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Beta: June Dune

Chapter 25

Shadow and Blade Part 4

-Cold and Warm I-

A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body.

Room 43, Hotel, Town of the Falls, Arizona, New Mexico, United States

Saturday, November 22, 20XX

6:00 P.M.

I thought we'd be able to do this. Big Brother had said that we'd split up to cover more ground. It was a good idea. He was the one we were shadowing so we had to follow his rules. But still, that was where everything went downhill. While searching, Zenna, Hon Tee, and I were ambushed by a pack of wolves, the same one as last night included though some were larger than others. I was for sure that that Alone fellow was behind all this in someway. It was just a feeling. I could be wrong but they didn't lead me astray before.

So, we fought them to the best we could but I was distracted by Hon Tee. He had gotten knocked to the ground with a swipe of the claws by one of the larger wolves on his back, sending him to the ground, and I yelled out his name. It was a stupid mistake because the next second, Zenna was knocked out of my hand when a pain shot though my arm. I cried out, holding onto my hand as Zenna transformed back, running to me. But before she could even reach me she was knocked out and taken by the wolves. I hadn't had time to place up my shield. We were helpless as they left with her body slung over the back of one of them as they got away.

I had limped over to Hon Tee's side to see if he was all right. The blood wasn't going to stop from his back, even if it did slow down. I took the bandages off my arms after taking off Hon Tee's yellow jacket and shirt before wrapping them around his back and using his shirt, I had ripped it with my teeth to do the best to stop the bleeding before I lifted his arm over my head and shoulder and moved back to home base. When we had gotten there, Big Brother and his Demon Weapons were already back, a little scratched up but otherwise fine, before I fell to the ground with Hon Tee by my side.

Now, I sat next Hon Tee, curled up with my knees up against my chest. He was asleep, forced to by Big Brother so his wounds wouldn't be any more damaged as he laid on his stomach. When they asked what had happened, I told them. There wasn't much we could do. I didn't know where the wolves had gone or where they took Zenna to. Big Brother had the same problem as I had, being ambushed by a pack of wolves. He said he didn't get as many as I had been ambushed with.

The questions were- Why did they take Zenna instead of killing her right then and there? Why not us as well? Why not kill us? ...

There were many more that spun around my head but no answers whatsoever.

And Zenna wasn't here... She wasn't! Why? Why? WHY!?

Where was she? Zenna... Zenna...

'Annoying...'

She was gone; I couldn't save her. I messed up. Why?

I didn't do anything... I did something wrong...

My hands twitched, both of them covering my face. I needed Zenna. Why did I need her? Why? Someone please tell me. When did it become like this?

'...'

Why?

"Sn... Che-"

Why did it feel so cold now? It was messing with me, my life. I didn't feel like it was the same anymore, not after Zenna and Hon Tee came into my life. It became... warm... My old, cold like, it became brighter with them around... warmer. It seemed that I started to like it like that but now the cold was starting to return when I didn't want it to.

"Snap... Chesh-!"

I wanted to return to the warmth. Why did I want to so badly? Maybe...

It was something that I couldn't answer from just a book or ask someone for an answer for. Zenna... Maybe she was that answer. I felt warm around her and sometimes Hon Tee as well. They were...

"Snap ou- Cheshire!"

It was sudden but I felt a stinging sensation came to my face and blinked to see the image of Hon Tee in front of me, his hands clasped onto my shoulders.

My...

"Snap the fuck out of it, Cheshire, and get your head straight!"

"Hon..." I muttered, my eyes wide. My heart thrummed in my chest as I let out a long, shaky breath from my mouth. I raised my hand to my stinging cheek, past his arms, feeling the heat that slowly healed and seeped away. "Wh-wh..." I couldn't form words that I needed to say.

His eyes were ablaze, angry as well, as he spoke with a sharp tone, "What the fuck were you doing?!" He saw my confused look so he explained, "You were scratching yourself raw when I just woke up! You were spaced out! What were you thinking!? What would Zenna say if she was here?" He proved his point, holding up my other hand and turned my wrist to see that I indeed was scratching myself raw.

I gritted my teeth and snatched my wrist away from him, holding the raw side to my chest; looking away from Hon Tee's eyes, "I don't know what she would say. She's not here... I let them take her away."

He took his hands off my shoulders as he swept back his hair. He grunted in pain when he sat back on the bed he was using. "Then why haven't you done anything yet? You're supposed to be Shinigami-sama's daughter and Death the Kid's sister so you should have thought of something already." He looked at me, "Even if I don't want to admit it and as much as it pains me, you're our leader and... our... friend," he muttered, looking away, "and Zenna would kill me right now, maybe even both of us, if she saw us like this and I wanna, like, be, for at least the next fifty years, intact."

I looked at him blankly, my eyes half-lidded, "Those are just titles Hon Tee... I'm just Cheshire, the black sheep of the family, I guess you could say... I'm not as smart as Big Brother, not funny like Father, or anything... I'm just..."

"Cheshire, you are Cheshire," Hon Tee said. I blinked. "And you know you can do it. I know you can, not that I care that you can..." Hon Tee looked away as I stared at him with wide eyes. He pushed up his glasses a few moments later, "I'm in no condition to fight at the moment and I'm not sure where your elder brother is so I guess it's just up to you now. But we're going to need to work together if we're going to get Zenna back."

I could feel my heartbeat quicken. Why was it doing that? Was I excited?

"Why just me?" I asked, staring at him. "Why do I have to go and get her by myself? I can't do much on my own..."

"Yes, you can," he spoke softly as he looked to the side, "Now then, I don't know how much time we have but I may have something that might just work." Hon Tee's voice was nice and calm but the gleam in his glasses showed a different story.

I stood, "Tell me."

He grinned, laying back in his bed, "All right then..."

I would fix this no matter what was in my way.

Clearing, Forest, Town of the Falls, Arizona, New Mexico, United States

Saturday, November 22, 20XX

9:00 P.M.

Big Brother had come back around eight at night and told us that he was going to the forest to look for Alone and take him down. We were told to stay in here until he came back. So he left and about an hour later, I was in the forest with Hon Tee back in the room. He gave me an ear communicator so we could keep in contact as I tried to find Zenna's location. (How he got it... I guess sometimes things were better left unsaid.) I had this feeling that wherever this Alone person was, Zenna would be as well.

"Can you hear me, Cheshire?" Hon Tee spoke over the communicator. "Are at the base point?"

"Yes," I muttered to him, "I'm there. I'm moving to where the fight took place." I kneeled down, staring down at the faded tracks. I was only able to see them up close. "I've found tracks. I'm going to follow them," I said.

"Are they going the same way the wolves that took Zenna were going?"

"Yes," I answered, remembering the horrible memory of the animals that took her away.

"Then do it. Respond if you find any other clues," Hon Tee said before the link went quiet, meaning that he had cut it off.

I took a deep breath before taking off in the direction where the tracks had taken. As I followed them, they darkened, meaning they were there before, mostly like a day before or so. It wasn't until I made it to an area where it split into two, tracks going in both ways.

"Great, just great," I growled out, rubbing the bridge of my nose. This was something I didn't need. I just wanted to get Zenna back. I looked both ways. "Which way am I supposed to take?"

Left?

Right?

Both?

"Ugh!" I groaned out, "Which way did they go!?"

'Why not use our instincts?'

Instinct?

'That thing where others can sense souls. We are part Shinigami after all, we should be able to do that.'

Why didn't I ever think of that? I wasn't sure... Well, might as well try it. I'd ask questions later. (I knew I was definitely going crazy. But that would be figured out another time.) But how could I use it? It was something I still needed to learn.

'...Ugh! Close our eyes, calm down, and see if we can 'feel' something nearby or even far away.'

I did just that. Closing my eyes, I stayed still and took a deep breath as I calmed my beating heart and breath and focused on this 'sense'. I didn't know how long I was like that but eventually I was able to feel something nearby. I didn't know what type it was but I knew for sure it was a soul. Then another one popped up and another. Moments later, there were five in all. They all seemed the same, small too but each just a little different. They were all heading this way. Fast.

I let out a shaky breath, opening my eyes as I wiped the sweat off my forehead. My ears twitched, hearing a slight thumping noise like something was running. I moved quickly, climbing into a tree that had enough cover for me to hide and a small peeking area for me to see what was going on. I leaned down slightly as five wolves ran under me before two stopped and growled, sniffing the ground where I just was standing. I stiffened, halting my breathing and just staring as they growled, grunted, and whined to each other, sniffing the air and looking around, communicating about something. I frowned, getting a better look at the wolves. They seemed more... normal... then how the others looked. These seemed calm and actually wolf-like, not rabid animals just wanting to fight.

From what I'd learned about wolves, they lived, traveled, and hunted in packs, which consisted of eight on average. Packs included the mother and father wolves (called the alphas and they usually mated for life), their pups and older offspring. The alpha female and male were typically the pack leaders who tracked and hunted prey, chose den sites, and established the pack's territory.

These were either another pack or part of the pack that ambushed us. If they were of another pack then maybe they could help me... I opened my mouth, about to speak, when a hand suddenly covered my mouth and an arm wrapped itself around my body to keep me from moving and talking. I tried to struggle but it was pointless and the bottom of my eye twitched as I saw the wolves below me run off. My eyes closed as I grew angry and then was able to raise my hand slightly and jabbed the one behind me in the stomach, sending them to the ground. I let out a breath, and growled out, "And when I finally had a chance."

I jumped down, landing near the blasted person and turned to them, yelling at them, "What the hell were you thinking?! When I finally had a chance, you butt in..." I tailed off when I saw it who it was, "You! What the hell?! Why did you do that?" I accused the man.

"I have a name you know," he said calmly, standing up as he brushed himself off, "And I saved you from being dinner by the wolves, child."

"I'm not a child," I growled out, glaring at him as he arched an eyebrow, giving me a disbelieving look.

"Sure you're not..."

"..." What the hell was with this man? Why did I get like this when I was with him?

I turned, preparing to move out and follow the pack of 'normal' wolves in order to get some kind of answer. However, the man had other thoughts as his hand landed on my right shoulder, keeping me from moving on. "Where do you think you're going? It's dangerous out here for children like you."

My eye twitched again as I growled out once more, "I repeat to you, I'm not a child!"

'We need to get going... We need to find Zenna.'

I knew that! I was trying the best I could but this man kept getting in the way. Then a sudden idea came to mind. It might not work but it would do well as a distraction.

"Get your hand off of me, you pervert!" I smacked his suddenly limp hand. His face instantly became surprised.

"Eh?" The man blinked and I used this as the distraction I needed and ran quickly. Though I didn't get far, I ran faster than I thought before I suddenly banged into the side of a wolf. I blinked, falling on my butt, and shook my head from the sudden impact.

I looked up to see the side of the wolf turn; growling could be heard from it as I saw its face. Its eyes were wide open, its pupils dilated. The wolf snarled once more with foam coming from the open edges of its mouth. It moved closer to me. It seemed to be like that night, just a few days ago, with just the monster and me.

Why did I have such bad luck today?

I rolled out of the way, using my hands to twist under me so I could spring onto my feet and dodge a flash of gleaming teeth from the wolf. Spinning, I moved out of the way of another vicious bite. I spun again, using the momentum of the force to land a kick that slid that wolf back. A light cracking noise from the animal could be heard but other than that it seemed that my kick had no effect on it. It charged. This one was faster it seemed than the other one but it was weaker.

I raised my arms. The left was crossed over the right, both just over my head, as a good-sized golden, see-through shield that took the form of a skull resembling Father's own mask appeared in front of me. The wolf charged into the shield; I flinched from the force, being forced back far enough as the ground under me started to sink slightly from the force. I was struggling slightly to keep the Skull Shield up as I was being pushed back. However, I was able to keep myself from being pushed back any further.

"Ah!" I pushed forward suddenly, throwing the wolf off balance. I dashed forward, my face blank, and spun on my heel, throwing a kick to the wolf's side again. I leapt back as it turned, growled at me and crouched down. I took a deep breath, letting my arms relax beside me before we both struck.

-A Few Moments Later-

I stared down at the poor animal as it was knocked out from a kick in the head.

"Hmm... Must have used too much force," I muttered, staring at the down animal as I poked it in the side. The foam of the side of it mouth had all but stopped and its pupils had changed just when I kicked the animal in the head, seemingly knocking it out of some type of... trance, I guessed. It was strange. I narrowed my eyes at the animal.

Then I poked it again with a stick this time.

"Hey~! Wakey, wakey, wolfy~!" I spoke in a dead tone before I was interrupted.

"Cheshire... What are you doing?"

"Hmm? Hon? When did you get here?" I spoke to him over the mike blankly. I could hear something snap on the other side. Was it something I said?

"I was here the whole time, Cheshire!" Hon Tee yelled into my eardrum. I pulled the ear piece away from me before he could do any more damage. "What the hell was with that man?! Who was he!?"

"Never got his name but he had a case full of katanas," I answered, the ear piece slowly nearing back in its original place. "He was strange..."

"Hmm... We'll look into it once we get back to DWMA," he said and I agreed with him. For a moment though, I looked around to see if he was anywhere near me. Maybe he was hiding and watching me. I felt a shiver go down my spine. This was all new to me. I didn't understand why I had this feeling but I didn't like it either. "Have you found any more clues?"

I had thought we were supposed to shadow the Meister and Demon Weapon in order to get a better understanding of things but this wasn't anything like it. This was just one big mess that I wanted to end and get back to my room. I wanted to go back to the school and just sit in the classroom with... Zenna... and Hon Tee...

I let out a sigh. It seemed that I'd started to grow attached to the two Demon Weapons and it was something that was troubling to me. It seemed that it was something I would need to research when we got back. To at least get a better understanding of what I was feeling. Yes... That was something I was going to do no matter what. Maybe Lun would know a few things on the topic.

"I honestly don't know but that is what is happening... Wherever those wolves go Zenna is most likely to be. So, what do we do now? Go find more wolves and follow them or... Cheshire, what are you doing?"

I grinned slightly, looking down at the wolf below me before I spoke back to Hon Tee, "I may have something that might just work."

"Do I even want to know?"

"Do I even need to answer that?"

"Point taken..."

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