Alex was jumping around the forest and using the trees to his advantage. Using the back of the scythe, Alex would knock the guns away from the humans and knock them out. Then he would hide behind the trees when the other humans would try to shoot at him. It was a slow-going method, but one that was working nonetheless. He peeked around the tree that he was hiding behind and saw the humans looking around in confusion. He saw the man meditating on the ground and Alex took the opportunity to peek at the guy's soul. He gasped and leaned against the tree. He could faintly hear Kai calling his name, but he couldn't focus. The man's soul was so vile, it was almost nauseating. Alex could only hold in his cry at the unimaginable evil, disgusting things that the man had done.
Shaking his head and hoping for the best, Alex leaped out from his hiding place and started swinging the scythe around.
/
Izzy looked around at the people in the chopper. Everything could go from good to bad or even worse in a split second. They were mere miles away from their lost friend and she had a sinking feeling in her gut. She looked down at the ragdoll cat in her lap and she sighed. Keiran's tail was swinging back and forth madly. She knew that he was agitated with Alex for leaving without them.
She looked across from her to Markus and Anya. Her girlfriend was looking down and seemed to be meditating? She didn't know. Markus, on the other hand, was radiating nervous and anxious energy. It's not like she could blame the poor guy, not while his boyfriend was out there possibly getting himself killed.
She looked back out the window and towards the sky; praying to whatever god or deity was listening to her prayer that her best friend was going to be alright.
/
Alex flipped the weapon around and allowed the back side of the blade to connect with the humans. He cursed. Sometimes, humans were incredibly fragile, gullible creatures. Yes, there were creatures that existed in fairy tales to scare or excite humans. It didn't mean that they had powers that could affect humans. He looked around. What did that man promise to these people for them to follow him so easily?
As Alex was contemplating his thoughts, he missed the person behind him a little too late. He only managed a glance before everything went black.
/
Izzy opened her eyes and gasped. Sweat was dripping down her forehead and she was looking up at the ceiling of the chopper? She was a little confused now. Keiran, in his human form, looked down at the girl and motioned to everyone else that she was awake. Everyone crowded around the two and looked at her in concern.
She slowly sat up, to avoid getting dizzy and looked at her friends.
"What the hell happened?"
Markus leaned forward and looked at his boyfriend's meister.
"Dude, one second you were looking out the window and petting Keiran, and the next second, you go down and the cat starts yowling up a storm."
Anya leaned over, her pink tresses falling into her face, tears glittering in the fluorescent lights.
"You had us scared to death, dammit. Now, you tell us what the hell happened"
Without conveying too much of what she saw, she told her friends and teammates what she saw and what she thought was real. They were all silent by the time she was finished.
"I believe it was a Soul Resonance."
They all turned to see Stein and Spirit leaning against the door and looking at the teens.
"How is it considered a Soul Resonance?"
"Do you know how to do a Resonance Link?"
The group nodded.
"It works in that way. In whatever way you use to connect everyone in a Link, it'll sometimes act on its own and it would convey the feelings of the people connected to one another." Stein said in his usual tone.
Spirit was the one to ask the next question.
"How do you guys do a resonance link anyway?"
They all looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
This intrigued the pair.
/
Alex cursed under his breath as he came back into consciousness and looked around him. He was tied to another pole at least a hundred feet in the air. He was, once again, wearing one of those plain white kimonos (think of Rukia during her execution from Bleach). His arms were stretched out on the cross-pole thing. He was held onto the pole by ropes. The ropes went around his upper thighs, crisscrossing over his waist, around his back, and over his shoulders and going once more, around his waist. He didn't know where the rope started or where it ended.
Looking down, he could see a giant pentagram scribed into the dirt. He didn't recognize a lot of the symbols, but he could sparsely make out the ones for 'fire' and 'death'. He gulped and looked around. Maybe, it was at times like these that he should've listened to his boyfriend and maybe not tried to be a self-sacrificing hero.
Damn, his Dad was going to be fucking furious with him when he gets home.
/
Back in Death City, everyone was trying to calm down the furious Reaper. The irritated Father dismissed his friends/colleagues for a bit so that everyone would get a break and get some fresh air; coming back with some sense of sanity. Once he was sure that everyone was gone, the mask and cloak came off. Death stared at his reflection in the mirror, the same face and eye color that his eldest son shared, stared back at him. He sighed. Once again, his eldest son was putting himself in harm's way and absolutely not thinking about the consequences and what might happen to the people around him. Death had hoped that whatever energy or spontaneous whatever it was that Alex had when he was younger would grow out of him, by his teen years. Clearly, he was mistaken about that thought.
The man sighed. He loved his sons, but he wished that they didn't pick up his bad habits. Both of his boys were special in their own ways and Alex himself was making a reputation for himself. A good or a bad one has yet to be seen. He sent a silent plea to whoever or whatever was listening before slipping the mask back on, the door creaking open to allow more teachers into the room.
/
Alex tried to stay as still as possible, his neck was starting to hurt from pretending to still be unconscious. He peeked through his bangs to see the people making their way into the courtyard place. They got into a formation that looked a little familiar, but his probable concussion was making it hard to form a solid thought.
The mystery man, whose name he still didn't know, stood on top of the podium and looked at the crowd.
"Today, the fruition of our hard work from the past 10 years is finally coming together for this singular moment. Here, before us, we have the oldest son of the Grim Reaper. Through his sacrifice, we would be blessed with eternal life and be granted salvation from death. We would take this gift and use it to spread peace around the world!"
Alex felt his jaw drop because what the fuck did he just say? They were doing this for the glory of eternal life? To escape from death? No one, not even the Reaper could escape from death. His family may be the personification of death, but not even they could escape death. It was inevitable. There comes a time when everyone must die, with no exceptions. Even his Father is going to die one day.
Furthermore, how does a crazy man using him going to give them eternal life? How does sacrificing someone, the son of Death, going to grant immortal life? There are times when Alex fears for the humans and this is one of those times. There was another thing that bothered him.
Since when did rituals work for multiple people?
Between that thought and the next, Alex was filled with an unbearable amount of pain. His pain-filled screams echoed across the courtyard.
/
As the plane got closer to the general area of Alex's last location, there was a sudden rumbling sound that brought the passengers to the window. The blood-red clouds surrounded an unmarked village and there were streaks of purple lightning dancing around the sky. The occupants looked at each other and nodded. This was where their boy was at.
The plane descended towards the ground and one by one, they all exited the plane and gathered around. Stein and Spirit stood in front of the group and examined each and every one of them.
"This was originally supposed to be a retrieval for Alex, however, depending on the situation, we may need to take the villagers in for questioning or exterminating them. Alex is the first priority, but if we need to we get rid of them. We also need to proceed with caution. We are extremely close to this case, we can't let our personal feelings get in the way of why we are here."
Stein stared directly at Markus and Izzy. The two of them looked back at the professor sheepishly. They turned serious a second later and nodded. There was too much hanging for them to get too distracted.
"All right, here's what we do..."
