'Glasgow may be seen as one of London's rivals with its giant chimneys and sea of factories, but unlike London, with its palace and parliament, Glasgow only has the backs of workers it was built on. The industrial revolution never died here, and it needs more and more people to turn its cogs. I was fortunate enough to be raised in that big but miserable city. Many people were around me, but none knew I was a Weapon.
Until the police came knocking, brandishing shiny guns (the ones they never dare use on 'civilians') and I escaped with just me, my torn dress and a crinkled photo of my family. To this day, I still don't know why exactly they rounded up all Weapons. Some folks say it's because we're the spawn of a Witch, but I never met one in my life and my mum was an honest hard-working woman taken before her time by disease, so I say that's a load of *unintelligible*
I ran to the docks and used all the goodwill I had with the captains there to secure a trip to the lost colonies. There was only one captain mad enough to take regular trips there, and he reassured me that he never visited the Northern part, but that he found a port on a long-lost colony of the Spanish, where the red clouds hadn't gotten hold of yet and where people like me, Weapons, gathered. None knew any more than that, and none had dared travel further than the port town because of legends of red-eyed monsters and a government too weak to enforce its laws.
With no other choice, I embarked, and here I am now. Maybe we'll speak to each other again. Probably not.
It is not an easy life, being a Weapon.'
Ellen McAllister, 'Stories of Britain'
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Chapter 25: Scratch The Surface
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"Hi, I'm Patty!"
This was the first sound Liz heard when she entered the dilapidated building. The entrance led to a modest open space, furnished with old decaying couches and worn tables. A few people were gathered there, including a small group of girls Patty had just addressed.
Liz wrinkled her nose as she eyed the room, taking note of the damaged wallpaper. She walked by the stairs and peered into the rooms upstairs. From what little she could see they were cramped, with their doors to each room alarmingly close to one another.
"What the hell is this?" Liz muttered under her breath and scowled. She didn't expect any luxuries but this place looked like some sort of ant nest.
Her words had caught the attention of one of the girls in the lobby. She was a diminutive girl, with her shoulder-length black hair tied into two stringy pigtails.
"What are you all looking at?" Liz scowled at the girl who jumped in shock.
"I'm Tsugumi Harudori, nice-to-meet-you!" The girl yelled in embarrassment and bowed.
Liz raised an eyebrow. "Liz. Ditto, I guess." Her face morphed into a scowl again she refocused on the building's interior. "Damn it all," Liz grumbled under her breath. "We're too important for this dump-"
"You are?" Tsugumi cut her off. "Are you famous or-?"
"Hell yeah!" Patty exclaimed who appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a huge smile on her face. "We're the coolest Weapons around, ain't we sis?"
"You got that right, Patty."
"And we got the coolest Meister too!"
Tsugumi frowned. "If you have a Meisters, why are you here?"
"Eh?" Liz turned her attention to Tsugumi. "What'd you mean?"
The girl withered under Liz's gaze. "These rooms are f-for Weapons that don't have a Meister," she said. "I assumed since you're here…"
"Where do the Weapons with Meister go?" Liz cut her off.
"W-well a Weapon is supposed to move with the Meister that picks them…"
"Do they?" Liz absent-mindedly said, looking back up at the stairs. "Ah hell, maybe this ain't too bad," she grumbled to herself. "At least we'll have some privacy this way."
A boy with orange hair covering his face snorted at the statement.
"What's so funny?" Liz growled at the boy who straightened up and began fiddling with his headphones.
"This place is actually very busy…" Tsugumi timidly began.
Liz scoffed. "I can tell, you guys are packed like sardines."
Tsugumi rubbed her hands in discomfort. "Well there's that, and lots of Meisters come here to-"
The doors at the entrance swung open dramatically. A blonde boy wearing a half-open white shirt and garishly-patterned trousers walked through with a huge smile on her face. A distance away from another figure headed through the entrance,
"Not this guy again," a girl with short hair sitting on one of the couches muttered.
"Hello everyone!" the unknown boy announced and then looked around inquisitively as if he was on safari.
"Who's this idiot?" Liz asked no one in particular.
"He calls himself Hero," the girl from before said and faked a gag. "Comes here every two days or so."
Liz frowned. "Why would he-?"
"You!" Hero pointed at Liz and was by her in an instant. "What are you?"
"The girl who's gonna make you sterile if you don't get out of my face five seconds from now." Liz found herself taking a step back, only for Hero to take a step forward.
"Aha!" Hero explained and leaned further in Liz's personal space. "I see you're a lady of passion."
"My only passion right now is to rip your balls and serve them with your fried di-"
"Would you like to become my Weapon?" Hero asked with stars in his eyes.
There was a pause.
"Heh," Liz let out, her lip trembling. "Heh, heh." Soon enough, Liz was caught up in a full-blown maniacal laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" A clueless Hero asked. He stared at her until a lightbulb went off in his head and his smile returned to its former glory. "Oh, is that a laugh of joy? Let me join in-"
"Cause you're a moron," Liz choked out between laughter, clutching her belly. She wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. "I already got a Meister, idiot,"
"I'm no idiot!" Hero said and puffed his cheeks. "if you're here, you must be in need of a Meister!"
"No and fuck you," Liz said with a chuckle. She had nothing to worry about from this clown.
Hero looked at her, utterly confused. Then, a realisation. "Ah, I see," he said, and placed a hand on his chin, in a gesture meant to be suave but had all the finesse of a toddler. "You're playing hard to get. I can work with this…" His voice trailed off and he reached around Liz's waist to pull her close.
Liz cut her laugh short and slapped Hero's hand away. If the mocking tactic wouldn't work, she'd have to do something drastic. "Patty," she growled, her sister having noticed the commotion and standing to the side.
"Oh, do we get to play again sis?" Patty let out a dark chuckle as she transformed.
Liz grabbed hold of her and pointed her right between Hero's eyes. Around her, people gasped and many took a step back. "Do you get what I'm trying to say now, genius?"
"Of course!" Hero said, the smile never leaving his face. "You and your sister are a pair. Don't you worry, I can work with two of you!"
"Which part of back off does your tiny brain not get?" She waved Patty and pressed her barrel on Hero's forehead, "Get the hell away before I shoot you!"
"Ah, I see you have a dark sense of humour as well and like to get physical." Another childish gesture meant to be flirtatious. "Hmm, I could deal with that."
Before Liz could response, Hero sauntered off towards the middle-aged woman, who looked around the dormitories with a clipboard and a sceptical face.
Liz looked at the retreating boy with a mix of shock and disbelief. "What the hell?"
The nameless girl from before walked up to Liz and let out a slow whistle. "Tough break, Hero's got his sights on you."
"What do I do to get rid of this clown?"
The girl shrugged. "Nothing. Just bear with him for a week or so. He either gets bored with his Weapon or finds a tiny flaw he can't stand," she nonchalantly said. "Pretty standard fare at this point. Reckon you can't find someone who has friends or who themselves haven't been wielded by Hero there, including yours truly," the girl said with a humourless smile and placed a hand on her chest. "Thanks for biting the bullet this week."
"But we don't wanna be his Weapons!" Patty let out and transformed into her human form, her lips pursed.
The girl shrugged again. "Tough break. What did you expect?"
Liz's scowl deepened. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we're Weapons…" Tsugumi trailed off.
"I'm not following," Liz said in a flat tone.
The nameless girl sighed. "You really are new here. If there is a stable connection and the Meister accepts, a Weapon doesn't have an input…" She glanced at Hero, who was doing his best to attract the large woman's attention. The latter finally gave up and finally addressed the hyperactive boy. "They have to follow their Meister, die for them and all that crap." The girl leant conspiratorially to Liz. "Pro-tip; if you don't like your Meister, make yourself as much of an annoying bitch as possible. That way you can be Meister-free." For the briefest of moments, her face fell and she looked at an empty seat on the couch. "As long as you don't end up with an asshole…"
Liz looked to where the girl had glanced before. The seat had a small dip in it, so it had been in use… wait, was that a dead flower under the seat?
"But we already have a Meister!" Patty protested.
Tsugumi frowned in confusion, while the other girl stared at the sisters with suspicion. "Really? Who?"
"E-each other!" Liz quickly said before Patty could answer. "Patty and I have identical forms, we don't need a Meister." To demonstrate her point, Liz and Patty quickly switched position, with Patty spinning Liz's form with her trigger finger.
"But sis, that's not what I-"
"Not now Patty," Liz said with a strained tone. Patty frowned but didn't speak up.
Tsugumi's eyes glimmered with envy, while the other girl whistled in approval. "That's so cool!"
Patty threw Liz in the air, and the older sister transformed back and adopted a confident pose. "Thank you, thank you, we're here all day."
While Tsugumi clapped at the performance, the other girl let out a sigh. "It's not us who have to convince." She tilted her head towards the oversized woman. "It's Auntie. Or Misery, but she's…" Next to her, Tsugumi shuddered, "weird. Auntie's your best bet."
Liz looked over at the woman, who was still hounded by Hero. She looked official, so she must know about the sister's situation. "I'll handle her."
"Ah," Hero let out a content sigh when he saw Liz and Patty stomp their way to him and Auntie. "My Weapons arrive."
"We ain't your Weapons pal," Liz cut him off and pushed him away, making sure he gave him her coldest glare.
Auntie frowned at the commotion and looked down on her clipboard. She flipped through the pages and glanced between them and the sisters. After a few seconds, her eyes settled on a page and her face paled. "Hero, stop."
"Huh?" the boy asked.
Auntie took a deep breath. "These two already have a Meister." She made sure to flip back the pages before Hero could take a peek at their contents.
"What are they doing here then?" Hero asked Auntie. When he realised the woman wasn't about to say anything else, he turned to Liz with a scandalised expression. "Oh, my fair lady why do you still remain in this place? Has your Meister mistreated you? Just tell me their name and I'll-"
"Shut the fuck up-" Liz began.
"Hero, cut it out." Maybe it was the woman's size or age, but Auntie's words had the silencing effect Liz's never had.
"Miss Auntie!" Hero cried. "Surely you can't expect me-!"
"Yes I do and I will," the woman cut him off and rubbed her brow. "This is way above my pay grade…"
"Just give a name!"
"It's classified," Auntie stated.
"I'll challenge them-"
"I hope for your sake you never have to." Auntie narrowed her eyes at the boy and Hero's words died in his mouth. Pouting, he turned around, perhaps hoping to find another Weapon, only to be regarded with an empty room.
"You two, come with me," Auntie motioned to the two sisters as she headed for the building's exit. The two Weapons followed her, eager for any excuse to get out of Hero's vicinity. "We need to talk."
With that, the trio left the building. Auntie eventually stopped in a small isolated cranny between the complexes, a small area obscured by an overgrown vine plant.
"How are you two settling in?" Auntie asked, her eyes trained on them.
"I'm making friends!" Patty exclaimed, which earned a half-hearted smile from the middle-aged lady.
"Don't you have a better place than this dump?" Liz scoffed. "We ain't any old Weapons you know."
"It's this place or the Grim Reaper's private quarters," Auntie stated, which shut Liz off. "Theodore choose the former." Auntie looked up at the two. "Can't say I'm surprised."
Liz looked away and clicked her tongue. "Can't believe I'm saying this but I'll have to agree with the old man," Sure she trusted Kid, but she didn't trust him to the point of living in the same room together. "But I expect a private bathroom or I'm complaining."
Auntie raised an eyebrow. "To whom?"
"My Meister," Liz bluntly said ignoring the woman's disbelieving stare. "Now excuse us," she mocked and locked her hands with her sister, "Patty and I need to get our beauty rest."
"Yeah, this day has been a doozy, lady," Patty exclaimed as she followed Liz away and up the stairs.
Auntie watched the two girls leave and let out a silent sigh. She looked down on her clipboard, where countless names of various Meisters and Weapons were written. "You really don't understand the rabbit hole you've fallen into, lassies..."
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"Constructs?" Kid asked. "I can create things?"
Kid was back in what he had taken up calling as a dreamscape, sitting cross-legged. Last time he hadn't paid the area much attention, probably because of his panic. Not that there was much to see; the floor and ceiling, if such concepts existed in this place, were black, or at least obscured by the darkness that permeated the place. Most people would find that creepy beyond recognition, but to Kid it felt... safe. There was a security to be found in the darkness, a lack of disturbances that kept the place in balance. Or it would have had it not been for the glass-like structure a few meters away and obscured by the darkness. Kid could hear the screams but pointedly ignored them, instead choosing to look at the other person -or whatever they were- of the room.
The figure -Kid still wasn't sure what to call them- towered over him, black and stretched as he remembered them. The mask, a jawless human skull, was still firmly attached to their form and by the way it stretched and morphed, Kid was tempted to think it was made of putty instead of bone. "Sure you can! Well, I'd say it's less about creating and more about constructing something via your power- hence the name." The figure leant forward, towards Kid. "A simple construct is when you're using you Wavelength to create your cloak."
Kid looked down at the only thing he wore when in the dreamscape. "I made this?"
"You must have, even if unconsciously." The figure tilted their head. "What else did you think it was?"
"I didn't give it much thought," Kid admitted while playing with the rough torn-like hems, which twisted as if they had a mind of their own. "That's part of me?"
"Essentially."
Which meant he was technically naked.
Well.
"And it only appears when I'm… whatever state this is," Kid continued, looking around. "I never made anything like that when I was awake."
"Of course, silly. Manifesting something in the physical realm is quite harder." The figure swayed and tilted their head. "Though are you sure about the last part? You really haven't manifested your wavelength not even once?"
Kid thought back. There was this brief moment after he had been awoken from the Ritual when his frustration with Theodore had manifested as cackling shadows….
"I think I did," Kid mumbled, looking down in thought.
"Oh?" The figure leant in with interest.
Kid looked up at the figure. "I was… angry at the time. I think."
"Strong emotions must have given you the necessary boost. Though, any such reaction would have been directed at someone or something…" the figure trailed off meaningfully.
"Does that mean I can create things when I'm awake?" Kid asked, eager to change the subject. The more of his powers he learned to control the better. He didn't' want another night where his chest hurt and his heart giving out and being revived repeatedly.
"And more!" The figure wobbled excitedly. "You can't create life of course, but that hasn't been an issue with some"
"Eh?"
"Oh nothing, I just meant to say that sky's the limit!"
Kid gave the figure a slow nod. "How do I get started?"
"Hm… A clear mind and stubbornness. It won't be easy, especially if you do to have an anchor."
"An anchor?"
"A focus. Something that can channel your power," the figure explained.
"How can I get one?"
"It varies… even humans use them. Do Witches still use wands or have they reverted back to their chants?"
Kid shook his head.
"Ah, so it was just a fad…" the figure said. "But yes, back to our topic. You can use an anchor for more complicated designs. It can be anything, from a rock to a bracelet on your wrist. For now though, you should just focus on the simpler stuff."
"I want to try it," Kid said.
"Sure! First of all, you'd need to focus. You need to relax and reach into your soul."
Nodding, the Grim Reaper sat cross-legged, hands on his knees, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Kid stood like that for an indeterminate amount of time. He tried to focus within himself, empty his thoughts and all that, which Kid associated with mediation. It wasn't working.
With a sigh, Kid stretched his neck and let his thoughts wander. Maybe instinct would guide him.
He had traded the uncomfortable for the unknown. Not willingly per se, the decision had been made for him the moment that icy dagger broke his skin and carved his heart, but if Kid was made to choose he would much rather have the unfamiliarity than the pretence. Though...
There was a lurking fear nestled in the back of his mind, one that wouldn't -couldn't- let go of the horrible visions he suffered that first night, one that repeated like a mad mantra that the loss of balance or symmetry was catastrophic -an old obsession which had only been amplified-, that failure was unacceptable and that Order had to be established-
Kid exhaled and brought his two hands together to his chest level, palms upturned.
Something hissed and Kid felt as if something was leaving his hands.
"Would you look at that…" came the figure's low voice.
Kid cracked one eye open. A shifting sphere of the same dark substance found on his cloak was on his palm.
Kid's guarded expression broke into an eager smile. "I did it."
"Congratulations!" the figure said, looking between the orb and Kid in interest. "How do you feel?"
"Uh, fine?" Kid glanced at the figure but quickly looked back towards the orb and moved his hands along its circumference. "My arms feel a bit tingly I guess."
"I see…" the figure trailed off. "Good job!"
Kid eyed the sphere. He brought his hand closer and the sphere shrank. He young Grim Reaper frowned and slightly leant forward. He wanted to try something out.
He removed one of his hands, letting it rest on his side, and used the other one to control the sphere. It wobbled and parts of it melted off like wax before Kid took a deep breath and refocused, causing it to become solid again.
Slowly, the sphere was flattened and the shadows solidified. The now flat structure fell on his hand, like a sheet.
Kid carefully held the newly-created cloth and gently stretched it out with both hands. It was rather small, roughly the size of a handkerchief in terms of dimensions. Its edges were less solid fading into a vaporous form that swayed with a non-existent wind.
Soon enough, Kid was able to manipulate the substance in various other ways -he almost mad a chain one time, but the links kept fusing with each other- as well as call up more of it. The more he called, the heavier his hands felt, so Kid kept the summoned amount to roughly a cup-size.
"It's easier than I thought," Kid mused.
"It's going be harder in the mortal world," the figure observed. They had been standing, or sitting, Kid wasn't sure how their boy worked- on the side, silently watching over him. Their head tilted as Kid manipulated his Wavelength, but the skull mask's expression remained blank.
Kid kept playing with the substance for a while. A highlight was when Kid and made a wheel and pushed it. It turned into a pile of slush shortly after leaving Kid's hand but Kid was proud of it nonetheless.
"Did you hear that?" the figure asked without warning, looking around them.
"Huh?" Kid asked and lost his focus. The dark substance disappeared, fading away as if it was dust while Kid watched in disappointment.
The figure craned its neck and the two upper holes in their mask narrowed into slits. "I think it's best if you wake up Kiddo. Be careful!"
"No wait-"
\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/
Kid found himself in bed, blearily rubbing his eyes with one hand. He slowly got out of bed and looked around in confusion.
There was a knock on his door.
Smoothing down his cloak and makings sure that his hair was in place, blasted asymmetrical lines included, Kid took a deep breath, adopted his poker face and opened the door.
A guard waited for him, her head lowered with reverence. "Lord Death."
Before Kid could speak the nameless guard stepped aside to reveal a whistling Patty and harangued Liz with an extreme case of bed-hair. "Your Weapons have already been assembled."
Kid glanced at the sisters who had the same clueless look he mentally had. "What for?"
"I don't know, Lord Death." The guard kept her head low. "High Priest's orders."
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