Black beasts 3
Today I'm going to give you a quick rundown on the color pallets the other seven have, then review time, and finally the story.
Umbra= #6 and #7 (I couldn't choose, so I just merged the two together)
Ruby= #13 (ruby rose's color scheme)
Ketsueki= #6 (sticking with Ragna's color)
Sebastian= #11 (this looks awesome!)
Dahlia= #11 (because THAT'S not going to be confusing at all)
Kaguya= #11 (like mother, like daughter)
Moka=#6 (this one's from chronophantasma extend)
Also, from what I've found, Rachel only drank ragna's blood. Not in this fic, the voices in her head were actually dying people in which Rachel took pity on after she saved ragna and ended their misery filled pain. She didn't know about the consequences though.
Review time!
Mystech Master: thanks for the suggestions, here's my answers oh faithful reader:
1: maybe, if i do that, then there might be some turmoil between umbra and kokonoe. that might be good.
2: possibly. fixing nirvana is a must, and i might spice it up a bit in a new way. don't know about carl joining though.
3: nah. arakune's long gone, but i could have a way to have ragna help litchi cope a bit.
4: Celica will have a play in this, and all i'm gonna say is that the others will fell a bit... wonky.
5: next chapter (this one)
also... there might be a filler episode here and there... you might like them.
And with that, let's begin chapter 3!
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
The strong echo of the front gates being knocked was heard throughout the entire mansion. Ragna and the group right there at the entrance.
and Rachel just so happened to spot them from her room.
"How!?" Rachel barely screeched.
"shall we go check the door for you princess?" Gii asked, floating towards her.
"... very well then." with that, Nago and Gii left to go to the door.
Remember what I said Rachel, he might be here for the seither near the entrance.
"If that's the case then why doesn't he just take care of it? They're right next to it aren't they?" Rachel said
"*knock knock* Madam Rachel? are you alright? I heard screaming." Valkenhayn said outside the door.
"I'm alright. who's at the door now?" Rachel sighed. "and where are Nago and Gii? they insisted on checking the door."
"That I don't know, but I shall go see for you madam. also, i found them on the way to the door as well, and I told them that I would handle the door myself, all I needed was your permission."
"Very well then." she faintly heard Valkenhayn leaving before her mind was tormented once again.
"WHY DID I SAY THAT!?"
Calm down, why are you having a fit anyways?
"This never happened before in any of the loops. why is this happening now!?"
how should I know? didn't you say that this was the only loop where you saved us?
"Of course it is! that doesn't mean-"
"Hey Rabbit." a third voice greeted behind her.
"*gasp*,w-what!? " Rachel paused, turning to Ragna who was leaning on the door frame, smirking the whole time. "Ragna, how on Earth did you..."
"Oh no, don't mind me... you were having a great conversation with yourself, so... I'll leave you to it."
"Why are you in here!? HOW did you in here!? and wipe that ridiculous smirk off your face!"
"Valkenhayn." he replied cheekily, grinning even more at the sight of Rachel getting more embarrassed.
"...That's it? Valkenhayn? don't make me laugh, Valkenhayn knows better than to allow filthy dogs like yourself into MY abode, he wouldn't even dare try to let you in. So HOW did you get in here?"
"Alright, I snuck in when he opened the door."
"How?"
"Magic." Ragna answered.
"Don't be cheeky with me you fool!" the Vampire snapped, "You must truly be delusional if you honestly expect me to believe that you now have magic on your side."
"Madam Rachel? who is the fool who dares to- oh... it's you." Nago hissed in disgust, Gii right behind him.
" sorry, princess, Valkenhayn said that he was gonna take a look, then i saw something black move downstairs, so we chased it out." Gii
"In a moment you two, I still have this insufferable twit to dispose of."
"You sure about that?" the Grim Reaper replied.
"yes, now answer my question, and I just might reconsider frying you to-"
"Rachel..." Ragna interrupted in a much different tone than his previously joking way of speaking, one that seemed to silence her completely. He walked closer across the room until he was right next to her, his darkly serious gaze focused on over her.
"You and I both know that you're the last person anyone would think of to lose their shit, and frankly to both of our surprises probably, I'm a bit worried. You were talking to yourself, but I know better than to sum it up to you going crazy, so I'll cut to the chase," The wielder of the Azure Grimoire leaned closer to her, the new serious air he gave off not faltering in the slightest, "What's wrong Rachel?"
"..." All Rachel could do was stare at him, trying to find SOME weakness she could exploit, some answer to HOW he acquired this new threatening air about him
"p-princess? what's he talking about?" Gii asked.
you're gonna have to answer them soon. might as well get it over with.
"... The hell was that?" Ragna asked in deadpan, raising an eyebrow as if he was interrogating a child that had been caught stealing cookies.
...the hell was what?
"That voice... who's there?" Rachel's eyes widened at that reply, but before she could do anything else, her voice sealed her fate with one sentence.
"You... can hear him?" welp, Rachel's screwed.
he can HEAR me?
"wait... what?" Ragna's eyes widened.
hmm...hello there, Mr. Ragna i am Milo. If I may interrupt, I do believe that I have a hypothesis on how you can hear me...
"The hell? Rabbit what's going on!?" Ragna demanded, but still managing to keep some semblance of control.
Rachel, you said that you tried to turn him into a halfling at one point, correct?
"yes, I have." she confirmed.
In order to turn into a halfling, a vampire must mix their blood into the victim's bloodstream. and since you did that at some point,Ragna has somehow retained the blood you transfered to him, that technically makes him an Alucard with their respective DNA.
"and how exactly does that explain why I can hear you?" Ragna asked.
"what are we chopped liver?!" Nago said.
"yeah! why can't we hear the mystery voice?" Gii added.
certain clans of monsters, like the Alucards and the Shuzen-Akashiya family, have access to special... abilities. one of which results by eating a victim's soul by drinking them to death, the same scenario in which Coraline, Millia, Peashy, and I are in. It drastically increases their magic power, but the souls are still alive, hence why we can still talk. with Rachel's blood in you, You might have the same ability, or at the very least, a smaller variant. this could explain why you're hearing me right now.
"...Wow." Ragna responded
I know right? I even impressed myself.
"That still does not explain why he's here in the first place." Rachel said.
"There's a seither spot near here. Some friends of mine are dealing with it as we speak."
called it.
"Then why aren't you down there with them instead of bothering me? And what in the world do you even need all that Seither for? I hardly see how YOU could find any use of it." Rachel asked, slowly losing patience, but still trying to get some answers.
"To answer the later, that's going to have to be my little secret for a little while longer." Ragna said. "As for the former...well, somebody's gotta tell me about these "time loops" I keep hearing about." Ragna said, slightly smirking when he saw Rachel's expression go from "about to blow a fuse" to "oh shit".
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I no idea what you're on about." Rachel replied, in desperate attempts to deflect the conversation.
"Don't clam up on me rabbit! You said it yourself that this never happened in these "loops", so that means that something weird is happening, and I want to know why."
"watch your mouth you vile rat!" Nago hissed, fangs and claws bared.
Didn't we already tell you about the time loops? the Black Beast spoke.
"Yeah, but she doesn't know that does she?" Ragna mentally countered. "Besides, I want to hear it from her mouth."
You cheeky jackass... please continue
Ragna swore if he could see the Black Beast inside of him right now, it would be giving the biggest shit-eating grin right now, or at least trying to.
"That is none of your concern. Now leave my presence at once, before I make you." the head of the Alucard clan declared, wanting this conversation to end as soon as possible.
"Fine then, make me." he smirked, as he held his arms out, as if expecting her to come at him. But before either could say or do anything else, a new presence made itself known.
"Ragna?" both the Grim Reaper and the Vampire turned to the door to see, to Rachel's surprise, what appeared to be a Murakumo Unit. But this one was much different than the usual models that Rachel was familiar with.
For starters, she was wearing the Black Cloak that had become the known attire of the ones calling themselves "The Black Beasts". A black cloak covered her whole body, with red markings near the end of the sleeves and coat tails. Other than that, she had the similar facial structure as the other Units, with blonde hair a few shades darker than her own and lime green eyes.
This led to another batch of questions, why was Ragna associating with a Murakumo? Wasn't his whole mission to destroy them?
"that's it! that's the black thing I saw earlier!" Gii yelped.
" I thought we got rid of you!?" Nago snarled, his patience running thin from all these interruptions.
"Yeah Dahlia? You guys done already?" Ragna responded to the unit.
And now he had NAMED it? Too many questions began piling up within Rachel's mind, there were too many randomly generated factors that had all of a sudden popped up.
"Yup! it was kinda small, so it wasn't that much of a problem." the Unit replied, giving a thumbs up.
"Great. I guess we'll be heading out then." Ragna began to leave the room, but before exiting he gazed back to Rachel one last time. "This conversation isn't over rabbit. There is nothing you can hide from me anymore." he growled, "Things are going to be different this time."
And with and with that, the Grim Reaper had left, his Murakumo partner right behind him.
Rachel stood there, frozen in place. Desperately searching her long memory to find anything that would explain how she of all people could feel threatened by that lowly dog, how he could evade her detection despite her Onlooker status, and how he could find out about the loops.
"Madam rachel, are you alright? he didn't try anything did he?" Nago said, his priority going back to Rachel's well-being.
" I'm fine, I just... i need time to come to terms wi-"
Just then, interrupting her train of thought, Valkenhayn hobbled to the door frame, looking like he was both mauled and raped at the same time. cuts, bruises, and some burn spots were littered across his body, but he still managed to stand albeit shakily.
Rachel, surprised at her butler's state, went up to him to observe the damage, "Valkenhayn? what happened to you?"
"Forgive me Madam Rachel, I was not able to drive off the intruders." the butler groaned in pain, "I engaged one of them, but I am afraid she was too much even for me."
"Oh dear... you must rest. I cannot have you in this condition." the vampire looked worried for her long time servant. Valkenhayn was far from weak, even in his old age, for someone to trounce him like this AND the fact that they seemed to be under Ragna's command did nothing to calm her nerves.
"...No need, Madam", the Lycanthrope began, his body's own healing factor already kicking in. "There is something else that must be done." His body almost fully healed, he began attempting to stand up, succeeding after a slight wobble. " I've had a bit of help from an old ally in attempting to acquire answers, and he was on his way to Sector Seven. He insisted that we should meet him there."
"Hmm, did he ever tell you why?" Rachel asked
"All he said was that it concerned Ragna and his new unknown allies." the former member of th Six Heroes replied.
"..." Rachel mused, hoping that this could help her current predicament.
hey Rachel. this could be your chance to know more about what the hell is happening
"Very well then, we shall depart immediately." opening up the portal, Rachel and Valkenhayn entered to the other side.
(meanwhile in sector seven)
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE!?" an enraged Kokonoe shouted at the downtrodden Jubei.
"I know you'd want to kill me, but you said it yourself that you're lookin' for info on Ragna and his little team. I've got some for ya, and I know another who knows as well." Jubei retorted.
"And who the hell would that be!?"
"I believe we could answer that for you." Right then and there, a portal opened revealing Rachel and Valkenhayn.
"Oh great. now you're here too. why don't all of you start showing up? We can have a god damn brunch buffet!"
"Hey Kokonoe! we're here for the info you wanted!" Kagura shouted in the other room.
"I WAS FUCKING KIDDING!"
Joining the group, Kagura and Hibiki looked around the room with slight confusion.
"so..." Kagura started. "who's going first?"
"I shall start." Valkenhayn limped over to the others, Jubei helping him stand (remember, he's still fucked up from the last fight).
"When I opened the gates I was greeted by four individuals with red and black cloaks. one of them requested a spar against me for in her own words 'I want to pass the time'. I obliged wagering that they would leave in I had won. she wagered an audience with Madam Rachel if she won instead."
"Can you hurry it up?" Kokonoe interrupted.
"Let me finish."Vakenhayn snarled.
"fine, fine." the half-Beastkin replied
"As I was saying, during our spar, I've managed to take off her hood, and the sight baffled me. I could never forget that look she gave me."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense. Who was she?" Jubei asked.
"she... she was a splitting image of Madam Rachel."
AND the end of chapter 3!
sorry for the stop here... other fics need my care and i can't focus on just one. that's bad parenting.
next chapter will continue the conversation, meanwhile, Ragna encounters our resident catgirl, how will the others react? well see you next time.
(ps, thanks Mystech Master for helping out)
(6/5): i cleaned up the chapter a bit, and added more dialogue for Nago and Gii, thanks Mystech Master for pointing that out. also, I'm having it so only one voice in her head can talk from now on. the only exception being when she's completely alone and is calm enough for the others to appear.
TBC.