Author's Note: Hey, guys! Just wanted to remind you that you're gonna wanna check my profile page to see how this story is coming along. I will tell you guys if there are any delays, or if I'm starting a new story. I also added a bunch of new potential projects, if you're interested. So...go check it out!
Review Responses:
pokelover01: Hehe. It seems like everybody ships them. I decided to try something different, just for the heck of it. Hopefully it works. As for Sage and Gray Star, I'm glad you liked them. I know it probably goes without saying at this point, but I think you're going to like the characters introduced in this chapter, too. Regarding Angela...I'm not going to say anything. (Insert devious laugh here.) It's good that you know the ending. It basically forms the backbone of this rollercoaster ride, and certain details from the manga will become very important later on. Also, I'm glad you got at least one of the references. I doubt anybody got the other two right away. That's why I put the explanation at the end there. It's kinda like what they do with the translation notes at the end of the manga. Thanks for the encouragement and kind words. Here's to round three!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Soul Eater.
Chapter 3:
Working Vacation
The afternoon sun struggled to keep from falling asleep as he watched the day wind down from his perch above San Francisco, waiting for his shift to end. His eyes drooped, his jaw hung open, and drool pooled in the corner of his mouth, all clear indicators that it had been a long day for him. Still, even in his drowsy state, the weary celestial body set the sky on fire as he dipped toward the horizon line, painting the world below with splashes of deep red and orange. His rays reached the water, too, giving the waves that lapped against the piers and bridge supports a shimmering golden edge.
Most of the city's inhabitants merely sat and watched the spectacle, while others took videos and pictures with their smartphones. While seeing the sun wasn't incredibly rare in the bay area, it never hurt to take a photo or two when the town wasn't being drowned in the dull grayness that came from overcast weather. This was especially apropos when the sunset was making art with the clouds, as it was doing right then.
It was at this time of day that the heartbeat of the bay area began to slow. While some prepared for bed or for a night out on the town, others went on their final walks and bike rides, taking the time to enjoy the chill of the crisp air sweeping in from the sea before they retreated to their homes.
Representing the latter group, a young couple and their daughter Anna were walking back to their home after an early dinner at a family diner, traversing one of the many steep streets San Francisco was famous for. Anna, still full of energy despite how late in the day it was, skipped merrily along, her vision darting around at the various sights and sounds of her town preparing for its night life. Her parents did their best to keep one eye on her and one eye on the people around them, the way parents do when they want to keep their child safe.
Just then, Anna heard a sound, like an airplane going by overhead. It wasn't very loud, but it was enough to prompt her to stop skipping and stare up at the sky. There she found a large line that cut through the vast expanse of deep orange, a streak of white weaving through the patchwork of magenta clouds that lay closer to the sun's more vibrant tangerine glow.
She stood there a moment, encapsulated by its majesty. Then wonder gave way to young-minded curiosity as Anna turned back to her parents.
"Mommy, mommy," she said with a giggle, tugging on her mother's pastel blue shirt, "What's making that big white line in the sky?"
Coming to a halt, her mother looked up with a hint of intrigue, spotting the object of her daughter's eye almost immediately. Looking down at her, she quickly replied, "It's probably just a jet trail, dear."
"This close to the ground?" Anna's father said, an unconvinced look on his face. "I doubt it."
His wife turned and gave him a slightly scathing glare. "Well, Clark," she said somewhat exasperatedly, "What else could it be?"
At the head of that particular sky trail was a young woman riding a skateboard turned hoverboard, a thick white line of exhaust pluming from the jets hidden in its downturned wheels. The cords from her headphones threatened to weave themselves into her long jet black hair as she flew onward towards her destination, her speed doing enough to make that catastrophe a very real possibility. It was fortunate that her earbuds were like earplugs, otherwise she would have lost them to G-force a long time ago.
She skirted the clouds that came into her view, effortlessly spinning the board beneath her feet as she did. Every once and a while, she let her speed take her through the wayward wisps of purple and pink, tearing through them like fluffy tissue paper.
Her music, which was some kind of heavy metal rap, pounded in her ears, the volume turned up to the maximum. The orange light that burst forth from the sleepless sun glinted off her aviator sunglasses, her eyes' only protection from the high-speed winds, the vapor from the clouds, and the near-blinding sunset.
The girl couldn't help but smile. This was her favorite part of her job. Getting away from the academy and her father was always pleasurable, but it was flying to her targets that really gave her joy. Riding on air, surfing above city streets and around tall buildings, screwing with the occasional airplane or farmer; it made her soul score all the more worth it. Not only that, but it was a great way to see the world.
Death City, being her home and her father's place of business, was almost boring to her now. The city she had run and skated through as a child was more or less a prison to escape from, and the only way to escape was by accepting missions from the academy. New places, new faces; that was what she wanted to see. Especially when the face in question belonged to someone who was next in line for a good thrashing.
Looking down, she suddenly noticed that her destination was just below her. Planting her foot and pushing the back of the board down, she pulled herself to a stop. She was hovering high above a small rectangle of green with slate gray pathways snaking through it that joined to form a large circle toward the middle. The rectangle's closest corner was cut off by a street, the triangular remains hardly visible from her staggering height.
Still, she could see the patchwork of gray and black buildings surrounding it, the people milling through the place like ants, even the little umbrellas and quilts and things people had taken there. It was Washington Square Park, and it was exactly where she needed to be.
Or rather, it was close enough to where she needed to be.
She breathed out a sigh. It was about time. Taking one last look at the gorgeous view of the bay area she had, the girl popped out her earbuds and hit the pause button on her phone. As she put her headphones away, the girl found herself chuckling, despite herself. It never got old, this part. It seemed that the only thing that came close to being as much fun as flying...was falling.
Adrenaline coursed through her body as she let the board's jets go out, her heart racing faster as her form dropped sharply out of the marmalade sky and down toward the city below. The wind pulled her hair straight up as she plummeted, her black denim jacket billowing up along with it.
She decided to make her descent more stylish with a series of aerial flip tricks and spins on her board, the finishing touch being a one-handed handstand grab that she held until she was only a few meters from becoming paste.
At the last second, she turned the jets back on, keeping a tight grip on her board as she came to hover just above a concrete walkway that bled out into the sidewalk that encompassed the park. With a mighty push, she launched herself into a stylish backflip, landing neatly on solid ground as her board fell to the path with a clack.
Obviously satisfied with her work, she took in a deep breath and let out a content sigh. That was awesome, she thought to herself. She quickly called the board back to her, dark lightning flowing from her fingertips as it disappeared into a strange glyph that appeared on her palm.
Looking around, she noticed that, for the most part, people had begun clearing out of the park. It seemed as though there weren't any festivals or movie showings going on, and everyone was looking to get home before the sun fell below the horizon line.
A few individuals were lucky enough to take a video of her rather impressive landing with their phones. She knew that it wouldn't be long before she ended up on DeathTube. It was enough to put another grin on her face. This business was just too much fun sometimes. It also made for great entertainment, and she often found that she enjoyed the little things.
Still, she did have actual work to do. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she looked down to the silver twin pistols she had tucked into her jean pockets less than an hour ago on the academy's front steps.
They were obviously asleep, seeing as how they hadn't opted to jump out of her jeans and become human again. Normally they would be up and stretching their arms and legs, shaking off the dull ache that came with staying in weapon form for long periods of time and complaining about how late they had stayed up the night previous. But they weren't. They were still out for the count.
That gave her the bright idea to have a little fun with them.
Pulling them out of their 'holsters', she nonchalantly flung them into the air behind her, stifling a chuckle with her hand as she heard them clatter to the ground with simultaneous yelps of pain.
"What the hell, Kid?" the pistols yelled out in unison, "That hurt, ya know?" They then proceeded to burst into bright light, painting the concrete and the surrounding foliage a hot pink. When the light faded, a pair of twin teenagers were there in place of the pistols, sitting on their haunches and rubbing the backs of their heads.
The two weren't identical twins, not by any stretch of the imagination. One being male and the other being female, identical wasn't exactly something they could fudge on a resume. Looking at them, though, one could tell that they were related. From their similar height and hairstyles to their identical chalky blue eyes, it was quite clear that these twin pistols were twin siblings.
That, and their behavior often coincided. Case in point, at that very moment the twins were sharing an evil eye glare at their meister, their rage dulled only slightly by the sharp disorientation that came with a rude awakening.
"Oh, I know it hurt," Kid said, glancing slyly over her shoulder at them, "That was the point."
"Low blow, Boss," the female twin said as she got to her feet, "Low blow."
"Oh, come on," Kid snickered, "It was funny!"
"I hate to break it to you, Boss, but you have a real twisted sense of humor," the male twin replied dryly.
"Yeah, real twisted," his sister added.
Kid shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever. Let's just kill this guy already," she said, pointing her thumb at the building across the street behind her.
The building in question was actually quite beautiful, a gorgeous white brick cathedral that looked slightly out of place in a city like San Francisco. Before its ornate doors lay a series of overlapping arches held up by spiral pillars, the pillars separated from the arches by a small outcropping. Riding the line between the arches and the pillars sat four statuettes: a winged lion, an angel, an eagle, and a winged calf from left to right, all of them holding a book or a stone tablet.
In the archway above the door sat a bust of Jesus, His arms open to welcome all who entered. Just above Him was a row of small arched windows, above which sat a large circular window with a gothic wheel frame. Two towering spires rose from the front corners of the building, one of which bore an antiquated clock face. It was a church, more specifically Saints Peter and Paul Church.
It was also the place their target was said to be hiding.
Kid strode forward with purpose, prompting her weapons to follow. She crossed the street brazenly, completely ignoring the car that screeched to a halt and honked at her, her gaze fixed firmly on the doors of the church. The twins followed just behind, walking in step with their meister while glancing uneasily at the driver she had just cut off. As the trio reached the entrance, the world around them became slightly darker.
Night was beginning to take over the bay area, and the moon was trying desperately to chase the sun away with waves of shadow studded with stars. As blue and black mixed with red and orange to create a mud-colored skyscape, an icy breeze drifted by, charged with salt from the sea.
Kid took off her sunglasses, hooking one of the stems into her front jacket pocket. She then activated her soul perception, looking through the door and into the building. She saw only one soul, an evil soul, a ball of wispy crimson inside the walls of the church. A smile crept across her face. This was going to be fun.
"Alright, you two," she said, shooting them both a confident glance, "Weapon forms, let's go."
The two nodded at each other before bursting into light, spinning into the air and coming back down as two slick silver handguns. Kid caught them and twirled them on the tips of her fingers, dropping them by her side as she mentally steeled herself for what she was going to do next. She took one last calm and collected breath before kicking the doors of the church wide open, the sound from the impact echoing throughout the structure.
"Knock, knock, motherfucker!" Kid yelled.
Her voice rang out but eventually died out, silence winning out in the vastness of the church's interior. Despite the size of the room, there was actually very little free floor space. The central chamber was framed by high archways that were punctuated by pillars, row after row of wooden pews leading to a large altar with an ornate display toward the back of the room. The display itself was very much like a miniature temple, carved from white stone and adorned with various spires, arches, and statuettes.
In the high vaulted dome above the mock temple was a mural of Jesus, holding a bible in His hand. The central chamber was framed on either side by walkways, the walls lined with art and sacred treasures. Lamps hung from every archway and on every pillar, filling the church with a warm golden glow. The floor was blanketed in a velvety red carpet with a single white stripe running down the central aisle, eventually halting at the foot of the altar steps.
And there, down the aisle from Kid and the twins, standing with his arms folded behind his back before the altar, was a raven-haired man in a dark pinstripe suit. He didn't seem even remotely troubled by the disturbance. He didn't even twitch. He merely stood there, continuing to look straight up at the mural of Jesus above the temple display, just as he had been.
Kid decided to make the first move. She strode forward with her wrists crossed, keeping the twins' barrels trained on the back of the man's head. As she moved, the doors behind her swung back into place with a thump and a click, locking her in. The twins couldn't help but twinge; they knew they were trapped. Kid, on the other hand, couldn't care less.
After all, she knew that she wasn't trapped in there with him. He was trapped in there with her.
"Hey!" she barked. "Pencil neck! Yeah, you! I'm talking to you!"
The man lowered his head slowly, keeping his arms folded behind his back. When he finally turned to face Kid, he looked at her with a calm, almost uncaring expression. Kid stopped moving, keeping a reasonable distance. Her golden eyes narrowed on him, on his soul, judging it, looking for a fluctuation. There was none. His gaze was cold and distant, his gray eyes merely washing over her, uninterested.
"Noisy insect," he said with a bitter dullness to his tone, "Do you know who you're talking to?"
"Yeah, I do," she said quickly. "You're the Zodiac Killer."
"And...who are you?" he pondered, his visage that of a statue.
Kid almost laughed out loud. "What? Are you kidding?" she scoffed. "My name is Death the Kid, jackass. And I'm here to take your soul."
The killer's soft stare quickly became a hardened edge, his gunmetal gray irises bearing down on her like the barrels of a sawed-off shotgun. Kid eyed him right back, her golden gaze boring a hole between his eyes.
"So," she began, "There's two ways we can do this: the easy way or the hard way. Easy way is, you surrender, and I kill you and take your soul. Hard way is, you try and fight back and ultimately lose, then I kill you and take your soul. Either way, I live, you die, and my friends and I get to enjoy a night on the town. What's it going to be?" she asked with a grin, "The easy way? Or the hard way?"
The man didn't answer. He merely stood there, suddenly silent. The hard way, then.
"Alright. Lock it in, you two," Kid said, eyeing the pistols in her grip, "It's time for soul resonance."
"Now?" the male twin said apprehensively.
"But the fight hasn't even started yet!" said the female twin.
"This isn't up for discussion," Kid snapped, putting the two by her side. "We can play with him all we like, but it always comes down to soul resonance. You know that. I say let's just skip the foreplay and fuck him right now!"
Inside their conjoined soul pocket, the twins exchanged uneasy glances. They understood their meister's logic. Or at least, they thought they understood it. They couldn't think of a reason why not to do it, but then again, they weren't exactly idea people. In the end, they decided to put their faith in Kid, just as they had done so many times before, so many evil souls ago.
"You got it, Boss," they said in unison.
The connection snapped into existence with a surge of raw power, linking not only the twins' souls together, but linking Kid's souls to theirs. It shot through their bodies, Kid's soul granting the twins incredible power, while they in turn forced it back upon Kid. Repeating this motion, they made their resonance stronger, amplifying it until it reached a familiar peak.
Black lightning bled from Kid's soul and into the physical plane, appearing as skulls with hollow white eyes. The air began to swirl around her, the deathly apparitions composed of her soul wavelength meandering through their preordained circular path. Her body began to rise slowly into the air, her soul expanding to fill the negative space around her. The black lightning then began to coalesce, forming sinister-looking black needles that jutted out from her back in a V formation.
Kid could feel her soul wavelength being drawn into the twins, the needles on her back tingling with sensation as their power began to grow. The twins glowed with a bright rosy light as they began to take a new shape in her hands, their new forms encompassing the entirety of her forearm. As they transformed, arcs of black lightning danced alongside them, reaching out to accommodate for something much bigger than two small handguns.
When the light shattered, the twins were a pair of large silver cannons bearing large stylized skulls on their topmost plating. The transformation finally complete, Kid dropped back down onto the carpeting, letting the twins' new forms fall onto the pews beside her. She sat in a crouch, her eyes firmly fixed on her target, the wooden pews groaning from the staggering weight of either twin. With a flourish, she brought the beastly cannons up to bear on the Zodiac Killer, their massive barrels pointed at the man's rotten soul.
"Execution Mode: On."
"Resonance Rate stable," said the male twin, "Noise at 0.8%"
"Black Needle soul wavelength charge complete," his sister added.
"Feedback in five seconds," the male twin confirmed.
"...three..."
"...two..."
"...one."
"Firing now!" they shouted together.
Kid's eyes narrowed as she focused her soul wavelength, locking onto her target with uncompromising precision. Like a machine, she calculated the distance the rounds had to travel and accounted for any movement, synchronizing her wavelength with what she saw. Her target, meanwhile, made no move to avoid what was coming next. He simply held his ground, seemingly unconcerned by Kid's new cannons.
Then she pulled the trigger, and the whole world shook.
"Death Cannon."
The black lightning around Kid burst out in a maelstrom as the twins let loose two enormous blasts comprised of her soul wavelength. Crossing the distance between Kid and the Zodiac Killer in an instant, the rose-colored rounds hit and exploded into a deathly cloud of smoke that swallowed the altar and the first two rows of pews.
Black plumes shaped like skulls jumped out from the aftermath, shifting through the cloud of gray that billowed out from the foot of the altar like ghosts. Kid let her shoulders slack as she felt the resonance link falter, letting the twins fall to her sides as they reverted back to their normal pistol forms. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she blew her bangs out of her eyes. It was over. A grin formed on her face as she began to walk toward the death cloud, her pride taking control of her tongue.
"...and that takes care of that!" Kid said smugly. "What did I tell you guys, huh? That was easy as...fuck."
She stopped dead in her tracks, her bravado faltering instantly. There, hanging in the haze, were two pairs of glowing red eyes. Before she or the twins could make any sense of them, something waved the smoke away, a pulse of energy, a surge of raw power that revealed a rather unwelcome surprise. Standing at the foot of the altar was none other than the Zodiac Killer, alive and all the more menacing.
Kid didn't immediately understand what happened. Neither did the twins. All any of them knew was that their target was far from dead, which indicated that he was more powerful than they had originally thought. To make matters worse, that power came in the form of a new appendage, an appendage that bore the second pair of eyes Kid and the twins had seen leering out at them like hot pokers from the Death Cannon's fallout.
What had once been the killer's perfectly normal right arm was now a crimson Chinese dragon, its scales blending into his suit sleeve seamlessly. It had no limbs of its own, no wings or arms or claws; just a jaw full of razor sharp teeth, a snout spewing ashy smoke, two gnarled oak brown horns, and a pair of fiery red eyes. Though it was only essentially the head and body of the legendary fire-breathing reptile, it was still the head and body of a legendary fire-breathing reptile, and it was very much alive. Its whiskers waved about with the wind, its tongue tasting the air as it eagerly eyed its prey.
"Year of the Dragon."
"Kid?" the male twin started nervously, "Is that a..."
"...dragon?" his sister finished.
"So that's why they call him the Zodiac Killer," Kid mused. "Huh." She couldn't help but sound disappointed. Her plan had failed, after all. It seemed as though she was going to have to put more effort into this fight than she had originally intended. "Fine," she said flatly, "I'll play along."
"Boss?" the twins asked in unison.
"Chill. I've got this on the motherfuckin' level." Kid twirled them between her fingers before contorting her body into a very odd stance, angling her arms, pulling her wrists back, and bending her knees in just such a way. To anyone else, it was a pose worthy of the circus. To her, it was—
"Death God Taijutsu: Guilty Stance."
The air finally cleared as Kid and the Zodiac Killer stared each other down. Not a word was spoken. The twins clung to each other tightly within their soul pocket, chilled to the bone with fear. What they were afraid of, they weren't sure. But they were afraid, and that was all that mattered. Kid, meanwhile, was actually kind of pissed.
After ninety missions spanning the globe, she had become used to traveling. It was very much like a working vacation, except her work was hunting down evil souls and her free time was extremely limited. At first, the whole 'hunting down evil souls' part of her job description was a perk. As of late, it had become a tedious inconvenience.
Kid used to love hunting down the bad guys and spending some time away from the academy. Now it just seemed like the universe was making her work harder for her vacation time, and that did not please her.
In her eyes, the Zodiac Killer was just an obstacle to be overcome, the period at the end of a sentence that grew longer by the minute. His death marked the beginning of a well-needed and well-deserved couple of nights of rest and relaxation in the city by the bay. Was that really too much to ask? Apparently, the universe seemed to think so, because her 'obstacle' decided to take the first step in their little dance of death.
And that first step was one hell of a doozy.
Kid was just about to dash ahead and start the fight anew when the killer put his dragon arm up, bringing its toothy maw up to bear on her. She almost snickered at that, limiting herself to just cracking a smile instead. Logic dictated that if he were trying to set her on fire from where he was standing, he was going to have a rough time of it.
The picture in Kid's head was that of a flamethrower, a living flamethrower that probably didn't have enough firepower to roast her from that far away. The picture she actually saw, however, was eerily familiar to her signature technique, the technique she had intended to blow her target off the map with, the technique that had somehow managed to disappear into a puff of smoke without so much as harming a hair on his head.
That's when it came to her.
"Oh, shit..."
"Kid?" the female twin began tentatively.
"What is he doing?" the male twin ended slowly.
"He caught the blasts," Kid realized with a hint of surprise in her tone, "He caught them and now he's firing them back!"
The twins looked up at her from their soul pocket with jaws dropped and eyes wide open. "Seriously!?" they cried simultaneously. Meanwhile, smoke began to pour from the dragon's lower lip like a waterfall, twisting columns of gray rising from the beast's nostrils as it opened its cavernous mouth. Kid knew what was coming next. The killer kept his gaze fixed on her, his countenance as cold and as distant as it had been when the fight had begun.
"Dragon Cannon."
The words had barely left his lips when a blazing ball of energy not unlike a blast from the Death Cannon shot from the dragon's open maw like some hellish firework, setting the pews alight with blistering flames as it careened toward Kid. Had she stood there a second longer, it would have blasted her into the bay. Luckily, she managed to jump over it, the fire licking at her jacket and jeans as she did. Landing safely with only a few minor singes, she turned her head just in time to see the church doors blown off their hinges and sent flying into the park across the street, eliciting screams of terror from passersby.
She had just enough time to look back and avoid the second fireball, which flew through the now unblocked doorway and into the open. As the ensuing explosion made the ground beneath her tremble, Kid couldn't help but twinge. It may have been her target that had just blown up that guy's car, but the academy mission desk would no doubt tack the blame onto her for not preventing the collateral damage. All the rage in the world couldn't be compared to the swarm of obscenities that was bouncing around in her brain at that moment.
It was bad enough that the bastard had blown the doors off a church and set some guy's car on fire, but she wasn't about to let her reputation or her vacation time get ruined by some guy with a dragon for an arm. She was so mad she could scream. She felt as though she could tear her target's head off with her fiery words alone, and in all reality, there was little doubt that she could.
In the end, she decided she'd do it with bullets instead. It would probably be a lot easier that way.
Reverting back to her Guilty Stance with a look of pure hatred on her face, Kid loosed volley after volley of rounds from the twins, taking every free moment between position changes to take a step or two toward her prey. Her prey, in response, switched to a more defensive strategy, using his dragon arm's fiery breath as a shield to stop her bullets. It was surprisingly effective...for a time. But as Kid got closer, his firewall proved to be less effective. What had been able to make her soul wavelength shots fizzle out in seconds was suddenly as capable a defense as a wall of rice paper. Ignoring the flames, her bullets continued to fly until they finally hit their mark.
Kid felt a vengeful grin tug at the sides of her face. It was so rewarding, watching him squirm in the face of her unrelenting punishment. But he wasn't one to just take that kind of punishment. Not for long, anyway.
Moving swiftly, the Zodiac Killer widened the gap between him and Kid by jumping up the steps and onto the altar. Kid, now at the first row of pews, stood ready to riddle him with more rounds. That was when the fire assaulting the fine wood of the pews began to dissipate, prompting Kid to hold her trigger fingers and her pose, keeping her aim on her target.
Her grin faltered and fell. Something was happening, and she could feel it. There was a shift of power as the flames died out completely, columns of gray specked with red hot embers rising up from the remains. If Kid hadn't been paying attention, she wouldn't have noticed that subtle fluctuation in the killer's soul wavelength, the telltale sign that something was changing.
Luckily, the change itself wasn't subtle at all.
The killer's ferocious but defeated dragon arm began to slowly fade away, an envelope of ashy steam overtaking it as it seemingly evaporated into thin air. Kid stood with her wrists crossed, keeping the twins trained on the center of his forehead. Within seconds, his dragon arm was gone, replaced by a katana with a red cloth wrap handle and a gold lotus guard that rested comfortably in his grip.
He sank into a wide stance, the back of his blade arcing over his head with the tip pointed at Kid. When he was finally set, he put his free hand forward, a sign that he was ready for her. To him, it was a gesture of respect. To her, it was him officially signing his own death warrant.
Kid let loose a torrent of gunfire at him, rapidly changing her stance and orientation in order to hit him from every angle possible. He, meanwhile, just stayed where he was, deflecting the rounds that came too close with the flat of his blade.
"Damn it!" Kid shouted exasperatedly, "Stop blocking my attacks so I can kill you, you fucking prick!"
The twins exchanged a set of uneasy glances inside their shared soul pocket. They hadn't seen their meister this...frustrated...since her last talk with her father. It had taken her almost a week to calm herself down after that, and she had put three students in the dispensary in the process. The very memory of her when she was like that sent a shiver down both their spines. If there was one part of Kid that they didn't like to see, it was that raging bull called anger that took refuge in her heart, a force that was too often let loose on those around her, including them.
A clash of metal and a small twinge of pain jolted the two of them out of their thoughts and back into reality. Realizing they had somehow managed to zone out amidst the shooting and the swearing, the twins now found themselves much closer to their foe than they had been moments ago.
They almost jumped out of their soul pocket. The Zodiac Killer was practically right on top of them, his blade scraping sparks off of their silver barrels. His dead eyes were staring straight into Kid's, Kid's only response being to stare back with as much ferocity as she could muster.
"Oh, shit," they said together. "Kid!"
With a bump of his blade, the killer pushed Kid back and into the pew behind her. He tried to rush forward with an angular swipe at her chest, but Kid managed to block it by flipping her left gun in her hand, looping her pinkie through the trigger guard and using the slide as a shield.
Using his sword as a leverage point, Kid lifted herself off the ground and into a devastating spin kick, aiming the tip of her foot at the side of his head. The killer only barely managed to block with his left arm, displacing the force of the kick. Kid, already thinking ahead, was going to jump off of his arm and pop a few rounds at him from the air, but the killer had something else in mind.
Bringing his blade back up, he used his free hand to brace against the flat and push Kid away, immediately shifting back into his defensive stance. Kid, meanwhile, landed before the altar steps with a somewhat disappointed look on her face.
"Damn it," she said flatly. He was smart. Smarter than she would have liked to admit. First he used her own signature technique against her, then he blocked her attacks, then he read her movements like it was nothing. Sure, she had scored a few hits in between, but this guy wasn't giving her a lot of openings to work with.
It seemed like he was in total control of the spacing of the fight. She had only closed the gap between them once, but he had gone and widened that gap again, and by a considerable margin. Kid grit her teeth with cold determination. As it stood, she wasn't about to let him push her away again.
Suddenly, the Zodiac Killer put his sword up and charged forward, aiming the tip of the blade at her throat. Kid responded with a wall of gunfire, trying her best to target his arms and legs in order to slow his advance. Only a few of those rounds came close to hitting their mark before he deflected them, his blade ringing with each blocked shot. With a frown, Kid shifted into her Guilty Stance once more. If he wanted an up-close and personal fight, that was exactly what he was going to get.
Except that wasn't what he wanted. Not even remotely.
As soon as he had started, he stopped. The air rushed forward in his place as he halted just out of striking range, holding the sword so that the blade was parallel with his body. Kid couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. It seemed like poor execution, to charge ahead only to stop so short. Then she realized that he hadn't stopped short at all.
Kid's eyes widened as the soft ring of metal striking metal met her ears. The blade of the killer's sword had dropped down, the blade edge knocking against the guard that it was hinged to. What lay in the space where the blade had once sat was the barrel of some kind of weapon, built into the handle. Kid ducked just in time to avoid the stream of blistering flames that shot from the sword, rolling out of the way and back behind the left-hand rows of pews.
Jumping up to retaliate, Kid was greeted with an inferno, the wooden benches once again under assault from the Zodiac Killer's fiery onslaught. Kid ducked back down.
Of course the sword shoots fire, she mused bitterly. Why the fuck wouldn't it? While the twins were busy freaking out about the flames, Kid tried to figure out a way around this new development. Looking around, she didn't see anything that could help her. The pews in front of her were on fire, and the ones behind her would probably join in too, if she let them. There wasn't anything hanging from the ceiling she could jump to, either. Her only option was to hide in the archways that girded the pews, but even that didn't sound like a good idea.
Kid blew her bangs out of her eyes. Fuck it, she thought with a smirk, I'll just jump it.
Leaping out from behind cover and into a backflip, Kid unleashed an aerial barrage at the Zodiac Killer, who was still in the process of burning everything to the ground. A few rounds actually managed to find purchase in the man's chest as he scrambled to snap his sword back together, the rest being deflected thereafter.
With the flamethrower put away, the flames it had created fizzled out and died, leaving behind charred wood and blackened cushioning in their place. Kid landed safely on the backrest of the fifth row of the left-hand pews, balancing on the tips of her toes. Pausing only for a moment, she leapt back into the fight, leading with another barrage.
The time, however, the evil soul was prepared for her attack. He simply rolled out of the way of the blasts at the last second, shooting Kid a look of contempt as he made his way to the right side of the altar steps, closer to the pews.
As Kid landed opposite him, she felt another subtle shift in his wavelength. It moved through the air like a gentle breeze, unconcerned with her or anything else as it glided away. Another change in weaponry. Kid wasn't surprised. He seemed to have a habit of changing weapons just after taking a hit.
It happened just as Kid knew it would, the sword in his grip melting into a cloud of red-hot ash. When the wisps of gray finally cleared away, a large semi-automatic shotgun rested in the evil soul's right hand, the tip of its barrel nearly touching the ground. Kid decided not to wait and see if this new weapon shot fire as well, diving in head-first with a full-on charge. Sliding in on her knees, she lay down a wave of fire intended to overwhelm her target. Sadly, her target wasn't as overwhelmed as she would have liked.
He merely jumped over her, pointing the barrel of his gun at Kid's head as she passed underneath him. Kid narrowly avoided the ensuing blasts by contorting her body into a sort of break-dancing move, almost losing both of her legs to the spread shot. As she whirled around, she noticed that the pellets being fired were red-hot, burning through the air like miniature comets.
Great, she thought. Dragon's breath rounds.
Landing close by, the killer charged forward, thrusting his weapon forward as if to impale her with the barrel. Getting to her feet, Kid inverted her grip on her left pistol and used the flat of the slide to smack his gun aside, thrusting ahead with her right pistol. Just as she pulled the trigger, however, the Zodiac Killer brought his shotgun up to bear and smacked her gun aside.
The two went back and forth, both of them trying desperately to line up a kill shot whilst preventing the other from lining up a kill shot of their own. Sparks flew as the two danced and ducked and drew and fired but never scored a hit. The sounds of clanging steel and rambunctious gunfire echoed through the church, making it sound more like a war zone than a place of worship.
The duel lasted several minutes, but it came to a swift and decisive end when the Zodiac Killer tried to swat Kid aside with a wide swing of his shotgun. Fully prepared, Kid ducked under his attack and curled into a back flip kick that caught him square in the jaw. The blow sent him sailing into the air, and while Kid landed lightly on her feet, he landed flat on his back. He didn't waste any time getting back up, but Kid was on his case before he could completely recover.
There was only time enough for him to take two shots before she was right on top of him. Opening with a quick shot to his chest, Kid began to go to work, unleashing a rapid string of powerful attacks. If she wasn't unloading rounds into his vitals at point-blank rage, she was using the slides of her pistols to beat him senseless, switching stances faster than most people could wrap their head around. When it came time to end the onslaught, Kid sealed the deal with a flying knee to the killer's face that sent him sprawling to the ground. Unable to recover, he collapsed at the foot of the altar, thoroughly overwhelmed by her relentless assault.
Kid was pleased. The twins were ecstatic. Finally, Kid felt like she was in control. However, it was a little too soon for celebrations; their target wasn't one to give up so easily.
The man in question almost immediately got to his feet, seemingly unconcerned with his injuries or even the state of the battle. His expression was still as cold and as grim as it had always been, nothing in his features suggesting that he was hurt or even tired. All of the contempt and rage he might have been feeling at that moment was hidden behind a mask, an unchanging, uninterested, uncaring mask. Kid could feel his dead eyes washing over her, bored of her, tired of the very sight of her. Needless to say, it wasn't a good feeling.
Her body tensed as she felt another change in his wavelength, and this time it was anything but subtle. Kid figured that if she had been using her soul sensing abilities when the Zodiac Killer had first revealed his true power, this was probably something close to what she would have felt. The difference was unreal.
What had been a fiery and volatile wavelength for the longest time was suddenly becoming a wavelength of pure power and strength, something that didn't feel like it should come from a toothpick like him. It was a brutal shift, one that threatened to knock the very wind out of her. Was he really that powerful?
After recovering from the split-second shock, Kid realized that the dragon's breath shotgun was disappearing into a cloud of smoke, just as its predecessors had done before it. That could mean only one thing.
Oh, Christ, she thought. What is it going to be this time?
As his current weapon faded, something new appeared, no doubt some sort of replacement. It was a bright white cloud, drifting down from the church ceiling to grace the evil soul's head. Kid couldn't honestly tell what kind of weapon was hidden within the confines of its puffy exterior; it was too thick to see through.
The only thing visible through the fluff was a pair of round yellow eyes, looking almost like headlights in a fog. Kid couldn't help but worry just a little. After all, what could be worse than the Year of the Dragon? The Year of the Snake? The Year of the Tiger? She wasn't sure she wanted to know. Suddenly, the cloud left its perch, dropping down and enveloping the entirety of the serial killer's cranium. The twins exchanged looks of concern as Kid raised an eyebrow. Things just kept getting weirder with this guy, it seemed.
Little did she know that it was about to get weirder.
For the 'weapon' that came to rest on the Zodiac Killer's head was, in fact, another head. A goat's head, to be exact. Like the dragon that had come before it, the goat head was more than just a mask or costume. It was a living, breathing entity, and if looks could kill, Kid would be dead.
Of course, the thing's comical appearance was more than enough to make her die of laughter.
Kid almost dropped the twins for favor of rolling around on the floor and laughing out loud. She managed to subdue that urge, but it didn't stop her from laughing like crazy. It was just so funny! To see someone dressed in so fine a suit, and then to look up and see that that someone was actually a goat? It was almost too much to bear. Kid was laughing so hard she had to crouch down to keep her abs from aching.
The twins, however, weren't amused. Not in the slightest.
Most of it had to do with what they had seen with the Year of the Dragon. The monster that had come to take the place of the serial killer's right arm had almost burned them and their meister to a crisp. Just because this one was a goat didn't necessarily mean that it was any less dangerous, even if it was slightly goofy looking.
The more they thought about it, the more their imaginations took hold of them, giving them ghastly visions of their deaths at the hands of a goat man. Death by chomping, death by trampling, death by headbutt; as far as they were concerned, this wasn't something to laugh about. This was something to be afraid of.
"Um, Kid?" the female twin started, anxiously eyeing her meister from her and her brother's soul pocket.
"I don't like the looks of this," the male twin finished, his eyes fixed on the Zodiac Killer's new head piece.
"Oh, what are you guys so afraid of?" Kid asked between chuckles.
A lot of things, thought the twins.
Kid let out another boisterous laugh. "Leave it to you two to be scared of some guy with a goat for a—oof!" That was all she had time to say before the Zodiac Killer rushed in and rammed her right in the gut, sending her and the twins flying into one of the archway pillars with a resounding smash.
"Year of the Goat."
As the words echoed in her brain, Kid realized that the goat-headed Zodiac Killer wasn't as ridiculous as she once thought. Ridiculously powerful, perhaps, but not ridiculous. In fact, he looked just as sinister as his dragon-armed counterpart had been, maybe even more sinister. After giving her head a good shake and waving the dust away, Kid jumped out of the wreckage of the archway pillar with a sudden air of determination, ready to take his stupid goat head off.
That was when she noticed that he wasn't where he had been but a moment ago.
"What the fuck?" Kid thought aloud, her eyes darting all over the expanse of the church's interior, "Where the hell did he go?"
Not a moment after the words had left her lips, she heard a small clicking sound. Looking down, she found an explosive device, a claymore mine, planted at her feet. And it was no mystery who had put it there, either, not if the goat head imprinted on the front was any indication.
"I knew this goat guy was bad news," the male twin said just as the mine exploded.
The knock-back from the explosion was severe, but not as severe as the thrust kick the Zodiac Killer delivered to Kid's spine before she could hit the wall behind her. The force of the impact was brutal; if Kid were an average human, she likely would have been paralyzed from the waist down. Luckily, Kid wasn't the average human. She was much more, mostly due to her lineage. But she wasn't thinking about that as her body slammed against the church floor.
No, she was thinking about how she was going to kill the prick that had kicked her in the spine in the first place.
Of course, Kid wasn't given an opportunity to do that right away. She picked herself off of the floor only to meet the business end of a shield with a goat's head mounted on the front. The shield let out a soft 'baa' as it collided with Kid's head and sent her flying off toward the opposite end of the church.
She only barely managed to right herself and scramble to her feet, sliding just short of the archway. Standing up straight, Kid decided she was through getting kicked around. Focusing hard, she locked onto the evil soul, finding him in the clearing between the aisle and the altar, standing there, watching her with those cold gray eyes.
"I'm gonna make you bleed," she said under her breath, her voice dripping with hatred. Ready to act and determined to help, the twins stood shoulder-to-shoulder in their soul pocket, arms crossed and faces set with looks of determination.
With a yell, Kid dashed forward and after her target, jumping into the air and unleashing a storm of bullets. The Zodiac Killer merely held his shield up in response, taking the brunt of the force with little effort. When he put his shield down, however, he was surprised to see that Kid was already on top of him. Before he could react, Kid twisted herself into a flying spin kick that caved his face in. Recovering quickly, he whirled around and threw the shield at Kid, but Kid simply slid under it.
As she stood up, she saw the evil soul place one of his goat claymores at his feet, the business end facing her. A knowing smile crept across her face. Just before it went off, she leaped high into the air, the ensuing shrapnel digging into the floor where she had been a second earlier.
Kid tried her best to riddle her foe with rounds as she passed overhead, but he had already called his shield back into existence, carefully following her arc through the air and blocking every last bullet. Upon landing, she was surprised to see the shield to fade for favor of the goat head. Another 'baa' rang out in the church as the killer charged forward, threatening to send her flying with a running headbutt.
With a grunt of effort, Kid took the hit head-on. The ensuing shockwave enough to crack the marble of the altar they were standing on. As Kid pushed back against the Zodiac Killer, a small trickle of blood worked its way down from the wound the blow had left on her forehead, dripping off of her chin and onto the shattered marble patchwork below. Unwilling to back down, Kid continued to lock horns with the killer, her distinct lack of horns doing nothing to dissuade her.
"How do you like me now, cocksucker?" she shouted as their foreheads clashed against each other, sparks and blood flying in their wake. "How do you like me now?!"
The two continued their struggle for several minutes, neither moving the other back an inch. Knowing that they had reached a sort of impasse, Kid decided to end their strange confrontation with a bang. She quickly inverted her grip on the twins, looping her pinkies onto their triggers once more. With a devilish grin, she shoved the twins' barrels into the bottom of the goat head's jaw and pulled their triggers, sending the man-beast into the air with a booming echo.
Kid knew almost immediately that she could close in for the kill right before he came back down to earth. Flipping the twins around the right way, she surged ahead, keeping her eyes trained on him as he flipped through the air. As she ran, she planned her moves in advance, planned how she would bring this fight to an end, planned how she would finally kill the rat bastard and take his rotten soul.
One thing was for sure; she wasn't about to let him land on his feet and recover. She was going to end this, one way or another.
When the moment came, when the killer's feet were but an inch from striking the altar, Kid was there, ready to take him out. She switched her stance so that both guns were parallel, aligning them so that the left clip was looking at the ground and the right clip was pointed at the ceiling. From there, she proceeded to shove the twins' barrels into the Zodiac Killer's chest and pull their triggers, starting a long chain of attacks that would ultimately leave her target choking on a superfluous amount of his own blood.
Starting with the initial twin shot to the chest, Kid pushed the killer back with several point-blank shots to the head, chest, and shoulders, each one splattering the altar with thick splotches of red. Whirling around like some kind of demented ballerina, Kid smacked him with the barrel of her right pistol, burying it in the flesh of his cheek. When it was nice and deep, she pulled the trigger, pulling her hand down and back to her side as the impact sent the evil soul spinning.
When he turned to face her again, he was met with a sharp snap kick to the face, which was followed by a side kick to the solar plexus that sent him tumbling towards the archway behind him. Staggering to his feet, he was surprised to see that Kid was already in the air. She proceeded to execute two powerful knee strikes, one after the other, both of them hitting him square in the face. Kid landed before the killer could find his balance, twisting her body into a leg sweep that took his legs out from under him.
Before he could even hit the ground, Kid was standing above him, bringing her right leg up high above her head. Her eyes glazed over with pure rage, she brought her heel down with a force incomprehensible, slamming the evil soul into the ground. The marble beneath him shattered upon impact, creating a small crater around him.
Kid, with her left foot now on his chest, stomped him further into the altar marble, widening the crater. When the dust finally settled, the Zodiac Killer looked to his aggressor with weary, bloody eyes, his expression softer now that he had been beaten to a pulp. Kid, on the other hand, looked down upon him with only contempt, her eyes slits of white against the shadows of her face and hair.
She watched as her target coughed up blood, a good amount of it staining the left leg of her jeans. She watched as he hacked and wheezed and panted, his breath escaping him. It normally would have brought her some satisfaction, seeing him in this pathetic state, but she didn't care about that right then. She was more focused on getting the job done. She looked down and, noticing that his vision was fading, pressed down on his chest with her foot, crushing his ribs and causing him to hack up more blood.
When he did finally look up at her again, he found that he was staring down the barrel of one of her pistols, veritably staring death in the face. He didn't seem to mind, however. Deep down, he probably knew that death would have come for him eventually, sooner if not later. That's why he didn't say anything when Kid asked him if he had any last words. Why he didn't struggle when she pulled the trigger. Why he didn't scream when the bullet bore a hole in his brain.
Kid stepped off of his corpse as it ripped itself into ribbons of black. They twirled around his soul before fading into nothing, leaving the red orb to hang in the air above the aftermath of Kid's uncompromising aggression. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she tossed the twins into the air behind her. As they fell, they shifted into their human forms, landing safely on the edge of the crater. Kid took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"It's over," she said mostly to herself. "Thank Christ." Looking over to the Zodiac Killer's soul, she reached out and grabbed it, turning to face her weapons. "Alright," she said, holding the soul out for them to see, "We have to decide who gets this."
"Um, I think Jenny got the last one," the male twin said, gesturing to his sister with his thumb.
"Good. Then she gets this one, too."
"Really?" Jenny asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Kid grinned, "You know my dad hates it when one of you has more souls than the other. And I've made it my personal mission to piss him off as much as possible, so eat up," she said as she lazily tossed it to her, "Think of it as a late lunch."
Upon catching the crimson orb, Jenny cradled it in her hands for a moment. She then squeezed it, testing the soul's toughness before she popped it into her mouth. She swirled it around before swallowing it whole, grinning as it landed in her stomach. "Ah, good stuff," she said happily. "Sorry, Lenny," she said to her twin, "You'll just have to get the next one!"
"Yeah," he said with a nod, returning his sister's smile. "Next time."
"Hey!" Kid interrupted. "This isn't social hour! This is food hour! Let's get the hell out of here so we can have some dinner and enjoy our vacation time already," she said impatiently.
"You got it, boss!" the twins said together, giving their meister a mirrored salute.
As they made their way out of the church, Kid couldn't help but notice the damage they had done in their fight with the Zodiac Killer. The altar marble bore a large crater and was splintered in several other places, the last archway pillar on the left was shattered, the first few rows of pews were burnt and charred, and the front doors had been blown out into the park across the street. That, and there was also the car that had been parked directly in front of the church. Smoke still plumed from the wreckage of the automobile, making the night sky hazy with gray.
Thankfully, no one had been killed in the explosion, but the owner of the car was currently curled up into a ball next to the smoldering remains of his SUV, crying tears of pure sorrow and regret.
"My car...my beautiful car!" the man whimpered.
Kid snorted. What a woos, she thought to herself. He got off easy compared to the shit I just went through.
That was when Kid realized just how much trouble she was in. Between the damage to the church and to the guy's car, she was probably in for a few extracurricular assignments, extracurricular assignments that would get her no closer to the two hundred souls she needed to make the twins into Death Weapons. Things like extra readings and cleaning up the library and tutoring soul studies for N.O.T. students.
Things that her father knew she absolutely hated to do.
God dammit, Kid thought, slamming her palm to her forehead. A hefty jolt of pain then reminded her that she had butted heads with the Zodiac Killer's goat form towards the end of the fight, a collision that had created a rather large bruise right where she had just hit herself.
"Ow, fuck..."
Omake
Shinigami-sama breathed out a long sigh as he lay on his sofa in the center of the Death Room's raised dais. Like the coffee table and the armchair before it, he had summoned the sofa into existence for his guest, a guest that was uncharacteristically late. Knowing that it was well past nine 'o clock at night, the Grim Reaper was starting to grow tired of waiting.
He had sent Liz and Patty back to Gallows Manor immediately after the school day had come to a close, saying that he had to spend the night in the Death Room due to the gargantuan amount of paperwork that he had to do.
It was a believable excuse; he'd used it several times before, and every time he had, it had been the truth. But, for once in his life, he actually had no paperwork to do. The day's paperwork had already been done; it sat on his desk in two symmetrical piles, complete. If he didn't have to send his weapons home, he wouldn't have. Their company was certainly better than none at all. But with a sigh, he waved the thought away.
After all, his guest was the last person on the planet Patty wanted to see, and he had to respect her wishes.
Still, that didn't make his day any better. While the school day had been rather eventful, office hours hadn't, and no one in their right mind stayed after office hours. No one but him, at any rate. By five thirty, he was the only one left at the academy. He was suddenly stuck with all the time in the world, and no idea what to do with it. He didn't have any paperwork to do. He had no one to talk to. He couldn't even watch any of his students out on mission, mostly because the only student mission that had been scheduled wasn't happening until midnight that night.
There was only one student out on mission right then, and someone else was handling her assessment. Skateboarding wasn't an option, either. Having explored every variation of the Death Room, he was convinced that he had seen it all. Even talking to Tezca was out of the question, as the disfigured demon weapon had been strangely absent from his place in the Death Room's mirror. Shinigami-sama let out another miserable sigh.
It was official. He was bored.
Sitting up, he decided to have some tea. With a puff of cartoonish white smoke, the kettle and cups appeared on the table next to his sofa. Knowing the tea was already brewed and ready to go, the Grim Reaper poured himself a cup of the amber liquid and sat back on the sofa, his eyes wandering back up toward the Death Room's never-ending sky.
There was no point in trying to count the clouds, he reminded himself. He had done it three times already. But as he sat there drinking his tea, the moon watching him with a grin through a high window, he was tempted to do it again. Anything was better than nothing.
He was just about to start counting when he heard the Death Room's door open and close, signaling the arrival of his guest. Hearing his footsteps as he approached the dais, Shinigami-sama quickly stood up and put his teacup down, turning toward the guillotine-lined pathway with his arms folded behind his back.
It took several minutes, but his guest finally arrived. Standing under the last torii arch with a greasy paper bag in the crook of his arm and a half-eaten taco in his hand was none other than the warrior god, Black Star.
"'Sup?" he asked lazily, taking a bite out of the taco as he walked onto the dais.
Shingami-sama decided not to answer that question, countering with one of his own. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"No. Does it matter?"
"It's nine twenty-two."
"So?"
"So, you're late."
"Late?" Black Star cocked his head in confusion.
"You said you'd be here at six, just after office hours. It's almost nine thirty now. You're...late."
"So?"
"So, I'm annoyed!" Shingami-sama spat out angrily. "I've been sitting here doing nothing for the past six hours waiting for you to arrive! For someone as fast as you are, you sure took your sweet time getting here! Why the hell are you so late!?"
Black Star just shrugged. "I stopped for food," he said flatly as he took another bite out of his taco.
Shinigami-sama let his anger burn out with a stomp of his foot before letting out a long sigh. He should've known it would have been something as trivial as that. "God dammit, Black Star," he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefingers, "Why must you make things so difficult for me?"
"Aw, come on! I'm not that bad," the warrior god said with a smirk, playfully elbowing his boss in the arm. "Here, have a taco. It'll make you feel better!" He held the half-eaten taco out in front of the Grim Reaper's face with a grin, waving it around as if to hypnotize him with its flavor.
Shinigami-sama simply dismissed his offer with a wave of his hand. "No thanks," he said sternly.
"Eh, suit yourself," Black Star said as he devoured the rest of the taco. Scraps of beef, cheese, and lettuce went everywhere as the warrior god ripped into it, tearing the thing apart with his teeth like some wild animal. The vicious display definitely gave more merit to the idea that Black Star was more beast than man. Certain that he would never be able to look at Mexican food the same way ever again, the Grim Reaper brushed the remnants of Black Star's taco off of his suit and cleared his throat.
"Black Star," he began, "Lateness aside, I'm glad you made it here. How's Tsubaki doing?"
"She's doing fine," Black Star replied as he flopped onto the sofa. "But she misses her man. Once we're done with our mission in Warsaw, we're gonna stop by her place in Japan so she can see her husband. After that, we'll come back here so she can say 'hi' to her kid."
"That's nice," Shinigami-sama said, bringing his cup of tea over to the armchair and sitting down. "With all the missions you two go on these days, it'll be nice to take a break and spend some time with family, even if it's not your family."
Black Star's eyes narrowed sharply at that remark, his gaze burning a hole in the middle of the Grim Reaper's forehead.
"Sorry," Shinigami-sama added quickly, realizing how insensitive his comment was. "I...shouldn't have said that."
Black Star just sighed, the darkness in his expression leaving just as quickly as it had come. "Nah, don't worry about it. I know what you mean. He and Tsubaki have got a real good thing going on. Patty and I can't even hold a fucking candle to 'em."
"Black Star..." Shinigami-sama trailed off uselessly.
"It's fine. What's done is done. It's in the past," Black Star folded his arms and leaned back on the sofa. "And me? I live in the motherfucking present."
Silence built a wall between them as they sat there in the Death Room, Black Star eyeing the ceiling while Shinigami-sama was left to fidget in his armchair. It took a couple more sips of tea before Shinigami-sama was ready to break the silence.
"What do you say we do what we actually came here to do, Black Star?" he said, standing and putting his cup on its saucer.
Black Star curled his back and sprung off of the sofa in response, landing on the dais without a sound. "Yeah, sure. Let's see how much ass she's kicking," he said as he began to stride purposefully toward the Death Room's mirror.
Shinigami-sama held up a cautioning hand, stopping Black Star in his tracks. "Sorry, but we won't be seeing much of anything this time."
"Huh?" was the warrior god's only reply.
"Your daughter figured out that I've been watching her missions through my mirror," he explained, gesturing to the object in question with a wave of his arm. "When I asked her to complete this assignment, she told me that she wouldn't do it unless I promised her I wouldn't spy on her." He raised an eyebrow. "So I did. Of course, I couldn't very well go about assessing her abilities without seeing her in action, so I asked Angela to do a little...reconnaissance for us."
"You sent Angela?" Black Star scoffed. "No wonder you were so open to letting me come here tonight."
"Yes. She has a funny way of being able to track you down when you're within a fifty-mile radius of her. At any rate, Gray Star and Sage should be wrapping up their assignment soon. And, if you hide behind my desk, you'll be able to hear Angela's report on how they did."
"Right on," Black Star grinned. "How difficult is the assignment?"
"Extremely difficult," Shinigami-sama said shortly. "Gray Star may be well-trained, but this mission is far beyond what I would expect a one-star meister to be capable of handling. I can guarantee you she won't get out of this unharmed."
"Eh," Black Star shrugged, "A little harm does the body good."
The Grim Reaper could only sigh. "Sometimes I wonder how you ever became a parent," he deadpanned.
"Hey, speaking of parenting, how's Kid doin'?" Black Star asked.
"Angel? Oh, she's...doing well," Shinigami said, nervously pulling at his collar. "She just completed a mission in San Francisco. Similar level of difficulty, but more tuned to her style of combat. She was given three days to hunt down the—"
"She broke everything again, didn't she?" Black Star interrupted.
Shinigami-sama's head immediately fell in shame. "Yeah, she did."
The warrior god merely let out a hearty chuckle in response. "'Atta girl! Encore, encore!" he said, laughing and clapping his hands. "Encore! Encore!"
"No," Shinigami-sama said, clasping his hands over Black Star's. "No encore."
"Killjoy," Black Star smirked.
Shinigami-sama was about to open his mouth in reply when the Death Room's mirror began to ring. "Ah," he said as he walked toward it. "That must be Angela. Looks like Gray Star and Sage have finished their assignment." He relinquished his grip on his friend's hands and gestured to his desk. "If you would, Black Star."
"Yeah. Like a fuckin' shadow, bro," Black Star said as disappeared under the desk, holding a grim look of determination as long as he could before letting it fall for favor of a childish grin. He loved hide-and-seek.
Rolling his eyes, Shinigami-sama folded his arms behind his back and nodded to the mirror, which answered the incoming call with an audible click. Sure enough, Angela immediately appeared in the black void of the glass, her face framed by the small handheld mirror she was using to phone in.
"Angela," he greeted with a warm smile, "It's good to see you."
Black Star tried his best to get comfortable as the two talked, careful not to make a sound, lest he alert the chameleon witch to his presence. He listened closely to their conversation, his ear to the wood of Shinigami-sama's desk. When he heard about what Gray Star and Sage had been through at the hands of their target, he could only grimace.
But when Angela mentioned Gray Star's using the Uncanny Sword and Shadow Star, pride surged through his body like a lightning bolt. That's my girl, he thought. Of course, that was when Shinigami-sama had to let slip that he was there, leading Angela to start asking all the wrong questions.
"Oh, whoops," he said with a frantic wave of his arms, "Look at the time! I have to go. Um, get back to the academy when you're able, and make sure to stay out of sight! Goodbye!" He immediately hung up, Angela quickly being replaced by himself in the mirror.
"Smooth recovery there, jackass," Black Star said casually as he sat between the massive piles of paperwork on the Grim Reaper's desk.
Shinigami-sama could only sigh, not sure what he could say in retort. He eventually settled on, "Sorry. That was my fault." When he noticed where Black Star was sitting, he added, "Get off of my desk."
The warrior god hopped off of the desktop and onto the dais, giving his arms and legs a stretch. "So, what now?" he asked.
"Now?" Shinigami-sama's expression turned to one of contemplation as he sank into his armchair. "Now would be a good time for you to leave, my friend. The way she flies, it won't take Angela long to get here, and I don't think you want to be around when she does."
"Yeah. Hey, you want the rest of this?" Black Star asked, holding up the bag of Mexican food he had brought in.
"No thank you," Shinigami-sama said warily.
"Eh, suit yourself." Reaching into the bag, Black Star pulled out a burrito and ate the whole thing, not even bothering to remove the aluminum foil wrapping before doing so.
The Grim Reaper couldn't even bear to watch.
"Oh!" Black Star said around bits of beans and tinfoil, "Before I go. Be sure to tell Maka and Soul I said 'what's up?', would ya?"
"Will do," Shinigami-sama replied, not bothering to look back until he was certain that Black Star was finished tearing his burrito to shreds.
Black Star tucked his bag back into the crook of his arm. "Well, see ya," he said with a grin. Giving the Grim Reaper a mock salute, he took off at an impossible speed, a fine trail of dust following him out of the room.
As the Death Room door opened and closed, Shinigami-sama breathed a sigh of relief, folding his head back over the top of his armchair. "Glad that's over," he thought aloud. Looking up to the endless expanse of cloud and sky above him, he realized that his night wasn't even close to being over. He still had Angela to deal with, not to mention the missions that were going down in Death Vegas around midnight.
For now, he figured it would be more prudent to find something useful to do with his time as he waited for Angela and midnight to arrive. But what to do? The thought lingered in his brain for several seconds. Finding no outlet, it decided to look through his eyes, but the only thing there were clouds.
Well, Shinigami-sama thought with a weary smile, Better get to counting.
Author's Note: Whew! It's done! Sorry this took so long. Life has a way of beating me over the head with a hammer sometimes. Oh, well. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoyed reading the last of the introductory chapters.
Sorry if the Omake was a little long, but I wanted to wrap everything up with a nice little bow, so I had to go a little overboard. It was mainly done to set the time frame, as well as add a few moments of levity. Black Star certainly helped with that, didn't he?
While I'm here, I want to make something absolutely crystal clear about Kid's style of gun fighting. Unless she absolutely has to, Kid holds her pistols right-side up, with her index fingers on the triggers. There is a perfectly logical reason for this. I would explain why, but I want the story to explain it, mostly because the story will probably do a much better job than I ever could down here in the author's notes. Just assume that, unless the narrative states otherwise, Kid holds Jenny and Lenny in the traditional way.
UPDATE: How did I forget about this until now!? If you read the Omake again, you'll notice that I added a little snippet about Tezca Tlipoca in toward the beginning. Pay attention to that line. It'll be important later. That's all I can say for now. For those of you who might think I'm dead...I'm not. I live! I live, I tell you!