Chapter 2: Deathseeker and the President

"I only remember two kisses---the first and the last.
The first with my love and the last, with death.
The first brought happiness and the last relief!"
-Srijit Prabhakaran

Disclaimer: I forgot to put this in the last chapter, but oh well. The only character I really own is Azrael---the others all belong to Square Enix...

Before Tidus knew what was going on, Azrael whisked his ghostly form out of his hospital room and over the great city of Zanarkand. It was around midnight, and was a perfect place for those who didn't sleep. Even though it was very late, people were walking around everywhere as if it were the daytime. Tidus was used to this behavior; he felt most alive at night.

"Where are you taking me?" Tidus asked as Azrael was holding on to his arm and flying over the skyscrapers. Azrael grinned with delight at this statement.

"Oh, to a training course to see if you're fit to take my place. If you fail..." Azrael stopped the flying and he and Tidus landed on top of a building. "...Then I'll have to kill you and find another apprentice." Tidus gulped nervously; screwing up was the last thing on his agenda.

"So...why are we here?" Tidus asked curiously. "All the other people are down there. Shouldn't we be---"

"Just watch. It's showtime."

Seconds after Azrael finished speaking, two men followed by another comrade were carrying a blindfolded person entered the top of the building via a door right in front of Tidus and the angel. The blindfolded young man was also gagged, had several bruises on his body, and was struggling to break free from the men. One of the men pushed the victim down on the ground, and took off his blindfold. Silver hair defined a good portion of the three men's appearance, while the victim had sandy blonde hair and nervous looking blue eyes, watering with pain.

"P-please! My company already gave your boss the money---what do you want now?" The victim pleaded, wincing as the largest of the three men kicked him in the ribs.

Tidus immediately recognized the victim as Rufus Shin-ra, President of the Shin-ra Company. Rufus and Tidus' old man used to be great friends years ago, but when Shin-ra became famous Rufus ignored his friend completely. Tidus considered Rufus to be the only fatherly figure he could count on when his dad was pushing him around. But when Rufus left, Tidus felt like he had no where to turn. Tidus felt like a tight fist was clenched over his heart as he saw Rufus for the first time in years; what would the thugs do to him? Besides, Tidus felt powerless since that he was a transparent figure without the ability to fight back or call for help. Lastly, even if Rufus tried to run away, his plan would fail. Just recently Rufus was in an accident and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his days.

"Shut up, ass wipe! Consider yourself lucky that we haven't killed you yet. Kadaj, should we finish him off now or later?" The man asked his boss with deep interest. Kadaj put a hand to his chin, deciding on the poor man's fate.

"Hm, Yazzu, what do you propose we do to him?" Kadaj asked curiously to the other of the criminals.

"Intoggerate him first, and then kill him." Yazzu answered readying his gun. The third man walked over to the victim, pacing around him.

"Do you know who we are?" The man asked with suspicion at the victim.

"You three are the motorcycle bandits, and also work for an underground mafia and do drug deals and---"

"That's enough. Loz, I'll ask the questions from now on. Now, where were we..." Kadaj took out a long, double-bladed katana from under his black cloak. "Ah, yes, asking President Rufus Shin-ra questions about his company or else..." Kadaj held the katana up to Rufus' neck. "...he gets sliced and diced."

"I-I'll answer anything you want. J-just don't kill me!" Rufus pleaded once more.

"In that case, here's your question: You boasted on one occasion that your company discovered a remedy for a rare disease known as the 'Geo-Stigma.' Where is the antidote?" Kadaj asked moving the blade of the katana closer to Rufus' throat.

"It's...it's at Shin-ra Labs in downtown Zanarkand. If you need some then I'll gladly give you three---" Kadaj grabbed Rufus' shirt, his face several centimeters away from Shin-ra's.

"Of course we wanted it, bitch. What are you, an air head?" Kadaj pushed Rufus down on the ground again.

"Gimme that. Things will move faster this way." Kadaj grabbed Yazzu's gun and aimed at Rufus' head. Tidus had a strong urge to run over there and kill Kadaj and his cronies, but he remained rooted to the spot. Azrael only watched on, a slight smirk on his face. Tidus figured that he was immune to see people dying because it was his job to send them to heaven or hell.

"Here's your final question: There is a rival mafia leader working underground to spread the Geo-Stigma to his enemies, and he goes by the codename 'Zephyr,' and we know you've been doing some secret business with him. What's his true identidy?" Kadaj asked quietly, with Yazzu and Loz looking on.

"I---I don't know his real identity, honestly!" Rufus whimpered in panic, staring at the gun in Kadaj's hand. Kadaj tightened the grip on Yazzu's gun even more.

"Bullshit." Kadaj aimed at Rufus' foot and fired. The loud bang was followed by Rufus' scream in pain and agony. "So...I'll ask you again: What is 'Zephyr's' real identity? And next time, I won't miss."

"Okay...I-I know somebody who knows Zephyr's real name...Zephyr never gave me his true identity." Shin-ra spoke so softly that Tidus didn't get to hear the rest of the sentence. Kadaj stood up, looking at Rufus with a strange look in his eye.

"Excellent. It has been a pleasure doing business with you." Kadaj answered quietly. The gun fired once more, this time Rufus did not scream out in terror. The silver bullet piercing Rufus' skull, killing him instantly. Tidus' blood turned cold; he couldn't believe that this all happened within seconds. Kadaj stood up and blew the top of his smoking gun, kicking Rufus' body roughly in the side.

"Yazzu, Loz, follow me. We have to ask our brother who this Zephyr person truly is." Kadaj then walked away, leaving Rufus' body behind with Yazzu and Loz right behind.

Tidus ran up to Rufus' dead body, hoping that no tears would come out in front of Azrael. He tried to touch Rufus' shoulder, but his hand passed right through.

"Try grabbing into his body." Azrael suggested. Tidus stared at him in disbelief.

"Grabbing? What is there to grab? He's dead, dammit!" Tidus shouted out to Azrael in anger. But without even thinking, Tidus suddenly grabbed into Rufus' lifeless body and to his surprise he was holding the ghostly form of the president by his collar. Rufus looked up at Tidus and Azrael in deep confusion.

"You can do the talking." Told Azrael, walking away to the edge of the building.

"T-Tidus! What are you doing here? What am I doing here? And who is---"

"That's Azrael. And you're...um..." Tidus looked to Rufus' corpse, while the ghostly form was staring at Tidus frantically. After several moments, Tidus began to speak again. "Rufus, you're dead."

"I---what? This has to be a dream!" Rufus answered confused about the whole ordeal.

"I'm sorry, but it's true." Tidus picked up Rufus' light ghost and helped him stand up. Rufus looked at his real body in horror.

"What happened to me?" Rufus asked quietly. Tidus looked at his feet, nervously while Azrael watched him from a distance.

"Kadaj's gang shot you to death. I wanted to help, but there was nothing I could do. I'm sorry." Tidus answered guiltily.

"Don't worry about it. Just...just take me to wherever I'm suppossed to go now. I guess that since this is my time, I'll experience what I couldn't here on this planet." (A/N: Is it just me, or did that sound really corny?)

Azrael walked over to Tidus and Rufus after their conversation finished. He felt that Tidus handed himself pretty well when dealing with someone who just died and not letting his emotions getting out of hand.

"Congrats, Tidus, you passed." Azrael congratulated as he shook his apprentice's hand. "I've interviewed people for quite a while to take my job and so far you're the only one who has not started bawling when a friend or family member died who they had to take away." Tidus and Rufus stared at Azrael with wonder.

"Um, okay..." Tidus started apprehensively.

"Actually, that could change in a little while or so, nevertheless you're okay! And that's all that matters for now." Azrael finished, handing Tidus a long, thin object and a black notebook.

"Hey, what are those for?" Tidus asked curiously, with Rufus looking on. Because Rufus was experiencing things that the average person would not---or might, experience in their lifetime, he had forgotten about the incident with Kadaj.

"I call this the 'Deathseeker' (Azrael handed him the staff), and this is my---actually your Death List. Anyways, about the staff. You don't kill people with it, but you can warp the dead to Heaven or Hell---it depends on if they were naughty, of course. Other than that, you can warp to basically anywhere you'd like at any time. For now, I don't think you'd be able to help those around the world, so I'm gonna let you stay in Zanarkand for the time being."

"And the Death List?" Tidus asked, opening up the book curiously.

"I was getting to that. Each time someone new appears on the list, your staff will glow and stuff. After you send that person to Heaven/Hell, you basically write their name down and how they died. Of course, the list is very long for a small notebook, but you'll never run out of room."

After hearing the Deathseeker's abilities and the Death List's functions from Azrael, Tidus examined the staff more closely. The staff came up to about Tidus' shoulder from the ground, and its black color was from the ebony wood used to create it. Vibrant colors of blue and crimson adorned the staff in a flame-like pattern, and there were words in a foreign language engraved in white as well.

"Wow...this is, well...I didn't expect this kinda thing to happen to me." Tidus told Azrael in awe.

"I should be off now." Rufus brought up slightly impatient. Tidus and Azrael looked up at him; they had nearly forgotten that he was still there.

"Right. Let's go. Um...Azrael?" Tidus asked confused. "How...how do I send Rufus, um..."

"To Heaven? I'll show you." Azrael used his finger to point an invisible arrow upward. "Do that except with you staff. That's pretty much it. Hell's the same thing, except the arrow points down."

"Okay, then." Tidus followed what Azrael showed him and a portal emitting a white light appeared. Rufus walked in, and said to Tidus quietly,

"Thank you."

Tidus mouthed, 'Your welcome,' and watched the portal close behind Rufus. The portal closed shut, and Tidus turned to face Azrael once more.

"Well, I should get going." Azrael replied beginning to walk away.

"But...but I don't even know how to transport myself and stuff! How will I know?" Tidus asked hoping for an answer.

"Look, Ti. When you're the Angel of Death, you've got to figure stuff out all on your own. But if you need to reach me, then summon me using your staff." Suddenly, Azrael's body was illuminated with light and he began to float in the thin air.

"I can't even do that, either! Hey, come back!" Tidus called out; Azrael's body had just disappeared. "Man, this job is gonna really suck..."

A/N: Wow, that chapter took me almost a week to write...(i mean, i also have schoolwork and stuff so i can't work on this all the time). Anyways, at first I only wanted this chapter to be focused on Kadaj, Yazzu, and Loz's plot involving Zephyr (it'll be really important later) but it ended up being slightly different in the end. I'll try to be more careful next time.

-Abzanguinaut342