The doorbell at gallows manor was an oddly chilling sound. An ominous bell, which sounded incredibly terrifying.
The bell sounded now. DOOONNNGGG!
"I'll get it." Called Liz, walking to the door. "Who's this? It'd better not be Black*Star for one of his surprise visits. 'A god like ME doesn't need to call in an appointment like a common mortal! People can see me coming from a mile away!' sheesh."
Liz opened the door, and was greeted with a mass of blackness.
"ack! What happened to the city?" asked Liz, looking around wildly.
"ahem."
The voice came from above Liz. She looked up to see a familiar death-mask insignia.
But this was not the insignia. It was the real thing.
"Hello, Shinigami-sama!" said Liz brightly. She stepped aside to allow him in, and called, "Kid! Your dad's here!"
"In a moment!" came Kid's voice.
"Whee!" sliding down the banister came Patty, happy as ever. "Hey, Mr. Death!" she cried, hugging Shinigami-sama around the waist. (he was too tall for her to hug above that.)
"Well hello there, cutie-patootie! How's my cute little demon gun doing?" replied Lord Death, hugging the girl back.
"Great, thanks!" giggled Patty.
"Father!" Kid called, rushing down the stairs. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Lord Death "tsk"ed. "Kiddo, give your dad a hug, willya? Quit being so formal all the time!"
Shinigami-sama went up and wrapped his arms around Kid. Kid stood there awkwardly, not used to intimate contact.
"I take it you didn't just come here for a round of hugs, father?" asked Kid.
"Ah, yes!" Lord Death said, standing back up. "Come to the living room with me, if you will."
Lord Death led the way to the aforementioned room. Kid sat on the couch, Liz and Patty on either side. Shinigami-sama stood opposite them, on the other side of a large coffee table.
"Well, Kid, here they are. All the witches I could get my hands on. Take your pick." Said Lord Death. He spread out a couple dozen photos on the coffee table.
"Are any of them twin witches?" asked Kid, leaning forwards with his weapons to look at the photos.
"Um… I don't think there's even a pair of twin witches which exists… there are sibling witches, though." Replied Lord Death, scratching his head.
"Well, as long as I get two souls." Said Kid, looking over the photos.
"What are these numbers on the back?" asked Liz, looking at the back of a photo. She flipped it over so everyone could see. A number 7 was clearly printed on the back.
"That's the danger scale, Liz." Lord Death replied. "It implicates how dangerous a witch is. It goes from one to ten. One is, 'easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.' Needles to say, number one witches are either EXTREMELY rare, or very young, like the witch Angela."
"and ten?"
"means you're screwed."
"Hey, here's one of Medusa!" said Patty, holding up another photo. Sure enough, Medusa's creepy-ass visage graced the photo. A red X crossed the photo.
"Yeah, I must have forgotten to take that one out. The X means deceased, of course." Replied Lord Death.
Kid picked up one. "How about this one?" he showed his partners a long-nosed witch, with a classic black hat.
"cliché." Said Liz, picking up another. "How 'bout a modern one?" she showed them a photo of a black-haired witch with stylish sunglasses and lipstick.
"Bleh." Said Patty, sticking her tongue out. She also picked up a photo, then laughed. "OOOH! This one's funny!"
Kid looked at it. "Patty… no… just no…" he said weakly, looking at the photo she held.
(I'll let your imaginations do the rest. – author)
This general process continued for a couple minutes, as the group tried to decide on a witch.
Then Liz spotted an odd one. She picked up a photo which didn't have a face on it, but instead had a black castle. When she looked at the back, instead of a number, there was a question mark. "What's this one?" she asked Lord Death.
"Ah, yes. That one's new." Replied Shinigami-sama. "I just picked it up very recently. Though my soul-scans show there is definitely a witch soul there, I have no idea what she looks like, or what her power level is."
"Well, let's check it out then!" said Kid, looking at the photo.
"Um… Kid, for all we know, it could be a lvl 10 in there…" said Liz nervously.
"C'mon! it'll be fun! Exploring the unknown… going where no meister has gone before!" said Patty.
"…fine, I guess." Replied Liz after a moment.
"All righty then! Here's the location. Good luck, you three." Replied Lord Death. He handed them a sheet of paper. "Oh! I just remembered!" he said suddenly.
"Rumor has it, somewhere in the villages around the castle, a little girl and her brother were kidnapped."
"Is that so." Said Kid quietly. "Well, we'll keep an eye out as we make our way through the castle."
"I wish you all good luck." Said Shinigami-sama, bowing comically low. "Oh, and one last thing…"
"Come back to me with a witch soul… OR DON'T COME BACK AT ALL!" Lord Death roared, with a fierce face.
The trio quivered. Then Shinigami-sama straightened back up and said, "naaahhh, I'm just messing with you guys." Then he melted into the darkness, leaving the bewildered three staring after him.
