language. Haruhi already felt dazed from the sudden change of surroundings; this place was nothing like where she grew up and lived. She turned, and her eyes widened, as she saw the ocean for the first time, and smelled the sea air.
Growing up, her father barely had any time to spend with her, what with all his long working days to try and make ends meet, and Haruhi balancing her school work and house work. When they did have enough time to travel anywhere, they simply didn't have the funds, and so while most of her class-mates could trade stories about visiting old relatives or simply having fun at the beach, Haruhi was left out. It was clear none of the others were fazed by the exotic location. She figured they must have been traveling for a while, working for Death.
"Is everyone fine?" Kyouya whispered. They were still invisible, and while the caw of seagulls and pedestrian chatter could cover up their whispering, more and more people were bumping into them, and wondering why on earth air was solid.
After a quick nod from all the others, he led them expertly through the crowd, causing a few more people to wonder what they had bumped into. When they had reached an alley, with only a few cats as witnesses, they took off their clocks, ending their invisibility, but also blocking their powers.
"Are we technically mortal, now?" Haruhi asked, feeling a little strange. It was as if her vital organs decided to remind her they were there, and she felt heavier inside.
Kaoru nodded. "So keep your clock close to you, because Demons will still attack."
"Only if someone dies," Kyouya added, his glasses catching a glint, "So let's hope no one does."
"Let's go check out this Casino de Monte Carlo," Hikaru suggested, the four of them walking back onto the street.
They were faced with a communication barrier, and so had to rely on Kyouya, the only one who knew enough French to get basic directions to the casino. At which point, Kaoru made a very important observation.
"Exactly how old are you supposed to be to get in?"
Hikaru shrugged. "We could always sneak in, like D probably did."
Kyouy smirked, drawing a fake I.D. out of his pocket. "Unlike the three of you, I came prepared." Haruhi frowned, wondering when he had the time to conjure up an I.D.
The bespectacled Reaper brushed past the others, about to enter, when the twins protested, "Hey, how come you're the only one who gets to go in?"
"Because I'm the only one with a valid I.D. I also look the oldest, am the only one who knows French, and frankly, the most competent. Now wait out here and don't get yourselves killed, I'll only be a few minutes."
Death examined his statistics appearing on the parchment in front of him, humming to himself. As of late, everything was just as in balance as always.
Then there was a number spike. "Hmm?" Death barely gave it any thought, snapping his fingers and matching the sudden increase in creation of lives with a sudden increase of deaths. For the most part, he could get away with killing off some plants, maybe a squirrel to even it all out.
There was another spike. Then another. And more still. Death frowned, watching as the numbers soared. His eyes widened. "The hell is going on?" This was record-breaking. He began to panic. "D.A., emergency meeting in my office now."
Silence. That's right, she was in Monte Carlo. He needed to get in touch with all his Reapers, the assignments were pouring in, but he had no time. He stumbled through his office, grabbing his cloak, trying to get in touch with the others, but failing. They had their clocks off. He needed to find them in person, and then find Life and kill her. Preferably violently. And with sharks, he loved using sharks.
Haruhi took the opportunity to look around. High class socialites dressed for the part passed them, a few given them questionable stares, wondering why some teenagers in jeans were hanging around. Haruhi didn't pay much attention to them, and instead focused on the vendors pushing a few carts down the street, and the tourist shops drawing people in. It was foreign to her, but struck her as quaint.
Kaoru squinted, trying to look in the distance, and told Hikaru and Haruhi, "Well, looks like Kyouya got D.A."
Hikaru strained his eyes to see as well. "Yeah, but something's off."
Now it was Haruhi's turn to observe. "Are they running?"
"They're motioning to us."
"I think they're putting their clocks on-"
"We should probably do the same-"
"But why-"
They saw why. Hundreds of Demons of varying shapes and sizes seemed to pour out of the shadows, windows, alleys, and came straight towards them. The trio could only watch with wide eyes after they put their clocks on. D.A.'s voice spurred them into action. "I suggest we start fighting if we don't want to be killed."
Summoning their scythes, they began slashing away at the little monsters, most fairly simple, probably coming from simple-minded creatures, like squirrels. Or sharks, they could be sharks.
Haruhi put her practice to good use, doing her best to defend herself, but still managing to get a deep gash in her left arm, making her cry out in pain. She faltered for a moment, and the Demons exploited her weakness and took it as a time to pounce. Hikaru seemed to appear out of nowhere, blocking them. "Don't let your guard down, Newbie."
The Demons were starting to get stronger, and they pushed the Reapers into a circle, all of them fighting with their backs facing the center. "We can't keep this up much longer, we'll have to teleport back to headquarters," Kyouya told them between blocks and hits.
"We can't. They'll take the souls," D.A. replied. Even with her experience, she was starting to sweat. Never before had she had to handle so many Demons at once in one place.
Haruhi commented, "I didn't see any souls or dead bodies."
"At first, they were probably just road kill or something Death usually handles," Kaoru told her, "But now it looks like people are starting to die."
Hikaru panted. "Was there a genocide we didn't hear about?"
"I don't know. Death's bitten off more than he can chew," D.A. told him. She slashed at a Greed Demon. "But on the flipside, that means Life is busy creating."
And they realized in that one moment exactly what was going on. They were in a trap. A trap that was about to get even deadlier, no thanks in part to the casino down the street.
Remy Welsh was a beautiful starlet who was almost always on the arm of Christopher Smythe. She should have been in the arms of Benny Morgan, at least in Benny's mind. The two had been dating for months after they were the romantic leads in a movie together. Those six months were the best time of Benny's life, and he knew they were for Remy as well.
Then Christopher had arrived on the scene. He stole everything from Benny: his acting career, his fortune, his fans, but most importantly, Remy. For a year, Benny could only watch as he became a nobody and the girl of his dreams was getting closer and closer to his worst enemy. Now, he had nothing to lose, and waited patiently near the bar, his gun hidden in his suit jacket.
Sure enough, Christopher strode in, Remy laughing obnoxiously at something he said, her white teeth flashing against her red lips. Benny began moving closer, his hand reaching into his jacket. He gripped the gun firmly, and pulled it out, about to take aim at not just Christopher, but Remy as well. Maybe he could get the two miserable scums in one shot.
He failed to account for the tight security, and was tackled by a previously hidden bodyguard. Benny was strong, though, and with adrenaline pumping through him, he managed to throw the man off him and took aim at a terrified Christopher. Before he could pull the trigger, he was shot.
The second bodyguard had been aiming for his stomach, but he had never been the best shot, and ended up being known as the man who killed Benny Morgan with one bullet to the heart.
The crowd of Demons seemed to be thinning a little, allowing the Reapers to catch their breath in between fights. It was only the quiet before the storm.
Hikaru was the first to see it, as he had a direct view of the casino. He could only stare. "Shit."
His fellow Reapers turned to follow his gaze, and watched in horror as a colossal Wraith Demon began to stand from the shadow cast by the casino. The red bear was at least three stories high, with fur that seemed to have a closer resemblance to spikes, fangs that were too big to fit in its mouth, and long black claws. It let out a roar that shook the Reapers from the inside, and reminded them just how small they were in comparison.
D.A. was the first to break their silence. "That's a problem."
Welcome back to Gray Area. Did you miss me?
I noticed has been going under some small changes; it's not bad, just going to take some getting used to. Speaking of changes, my writing style changed up a little for this chapter, which surprised me. I kind of like it, though. Maybe I'll try and show seemingly random moments and then tie them in, or have some more recurring gags. I don't know, I'm rambling.
You may have noticed my descriptions were nonexistent. That's because I've never been to Monte Carlo. And I'm lazy, so I don't research too well. Yeah...
Until next time, read and enjoy!
