Caged Wings

Chapter Seven: Through a Reaper's Eyes

As soon as the creature jumped at the group, Raven dove onto the creature and flew into the mist. Everyone's eyes widened as Evan shouted, "Raven!!"

Raven was nowhere to be seen, all that was heard was struggling and snarling.

Raven, on the otherside of the mist, was fending off the creature that was now on top of her. She had her arm at it's throat, preventing it from biting her. This creature was very canine-like with reddish, grey fur, spiked out and messy. It had yellow eyes that glew red when very angered. Fangs were huge and a blackish shade with a hint of grey, almost like black silver. Almost wolf-like in appearence and size. It drools, almost along Raven's face. Raven growls, "I HATE Hellhounds!!"

She then kicks it off of her and slices it with her katana. It splits in half as it hit the ground. The group came running in her direction. Zero looks at the dead animal, "What in hell is that??"

Raven wipes the blood from her katana, "That was a Hellhound. Nasty creatures, almost as bad as werewolves."

Evan flinched a little at the word werewolves. Raven then sheathes her katana, "Now, let's go find Sith."

Raven walks on ahead as the rest follow. They walk deeper into the mist as more gravestones and rotting trees were seen. Raven stops and squats down, touching the ground with her hand.

Evan then said, "What are you doing?"

Raven then says, "A good way of tracking is feeling the ground....or looking at it."

What Raven was touching was a huge paw print. Hikari looks, "What do you suppose made that?"

Raven then says, "It was made by Sythe, no mistaking it."

Raven stands, "They should've came this way, by the looks of the print, not long ago."

Zero then says, "Shouldn't we keep moving?"

Everyone nods and then moves on ahead. Raven looks around and smells the air. Misty and almost vile. The smell of fresh death was in the air. Evan then says, "Uhh.....how much longer do we need to be here?"

Raven then says, "As long as it takes."

Just then, a loud howl was heard. Zero and Evan jump a little, but Hikari and Raven remain calm. Hikari smiles, "It's just a wolf."

Zero then said, "Yeah, how far is it from us?"

Hikari smiles, "By the loudness, I'd say around a few yards."

Zero grips his Naginata, "Shit!"

A growl was then heard. Everyone looks around. Zero then says, "What the hell was that?"

Everyone huddles together again. Raven then closes her eyes. She then said, "Relax..."

Zero then says, "How can I? Last time you told me that, a Hellhound jumped at us."

Raven opens her eyes and smiles, "It's just Sythe."

Sythe comes out from the mist and shakes his fur out. Raven pets him, "Hey there."

Hikari pets him, "I LOVE this kitty!"

Evan walks closer to Sythe to get a good look at him, "This guy's kinda cool."

Raven smiles, "He's quite the companion, I'll say that."

Raven then looks into Sythe's eyes, "Where's Sith?"

Sythe turns around and starts to walk back to where he came from. Everyone followed.

Sythe stops and sits right beside a gravestone. Raven looks to see Sith finishing off a Reaper. He slices it with his sythe for the finishing blow. A big wave and greyish black aura came from Sith's weapon. The aura grew larger as soon as the Reaper was demolished. It then sucks itself back into the sythe. The aura then surges into Sith's arm and then into his entire body. He floats in the air as he's absorbing the Reaper's energy. His eyes went pure black and he began to explode with power. He roared demonically.

Everyone's eyes widened, except for Raven's, as they all watched the display.

The power then sucked itself back into Sith and he drops to the ground, landing on his feet. His body began to steam. He raises himself up. As soon as he sees everybody, he smirks. His eyes faded into his normal colour, "Man that felt good!"

He then puts his sythe on his back. He walks up to Raven, acting like nothing happened, "Hey sis."

Raven smiles, "Hey. Get a good work out?"

Sith smirks, "Oh yeah."

Zero then says, "Woah, woah! What was that all about? What did you just do?"

Hikari smiles, "Yeah. That was cool."

Sith then looks at everyone, "Oh. That's how I absorb Reaper's energy. Their power adds to mine, making me stronger and stronger everytime."

Hikari jumps up and down, "COOL!! DO IT AGAIN!!"

Sith then notices Evan, "Who's he?"

Raven then says, "Sith, this is my friend, Evan."

She then looks at Evan, "Evan, meet my brother Sith."

Sith smiles as he sticks out his hand, "Any friend of Raven's is cool in my book."

Evan then takes Sith's hand and shakes it. He chuckles, "Well it's nice to meet you too."

Evan then noticed Sith's grip. It was tight and strong. Sith and Evan finally let go. Evan shakes his hand out a little, "Woah, you got a strong grip there."

Sith smirks, "That's what everyone says when they shake my hand."

Evan takes a good look at Sith. Not only was his grip strong, but he also looked the part. Evan then asks, "How old are you?"

Sith answers, "Fifteen."

Evan then says, "Wow. How long have you been hunting Reapers?"

Sith smirks, "I started when I was thirteen years old."

Evan's eyes widened a bit, "Woah, that's pretty young."

Sith just shrugs, "Oh well, who cares?"

He then looks to Raven, "So are we gonna go?"

Raven nods, "Yeah, let's go."

They all began to walk back to the jeep. Hikari then says, "Hey Sith. Do gain any Reaper powers if you absorb them?"

Sith nods, "Yeah."

Hikari's eyes widened with interest, "Cool. What ones?"

Sith then says, "Well, first of all. I can see how much all of your souls are worth."

Zero's eyes widened, "You can see our souls right now?"

Sith nods, "Yup!"

Hikari jumps in excitement, "How much is my soul worth?"

Sith then gets a good look at her. He then smirks and begins to laugh, "You're only worth fourty Reaper kills."

Hikari became confused, "What's that mean?"

Sith laughs, "Okay, there are 100 levels of bounty on a soul. Yours is worth fourty out of 100."

Hikari smiles, "Sweet!!"

Sith then says, "I only know of one exception though. One soul that goes above the bounty limit. Almost priceless some might say."

Hikari then asks, "Who?"

Sith's eyes then go on Raven. Everyone then looks at her. Hikari asks, "Her? Why?"

Sith then says, "She's a link to the real world and the dead world. She has supernatural powers and strength. She's seen things that no one would understand and has been to places where no human has set foot on. She's walks between the living and the dead."

Hikari's eyes widened, "Woah. That's sick."

Evan then looks at Raven, now curious as to what she's been up to and what she's gone through. He then says, "What's my soul worth?"

Sith then looks at Evan. He smirks, "Hm. You're worth almost as much as Raven."

Evan then says, "What does that mean?"

Sith chuckles, "It means you're similar to her in a way."

With that, Raven and Evan both look at one another. Hikari jumps up and down, "Do Zero's! Do Zero's!!"

Sith looks at Zero. He smiles, "Not bad."

Zero then says, "What?"

Sith then says, "You're worth 90."

Zero's eyes widened, "Is....that good?"

Sith laughs, "No. The more a soul is worth, the more it attracts Reapers. Yours is worth that much because you're such a goody goody."

Hikari starts to laugh, "Ha. He called you goody goody."

Zero then says, "I'm not that much of a goody goody."

Raven sighs, "What Sith means to say is that Zero's soul is pure, has no dark boundries in it whatsoever. That's why he's worth that much."

Hikari then says, "What about you? I know your soul isn't THAT pure."

Sith then says, "The souls that are worth beyond boundries is usually the ones that are the most impure, stained, or dark."

Zero then looks at Raven, "So you're more evil than Hikari??"

Raven shakes her head, "With me, it has nothing to do with evil."

Evan then says, "Then what does?"

Raven shakes her head, "Forget about it. Let's just get back to the jeep."

Hikari then looks to Sith, "What else can you do?"

Sith smirks, "I can take the souls of others......if I wanted to. I don't usually do that."

Hikari then says, "That's amazing!"

Sith then stops, "Everyone, don't move."

Everyone stops and does so. Hikari then says, "I sense a dark pressence."

Sythe then growls. Sith smirks, "Another Reaper."

A black, shadowy, cloaked figure appears before them all. A hood was covering its face. Sith smirks, "Come to avenge your little friend I just slaughtered?"

The Reaper shakes his head. It speaks in a scratchy, deep voice, "No. I simply came for all of you...."

Sith then takes his sythe out, "Come and get them then."

The Reaper smirks, "Foolish boy, but I like that. You're powerful and bold."

Evan then shakes a little, "So this is a Reaper........it looks different from the ones I've seen."

Sith smirks, "There are different types of Reapers. The ones I hunt are mostly Grave Reapers."

The Reaper floats closer, "So, boy. You have the eyes of our kind? Very rare for a mortal. No matter.....you're next on my list!!"

Sith smirks, "Not likely. As for being mortal.....pretty soon I won't be any longer!!"

He then growls demonically and his eyes go cold and pure black. He raises his sythe in the air, ready to strike. Sith then leaps up in the air and slices him. The Reaper yells, "NO! WHAT IS THIS??"

Sith says demonically, "That's you being absorbed into me!!"

He then gets sucked into the sythe, like the other Reaper from before. Sith then absorbs it and arches back and smirks. He explodes with power again and then sucks back into himself. Sith smirks, "I feel sooo alive!!!"

Zero then says, "That was freaky. I think Sith might be more insane than you are, Raven."

Raven just crossed her arms and smirks, "That's one reason why our reputation is big in our town."

Raven then walks ahead. Sith follows along with everyone else. Evan then says, "Wow. That Reaper only took one hit and he was done."

Raven smirks, "That's Sith for ya."

Sith's eyes were still cold black. Hikari then asks, "What's with his eyes?"

Raven then says, "If he absorbs Reapers within ten minutes, they stay like that for an hour or so."

Zero then asks, "Why?"

Raven looks to the ground, "I rather not talk about that."

Evan then goes up beside Raven, "Why not?"

Raven then looks at him, "Too dangerous....."

They finally get back to the jeep. Pheonix gets out, "What took you guys so long?"

Raven then says, "Reaper business."

Serenity looks outside, "Is everything okay?"

Raven nods, "Everything's fine."

Raven then goes into the front passager seat. Everyone else then goes into the jeep. Serenity then got a glimpse of Sith's eyes. She gasps, "What happened??"

Raven sighs, "Don't worry about it."

Pheonix then starts to car and drives away from Hollow's End. Serenity then says, "Now I'm worried even more."

Sith then says darkly, "It's just a side effect, so drop it!"

Serenity then looks at Sith and then to the floor of the vehicle. Raven then says, "Sith.....that wasn't very nice."

Sith replies, "So? It's none of her damn business!"

As Raven went to say something, Serenity says, "It's okay. He's right. It is none of my business."

It was starting to get dark out. Zero sighs, "I say we call it a night."

Raven nods, "Yeah. Enough's happened today."

Pheonix then says, "Okay. I'll drive you all home."

Raven then smiles at Pheonix, "Thanks."

Pheonix then gives Raven a soft smile. He then gasps when he sees Raven's arm bleeding, "Raven, you're bleeding."

Raven then covers it, "Just a scratch."

Serenity then says, "Let me see."

Raven then says, "No.......leave it be....."

Hikari gets dropped off at her home first. She waves, "Bye"

Everyone waves and says their goodbyes. Raven then says, "Remember, be up at noon."

Hikari nods, "Okay. I will."

Pheonix then drives off and starts to head towards Serenity's and Coslotus' home next. They all had agreed to be up at noon and Pheonix would pick them up. Then, they were gonna discuss what they were gonna do next.

Pheonix arrives at Galileo Blvd. Serenity gets out and Coslotus finally jumps off the roof.

They wave as Pheonix drives away.

After Raven, Sith, Zero, and Evan were dropped off, Pheonix says his goodbyes and drives off to his home. Everyone then goes inside Zero's home.

After a long day, Raven plops onto Zero's couch. Zero then says, "Are you okay?"

Raven then says, "I'm fine. Just a long day."

Zero then sits in his comfy chair, "Yeah. We all did."

The first thing Sith did was run to the PS3. He began to play Call of Duty World at War. Evan sits in a chair. He looks to Raven's wound, "How'd you get that scratch anyways?"

Raven looks at her arm, "Hellhound I guess. Who cares?"

She then puts her hand on it. It turns blue and fades. She then closes her eyes and rests, although she wasn't asleep.