Chapter 5:

Night Light – Be Very Afraid of the Dark

Wrath and Kid were sitting in the library together, reading a bunch of books and researching something. They were looking through books about poltergeists, Kid reading to learn and Wrath reading and searching for something very particular. They'd been in here all day, Wrath tutoring Kid about methods for attacking and encapsulating the poltergeists and about how to deal with them hand to hand. Being that Kid was a Shinigami, the normal backlash of the poltergeists would not really affect him too severely. But between Kid's questions and teaching him things, the girl was reading over the thickest books, flipping page after page after page, searching for something. She'd occasionally curse under her breath and toss a book onto a pile, picking up another and flipping through it again. Kid took a small break, looking up at Wrath and staring for a moment, seeing her frustration. He stared until she put the book down and met his gaze. "… Yes, Kid?"

"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned that she was overdoing it. "You've been reading for a long time… you should try and rest your eyes."

"… Right…" she nodded a little, rubbing her eyes. "I need to drink water… shall we go and get something?" she asked, tilting her head at him.

"Okay…" he wasn't expecting her to ask him to go with her, but he didn't decline… it was nice that she'd asked… it meant that she was getting more comfortable, so he thought. The two left their books and a note saying they'd be right back to clean up, heading out of the library and heading to Wrath's apartment to have some tea, since they didn't want to have to go somewhere outside and talk. Especially not since Kid was going to be asking about Oblivion, and Wrath was NOT going to chance the spirit coming out in the middle of Death City. Upon arriving at Wrath's room, the girl went straight to the kitchen as Kid took a hesitant seat on the couch. He leaned over a little to peek into the kitchen, seeing the plum-haired girl placing a tea kettle on the stove. When she turned to look at him, his cheeks colored for a split second before he moved back to sitting normally, hoping desperately that she hadn't seen him but somehow knowing that she had noticed him staring.

"Kid, how do you like your tea?" she asked from where she stood.

"Strong, please…" he stated, doing his best to bring the color on his cheeks down before she returned. The girl smiled to herself before removing more tea leaves from the container she'd retrieved. But that smile did not last long… Oblivion's soul pulsed inside Wrath's head, causing her to feel dizzy and nearly drop the tea. But she caught herself on the counter and closed her eyes, letting her soul flare to push down the spirit within her. Kid sensed this, but having been told by the girl that this sort of thing was normal, he refrained from joining her in the kitchen, despite a nagging sensation in the back of his mind. And not a minute later, she emerged with the tea. "Here you go." She placed it down in front of him, sitting next to the young Shinigami with her cup of water. "Are you alright?"

"Yes… Oblivion acts up sometimes, it's honestly normal…" she stated, looking down at her lap before she looked back up at Kid. "Does it worry you?" she asked. "Being alone with someone who harbors a dangerous entity?"

"No of course not…" he stated, shaking his head to reaffirm his statement. "But… does it bother you…?"

"No." she chuckled. But it was a hollow, almost emotionless laugh. "Now, what else did you want to learn about poltergeists? I should be able to explain some of the stuff you can't find in the books, at least to an extent."

The day went by fairly fast, and the two headed back to the library to clean up the books they left out. After they had finished, Kid offered to walk with her back to her housing. The dimly lit streets cast dark shadows into the alleyways and created an almost creepy atmosphere. Neither Wrath nor Kid seemed to mind much; they were just walking and having a chat about school. However along the way to the apartment, some shadows began moving in an odd manner, catching their attention but they kept walking. "You aren't going to attack them?"

"Not until they show themselves… if they're just messing around and following us then it isn't urgent to kill them." She replied, her soul flaring a little. The shadows stopped moving and faded back to a dimmer shadow, rather than a pitch black one. "Sometimes they're harmless wisps, hiding from the poltergeists… not all ghosts are bad…"

"Not all are bad?" Kid asked, tilting his head. "But these seem bigger than the wisps that were hanging around before."

"Yes, those wisps from class are spirits of flowers and small plants." Wrath turned the corner and stopped at her apartment door. "The ones following us from the library were the spirits of animals that were close to humans." She smiled a little as she was leaning back against the door. "Not all ghosts will become poltergeists… wisps are almost never vulnerable to becoming poltergeists, unless you include the cases where someone intentionally kills something and is decides to come back as a ghost…" she stared off into the distance, down the alleyway. "The ones that come back in aggression can be dangerous, or they can simply vanish after taking their revenge… depends on how angry they were, how smart they were, and how much or how little time they spend trying to take their revenge."

"So… what about those two that you turned into capsules before?" Kid asked, glancing down the alley but seeing nothing.

"Those two were likely just wanderers from outside the city… Delta strain come from animals that have been killed in a way that may cause them to want to take revenge… Did you get a look at its eyes?"

"Their eyes?" Kid asked. "Is… that important?"

"Yes. Their eyes determine their strain. That's tomorrow's lesson~" she smiled. "You should head home, though. Thank you very much for walking me back." She bowed to him. "And I hope you look forward to learning about it~"

"Ah, right… well, goodnight."

"Goodnight." she turned to unlock her door glanced back over her shoulder at Kid. "See you in class~" she headed inside, closing the door and waving to Kid, the young Shinigami walking away before she leaned back against the door, feeling her soul receding. Oblivion was attempting to emerge, she had been since Wrath and Kid left the library. But her attempts to push the spirit down began to fail once Kid was gone.

"You weak little brat." Oblivion laughed at Wrath from inside her mind. "If I had really been trying, you'd have passed out the second I pushed out my soul."

"Shut up, Oblivion…"

"You can't even bring yourself to speak to him in any way more than a friend, despite you constantly thinking about the Shinigami brat." The spirit crossed her arms and gave a smug smile. "I swear, if you so much as saw the brat shirtless, you-"

"I said shut up!" Wrath inflated her soul to try and shove Oblivion back down, but her eyes began to turn that dark, eerie shade of purple that belonged to her bodily partner. But the spirit only laughed, the hollow noise resonating inside the head of the young woman who harbored her. "Go away, Oblivion!"

"You simple little girl… I am in control here." Oblivion's soul began to override Wrath's, causing her to begin losing consciousness. "Sleep. I will take over and go find that brat you are OH so fond of-"

"SHUT UP OBLIVION!" Wrath slammed her arm into the door, causing Oblivion to shut up for a minute. "You leave Kid out of this! I am NOT letting you leave this house!" The spirit's soul began to withdraw a little, deciding that she didn't want to deal with her vessel when she was this emotional.

"Che, little brat…" Oblivion sighed and fell back. "I'll leave you alone… for now." And with that, Wrath was freed from her tormenter, at least for now… so while she had the opportunity, she went to take her bath and eat something, then began to prepare her lesson for the next day, soon feeling a headache setting in thanks to her argument with Oblivion. But she pushed through it and finished her lesson plan before she took her medication and went to bed.

It was 3 am when Wrath was rudely awakened by a searing pain in her upper leg. She cursed and checked her leg, seeing a black, swirling mark radiating a wispy black energy. "Shit." She grumbled, going to her bathroom and lifting her leg up to the counter top to inspect it, seeing it reaching towards her lower leg. "… It's spreading again…" she balled her fists up in anger. "Stupid spirit…" she headed back to her bedroom and into her closet to find her clothes for the day, feeling like she needed to be productive to keep herself from feeling the pain. She looked into the mirror and saw Oblivion standing behind her, a look of disapproval on the spirit's face. But neither one spoke, Wrath just stripped off her sleep wear and changed into her collared shirt and skirt, feeling the pain still radiating, but once it was covered by her stockings, the wispy plumes stopped. And though it took a short while, the pain began to fade back a little, the plum-haired girl going to brew some early morning tea. "This will prove to be a long day." She mumbled to herself as she turned on the stove, staring out the window.

Once in class, an hour prior to her lesson starting, Wrath rolled up her sleeves and closed all the doors, locking them and closing all the windows. "What do you want, Oblivion?"

"The curse is progressing. Why aren't you reporting it?"

"As if anyone would do anything about it… No one's found any way to fix it… We're stuck like this, Oblivion… stuck because YOU refused to speak on the manner of my brother's possession…"

"And what would have been the point? It was a Kingsman… he was hiding his presence so deep within your bratty brother that if you had attempted to get it out, he'd have died." The spirit retorted. "There was no way you were going to allow that." In the dark room, Oblivion's form stood across from Wrath, her outline that dark, eerie purple of her eyes, the color piercing the darkness and staring at her physical host.

"Like that matters, you said NOTHING!" Wrath nearly growled; the girl having harbored this grudge against Oblivion since the incident occurred all those years before. "I wish you would just disappear!"

"And THEN how would you protect everything you have worked so hard for, you insolent child!?" Oblivion's soul expanded, the glow becoming brighter. "How would you be here without MY help?!" a slash shot out at Wrath and caught her on the arm, the same mark appearing on Oblivion's arm. "You're lucky we're connected, or you'd have long been dead, child."

"… Go away." Wrath stated sternly, the spirit's soul sinking back into the darkness. "We'll finish this later…" she added, allowing the spirit to fade away before she went to open the windows and doors again, the sunlight revealing the large cut on the girl's arm seeping blood. She sighed, staring at the injury before she went to wrap it up with the bandages she had been carrying on her person in anticipation for her fight with Oblivion. As she wrapped her arm up, she heard the door open, turning to see Stein. "Ah… Stein-hakase…"

"Oblivion's been arguing with you?"

"Yeah… she's been really bothersome recently…" The young woman rubbed the back of her neck as Stein went over to her and wrapped her arm up better. "It's really not a problem…"

"You say that, but if you're not feeling you best when you fight with her, it's that much more draining." He reminded her. "And your sleep schedule has been bad recently, hasn't it? You have bags under your eyes." He stated, not looking up at Wrath as he finished wrapping up her injuries.

"Ahh, do I?" she avoided looking at the professor.

"When you get the chance, you should contact your caretaker… You look like you need to talk to someone from home." He added, standing up before he headed back towards the door. "Don't push yourself too far."

"… I'll try not to, sir." Wrath sighed, proceeding to write the initial notes on the board. It would take a lot out of her, but this was a very important part of the curriculum at the GHA. The differences between the poltergeists was make or break material to moving on as a member of the poltergeist hunting community. Without that knowledge, certain poltergeists would have a huge advantage against anyone hunting them. In certain cases, there would be instantaneous death. As students began to file in, she took a calming breath and turned to look at them, eyes narrowed in minor exhaustion. She sat on the desk until everyone was seated and the time to start class ticked by. "Good morning everyone, I hope you're ready to take notes." A few exhausted groans rose from the crowd, but they took out their paper and writing utensils before turning back to the front of the class, staring at the board. "Aki!"

"Yes!?"

"Gamma strain, which color are their eyes?"

"U-umm…" she paused, looking at the board. Yuuji raised his hand to cover for his partner, but Wrath would not call on him. "Sorry, Wrath…" the older student rubbed the back of her head. The girl sighed and stared at her friend, then turned her attention to Tia. "Tia, answer the question."

"Green."

"Good." Wrath looked to the other students. "The determining factor in finding out what class of poltergeist you are fighting is the diamond shape in their eyes. Delta, Gamma, Beta, Alpha, Kingsmen, Generals, Epsilon, Zeta, Iota, Kappa, Sigma, and Omega class all have their own individual color." She motioned to the board. "I have explained the dangers and advantages of these classes of poltergeist already. But today we are going over where they come from and the advantages and disadvantages that each has against what kinds of attacks. I will also be showing you how to deal with each type over the next week or two of class. Identifying, knowing weaknesses and advantages, being able to use those to your benefit. That is the key to being an efficient poltergeist hunter."

"So… is that the ONLY way to determine the kinds of poltergeists?" Kilik questioned.

"No, if you are good at soul perception, you may be able to pick up the distinct fright pulse of poltergeists that can also determine their level of power." Wrath replied to the meister. "Now, who remembers the lesson about Kingsmen?" people raised their hands, and Wrath went to the board, shooting it to change its written contents. "The Omega Strain poltergeists, what are they and what color are their eyes?" she asked, Maka raising her hand. "Maka?"

"Omega Strain were Kingsmen poltergeists that had their eyes removed by the poltergeist king… they replaced their lost diamond shapes with carved obsidian." The pigtailed girl stating.

"Very good. Yes, the Omega Strain are former kingsmen that were kicked out of the army by the king, their eyes plucked from their sockets. They replaced their eyes with carved diamonds of obsidian, wandering aimlessly with no purpose except to take revenge on the being that humiliated them, which caused their expulsion from the army of the king… and occasionally attempt to destroy members of the king's army to spite the king." She added. "But because they are former kingsmen, I will issue the same warning as I did on the day I gave that lesson." She stated, turning to look at her students. "Do not attack them, do not go after them… if you are not the target of their hate, they will not hurt you… they will not attack you… they will leave you alone. However, if you provoke them, they will not hesitate to destroy you."

"Essentially they are more dangerous than the Kingsmen, thanks to their disposition." Satoshi stated.

"That's right." Wrath looked over to Satoshi. "Though Kingsmen have the ability to kill you instantly, if they see you as no threat they will not simply kill you… they will often try and take your soul… the Omega on the other hand will obliterate you in a split second. Nothing will remain." That made everyone pause, silence engulfing the room. "Next, we move on to-"

"Do you even care about what happens?" A student asked. "You talk about it like it's nothing!"

"I'm the Military Leader of the GHA… I have seen many a good soul get stolen or destroyed by poltergeists… I may seem like I'm emotionless, but if I didn't care about what happened to you, I would not be here teaching you. So sit down and pay attention." Wrath glared at the student, her Oblivion symbols beginning to appear in her eyes. The student paused and sat down before Wrath got back to teaching her class.

Once class was over, Tia went straight to where Wrath was sitting and began talking to her with a smile, the older girl not responding much, except to push the girl away with one hand and sigh. Aki soon proceeded to latch onto her friend and crush her in a hug. "Please get off."

"Noooo~" the two chorused, grinning before they lifted her up and began to carry her out of the room, causing her to whack them both in the head with her hand.

"Put me down!" she demanded, the girls looking a little depressed before placing their friend down on the floor.

"I'm sorry…"

"… You're both weird." She mumbled, patting their backs before she began walking through the hallway and heading to their housing. But along the way, her legs began to give out on her. She had to stop multiple times to lean against a building or a light post, the searing pain having returned from the morning's events. "Goddamnit." She mumbled as she finally arrived at her doorstep, too tired to move any more for the moment. "At this rate… I'll fall apart."

((Thanks for reading guys, sorry for the chapter being kind of weird. I'll hopefully make the next one better.

Reviews still greatly appreciated, and I hope that I can get some more chapters up relatively soon (after finals of course)

-Winter Cheshire))