resbang14: THREE DEMON SWORDS
two months, two weeks after asura
"Crona, Lord Death would like to speak with you." A shiver ran up the meister's spine, and Ragnarok stuck out their tongue in disapproval. Crona knew this would be coming - they hadn't gone on a mission due to Maka's absence. Rudy gave them a sympathetic look, but Agnes stood up and grabbed Rudy's arm. She pulled her sister to her feet, and they marched towards the door. Agnes shot a look back at Crona and motioned for them to follow.
"We'll accompany you, Crona."
"Funny, I don't recall him mentioning you two." Agnes blanched and put on a brave face. She was rather intimidated by Stein; she knew that he had figured them out already, he was as intelligent as Arachne warned. However, she would not allow Crona out of her sight - they couldn't know about Maka. No one could, until things were fixed.
"Crona is in need of companionship, or else Ragnarok gets out of hand with their teasing. I'm sure that you wouldn't miss our presence for today." Stein actually smiled back at Agnes, though not nearly as cold nor as threatening as hers. He turned back to the class, dismissing them to continue towards the Death Room.
Rudy apologized to Crona after a few moments, admitting that Stein was still pretty intimidating. Agnes quietly agreed, and Ragnarok surprisingly nodded in agreement. They had began to notice that - Ragnarok got along suspiciously well with these two. Crona had never seen their weapon act this reserved. They allowed Rudy to tease them and poke at them, but no one else was allowed near them. In fact, Ragnarok had been much quieter since moving in with the sisters two weeks ago.
They smiled as they went up a flight of stairs, Agnes and Rudy discussing some sort of dinner plans, using Crona as an excuse to eat something particular that the other hated, or vice versa. Three weeks ago, Crona was living in a dungeon and being quietly happy about life. Now, they had their own room -complete with a bed, dresser, and night stand- and while Maka was still out with chicken pox, they were still enjoying the interactions they had with others.
The smile left their face when they came up to the Death Room.
"I don't know... how to deal with this..." Crona mumbled, following the pair through the door. Rudy reached back and grabbed their hand, smiling back.
"Don't worry about this, we'll handle it. Lord Death likes to make sure we're all doing our part! He probably just wants you to do a mission, and if that's the case, he likes to yell at us about that anyway! So we'll all just go do a mission after this." Crona smiled, genuinely, at Rudy, and soon they were standing before Lord Death, who looked a bit confused.
"I didn't send for - nevermind. Crona, is there a reason you haven't done any missions?"
"Maka's been out sick for a while, and they're very comfortable working with her. But it's okay, we're going to go get a mission!" A swift Reaper Chop made Rudy stop trying to answer for them. Crona stuttered out the same excuse, still very scared of the reaper. Maka usually handled these meetings for them, but now they saw why exactly she didn't mind. The reaper nodded thoughtfully, and acknowledged the fact that Crona was finally starting to settle in.
"Don't be scared to ask anyone for help, Crona - we all want to see you do well." With a wave, he sent them off to look for a job to complete. After taking their last step from the room, Agnes let out a sigh of relief. Another thing Crona had picked on was Agnes' constant rebellion against Lord Death; it was surprising to them, as she was very mild-mannered and she was typically very respectful. But it had also been strange to see Rudy and Kid exchanging deadly looks, while he and Agnes chatted idly about the history of the DWMA.
It was a bit shocking to realize that these two, either way, did not seem to care for reapers.
Crona was brought from their reverie when Rudy was watching them, patiently waiting for a response to a question they didn't listen to. She smiled and repeated herself, asking what mission they had in mind. To their surprise, Crona pointed to a mission a bit higher on the board - upon further inspection, they discovered why.
It was for two-star meisters and above; a powerful kishin egg in west Texas that had devoured an entire hotel of people in one night. Deemed dangerous and elusive, it hadn't been taken by anyone yet.
"I saw it the other day and thought it wouldn't be hard for us and Maka, but..."
"We can do it, Crona. Don't worry about us slowing you down. Rudy?"
"Right. I'll go talk Lord Death into giving us a two-star mission and get the details. I'll be home and we'll leave right away." Crona tried to protest - they still had to go back to class, after all. But Agnes -they were surprised that the studious Agnes opposed- began to drag them by their collar, and Rudy waved happily. As they turned the corner, her happiness died when she realized she was stuck going across the school again.
Texas was much hotter than Crona had anticipated. There was sweat in places they didn't know they had - and on top of that, Ragnarok's sweat smelled worse than the manure that was littered in the fields surrounding them. They made a face and covered their nose, and Rudy gave them a look of sympathy before turning back to Agnes.
"So, what're we lookin' for?"
"This is a weird one. They come and go in the heat waves; you know, if you look at the horizon, the squiggly lines? And they leave without a trace. The only connection between the sites is that they are all directly west of the next one. So, we're staying at the next estimated location."
They stepped from the bus that had brought them here, hauling their overnight bags with them. Left in the trail of dust the bus kicked up, they waited for it to settle. Crona had never come this far south, and was unaccustomed to the difference of culture - they were already tricked by Rudy into eating the green sauce at a resteraunt.
Before them loomed a rather large building, reminiscent of the Mexican culture that had once dominated the southern state. They entered quickly, the sun looming over them. It burned into the material of their shirts, scorching the skin on their backs. There was little relief from the heat in this hotel - an apologetic sign was posted at the front, saying that the air conditioning had gone out the day before and would be under maintenance until further notice.
A deep frown etched itself onto Rudy's face, while Agnes still seemed to be unaffected by the oppressive heat. It had only taken two hours on that horrible plane, and the drive out here had taken two more - it was only noon. They climbed the stairs to their room and opened the door, having procured the key from the unattended desk, and they made themselves comfortable.
"Crona, we should scope the place out."
"But wouldn't wandering around during the time it's most active be a little dangerous?" They were surprised that Ragnarok asked such a question, even more surprised that they were listening to the conversation and took it seriously. Agnes glanced at her sister, Rudy's eyes a bit wide. She hadn't even considered that the monster would attack during the day; it was a natural assumption that it would attack at night. The notes had even mentioned something about heat waves - she was more concerned about finding this thing and getting back to Maka's predicament.
"You're right, Ragnarok. We should stick together and head back out, to see if we can lure it out to us and away from the people that could be here."
"You don't have to go back outside again." This time it was Crona who spoke up, their eyes wide like dinner plates and slowly filling with horror. Rudy reached out to touch their shoulder when the meister snapped back to reality, pulling the sisters down to the ground just as a burst of energy flew over their heads.
Rudy glanced behind them, seeing that the wall of the hotel was gone, cleanly cut out in a perfect oval shape. Agnes had her narrowed eyes focused on the corner of the ceiling by the door. Slowly, Crona and Ragnarok turned their eyes up as well.
A figure was stretched out on the ceiling and walls, their body like inky tendrils of smoke swiping at the wall. From the top of their head all the way down to the split of their legs, there was a large mouth with even larger teeth around its edge. The mouth withdrew into itself before opening widely again, shooting out more energy. It hit the bed this time, making half of it neatly disappear into nothing.
"We gotta lure it outside. If we can do that, then sis and I can take them down." Crona looked nervously back at the duo before nodding. They had Ragnarok form into a sword, and watched as Rudy landed in her sister's palm. Facing the corner again, they were fearful to see that the creature had gone to wreck havoc on the patrons.
They were out the door quickly, desperately searching each room to try and find it. To their horror, every room they checked was empty.
"Agnes, go outside. We'll bring it to you." Agnes hesitated before turning to look at the meister behind her. They were still meek and fearful, but if Crona said they were going to do it, she would choose to trust in them. She reached out and clapped a hand on their shoulder, and with a confident smile, she ran down the hall to the exit of the hotel. Crona took a deep breath and steadied their hand before opening another door.
As Ragnarok had feared, they had arrived in the middle of its feast. Every room was clean, as the people were probably too terrified to put up much fight. In the last hallway, Crona found a single little boy alive. The boy was still in shock, mumbling something about his parents. Crona assumed the worst and called out to him, and he turned to face them. He crawled over and asked Crona their name.
"Crona? That's weird. My name is Bradley!" Crona blanched at the child, muttering something about liking their name. They shook their head and offered a hand to Bradley, who accepted.
"So, Bradley, uhm, why are you here?"
"Oh, we were visiting my aunt. She lives out on a ranch, with cows - oh, wait, longhorn. She made us wake up really early so we could do chores." Bradley stuck out his tongue as they reached the exit, and Crona chuckled at the boy's distaste for his aunt. They walked on for a few more moments before Ragnarok's teasing made Crona trip over a rock. They looked up at Bradley, and watched as a huge gust of wind hit him.
"Crona, get out of there!" Before they had a chance to argue, Ragnarok pulled hard and Crona was a few feet further from where Agnes just landed. Rudy had wind swirling around her, reminding Crona that she was an elemental weapon, like Harvar or Kilik's Pots. They wondered briefly how much more power that meant she had, until the pair was smashed under a thick black hand.
It looked like a hand-shaped hole in the ground, but it was slowly lifted by Agnes. There was a streak of blood dripping down the side of her face, splattering on the ground. Crona saw her mouth move, yelling something at their enemy, when the blood splatters on the ground turned into fierce needles. They speared the hand easily making it shimmer away quickly. The little boy was standing there against, unnatural shadows cast across his face.
"You two are troublesome, but with blood like that, you will make a rather tasty treat!"
Agnes ran at the creature again, bringing her blade down against its shoulder. Crona saw something push against Agnes' hands, making her jump back. It had been Rudy; they couldn't make out what they were saying; the monster emitted a strange white-noise, making their voices fade away.
Once again, the little boy turned into a shadowy mass and shot a blast of energy at them. It was almost hopeless; those two couldn't seem to scratch it with Rudy's wind attacks. Agnes gripped her sister harder before tossing her in the air. The blast seemed to engulf them and the surrounding Earth, kicking up more dust. Ragnarok sneezed and Crona let out a cough before it settled only to find another surprise. Rudy was standing behind the strange kishin egg, a blue-ish blur against it's absolute darkness. Rudy slowled down enough for Crona to make out a sword similar to her own weapon form.
It wasn't only a brilliant crimson, but there were shades of orange and gold, blended and seemingly dancing with a liveliness that no ordinary weapon would posess. Indeed, after a few moments of clashing with their target, a great burst of fire spewed forth from the sword, augmented by her own wind powers, and it consumed the creature. It shrieked twice, almost too high-pitched to be heard, before it slowly fell away to the wind.
A single kishin egg floated before them, and Crona was slowly piecing together what they saw. Agnes flew from her sister's hand, stretching before turning to look into Crona's eyes. They were absolutely paralyzed by fear, eyes trailing the trail of black blood on Agnes' face. Rooted to the spot, they could do nothing as the pair approached and glared down at them.
"I want you to listen to us, Crona. Because if you don't follow our instructions, to the letter, we will personally make sure to pay a visit to you when you are enveloped by madness."