DWTD Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater of any of its characters.
Maka POV
Where ever I was, it was cold.
I can hear a fire in the background and the light chatter of unfamiliar voices, they were all around me. Most of the voices seemed to be male, I can hear the odd muffled cry and what I think is a smack. My nerves are shot to hell, I am trembling due to the damp, cold air and the fear of the unknown, the last thing I remember was Tsubaki...
Wait! Am I dead? She told me that I had died once before, was that actually true? Am I dead now? Why is everything so dark? I try to open my eyes but it is no use; nothing but black. I can feel a presents behind me, the more I think about it, I start to realize the feeling is coming from all directions. My heart beat quickens and my breaths become shallow, whatever is over my head is starting to suffocate me.
"I think everyone should be awake by now," the voice of a young male rings out from my right side, the voice sounds oddly familiar, I'm sure I have heard it somewhere before. The bag covering my head is suddenly removed and the light from the fire to the right is blinding; I blink a few times until my eyes adjust. I look around and give a little cry; there are chairs lined on either side of me, as well as in front and all of them are filled with people like me. They all looked confused and scared, many were starting to curse, cry and demand answers. Within a second, hooded figures appeared from out of the darkness, they looked exactly like the people I saw in the cafe right before I was drugged. The hooded people silenced everyone that was making a sound, I felt a person creep up behind me, and it took everything I had in me not to scream when they put a hand on my shoulder. I heard a small whisper say 'It's Papa, stay quiet sweetheart' and I relax a little bit.
"Now, for those who don't know what is going on, I will kindly explain, but I request that you keep quiet and do not interrupt me or I will have my men silence you," I turned my head to the source of the voice and my jaw dropped. It was that kid, the one that gave me directions on the first day! As I sat dumbstruck, I could hear the sounds of people struggling all around me and I was tempted to start myself until I heard a sharp crack and turned to look at the person to my left; his neck was oddly bent and his body was lifeless and still. My eyes widened and horror and I cried out in surprise, my father stuck a gag in my open mouth and whispered a soft apology in my ear.
"As I was saying, my men are skilled in manslaughter, so if you wish to struggle and fight then I will have them put an end to you. Do I make myself clear?" I nodded my head along with the rest of the crowd, terror was rapidly growing inside me. "Now that we have that settled, I will introduce myself. I am known by many different names; Death, the young Lord, the Grim Reaper as well as by my school name. You will all address me as 'my Lord' or 'Master', anything less will be taken as a sign of disrespect and you will be terminated, trust me, anyone here can kill you in an instant." the kid up front then gestured to the limp husk sitting next to me, the hooded figure behind him picked up an arm and began waving the hunk of dead flesh. There were a few more screams that were shortly muffled with gags as well, someone close to the end of my row puked. Many gave him a disgusted look and the man calling himself 'Master' began to talk once more.
"You have all been nominated by the people behind you to join our organization, but in order to join you must first demonstrate that you are worthy. You will be given a set of rules which may change at any given time, this is to prove that you are capable of following instructions and completing tasks within a short time frame," the boy walks between the rows of chairs, looking straight ahead, "We require complete submissiveness from all of our recruits, as the job we're offering doesn't come cheap," he stops at the end of the rows and looks down the rows of chairs and looks at each individual person.
"You will have to kill human beings. During and after this initiation, your job will be to hunt down targets you are given and eradicate them. You can mercy kill them with poison, smother them when then sleep or convince them to kill themselves, or you can rip them apart violently. I really don't care how you do it, just so long as it get's done. You will be given money depending on the complexity of the task; strong, sneaky or violent targets will get you a large reward, where as the sickly, young or elderly will be cheap. If you pass this test," his eyes lock with mine, "You will become a reaper of death. You cannot back down. If you do not wish to play then you will be killed on the spot. There are no exceptions to this rule, you play to win or you die trying," his eyes continue on, "Now, we will go over this year's rules."
The young man briskly walks to his desk and holds a long, yellow envelope in front of him and continues on with his speech. "You will each be given one of these, it will contain your target for the first round of the test. One will be a fellow recruit and the other will be a civilian that needs to be dealt with. The rules are as follows:
1) Hunt down your target and dispose of the body without being caught by authorities.
2) You must complete your task within a certain time frame; go over your time limit by one second and you will be eliminated.
3) You must stay within the city limits; if you exit Death City, it will be considered a forfeit and you will be killed.
4) You cannot tell anyone what you are doing; revealing this test will get you and the person(s) you told killed immediately.
5) Killing an unmarked civilian will result in immediate disqualification and you will be terminated.
A new set of rules will be added to this list as the teat continues. Each round will become shorter, and your targets will become harder to fight and find. You must try your best to stay vigilant throughout the test, trust no one unless absolutely necessary. You don't know who is friend or foe. There are 25 players left in the game, a message will be sent to each of your cell phones when your target has been eradicated. You will have a map in your package as well, your finishing location will be marked on there. Once you have killed both targets, you should immediately head for this location, it will be your safe zone for the remainder of the test. Each safe zone is sealed with a special kind of spell that stops you from being killed, but it can be broken by me if you decide to hide there instead of fighting.
Follow these rules at all times unless other wise instructed by myself or the reaper that nominated you. You will begin the test in 1 hour. If your target has been killed by themselves or another, you may move on to the civilian target and consider yourself lucky. Reapers, during this time you can brief your candidate however you wish but be sure to have them at their destination by the time the clock strikes 9 pm. Good luck to all of you, I will hopefully see half of you in twenty-four hours. That's when the first round will end. I am expecting good things from all of you, good luck and happy hunting," with that, the fog jumped up, covering the grim reaper from head to toe and quickly retreated back to the ground; only air remained where the young man once stood.
Almost all at once, the people sitting in chairs were ripped up and whisked away in different directions. My father scooped me up under his arm and ran into the darkness that was once behind me, as he ran he untied the gag in my mouth.
"What the hell Papa!" I shrieked, I was completely panicked. I couldn't do this, I couldn't bring myself to harm another living person. This was so cruel.
"I'm sorry Maka, I am so sorry," moaned my father between his deep breaths, "I tried to stop him, I didn't want this..."
"How can YOU do it? How do you kill people without feeling remorse?! Or is that the reason you drink every night?!" I spat, I was terrified and angry. I hated my father for not stopping this, or maybe I hated myself for getting into this situation. I don't even know what I did to catch the reaper's eye...
"Maka please! Let me get you to your starting line and I'll explain everything there!" he wheezed, his breaths were becoming shorter and sharper.
"NO! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY YOUR STUPID GAMES!" I cried and started thrashing violently under my father's grasp. I tried kicking, biting and punching any part of his body I could reach, but he never broke his pace. "I WOULD RATHER DIE! I WON'T KILL ANYONE AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! JUST KILL ME AND GET IN OVER WITH!" He kept his composure through all of my tantrum and for another ten minutes after that, tears running down his face the entire time. After what seemed like forever, he stopped and dropped me gently to the ground. He held my shoulders tightly and bent down to the ground in front of me.
"I have been a shitty father, Maka. I know I have, but I just couldn't live with what I had done. I regret so many things in life, but reaping is not one of them," his eyes looked into mine as he spoke, I held my tongue for the moment; ready to lash out and hit him as soon as he slips up. "I don't kill humans anymore, I haven't for over ten years. I am a demon slayer."
"I'm sorry, a what?" my voice was sharp, I was aiming to hurt him.
"Demon slayer. There are creatures out there that have powers to murder in mass-"
"Like you?"
"No," his voice sounded bitter and pained; score one for me. " I don't deny that I can kill multiple targets at once, but these... things... they are messed up. They can rip your soul from your body and use it to make them more powerful or they can kill millions at once just because they are bored," I started to struggle and pull away from him, but he held me in place with very little effort, "I'm a monster, I don't deny that either, but not for killing humans..."
"Oh yeah? Then what makes you a monster then, father," he flinches at my words and a small tear runs quickly down his face. He keeps eye contact the entire time and his grip only tightens; 2-0 Maka.
"I promise I will tell you when this is all over."
"You might as well tell me now, 'cause there's no way I'm passing the first round," I start shaking violently, my body betrays my cool, vicious demeanor, "I can promise you right now that I won't hurt anyone!"
"You have to try! I don't think you underst-"
"I completely understand what I am saying, father. I am not a child, I know that I will die and I accept it," I interrupted him and made sure to put as much venom in my words as I could.
"I can't lose you too!" he broke eye contact and pulled me into a tight embrace.
"You lost me years ago," he released me and took out a small pill bottle as well as the envelope that the grim reaper had shown earlier.
"If you are serious about this, then take these," he hands me two light blue pills from the bottle and places them gently into the palm of my hand along with then envelope, "I was going to take these if anything happened to you. Just one would be enough to kill a man. I don't want to have to come and kill you Maka, please, if you have any love left for your horrible father, just please take these pills if you honestly believe you cannot continue. I... I re-really don't w-want you to die M-Mak-a, please, think it over!" he began crying uncontrollably.
I look down at the pitiful figure in front of me and my heart breaks. He has done some stupid things in his life, but I know that all he has ever wanted if for me to have a happy life. Yet here I am, thrust into an unthinkable situation; kill or be killed. My heart races and a bead of sweat runs down the side of my face, I am shaking hard and my throat starts to choke. I think of all the memories I have had with my father. Before my mother died, we were a happy family; picnics, family dinners, vacations. We enjoyed life to the fullest, but that time has come and gone as I stand here with two little pills in one hand and a hit list in the other.
"I can't. I'm sorry, but this is my choice," without any further thinking, I tipped my head back and swallowed both pills at once. I looked at my father's horror struck face, "I hope to see you again, Papa. Though, I'm sure it won't be here."
UGGGGGGH! Laaate! Agaaaain! I am terrible at this!
So leaving yeah high and dry! But thankfully, it will only be for one day! (I hope)
I will give you a make up chapter soon, but things have been kinda hectic for me lately with Halloween shit and work none sense! But seriously, Halloween is the shit! you can walk around all day in a costume and no one looks at you like you are a complete freak! Which is a nice change of me every once in a while!
You know the drill people! Leave a comment, question or suggestion in the box below!
Thank you for reading Dancing With The Devil! See ya next time!