I am attempting to move things along. Sorry if this one's not so great though. I'm a hit iffy on it.
"Your friends went where again?" Asura asked suddenly from the corner of the couch he curled up in earlier. He peered over his book at the younger reaper, watching quietly for a moment as he worked on his homework at the coffee table. Kid switched between two separate parts of the sheet, mumbling quietly to himself. It was obviously annoying to him, but as Liz and Patty had pointed out the other day he had done less passing out over writing and tearing his papers lately. That was probably why he kept doing it.
"Kid." Liz said, nudging him gently with her foot. Once Kid looked at her, she nodded over to Asura and he repeated himself. He knew where, and Kid knew he knew too, but still he felt the need to clarify for the hundredth time.
"They went to Loew Village in the Czech Republic." Kid stated, watching the partial recognition flash in Asura's red eyes again. He hadn't wanted to push his luck and interrogate the other reaper, but his curiosity was finally starting to get to him. "Asura, do you know of Loew Village? Have you been there before?"
For a moment Asura didn't respond, a thoughtful look on his face as he flipped back to the index of his book. Finally he sighed and threw it aside. "I can't seem to find anything on it... But it sounds familiar to me. I believe I may have been there once before on a mission. I have been to a lot of places though, it's not always easy to keep track of them all."
"You would have to care enough to remember them, but you hardly care enough to remember what time of day it is." Kid responded, turning back to his homework. Before he could pick up his pencil again, something soft hit him in the back and he had to brace himself against the table. Asura was carefully avoiding eye contact with him when he spun around to glare at his brother. "Are you serious right now?" He could hear Liz snicker and Patty giggle across the table, but kept his eyes focused on Asura.
It took a moment, but Asura finally met his eyes and gave a cheeky grin. "Am I serious about what?" Grabbing the pillow, Kid raised it up and pointed to it. "Oh. In that case yes. I am seriously certain that that is a pillow."
With a frustrated growl, Kid threw it under the table. "Just so you know, I'm confiscating it."
"Suit yourself brother, I have a whole sofa full of them." Asura said with a wave of his arms. Kid scoffed and finally returned to his homework, leaving Asura to stare blankly at the ceiling for a few minutes. He could feel the anxiety slowly working it's way in as the silence set in again.
He was lying. Of course he remembered Loew Village. He and Vajra had gone there before and Vajra had been fascinated by their golems. In fact, he was partly convinced that Vajra's stone soldiers were made with the golems in mind if not based on them. Those cold and lifeless things with their static voices and heavy, dragging footsteps were a constant in his nightmares. They'd have him surrounded, hold him down, or wouldn't hesitate to hurt him if he was caught escaping. No matter how many he destroyed in his frantic escape attempts, there were others to take their places. They seemed endless.
Slowly Asura sat up, taking a moment to calm himself before he panicked too much. He had to remind himself to breathe steadily so that he would not worry the others near him. 'You're not there. You're not. You're home, you're with your brother and your father and you're safe.' He had to remind himself, shoving back the other thoughts of, 'you're not safe, you're being followed,' that tried to push their way to the front of his mind.
He needed to do something. Preferably something worthwhile, like maybe researching the golems of Loew Village. Surely if Vajra had based his soldiers off of them, then it might be possible for him to find something to make handling them easier. There didn't seem to be anything useful in the manor, but maybe Death would have something in the library at Shibusen? Jumping to his feet, Asura announced, "I need to go up to your school. I'll be back later."
Asura could hear Kid scramble to his feet, calling after him. "Wait, Asura! What are you going up there for?" The sudden decision had him a bit concerned after those few moment where he could feel Asura's anxiety spike. He felt that he needed to get an answer from him.
"Oh...the library should have something about Loew Village, right?" Asura asked, pausing briefly before rushing to give his answers. Kid couldn't help but feel a bit skeptical of the answer, but there didn't seem to be any reason to stop him. So instead he nodded.
"Yeah... they should have something." Kid told him, quickly adding on, "Will you be back for dinner?" Asura nodded quickly, flipping his hood up over his head and readjusting his headband.
Asura took a step back towards the door, "Yes, I will even try to be back before then," Asura promised in his most reassuring tone. He waited a moment for Kid to nod before he headed for the door. For a moment he hesitated, remembering what was waiting for him outside, but he told himself it would be fine. Nothing had happened so far, so surely he would be fine. It was important he do this research, if he could find anything to help him stop Vajra's stone soldiers he would consider it a success.
Taking a deep breath he threw the door open and stepped out, calling a quick goodbye to the others as he left. He adjusted his hood and scarf to better hide his face as he walked and did his best to ignore the familiar feel of eyes and the sound of footsteps a few feet behind him.
...
Shibusen's library was bigger than Asura remembered it being and Asura couldn't help but frown at the thought of having to search through it. The shelves towered high above him and stretched in rows farther than he could see. It was not going to be much fun searching for the books he needed to get in this place. But at least he could search without an interruption or the feeling of eyes boring into his back the whole time. He wasn't sure where to start looking for books on Loew Village, let alone the golems.
There had to be somebody to ask. Some employees wandering about... Didn't Kid say there was usually someone watching the checkout desk? The latter would be preferable since he wouldn't have to go searching for a random employee among the shelves. He nodded slowly to himself and turned began to head that way. It wasn't until he had almost reached it that he froze.
How was he supposed to ask them for help? Asura knew he could barely speak to Kid's friends without his brother there to help ground him if he was nervous. How could he ask a complete stranger for help with this? The last thing he wanted to do was panic and completely clam up, or turn into a stuttering mess, or change his mind and run away in the middle of his question! All of which were perfectly reasonable to assume would happen should he try. No, he would rather search aimlessly than make a fool of himself.
And that was how he had found himself browsing through the many shelves. As relaxing as the quiet and the smell of old paper was for him, he couldn't help the growing disappointment as time went on and he still hadn't found the books on Loew Village or it's golems. On the bright side, there had been many other books that had caught his eye, meaning he would have to make a day of coming out here to read as many as he can. But first things first, finding those books and seeing if there was anything that could help disable or destroy Vajra's soldiers was a top priority.
He hadn't realized how focused he was on his search until he heard someone call his name. The sudden sound made him feel like jumping out of his skin and the scream that caught in his throat came of as more of a squeak. He spun to face the person, recognizing the feeling of madness before the white hair and stitched coat.
"Still so jumpy hmm? I tried to be loud enough that you would hear me." The man drawled, eyeing the reaper with curiosity. Asura shifted slightly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the other man watching him.
"S-sorry Professor..." he mumble quietly into his scarf.
"Stein."
"What?"
"You can just call me Stein. We'll most likely be working together in the future after all." Stein stated, pausing for a moment as he decided what to say next. "You don't look too good Asura. Have your wounds been giving you problems?"
Asura shook his head quickly, "No... They've mostly healed. My neck is still a bit... sore, but it's not bad. It should be fine in the next few days." He was quick to dismiss the question, trying to be reassuring. It wasn't a lie at least. Most of his wounds were healed like he said, but the ring around his neck seemed to be giving him the most problems healing wise. He could only guess why that was.
There was a thoughtful look on the professor's face as he registered what he had been told. "I see, were there any other problems?" Again, Asura shook his head. Stein couldn't help but be skeptical though. He had heard from Shinigami about the older god's concerns for Asura's health. He had been right to worry it seemed. Asura looked paler than usual and had dark bags under his eyes, but that was the most he could see with how much Asura tried to bury himself in his clothes. "If you say so. Just remember that if you are hurt or anything else is wrong with you, you can tell me. It's my job to look after your health."
Asura nodded, slowly letting himself relax a bit. The two stood silently for another minute before Stein spoke up again. "Did you need help finding something here?"
"Yes... Um, I need to know about Loew Village and... If there are any books about the golems they make there that would be even better." Asura murmured, tacking on a quick, "Do you know where they are?" Stein nodded, waving for Asura to follow as he walked past him. Asura nodded, trailing after the professor as he led the way. Once they reached the right shelves, Stein slowly began looking them over and pulled a few off the shelf.
They were handed to Asura as he went until Stein seemed to be done. "Okay, so that looks like everything that would have something about the golems of Loew Village. I hope you weren't looking to make one though, that's something you would have to learn from Loew Village."
Asura frowned at that but didn't complain, he could vaguely remember Vajra's disappointment when he couldn't learn to make them himself. He couldn't make them himself so he made his own based on what he knew of them. Disgust welled up in his chest as a thought crossed his mind, "What if Vajra had already planned to kidnap him by then? What if that was why he was so interested in the golems?" Asura could only hope that wasn't the case, it would mean Vajra had planned everything long before he had actually acted. It made him sick to think he was probably being tricked for so long, especially since it had been such a sudden change to him.
Stein watched as Asura's expression changed from disgusted to nauseous, the curious part of him wondering what could be going through the reaper's head. After a second of waiting, Asura shook his head. "S-sorry," he muttered quieter than he had been before, "I... I'll leave you alone now." he took a step back, then another, before he finally turned tail and ran around the corner. Stein stared after the god, letting out a quiet sigh before turning to pull another book off the shelf.
...
Asura sat as close to Stein as he could on the other side of the bookshelf. The man hadn't left so Asura could only assume he had his own research to do on Loew Village. He had some hopes that he could find out something by listening to Stein in case he mentioned something. Sure he could probably ask to know, but there was no guarantee that he would be told. Especially with how everyone seemed to dance around certain subjects such as what was exactly they had planned or what they had learned about Vajra's whereabouts. It seemed like he would have to resort to tricks from eight hundred years ago and find out on his own what was going on.
For that reason, he had learned to listen in while others spoke. Thankfully he didn't wait long. "Why would a soulless golem be affected by the madness wavelength? Something's fishy," Stein said to himself. It seemed he hadn't realized he was being listened to and Asura hoped it would stay that way. "Did something happen there eight hundred years ago? The birth of a demon weapon...or something else?"
His first thought was of his own trip to Loew Village. There had been a rise in Kishin activity that he and Vajra had been sent to take care of, nothing too difficult for them. But Vajra had adored the golems he'd seen, had wanted to know how they worked, how to make one. He was disappointed when they refused to share that with him. For a moment there was even a flash of anger in his eyes that unsettled the man he spoke with. It had unnerved him somewhat to see Vajra get worked up over something so simple. He was usually more calm than to get angry over being told he couldn't do something.
"It wouldn't be surprising if "the Heretic's" soul responded to the madness wavelength." Asura's head snapped up and he had to remind himself not to make any sound no matter how much he wanted to ask Stein what he meant. He waited for a few more minutes, listening to the flipping of pages while Stein skimmed through the book he'd picked up. Asura began to scan his own, stopping at any mentions of the golems he could find in them.
For a while, he and Stein seemed to have the same problem finding information. Stein's stack of books continued to grow even after Asura had finished his with no luck and a crushing feeling of disappointment. The only reason he had stayed was because he wanted to know if Stein would find what he wanted. Finally he heard the man speak up again. "This incident..." a pause hung in the air as he continued to read. "A mass illusion incident in the country surrounding the Czech Republic? Hmm... Several eyewitness accounts of around 500,000 people reported finding a black mass of about five centimeters on them. It says they covered the streets as far as the eye could see, walking along as if they were just passing by."
Quietly, Asura slowly shut his book and leaned against the shelf behind him while Stein continued. "Eventually that object became clear... The mass of people seeing the same illusion, the curtain came down on the incident. And there were other places with many eyewitnesses..." There was a moment of incoherent muttering, the shuffling of feet, and a rustle of paper. "And at the center was Loew Village!"
None of this sounded familiar to Asura and he could only assume it had taken place sometime after his...disappearance. Taking a deep breath, he tried not to think about that, focusing instead on Stein again and waiting for him to continue. "The mass of people all said the same thing. 'It looked like a spider'." He heard Stein say. That was all Asura needed to hear to know what was going on. If Arachne really was alive and possibly back, then they would have a new enemy to deal with. And there was no telling how Vajra would react when he learned of Arachne's continued existence.
Asura stood as quickly and quietly as he could, gathering his books and slowly creeping back towards the shelf to put them away. He had just turned to leave when he heard Stein speak up behind him. "Oh. You're still here?"
"Uh... Y-yeah..." Asura shifted nervously and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Sorry. I just finished reading." He murmured quietly. If Stein found it odd that Asura refused to look at him then he at least didn't say anything. He was grateful for that.
"Any luck? I must admit I'm curious about why you would be interested in the golems of Loew Village." Stein stated, eyeing him curiously for a moment. Asura only shook his head in response. "A shame. Better luck next time."
"Right... I should probably go now. I don't know how late it is and I was supposed to be home for dinner." Asura stated, slowly backing away until he was near the shelves. Once he was around the corner, he ran for the exit. By the time he made it outside and realized how dark it was, he kept hopine he wasn't late for dinner. Kid would be disappointed if he wasn't.
Far away, Arachne received a warm welcome as she approached her castle. The hoards of people cheering her name. She had no interest in their celebration though, only focused on getting back inside. Once she was away from the noise, she turned to her butler who had followed her the whole way. "So the Kishin has revived?"
"Yes Lady Arachne. Though his whereabouts are still unknown." Came the old man's quick response. She nodded, smiling slightly to herself as he continued. "His meister has survived as well and is currently under Shinigami's protection."
"I'm aware of that. My spiders had seen him long ago after all. Such a sorry state for a god to be in, but it works in our favor to have the strongest coward so weak. The brat's destructive power was was always a pain to deal with in the past." Arachne said, a frown marring her features as she recalled the losses brought on by Death's oldest son. Bloodied bodies and buildings razed to the ground, ages of research lost in mere seconds, it was infuriating to deal with. The only thing that they were more worried about than Asura was either Asura with his weapon or Death himself. Now Asura no longer had his weapon and was weak compared to his old self, and Death was unable to move from his city.
"I think things are going in our favor now. All I need to do is pay our dearest Kishin a visit. If he's on our side, we would be unstoppable." She mused more to herself than the old man beside her.
Mosquito frowned at the idea but said nothing in opposition. Instead he asked, "Do you really believe he would join us? Last I recall he was never very happy to see you on a battlefield. He seemed to hold a grudge over being made into a demon weapon after all." The woman froze for a moment, eyes darkened as she considered this.
As far as Arachne was concerned, he should be grateful. She made him into something new and because of her, he had found the technician he'd been so attached to. But humans were petty things, there was no doubt he would have held a grudge. "That's fine, we just need to use the right leverage. Say... That meister of his? While we may not be able to get Asura, we can offer our assistance."
"Not that it matters too much. We'll get the Kishin one way or another."
...
"Rachit, is Aakanksh back yet?" The Kishin asked the stone soldier behind him. He shifted the smaller stone figure up against the wall as he spoke, not even sparring it a glance. It's voice crackled as it answered him.
"Aakanksh has returned, shall I send someone else in his place?" Vajra shook his head, carefully carving out the last line of the rune to activate the smaller figure. The symbols glowed a pale blue before the light faded away. Stone scraped against stone as it began to move, testing it's joints before carefully pulling itself up and stumbling about. The slender figure steadied itself against the wall, it's faceless head glancing around until it spotted a small group of near identical figures approaching it.
Vajra watched as his other creations herded their last member away with them to work on repairing the rest of the stone soldiers who he hadn't gotten to. Finally he turned to face Rachit, "There's no need. Adah and the others are fixed so they can take over repairing your soldiers. It's in their programming so it should be relatively quick. Once they're done, they should start getting you new men as well." He paused for only a moment before adding in a lighter tone, "That means I'm free to do as I please now, so I think I should pay my dear meister a visit."
"Of course Lord Vajra." Rachit responded, trailing after the Kishin as he strolled out of the room. "There is other news as well."
There was silence before Vajra realized the stone being was waiting for him to ask about it. That thought struck him as odd since he couldn't think of any other time it had happened. He simply shrugged off his worry and turned to face Rachit. "Well? What is it?"
Almost immediately came the robotic response, "The Heretic, witch Arachne Gorgon, has revived." The announcement left a cold, unrecognizable feeling in the Kishin's gut. Bits of memories flashed across his mind at the name of the witch. Arachne... She was little more than a cold cell, darkness, the sound of people screaming and crying. That name was a cursed thing, and he hated it because she was always bloodied ground and deafening silence and seemingly endless pain, pain, pain.
But it did end, and then there were others, strangers. He had nothing to lose so he went with them when they asked. Was he the last alive? He didn't know. Didn't care or maybe couldn't. He knew not to trust these strangers though, it seemed too convenient that they had shown up when they did. But he was free and they humored his questions until they reached their base.
The next clear thing in his memories was always those pretty yet frightened red eyes and the name "Asura". Asura, a kid his age who didn't even seem to trust his own father completely. Vajra wondered if he could gain is trust He wondered briefly if he could ever be the only one to have Asura's trust...No, he had desired it but hadn't realized it then. If he had that then he would be more than just a tool for the witch to use.
"Lord Vajra."
The crackling voice caught his attention, Rachit would certainly be eyeing him curiously if he had a proper head and face. "I see... I suppose that's more of a reason to go and see Asura myself for once! I haven't since that first day they let him outside. I have to see for myself that the witch hasn't harmed him." Rachit said nothing in response, most likely not wanting to sour Vajra's mood again. It left the Kishin time to think his approach through. All Vajra knew for sure was that he had to make sure Asura knew he was the only trustworthy person. If Asura could be fed even a small bit of doubt for those he's met then Vajra could break what ever trust he thinks he has for them. He was the only one who cared for Asura's well-being. Surely some part of Asura knew that still.
