"Here." Victoria threw the hardcover book across the room at the witch, making careful note of Medusa's intrigue as she flipped open the pages. A lavish fireplace crackled off to the back while Medusa sat in a cushy chair, in stark contrast to the last, dinky hideout. "Can I get a straight answer out of you if I ask just what the hell you plan on doing with that book?"
"Ha," Medusa laughed without smiling, her clashing pupils still absorbing the pages' contents. "I won't stop you from sneaking a glance, if you have a death wish." Victoria rose to the witch's provocation, before bitterly recalling her chained circumstances. Her immediate collapse back into her seat thereafter was deflating, to say the least. "Besides, this book will only be in my possession for a few more minutes. I'm anticipating a guest." In a quick movement, she cleanly tore a single page from the decrepit book, binding it like a scroll using a miniscule vector.
"Guest?" Brandt pushed out of her chair and pressed her face against the window glass in search of any heinous characters in the hard rain. Anyone who had reason to associate with Medusa was high, high on the list of lowlifes. Disregarding Victoria herself, of course, she thought herself to be a special case.
The door opened. The cloaked figure who walked inside said nothing, composing themselves without a hint of stress despite the room's oppressing air, tensely silent between Victoria's judging caution and Medusa's palpable intrigue.
"I have what you want, and you'd best hope the same applies vice-versa. Quid pro quo." She held the book in plain sight, fingers drawing across the leather-bound surface with a sickly smile. In response, the bargainer quickly withdrew a wad of cash and held it out to Gorgon, reaching for the book with twitching hands, as if a single misplaced touch would return it to dust. Contemptuously, Medusa snatched the stack of bills, her smirk flipping down to an impatient scowl. "Time is precious. Don't make yourself comfy, or your stay might lengthen." Unflinching, the buyer stuffed the archaic book in their baggy robes and began to walk off without a word said.
Just before the doorway, Victoria and the hooded stranger met eyes, both guarded and distrusting in their expressions. Victoria raised her chin boldly and clenched her fists, radiating unpleasantness to ward away the stranger. The stranger averted their eyes, until stopping just beside her, glancing at the meister from the corner of their eye.
"You're DWMA, hm? Then it's certain. Our paths will cross again, though I fear it will be more sinister next time around..." The stranger unhooded themselves on their way out—a definitively female voice. In the passing glimpse Victoria caught before exiting her peripheral vision, she saw the stranger's left wrist was adorned with a vibrant flower bracelet, only slightly obscured by the long, ebony hair flowing across her light-brown skin.
Victoria's anger melted to unease, peeking 'round the doorway to try and look at the departing figure, in vain. She slipped back into the room, slumping down reflectively against the windowpane while Medusa was overlooking the single page she had kept from the Book of Eibon. The wad of cash left by the stranger were left on a nightstand beside Medusa. There had to be at least twenty bills in the stack total. From a distance, they all looked to be fifty dollars a piece. And with Medusa so intensely focused on the page...
Victoria snuck a bill into her jacket pocket. Another, then three. She shot an ugly glare at Medusa, knowing she wouldn't see it. Janitor shift barely pays for a ham sandwich. Consider this my paycheck for the last three weeks. In confident stride, Brandt left, settling for a small victory until she could work her way up to the big one.
Spirit Albarn sat at the head of the conference table with heavy surrounding Death Scythes and various teachers were not a happy bunch right then. And why would they be? It was seven o' clock in the morning on a Tuesday, Joe was late with coffee, and Spirit had yet to explain what was going on.
"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering..." Spirit kneaded his fingers, trying to think of a way to explain the situation without his ire slipping into his speech. "...Why our beloved Eibon, is currently hospitalized. And regarding that, I've got good news, and I've got bad news." The table had shushed up, listening more intently as it became apparent this was no ordinary faculty meeting.
"Good news first: Eibon isn't going to die." Spirit announced, to no one's great relief, aside from a subdued clapping from Lord Death. "Bad news: the Book of Eibon, a millennia-old relic with unforetold potential for destruction is now missing, we have no idea who the culprit is, and Eibon's too delirious to ask." Spirit shut his lips tight, wincing at the chorus of groans that came immediately after.
"Are you saying that we don't have a single security camera installed under the academy? There—there had to have been some precautionary measure taken that could give us a lead!" Azusa planted her palms on the table, proposing an obvious solution that would have already been in use had it existed.
"You're thinking in 'if's' and 'when's', Azusa. Why don't we bust out the lie detector for old time's sake?" Sid was halfway out of his chair, already plotting the fastest possible route to the storage closet and back.
"Sid, every time a meeting like this gets called, you suggest it, and every time, it doesn't happen." Nygus laid a hand on her meister's shoulder, grounding him back to reality with a grumble or two.
"Agreed," Justin nodded, and if one squinted, they could almost see the 'I'm above this nonsense'-halo forming above his head. "Perhaps we could stage a confessional? Guilt can crack someone much more effectively than a machine, you know." He concluded, in serene montone, watching for lip movement while his earphones blared.
Spirit's fingers dug into his temples, blowing a short fuse at the peanut gallery that comprised of his coworkers. "No, no, no. Somebody throw out a viable solution, dammit! Some course of action that we can take that isn't something we should have done, won't do, or whatever Justin suggests." Again, the conference table erupted, chattering amongst themselves with little in the way for productivity. "Who even called this meeting?!" He finally demanded, hitting his rage-breaking point.
Everyone went quiet, glancing at Spirit quizzically. Evidently, his question had echoed back into the minds of the recipients, looking amongst themselves for a face of clarity, proving to be a fruitless search.
"Spirit," Marie blinked. "You got the letter too?" Whatever was happening had crossed the line from weird to concerning, even to the seasoned Death Scythes.
"I'd like to get to the bottom of this soon. After all, we all have places to be..." Lord Death's tone was calm, but he was already doing practice chops on the air. Spirit sweated, now more determined than ever than to solve it and get the hell out of there.
In the quiet, a pair of steel-toed boots clamped repeatedly against the floor, loudening with every step. "Hmm, yes, I'm sure you all must be wondering who called you all here..." A brown-haired, fair-skinned man dressed in militaristic garb made his presence known in the conference room, dramatically slamming the long table with his palms. He was ridiculously smug for the situation at hand, eyes relaxed with a pointy grin, confident that he had the answers for everyone.
Victoria, who'd been mostly silent throughout the meeting, pushed out of her chair, playing the role of bouncer to the sudden intruder. "...And you are?" She cocked her head with little amusement, one step from hurling his shorter figure out the door by the shoulders.
"Aside, wench." He brazenly brushed past her in stride, nearly instigating a fight, had the combined efforts of Marie and Sid not held Victoria back. "Now then! You wonder, who is this dashing devil who stands before you?" He scanned the dumbfounded, mildly perturbed audience before him, before speaking up, even louder. "'Tis I! Noah! N-O-A-H, soon-to-be savior of this green Earth."
"...And you are...?" Lord Death parroted Victoria, the question just as relevant now as when it was initially asked.
"Silence!" The intruder, 'Noah', ordered, fully aware he was speaking to a god of Death. Saying nothing, the grim reaper raised the side of his palm in preparation for a chop, hovering it over the arrogant fellow. That alone was enough to make him crack.
"A-A moment of your time...Lord." Noah strained himself to say that last word with respect, despite his cowering. "Perhaps I shall be a bit more formal. I am Eibon's one and only son."
"That's ludicrous." Nygus' unbandaged eye twitched, refusing to buy a word of it. "You hardly look over thirty, unless you're implying Eibon is...'active', at his age." A slew of unadult snickers swept through the room, Mifune nearly swallowing the straw resting between his lips. "Well, do you want a blood test?"
"R-Regardless!" Noah cut back in, his confidence visibly dented in his bewildered expression. "I... I know where the Book of Eibon is." Without pause, the theatrics went quiet. In just a few words, the room's opinion on Noah shifted from one end to the other, suddenly giving Noah a respectable amount of attention regarding what he had to say.
"Oh, bullshit!" Brandt objected, going white-knuckled from anger alone. "You haven't even presented any hard evidence yet and you expect us to believe any of this? For all we know, you could've just been waiting outside the door and burst in when it was convenient for you! As if you'd know who stole it!" Again, her presence imposed on Noah, aggressively seizing his chin-high collar in an unrelenting grip. He squirmed with helpless, bulging eyes, silently pleading for the Death Scythes to lend a hand. "If you quit squirming, I'll throw you out, nice and clean. Keep at it, I'll knock you out. Fight back, and I throw you in a dumpster, understand?"
"Victoria!" Spirit raised his voice, although not entirely passionate for Noah's well-being. "Hear him out. We don't really have any other leads to begin with." As a direct order from a superior, Victoria was obliged to follow it, pushing the braggart out of her grasp, letting loose a raspy breath as he was released.
"N-No hard evidence! Balderdash!" Noah's breath was still catching up to him, pushing up on the table with an over-assuming smirk. "I present to you...Our culprit." From his coat pocket, he rolled a palm-sized cube on the table, charged with a radiant green aura. Anyone and everyone worth their salt knew: that object was bona-fide BREW.
Mifune's eyes shifted, the samurai's hard-earned attention seized. "You. Where did you get that?" Having fought a bloody war for it on the Lost Island just a year ago, he knew damn well of its eldritch power.
"Do you lack ears? I'm his son, duh. Naturally, I was first to stumble upon my father's bloodied self sprawled out on the floor, so I snatched the BREW from his room before taking him to the hospital wing. " Noah condescended, and had Mifune not been a more collected person, everyone suspected him to get a gut-full of katana after speaking so out-of-turn. "Now, aback!"
The room went dark following a white flash, the lights sapped of electricity in the wake of BREW's awakening and subsequent power surge. From BREW's tiny keyhole, a blue-tinted hologram sprouted out, displaying a detailed geographical map. A red dot blinked periodically, moving a centimeter across the expansive map by the minute. "My efforts have led me to the small, unassuming country of Fleurah, smack in the middle of South America." At the mention of the place, Lord Death grumbled something, turning his head away resentfully.
"Wait, Lord Death, you've heard of this place?" Spirit leaned forward, curious.
"A long time ago, before I was bound to Death City." His cartoonishly large fingers curled inward with laden frustration. "Until I had it razed to hell and back, eight hundred years ago, Fleurah was witch paradise." With a guttural element to his speech, it was clear the reaper's anger spanned well over centuries. Then, as if to re-piece his bubbly mask, his tone rebounded pleasantly. "It's okay now though! Quite the nice vacation spot, if you ever have the opportunity to visit!"
"Someone here is well-read, at the very least." Noah huffed through his nose. "If I were a more powerful sorcerer, I'd have blown the country off the planet, but alas, 'tis not an option. I've come to the assumption, that the thief or thieves are likely..."
"...Half-blood witches. Human and witch relations aren't too bad in Fleurah, and since you'd probably need magic to use the Book of Eibon..." Spirit was glancing down at his smartphone for information, pretending not to notice Noah's outraged gawking for interrupting his monologue, probably shortening it by half had Spirit let him continue.
Noah was eager to jump back into the conversation. "Exactly, so we should—"
"...The kind of man I was wasn't one to rush into a situation. But now, there's too much at stake! We need to establish a military presence, and quick." Sid interjected, his pupil-less eyes focused to the map.
"Ah, Sid, trusted ally, should we truly be so quick to go head-in? Victoria has made a sound point in Noah's shiftiness." Justin rebutted, quietly smiling with a competitive air about him, almost like an even game of chess.
"No, Justin. Who says we have to throw everything we have? Our enemy hasn't made themselves open yet. I personally recommend espionage." Azusa pushed up her glasses, seemingly two steps ahead of everybody with a rough schematic of the plan on notebook paper.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Noah banged an iron-gloved fist on the table, silencing everyone in his fit. "I am the heir to BREW, so I shall be making the plans, is that understood?" His body shook and his teeth chattered, disproportionately enraged after not having hogged the spotlight for more than five seconds. "All of you...All of you would make too much of a fuss if you showed your faces to a backwater country like Fleurah. Send me your elites." He calmed, making firm eye contact with Spirit expectantly. After a moment, the Death Scythe nodded, giving Noah something resembling approval, however shakily.
The conference door opened, revealing Joe and an armful of steaming coffee mugs twenty minutes into the meeting. "Sorry I'm late. Nothing as usual, I'm guessing?"
Julian Leone groaned in agony as his phone vibrated for the fifth time that hour. "For Chrissakes Dart, tell him to stop texting us during class..."
The meister rocked his head back, having an equally hard time ignoring the constant notifications. "I-I don't wanna tell him! Justin's too nice! I'll break his poor little priest heart!" His finger hovered over the screen, physically unable to type out even the first word, however tormenting it was to sit back and let it continue.
[TXT from J. Law 10:20 AM:] Dart, did you see the link I sent you?
[TXT from J. Law 10:21 AM:] Christian Rock really is an exciting music genre, Dart. It's wholesome!
[TXT from J. Law 10:22 AM:] Dart, did you see the link I sent you? Just checking! :) That was an emoji. I assume you know how to post them? xD xD :D
[TXT from J. Law 10:23 AM:] Meetings are SO dreadful. I would not recommend participating in them! Laughing Out Loud!
"Poor guy..." Sympathy for the technology-illiterate Justin washed over Dart, wondering if he'd ever actually texted someone before.
Alice peeked over from Dart's left shoulder, nosing in on his phone screen. "What are you two complaining about? Seriously, just put it away, before you earn yourself a detention..." She seemed more curious than anything, careening her head in the direction of the phone whenever Dart hid it from view.
"Alice, b'lieve me, I want to, but Justin won't stop sending us messages!" Dart explained in a hushed whisper, simultaneously dodging glances from the teacher.
"Who the hell is 'Justin'? I've never seen you interact with anyone outside...us." She narrowed her eyes, examining the broad social circle that consisted of about ten people (and one demon), staring disbelievingly at her meister.
"Yeah, no, it's legit." Julian testified in Dart's stead, frumpily leaning forward on the desk, his eyes begging for death. "Dart and I ended up meeting this priest on a mission. Nice and all, but y'get the impression he's never had friends. Ever."
"Priest?" Alice cocked a suspicious eyebrow, before glaring daggers at Dart and Julian both. "No, no, no, don't you dare feed me that nonsense. You two, of all people, did not meet Justin Law. He has more important matters to attend to than frolicking with you two."
"But Alice, it's true! We saw him turn into a guillotine and everything!" Dart outlined the shape of his monstrous weapon form with his fingers, aweing at the memory.
"And I'm the Queen of England, now give me that." She nabbed his cell phone in a quick swipe, furiously typing.
[TXT (you) 10:25 AM:] Just who is this? Show yourself, before I report you for impersonating a Death Scythe.
"Alice, c'mon now-!" In vain, Dart tried to steal his phone back. Alice merely crouched lower, awaiting a response.
[TXT from J. Law 10:25 AM:] Ah! I see you are confused. Expect a "selfie" in just a moment.
Alice looked at the photo, then back at Dart. "It's a picture of a table."
"Aw, man! He—he must've had the front camera on!" Dart seized the phone, praying it wasn't so. "Julian, text him to send another one!"
"Sorry," he deadpanned, not looking. "Phone's dead." Julian said, scrolling through ninety-percent battery left.
"Well, I refuse to believe it until he comes knocking at our damn door and cordially introduces himself with a gift basket." Alice ended the debate, turning back to the wonderfully captivating lesson about soul digestion. Dart sighed, stuffing the argument into the back of his head; gone, but not forgotten.
His phone buzzed, starting to grow just as frustrated as Julian as he inconspicuously shot a glance at the dimly-lit screen.
[TXT from J. Law 10:26 AM:] There is a very irritable, short man headed to your classroom A.T.M.. He's quite the egotist, so be aware.
He squinted, wondering if the priest had sent him some kind of coded message before the classroom door slammed open, dropping his phone in a heartbeat from the shock. The man in the door stood with what looked to be an inflated sense of self-importance, unapologetic in his interruption.
The substitute teacher made her disapproval known quickly, snapping around to address the unwelcomed guest, brown-haired, uniformly dressed, and short, as Justin described. "E-Excuse me, I'm—" He walked past the teacher as if she wasn't there at all, pivoting on his heel towards the alarmed students.
"Students of the EAT Class, I'm sure you're all dreadfully curious; just who is this dashing stranger inflitrating your classroom? Well, allow me to introduce myself. I, am Noah." His rambling went on, losing Dart's attention two or three sentences in. "...something something EXALTED SORCERER something something YOUR HERO something something EIBON'S HEIR something something..."
"Dart!" Cassiel gasped, in the loudest possible whisper. "Did you hear that?" His immediate thought was 'no', but he nodded for conversation's sake. "This man—this man is Eibon's son! Ah, what a day, what a day! Perhaps he can work some magic in front of us!"
"Him? I dunno Cassiel, he's...Yeah, he's somethin' alright." He tried not to let his disinterest show, looking on with faked curiosity to avoid Cassiel's gaze.
"You two!" The man, Noah, shouted, pointing up at the two of them. "Stand before me, immediately!" Cassiel was visibly going aflutter with glee, contrasting greatly against Dart's wide-eyed grimace. They made their ways to the classroom's center at their own paces, standing with racing hearts in front of Noah. "Do you fancy yourselves important?" He growled.
Dart shot a glance at his classmates faces for something resembling sympathy. Julian was staring at the two of them like corpses, Joaquin was shaking his head with the biggest 'you're boned' kind of smile, Alice looked away in second-hand shame, and Nicolette was on her phone. "N-No siree, just your average meister is all." He slumped a bit, trying to disguise the fact that he was just as tall, if-not-taller than Noah, for fear of pissing off the stout sorcerer further.
"Yessir! I wholeheartedly wish to lend myself to the greater good, if it so pleases the DWMA!" Like a clockwork soldier, Cassiel saluted on the spot, almost formal if not for the wide-eyed idealism plain on her face.
Noah paused, his frown appearing to deepen, before abruptly ruffling up the Esper's hair with a steel gauntlet. "Ha! Your audacity amuses me. But remember; I'm more important than you."
He shooed them away back to their seats with a self-assured smile. All the while, Dart gawked at Cassiel, inadvertently saving their lives whether it had been her intention or not.
Taking a heaving seat, Dart sighed, offering Cassiel his quiet gratitude. "...Whew. Nice one, Cassiel."
"In what regard?" She raised an eyebrow, apparently having taken the exchange with Noah dead-serious. He dismissed the topic with a brush of his hand, keeping his distrust bottled in.
"With introductions aside, I've come here to pick out the best among you. Be flattered!" An uncomfortable wave of applause resounded, before Noah cleared his throat to speak once more. "If you have the fortune of having your name called, come forward!"
He glanced down at the class's attendance on a clipboard. "Nika Andreu, wielder of the Deadly Accuracy Sniper Rifle, Nicolette Andreu, top of your class at seventy-seven souls!" The sisters came forward first, and although the class could only see her from behind, Nika's satisfied grin in her upright posture was easy to sense.
"Joaquin Vivas, wielder of the Noble Demon Rapier, Cole Bellamy, at sixty-eight souls!" Next, the two elder students were summoned. Joaquin was already making offhand remarks, nudging Cole every so often to hit him with the next zinger to try and get a snicker out of the composed weapon.
"Georgina Roberts, at fifty-nine souls!" The meek girl blinked, taking a moment to shove a graphic novel out of sight before hustling over to the front. Malphas made a point to add thundering sound effects to Georgina's footsteps, to her continued weariness.
"Dart Dekei, wielder of the Noble Demon Broadsword, Alice Robinson, at fifty-one souls!" Dart and Alice, interrupted in the middle of a conversation, nodded in a temporary ceasefire and walked down the aisle to the room's center.
"...Can't believe we made the cut." Dart said breathlessly, offering a stealth low-five behind his back.
"Thank me when I'm a Death Scythe." She returned the gesture without looking his way, hardly bothering to keep a professional facade up.
"Cassiel, wielder of the Multi-Purpose Demon Weapon, Julian Leone, at forty-three souls!" He went on, cocking an eyebrow at the list, then the pink-haired girl. "You're the Esper." Uncharacteristic interest fell into Noah's tone, looking at the youth differently than a minute before.
Julian felt obligated to ward him off on Cassiel's behalf, stepping forward. He knew she would take any attention kindly, especially someone so close to Eibon. "Yeah, what's it to ya?"
"Julian, please." Cassiel hit him with a pair of scolding eyes, and that seemed to reluctantly shut up his grievances. With Julian subdued, she bobbed a curtsy. "Yes, that would be me." Noah acknowledged her with a nod, before his eyes returned to the clipboard.
"And that is all of the students I have chosen!" Noah finally declared. "The rest of you are irrelevant; carry on with your lesson. Important ones, follow me!" He strutted out, expecting the chosen to follow without question. After a dragged pause, and much hesitation, the picked students tagged behind the dangerously eccentric Noah.
Their walk brought them to the teleporter room, where the DWMA staff (and Lord Death himself!) stood rigidly, looking too old and tired for whatever was going on. "Ah, yes. The debrief." Noah inhaled, preparing to drop an exposition dump. The look of 'no' among the teachers and students was nigh-universal.
"W-We're sending you to a foreign country to track down a magic book, any questions? No? Good, get on the portal." Miss Marie blazed through the explanation, quickly gesturing for the teenagers to get on and get out.
"As I was saying—" Noah cleared his throat loudly in preparation to speak.
"We have incentive. Spend wisely." Azusa cut in, unveiling a briefcase from behind her back to display to the students.
"Certainly you didn't..." Even Cole was reduced to awing, with no doubt in his mind as to what laid inside. She placed it in his capable hands, letting him open it up with his fellow classmates.
"I can't believe they're givin' us money for free...!" Dart's whole head was practically shoved inside the case, entranced by the sheer amount of green.
"Dart, don't be silly, there is no way it's free." Joaquin, observing just as closely as Dart, spoke as the voice of reason. In a single swipe, he snatched a hundred-dollar bill from just under Dart's chin. "Do my homework for a week, and then you'll have your cut." Joaquin waved the bill about like a matador and his cape, egging him to make a move. Dart only had eyes for the paper-print Ben Franklin, trying—and failing, to snatch it back in repeated lunges.
"Move over. Are you like, twelve?" Nicolette began loading her purse up, giving Julian an idea to do the same.
"H-Hey, maybe we should divvy this up...?" Georgina's diminutive stature struggled to get ahold of a share standing on her toes to get a peek at the surface.
"I'm not gonna lie, this shameless display of greed is making me really happy right now, keep it up guys." Malphas watched the event unfold like a primetime showing, waiting for the inevitable escalation of squabbling.
"The teachers made no such specifications. Don't get high-and-mighty, demon." Alice, too, was helping herself pitilessly, neatly filing bills into her wallet.
"Shall I?" Cassiel reached for a five-hundred, floating behind the briefcase. "Or shan't?" Her hand stilled. "...Shall I?" She reached again, crippled by indecisiveness.
"Everybody, shut up." Nika snapped, slamming the case down with at least four hands still inside. Cole cleared his throat with the briefcase in-hand, eyes shifting sideways as he pretended not to have been reaching in moments ago. "I'm the group's appointed treasurer now, since none of you have any self-control. Until further notice, I'm taking this, mmkay?" Haughtily, she seized the case and shut her ears to the groans coming thereafter.
"Six thousand should cover the expenses, don't you think?" Lord Death nudged Azusa absentmindedly, only the slightest bit skeptical.
"...A week. If I've done my calculations right, between the ten of them, they'll go a week before they burn themselves out." She tilted up her glasses, wondering how much longer she could tolerate the 'let teenagers be teenagers' philosophy before she cracked.
"Ya might need to make some adjustments." Victoria limbered up, yawning as the last bits of morning drowsiness left her. Azusa regarded the former teacher quizzically, tapping her foot as she awaited for her to elaborate. "Lord Death," she met the reaper's eyes. "I'm requesting express permission to go with. Nobody outside the DWMA knows I've killed Medusa yet, so I'm not really all that notorious." She reasoned, rocking her head back and forth
Justin chuckled with surprise. "Oh? Brandt's spark has come back, has it?"
"Damn. Just when I thought I'd have a maintenance pal..." Joe took a dragging sip on his coffee mug, mourning the loss of potential company outside of Blair.
"The kind of man I was wouldn't stop you, but..." Sid tried to get a read on Victoria's expression. "But why?"
Her fingers clenched, scratching into her pockets. "Be realistic, just for a second. You send half a class full of teenagers to Fleurah, hand them a couple thousand dollars, send them on their merry way. Yeah, sound plan. But say something goes wrong in Fleurah, one, two, six go missing? Angry parents are gonna file missing persons reports. It's gonna be on the news. Staff's gonna get interviewed. And then, people are gonna know who we are. When people know who we are, our notoriety goes up. When our notoriety goes up, people start questioning. When people start questioning, people get lawyers. When people get lawyers, we get sued. And when we get sued, every single DWMA on the globe's gonna crash and burn."
Victoria inhaled, smiling simply. "If we send a teacher, IE: me, and then everybody dies, nobody gets angry, because it was a disaster that not even a professional could have prevented. Do ya follow?" The staff went silent, lips pursed tight in deep thought.
Noah began to fume. "I don't approve of this—"
Spirit cupped a hand over his mouth to shut him up. "But I do. Victoria, get on the teleporter."
"Ha!" Victoria sneered at the arrogant sorcerer, before turning a new shade of pink in front of the faculty. "...Affirmative." She jogged up to the platform, first one there.
"Wow, Victoria," Dart raced to catch up with her, standing at her side. "Dunno what made ya reconsider, but I'm glad you came!"
"My, Victoria, it has been too long! Are you going to tell of us of your escapades in your absence!" Cassiel flew behind her back and leaned forward on Victoria's arm, perhaps a little too close, but appreciated nonetheless.
"Yeah, where the hell ya been?" Julian asked, one eye shut. "After the shit that's been happenin' lately, I'd rather just have a Kishin a box again."
Victoria's broad figure turned to look down at him, eyebrows raised. "Is that a formal 'I missed you' from Julian Leone?" Victoria, Dart, Cassiel, and Alice stared, expecting him to get sentimental within a moment or two.
"Ha! Like I was really..." Julian tugged at his collar. Four pairs of eyes on him made him confess faster than any interrogator could. "...Yes."
Alice sneered. "Tch. Would it kill you to not be so guarded with your emotions twenty-four-seven?" Just as she spoke, Victoria wrapped an arm around Alice, as well as the rest of her students in an impromptu group hug. At the unexpected display of affection, her eyes went wide, rosying up like spring bloom. "W-Well then."
"God, I've turned into a softy." Victoria cheerfully admitted. Faint creases tagged her eyelids in the form of dark circles, disguised only by the elated brown pupils that they surrounded. Noticing this, Cassiel eased off a bit, floating up to face-level with Victoria.
"Ah, Victoria, is everything... Are you...?" She struggled to find the right words for Victoria's bittersweet expression, gazing concernedly. Victoria herself looked hardly bothered, dazedly watching as Cassiel played amateur psychologist.
"Huh? Yeah, perfectly fine." Victoria yawned for just a little too long. "I've just got a few things eating me up. Not literally, thankfully."
"I wouldn't be worryin', Cassiel." Dart said. "She's strong like that. Ain't that right?"
Georgina stood at the foot of the teleporter in front of the rest of the students, a little pensive to join them. "A-Are we interrupting anything or...?"
Victoria blinked, suddenly self-conscious. "What? No. Who are you people?" She broke away from the hug she initiated, abruptly bringing an end to that warm and fuzzy feeling. The rest of them joined, cramming onto the teleporter pad at once. "I'll explain everything once we're there. Send us off, Marie!"
"Are you sure they don't want an explanation now? Maybe it's better that we..." Marie hesitated as she punched in the last few commands into the digital plate, locking eyes with Victoria apprehensively.
"Allow me to explain..." The sorcerer's voice chimed, stepping in front of the teleporter to address the students. Victoria frantically swatted her hand, gesturing for Marie to warp them out.
"We're rooting for you!" The last sight the eleven saw before merging with the teleporter's light was Lord Death's encouragement, giving them an assuring thumbs-up before their physical forms were whisked off to parts unknown in search of a book.
Everyone gasped, feeling life in all of their organs and tissues return at once as they stood on a teleporter pad belonging to a DWMA not of their own. Joaquin bounded off first, absorbing the sights and sound with a breath of fresh air.
"South America. We are on my continent now, my United States aliens!" He ushered the group off like a tour guide who just got a pay raise, comfortable in his surroundings and confident in his surroundings.
Nika crossed her arms and huffed. "You've got our location narrowed down to an entire continent. Whoop-de-doo."
"Oh, think so? Watch me." Joaquin walked out the new academy's teleporter room and into the hallway, waiting off to the side 'til he found somebody who looked like they had time to spare. At the first sight, he revealed himself amiably, arms outward with a foolhardy grin like you would an old friend. "Ay, ¿qué pasa?" Within seconds of introduction, he was chumming up with the guy, making small talk in rapid-fire Spanish that none of the group could hope to translate. After five minutes of back-and-forth between the two, Joaquin sent his newfound acquaintance with a slap on the back, thanking him for his service.
"So, we're in Paraguay!" He announced, with a sarcastic bow.
"Great. We can start moving now." Victoria was walking forward with a map held up to her face, obscuring anything else in her peripheral vision. "Our destination's just south of here, only an hour by car. Any questions?"
"A-A lot, actually." Georgina raised her hand meekly. So far it seemed only Victoria had a vague idea of where they were going and more importantly, what for.
"You'll find out." She answered, hardly even thinking before speaking. After tracing a route with her finger, she glanced at her party. "Hey, Joaquin, you can drive, right?" At being addressed by her, he gulped and nodded. "Great. We'll split into two groups."
Julian was visibly taken aback, nose furled and mouth agape. "Hey, what the hell ever happened to strength in numbers? If we stick together we can just stomp everything!" His outburst spurred a surge of chatter among the group, sharing similar unease at the idea.
Growing desperate, Victoria continued to try and sell the idea to them. "C'mon! It's an adventure, not a horror movie, for crying out loud!" She clenched her temples, trying to find a good way to put it. "...Do you want to try shoving ten people into one car?"
"Ehhhh..." There was a collective hum of realization, leaving a few scratching heads as to how else to combat the situation.
"Alright, it's decided! Dart, Alice, the sisters, and me will take one car, the rest of you in the other." Victoria was halfway out the teleporter room before she paused, as if forgetting something. She balled up a piece of paper and chucked it at an unsuspecting Georgina. "Be the designated map-girl, will ya? By the way, debrief's on the back, so read that to them while you're at it."
Before anyone had time to react, Victoria was already out in the crowded hall. "My group, we're heading out!"
"Comin'!" Dart rushed ahead, struggling to keep up with his teacher's sheer determination. I don't know where we're headed, but I'll take it. Any opportunity to get stronger for Alice's sake, I'll take it!
Nika reluctantly stuffed a hand inside the briefcase and handed a small wad of cash to Joaquin. "Remember, this is supposed to cover you a rental car and that's it. You'd better bring change."
Joaquin accepted the 'gift' with a smile, filing through each bill. "Muchas gracias, Nika. I'll think of you when I buy lunch for us with this." Joaquin, leading his caravan of Cole, Georgina, Cassiel, and Julian, casually strode out in the opposite direction of the brawny redhead, feeling no rush to reach his destination so quickly.
"R-Right then!" Cassiel gravitated towards the ceiling of the hallway, endlessly fascinated by the new sights of Paraguay's DWMA. Noah, if it is Eibon's wish, I will fulfill this task without fail!
The rental car Alice had managed to haggle off a dealer wasn't of the finest quality, and on a blazingly sunny day like that one, that fact became increasingly apparent the longer they spent on the endless desert road.
"Like. What the hell actually happened? We could've rode in a limo or something half-decent, but we had to ride in this?" Nicolette kicked against the front passenger seat where Alice sat, edging on her nerves a little further with each push forward.
"It was cost-efficient. And if we're going god-knows-where for potentially around a week, I just thought we needed to allocate our cash. Just because we're the ones with the briefcase right now doesn't mean we can spend willy-nilly..." Alice grumbled irritably, trying to maintain sanity in the stuffy clunker bought on her purchase.
"Alice..." Dart puffed out a slow, hesitant breath, sitting between the Andreu sisters in the back seat.. "I uh, don't disagree with your reasonin', but..." The car hit a bump, accompanied by a belching of black smoke from the exhaust. Dart looked back, only now beginning to fear for his life. "Y'know what? Forget what dumb ol' me said. Alice, this was a really terrible move." At this point, the problem at hand was trying not to die a swift, fiery death in the car, much less reaching their destination.
Nika's stare was burning a hole into the oblivious Victoria, whose eyes were stoically laid on the road ahead. "When." She spoke aloud, after minutes of silence.
"'When' what?" She replied, the corners of her mouth arching downward.
"'When' are you going to tell us what's going on? You've told us, uh, let's see, approximately NOTHING about whatever the hell we're doing here!" Her temper flared, bring an uncomfortable silence with. "We're elites! Even these two kids!" She broadly gestured to Dart and Alice, hoping to catch maybe an eyebrow raise or a half-glance, if she was lucky. "...Do you think you're better than us or something?"
Victoria's back slumped, her body language easing as her lips loosened. "...Yeah, I guess I owe you guys that much." Her expression was stoic as she scanned the road ahead, but there was a hint of unease in the way her eyes narrowed, almost as uncertain as the rest of them. "The place we're going is a country called Fleurah. It's one of the few places on the planet with decent human-witch relations."
/
Georgina carefully read over the debrief, relaying the information to the others eating lunch. "...In the days of Arachne's prime, witches were drawn here, attracted by the abundance of multi-colored flowers, which not only made for pretty sights, and camouflage before Soul Perception was perfected."
/
"...It wasn't long before Lord Death found out. He had Eibon sic his magical constructs on the place 'til the witches were either dead or fled."
/
"You wouldn't see it from a normal vacation stay, but... Witch presence is still there."
/
"Before Eibon razed the place, cross-breeding between witches and humans wasn't uncommon. Can you imagine it? The resolve of humanity combined with a witch's hunger for destruction..."
/
"O-Of course, after generations, the witch gene mostly dissipated. Mostly. Even if they're only a quarter, twenty-percent, even ten-percent witch, there are still humans who can become formidable mages with that inheritance."
/
"Nobody knows what they're gonna do with the Book of Eibon that they've stolen. But it screams revenge to me, and if there's a mage powerful enough to give life to the same constructs that razed Fleurah, then let's just say it would be bad. Really. Really. Bad."
After that, Victoria didn't say much, hands on the wheel with a lot on her mind. Nika nodded slowly, appreciative of the honesty but harrowed by the knowledge.
"Hey," Dart's head was poking through the sunroof, which was just a rectangular hole cut into the car's ceiling. "There's a border stop ahead!" Just short of a mile away, a long fence stretched across the horizon, with a small opening for a car to fit through and a uniformed guard standing by.
"Damn, there's no time!" Alice's tone turned urgent, already unbuckling her seatbelt. She was pawing at her own uniform, trying desperately to tear off Lord Death's embroidered symbol. "They're going to find out we're DWMA!"
"Alice, don't try a damn thing." Dart sat back down, his fingers knotted in tight anticipation. "If...If we get caught tryin' something sneaky, we'd be done for before we even get to Fleurah. So, for now, just sit down 'n wait. All we can do."
"F-Fine, but..." Alice looked to her meister incredulously, trying to find the words to explain why it was a bad idea. No face seemed to mirror her thoughts in the car.
"Yeah. No. If that border bitch wants to fight, we fight. We aren't fake." Nicolette added, a flicker of something resembling interest appearing in the glint behind her sunglasses. Her sister was stunned into uncharacteristic nervousness, looking out the right window to avoid the guard's stony gaze.
"Everybody shut up and keep cool, I'll handle this." The redhead said, putting on her most professional frown. As the fence grew closer, so did the guard, their figure rigid before the approaching car. Mere feet before Fleurah's northern border, Victoria stopped the car, ballsy enough to stare the guard right in the eyes while she strolled over to the vehicle.
The guard lowered her head to the window, hiding her eyes behind a pair of stoic police shades. "Do you mind if I check your trunk, miss? My apologies, it is just a precaution; we in Fleurah have rather strict policy about narcotics, and smuggling, and other nasty things..." Her tone was non-threatening, quickly glancing at the strained faces that met her inside the car.
Her expectations betrayed, Victoria replied. "Y-Yeah. Go right ahead." She reclined as the guard slowly marched to the trunk, giving a reassuring nod to her students.
The sound of a baton rapping on metal reverberated throughout the car, followed by the trunk creaking open. "Hm. Hm. Hmm..." The guard mumbled idly. "Ah. Good news. It appears you are clean." She returned to the front to address Victoria, donning an affable smile. "We hope Fleurah lives up to your finest expectations, miss."
"Thanks, we've got a feeling it will." Growing impatient, she rested her foot on the accelerator, about ready to blaze out of there. She nodded to the guard, and then paused, taking a closer look. Her long black hair was tied in a bun, kept out of her face to emphasize the dark-brown in her skin. But what seized Victoria's attention most was the brightly-colored flower bracelet sticking out like a sore thumb among the drab blues of the woman's uniform. "Wait, you..." Her stare widened. She swore to god she recognized that face.
"Oh?" The guard returned the stare curiously. "Feel like you've seen me somewhere? Ah, I get that a lot, you see. People just swear I resemble so-and-so when I've yet to experience the same feeling! It just happens! Funny, no?"
In response, her eyes darted to the road, reluctantly casting aside her intrigue. "No, it was nothing." She slammed on the gas, speeding past the post and officially crossing into Fleurah.
The guard stood and watched the car grow smaller and smaller, until it eventually disappeared into the hazy horizon. Withdrawing a walkie-talkie from her side-pocket, she held the button and began to speak.
"It is just as I expected: they're Lord Death's goons for certain. One of them had the emblem on her shirt." She reclined in the shade of the post, still shaking from the brief exchange. To calm her nerves, she whipped out a cigarette, setting it lightly aflame with a snap of her fingers and put it to her lips. "...I assume there's going to be another group of them coming soon. They wouldn't just send a single car, would they?"
She listened, and then spoke, trying to talk sense into the distraught voice on the receiver. "Please, calm down, my sire. We have intercepts around the country. It would be a miracle if they managed to reach there alive. I-If they do manage to make it as far as the capitol, I'll be there to finish them."
She smiled, her eyes ignited with both anticipation and determination. "There is no need to thank me, sire. You've known my intent was always simple." The cigarette dimmed, and she put it out against the brick wall. "I would die to watch Eibon's legacy burn."
AN: Alright, this marks the beginning of the first major arc! I know I just dropped a lot of world (country?) building, so if anything seemed rushed that you didn't quite get, don't hesitate to ask. I'm also going to be giving some extended focus to the Death Scythes and the academy staff in-between the action in Fleurah, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts regarding my portrayal of them as well so far.
Ah, almost forgot about Noah. To any of those who've read the manga, the name rings a few bells. Seeing as how this runs off the anime continuity though, this Noah is going to be significantly different, and that's all I have to say on the matter. I intentionally designed him to be an annoying blowhard, so if that's the impression you got, good! Thanks for reading, hope to see next chapter!