Outsider Chronicles: Upon a Crimson Horse

Ever wonder who the three remaining members of Deaths legions were? I did. As it turns out, I really should have seen it coming. After all, Death has three siblings and my Father is one of them.

I actually had an idea like this a while ago, but I kinda forgot about it. Now its back and I figure I might as well give writing it a shot. I'm taking some ideas from Darksiders for some characters, but its not a full on crossover. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Soooo, my death was lame. I mean, getting killed by a box full of paint cans falling on your head isn't exactly something to brag about. I knew I hated art for a reason. Still, at least I got a new life out of it. Oh yeah, I ended up getting reincarnated. I'm still not entirely sure why, but after I died, I woke up again as a baby.

Growing up was simultaneously easy and incredibly frustrating. What? I'd like to see any of you sit through pre-school again without tearing your hair out. Still, I've learnt from my mistakes, so I got through school with no problems and high grades. Or at least, that was the plan. See, the world I had been reborn into wasn't exactly normal, not when the Sun and Moon both spent the day and night laughing at what goes on below, murderers literally eat souls and the Grim Reaper himself is a Headmaster. In case you haven't figured it out, I had been reborn into the world of Soul Eater.

I was raised by my single Father in our little house located on the outskirts of a small town in rural Britain. Dad was an old warrior, although I don't think he was a Meister, and made sure to teach me all he could about fighting and often waxed lyrically and nostalgically about the fights he'd taken part in in his youth. I think he would have prefered to remain on the battlefield over being stuck at home with me, but considering he was missing his right arm and his chest, stomach and legs were covered in horrible and crippling scarring, that wasn't really possible. Despite that, I never once managed to beat him in a spar.

Other than fighting, Dad also taught me to ride and care for his old horse, a massive, ill tempered Clydesdale with a reddish coat and a black mane and tail that I'm pretty sure was a trained warhorse and was, quite appropriately, called Ruin. The massive beast refused to even allow me near him until I managed to grab and him and avoid being thrown for a full minute, a feat I somehow managed when I was ten. Did I mention I had superhuman strength?

Yeah, I was a lot stronger and faster than I looked and had a talent at martial prowers that went well beyond natural and into the insane. I had long suspected that I was something other than Human, but I was never sure what until after I managed to tame Ruin and disarm Dad in a sparring match shortly after. He was still going easy on me of course, but even so, the proud smile he gave when I managed it made me feel like I was walking on air.

That night when we were sitting by the log fire, he suddenly spoke up.

"Warren, you've come a long way," he said, making me jump at the sudden and unexpected rumble of his voice, "Much further and faster than I ever would have imagined."

He looked up and met my bright blue eyes with his own.

"Your ready son."

"Ready for what?" I asked.

"Ready to know the truth about me, about you and about the mantle you will one day take," he said.

He reached down the side of his chair and pulled out a massive, wrapped object with a grunt. It was huge, even bigger than he was and Dad was no small fellow. He rested it across his lap and started unwrapping it, revealing a massive two handed sword patterned with skulls and screaming faces and giving out a Wavelength that tickled at my mind and brought to mind battlegrounds awash with blood and twisted, burnt corpses.

"I'm sure you've realized this by now, but neither you nor I are Human," he said as he ran his fingers over the gleaming blade, "You don't have a Mother, instead you were created when I fragmented my Soul to create an heir."

He looked up and met my eyes again.

"I am one one of Lord Deaths old Guardsmen...and his youngest brother," he said, "I am the Crimson Horseman and the Great Old One of War."

My jaw dropped. Well, that was rather unexpected to say the least. It did explain why he had such a hard on for battle though, although I have no idea what could cause that much damage to the literal embodiment of War.

"I...then what does that make me?!" I spluttered.

Dad smiled thinly.

"It makes you my Son and heir," he said, "One day, when you are older, stronger and wiser, you will mature and become the new War and, hopefully, fix the mistakes I made."

"Mistakes?" I asked.

Dad sighed and turned his head back to stare into the fire.

"Eight hundred years ago, I was apart of my brothers leagons," he said, "We...weren't like the DWMA of today. In those days, Death had a rather extreme sense of justice and we often went to great lengths to maintain it, resulting in mass death and destructions."

He scoffed.

"My siblings and I more than earned our title of Horsemen of the Apocalypse back then."

He shook his head and continued his story. He told me about Asura's descent into madness and his eventual transformation into a Kishin.

"It was during the battle to stop Asura that I was injured," he said, "I have no idea what happened to Fury and Conquest, but Death managed to defeat Asura and seal him away. After that, I left the Legion, hoping to recover over time. Unfortunately, my injuries were to great and it was all I could do to prevent myself from slipping into a catatonic state. Even so, I still lost a couple of centuries and I'm still a shell of what I was."

He sighed.

"I'm tired Warren, old, injured and tired. I just want to rest, but I can't. I know that, one day, Asura will get lose and cover the world in Madness again. I may be War, but I agree with Death that it is important to maintain the Balance of the World. Without that, everything would come crumbling down."

"But theres nothing you can do about it because of your injuries," I said, "Thats why you made me, right? To help battle the Kishin?"

"That was part of it," said Dad, "But I won't force you. Right now, your powers would barely be a blip to Asura and if you fought him alone, he'd turn you to dust. Even at my peak, he out stripped me in raw power, although I did have the advantage in skill. However, if you wish to help the DWMA in the future, I won't stop you."

I sat in silence for a moment as I tried to absorb it all. I was the son of War and a being not unlike Kid. How was I even supposed to react to that? Not only that, but Dad was well aware of the fact that Asura would get lose and clearly wanted to do something to stop it. The question is, what should I do? He'd made it clear that it was my choice, so I could keep my nose out if I wanted to. But...could I really?

I wasn't as battle happy as my Dad, but my very nature as a War God meant that my Soul was already crying out in glee at the idea of the inevitable battles that would unfold. Besides, even without that, I didn't like the idea of not offering my help if it could shorten the war and prevent some of the unpleasantness that came from Asura being loose.

Decision made, I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Well, if Asura's that powerful, I guess I need more training," I said.

Dad smiled.

"That you will," he said.

After that, my training kicked up to the next level. If I thought Dad was a brutal taskmaster before, now he was the Devil. In addition to swordsmanship, he taught me how to use every weapon you can think of, the basics of fighting with a Weapon partner and his own brand of Martial Arts that focused on overwhelming power and utterly obliterating the target at the cost of defence. Rather fitting for a War god. Eventually though, I hit a wall. Dad didn't need a Weapon Partner to channel his powers, but I wasn't as powerful as he was. I'd probably be able to replicate that ability once I matured, but that wouldn't be for a very long time yet. Until then, I needed a partner.

The original plan was to head to the DWMA, but you had to be at least 12 to get in, which meant waiting another two years. However, the issue was solved quite spectacularly two years after the reveal of my true nature.

I had gone into the nearest town for the day since Dad had given me the day off. I was wandering around a shopping center and wondering if it was worth buying a hard copy of the new Civ game or just get it on Steam (I liked games where you could start wars), when a loud shout from behind me made me turn, just in time for something small to plow into my stomach and knock me flat.

"Ow."

I felt a weight on my stomach and looked down to see that the person who had plowed into me was a short, pretty girl who looked maybe a year younger than me with very long, black hair with an ahoge (yep, Anime logic HOOOO!), dark brown eyes and looked to be of Asian descent. She was wearing tattered clothes that were to big for her and looked like they'd been fished out of the trash.

"Not that I mind having a pretty girl on top of me, but do you mind getting off?" I asked blandly.

The girl went red and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, there was another loud shout and she pailed. She glanced over her shoulder, before scrambling to her feet, kneeing me in the gut as she did, and took off as fast as she could. I sat up, rubbing my stomach as I watched her go, before a pair of rather large, men came running past me, shouting after the girl. I narrowed my eyes and followed. This didn't look good.

It didn't take long to find them and when I did, I felt my blood start to boil. The two men had cornered the girl in an alley and were advancing on her with an air that they were about to do something rather unpleasant. Literally. As a War God, I could sense violent intent and get some idea of what the source of said intent had in mind. Both men intended to hurt the girl, but one of them had some less than pure intentions towards her.

I growled in fury as I felt my Soul pulse and crimson fire momentarily flared around my clenched fists. I stalked forwards, intending to show the two meatheads why pissing off a God of War was a horrible idea, but before I could take more than a couple of steps, one of the men reached for the girl and she moved. There was a flash of steel and one of the men stumbled back, blood pouring from the new gash in his hand and the severed stump of his ring and little fingers. I stopped and stared. Where had that come from? She wasn't carrying a weapon, I would have sensed it! Then, I took a closer look and saw her Soul. She was a Weapon. Whats more, her Soul was powerful and her Wavelength a match for my own. I grinned. I think I just found my partner.

"YOU BITCH!" roared the other thug, "YOUR DEAD!"

He whipped out a knife and raised his arm, but before he could try and stab the frightened girl, I was in front of him and grabbing his wrist. Despite the fact he was much bigger than me and about twice as wide, I was able to hold his hand back with one hand without even breaking a sweat.

"Thats quite enough of that," I said.

"What the fuck?!" snarled the thug, "Let go of me!"

"Ok."

I punched him in the stomach, bending him over my fist, and let him drop to the ground where he immediately started puking up his lunch. I picked up the knife he'd been using and dropped it into a nearby bin, before turning to the girl, who was staring at me with wide eyes.

"Hello again," I said, ignoring the two whimpering men on the floor, "Maybe this time we can have an actual conversation."

I moved towards her, intending to help her up, but before I could, she recoiled and pointed her arm at me as it changed into a Katana blade.

"S-stay back!" she stuttered.

I sighed and stepped forwards, placing a hand on the blade and pushing it down.

"You don't need that," I said, "I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I think I can help you."

She eyed me with a look that suggested that I was full of it.

"How can you help me?" she growled.

"Well, judging from your clothes and appearance, I'd say that your homeless, right?"

The girl looked down as her hand shifted back to normal. She nodded and sniffed.

"My parents kicked me out when I changed for the first time," she said.

I scowled. Unfortunately, that wasn't unheard of and resulted in a lot of Weapons being found on the streets by DWMA agents. Of course, they couldn't find them all and since Weapons were powerful and dangerous, there were plenty of less reputable organizations that would jump at the chance to get their hands on one.

"How would you like to get off the streets and have a real home?" I asked.

The girl fixed me with a suspicious look again.

"What do you want?" she asked.

I smiled.

"My name is Warren Bellum," I said, "And I could use a good Weapon partner."

The girls eyes went wide.

"Y-your a Meister?" she asked.

I made a face and a sort of gesture.

"I am, but I'm not technically affiliated with the DWMA," I said, "My Dad was before he retired, but I'm still too young to attend. I was going to go this year, but if you join me, I won't bother and just train with Dad."

I held out my hand.

"So then kid, what do you say?"

The girl eyed my hand for a moment, before she slowly reached out and took it.

"Shana," she said, "My name is Shana."

Right, that'll do. So, a new God has entered the game and he is more than capable of adding another level to the playing field.

For those interested, I chose Warrens name because Warren could be shortened to War and Bellum is latin for War. Kinda on the nose, but I really don't care.

In terms of power, hes currently as strong as Kid (or will be once we get to the start of the series), but at full potential, Kid will be stronger than Warren.

Yes, Shana is the Shana from Shakugan no Shana and her Weapon form is that of the Nietono no Shana. Thats a lot of Shana's. I originally planned to give him Chaoseater as a normal, if powerful, weapon, but I like the idea of him being a Meister. Plus, I want to use Shana for something.

I actually have plans for Fury and Conquest to show up in the future and the beginnings of one idea that will be rather interesting. Oh, and just a heads up, the Horsemen aren't actually the bringers of the End Times, it was just a title they were given eight hundred years ago. Incidentally, Fury's a woman. And yes, that is a clue as to what I have in mind.

And with that, I'm gonna end this here. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!