Charlie: Yes, anyways, death will be appearing in this chapter. To everyone who wanted the part, yeah, sorry, as much as I would've liked, I couldn't give everyone the part. So for the next 3-5 chapters, the one who got the part will be the grim reaper… and the rest of you will show up one by one starting with the chapter after this one. You'll all have interesting little parts.
Anyways… before y'all die of anticipation and what not. This is based on yeah… bio, as will the size of your cameo be.
Death – Sturm (Congrats. I might be changing the personality a tad though)
Death's Secretary – Demitra Lark (Poke me when I start making her too sarcastically mean)
Well, there you have it. For the most part, Sturm will be referred to as "Death" by most of the generic characters. -nodnod-
Anyways, no more angry rants from me. If you asked me to read and review your fic and I still haven't done so yet… I'm sorry! I'll be getting to it soon (I hope).
Oh well, on with the show. This chapter will also end all the seriousness we've been having lately. Yep.
Misty Haze
Jaffar woke with a start. After realizing he wasn't under attack, he turned over, groaning. The sun wasn't up yet. He turned around again, intent on getting back to sleep. Moments later however, the assassin suddenly noticed how quiet the room was. He got up and looked around, only to see that his roommate was missing.
"Where did that bum get off to?" Jaffar wondered to himself as he got out of bed and pulled a warm cloak over his shoulders. It was too late to go back to sleep, once Jaffar got woken up, it was nearly impossible for him to get back to sleep. Clasping his cloak on with a simple pin, Jaffar stepped out of his room and slammed into a sleepy looking Lowen who was carrying a young girl on his back.
Jaffar slammed into the ground followed by two more thuds announcing that two more bodies had hit the floor as well. Jaffar rolled over and picked himself up before walking over to the two moaning lumps on the ground.
"Lowen? Nino?" Jaffar said quizzically. "What are you two doing out here?"
Lowen groaned and picked himself from the floor while Jaffar picked up the still half asleep and dazed Nino.
"She wanted some water…" The paladin said pointing to the girl. "And she didn't want to sleep alone in a dark room."
Jaffar let his lips twitch up for just a moment. "Right… well, my roommate seems to have slipped out for a midnight stroll. If you're still awake after we get Nino her water, I could use an extra pair of eyes to look out for him."
Lowen shrugged. "We could leave the girl with Lady Louise. But one question, why do you want to search for your roommate? He could just be out for a walk."
"Because he's Matthew." Jaffar said curtly. "The man who's been planning my death since the moment he set eyes on me."
"Ahh!" Lowen did not say anymore. Silently, the two slipped downstairs. They felt around until they found an oil lamp and turned it on.
"Aww…" Lowen cooed pointing to two lumps cuddled on the floor.
Jaffar smirked as he watched all the drunk Silent Springs residents lay around in heaps. He stepped over the couple cuddled together and scanned the room for the innkeeper, figuring that he would know where to get a glass of water. Moments later, he found the innkeeper, sprawled on the ground snoring quite loudly. He had an oddly colored robe covering his body.
Jaffar navigated through the different lumped piles of people and poked the innkeeper.
"Hey, where can we get water?"
Charlie groaned and turned over. "Behind…counter…fountain…zzz…" He mumbled before going back into a deep sleep.
The assassin found the innkeeper's current state quite interesting and fought to keep from laughing. He quickly made his way to the counter the sleeping man had indicated and poured a glass of water to bring to Lowen and Nino. The green haired girl woke up mometarily to down the cup of water before falling right back into a deep slumber. Lowen chucked lightly.
"She's seems so innocent."
Jaffar kept silent. He hoisted Nino onto his back and carried her over to where Charlie was lumped up. He placed Nino against the man, using his stomach as a pillow. He stripped off one of his 3 cloaks that he had pulled on earlier and covered the girl.
Lowen stepped over and glanced down. "Are you sure we should do this? We could just carry her back."
Jaffar just shrugged. "She'll be fine. Come on, lets go find Matthew before he manages to raise an army of mountain hermits against me."
Lowen flinched slightly as he followed Jaffar out. He scanned the assassin's face wondering if the solemn man had just made a joke. He found no traces of humor in the man's unchanging face and sighed. It was going to be an awkward morning.
The pair left the inn and looked around.
"Well…we've got two directions, left and right." Lowen said.
Jaffar pointed left towards the mountains. "That way. It leads into the town."
Lowen shrugged and followed Jaffar as he walked down the mountain path into the deeper parts of the mysterious mountain town.
The two walked in silence until they reached a discernable fork in the road. Lowen once again looked to Jaffar.
"Which way?"
Jaffar looked down both paths. Neither direction seemed special in any way. Jaffar was about to suggest the two of them split up when something caught the corner of his eye. Down the left fork, a strange aura was emanating from a dark area quite a distance from the fork. Letting curiosity get the best of him, Jaffar grunted and pointed down the left Path.
The two continued along the path, staring forward into the darkness. Every now and then, a blue flash would light up the sky before dying away into darkness again. For what seemed like several hours, the blue flashes never seemed to get any closer. Jaffar, though calm on the outside, was getting more and more irritated as time passed.
Finally, they hit something, or more or less something hit them. Jaffar and Lowen ran into a barrier and got blasted fifty feet back.
Jaffar groaned and picked himself up from the snow, thanking it silently for keeping his clothes from bursting into flames. He walked back to the barrier, now shimmering with energy.
Just when Jaffar was contemplating on throwing a large rock at the barrier, a bright circle appeared in front of him materializing two people. Jaffar recognized the shorter of the two immediately.
"Jessica!"
The tactician looked at the assassin. "Okay, I'm not that ugly." She smirked. "What are you and that lump behind you doing here?"
Jaffar turned around and saw Lowen still groaning in the ground. Sighing, he moved over, prodded him with his boot before picking him up.
"I noticed that my bunk-buddy was missing… I'm just here to make sure he's not raising an army of dwarfs to come and kill me." Jaffar said after he had turned back around.
"You are the only person on this planet who can say that with a straight face." Jessica smiled.
"What? It's true."
Jessica scanned the young man's face, and found that indeed, there was no trace of humor in his hardened features whatsoever.
"You my friend." Jessica said. "Need to go out, get in a party, get drunk, and get laid."
"No I don't" Jaffar said completely missing the point. "Now let us pass this barrier… and who's that guy with you?"
Clive stood back with a smirk until the strange man finally noticed him.
"Err, name's Clive. As for the barrier… well, uhm, lemme just teleport you in."
Jaffar looked confused. "Okay… what's going on here?"
"We'll tell you everything once we get back." Clive said holding out his staff. Magic circles began to materialize beneath everyone's feet.
"Whoa…back where? What's happening? Can someone tell me what's going on!" Lowen shrieked, flailing his arms around.
"Like I said…when we get back." Clive said calmly. "PORTUS!"
Lowen's flailing body was the first one to disappear followed by Jessica. Moments later, Jaffar began to feel light headed, sleepy. Clive's smirk was the last thing he saw before a loud bang blasted through his ears and he hit the ground with a mouthful of snow.
Muttering various silent obscenities, Jaffar picked himself up from the ground and looked around. Jessica was standing serenely on the ground laughing at Lowen who had his head stuck in a mound of snow.
Jaffar sighed again and went over to pull Lowen's head out of the snow. After a while of hard tugging, Lowen's head was finally free. The paladin took a few quick gulps of air and then quickly looked around to find the man responsible for his bad teleporting experience.
Suddenly, Clive appeared in the air out of nowhere and landed on top of Lowen with a heavy thud. Both men tumbled to the ground, with Lowen once again half buried in the snow. Clive gave everyone a sheepish grin.
"Whoops."
Clive quickly dusted himself off and pulled the now reddening Lowen out of the snow again.
"Okay…" Jaffar said trying to keep Lowen from committing any murders. "Now that we're here, can somebody tell us what's going on?"
"You want the long version or the short version?" Clide asked.
"Long version."
"Well… basically, there's a prophecy." Clide said.
"And that prophecy says that…" Clive continued.
"A chosen one must kill a descendent of fate or else the world explodes." Kevin finished.
"So basically…"
"Matthew's the chosen one…"
"Samantha's the descendent of fate…"
"And Matthew must kill her…"
"By a potion that a goddess gave him…"
"Or else the twins here…"
"Will become clouds of doom…"
"and destroy the world."
Jaffar's head was now spinning from both the shocking information and having to rotate and face three different people while they talked.
"…That made no sense…what's the short version?"
"Basically." Jessica said shortly snarling at the triplet of terror, or so she called them. "Matthew either kills Samantha or Clide and Clive here destroys the world."
"Wow…" Jaffar said. "That sucks. How long does Matthew have."
"Well…" Kevin said looking down at a wrist chronometer he had. "According to this…he has around…ten minutes, give or take a minute or two."
"Yano…" Clide said looking back at the mansion. "If Irene comes back and tells us that Sammy was pregnant when she died… I'm going to personally castrate Matthew."
Everyone tossed a snowball at him for his bad joke.
---
Matthew held Samantha tightly as the last drops of liquid dripped into her throat. Apprehensive moments passed as the couple huddled together, holding each other, needing no words to express their feelings at their last moments together.
Soon, seconds turned into minutes and Matthew looked up confused.
"Uh… something isn't right."
Samantha looked up confused, and then suddenly she realized it too.
"Right… aren't I supposed to be…well, you know…dead?"
Matthew nodded grimly. He glanced at a wrist chronometer. "Ten minutes until sun up. You think maybe they misread the prophecy?"
Samantha shrugged, but was thrown against Matthew as a loud explosion ran out from behind her. Looking back, she saw Irene standing there.
"Yeah… we all wish Matthew." Irene said sadly. "You drank it…"
Samantha nodded.
"Well…it's time…" Irene said. "Uhh…I'll leave you two alone for… two minutes. No more."
Samantha nodded and turned to Matthew.
"Sam… uhh, I know we've only known each other for two days. But well… you saved me from getting executed at court, and well… I think you're… a …really..great…uhmmm person."
Irene rolled her eyes. 'Pathetic.' She glanced back to see the girl smile and hug the teary thief.
"Don't forget me…" She whispered before pulling away and walking to Irene, not looking back."
Irene looked at her. "You ready?"
Samantha nodded.
Irene grimly pulled out an ornate staff topped with a phoenix. Walking swiftly around Samantha, she drew a simple magic circle.
"I promise it won't hurt." Irene said. "Stur- I mean death will meet you once you… go. If he's not there, talk to a woman named Demitra Lark."
"Wait…there is an afterlife?" Samantha asked.
"Of course silly." Irene forced a smile. "Come now…let's sing."
Irene opened her mouth and a beautiful melody filled the room. Samantha looked down and saw the magic circle react, glowing a deep blood red. The symbols for life, rebirth and death appeared around the circle and began rotating. Samantha's head began to spin. Oddly she felt no pain. It was just like going to sleep. Only this time she knew she won't wake up in the same place.
---
Clive had first heard Jessica scream. When he turned back to look at the cause of her outburst, it was too late. A beam of pure energy hit him straight in the chest, blasting him five yards backwards into the trunk of a tree. A few yards behind him, he heard his twin grunt as he slammed into the ground. As Clive picked himself up from the ground rubbed his head. He felt a little bit of blood and quickly ripped some material from the sleeve of his robe to stem the flow.
He waited for Clide to pick himself up and hobble over.
"…It's over is it?"
Clive nodded. They hobbled over to where the rest of the group was staring at them in shock.
"He did it…" Clide said.
"So…does that mean the priestess is…" Lowen left the end unfinished.
"Dead… yes."
The twins nodded sadly and turned to face the temple just as the first of the sun's rays hit them from behind.
Moments later, a magic circle appeared and Matthew materialized, carrying a limp body. Kevin quickly ran over and took Samantha's limp body from the thief, who quickly collapsed into spasms of tears. The twins watched as Jessica and the two newcomers ran over to comfort him before going over to Kevin. Both took off their outer cloaks and wrapped the girl's body in them.
"She's really gone huh?" Clive said after a while.
"Yeah…it's over." Kevin said. "She looks so peaceful in death though."
Clide smiled. "Unfortunately…it's not over."
His twin looked at him confused.
"They say it's hard to see someone die." Clide explained. "But what they don't tell you is that it's even harder to face that person's family and friends."
Apprehension dawned on Clive and Kevin's faces as they realized in an hour or two, they would have to tell the entire town someone died, they would have to admit to keeping such a dark secret, and they would also have to face Brian's wrath.
Moments later, Jessica, Lowen, Jaffar and Matthew had joined the twins and the librarian in a circle around the dead girl. The looked down at her calm expression.
"What's going to happen now?" Jessica asked.
"Now…" Clide said. "We draw straws."
Everyone else looked confused.
"Whoever draws the short straw wins the privilege of breaking the news."
Everyone prayed they wouldn't be the one to draw the short straw.
---
Samantha looked around. Everything seemed bright and lovely. There were clouds everywhere. She took a tentative step forward and found the ground to be light and springy. She smiled; it wasn't going to be so bad after all. She just wished her brother did have to live to bury her physical body.
Samantha looked around, there was nobody resembling her vision of Death so she kept walking, hoping that she wouldn't get lost, but then again, it was just an endless expanse of whiteness in all directions.
After what seemed like hours of walking, which amazingly didn't tire her, Samantha reached a door. It was odd, just standing in the middle of nowhere. Letting curiosity get the better of her, she twisted the doorknob and stepped in. Once inside, she got quite a shock. On this side of the door, was a huge reception area. Several black clad figures were bustling around as various people stood in queues. There were several doors on the other side, three were marked "Authorized Personnel Only." The rest were marked in a cryptic language Samantha didn't understand.
Samantha looked around, everyone was wearing a dark hooded robe that covered any visible skin. Technically everyone could be death, but none of them carried the trademark scythe.
She finally approached one robed man tried to talk.
"Excuse me? Uhm I'm new here and I…"
The figure turned to her gave her the one over. Then he pointed her to a figure sitting in a prominent desk. Samantha thanked the robed man and headed towards the other robed person it had pointed her to.
"Excuse me…sir?" Samantha said softly as she approached the desk.
The figure looked up. "You call me 'sir' again and I'll have your head." A distinctly female voice came.
"Er… sorry about that ma'am. I'm just new here and I don't know what to do."
The robed figure sighed. "Name and origin?"
"Samantha Chow, Silent Springs Lycia, Precinct 2384."
The robed girl looked up. "Right… one second." She flipped through her notebook with superhuman speed before finding Samantha's name. Her body language changed after a while.
"Well well well, so the descendent of fate finally came eh? I was wondering when you would show up." She said.
"You know me?"
"Do I know you! I registered your great nanny Victoria when she came."
"Oh…" Samantha said. She stayed silent. The robed woman continued to make notes on her records and finally looked up.
"Okay… name's Demitra. I've been the secretary here since I died like…I forget how long ago. Anyways, Sturm, Grim Reaper or Death to you, will be here any moment. Save your questions for him when he gets here. As for now, I am going to ask you not to freak out."
Samantha looked confused. "Why?"
"Just don't freak out okay? I 'm going to pull back my hood."
Samantha nodded as Demitra waved her hands and summoned walls to encase them. The hooded woman the brought her sleeve covered hands to her hood and pulled it down. It was all Samantha could do to keep from screaming at the sight of the half deteriorated skull that stood in place of Demitra's head.
"Shocking isn't it?" Demitra asked. "This is how everyone here in a black robe looks like, so don't go bugging them. Because you're a special case, we need to be around you more, so we might let our hoods down more often. However… seeing as we don't want to destroy your sanity, I and most of my other helpers will be using our magic to make our outer appearance how it was right before we died. Do not expect however Sturm to do the same."
Samantha nodded. Demitra's body glowed and skin started regenerating on her skull. Soon, a pretty girl no older than Samantha herself stood where the skeleton once stood.
"Right, this is how I looked before I died." Demitra said. "Anyway, Sturm will be back… in right about…now."
Suddenly, a loud crack rang out and taller robed figure stood there. He held a sick looking scythe and had a ball of fire floating around his head.
"Hello there, you must be Samantha. I'm surprised darling Demitra here hasn't scared you into insanity yet."
The newcomer turned towards Demitra and flinched noticeably. "You should stay that way Demitra, much more attractive.
Demitra scowled. "Stuff it up your rear end Sturm, I'm not here to make small talk. Victoria's Great great etc granddaughter is here."
Sturm looked at Samantha. "Thought she looked familiar. Well come now, you must have many questions. Demitra, hold down the fort for me?"
"Up yours Sturm, get one of your lackeys to do it, I'm coming with the poor girl."
The Grim Reaper flinched again. "Showing favoritism, is the great Demitra Lark going soft on dead people now?"
"No, I just don't trust you alone with a poor innocent little girl." Demitra said. "Now get going, or do I have to take that scythe from you?"
Death shrugged his robed shoulders. "Whatever. Anyways, come Samantha, we have important matters to discuss."
Samantha nodded and followed Sturm, glancing around at the people lined up and waiting in lines.
"Are they all dead?" She asked.
Sturm nodded. "No duh?"
"Then…why do I get to cut in front of them?"
"That is because you my dear are not dead."
Samantha nearly fainted. She would've fallen over if Demitra hadn't grabbed onto the top of her dress.
"But the prophe-"
"Yes…the lovely prophecy." Sturm growled. "Care to enlighten our lovely guest here?"
"Flattery will get you nowhere you bag of bones." Demitra scowled. She kept her pace up with Samantha and turned towards her slightly.
"Anyways, the thing is, that prophecy is so misread. The original one stated that you were supposed to find your true love who is supposedly lost and confused in the world. Then your love will break the curse. Somehow, the two morons I've left to guard the prophecy let it change over time."
"Wait…you were the one who appeared to Clide and Clive and not Irene?"
"No, it wasn't Irene…" Demitra mumbled something that Samantha would swear sounded like a derogatory term for a female canine. "I left the prophecy because I was getting absolutely sick of all the bloody paper work I had to do because someone was always getting killed in these petty squabbles."
Samantha just nodded.
"Anyways, prophecies can't fully change, but they must follow the premise. In Elibe, you're effectively dead. However, you are in the rare state we like to call "near death situation." Meaning you get stabbed up here, you're still technically alive in my books."
"…Does that mean I can go back?"
Demitra nodded. "Only if the dimwits on earth find the right spell. And lord knows it's right in the restricted section of the Silent Springs Archive. However, for now, Sturm needs you to be safeguarded. He has atrusted a few people to see to your safety. One man in the waiting room, Jeramiah I think was his name. He was the one who died after he kidnapped you. Apparently still holds a grudge. Our job is to keep you safe until the morons down there find a cure."
Samantha nodded. "Who's gonna look after me?"
Sturm stepped in. "Ahh, I can answer that. Samantha, meet Elimine, Roland and Athos."
Samantha turned around and found herself face to face with three of the heroes from the scouring.
Elimine immediately squealed.
"She's so cute Sturm! You didn't tell me she was so cute!"
Demitra rolled her eyes. "This is why he didn't tell you." She muttered under her breath just loud enough for Sturm to hear. He gave her a warning look.
"Right Elimine." Roland said quickly prying the priestess off the girl. "She still needs to breathe. Not dead yet remember?"
"Oh..right…sorry!" Elimine apologized.
Athos smiled and laughed. "Oh so full of youth. Come now, let us go."
The three heroes surrounded Samantha and began to walk off with her. Just before they left, Death looked up again.
"Don't forget, Second Death's Protocol 395."
Roland looked back and nodded before leading Samantha off with Elimine and Athos again.
Demitra looked at Sturm.
"She gonna be alright?"
"Lord knows." Sturm said. He looked back and saw that Demitra turned back into a skeleton. "Hey, you looked hot with skin."
"Right, but that has nothing to do with you now does it?" She snapped. "And get back to work! I wasn't slaving over these peoples stupid paperwork for no reason. Hell, half these jerks are just like you, trying to get me to show my form before I died. At least these people don't try to get me out of my robe though."
Sturm looked up. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Shove it Sturm and drag your ass back to work. I don't want to have to fix any more of your bloody mistakes."
Demitra stalked off leaving a very irritated Grim Reaper.
"Sometimes I think I'm HER secretary. I swear…one of these days, she'll get a Meteor Strike right up her arse."
Shaking his head, Death grabbed his scythe and looked at his list.
"Wow… Silent Springs again… I wonder who this time. Man, I love that town. Only place that overworks Demitra and fills my quota at the same time." With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke
Charlie: Five cookies to the one who correctly guesses who dies next.
Yes, I am indeed evil, so Sammy isn't dead. And she gets to hang out with Roland and Elimine. (I honesty don't know these people's personalities, but seriously, I didn't want to make them the generic every day noble hero types. They need their own quirks.)
That said, I'm to tired to do responses, however, as soon as I stop being lazy, I will continue regardless of the ambiguous rules of love you guys all, sorry to my reviewers for neglecting you guys so much.
Oh and by the way, nobody guessed the Lavender Breeze correlation.
Well, until next time. And no, Demitra hates Sturm, don't give me bad images.