Hey guys, girls and everything in between!
Here it is!
The (kinda) chapter you've waited two weeks for!
Enjoy!
Chapter Seven
Today was the day!
Everything was ready…
Summer had delivered on her promise and the sun was blasting away on the venue, not a single cloud in sight.
Bunny had arrived and set out thousands of plates of food, each plate looking different from the next.
Neon had cast a stunning double rainbow over where the ceremony was meant to be taking place.
Eva had grown hundreds of rare flowers across the area.
"Excellent work everyone! Go get ready" said Knowledge as he checked off the last thing from his massive list.
Blake walked over to him and let out a relaxed sigh.
"I can sense Ryan's fear, seems even our boy reaper gets pre-wedding jitters" he said with a laugh.
"That's completely normal, I'm sure you would be feeling the same if you were in his shoes" said Knowledge with a small smile.
"Probably, I can't say Eva is too happy about this though" said Blake as he gestured to the seething entity of life.
"Jealousy is a very powerful emotion and entity" noted Knowledge.
"True… let's go get ready then" said Blake as they vanished in a flash of black and orange.
With the Groom, Best Man and Ring Bearer
"Looking good big brother" said Paradox as he straightened his own tie.
"I'll say; you might be almost as sexy as me… no homo though" said Max as he slicked his hair back with something they assumed was gel but could easily have been radioactive goo.
Ryan rolled his eyes as he polished his cufflinks, only half an hour before the ceremony began.
"I want you watch Le Fay die"
He made sure not to shiver since it would be picked up instantly by the time entity, his eyes don't miss anything.
"Hey guys… can you give me a bit, there is something I need to do before I go out there" said Ryan with a smile.
"Sure thing big brother" said Paradox happily.
"Don't try and run away either, you'll have every entity looking for you otherwise… I'm joking!" laughed max loudly as he slapped Ryan on the back and followed Paradox out the door.
Ryan breathed a sigh of relief and changed into his reaper gear.
"Alright then Death, what do you want to show me?" muttered Ryan as he lay down on the couch that inhabited the room.
Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he slipped into his mind.
Ready to watch Le Fay die…
Death Room
"I knew you would come to your senses" said Death as Ryan appeared before him.
"Cut the crap, let's get this done, I have to get married" growled Ryan as he walked past his elder.
The two deaths walked over to the pool of inky darkness and stared into its swirling depths.
"Jump in and think about Le Fay" said Death as he stepped to the side.
Ryan was skeptical but wasn't in any position to argue.
"Very well" he said with a nod as he took a deep breath and dove into the liquid.
It wasn't cold…
It certainly wasn't warm though.
Ryan's thoughts found the picture of Le Fay and he latched onto them tight.
The liquid began to warp around him the harder he thought.
Eventually he found himself in another world completely…
Flash Forward
Ryan appeared in a flash of black light that blinded him for a second.
When his vision cleared he was in a cottage of some sort, there was a single bed in the middle and it took him a moment to fully realize who he was seeing lying in said bed.
It was Le Fay…
She looked incredibly old, her skin was wrinkled and pale and her golden hair was but a shadow of her former golden locks.
Ryan new she was old and dying just by looking at her yet nothing seemed odd about how it was happening.
"Le Fay?" he called out.
He quickly realized that he was nothing but a spirit here, even less than that; he couldn't interact with this world in the slightest.
A soft knocking sound echoed throughout the cottage and Le Fay's pale blue eyes opened before resting on the door.
"Come in"
Ryan shuddered at how raspy and dry her voice sounded, she was very old.
A familiar head poked itself through the doorway.
"Hello Lele, how are you doing?" asked Eva softly as she bought over a pitcher of water.
Le Fay didn't say reply; Eva frowned and poured a glass of water for the young witch.
The elderly magician drank slowly, helped by the life entity all the while, eventually she stopped and the two sat for a moment in silence.
"I want to see him" said Le Fay suddenly.
"He's on a job with…" began Eva.
"Dream and Love… of course he is" sighed Le Fay sadly.
"I have to go tend to my animals, call me if you need anything" said Eva as she refilled the pitcher and left the cottage silently.
Once Eva had left, a fat tear fell from Le Fay's eyes; she bought her left hand up and glanced at her ring finger.
An obsidian ring with an onyx gemstone was wrapped around it.
"I summon thee… entity of death" whispered Le Fay softly.
The room was filled with black light and suddenly a figure burst out of the ring.
"Love, cover the left… what the?"
Ryan found himself looking at his future self.
His future self spun around quickly before looking at Le Fay.
"What the hell Pendragon? I was in the middle of something!" yelled future Ryan.
Le Fay didn't say anything, future Ryan knew that something was wrong.
"I'm dying Ryan" she said bluntly.
"That's impossible, you're not even a day past twenty one dear" said Ryan with a laugh.
"I'm one hundred and sixty six years old… I'm no longer the young woman I was, face the truth" said Le Fay seriously.
"But… just the other day we were talking about going to the Fiji for our wedding anniversary" said Ryan in confusion.
"That was five years ago… it's your immortality talking, a day for you might be months for us" said Le Fay sadly as she tried to sit up.
Future Ryan was stunned, he could only stand there like an idiot.
"I'm sorry Lele" he whispered.
"Do not call me that name!" she yelled, her eyes burning with anger.
Both Ryan's were shocked by her tone.
"Le Fay… what's wrong?" asked Ryan softly, sitting on the bed next to her.
"All the knowledge in the world and you still can't figure it out" she laughed bitterly.
"If I did something then please…" he begun.
"You let me marry you Ryan! I married you and it ruined my life, I was bound to you for the rest of my short life and even then I had to work every day for your attention, the immortal Love and Dream were on a completely different level from me, they didn't have to work for your affection but I did! Every single day for the past one hundred and fifty years!" screamed Le Fay as she removed her ring and threw it at the grim reaper.
"Le Fay… I didn't know" whispered Ryan as he reached out to grab her hands.
"Don't tou…" she pulled her hands away and suddenly stopped speaking.
Her eyes rolled back and her head slumped to the side.
"Le Fay? Le Fay!? LELE!" screamed Ryan as he quickly checked her pulse.
Eva burst through the door; she froze when she saw the scene before her.
Walking over to the sobbing reaper, she put her fingers on Le Fay's pulse before sighing sadly.
"She's gone Ryan…" whispered Eva into his ear.
"That's impossible!" yelled Ryan in a fury as he lashed out at Eva with his scythe, swiftly decapitating her.
Spirit Ryan could only watch in horror before he felt a hand on his shoulder yank him away from the scene and back to his own time.
End Flash Forward
Ryan burst out of the pool, gasping for breath as he did.
"Easy there Ryan" warned Death as he pulled him out of the pool.
Ryan sat in stony silence for a few minutes, staring at his hands.
"I killed her, both of them" he whispered in disgust.
"I'm sorry, but you needed to know this" said Death sadly.
"No… I thank you for showing me this, I know what I have to do" said Ryan as he got to his feet.
Ariana suddenly appeared before him.
"Almost ready Ryan?" asked Ari happily.
"Master, I'm going to ask one final favor of you, I ask that you fulfil it as repayment for the ogre incident" said Ryan seriously.
"Oh… alright then" said Ariana with a blush.
Ryan outlined his plan to her, Ariana's smile growing smaller and smaller until tears were threatening to spill forth.
"Oh god Ryan… I can't do that! You can't do this!" cried Ariana once he had revealed his plan.
"I have no choice Ari, I won't allow that to be Le Fay or Eva's future" said Ryan firmly.
Ariana sniffed back tears before leveling her gaze with him.
"Very well, but after this you are on your own, I will continue to reap souls but that is it" she said before turning away from him.
Ryan stood there feeling very empty inside…
"This is the right thing my boy, time will prove that" said Death before he faded and Ryan was pulled back into reality.
Reality
Black eyes flicked open…
"Time to ruin a wedding"
One Hour Later
"What do you mean he's missing!" hissed Knowledge as he grabbed max by his collar and all but smashed him into the nearest wall.
"I mean, you old fart, he's not in the building!" growled Max as shoved the book worm away from him.
"I assume Paradox is checking the city?" asked Max nervously as he looked out the door at all the guests who were streaming in.
"Yeah… he should be back" Max was cut off as a bolt of blue lightning flew in the door, "Any second now"
"Paradox, did you find him?" asked Knowledge desperately.
"Nothing, he said he had to do something but I never thought he would actually leave" said Paradox sadly.
"Have faith men, we won't tell anyone he's gone. By Pendragon tradition, the Pendragon must be standing at the alter to watch their fiancés walk down the aisle, so Ryan probably wants to make an entrance or something" explained Knowledge, both rage and time entities calmed down and went to take their seats.
The outside garden was actually magically enhanced to accommodate the massive amounts of devils, angels, fallen, Norse, Greeks, Romans, Hindus, Nekos, Entities, Reapers, Magicians, Endless and even a few humans here and there.
"Hey Record, play some warm up music to settle the crowd, nothing to upbeat just yet" said Knowledge to the entity of music herself: Record Scratch.
"You got it boss man!" said the white suit clad female as she summoned a vinyl into her studded gloved hands and began to mix.
Andy Grammer's Fine by me began to play and everyone turned to see Record bobbing her head as the pop song played through.
Everyone began lightly singing along to the music.
Le Fay suddenly appeared in a white magic circle, alongside her father, brother and mother; the latter three taking their seats whilst Le Fay stood at the altar.
Everyone turned to face the other end of the aisle, excitedly waiting the too be groom.
Five minutes passed before the whispers started, Le Fay looked confused, as did the rest of the crowd.
"Leave it to the master to be late to his own wedding" chuckled Jason before he was punched into the arm by Lime.
A ripple suddenly washed over the crowd and they all turned in their seats.
Knowledge breathed a sigh of relief, he could sense Ryan's death magic emanating from where he should appear.
"He simply wanted to make an entrance it seems" he whispered to the sweating Le Fay.
"G… guess so" she stuttered nervously, now that the day had arrived… she was terrified!
The magical energy seemed to increase before a bright black filled the world, blinding everyone present.
Rubbing their eyes, the magical creatures (plus the humans) saw that it wasn't Ryan present, but actually Ariana…
She walked slowly down the aisle, no one said a word, most of them knew her from when she held the mantle of death.
She walked up the stairs to the altar before stopping in front of the waiting bride.
"I'm sorry in advance" she whispered before turning to face the crowd.
"What does that mean?" she said in confusion but decided to back off.
Ariana drew in a deep breath before clearing her ghostly throat.
"Hello everyone, I'm Ariana but then again you probably know that… you should also know that Ryan was my only reaper before I died, I trust him completely yet recently he has made me do something that has completely shattered that trust, he has asked me to deliver a message too you all, that is all"
Ariana took three steps back and held out her right arm.
A hologram of Ryan appeared on stage, kitted out fully in his wedding tux, tie, cufflinks and all.
"Salutations, before I begin I must say that this is a pre-recorded message so please refrain from asking me anything since I cannot respond"
The hologram spoke with even less emotion then anyone thought possible.
"What the hell are you doing Blackworth?" wondered Blake curiously.
"I'll get straight to the point then, under code sixty seven of endless law: I, Ryan Blackworth, hereby retire as an endless core member and under hidden law thirteen of reaper protocol, I return my eight reapers back to life and strip them of their position and power" said Ryan with a wave of his hand
Everyone looked shocked as the eight reapers began to glow.
Lime, Bobbie, Jason, Roberto, Alexander, Walter, Mary and Johnathan's magic suddenly disappeared from them in the form of their reaper weapons, each one rising into the air before turning to dust and scattering on the wind.
Each reaper lost their distinct streak of black hair from their head, Lime's returning to her dull green color.
Each of them finally returning to their original human clothes.
"Many of you may be confused by this sudden development, you may find out one day but not today. As for Le Fay Pendragon, I am aware that I was meant to marry you today, however this must be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances that could possibly put you in danger, I am sorry for what I am about to do" said the hologram.
Le Fay looked confused before she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest and screamed in agony as Ryan tore his aura away from hers.
She collapsed forward, totally unconscious.
Knowledge grabbed her before she hit the ground, checking her vitals.
"What the hell Ryan!" he yelled but knew it was useless.
"As for the sins residing within me, well, here they are" said the hologram as a black magic circle opened in front of him, the seven sins lying unconscious, blood running from their ears"
"Jesus Christ" whispered Eva, horrified by the state the sins were in.
"To the rest of the entities present here today, endless included, do not look for me, you will not find me. I am the entity of death; the former most powerful endless, you will fail… that is all, goodbye"
And with those words:
Ryan was gone…
Lost to the world of magic and humans forever…
Ten Years Later
"This just in, minister of magical relations has just released a statement accepting marriage between magical and non-magical beings. Ever since magical creatures first revealed themselves nine years ago to the world, there has been a peace like no other…"
The television was shut off before the reporter could finish their sentence.
"Oh… I was watching that Ryan" said the shop attendant.
"Sorry, I just don't care much for magic that's all" said the brown haired cleaner as he swept the store.
"Fair enough…" the girl smiled before serving a customer who had just wandered in.
The brunette turned and continued his way around the shop, sweeping even the most insignificant of dirt away.
Life had been slow for the former endless member, who now worked for a small sweets shop located in an isolated Italian village.
It was calm and quiet though and he was grateful for the hospitality.
He was not grateful to Knowledge, Eva, Max, Dream, Love and Blake for revealing the existence of magic to the world and creating the cross magical species exchange bill, which involved every magical creature having to register to their governments and also allowed for the formation of a magical police squad which would be given free rein to hunt down and eliminate any magical disturbance.
That was all a ruse however, a façade in order for Dream to try and secretly locate Ryan's whereabouts.
She was currently chasing a lead in Japan; however that lead was also given to her by an anonymous tip off from Ryan himself so it wasn't very valid.
Ryan was sad about having to do what he did but he never regretted it, living with the knowledge that Le Fay's life would be miserable and that he would kill Eva in anger, possibly even worse later was just too much for him to bear.
So he abandoned his post, retired his reapers to lead normal lives and then retired himself to a small village to work quietly for the rest of time.
The bell rang throughout the shop and Ryan herd the shop attendant call out to him from the back room.
"Ryan, can you serve this customer while I check the stock out back please" yelled the blonde that had been kind enough to employ him six years ago.
"Of course" he yelled back before quickly washing his hands and putting on an apron, "Good afternoon, how can I help you today?"
"M… master?"
Ryan's head shot up and he locked eyes with the ex-reaper of Europe: Walter Smith.
"Walter… long time no see" said Ryan casually, "I recommend the hard boiled sweets for someone like you"
The British gentleman didn't say anything for a moment before finally finding his voice.
"We need to talk" he said bluntly.
Ryan sighed.
"Very well… I'm going out for the rest of the day, I'll be back tomorrow" yelled Ryan as he grabbed his jacket and followed Walter out of the shop.
The two walked down the street in silence before Ryan stopped at the local café, they found a table and ordered a drink each.
Walter had earl gray and Ryan had a latte.
"You're looking good Walter" said Ryan carefully, still not sure how his reaper would react.
"As are you, good to see you got a job as well" said Walter as he sipped his tea.
"I don't get paid, it's simply a place to sleep and some food to eat" explained the entity as he ordered another coffee.
They sat in silence until it was nearly closing time.
"Can you bubble us?" asked Walter politely.
Ryan nodded and engaged a small time bubble around the two of them.
"There you…" he was cut off as Walter punched him directly in the face, "I suppose I deserved that"
"Forgive me… I haven't quite got over the shock of seeing you again after all these years" said Walter as he retook his seat.
"I understand, how are you?" asked Ryan as he rubbed his jaw.
"I am good, but you had better have a pristine reason for doing what you did ten years ago" said Walter with a glare.
Ryan sighed and began to explain, he told him about the pool and the memory and even the deaths, it felt excellent to get everything off of his chest.
After he had finished, Walter sat there in silence once again.
"You could have told us, we would have understood" he said softly.
"No… if I had told you, you would have tried to prevent it and I don't like messing with the time stream more than necessary, the less who knew the better" explained the reaper.
"Hmm… I suppose it is my turn now" said Walter with a sigh.
"Please, I'm interested to know how everyone has been" said Ryan honestly; it was no lie that he was immensely curious.
"Well Rossweisse and I are married, it's actually our three year anniversary today however she is sick and I decided to take a look around the town for a while" said Walter with a smile.
"Congratulations, I always knew you would find someone like yourself" said Ryan with a warm smile.
"Jason and his little fox friend are now big in the gaming world, undefeated since magic was allowed and they can fuse together" explained Walter.
"Makes sense; that was what he was best at before he became a reaper" noted Ryan.
"Mary and Santa have started a sort of on and off dating thing, however it is a little difficult to see her since she's either in the forests of Russia or the North Pole" said Walter honestly.
"How interesting…" muttered Ryan before gesturing for him to continue.
"John's taken up surfing, he is very good actually, won a few competitions so far" said Walter with a smirk.
"Good to hear"
"Alexander has actually not abandoned the world of magic yet, Archangel Michael offered him the chance to become the other Joker alongside Dulio, he accepted in case that wasn't obvious" said Walter with a raised eyebrow.
"If not a reaper than a servant of god" stated Ryan with a small smile.
"Bobbie and Miss. Kuroka moved in together and have also been illegally married like myself and Rossweisse, they seem happy" said Walter with a shrug.
"Excellent news, if you love someone then marry them regardless of what people say" said Ryan with nod.
Walter looked annoyed by that comment but stayed silent.
"Roberto has had the most interesting time thus far; he has become a devil and is now engaged to Miss. Serafall Leviathan, I still don't see what she sees in him though" grumbled Walter.
"That is very surprising, I assume he's a king" asked Ryan.
"Indeed, very skilled at fire breathing magic" said Walter humorlessly.
"I don't doubt it" chuckled Ryan.
"Master Hyoudou has become his own man and is now a king with his own peerage, he plans to propose to Miss Gremory next month in fact" explained Walter.
"Excellent to hear, glad Issei's done well with his life" said Ryan happily, it seems that he was worried for nothing; everyone has been fine without him.
"The Khaos brigade disbanded, Vali is currently working towards his fight with Dream, he trains every day. Carla and Blair are thinking of getting married but nothing is set in stone yet, Biko returned to China and I've not heard much from him, Orphis is still soaring through the DG and the other entities have returned to their daily business" said Walter with a nervous smile.
"That's awesome but what news on Lele and Lime?" asked Ryan eagerly.
"Umm… they're… fine I guess" said Walter hesitantly.
"Walter…" warned Ryan.
"It's not good master, Lime is in a mental asylum and Le Fay… she …. she committed suicide nine years ago"
Pendragon Cliffs
"It was a day after the one year anniversary of when you were supposed to be wed; she was acting erratic, told us that you would show up to save her, kept us at bay with her magic and jumped before we could save her" said Walter as he and Ryan stood at the cliff edge.
Ryan hadn't said anything since Walter had revealed the news and had teleported them to the place where it had occurred.
"She was killed on impact, broke her spine…" muttered Walter as Ryan kneeled at the edge of the cliff.
"And Lime?" asked the reaper quietly.
"Totally lost it after Le Fay died, began killing people to find information on you, Carla and Blair cornered her on a cliff two years later, she took out one of Blair's eyes before they managed to contain her" explained Walter as he kicked a stone off of the cliff.
"Where?" asked Ryan, his old reaper gear appearing on his frame.
"North Pole Pris…" began Walter but Ryan had burst off in a storm of black lightning before he could finish.
Ryan raced through the sky, moving almost on par with Paradox.
He saw the magical signature of the North Pole's shield approaching but wasn't in the mood for going in gently so he simply summoned his scythe and sliced a large hole in it which set off every alarm in the complex.
"Reaper Chop!" he roared as he begun tunneling down beneath several stories of pure reinforced titanium magic infused plating which made up the outside of the North Pole prison, the one area on Earth where all magical beings less than entities were kept who proved to be a danger to the magical world.
He broke through into one of the main tunnels, bringing unconsciousness to the prison guards and prisoners alike.
He raced through the complex; going deeper and deeper underground until eventually he picked up on the familiar scent he had come to love.
Blasting the door off of its hinges and engaging an impenetrable field around the cell, Ryan finally lay his eyes on his ex-right hand reaper.
"Lime…" he whispered softly to the bound captive.
Said girl didn't respond, simply sat their humming her own little tune.
It wasn't until Ryan was right in front of her did she look up.
"Oh… is it dinner time already?" she asked with a dopey smile on her face.
Ryan's heart broke as he saw that she was filled to the brim with so many mood stabilizers that she couldn't recognize him.
"Oh Lime… what have I done to you?" he asked softly, gently bringing his hand to her cold cheek.
"Gotcha!" whispered Lime as he eyes lit up and Ryan suddenly felt his magic flow out of him.
Flipping away he turned to see his field beginning to crack.
"Ten years we've been looking for you" said Lime as she got to her feet, the straight jacket falling to pieces around her.
"Lime… what are you doing to me?" asked Ryan as his magic continued to flow out of him.
"Don't give me that shit Blackworth, we've got you and you know it" laughed Lime darkly.
Ryan felt his shield give way and several figures dashed into the room, each one aiming a rather nasty looking gun at him.
"Ryan Blackworth, under the cross species magical exchange bill, we hereby place you under arrest for the murder of Le Fay Pendragon and the attempted murder of former reaper Walter Smith" yelled one of the men.
"What are you talking about!?" yelled Ryan in confusion.
One officer fired a round at him however he was too quick and bolted from the room.
"Commander, target is on the run"
"Special agent's engage the target and neutralize"
"Understood"
Ryan bolted through the prison complex; he had to make it to the surface. Something was happening to the world, he could feel it in his bones.
Exploding out of the complex, Ryan made his way across the sea, he needed to get to Life or Knowledge, they would help him sort this mess out.
His eyes widened as a bolt of explosive magic erupted next to him, sending the reaper flying onto a large deserted island.
"Dammit!" he growled as he rolled into a large clearing.
"Hello partner, long time no see"
Ryan looked up to see the entire endless council descending from the sky.
"Guys! It's so good to see you, something's gone wrong with Lime, the entire magic police squad is after me" explained Ryan.
"We know… we're the ones who sent them after you" said Eva with a sad frown.
"What? Why?" asked Ryan in confusion.
"Ten years you've been running from us, and now that we have you you're trying to weasel out of it… pathetic" laughed Knowledge sadistically.
"Big brother… why did you kill Le Fay? She was so nice" asked Paradox and Pandora, tears welling in their eyes.
"I didn't! She committed suicide!" yelled Ryan.
"I also supposed she tore out her own heart with her bare hands as well" said Love as she threw him a folder.
Ryan scanned through the pictures within, each one making him sick.
"What kind of sick game is this?" he whispered in horror, seeing Le Fay torn apart made him want to scream.
"You tell us, ten years ago, you murdered Le Fay Pendragon and attempted to kill your own reaper to keep it quiet, you then abandoned the endless and have been hiding ever since" explained Max as he drew his sword.
"You've got it all wrong, I would never harm Le Fay, I love her!" yelled Ryan.
"Bullshit!" screamed Love as she fired a barrage of arrows at him.
Ryan neatly avoided them all.
"I won't fight you, you're my friends, whatever has happened to you I will fix it!" yelled Ryan as he drew his scythe.
"Easier for us then" said Eva as her spear materialized in front of her.
The eight endless squared off with the entity of death…
A battle was about to commence…
A/N: And Cliffhanger!
Yeah, this will make a lot of sense eventually but for now I'm kinda just leaving it a bit up in the air!
Props to anyone who can guess though!
Leave a review, fav and follow as always.
PM me if you have any questions or just wanna chat, I'm currently binge watching every episode of Fairy Tail till the next chapter of the manga comes out so expect to see more FT related fics or chapters updated to The Wanderer.
This was supposed to be released yesterday but my internet was down and I had my Dragon Law fic floating around that wouldn't go away until I had got it down.
Anyway:
My name is Parradox and thanks so much for reading.
See ya next Sunday!