Night Ninety Three
Age 1991
The Hotel...
"Wait! We're really going to just do nothing?" Ken shouted as she raised her arms up.
"Inside voices-"
"Shut up Hero!" Ken yelled smacking the boy over the head.
"Ow! I was on your side!"
The group was finally back in the hotel they had been provided by the city. There Ken had gotten pretty mad at the lack of things happening...
"Are we seriously not going to do anything?" Ken hissed.
"Yes," Dawson said simply. "I don't care what you think you smelled. We have no proof of how your nose works. There could also be an explanation to this."
"I know what I smelled..." Ken muttered rubbing her nose. "It was awful..."
Dawson let out a heavy sigh. "Look... Later we will look into this. When we get back I'll file a report on it. But you can't just burst in tearing down walls and yelling loudly like you two did. That isn't how the law works. We are on a mission. We can't just go and do whatever we want even if we think something else is going on."
Ken turned away from the man as she let out several small mutters of breath. "Gah... This is so stupid!" She yelled storming off. She came back a few seconds later punching Hero over the head then turned back around and left.
"I don't like her..." Hero sighed rubbing his busted lip.
Sif gave a small eye-roll as she folded arms. "That girl is such a brat..."
"You were the same way when you were her age-" A black hand of darkness shot out slamming Nick into the wall. "So...Sorry..." Nick gasped out hitting the floor.
The room seemed to grow silent as a pause hit them all.
"Recruits... Why don't you both go back to your room, and talk to Ken." Dawson asked them.
"That doesn't seem like a-" Kitsune began but was cut off by a hyper Sera.
"It would he my honor to bestow the wisdom of the Nobles on her!" Sera announced.
"Yeah, whatever," Dawson said not caring. "Hey, Hero..." He grabbed the boy's shoulder pulling him closer to him as he began to whisper to him. "Listen. I've grown rather fond of Ken. She's small and adorable."
"Umm... Phasing..."
"What I mean to say is this. Watch over her for me. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid..." The Red-Demon said quietly as his yellow eyes peered into Hero's silver colored eyes. "Guard her."
"O...Okay... Why me?"
"You know why."
"I actually don't?"
"I'm serious. Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. I've seen that girl. Just looking at her I can tell. She's going to do great things."
"Am I gonna do great things?"
"Fifty-fifty."
"Oh... Well shit."
"Sounds about right." Kitsune smirked.
"Well screw you too Fox!"
"Heads up." Sif called out tossing something over to Light who caught it. "That's a file on the corpse look it over tonight recruits." As she spoke Nick, Sera, Lucy, and Emma were moving towards the exit.
"Where are you going?" Irene asked frowning slightly.
"Someone has to stay with the Noble." Nick shrugged. "We're his body guards after all. Plus I am kind of interested in looking into those Vaults... Although I'm not gonna go in guns ablazing like the two idiots did. I'm gonna go in stealthy like and I'll let you know what I find."
"Isn't Sif going with you guys?"
"Nope!" Sif said letting out a popping sound with her lips. "The bed here is closer and I'm going to bed."
"Of course you are..."
Hero took the file away from Light as he began to look it over with a small frown on his face. "Skeletons were removed... Why does that sound familiar?"
"What do you mean?" Irene asked taking the file away from him She glanced down at the pictures of the corpse and got a sick look on her face as she resisted the urge to vomit. "Oh God..." She quickly threw the file over to Kitsune who caught it.
"Whoa! He's like a bear skin rug!" The Fox Noble said with wide eyes. "Is it bad I think that would make kickass furniture?"
"Yes!" Everyone in the room yelled.
"Is it really that bad?" Light asked. "The corpse I mean... Not whatever Kitsune is wanting to do."
"It's pretty bad..." Irene groaned her head in the trash can as she began gagging. "Who could do that to a corpse."
Dawson patted the girl on the back as he frowned. "I haven't seen it yet. Hand me the file." He didn't wait for a response as a red tendril like whip fired out of his wrist wrapping around the file and pulling it over to him. "Geez..." He hissed when he saw the state the corpse was in. "...It does kind of look like a bearskin rug now that I think about it..."
That was apparently all Irene's stomach could take as she began to throw up.
"Alright, alright." Hero sighed moving over to Irene and rubbing her back as he helped her up. "Let's get you back to the room."
The blonde girl just gave a small nod as she covered her mouth with her hands.
"Catch." Dawson said tossing the file back over to Hero. "Sif was right. You should look over that file... Who ever this killer is he's brutal."
"You can say that again." Hero nodded. "Still... Something about this... It seems so familiar. Where have I seen this before..."
***
A few hours later...
The Void...
"Alright asshole!"
"Hello Ken... It is good to see you too..." Labby sighed.
Ken set up no longer in the real world. All around her for miles, was a pool of red liquid. In the distance a pissed off Lab coat rested. It was the same old landscape staring down at the small girl.
"How exactly did you get here?" Labby asked. "I did not pull you here? You came here yourself?"
"Not important."
"I disagree..."
"Well to bad! I'm here so start answering my questions!" Ken announced pointing up at the massive Lab coat.
A large sigh seemed to shake the large red void as the massive lab coat slowly pulled itself towards the tiny girl staring down at her. "Very well girl... What is it you want to know now?"
"Were my senses right?" Ken asked. "Did I smell corpses? I wasn't able to smell them until I was in the room but once I was close I began to smell them. Being close to Hero though blocked most of the scent until we were actually in the world."
"I'm not surprised your nose couldn't stop smelling Hero's scent-"
"Don't say it like that!" Ken said as her face flushed red and she covered her face with her hands. "That makes me sound like a pervert smelling Hero!"
"I didn't mean it like that you foolish girl..." Labby let out a sigh as he shook the spot where a head should have been. "You are a Seraphin. A weapon created in order to help out with Project God and save this world from the Ever's. Row is 'that' man, as well as having a Crest within him. It is no surprise to me that you being a Seraphin would be able to sense him. Much like how you can feel Shelly due to her having-"
"I'm already lost..."
The Lab Coat let out a sigh shaking the void again, again, again... "What was your question? You asked if your sense's were correct." He hummed as a small silver line came out of his sleeve and slowly moved towards Ken.
"Hey, hey, hey! I've had enough tentacles for one day!"
"Shut up. I need to read your mind and scan you." Labby said flatly as the thread placed itself upon her head. He let out a small hum as he seemed to glow a bit. "From what I can tell that was indeed the scent of blood... However that isn't the alarming thing..."
"It's not!"
"No..."
"What's more important than the fact the Noble is hiding dead bodies?" Ken asked frowning at the giant lab coat.
"I, or rather you at the time, smelled myself... There is another Labby inside of that building... A Seraphin..."
"Viper..." Fear entered Ken's voice as her body shook for a moment. "I guess that would explain the blood I was smelling..." She shivered a moment as the voice played back in her head.
'Let me devour you Ken... Become one with me...'
"If she's here..."
"This isn't good..." Labby hummed.
"I need to tell everyone right away." Ken nodded. "This is bad... Like mega bad!"
"For once it would seem that we agree on something. Viper must be stopped no matter the cost. She killed her version of me, allowing her to become insane with the power. We exist as a gate. Without us a Seraphin would be flooded with all the murderous hate and sins of the Bestia Macht going mad... They would become a Bestia Macht, and yet Viper managed to gain control of that power turning herself into a human Bestia Macht... The Seraphin's were humans solution for God much like the Rebirth Project, and the Divine Children. Seraphin's were an attempt to recreate the Dragon Clan the Crest Users... You must be careful Ken..."
"I will..." Ken nodded. "Later Labby. I'm about to save the day!" Ken slashed her hand down creating another rift as she stepped back out leaving the void.
And entering the real world as she woke back up.
Ken's eyes opened up seeing the pitch darkness of the room. The sounds of several people breathing hit her ears. There were five people if she didn't count herself.
'Right... It was getting late so we all went to sleep.' Ken thought to herself as she laid face down on the carpeted floor. She was back in the room she shared with the other recruits though Squad Seven Recruits were not here. Naturally, there was only two beds so she was currently in one of the beds. She could feel the sleeping figure of Irene next to her. Since Squad Seven wasn't here Light and Kitsune were in the other bed both of them also asleep. Ken slowly tilted her head up slightly careful not to wake anyone. She saw Hero sitting a desk being the only other one awake besides her. He was staring down at several files reading in the dark and mummering quiet sounds underneath his breath as he read.
Ken heard him say the name "Reaper" but other than that he was to quiet and the many heart beats, plus breathing stopped her senses from fully working.
Ken let out a small sigh as she listened to the quiet breathing of the room. The first was to her left. That was Irene. From the sounds of it, she was having some kind of nightmare as her breathing was heavy.
Two more breathing sounds came from the bed Kitsune, and Light, were in. And the forth sound came from the desk Hero was at.
'It is probably pretty late...' Ken thought rolling over slowly. 'I should probably get back to sleep...'
Her ears twitched again as she listened to the sounds of the five people, other than her, that were breathing.
Five?
Ken's eyes suddenly widened. 'Wait a minute... Irene is to me. Kitsune, and Light are in one bed. Hero is up ahead at the front of the room... That's four...' The sounds of the fifth person came from the front of the room... Where the door was...
Someone else was in the room with her...
"God damn it!" Hero said suddenly nearly making Ken yelp and jump. "Why the hell can't I figure out who this Reaper guy is... Why do I even know the name Reaper. God this is so hard!" Hero sighed leaning back and throwing his legs up on the desk. "Damn it..."
Ken listened quietly hearing nearly silent footsteps inch forward walking towards Hero who had his back turned on the door not knowing of the mysterious intruder who was inside the room with him.
Ken took a deep breath before flipping herself over slowly, and staring towards the door.