Lord Death had a strict definition of order. The rules were black and white, and so long as someone didn't reap and consume an innocent soul, they would be guaranteed a long life. While every child grew up being told to be wary of mirrors and the watchful eyes that peered through them, people still thought they could get away with breaking the rules that governed them. Death City had its hands full catching the wayward demons that stalked in the night.
In the shadows, the Star Clan took care of the rest. During his grim days, when warlords were celebrated as heroes of virtue, Lord Death was proudly served by Charon and his children. Everyone knew if you put two coins in the eyes of the dead, a member of the Star Clan would come to guard them on their way to the afterlife. With kishen eggs running rampant, it did the grieving good to know their loved one's souls would have an armed escort.
Time marched onward, and the age of the sword came to an end. Comfortable with long standing peace, people no longer felt the need to riffle through drawers for spare change anytime someone died. Lord Death had tried for a few generations to find a new place in the world for the Old Ways, but ultimately it was deemed time to retire them. For the Star Clan, whose identity had been forever been entwined in the business of death, the elders had hoped one day Lord Death would change his mind. They continued to train in secret for the day they'd be called upon again.
"They're hoping he can be dealt with quietly." Genbu told the head of the family. He rolled up the letter from the Nakatsukasa family to be burned.
The Star Clan's fate now rested in the hands of a silver-haired woman, aged well beyond her years from stress. While her brother had fought to achieve recognition in the ways of the assassin, she had focused on espionage and other things the DWMA deemed useful. It wasn't glamourous, but a much-needed step in the right direction. Under her leadership, their family was slowly mending it's tarnished reputation.
"They do understand we don't control how the kishens behave, don't they?" At least they weren't asking for him to be captured alive. Venus took a long drag on her pipe. "The most we can offer is a dignified death. If he's already killed people, there's no hiding it from Lord Death." After the disaster with White Star, they'd gained a reputation for handling kishen eggs with a moderate amount of discretion. It was one of many burdens her brother had saddled them with. The shadow mouth breathing in the corner of her office was the other. She flung a ninja star at the corner of the room, drawing her nephew out into the light with an inelegant thud. "Have the decency to bleed quietly when you've been caught instead of drawing more attention to yourself." She'd only aimed for his shoulder, he would have been fine, but he chose to catch it instead. "And you honestly wonder why I haven't assigned you any missions yet."
Black Star was only fourteen, and being skilled beyond his years had brought out the same over confidence she'd seen in her brother. Only this time, she could make sure the idiots in Western branch of the family didn't enable it like before. He dressed like a proper ninja, but only when he wanted to ask something of her. The fact he bothered to pull his hair back was evidence enough he thought he'd get to go outside.
"Out with it." Smoke curled out of her mouth in skull shaped patterns thicker than her patience. He dared glance toward Genbu for support before speaking.
"The DWMA is holding an anniversary party." Black Star said. His eyes raked through his bangs as he tried to remember what he'd been instructed to say. "It's open to the public, so as a sign of us working with them again, I thought I could go."
"I already picked out an ambassador for the party." She glared at Genbu. He was a quiet man, clothed in dark leathers and chains. Easily a head taller than her, he masked his raw strength with delicately applied eyeliner and a far off stare. He knew better than to drag Black Star into anything given how impulsive the child was. Once she found out who had told him about the party, there would be consequences. "Why should I send you?"
There were a number of reasons his cousins and mentors had given him. For one, it wasn't like he had any field missions to go on. There wasn't any other skills he could practice being locked in the training grounds, so the only other option he had to grow was as an ambassador. Haruko had done well in that role and often said he had the same charismatic spark needed to get people to liken their family to the heroes at the DWMA. Even her manager Suzuka agreed that it would be a good look on the family if he, as White Star's son, were to be seen on friendly terms with meisters his own age. It would help cement that Star Clan trainees were exactly like other meisters.
"I deserve to be there." Even though he'd been coached on what to say, all the polite phrasing ran out of his head. "I'm the closest relative to the head of the family."
"Sirius is the closest." At the mention of her son's name, Black Star flinched. "As far as the rest of the world is concerned, White Star is dead. Seeing as you still can't seem to remember that, I don't think it's a good idea to have you at a publicized event."
"Then give me a mission that isn't public." He could see her shutting out his voice already. Genbu refused to speak in his defense. "I'll never be able to proved myself if you keep shoving me off-"
"Genbu, tell them I'll have someone on the case within the day." She waved her hand for Black Star to be taken out of the room. "I need time to select someone." Genbu was stronger than him, and not who he was mad at, so when a heavy leather clad hand fell on his shoulder, he didn't shake it off. He did however send as much spite as he could his aunt's way without getting his older cousin in trouble. The double doors to her office swung shut.
"I'm sorry." Genbu said. Black Star balled up all his frustration and punched the nearest wall. Wood caved like brittle straw, but pain radiated up his arm all the same.
"FUCK!" A whole week of preparation down the drain. He trained harder than any other ninja and yet he was still stuck at the same rank as most eight-year-olds. It wasn't fair.
"Your old man wouldn't want you going out there either." Genbu said, making Black Star show him the self-inflicted injury. "It's a bunch of stuffy rich people in suits, and by the time we'd get you out there, they'd change whatever rules they had just to show who's an outsider." Very few willingly talked about his father, particularly when it came to how overly protective everyone was of Black Star. However, to imply his aunt was among his supporters was frankly untrue. She kept him from transferring to a different branch of the family, or going on missions, or leaving the village without a baby sitter. As far as she was concerned, the best thing he could do for the family was to live quietly out of sight. "Elaine's going to need to take a look at this or it'll get infected." That sounded like another lecture waiting to happen.
"It's not fair." He didn't want to be seen trying not to cry about his aunt being, well, her usual disdainful self. The way everyone was talking, it seemed like he actually had a shot at getting his first mission, he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. He was letting all of them down.
-v-
Elaine's room was full of poisons and antidotes, some organically growing in the window sill and others carefully concealed in bejeweled bottles. She was a gold encrusted porcelain doll decorated in vintage lace. With a cooling touch she was able to pick the splinters out of Black Star's hand with the same precision as tweezers.
"Love, there are dozens of things in this house designed to be punched." She said with the crackle of a wax record. "You couldn't wait until you were near one of them?" Becoming a kishen egg could grant someone an exorbitant amount of power if their soul was strong enough to withstand it others, like Elaine, became further twisted by their weakness. She was too fragile to go outside of the mountainous village and he hated being compared to her, let alone lectured by her. He took his hand back after she wrapped it up.
"How is he?" He couldn't see souls like other people could, so he had to rely on the more spiritually inclined to tell him how aware his father was before attempting to visit.
"It's not a good day." There was starting to be less and less of them. No wonder his aunt thought she could just do whatever she wanted with the remains of the Western branch. "If you need to talk-"
"It's fine." He'd just have to come up with his own way to prove himself without his aunt intervening. It couldn't be that hard. She had mentioned some kind of soul leeching sword was running around before she caught him. If he could just find a way out of the compound. "Is that plant supposed to look like that?" Elaine turned toward the foxglove she'd been trying to nurse back to health, but it had started to rot at the root.
"I guess it is time to let it go." She sighed. He offered as casually as he could to take it out for her. That would at least get him to the back wall without raising any suspicion.
-v-
It was strange. He'd been able to follow the Uncanny Sword's path up until a point. Then the set of foot prints he'd been following disappeared. Whispers of a human being puppeted around would surface, but the descriptions were always different. Snow seemed to cover up what remaining traces there were, as well as urging any leads inside to huddle by heaters and warm food. Hunting down a kishen egg alone turned out to be kind of hard.
There was only so long Black Star could be out. As it was, he was going to get in trouble for sneaking out and he had nothing to show for it. Even sitting high above the city so the streetlights twinkled like stars wasn't helping.
On a snow-covered bridge something small was going toe to toe with a large grey wolf in a prison uniform. The girl handled her scythe in swift, florid motions, barely touching it as heat radiated from the blade. It was almost like it was alive. Their opponent summoned big blocks of ice from nothing. Even with shaky aim, it was a spectacular display of magical power. It wasn't often Black Star got to watch someone spar with an immortal, and he was content to see how long someone so small could fend off something clumsily trying to kill her.
Then the girl turned toward Black Star's hiding spot in the shadows with green eyes almost glowing in the night. He was yards away, lingering high above the two on the bridge. There should have been no way for her to notice him, let alone get distracted from her fight by him. One fatal misstep had her gutted by an icicle.
She staggered back into the snow, too far from any cover to drag herself to safety. In situations like this, Black Star was supposed to leave things be. The DWMA existed to handle magical anomalies and he wasn't even supposed to be here. It was her fault that she chose to look at him instead of the enemy she'd been fighting.
Emerging from his hiding place, he zipped down to the pavement below. The snow was slick under his boots, making his usual speed more of a disadvantage. Electricity crackled around one of the wolf's eyes. With a wide grin and large teeth, the wolf laughed.
"Well, I'll be, and here I thought Lord Death was done using death demons." It didn't want to eat her soul; it just was supposed to maim her. As far as he was concerned, Black Star could clean up the mess. "Guide her well little ferry man. She earned it." It's wounds were healing over, and severed limbs were growing back with ease. The wolf backed down into the night, leaving Black Star with the girl in the snow.
She wasn't dead yet. Eyes open to the sky, they faded in an out of a pale green as she tried to hold onto her consciousness. Each blink slower than the last. Between the snow and the blood loss, her features had gone pale. Through the layers it was hard for Black Star to see the rise and fall of her chest. He was crummy at taking pulses even when the cold wasn't numbing his fingertips. So, he reached out blindly to the soul underneath him.
Cold like steal, and feather soft, it was firmly attached to her still so there was hope. The spark of the resonance link had her eyes fly open, but it wasn't long until she was pulled back toward unconsciousness. Elaine might be able to fix her up if he could just figure out how to sneak her back into the village with a hundred or so pounds of dead weight to carry.
A black and red scythe blade sliced through his shoulder and dangerously close to his lung.
"Get away from her." With white hair and bloody red eyes, the half-formed weapon that stuck him was shaking from the cold. He was also a DWMA student, he shouldn't be attacking random civilians.
"The fuck is your problem?" He held up his hands to show he hadn't been armed. "She's still alive." Maybe it was fear that had the weapon rattled. He couldn't seem to tell if he should keep Black Star at the end of his blade or jump in-between them. "One of you has to get stronger if this is your response to a little blood." Even unable to keep her eyes open, she still manage to land a decent kick to his shin, though she seemed to have been aiming higher. Blood was a fear non-combatants usually had, maybe weapons weren't supposed to be warriors themselves. Not that he'd know since no one in his family had actually been inside the DWMA. It was all handshake deals and whispering at mirrors. "You're going to have to put that away unless you want me to carry her."
"Let go of her first." Black Star's hands were empty and he was standing at least a foot away. "The resonance link, drop it." He hadn't even noticed. After letting go, the snow against his skin was ten degrees colder. Her weapon partner skirted around to collect her, all the while keeping an eye on Black Star. She ended up draped up against the handlebar of a motorcycle in an awkward side saddle position. All offers to help were met with great disdain.
"You're welcome, asshole." No wonder his family always stayed out of their business; they were such snooty jerks. He'd put off going home long enough. At least after getting yelled at there'd be a sympathetic ear to listen to him. Anything was better than getting glared at in the snow.
-v-
She had tried to be careful. After Soul's injury she especially had been cautious around the missions they took. Boring, one kishen egg missions, that was their plan to grind back up to the level Soul had been at before Maka's judgment had gotten them a big fat F. The werewolf wasn't apart of that plan.
They hadn't been able to hurt it, but she'd seen the signs of fatigue. Sloppy form, misplaced spells, she would have been able to outlast him with enough strategy. Only, she felt them being watched. At first, she assumed it was the witch. It hadn't been the first time one had popped out just when she'd gotten the upper hand.
It had the shape and scales of a kishen egg, but it was the wrong color. Amusement at the scent of battle, surprise when she narrowed in on it, and then cold ice had stabbed her. Between the snow and the loss of blood, she lost all body heat. Everything tingled, there was a ringing in her left ear, and her vision clouded over from left to right. First blacked by shadow and eyelid, then white as her nerves screamed out for control.
It approached her, jolted her soul with the intensity of a defibrillator, like it could will her into getting back on her feet. Soul was shouting as she latched onto the sensation, so scared of falling under when there was still a battle to be won. She had to get up, that thing was calling her weak and Soul was scared. Kishen eggs weren't blue. Why was it blue?
The vast pressure of nothingness haunts her, waiting in the wings as the connection snaps and she is left with nothing to hold onto. Too weak to shout or move a finger. Something physically moves her and she can't do anything to stop it. All she smells is blood as the last of her consciousness slips through her grasp.