Death Walks Again

I do not own Rosario+Vampire or Darksiders or any of the characters. I own only Nyxaros/Death II. The original Death Character from the games is owned by THQ and Vigil games.

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay guys, a few weeks ago I decided to take a break from writing to get some perspective and brainstorm. But now I'm back and ready to resume my writing. This chapter and the next are mostly character development so they're likely to be fairly short. Nyx's Destined One has been decided, you'll have to read to discover who it is though.

Chapter 8: Things Are Afoot

In the Charred Council's Domain...

Mikogami stood before the Charred Council, he did his best to ignore the sweat accumulating beneath his robe. He would not show weakness in front on the Council by showing discomfort.

"The seals for the barrier on Yokai Academy have been stolen, the barrier is compromised. I must request additional Rosario Seals to strengthen the barrier, my lords. When Nyx returns to school, if he activates any of his abilities, the barrier will collapse."

"We will ensure that the Academy is adequately protected against Death's powers, Mikogami. You needn't concern yourself with that matter. What you should worry about is how in the one day Lilith's Mirror was at the Academy, you allowed one of your students to abscond with the Mirror as well as allowed the Black Rider to fall. One who was a known associate of Samael, no less. You should be glad you still stand, Tenmei. It is only at the Nosferatu's urging that we did not kill you. So you would do well to hold your tongue." the First replied angrily.

"I cannot be held accountable for Kuyou making off with the Mirror. The Academy was under attack, and it was only my allying with the Angels that prevented the Shinigami from overwhelming us and destroying the Academy. I did my job." Mikogami said defensively, his jaw set in a hard scowl.

"No, you did not! Your job is to do as we command you to do. We instructed you to guard the Mirror at all costs, and you failed. As such you must be punished. Tenmei Mikogami, you are hereby stripped of your title as Chairman of Yokai Academy. You are demoted to a teacher's station and are instructed to remain on-campus indefinitely." the Third replied diplomatically.

"WHAT?! This is an outrage! Who else can you trust to protect the school if not me?" Mikogami asked angrily.

"They can trust me, Tenmei." a voice from behind Mikogami said. Mikogami turned to see a tall, attractive, black haired man in a white, bell-sleeved robe with a more decorated black robe beneath. He had black shoes on and a tattoo on his chest that appeared to be a sun. He had sharp angular features that were complimented by his slim frame and muscular build. He looked like a bishonen from a female fanservice manga (Like a certain one about a swim club of attractive Asian boys).

"Nice to see you again, Fuhai." Mikogami spat angrily at the Yasha.

"Spare the pleasantries, Tenmei. I am being put in charge of the Academy because of your incompetence. You could've let Kuyou get away with anything other than Lilith's Mirror and things would've been fine. But no, you lost the one fail-safe we had if Nyx's Destined One was taken or killed. Now, thanks to you, the whole Balance is in jeopardy." Touhou said severely.

"Now listen here, you arrogant-" Mikogami began to say when,

"Tenmei! Hold your tongue! Leave now, we have much to discuss with Touhou Fuhai. Return to the Academy and await further orders." the Second interjected. Mikogami was about to respond , but thought better of it. Without anothe word he whirled around on the spot and made for the portal that had brought him to that infernal realm...

Back at Wicked K's castle in Kyoto...

He stood alone on a battlefield strewn with corpses. The bodies of Nephilim and Angels alike littered the ground. The battle had been bloody, to say the least. Casualties on the Angel's side had been much higher than those on the side of the Nephilim. The Grand Abominations had seen to that. He glanced down at the amulet on his chest, the only proof besides him and his brethren that the Nephilim had ever been.

As he walked across the field, he noted that many of the Angel's were dead from wounds that would not normally be fatal, yet another gift of the Grand Abominations. He trudged along the rocky ground, trying to ignore the voices of his fallen brethren screaming inside. He walked along, no particular destination in his mind until the landscape blurred and fell away and in an instant he was standing before the Charred Council.

"The Red Rider rode unbidden to Earth to fight alongside the Destroyer's forces. As a result, the Third Kingdom has fallen. The Red Rider must pay for his crimes." One of the monoliths rumbled from the choir of stone faces that the Pale Rider stood before.

"War would not do such a thing. He is the most honorable of us all. Will you release War if I can prove he is innocent of starting the Endwar?" Nyx asked, though why he asked he had no idea.

"Bring forth any evidence you find to support your claim, we will then render judgment on whether or not it is sufficient to free the Red Rider." one of the monoliths rumbled in response. Before Nyx could reply though, the scenery blurred and he was surrounded by constructs. He removed his scythes from his belt and cleaved the nearest one in half. He moved to attack the next on that was advancing on him, when the scenery blurred away once more before he was face to face with a dragon that looked to be made of ice. He changed Harvester into its larger scythe and leaped towards it. It dodged out of the way of his strike, but not before he managed to bury the great blade into it's neck, he separated the lower half of the large scythe from the haft, transforming it into a smaller scythe as he did. He raised the second scythe and moved to bury it in the neck before the scene blurred once more. Over the next of what Nyx could only guess was days, the the scenes continued to blur showing Nyx countless locations and strange creatures. Each scene lasted no more than a few seconds before changing into a new one.

"Master! Master, are you all right? Sir?" Ruby asked as she gently shook the sleeping vampire's shoulder. It was just after 7 in the morning and she had come in to wake him like she had every day for the past 2 weeks since they had returned to his father's castle in Kyoto. Today, she had arrived to find him covered in sweat and tossing and turning under the covers. Every day she arrived to wake him he had been appearing to have a troubled sleep, the sight she had arrived to today was by far the worst case she had seen yet.

"Nyx! Nyx, it's just a dream. You have to wake up! NYX, PLEASE!" she yelled worriedly as she shook the vampire's shoulder harder.

Suddenly, without warning, Nyx sat bolt upright, calling Harvester to his hand as he did. Before Ruby could react she felt Harvester, now in the shape one of it's smaller dual scythes, pressed against her throat. Ruby stayed deathly still to avoid startling him.

"Nyx, it's me. It's Ruby, you're okay. You're safe." She said as she gently wrapped her delicate fingers around his wrist as she slowly moved his hand away from her throat. She looked into his eyes and noticed that they looked like he was a million miles away. Then, slowly but surely, she saw the recognition of where he was and what he was doing dawned on him. He removed the scythe from her throat and banished it with a thought. She had figured out in the last two weeks that when she woke Nyx from his fits he was usually very panicked at first but it passed soon enough.

"Sorry Ruby, you know I didn't mean to do that. If I could stop Harvester from coming when I summoned it, I would. I didn't hurt you, did I?" He said.

"No, you didn't. I'm fine. So, did you have bad dreams again?" Ruby asked as she handed him the glass of milk she brought him with breakfast every morning. Nyx nodded wordlessly as he took the glass from her hand and took a sip from it.

"Any idea why this keeps happening?" Ruby asked as she set the tray she had used to carry his breakfast in, on his lap and he began to eat.

"Something is wrong with the Holy Lock on my back, probably due to that weird mirror Kuyou stole. My "dad" says he's got no idea how to fix it. But if Fury was right, he's not really my dad. I don't suppose you know anything about Seals, do you Ruby?" Ruby paused slightly in response to his question. She wasn't used to anyone asking for her help. Lady Oyakata had never asked for he opinion on anything. She'd certainly never asked Ruby for help with anything. Whenever she needed Ruby to do something, she'd simply barked an order to Ruby to do it, and if it wasn't done to her satisfaction she would punish Ruby. Usually, quite severely. Ruby was silent for a long while, until she was startled from her thoughts by Nyx calling,

"Hello? Earth to Ruby? You okay?" Nyx asked as he got off the bed and started to dress.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I know a little about certain types of seals. But it has been a while since I have had to deal with any types of seal. Why do you ask?" she asked as she placed the tray with his breakfast on the desk that occupied the corner of Nyx's large, opulent bedroom.

"Well, my dad seems to think that Seal has been compromised and is starting to fracture. Though he never explains why that's causing all these weird dreams. I was just wondering if you knew anything that could help repair the Holy Lock on my back." he asked as he slipped on a pair of gray jeans and fished a tight, sleeveless black shirt out and began to slip it over his head.

"Well... I'm not sure if I could be of any help. It's been so long since I learned about seals and I don't have access to Her Ladyship's library anymore so I doubt I could look up anything on the subject. Unless of course, you happen to have access to any texts on magic." she said as she turned away to let him dress in private.

"Well, I know the library here has quite a few texts on magic. My dad is fascinated by stuff like that. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you looking through it, as long as you had my permission. So whaddya say, feel like takin' a crack at it?" he asked casually as he finished dressing.

"But Nyx, even with access to the library I'm far too busy helping around the house to find time to adequately study the matter." she protested, Nyx gave a chuckle as he said,

"Ruby, if you need time to study up, I'm sure I can take care of myself for a few day while you study. I'll tell you what, I want you to take the next few days off to study up on how to repair the Holy Lock. But make sure not to push yourself too hard. I'd go crazy around here without you to keep me company." he said as Dust fluttered from the dresser onto his shoulder. Ruby turned away from him to hide the blush that had risen to her cheeks from view.

"I'm sure you'd manage without me." she said shyly.

"I'm not so sure. I mean I think you're probably the only reason I haven't lost my mind these last few weeks. I know I haven't said it a ton, but I really appreciate you helping me out around the house; Nex Sacramentum notwithstanding, of course." he said.

"Thanks Nyx, if you don't need anything I'll get right to work on figuring out how to fix the Holy Lock." Ruby said as she turned to face him once more.

"Yeah, I should be fine. I really appreciate you doing this Ruby. Lemme know as soon as you find anything helpful, okay?" he replied

"Okay, will do." she said cheerfully as he watched her scurry from the room. She was practically skipping down down the hallway in response to Nyx' praise. She'd never gotten that much praise from Oyakata. She could see why the girls from his class were so crazy about him if he was this nice to all of them. Heck, she herself was a little crazy about him.

She slid to a stop in the middle of the hallway as she realized exactly what she was thinking. Sure, she'd never been complimented like that before by anyone, certainly not by Oyakata. But that didn't mean she should just forget everything Oyakata had done for her.

She shook her head quickly to discourage such thoughts, her heart belonged to Her Ladyship, not Nyx. She had a mission to complete, but then again... Nyx had treated her so kindly the last few weeks, far kinder than Her Ladyship had ever been to her. She put it out of her mind for now as she opened the door to the library.

She stood in the doorway for a few seconds as she took in the sight of the enormous library. There were bookshelves as far as she could see, stacked with books on almost every subject imaginable. Within 3 minutes of her stepping into the library she saw at least 15 books she'd only ever heard mention of from Oyakata.

I think I'm gonna like it here, she thought as she closed the door behind her before heading over to grab a book off the shelf.

Back in Nyx's bedroom, later that afternoon...

Nyx put the finishing touches on his letters to Kurumu and Mizore before affixing them to Dust's leg and sending him back to Yokai Academy to deliver them, much to the raven's displeasure. He got up from his desk and was about to head to bed when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in." he called back tiredly. He heard the door open and he turned to see Ruby entering his bedroom with her hands behind her back.

"Hey Ruby, what's up?" he asked the furiously blushing witch as she removed her hands from behind her back so Nyx could see what she was holding.

"Um Ruby, what's the whip for?" Nyx asked uneasily as he rolled backwards in his chair.

"You'll find out." she said with an ominous grin...

Back at Yokai Academy, a few hours later...

Kurumu sat on her bed rereading the letter Nyx had sent her for the umpteenth time . She'd only gotten it a few hours ago but she'd read it more times than she could count, and that wasn't just cause she was bad at math either. It tole her why he'd been suspended and that he'd gone home until the end of the school year. He told her about his weird dreams and living with Ruby. But what captured her interest the most was the closing line

I look forward to seeing you again, feel free to visit over break. Until then,

Thinking of you,

Nyxaros Yami (Underlined parts are her favorite)

Kurumu would reread the letter about 23 more times before falling asleep with the letter clutched to her chest. Mizore however, was busy dealing with news and issues of her own...

Author's Note: I'm gonna be honest guys, this probably isn't my best work. I apologize, but this week has been particularly hard on me. Something involving my best friend of a decade and a half ditching me yet again. But anyways, I really hope you guys will review, but it's whatever. So anyways, I might be taking an indefinite hiatus soon. So I'll see you whenever. This is the 19th Angel, signing off...