Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail
A/N: Hello, everyone, I am back to working on my other stories now! I wanted this chapter to be about Romeo and what is going on with him right now while Kasai fights the guild
I want to thank Fae Ryu for helping me with this chapter. You should check out their stories when you have the chance.
Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow, if you want, and check out my other stories as well if you have the time.
For Whom The Bell Toll
SHUNK!
Romeo stares in horror at himself in the reflection of the blade as it was only a couple of inches from his face, the tip of its razor-sharp edge plunge into the ground.
"I must say I am shocked at what I am seeing", he hears a voice as cold as the grave say and turns his eyes up to see the dark specter of death staring down at him through its pitch black eye sockets, "Didn't think the bastard had the nerve to use it against you of all people. They talk about it but I never thought they would do it."
The reaper then sat down cross-legged on the other side of his blade, still looking down at the boy.
"I have to know; what did you do to Kasai to make them do this to you?", he asked.
Romeo looks at him, his mouth open but no words passing through it.
"Ah, that's right, you can't speak right now", the entity spoke before snapping his bony fingers.
The cold, numbing feeling around Romeo's heart subsided and the boy found himself able to speak and even able to move.
"What the-?" he began before being stopped by Death itself raising a skeleton hand up to stop him….
Which only reminded Romeo just who he was in the presence of and the boy quickly scrambles backward putting a large gap between him and the reaper.
"Seriously? Did you really think that if I was here to take your soul I would have sat down to have a chat with you? Do you have any idea how busy my schedule is? I can't even remember the last time I had a day off if I ever had one to begin with.", the Grim Reaper said, "Look should consider this a once in a lifetime….okay, poor choice of words. Look, just sit down for a moment and hear what I have to say because it's not like you're going anywhere."
Romeo stares at the entity for a moment, "W-what do you mean by that?"
"Kid, we are in your head. The environment around you is just a still image of the last thing you saw before Kasai attack you. Your body is still paralyzed in the real world. All I did was undo the effects in your mind", the Grim Reaper said.
Romeo takes a moment to look and realize that despite him still being in the clearing outside of the guild, he was alone. There was no Natsu, no Erza, no anyone, not even Kasai was around. It was just him and the Reaper of Souls.
"What do you mean paralyze?", he asks with caution.
"That is what Kasai's Piercing Fear does to whatever mortal gets hit by it. As long as you have fear in your heart, the attack will amplify it until you collapse from fright and are unable to move until the attack runs its course", the Reaper explains, "And mortals' greatest fear is death of course."
Romeo didn't know what was harder to believe; the fact that the Grim Reaper wasn't here to ferry him to the afterlife or the fact that his own summon attack him, which he thought was something they couldn't do.
"Now if you don't mind, could you hurry up and get over here?", the Reaper asks, "I'm on a tight schedule. Souls aren't going to harvest themselves, you know."
Romeo eyes the scythe still embedded in the ground and slowly shakes his head.
"You mortals and your ridiculous beliefs", the Grim Reaper grumbles, "Look, I don't actually use this for what you think I do, it's mostly for self-defense and to intimidate souls into coming along without a fuss! I mean, think about it! You're already dead by the time I come to see you so why would I use it for that purpose?"
Surprisingly, Romeo found himself actually thinking the Reaper's logic over and came to the conclusion that he was right.
"Good, you're listening now. You should also know that if I was to, for some reason, kill you I would be drowned in red tape and could lose my job; it would basically be something along the lines of what you call a firefighter starting fires.", the reaper went on, "Now get over here I can talk to you. Every second I waste here is another ten thousand souls doom to wander in Limbo until I get to them."
Slowly, but surely, Romeo moves toward the reaper, his eyes darting between the skull face and the blade.
He stops just short of two yards from him and cautiously sits down.
The Reaper then held out a hand and shadows began to converge in it and they soon formed into a small black book, which he promptly open and read aloud.
"Let's see here, you're Romeo Befula Conbolt, age thirteen. You're the son of Macao Befula Conbolt, age forty-three, and Enno Qartio Mistuca, age forty-two. You were born February fourteen, in the year seven hundred and seventy-eight in Magnolia Hospital at twelve-sixteen in the afternoon", he read, "Your birthmark is in the middle on the top of your left foot.
"All that is in that book?", Romeo whispers a little unnerved at having his life read to him by Soul Collector himself.
"You are currently employed as a guild mage while also being the thirteen Elemental Summoner. Now, what's this last bit? Oh yeah, time and place of death."
Naturally, Romeo's eyes widen at this, and almost on instinct he leans his ear in closer.
"If you want to know, you will have to come to look yourself", the Grim Reaper advise him, "I mean, this even says how you will die."
Inside his mind… inner mind would be the more appropriate term, Romeo began to outline the pros and cons of listening to said advice. On one hand, he will know the time, place, and manner of his death. On the other hand….he will know the time, place, and manner of his death.
"But, wait a minute", he thought, "If I know how and where I am going to die, doesn't that mean I can change it? Surely if I have knowledge of such an event I will be able to prevent it if I'm not okay with the outcome. But what if by knowing the exact nature of my death I end up causing it as if it is pre-destined for me to know it so I can go about changing it but in doing so I doom myself to die in the way that was already determined by fate?", he mentally ranted as his mind starting to fall into a spiraling abyss of madness.
"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to take a look?", he hears a voice say next to him and looks down to see the Grim Reaper staring back up at him.
Romeo frantically looks behind him and quickly sees that during his debate with himself his feet must have moved on their own and now he was standing directly in front of the very thing he was trying to get away from.
"How the heck?", Romeo asks himself aloud.
"Do not fret; it is common knowledge that mortals are naturally curious about the time and circumstances of their demise", the Grim Reaper states as he raises the book up to Romeo's face and the boy's curiosity gets the better of him and he leans down toward it.
Only for it to be shut in his face just as he was about to read it.
"It is also common knowledge that mortals believe that I know such information, which I don't", the Reaper states, "But at least it got you to come over here."
Upon realizing that he has fallen into some sort of trap, Romeo begins to backpedal away as fast as he could; but before he could even get one foot off the ground the scythe was swiftly yanked out of the ground and then he felt the cold edge on the back of his neck.
Even from his sitting position, the Grimly Boatman was supernaturally fast and his stare bore straight into Romeo's soul.
"As I said before, you would not actually die if I was cut you down here but I guarantee you would not be the same person that you were when you woke up", he quietly spoke, "Sit down."
As if he was commanded to, Romeo's legs gave out and he found himself flat on his rear, the blade still on his neck.
"Now we are going to talk for however much time I have left and you are going to answer some questions, understand?"
Romeo sincerely hopes the reaper wasn't expecting a nod for the boy feels that doing such a notion will spell disaster for him.
"Good", the Reaper says as he retracts his scythe and places it on the ground next to him, "Now like I ask before, what you did to get Kasai so mad at you? I mean, they already hate humans as it is but you must have done something big to tick them off."
Romeo doesn't take his eyes on the blade while he takes a moment to gather himself.
"I-I think it was because I slap him now that I think about it", he finally says.
The Reaper tilts his head in a manner that would convey confusion and stares into Romeo's eyes. After a moment, he slowly removes his scythe from his neck and places it next to him. He then simply crosses his arms and looks at observes the boy.
"Kid, I know entities that could destroy entire cities with just a clap of their hands that would have never dreamed of doing that Kasai even in their lesser state", he finally spoke, "I am pretty sure no other Elemental Summoners have ever done them that before so have to give you credit; You are pretty brave, but also pretty stupid for doing that."
"Is it really a big deal that I hit Kasai? Is he that powerful?", Romeo inquires, remembering back to the rant the Fire Spirit went on before attacking Natsu, mainly pertaining to stuff like laying waste to hundreds of realms and making entire armies tremble. He wasn't paying that much attention to him at the time though, "Also, why do you keep referring to Kasai as "they" and "them" and such. I'm pretty sure he's a guy."
"I'll let you figure that last part out on your own; but yes, it is a big deal and yes they are. Geez, kid, do you not know anything about your spirit?", Reaper asks to which Romeo just shook his head.
"He doesn't talk much and the Celestial Spirits are pretty tight-lip in regards to Kasai as well", Romeo states.
The Ferryman of Souls nods at this, "Yeah, that sounds like the spirits for you. Like to keep their business to themselves even though it's mostly already out in the open. Try asking them about the Aeon Spirits and see what answer you get."
"I have a question to ask you if you will humor me", Romeo raises his hand, briefly wondering if anyone will ever believe him in the fact that he was starting to have a casual conversation with one of the most dreaded beings around, but he merely shook his head at this and would have to address it later, "Why is Kasai so hateful?"
The Grim Reaper laughs out a chilling laugh, "Kid, I couldn't begin to explain that. Trust me, the only way you're getting that answer is by asking Kasai yourself."
"In case you just forgotten, he is not exactly forthcoming with me", Romeo points out.
The Reaper shrugs, "You make it sound like that's my problem, kid."
Romeo takes a deep breath, reminding himself that it would not be a good idea to scream at the embodiment of the afterlife, "Well, then if you are not going to give me information, can you at least break out this….piercing thing I'm in?"
"It's call Piercing Fear and yes I can", the Reaper answers.
"Then can you please do it? Who knows what Kasai is doing out in the real world while I'm in here?", Romeo begs,
"Yeah, so? Once again, you make it sound like that's my problem"
"What do you mean by that?!", Romeo erupts as he stood up, "For all I know my friends could be dead or dying!"
"Kid, my literal job is to collect their souls afterward and ferry them to the afterlife. So why would I care about their demise or how it came about? While you're out my jurisdiction, they, on the other hand, would be nothing more than a daily routine", the Reaper states before placing a bony finger on his chin, "Although you slapping Kasai did make my millennium and I will be sure to make fun of them for it when I see them again. So I'll give you this one freebie, but there is something you should know before I do."
Romeo suddenly felt a foreboding chill travel up his spine as the Grim Reaper spoke those words and it only intensifies as he slowly rose up and tower over the boy.
"You will awaken in the real world but you will still be mostly under the effect of Kasai's attack. You won't be able to move your legs, you won't be able to speak, and even worse, you might not be able to use your magic to de-summon Kasai for at least ten more minutes. I'm not fully sure about that last one for this is the first time that fiery piece of crap has ever attack his Summoner", he grimly explains, "But regardless, you just might be forced to witness the gruesome deaths of your so call friends. Are you prepare for that, kid?"
Romeo once again found himself staring into the endless abyss of the eye sockets of the Ferryman and was frightened by the overwhelming presence they seem to give off. But either through sheer willpower or through some unexplained force he slowly nodded his head.
"I-I'll figure something out", Romeo stammers.
The Grim Reaper just gazes at the boy for a moment before speaking, "I got the feeling that you're about to make things pretty interesting around here and I can't wait to see how that will unfold. Now don't move."
He then began to move his scythe to tap Romeo on the top of the head with the flat of it. During this process, the young mage notices that near the back of the blade not far from the pole, the metal was a different color t than compare to the rest of the blade and it reminded Romeo of the time he witnessed the town's blacksmith reforging a blade.
"What happen there?", Romeo whispers to himself before a thought occurs to him, "Wait!"
The Boatman surprisingly ceases his action just as the scythe was about to touch the top of the former fire mage's head.
"You seem to know a lot about Kasai for some reason!", Romeo says, "That means you probably know what I can do to keep him under control!"
The entity that guides souls to the afterlife heft his legendary weapon on his shoulder while using his free hand to cover his face while he shakes his eye. To Romeo, this was nearly identical to the way Master Makarov did whenever some of the more rowdy Fairy Tail members did something that greatly disappointed him but after a moment another bone-chilling laugh escapes from his mouth.
"Kid, Kasai the spirit and you're the summoner! Lay out some ground rules and that should put him in place; although I am told that is pretty tricky in its own right for some reason", he suggests, "But if you really want to keep that bastard in line; the only ones that can do that is the Elemental Spirit Emperor or one of the other Elemental Spirits, his older siblings!"
"Okay, but how do I summon-", Romeo tries to frantically get out before he was stopped by the Grim Reaper resuming his previous action.
"That's enough questions for now, Kid! We are never going to see each other so it was nice meeting you!", the Reaper says as he touches his head with the top of the scythe and Romeo felt an overwhelming chill erupt through him that froze his very soul.
Moments later he opens his eyes and found himself staring upward into the sky, the sun beaming down on him. His mind barely registers this before Romeo found himself gasping for air taking a few moments to take large gulps of it. The cold chill he felt from being touch by the Grim Reaper's scythe still linger in his body and within the confines of his mind, he had a feeling that it wasn't going away anytime soon.
"Wait a minute, what did he mean we're never going to see each other again?", Romeo thought.
But he had no time to dwell on this as a sudden roar brought him to his senses and he turns his head and witnessed a sight that made his heart drop.
A/N: Alright then, back to the action.
Remember, Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow, if you want, and check out my other stories as well if you have the time.