*Black Weapons*
Hey look another new chapter! Yay! I feel so happy haahaha
*S*
"The lower city is mine, its people are mine. If I find them that's doing all this kidnapping and murdering, they'd best pray for mercy, because once I get my teeth in 'em, I will NEVER let them go."
~Beka Cooper, Terrier by Tamora Pierce
*S*
Chapter 5: Jack the Ripper Revealed, Who Is The Enemy Here?
The next day was tense, and all of the meisters could feel the tension in the air. Everyone was prepared for a fallout, even if everyone was preparing for something different. All of the ends were the same… Jack the Ripper being stopped. Maka and Tsubaki were upstairs putting on their normal outfits, deciding it would be better for them, or at least better for Maka, should they do so. There was a soft knock at the door and Anya entered with Akane following closely, both of them had the same idea it would seem and were back in their normal clothes as well. Soon Kid and Soul joined them and the DWMA students sat around the small room. Maka stared out the window, it was such a gloomy day, the skies full of rain.
"Where is Ciel?" Maka asked turning around.
"Playing chess with Madame Red in his study," Kid said. He was still peeved about last night, Maka could see it. She sat down on the arm of the chair he was in and he drug her into his lap. She blushed slightly at the first real form of affection they'd had since coming on this mission.
"And Grell?" Soul asked.
"Gone," Akane growled. "He never showed up when Madame Red did. It's like he's stopped caring about if he's caught or not."
"Or he's trying to bait us into finding him," Tsubaki said softly.
"I swear, you could have been a death scythe by now if you weren't with Black*Star," Kid muttered. Tsubaki blushed and waved her hands, excuses already falling from her lips.
"He thinks he's going to get away without getting caught," Maka said. She closed her eyes and sighed. "This mission is harder than it seems," she said finally.
"You're right," Kid said. "But that doesn't mean we can't handle it. Don't forget, with the exception of Anya and Akane, we handled the Kishin. We handled Crona and we handled Medusa and Arachne. If we have to we'll just do a last minute team resonance." He looked around the room and everyone nodded, their faces set in grim determination. "It should go without saying, but. Don't let any of these people see us like this. We'll claim sick if we have to. Though, Tsubaki, Anya, Akane, and Myself could probably get away with it."
"You fancy people you," Maka muttered.
"Look at that Maka, we're undesirable in the company of nobles," Soul grinned. He opened his mouth to say something but Maka shoved her hand over his mouth.
"Shhh," she said narrowing her eyes towards the door.
"What is it?" Tsubaki asked.
"Grell," Maka, Akane, and Kid said. The DWMA students sat in a tense silence for several moments as lightning flashed outside.
"He must have been picking up Madame Red," Kid said after a moment. They relaxed some before Anya yawned.
"I think I'll head off to bed," she said somewhat sleepily. "Someone wake me if anything new comes up." She exited the room, followed by Akane. The other four sat in silence. Maka and Tsubaki both drifted off until Anya came running back in. "Get up!" She yelled.
"Hey! What's the big deal?!" Soul growled. Maka had slipped and fell onto the floor when Anya had yelled.
"Sebastian and Ciel have gone out," Akane said looking in behind her.
"In the middle of the night?" Tsubaki said in confusion.
"Sebastian must have figured it out," Maka said. She stood and yanked her overcoat off of the bed. She was running out the door as she put it on. "We have to find them and make sure that Grell doesn't hurt either one of them."
"She's right," Kid said, the others were hot on her heels. "Maka, it would be easier if you guys would turn into weapons."
"Right," she said nodding. Around her Tsubaki fell into Anya's hands as her short sword mode and Akane swung Soul around a few times.
"Still feels strange," Akane muttered. Maka closed her eyes and concentrated, grasping on to the part of her soul that housed her weapon abilities. When she opened her eyes, she was falling into Kid's waiting hands in her weapon form.
"God Maka," she heard Soul's voice as if through water. "You're my meister, there's no reason you should look cooler than me as a weapon!" Maka giggled. Kid admired her blade, seeing it for the first time. The top part of it was a deep green with black swirls that were just barely there. The bottom half was pitch black and deadly looking. The pole was black as well, with deep green ribbons winding around the top, as if keeping the blade attached.
"We've got no time to waste!" Anya said.
"Oh yeah," Kid summoned his skateboard and took off, he hoped the others could keep up somehow. He singled out Ciel's soul and made for it, aware of other souls around it, but not sensing who they were at the moment. When he felt they were close enough, he jumped down and started running. He'd just turned a corner when he heard a woman scream. "Damn!" He cursed.
"Ciel!" Maka cried, her image appearing in her blade. Kid came to a screeching halt, slightly behind Sebastian as the butler leaped back, dragging Ciel with him. Sebastian slit his eyes at them but stayed silent. Kid watched the door in front of them, sensing Grell's soul within.
"You've made quite a bloody mess of things in there," Sebastian said, a smirk on his lips. Behind them, Akane and Anya had caught up. "Jack the Ripper, or rather Grell Sutcliff." Grell appeared in the doorway, his human disguise still on.
"My father wants a few words with you as well," Kid added. "You've caused a lot of trouble so soon after the Kishin was defeated!"
"No, no you're wrong!" Grell said a hand outstretched. "I heard the scream and rushed to help but…" He trailed off.
"You can drop the innocent act!" Akane yelled. "We know who and what you are!"
"It's over," Sebastian said, his hand still covering Ciel's face. "You know this is actually the first time I've met someone like you." His eyes slid over to Kid. "Though, another followed rather quickly. You played the role of helpless butler rather well. Your act had everyone almost completely fooled."
"You, you think so?" Grell said softly.
"Careful," Maka said. "Giriko will be nearby. He won't be defenseless." Kid nodded and scanned the area around them. It would be a tight space to fight in anyway. Grell started chuckling and then smiled, revealing a mouth full of teeth as sharp as Soul's.
"Soul, someone tried to steal your look," Kid said casually.
"Yeah but I'm way cooler!" Soul said appearing in the blade of his scythe, he too wore a large grin that showed off his teeth. "I'm ready for some payback for what you did to Maka you bastard!"
"How kind!" Grell said. He reached up and pulled the ribbon from his hair. "I am an actress," he looked around as he pulled his glasses from his face. "Where is my little blonde punching bag? I thought she was your meister? Is she too scared to face me?" He laughed as he ran a comb through his hair, turning it back to its bright red. He pulled out a pair of matching glasses and shoved them on his face.
"Say that to my face!" Maka yelled, losing control over her weapon form in her anger.
"Maka!" Kid shouted.
"Oh look at that! Maybe I was wrong!" Grell started laughing and settled his gaze on Sebastian. "I suppose you aren't really Sebastian either, are you?"
"Sebastian is the name my master gave me," Sebastian said letting his eyes roam over the children that surrounded him. Interesting ones, perhaps that is why their souls smelled so delicious. "So that is who I am at the time."
"Oh so you're playing the faithful guard dog," Grell laughed again, obviously not feeling threatened. "I suppose you're handsome enough to get away with it. Anyway, here we are Sebastian, brats. No… I'll call you Bassy," he flicked his hair and smiled. "Let me introduce myself. The Banet butler Grell Sutcliff. What do you say? Let's get along." He blew a kiss at Sebastian and the tall man froze and a look of pure disgust crossed his face.
"Someone tell me how a loser like him was able to become a reaper?" Soul asked. Kid shrugged, honestly he wasn't too sure of that either at this moment. He kept his hand latched around Maka's. The blonde meister was staring at the reaper with a look of pure hatred.
"Only the best do," Grell said, hearing the scythe's question. "It's so nice to talk to you in my true form! I'll admit, I was surprised when I first met you, I'd never seen a demon playing a butler." The DWMA students not in the know whipped their heads around to stare at Sebastian in shock.
"A… A demon…" Anya said, her hands started to shake slightly. Maka didn't take her eyes off of Grell. This is what he wanted, a divided front. He knew how the DWMA felt on demons.
"I can say the same about you," Sebastian said calmly, ignoring the looks he was receiving. He still wasn't sure who or what these teenagers were, but first he had an erratic reaper to deal with. "I never thought I'd find one of your kind playing a butler either. You're supposed to be an intermediary between man and god." Kid snorted.
"My father is hardly god, he may be the death god, but the reapers themselves do not work for any god but him," he said feeling like laughing. "It is the job of lesser reapers like Grell to do work for him, as he cannot leave the DWMA. Things have been hectic the last year or so, and all reapers are supposed to be helping to make it right, not make it worse."
"Yes, why would someone like you pretend to be a lowly servant?" Sebastian asked, his eyes sliding over Kid once again. So this boy was the son of death… very interesting.
"Why indeed," Grell said with a smirk. "For now let's just say it was out of love for a certain woman." Ciel jerked back slightly in Sebastian's arms.
"This woman would be?"
"You don't really need to ask do you?" the voice came from within the building, and was followed by footsteps. Ciel pulled Sebastian's hand up away from his eyes so that he could see, his face set into a neutral expression. He finally saw Grell's true form and beside him was Madame Red and another man, dirty looking and strange.
"Giriko," Kid said.
"Hello brats," Giriko grinned widely. "Boy have I been waiting for this! I couldn't believe it when a reaper found me and wanted me as his weapon, but then when Grell and I found Maka and Soul in the woods… Well, it was almost too good to pass up."
"Shut up," Madame Red said glaring at the man. "I didn't count on this, I didn't think anyone would be able to tell who Grell really is. Until the brats from that damned school came, I knew with them being here they'd be trouble."
"You were on the suspect list from the very beginning," Ciel said rubbing his face where a spot of blood had splashed across it. "Though your alibis seemed flawless."
"You mean you actually suspected your own aunt?" Madame Red asked. She seemed amused to the others.
"She must really think she's getting away with this," Akane said quietly.
"I was looking for a murderer, degree of relation to me did not matter," Ciel said. Sebastian's eyes wandered over to his master, how he loved the smell of his soul when he was being cruel. Each time they finished up a case, it smelled sweeter and sweeter. "None of the humans on the suspect list could have been responsible for all your murders."
"I have to hand it to him," Kid muttered. "He truly is a genius, demon butler or not." Beside him Maka had calmed down enough to return to her weapon form. Kid took hold of her and brought her up to his shoulder, ignoring the shivers of his OCD.
"But if one of them had an inhuman accomplice that would change the game completely," Ciel said, he watched Maka's transformation in slight awe, not really wanting to be distracted, but it was something that he couldn't look away from. "It had to be someone who could enter and leave a room without being noticed. Someone who could travel from the Viscount's home to the East end instantaneously. In the end you two were the only ones who could be Jack the Ripper."
"I'd like to point out that Maka and I killed the original Jack the Ripper," Soul put in. "Quite a while back too."
"Shut up," Akane muttered. Ciel gave the boy and the red and black scythe a glare. They would all be undergoing their own round of questioning later.
"I began to look at what else the victims had in common besides prostitution, and then I noticed that they'd all undergone a certain surgery at the hospital where you work," Ciel said reaching into his coat. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and opened it. "One, the only one who was still alive was a woman by the name of Mary Kelley. We knew if we waited around here you would come for her eventually. But we were… too late." Ciel looked down at this. He really had hoped he and Sebastian would have been able to save the woman.
"My darling nephew, you couldn't just let it be?" Madame Red said, her calm demeanor changing slowly. Her hands clenched into fists as she gazed at the rag-tag group in front of her. "But now," her head snapped up and Kid could see the desperation in her eyes. "YOU'VE TAKEN EVERYTHING!" It was her words that snapped everyone into action as Giriko transformed quickly, landing in Grell's hands and the Lesser Reaper was no longer standing beside the red-haired woman. Kid and Akane moved together and caught Giriko's blades in between the two scythe staffs.
"Just give up Grell," Kid growled lowly. "You know who we are and you know we are more than capable of taking you down!"
"Can someone explain to me these things?" Ciel's voice was full of curiosity as Grell leaped back, away from the meisters.
"Perhaps that is a question best saved for later my lord," Sebastian said stepping forward, trusting the strange kids with guarding his master for the time being. "I would like to point out that it was tasked to me by my master to bring an end to Jack the Ripper, so I shall take over from here." He ducked under the still crossed scythes and faced Grell with a grim face.
"What a stoic man you are!" Grell cried, waving Giriko up and down, despite the protests that could be heard from the weapon. "It makes you even more irresistible." The red-haired reaper stopped playing around and his face took on a more serious note. "You know, red is my favorite color, it's good for hair, for clothes, for lipstick, so I painted all those women with pretty pretty red blood." Maka gagged slightly and she heard Anya gasp.
"At least it wasn't black," she heard Soul mutter. Maka felt her eye twitch, her partner would be getting a Maka chop as soon as physically possible.
"So Bassy, I'll make you even better looking than you are!" Grell continued. "I'll tear you up from the inside and trust me, I'll make you like it!" The man winked at the tall demon in front of him. Sebastian himself looked like he was going to be sick, before he turned his back on the reaper.
"You're a Grim Reaper, your job is to quietly harvest the souls of the dying," he said as he walked back to Ciel, Grell throwing a small fit behind his back. He whipped of his coat and placed it carefully over his master's head, to prevent him from getting any wetter than he already was. "And as a butler your job is to follow your master like a shadow. You have violated both of these expectations and quite frankly," the demon turned to face the reaper, the DWMA students watching in interest. "I find it sickening." Kid's eyes nearly popped out of his head, what kind of demon was this?
"Bassy," Grell gave a wide grin, showing off his teeth as he ignored the complaints of his weapon. "You wound me," he raised Giriko. "You know, I'm more deadly efficient than I seem." He made a sign with his hands and stuck out his tongue. "Ask the pretty blonde and her scythe how long they lasted." He laughed. "Though I suppose it was a slip-up that they even got out alive as it is." He laughed when the students tensed up, the three mesiters glaring.
"Your wrist then Miss Maka?" Sebastian said calmly.
"Stupid bastard," Soul spat, his image appearing briefly in the blade of his scythe. "Give us a chance again and you'll see just how easy it is to take you down!"
"Shut up," Kid said lowly. "He's trying to get a rise out of you idiot."
"In my name and in that of the Queen," Ciel startled them all by speaking, the meisters having almost forgotten that he was there. His hand was hovering over the eyepatch on his face. "I order you Sebastian," he raised the patch, allowing the meisters to see that mark that was on his eye, a mark that was now glowing slightly, as were Sebastian's own eyes. "Put an end to them!"
"Indeed my young lord," Sebastian's voice lowered and he raised a gloved hand to his mouth, his teeth grabbing hold of the edge of his glove, pulling it on tighter. Kid, Akane, and Anya tensed and tightened their grip on their weapons, dealing with demons was something that the DWMA was built to do. Rarely did they ever have to encounter a full demon, the only case in the last hundred years being the encounter with Asura. Now they were standing between a demon of unknown power and origin and a Lesser Reaper gone astray. Needless to say… This mission had gone very wrong.
*S*
Ugh! SO SORRY FOR TAKING FOREVER YOU GUYS! I just got busy, you know life and stuff. Then again I didn't exactly promise monthly updates, or regular updates either. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have enjoyed this story so far! I have some awesome plans for a series set in this universe, however if they ever actually see the light of day *shrugs* we shall see.
Like always loves, any questions, concerns, or comments can be left as a review or you can pop me a PM. I love hearing from you guys!
Shimmerz
