Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
~THE REAPER SQUAD~
Joshua, the Composer of the Reapers, one whom struggles with his immortality and isolation, keeping his throne as the Reaper's Composer with a firm yet just hand. He now seeks harmony within his realm, fearing greedy, bloodthirsty eyes lay upon him.
Teresa, one of the few survivors of the Reaper's Game, having now ascended to be one of the closest companions to Joshua in the Reapers. She now seeks power yet peace, one of the few loyal hands to a man besieged in his own home.
Arya, a fallen princess, dethroned and the last known servant of the Archdemon to be among the living. She now seeks redemption, or more accurately, purpose, lest she blinded for the rest of her accursed days.
Follow these three and more in a spinoff, post Ultimate Murder Game project through the combined efforts of Atomic Knight, Gummi Bunnies, Neko Shogun, Krieg, Pretentious Pineapple, and Yun Lee. With more characters to come from us, the tale of Shibuya begins- the tale of the Reaper Squad.
---
Even this late at night, the corridors of the Coalition still bustled with life.
It had been at least a few weeks since the demise of the Arch-Demon, although time was rather skewered what with the according laws of space and time. In some worlds, what equals to years is but mere seconds, and even the dead may never die, strange aeons leading lies. Truly, the Multiverse is frightening, what sort of dark and sinister realms that still exist, even after the Arch-Demon's demise. Some say they can peer into the very face of insanity itself, others see only a void, an endless span of utter nothingness. Whatever the case may be, such theories of quantum laws was the least of concern for hasty medical staff, guards, and other personal of the Coalition.
Physically, the medical bay looked absolutely atrocious. Papers were thrown about, wheelchairs laying on their sides, fragments of the walls still crumbled, exposing some of the wiring that ran within those once pearly, steel walls. What little resources the Coalition had now went into reconstruction, with the sight of a few workers going about, repairing any major, bothersome structural damage to the medical bay. With patients from the war beginning to recover and finally leave, the entire department could best be described in one word- discord.
Trudging past these feverish souls, the task still was but clear. Room after room, she wasn't to be found, this new rookie that Joshua harped about. Instead, what they would find is the mere survivors and refugees of war, innocent people caught in the crossfire, turning to the Coalition vainly for aid. The situation was dire, a'ye, but within time it would eventually resolve itself. The long road of recovery had just begun, the foundations being rebuilt, the purposes of this once powerful organization being rewritten. Alas, for some, the organization has failed them, and for others, it had succeeded in every other way. A song sung in different melodies, a coin with two faces, not one.
"Hmm, these readings make no sense..."
A soft yet annoyed voice echoed outwards, above all else, as if faith had rung a bell of awakening for the two Reapers seeking their newly-born kin. The voice, despite being masculine and elderly, was soft, tender, and with it came an almost northern Italian accent. In one of the rooms stationed in the farthest edges of the medical bay, nearly bordering the research department, a black-clad man could be seen hovering over a petite, teen-aged patient. From his position, he blocked her face from those that peered within, hastily scribbling notes, whispering unintelligibly to himself, some of his words almost sounding like that of another language at times. However, bits and pieces of the black-clad doctor's conversation could be heard, his writing and elegant voice being broken up occasionally by him leaning over, gently resting his hand on the patient's forehead, as to check for any damage or noteworthy abrasions.
"150 over 90...strange interference...hearing is fine...unknown blindness, possibly reaction to medicines....detection of strange lumps underneath the shoulders, resting at the top of the back, near the spine...""
With a deep and heavy sigh, the doctor turned around, not noticing those peering within, briefly revealing a horrific, almost unsettling bird-like mask as he took a nearby seat facing away from the patient, continuing to scribble down notes. The room itself was oddly clean, as if he himself had taken great liberty to ensure comfort for one of his most fascinating patients to date. One lone light hovered over the patient, the only other source being a small lamp by the doctor's workstation, which oddly seemed out of place being construed of a fine oak table lined with strange potions and concoctions.
More interestingly, however, the identity of the patient was finally revealed, confirming any suspicions the duo may of had as it being the rookie. A'ye, underneath piles of white blankets, the bandaged face of Arya Stark could be see within, quietly enjoying a brief respite of sleep. Stitches and scars were common upon the last living servant of the Arch-Demon's face, her physical form barely being able to survive the onslaught of gunfire, arrows, and magic that had been violently hurled at her by those damning agents of the Coalition. Her body seemed frail, although not entirely crippled as it had been weeks ago, where her life dangled on mere threads. Yet, perhaps against even her own will, she breathed life, softly and with a wheeze, her chest heaving up and down in accordance to the breaths of life. Beside her, strangely, resting a small, steel-crafted rapier, with a blade as thin as a needle.
Not dead yet, partially thanks to her will, and partially thanks to the very two looking upon her.
~~~
Sometimes, being an angel wasn't easy. For Joshua, the leader of Shibuya, now happened to be one of those times. Shortly after the great war against Akibahara, he had conversed with Teresa about leaving to retrieve a new, young reaper recruit known as Arya Stark. Simple enough, right? The only thing he would need to do was use his powers to take them to The Coalition. This simple task, however, turned out to be much more difficult than the Composer had expected.
In the past, he had heard rumors of how difficult it was to travel to the Coalition. The only way you could go was if they allowed you to come. In Joshua's opinion, that didn't really matter much. He was affiliated with the Coalition in the sense that he had assisted in reviving some of their dead members, but he had never revealed himself to them. In truth, they didn't know who he was in person at all. So he found his repeated attempts to find and reach the location to be failures. Weeks had passed, in fact, before he was even able to location it. He knew Teresa was likely pissed as hell at him for neglecting to start her conductor training while he looked for a simple recruit, but he couldn't simply abandon a likely very confused Arya. No, he had to find the girl and help take her to where she now belonged.
Anyhow, once he was certain he had located the Coalition, Joshua took Teresa with him and arrived at the location via your typical looking magic portal. When he appeared with her, the corridors looked rather plane and empty. Most of the people who had been working in them had gone their separate ways now that the war was over and there was no need for them anymore. This would make things easier when it came to dealing with running into any guards, but Joshua knew that the two of them would still need to be careful. After all, they had sneaked in instead of having been invited.
Flicking a few locks of silver hair out of his eyes, Joshua glanced over to Teresa. "Okay, I got us here finally. It's your move next. You know this place a little better than I do considering your trip here with that siren. Tell me, where do you think Arya might be? She's a younger girl, who came back from the dead--I bet that was a shocker to them--so where would they keep their dead or possibly injured? My powers are limited here so your help would be appreciated." But where Joshua's powers so limited that he couldn't track Arya with ease? Or was the Composer simply being lazy? One could never really tell with Joshua, the never sneaky one.
~~~
Well, a certain Reaper girl with piercing blue eyes and a pearly complexion framed by waves of silky tar-black hair was... Well, rather unhappy, to say the very least. Though she'd never admit it, she felt very anxious. Sure, yeah, Archdemon Akibahara was finally dead and gone. Joshua was alive and well again. But Teresa Agnes.. Didn't share the 'well' feat. Ever since the day of the demon's demise, when Joshua had nearly died and promoted her due to this, Teresa had begun to doubt herself. She felt like there were others more fitting for the position, and that though Joshua had assured her that it was her he wanted, it just didn't feel right to her.
What was it that made the usually confident, head-strong young woman feel this way? Probably because she didn't like having power. Because she didn't want to end up like John White before her; or to let Joshua down. Hell, maybe she even just felt like an outcast in the world of the.. not-so-dead.
Luckily for her, she had been a bit busy trying to help Joshua- or, in better words, since Joshua had repeatedly screwed up.. Messing with and bothering him about -find Arya, their new recruit. It was her first task he'd given her, as the new Conductor, and simple as it sounded? The Coalition's complex location- or if you were to ask Teresa, Joshua's lack of 'sense of direction' -made it quite difficult. The time it took them to get there was painstakingly long, and Teresa impatiently waited through every second of it.
But, now that they'd gotten there... "Jeez, Joshua, I'm impressed. You finally did something right, huh?" the nineteen-year-old remarked, clapping him on the back playfully, her deep blue eyes lighting up just slightly upon their arrival. Joshua's words earned a look of deep thought, and Teresa seemed to mull this over in her mind.. Though, quickly, it was replaced by a look of confusion. "'Siren'? What're you talkin' about?" she asked, obviously clueless as to what he was referring to. "I only ever came here once..: To train. Alone," she declared.
Then again, it was a little difficult to remember what happened while you were under the control of someone else. Not that Joshua would know she'd been mind controlled in the first place.
But, she did quickly dismiss the comment, going back to the matter at hand. "..Anyway, I have high doubt they woulda kept the kid here. Not after the hell I heard she put the place through," Teresa mused rather nonchalantly, crossing her arms that were littered with scars. "..If she were here, my bets are placed that she'd be in the medbay. I don't exactly think this place has a morgue," she explained, pursing her pink lips. "..So follow me. I think I know the way there."
And, without another word, the young Reaper set off for the medical bay.