A/N: Hello my kiddies! Thought I forgot about you? Well I didn't! Okay, maybe I did. But it wasn't my fault! Exams were all about and crap and stupid exams and hard exams, and all that fun jazz and maybe I was deep into the Fruits Basket section. Come on, they're sexy don't deny! But now school is out and I have decided to celebrate this moment with a new chapter! And strippers! What? There are female strippers too! If you squint, the guys in wigs look just like them! No? Okay. Well I guess you can just enjoy the chapter. Oh yes, also I have decided because it's summer, I can juggle two OC stories. So the chapter may come out a little later than usual, but I'll try to keep them even with the updates. Alright, before I bore you with my An's, enjoy!
-Life After Death-
Cooper lightly pressed his hands that were covered by fingerless gloves to the back door of an abandoned market. His eyes were currently closed in concentration, he was focusing his soul sense to see beyond the walls of the store. When his eyes snapped open he sensed no souls nearby, or at least inside the store. Then again his soul sense wasn't the strongest and didn't have that much of a range to it.
When he thought there was no danger nearby, he turned around to see the three females standing behind him.
"Well lookie there, we have the place all to ourselves!" His grin pressed on his features as he sent a flirtatious look at his partner. "Too bad the kids are here, though. Guess we have to find another make-out spot-"
"We do no such things!" Samantha denied, narrowing her eyes at the boy. "Now, if you would like to stay out here and be childish, that's fine, but let the mature people do what we came here for." She said, referencing to the former students. Her sweat then dropped when she saw them trying to make fart noises with their armpits.
"Girls!" Her voice came out as scolding, which made the two stop their immature antics to look at her.
"Old hag!" Scout shouted back, which made Samantha's eye twitch before she pinched her nose.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, she pushed past the doors and descended into the food store. Sai laughed at her expression before following with Cooper and Scout behind her.
The store was laid out like any other, with the check-out counters lined in the front and the rows of shelves behind it. Since the electricity was cut off long ago the store was submerged in darkness, the only light that was provided was from the moonlight streaking through the upper windows.
Scout squinted, trying to make silhouettes out, but having a difficult time with doing so. She then glared and punched Cooper's arm, out of irritation.
"Hey, watch the duster." He said referring to his red duster jacket. He brushed off the sleeve and looked at Scout. "What?"
"It's dark you fucking idiot, that's what!" The gray haired weapon said with a glare. Samantha rolled her eyes at the weapon's immature behavior before unzipping her yellow fanny pack that was slung on her hip, and took three flash lights out.
"Try this," She said, handing one to each person. "Now, stick close to us and whatever you do, don't wander off-"
"Run free my children, run from the evil dictator known as Sammy!" Cooper shouted playfully, which caused Samantha's teeth to grit.
"Cooper!" She shouted. "Don't tell them that!"
The shaggy black haired boy just shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?" he asked casually.
"It's dangerous to send them off!" The brunette reasoned, which was once again shot down by her partner.
"It's an abandoned market. Mothers used to bring their one year olds here, and their elderly and retards." Cooper said, shoving his hands into his blue jeans.
"That's not nice, they are called the mentally retarded." This discussion just kept going the same way. With Samantha trying to tell him her reasoning's and Cooper nonchalantly shooting them down.
Scout sighed at the two peoples she called "her elders". "Come on, Sai. Let's get away from them before their sexual frustrations take over and they start making out on the floor or something."
"Alright, Scout-chan!" The long haired brunette chirped, following her weapon to the other side of the store.
Sai's humming could be heard as they walked down the aisles, checking out the food that was left over. It was mostly cans but there were a few other boxes, like snacks or cereal. When Scout saw a treat she used to be fond of, she instantly ripped the package open and lifted it so that the stale marshmallows would fall into her mouth. She instantly spit then out and stuck out her tongue in disgust, which caused Sai to erupt with laughter. Not even a glare stopped her fit of giggles, only when the treats were thrown into her face did she stop.
When she looked back to her weapon, she saw the small figure already down the aisle and turning. "Hey, wait up!" Sai called, running after her.
"No, I will not let you drag me into one of your thoughtless decisions. They will stay near us and that is final." Samantha told him, while crossing her arms over her black long-sleeved shirt. The meister just shrugged and pointed at the empty spaces that used to be preoccupied by the young students.
When Samantha realized what he was pointing out, her expression went from shock to pure anger in less than ten seconds. "Where the hell did they go!?" She asked with her fists clenched. Her eyes were darting about, trying to look through the shadows with the little light her flashlight brought her. When she realized they weren't there, she let out one of her frustrated sighs and glared at the shaggy haired meister.
"You knew they were using our argument as a distraction, didn't you?" She accused. The young man just shrugged.
"I was paying more attention to where your clipboard was going to land. Anyways, again, they're safe! So, remove that pole up your butt and let's have some fun here!" Cooper said, not waiting for her response as he strolled down the nearest aisle.
With a groan, Samantha reluctantly followed. She hated that he could always find a way to weasel his way out of situations to make everything go his way. What an annoyance!
Despite the grumbles she mentally had, she was able to hear a rustling of cans. Since she had no soul sense to rely on, she had no idea if that was a rat, the girls, or some unwanted company. Not the kind of girl to take chances, she put a hand on Cooper's shoulder, halting his actions.
"Soul sense, now." Usually, when Samantha ordered something, he would try to weasel his way out of it, but her tone held a serious authority that made him follow her command without a complaint. Although, he did give her an odd look.
Closing his eyes, he focused on the surrounding area, he couldn't get the whole store but if something was around them, he could sense it. So, when he snapped his eyes open, he looked around, but only saw the orange soul of his partner. He blinked once more so he could see normally. "Samantha…there's a hideous creature nearby…"
Samantha silently cursed, before scolding the boy. "I knew we shouldn't have let them gone! Where is it, does it seem powerful?"
Cooper nodded. "Yes... extremely, and it's right…" In an instant, he pointed at the girl's nose. "…there!"
For a second, the weapon was confused, but when she realized what he meant, her face turned dangerously frightening, and in the next five seconds her meister was on the floor bleeding. "Asshole…"
Sai and Scout were now in the freezer section, looking at the raw eggs.
"Do you think they're spoiled?" The brunette asked.
"Yeah… let's throw them at Cooper and Samantha when they come by!" Scout offered, taking two cartons and handing one to Sai. The girl giggled with a nod, before opening the paper container.
They picked an aisle, and waited at the edge of it to provide the perfect hiding spot. They switched their flashlight off so that they could have the elements of surprise on their side. When they heard movement and some hushed voices, that's when Scout decided to jump out in front of the shaded silhouette and pelt her with eggs.
The 'victim' looked down at herself, and saw her already tattered clothing stained with dark spots of the whites of the eggs. "Fuck, an egg! I already smelled like aids because of D.J getting all up on me, but now I smell like chicken ass!"
Scout blinked, and had to let the voice sink in before she realized that it wasn't Samantha's. That's when her instinct kicked in, and she instantly ran to the weapon and landed a punch to her stomach. The weapon made a noise from the impact before stepping back to avoid Scout's foot.
"Eager, are we?" She huffed out, before taking a deep breath and flipping her blue and brown hair out of her sight. "Well, I'm just getting back into the game, but I think you'll find my performance satisfying, actually you'll be finished before I do my special move." With a flash of light, a chain came out of her wrist with a two-bladed claw-type weapon. Nicky grabbed the handle and pointed the claw at Scout.
The gray haired girl made a 'humph' noise. "Challenge accepted, bitch!" She declared, before her body glowed red and formed into Sai's hand as a cleaver and when the light shattered off, a white rectangle like blade was revealed.
Sai lifted it so that she could 'face' Scout. "Scout-chan, isn't this a little rushed?"
Scout's image flashed in the blade, and she was seen with a raised eyebrow. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Well, it just seems a little rushed. I mean we just saw her a second ago and we just got in the store and-" Her sentence was interrupted by Scout screaming for her to cut the damned bitch down.
"Well, I see who's dominant in that relationship." Nikki smirked, before attacking head on and striking down at the other brunette. Surprisingly, the mentally slow girl was quick to block the claw with her blade.
Even though the girl was not the sharpest tool in the shed, she didn't make her way to the EAT class by accident. With Sai's hyper and violent wavelength driving her and her nimble and quick moves, she made the fight more than a little interesting for the other brunette.
Metal clanged together, punches and kicks were thrown, quick dodges and ducking were involved. The fight was pretty evenly matched, but when the claw got hooked on Scout's handle, Nikki quickly pulled it and threw the other girl into a metal shelf, causing a domino effect throughout the aisles behind the one she smashed into.
Samantha turned her head as she heard numerous sounds of metal and glass smashing against each other, and it was getting louder and louder. It was only when the shelf beside her start to lean towards her did her mind comprehend what was going on. But it was too late, it was only when she felt a body tackle her did she move into safety.
When she looked up, she saw familiar locks of shaggy hair and realized it was Cooper. She blushed lightly at her stupidity of having to be saved by her meister, when it was her job to protect him. This embarrassment turned into anger. She squirmed and thrashed until he got off of her.
Cooper would've laughed at her disheveled state, but he only got up and looked around, using his soul sense once more. When he looked in a certain direction, his features became full of shock, and he turned to look at Samantha.
"I think you should change now…" He advised.
Samantha just blinked at him, it was a rare occasion when Cooper went serious and when he did, she knew not to take him lightly. So, she made her soul color devour her skin, before changing into the air as a large buster sword that Cooper caught.
"Alright, let's go get those idiots." He said, before starting to walk where he had sensed them. He only got a foot step farther before a long porcupine quill stood in his way.
"I'm afraid that won't be an option for you." A monotone voice said in the darkness. It wasn't a few seconds later when the girl who belonged to it appeared. Cooper immediately sensed the magic flowing off of her soul, it wasn't as powerful as some of the witches he had faced.
Cooper cocked an eyebrow arrogantly. "Oh yeah? And who gave you the control of my life?"
Taylor sighed, rather bored. "If you're going to try to make a snappy comeback, can you at least make it something I would be remotely offended of, or maybe even be willing to spare a small, pity-filled chuckle?"
Cooper's grin dropped. "Well, aren't you just an interesting opponent? Alright, I'll settle for just eating your soul."
"I thought it was the weapon's job, but either way. My soul will stay right here she put a hand to her chest before doing her chant, making her magic form into her hand. "Quill spear." She said, and another long quill with sharp points was in her grasp.
"Cooper…she doesn't seem as powerful. Don't think that you can lose focus though, she is still a witch." Samantha advised, which Cooper just groaned at.
"Thank you for the oh-so needed advice, now let's go!" He started the fight with a swift slash of his sword, which Taylor dodged by jumping backwards.
Cooper took the head-on approach, and began striking at the girl with his sword in every direction, which she either dodged or blocked, until the last strike on her weapon caused her to lose her balance. Cooper took this opportunity by backhanding her, making her sliding on the marble floor.
Before she could even get up, Cooper was next to her, sending his blade towards her gut. She quickly rolled to evade the attack and landed in a crouching position.
"Pin shots!" More magic quills formed around her body, before they soared through the air at high speeds, following their target even when he tried to dodge.
"They're pin pointing you, just cut them down!" Samantha ordered. Cooper nodded, and swung his blade, cutting down her magic quills. He then looked at the checkout counter, and back at the young witch, before jumping up and using it as a launch pad.
This time, the blade opened Taylor's arm, causing blood to rush out. She cried in pain as her hand rushed to cover the bleeding wound, but Cooper already delivered another punch to her jaw before she got the chance. The girl was once again down on the ground, but this time Cooper's blade was pressing against her throat.
"So, you're a porcupine witch? Guess your soul will have a prickly texture to it, sorry Samantha." Cooper joked, with his grin returning to his face as he thought he had defeated the girl.
Samantha rolled her eyes. "We shouldn't kill her. She might be able to give us information."
"Oh yeah, like what? How to shoot quills out of my ass?" Cooper asked, and Samantha just sighed again at his non humorous jokes.
"No, like where she came from and all of that. Maybe why the hell she knew we were going to be here would also be nice!" Samantha explained. When Cooper just shot her a lame reason on why they should just kill the girl, Samantha responded with a logical response, and that began one of their infamous arguments.
Taylor changed from frightened to bored at the beginning of this conversation. Well, at least they were cocky to direct their attention away from a witch, that was slightly interesting. What was more interesting was that she felt a familiar soul nearby. It was about time he became helpful.
"This is who I'm going to face? What a disgrace! I thought the challengers would at least intimidate me, but really all I'm getting is smell of cat shit and pee!" A voice said, cutting the partner's argument short to look at the blond haired boy now standing on top of the checkout stand
Cooper raised an eyebrow. Was this boy trying to rap? "Well, when we get back, we have a hell of a story to tell!"
His positive words made Samantha nod. "We will get out of here with Sai and Scout- wait, we forgot all about them! Cooper, what if they need our help? What if-"
"They can handle themselves, they were the upper class." Cooper said reassuringly. "Besides, we have our own problems to worry about." He said, looking at the boy who started rapping about how he wasn't getting attention.
When he was done, he jumped down and with a flash of light, his hand became a metal ball with several spikes protruding from it.
"Oh, so you're going to attack me when I can easily slit your girlfriend's throat?" The black haired meister asked, trying to press the blade deeper into Taylor's throat, but the sword only felt air.
"You idiot! You must pay attention to your-" Her words were cut off by Cooper's sound of pain. She looked out of her blade to see a quill sticking out of his upper back.
"Cooper!" Samantha shouted.
The young man went to pull the quill out, but was greeted with multiple others going into his arm. With his teeth grit, he turned around to face the witch, but he left his guard down once again, and D.J delivered a blow to his back, causing him to fall on his knees with all of the injuries.
"You're a good fighter, but you do need to pay more attention. It's okay though… we won't kill you." Taylor promised, before delivering the final blow to his head that would knock him out unconscious.
Sai groaned as she felt the pain of her colliding with metal travel up and down her back. She didn't have time to complain though, because Nikki picked the girl up and threw her into the other shelf, causing the same reaction as the other side.
Nikki smirked at the sound of destruction. "Need a little break, sweet cheeks? I can be a little too much to handle sometimes, so I can understand."
Sai let out another groan, but the voice that answered was Scout's anger filled one. "Fuck that! We can go long and hard, and kick your bony white ass to the curve!"
"Actually, I'm Hispanic." The brunette corrected.
"Good for fucking you." The cleaver said as her meister was slowly getting back into her fighting stance.
"Sai will beat you! Scout-chan wants me to, so I will!" The brunette said in a determined and happy voice, despite their situation she always like to be cheerful even in the darkest moments, and this was no different.
"Aw, I wish I had friends like that. Most of them just ran away from me because they couldn't take a file In the arm." Nikki then shrugged, before continuing their little battle.
Sai swiftly dodged all of the punches, and ducked when the other brunette decided to do a roundhouse kick, but it did knock her red beret off. The girl instantly tried to grab it, so when the girl bent over, a kick to her behind was received, and she fell to the ground on her stomach.
Nikki took this opportunity to pin the girl on her stomach, and put the claw near her eye so she knew not to try anything funny. She smirked once she realize that she captured her enemy. "Now…" Before she could finish her sentence, a flash of light happened and Scout's blade was now connected to her forearm and lightly pressed on the brunette's neck.
"Let the dumbass go." She said in a tone that would be considered threatening if Nikki didn't see her partners standing at the end of the aisle, with an unconscious meister and a weapon with quills surrounding her in every direction.
When Scout noticed this, she grit her teeth. They had her cornered.
"You know you're not going to risk her death." Taylor told the girl. Even with Samantha telling her to run, Scout couldn't do it. Especially with Nikki's blade so close to Sai. With a sigh and a flash of light, the cleaver blade was removed and she had surrendered.
Taylor kept her emotionless face, and looked over at D.J. "They're easier when they're not awake."
D.J took the hint, and went over to the two girl who were being detained by the claw. He raised his mace hand, and with a grin, brought it down on the two girls
-Life After Death-
Irin flinched as she felt the square cotton being taped over her scratch marks. Once they were secure, she instinctively ran her fingers over the bandage, before smiling gratefully at the nurse. "Thank you, Nurse Johnson."
The woman just smiled softly. "No problem, dear. Now, for your fainting, just drink more water, and you should be feeling fine in no time." She then looked to Joan. "Joan, be a dear and bring Irin a bottle for me."
The brunette nodded before doing as she said. Nurse Johnson thanked the girl, before giving the water to Irin.
"Now, would you mind telling me what happened?" She asked, taking a seat on the stool next to the white haired girl.
Irin shuffled her shoulders slightly while twiddling with her thumbs. "Oh, it was nothing. I just had to battle with Zero, and things got a little out of hand." She then touched her covered wound again.
"Mhm, so Zero gave you those wounds?" She inquired.
"…No. Sarith did, but he didn't mean it. It was all nothing." Irin said, taking a sip of her drink so she had something to do with her hands.
"Hm, well, where is Sarith?" The nurse asked.
"I don't know… I fainted and he left. He's most likely in the forest somewhere… I should go get him." She said, getting off of the stool. "If that's okay with you?"
Nurse Johnson smiled at her. "Of course."
Irin returned her smile, before exiting the cabin, outside she saw most of her mates outside. The more hyper ones were running around and playing tag, while the others were doing something that required less energy. She then heard Selina's voice, it sounded more angry and harsh than her usual light and friendly one.
Her anger was directed at no other than Zero, who was simply glaring at another direction while her arms were crossed over her large chest. Eventually, the dark haired girl got tired of her partners rant, and made a sarcastic response before walking off into the woods.
Selina huffed, before turning around and storming back to her cabin.
The sight made Irin sigh. This was all her fault, wasn't it? She made herself promise to talk to Zero later, but right now she had to find her partner. With that thought, she also left for the forest, but used her soul sense to guide her.
-Life After Death-
Silent curses and mumbles came out of the young Brit's mouth. She was still a little angry about the current discussion she had with her weapon. But of course, she had the tolerance and self-control not to yell at how stupid and overprotective Selina was being over that girl. Good thing, or Selina would have gone on her cussing rampage, and that was always a fun time.
The girl kept traveling through the woods, while her fight with Selina was on her mind. She stopped when she thought she heard something. Zero's eyes narrowed when she saw the form of a human sitting by the rushing river. Her expression then lightened when she realized that it was only the antisocial Thomas, currently reading his story. Normally, she would've just turned back or looked for another part of the forest to be alone, but Thomas had already sensed her and now had his head turned, so that he could take a glimpse of the girl through cloth.
"Zero…" He asked, confirming her identity. This question made her eyes roll.
"You can see perfectly normal when fighting but in normal situations you're blind as a bat? What selective vision." Her normal sarcasm was thick in her voice, which made Thomas blush lightly.
"Right…" He was now just awkwardly staring at her, not that she could see his eyes. He desperately wanted to direct his attention back to his book and hope that would send her on her way, but he didn't like to be rude. Even with how much he was uncomfortable with the tough Brit.
Zero raised an eyebrow at his nervous body language and blush. Not that she wasn't used to people getting antsy around her, especially after her incident with Irin. Oh, right… that must've been it. He saw her beating the meister, and now he was just like everyone else.
"Are you really nervous just because of how I fought? Seriously, I came out here to get away from all of that." She asked him.
Beneath his bandana a confused eyebrow was raised. "What are you talking about?"
It was now Zero's turn to raise her eyebrow, but she soon dropped it and just sighed. "Nothing, so I assume you came out here as soon as you finished battling."
Thomas nodded and they soon fell into an awkward silence, which after a while was interrupted by Thomas's question.
"So, your fight didn't go so well?" He didn't really like to make small conversation, but he again would feel rude if he just returned to his book.
Zero crossed her arms over her chest again and leaned against a tree nearby. "You could say that."
"Oh," Thomas said, glancing at his book once more.
Zero sighed again. "Right, well it was nice talking to a guy who isn't a complete moron. Thank you for that." She said with sarcasm dripping in her words before pushing herself off of the tree and starting to walk away, leaving Thomas just to sit there awkwardly, staring at his book.
Zero sighed to herself once more as she walked farther away from the silent boy. Not like she expected or wanted much of a conversation from him. He was always fleeing the scene, wasn't he? One of these days, they were going to need him, and he was just going to be sitting there in the tree, reading his damn book while the other people died. She sighed to herself once again, alright it was time to calm down.
She looked up from the ground and saw the backs of two familiar acquaintances. Irin had her hand on the boy's shoulder in a comforting manner while his body was turned away from her. His ear seemed to twitch as he heard Zero approaching.
He turned to face the girl and so did Irin. The awkward aura that was with Thomas suddenly filled this area as the two just stared at the girl and the girl stared back. Eventually, Zero got tired of this, and just rolled her eyes before exiting the scene without another word.
Irin turned back to Sarith and giggled nervously. "You know she didn't mean to, and I know you didn't mean to either."
Sarith just snorted and "looked" back at the ground. "Right… that makes all freaking better."
"Come on, it's just a scratch. Nothing to worry about, here…" She carefully removed her bandage and took the boy's hand, then put it on her wound. "See, it's not even bleeding anymore."
Sarith sighed as he realized that Irin wasn't going to give up until she knew that he felt better. He then forced a small smile and nodded. "Thanks…"
Irin closed her orange eyes and smiled back. "Anytime!"
-Life After Death-
Serissa sighed to herself as she had put the book she was reading away in her desk. Right now, only one thing was going through her mind: Where were those four? She knew she should've kept a better eye on the students, it was her fault for why they were gone. What if something terrible happened to them? What if Samantha and Cooper weren't able to protect them, or something happened to Samantha and Cooper and- stop. She needed to stop worrying herself. That would only prevent her from getting some much needed sleep.
With that little incident that happened today with Zero, and then the worry of the four still on her brain, she needed to calm down and rest. Sighing, she realized she had to check out the terrain once more that night, just to make sure everything was as it should be.
First, she had to check the underground cellar, where they kept the extra supplies -which was currently low- and a little deeper, the precious item. So, she went down there and checked it out, everything seemed normal, nothing out of place. She was about to turn and go back into her cabin, when she heard a loud noise.
Her nerves immediately tensed, and she had to take a deep breath before mustering up the bravery to call out, "Who's there?"
When no one answered, she thought it was just her imagination and took another deep breath. It was interrupted by soft giggles echoing throughout the steel walls. 'Oh god' She thought. This reminded her of one of those scenes in the horror movies where the one girl decides to stray from the pack and ends up becoming human sushi.
She took another breath, except this one was more shallow and shaky than the previous one. Then, when she thought she was all calm, she walked to where she thought the sounds originated from.
"Hello?" She asked, which resulted in more giggles and louder footsteps. The albino still was able to keep walking as she scanned her surrounding area. She then stopped in her tracks as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes were so wide she felt that they would pop out of her skull, but before her mind could process anything, her instincts took over and before she knew it, her forearm was pressed underneath a familiar meister's throat. When she recognized the young man, she blinked before taking a sigh of relief.
"Cooper?"
-Life After Death-
DUN DUNNNN DUN, Yeah I don't know. Anyways, hope you likey this one. I was going to make Zero, Irin and Sarith have a three way but there wouldn't be sex toys out in a forest, so I didn't try. Anywho do, review If you wish.