You know, all this weird crap is really starting to piss me off, Seras thought up in the London skyline. First vampires and ghouls, then portals and mystical teenagers, now afterlives filled with games, monsters, and people that keep recognizing me. This is all so ridiculous I don't know whether to find it annoying or hilarious!
"Could you please just take me back home?" Seras groaned. "I'd like to get some damned sleep."
Joshua dialed a few numbers into his phone. "Of course. Sweet dreams!" He smiled cheerfully and Seras fell through a portal, screaming in surprise. Neku could hear her cursing them as she fell. "Hmm, I don't think she likes us very much. Why might that be?"
Neku sighed. The saddest thing was, Joshua looked like he was genuinely wondering why. "Aren't we supposed to, I don't know, recruit her or something? She wasn't very open to anything you told her. And now you're letting her go, so this got us nowhere."
"Hmph," Joshua chuckled. "We told her what we meant to. This situation needs to be handled with some finesse Neku, we can't force our hand."
"You had no problem forcing this on me," Neku mumbled. "Actually he forces everything on me!"
"It's not polite to mumble Neku!" Joshua waggled his finger. "In any case, the seeds have been planted, now we wait for our flower to grow big and strong. In the meantime…" He stepped to the edge of the building. "I'll leave you to frolic through the garden!" He fell off and dropped into a portal.
"Hey wait a second!" Neku ran after him, but the portal was already gone. A vein in Neku's head bulged angrily.
"I really hate that guy."
*Beeelch* Oni pounded his chest and raised his bottle into the air like a champion, and laughed like a drunk. "Haha-hic-ha! Try and beat that –hic- Richy!" Richard pounded back a pint of beer, nearly knocking himself over. The room fell into silence momentarily, and then…
*UUUUUURP!* The two Reapers raised their hyped cries and laughed hardily. Rocky chugged down his own beer, but nothing came back up. Megan pinched the bridge of her nose in disgust.
"I swear you guys, I can smell that shit from the other side of the room!"
Oni raised his empty bottle. "That means it's –hic- working!" The men laughed and clinked their drinks together. Megan walked over and took Richard's new beer.
"Alright than!" She slammed it back, spilling a lot of it and guzzling beer and air alike. A few seconds later…
*BUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRP!* They were rendered speechless, and Megan grinned, slamming the mug back on the counter.
"And that's how a LADY does it, bitches!" The Reapers burst out with laughter, and Oni poured (or spilled) another beer. He saw someone enter the door from the corner of his beer-goggled eyes. It was Reece, carrying an alarmed look on his face.
"Hey-hic-hey, look who it is! Mr. Nayake, my man! I haven't seen you in ages old man, does our good Composer Anny really have such a tight grip on your dick?" Megan hit Oni on the arm to make him shut up.
"What is it sir?" Richard asked, noticing the look in his eyes.
Reece looked over at them. As soon as he had left the Composer's office, the reality of the situation struck him all over again. What Annabelle wanted to do was… unthinkable. But Reece was required to obey orders, it was his very mantra. But this… He composed himself instantly, regaining most of his authoritative figure.
"Seras is alive." There was only the sound of bottles crashing to the floor. The Reapers all sat up much straighter now, becoming very attentive.
Oni in particular seemed to transform from inebriated to sober in a millisecond. "Wha?"
"She's still living in London," Reece continued. "I don't know where, but Seras is definitely still out there. However we-" Oni strode past Reece quickly, filled with determination. The others followed closely after him. "Stop." Reece commanded, as he appeared in between them and the door.
"Stop?" Oni remarked. "What do you mean stop? You said Seras is out there! We need to go find her, right now!" The others agreed.
"Listen to me, it's more complicated than that." Reece tried to argue. Suddenly someone pushed past him, but the person came from behind him. It was Annabelle.
"Oh Anny, thank God!" Oni said, relieved. "You've got to talk Nayake down, he found Seras and-!" Annabelle hit him across the head, knocking him to the ground. Anger reddened her face.
"My title is Composer King, and you will address me as such!" The room became muggy with tension, and no one dared speak for minutes. Then, as quickly as she became angry, Annabelle exhaled and brightened up like nothing had happened. She even smiled at her Reapers.
"Reece, let them go look for the girl." Reece nodded, keeping his blank expression.
Oni picked himself up. "Thank you, Composer King," Megan said.
"Of course," Annabelle said, and she turned to leave. "Be sure to bring me her head."
"Wait," Richard said. "What?"
"Her head," she repeated matter-of-factly. "Preferably separated from the rest of her body. I don't really mind what you do with those parts of her. But I want Seras Victoria's head."
"Why?!"
"She killed Bob." There was silence again. "Just ask Reece, he saw her do it." Annabelle walked out the door, calling back casually. "Bring me her head. That's an order!"
The Reapers were too stunned to speak. Their beloved young Composer, found after so many years. Just to be named their enemy. Rocky was the first to speak.
"Mr. Nayake," he said, with a strange glint in his eyes. "Did Seras really kill Bobby?"
Reece showed no emotion. His voice was kept to a cool monotone. "She had no idea who he was, or who I was. Seras bashed young Bob's head into mush, with her bare hands." Rocky grit his teeth, shaking ever so slightly. He was the most sensitive to losing people, and they all knew it. Megan put her hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away. He tried to storm out of the room, until Reece blocked his path. The Producer looked down on Rocky.
"Composer King ordered Bob to kill Seras, long before I had a chance to share this information. She acted in self-defense." Rocky pushed past him and disappeared into the labyrinth.
"So what do we do?" Richard asked, more to himself than the others. They all knew that nobody had any real answers to this situation.
"We are required to obey our Composer's orders," Reece stated blankly.
"Fuck that," Oni spit. It was the first thing to come out of his mouth since Annabelle struck him, other than the blood. "Our little girl is out there, and now she's in danger. I'll be damned if I'm going to be part of that danger."
"You were ordered to bring Seras' head back to Reaper HQ," Reece said, turning to face Oni. "That is what you are going to do. Bring her head BACK here." The Reapers saw the flash of plotting on their Producer's face. "And I was ordered to allow you to do this. That is all I was ordered to do." And then, for the first time in many years, Oni, Megan, and Richard saw Reece Nayake smile. And they smiled back at him, and the Producer and the Reapers nodded to each other.
"You said she didn't recognize you," Megan said. "Why do you think that is?"
"Unsure. But at this moment in time Seras' memory isn't what's most important. That obstacle will be faced when we overcome the one we have now. Right now we search the city high and low until we find Seras. I found her with two boys, whose pictures are on your phones." They flipped open their cells to confirm.
"Wow, skinny little bastards," Oni commented.
"They may know where Seras is, so keep an eye out."
"Alright," Richard said, filled with determination as much as the others. "Let's go find Seras!"
"No," Oni said. "Let's go find our Composer."
"So…" the girl behind the cash-register hesitated, looking down at what appeared to be an animated stick with spiky hair and headphones. "All purple clothes, huh? Don't want anything else? Maybe some blue jeans, or a black hoodie?..."
"No," Neku sighed. "That's what I want."
"Okay, that's cool. That's cool…" The cashier automatically scanned the various bizarre labels. She thought they must have been Asian imports or something. "That'll be 24 pounds and 7 ten-pence. Will that be cash or card?"
Neku remained dazed for a moment. "Umm… how much is that in yen?"
After having been kicked out, Neku wandered the streets of London for a while. The air smelled lightly of grease, but he didn't find it necessarily unpleasant. If anything it was just like Shibuya: busy streets, busy people, busy lives. Basic city life, whoop-dee-doo. Off in the distance he could see the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel looming over the harbor. It seemed a touch gaudy.
It also seemed like there were a lot of kids running towards it. In fact there were a lot running towards it. And not a single person noticed them.
Neku stood contemplating this for a while. This was obviously one of the Reaper Games, that much didn't need explaining. The London Eye made sense as an objective, Composer's had quite a hard-on for public landmarks in Neku's experience.
One Player was approaching Neku from behind. Neku held out his arm and stopped him, much to the Player's shock.
"What's your objective?" he asked. The poor kid was still reeling from the blow.
"Huh?" he whimpered. "A-are you a Reaper?"
"Do I look like I have wings?" Neku spat sarcastically. He pulled out his Player's pin and showed it to him. "You're objective, what is it?"
"Uh, to touch the London Eye," the Player offered cautiously. Neku thought for a moment, waving the Player forward.
A simple goal, Neku thought. And a simple goal means that a Reaper is probably hanging around to get in their way. Waiting to thin the herd. He tapped at his Player's pin and scanned the crowd around him. No blocked minds, save a few sluggish Players.
Up above Neku on the adjacent rooftops Richard and Oni monitored his movements.
"Nayake was right," Oni said. "Kid's a Living Player."
Richard nodded. "Certainly makes our job more complicated. I can only imagine what his preconceptions are about Reapers."
"They do some weird shit in the Japanese Reaper Games," Oni commented. "Not sure what he's been through. Surviving the Games is one thing, but coming out as a Living Player is unheard of." They saw Neku look in the direction of the ferris wheel. "Come on kid, take the hint…" He started following the Players, and Oni pumped his fist.
Richard picked up his phone. "The spiky-haired kid is heading straight for you. Prepare to intercept."
"Copy that," Megan's voice buzzed back out at them. "Just stay low. If we spook all these Players than this could get ugly very fast."
It wasn't long before Neku was able to pick the female Reaper out of the crowd. Beyond his inability to read her, he could see her shirt stretching out in the back where her wings were. His Player pin was replaced and he pulled out the appropriate battle pins.
Neku stepped up beside the woman, pretending to watch the ferris wheel spin. "I take it you aren't here to intervene with your own Players," he spoke quietly to avoid drawing attention. He knew none of the Real Ground people could see the Reaper. None of them except for him.
"Oh, they can have their fun. We have more urgent business with you anyway. They don't need to get involved."
"Hmm?" Neku mimed confusion. "What business could you have with me? I'm just a tourist enjoying the sights."
"Shut up!" Megan spat at him. "You know why we're here. You and your friend were with a girl, Seras Victoria. Where is she?"
Neku pressed his headphones closer to his ears. He couldn't help but smile a little. "You keep saying 'we,' but I only see the one of you. Please tell me you aren't one of those insane Reapers. The insane ones can be so Zeta slow."
"The others are around," Megan said, ignoring his odd comment. "Just to make sure you don't try anything funny. Although," she added with a smirk, "you couldn't anyway. We are invisible. You aren't. You start teleporting around and shooting fireballs, and the police will be here faster than you can blink. So I would recommend you tell me what I want to know."
"Hmph, you thought this through."
"We have to be cautious. Especially with a Living Player like you."
"No, I don't think that's it," Neku chided. "You have something even more threatening than me to deal with right now. How many Players did you have to lure here in order to get my attention?" Megan's eyes widened. "Even with a Reaper's power, you wouldn't stand a chance against those numbers."
"And even with a Player's power, you can't last against a squadron of armed police! So tell me where she is goddammit!" Megan was becoming greatly exasperated by Neku's stalling.
Neku looked up at the clouds. "You're right. I can't fight that many cops. Not if they're focused on me. But you see…" He finally looked over at Megan, meeting her in the eye. "I've been spending a lot of my time recently with this asshole who keeps dragging me places that I don't want to go. A constant thorn in my side. But he's also taught me a few things. For example…" He shuffled through his pins, resting on one with a cracked, eggshell-like pattern on it. "He taught me how to plan ahead."
Every step Neku had taken on the pavement, every single object he had touched between speaking with the Player and meeting Megan, suddenly exploded in a dozen fiery bursts. The crowd went up in a roar of panic, making cries of terrorism and scrambling toward the nearest exits. Megan was stunned, and from the corner of his eye Neku saw Oni and Richard descending from the rooftops and closing in on him.
Using the few seconds he had, Neku spun around Megan and lifted the back of her shirt over her head, revealing her spiny black wings. He drew in his breath and screamed as loud as he could:
"REEEEAPEEER!"
He didn't wait to see how the Players would react. By the time Neku had teleported a safe distance away, all the fire and lightning being thrown at Megan illuminated the scene like a spotlight. For a shadow of an instant he dared to believe that the Reaper had already died. Those beliefs were dashed when he saw her Noise erupt out of the smoke at the Players: an infectious red giant squid squirmed its way into the fray and started tossing and tearing whatever it could grasp with its tentacles, which were thick as logs.
Oni and Richard ran to Megan's side and helped her up.
"You forgot to tell him that we weren't going to hurt Seras, didn't you?" Oni jabbed her knowingly.
"Just go get him!" she retorted. The two Reapers made chase, following behind Neku.
In the midst of all the surrounding chaos, between the flight of the living and the grueling battle between the dead, Neku couldn't help but allow a little bit of his inner man-child out. All the exits were blocked by pedestrians and two Reapers were tearing ass towards him, so he saw little choice: he had to ride the London Eye.
Meanwhile, Joshua had discovered the loveliest little tea shop a few miles across town. He sipped at his piping hot Sencha green tea, which he was pleasantly surprised they even served, and nibbled at a plate of tea cakes he shared with an empty chair.
A young lady approached his table and waved courteously. She had the most splendid white skirt and tucked blouse, and her warm smile radiated pure smitten affection toward Joshua.
"Forgive me," she spoke shyly, "but would you care for some company? My name is Larissa."
Joshua peered up at her and returned an infinitely warm smile. "Yoshiya Kiryu, but my friends call me Joshua. It would honor me if you did as well, my lovely Larissa." He bowed to her most sincerely, and Larissa giggled and curtsied in reply. He stood and pulled out the extra chair for her, and with a blush and a shy smile she accepted.
Fire and lightning were shooting out of the London Eye. Boulders cascaded down the sides, threatening to crush any hapless Players that came too close. Spikes of ice shot out from every angle, dodged narrowly by the Reapers. And all the while it spun on, playing a merry little tune.
"You can give up whenever you want!" Neku shouted down at the Reapers, throwing more fireballs at them. Oni scaled up the wheel, his Tamed Noise gorilla in tow. He did an extravagant flip up onto the carriage with Neku and threw a punch. He only struck air though, as Neku was already teleporting back down the wheel.
"Are you kidding?" Oni yelled after him, swan diving into the air. "I haven't had this much fun in ages!" He grasped at a wire and flung himself back into the wheel, sending his noise out at Neku. The two met with arms raised high, but while the Noise aimed to strike with its fists Neku aimed to strike it with lightning. The lightning was faster, and the Noise cascaded off the side into the pavement below.
Neku teleported away again as Richard flew in and tried to grab him. "So you both know this is completely sordid, right?" he called out to Oni and Neku as they exchanged blows. "We didn't come here to fight!" He narrowly dodged out of the way of an ice spike rushing unnervingly close to his genitals.
"Huh," Neku said, ducking into a carriage and popping back out with something in his hand. "You're right!" He leapt out and let himself careen to the bottom. "See ya!"
"Oh no you don't!" Oni dived after him. The two fell for a spell, watching each other. Neku looked to the ground and saw the gorilla Noise poising itself below him. Oni smiled triumphantly.
Neku returned that same triumphant smile. He held up his hand, showing a half-eaten bag of popcorn and an eggshell pin. Oni realized his mistake too late; Neku teleported away, leaving the bag to land on the Noise and blow both it and Oni back into the air. Neku resurfaced from the Thames River a short distance away, protecting his headphones from the water. The Players were keeping Megan's attention, and for the moment no one knew Neku's location. It seemed like as good a time as ever to make his getaway.
"Nice try kid." Two huge talons yanked Neku out of the water and he soared straight into the air. He was being carried by a giant raven, and looking at him from atop the bird sat Richard. "Why don't we go somewhere a little less explosive, hmm?"
Trapped and rendered immobile by the Noise's iron grip, Neku had no choice but to let himself be taken a mile downriver. Richard released him on the roof of a supermarket near the bank, and dismounted his Noise. Neku prepared his pins again, ready for round two.
"Please don't," Richard groaned, raising his hands. "I've had quite enough."
"You attacked me first," Neku said.
"Meg was just talking and you blew the fucking bay up!"
"I don't mean that. Your dog from the other night, and the Reaper."
"Bobby…" Richard sighed and covered his face with a hand. "Look, that's complicated."
Neku snorted. "I don't really do complicated."
"Then I'll be clear: we don't want to hurt Seras. Well, we Reapers don't… She was our friend! It's…"
"Complicated?" Neku joked.
"Yeah. Actually it's a load of bullocks, but complicated works too." Neku lowered his pins. Richard noted the gesture and decided to capitalize on it.
"I know Oni can be a little, uh, over-zealous, and Meg didn't exactly handle her part well either. But we aren't looking for a conflict. We just want to help Seras. She's in danger."
"I could tell. And let me guess: it isn't just a few Reapers after her head, is it?"
"I take it you're familiar with Composers?"
"Heh, you could say that," Neku said ruefully.
"Then you know how much power Seras is going up against."
"Yeah. But she doesn't remember any of you. Her memory of the Games is a blank. How exactly are you going to convince her that you're all buddy-buddy?"
"We'll figure it out," Richard said, and he meant it. Between Oni, Mr. Nayake, Megan and himself, they had to be able to come up with a way to make her remember.
Neku couldn't help but chuckle. "Figure it out huh? Well, good luck with that." He teleported from the roof into the back alley and walked into the street. Richard ran after him.
"Where are you going?"
"The way I see it," Neku called back casually, "if we stick together it will only make things harder for the both of us. You go back to your buddies, I've got my own things to do."
Richard was incredulous. "But what about Seras? Where is she?"
"If I decide that you really aren't going to kill her, then maybe I'll let you know. 'Til then." He waved back to the Reaper and walked away into the city.
Great, Neku thought. Now I'm even more lost in this city. I need to get some money.
"You called for me, Master?" Seras descended into the black tomb that made Alucard's living quarters. The ancient vampire sat upon his throne, sipping at a fresh glass of blood wine. Beyond that the entire room was barren. She heard that it used to have a seventy-inch plasma screen TV, but that was ridiculous.
"You have been wandering, Draculina," Alucard said to her. "Wandering beyond where you are told to dwell." He placed his wine on the small tray beside him. "Chasing after the newly dead."
Seras was taken aback. "How did you..." She stopped herself, looking into Alucard's darkened face. Of course he would know. She bent a knee to him and lowered her head in guilt. "Forgive me Master. I acted without thinking."
"Heheheh," Alucard clicked above her. "The dead come to us in a new form as of late. Those children wore the mark of death about them as though it were simple clothing. Strange how on the eve of a great conflict between the living, that the dead would also begin to stir with whispers of war."
Seras looked up, finding herself more perplexed. "Is there something you know Master?" Silently she wondered; does he know about the Reapers?
Alucard would say no more on the matter. "Return to your quarters and sleep. It is unnatural for us to be wakeful at this hour of the day." Disappointed, Seras rose to escape the tomb. At the foot of the stairs she heard her Master's voice again.
"In the tides of war, both the living and the dead will come to us who live between them, because we hold more power than either side could dream of. They will beg for our aid or cry for our blood, whichever best suits their temperament."
The giant hound and the Reaper appeared in Seras' mind. With them came the other man, "Reece," who put her to her knees and then fled. She put the memories to the side, for fear of Alucard somehow seeing into her brain and discovering the true depths of the dead's conflict. If he didn't know already.
"Yes, my Master."