This is Rated R for blood, violance and similar themes. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Do Angels Fear the Reaper? CHAPTER 1 In the city of Mospeada, nation of Urameshi, Planet IG88 rested a bar. People drank themselves to sleep here. Drowning away their bad days in the subtle and not so subtle drinks provided there. The bartender was a kindly old man named Peter Fitsgerald and walking through the doors of the bar was a very angry and depressed red head. A subtle moan and then a scream, “This is fucken ridiculous!” the read head walked further into the room, her hands in her leather jacket pockets which barely covered her black sports bra. Her head was hung low enough for her rather ragged looking red hair to fall nearly in front of her face. The black bandana tied around her forehead was barely enough to keep the hair in place. It looked like some old hair style from another planet yet despite how messy or not messy it looked, she wore it like it was no big deal. She sat down upon a bar stool to the right of a chubby man who had apparently drunk himself asleep. He was wrapped up in his sweaty arms and snoring not so subtly. No one seemed to care and this red head paid no attention to him. The bartender grabbed a shot glass and washed it with a wet towel. “May I get you something, Kei?” he asked calmly. He could tell something was wrong, well the whole bar could tell. They all tried to ignore her, those who weren’t drunk out of their minds. “Sake, no wait, scotch,” Kei muttered and rested her forehead upon her arms. She was exhausted and looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Her face was also dirtied with tears. Something was definitely wrong with her. “Alright, Kei, do me a favor,” he gestured as he spoke despite the point that Kei wasn’t looking, “An old friend to another, what’s the matter with you? I never saw you like this before,” Peter turned and grabbed a fresh bottle of scotch off the counter behind him. He poured it into the shot glass and slid it over to Kei. She grabbed it at once and downed it quickly. She growled to herself feeling the sting. She hasn’t drunk alcohol in some time now, at least nothing this heavy. “Kei, what’s wrong?” “She,” Kei muttered, “left me,” she choked out those words. She didn’t want to talk about it but knew she had to. “Yuri? You two have been together since college. Heh, I can remember when we first met, you skipped class and tried to get me to sell you beer about every time you could,” “Ah shove it, Pete! She fucken left me,” she looked up at Pete looking rather angry, “Damn it,” she banged her fist upon the counter top, “She got married to some cute guy, she’s gone, she won’t see me again,” she slid the glass over and tapped it upon the counter. She then looked down at her arms thinking about the past few days. “Married? Damn, I’m sure you two can see each other still,” he refilled the shot glass and slid it back. “The wedding was beautiful, all I could do was cry for her happiness and my own for her, but, but, damn it,” she drank the shot glass down and slid it back. “I so wanted to punch Robert in the nose, couldn’t bring myself to do it though,” “She will find a house to live at with her husband, right? You could live with them,” “That’s not it!” she yelled. Pete took a step back, but listened intently. “Look, Pete, she’s off on her honeymoon now, meanwhile I went to the 3WA headquarters. Fricken assholes,” “What about them?” he refilled it again and continued to listen. “They,” she stared into the shot glass and saw how messed up her face was, she also saw that she was still crying over all this, “introduced me my new partner to replace Yuri since she retired. I went ballistic, I couldn’t control myself. I ran out of the station and left. Those last few days, I have,” she drank some of the shot and continued, “no memory, I don’t know what happened! I lost three days of my life,” she looked up at Pete again as if to beg for an explanation. She knew she couldn’t get one though. “I know what that’s like,” “No, damn it, I realized how old I was. I’m 23 now. I’m old and I’m not getting any younger,” “Heh, Kei, I’m almost 40, and you are still an attractive young lady,” Kei rubbed her face at the comment, “Peeete, I don’t go for oold men,” she started to slur, the alcohol now set in. She drank the rest of the scotch and set it down in front of her. She put her head down upon her arms there. “I also realized something far more hurtful,” “What was that? If I may ask,” Pete grabbed the glass as if to ask if she wanted another. She didn’t reply to the movement. “Pete, she left me. “The Lovely Angels are no more,” she went silent at the statement. The thought made her sigh. “She’s gone and I was left to continue working, but I can’t, I can’t work,” her voice grew a bit silent “without her, I need her.” She looked up at Pete for a moment, “Pete, I need her,” “You were sisters bonded by friendship. I admired how you two talked and argued. I’d say you were related if it wasn’t for your obvious off world nationalities,” “Any way you look at it. She was the only thing that kept me alive, kept me living, kept me moving, even kept me on track,” she was definitely buzzed now, she looked up and nodded. Pete poured another. She took it and drank it fast again. “I haven’t,” she hiccupped, “shlept in daysh, thish might help, thanksh Pete,” “You take it easy there. The drinks are on me this time. I’m confident you and Yuri can work it out, sides wouldn’t it be great if you could take care of Yuri’s kid?” Pete laughed. Time sure flew by. Kei didn’t respond, but Pete felt like she heard well enough. He washed the shot glass and walked over to some other customers. The guy and Kei slept there on the bar as peaceful as a drunken stupor gets. A couple hours passed and night time approached quickly. People walked in and ordered beers, sake, and whiskey. Some stayed, others left. Another hour passed and night time set in. The darkened veil cremated the night sky into an ashy gray. Footsteps approached the bar. The streets emptied. No cars would speed by, no movement would add to the clamor of the boots which drew closer. Those boots slammed the ground in casual yet strong movement. They were heard subtly by the people in the bar. They were much underrated. The boots smacked the ground with a thunderous pitch yet no one noticed how deafening they could be. Some were too drunk to care. Pete couldn’t care enough to notice. The sounds of the bar served to drown out the threat which approached. They all took notice once the boots brought the figure into full sight. The shadow of night had born his most fearsome customer, the urban legend himself. People stared in horror as if deer in the headlights of a semi truck. He threw a glance at everyone in the room through the hood upon his head. “H-holy Sh, w, welcome, s-sir, the ya-usual?” Pete stammered, nearly dropping the glass upon the ground. His arms and legs were shaking in a learned response from the first time he saw this demon. “One mug of root beer, chilled as per usual, Mr. Fitzgerald,” he spoke with a dire formality which spoke of intelligence and honor. The being stepped forward one slow step at a time. As he drew nearer to the bar counter, people who could move quickly did. They got up and ran out of the bar, knocking chairs and tables over. They left some of their bags and jackets behind without a thought. Some were screaming others crying with fear. They ran out of the bar as fast as they could. A few fell down and crawled out. They would do anything they could to be rid of him, to be away from this demon. His black cloak covered him completely. The hood covered his face giving his identity to no one. No one cared to know what was beneath the hood and speculation knew no end. The cloak was fully matted with dried blood with some parts splashed and dripping with blood. Each foot print was bloody making a fine mess in the bar. Pete feared for his life. He poured the root beer and set it on the counter. He then ran into the back room. Everyone in the bar may die and he did not want to be one of them. Once he got there he realized what a coward he was. Kei would be left alone with that mass serial killer and he could do nothing. He couldn’t dare think about going back in there. Hours passed once again and midnight came and went. Kei had been sleeping nearly 8 hours. The most sleep she has had in a long time. She coughed and yawned. Her head was pounding. She winced in pain and rubbed her face. She felt her hand stick to her, but she didn’t bother to notice anything different than the normal. She had been drunk and tried to recount all the things she said to Pete. All she could bring to mind were thoughts of Yuri and her husband in bed together. She shook her head and stretched her arms upwards with a bigger yawn. She then opened her eyes to find the room pitch black. It looked like Pete closed early tonight. “What time is it, ow,” she grabbed her forehead again and decided to rough it. No one replied. She figured the room was empty. She grabbed her face and held onto it. She then got up slowly from her barstool and walked over around the counter. She took her hand to the wall looking for the light switch. Upon finding it she flipped it on and made her way back, covering her eyes. The light would be too much for her, she had to be sitting before she could see again. She sat down on her bar stool and slowly opened her eyes. The counter was stained red with a clean mark where her arms had been. “What the hell?” She looked around to see that the man who had been sleeping to her left was still there. “Guess it wasn’t too,” she looked over and saw a large black sword jammed into his back pinning him to the counter like an insect. “late,” her eyes opened completely at the site of the impaled drunkard beside her. “w.w.w.w.what the fuck?” she stammered and grabbed at anything she could to get away from it soon ramming herself into something hard and soft behind her. She didn’t bother to notice that. All she could do was to stare at the horrific black blade stained with blood fresh and not. “Th..that’s the Reaper’s sword, the blade of death,” she stammered more. Her whole body was aching and trembling before the sight. She fell out of her stool and fell down upon the ground. “It can’t be, I only heard rumors, every time I came to this planet I heard the rumors, eavesdropping, second hand, wise tales, tv, newspapers, I could never believe it,” “Funny thing, now please sit in your barstool,” the voice beckoned from behind her. Her face went pale from blood loss and apparent shock. She breathed heavily and grabbed her throbbing head. After a minute or so she sat again in her upright barstool and held onto the bar counter for her dear life. The Reaper, the legendary unwanted man, killer of millions, maybe billions, traveling from planet to planet but said to of residing here the most. No one would dare think about hunting him down let alone try. Those that have tried in the past died horrifically. No amount of high end technology mattered and not even the bounty on his head could make up for the damages caused in battle. The stories knew no end and now she was sitting next to him. “W, why did you kill him?” “He was in my seat,” Silence grabbed hold of the small neighborhood bar, the Reaper as he was known, spoke up, “Talk to me Kei, you came here to get drunk right? You reek of booze,” An empty mug rested in front of him. “Heh, what? How the hell you know my name?” Kei dared to turn her face to him only to see his matted bloody cloak concealing his entire body. “What the hell kind of get up is that?” she tried to laugh but couldn’t ignore her shaking legs and arms. “I have been studying you and your pursuits for many years now. My cloak, I wear it not to strike fear in others, I wear it because I hate my appearance,” he replied coldly. “What? Ah give me a break, everyone hates their own appearance, they are forced to live with it, you know?” “I was indeed forced to live with this,” he growled fiercely. He batted the mug aside sending it to the ground behind the counter with a shatter. Kei jumped at the sound. “You fear me, don’t you?” “Y, yes,” “Ha, the mighty Kei can’t handle sitting next to a mass serial killer of her own kind eh?” “Who could?” “Heh, I’ve known a person who could, that is why I sought you out,” he turned his cloaked head to her to meet eye to eye yet the cloak covered his eyes. His mouth was barely visible within the shadows cast there. “Yuri is in grave danger,” “What!?” Kei forgot her fear for a moment and tried to stand. Blood rushed to her head and she fell down upon the stool again wincing in pain. “Ha, still hung over eh? Is it worth it?” “Who are you to preach,” Kei was interrupted. “I hate alcohol, my mug was root beer, a drink that reminds me of home, the home that was raped from me,” he growled in a very angered animalistic tone. Kei couldn’t respond. “Yuri is in grave danger, I am a warrior and my word is truth,” he turned to face forward again, each movement bringing new reflections of light against the blood on his cloak. He reeked of human blood although Kei couldn’t smell anything that well now. “Warrior? You live by a code? Ha,” “Yes, I have a code of honor, I live my life accordingly, now I suggest you hear me again. If gone ignored, Yuri may die a death worse than I could ever give,” “If I believed you, how could you know that?” Kei tried to regain her composer, but the hang over and his presence was making it hell. “That being, she will do it. The entire planet will be destroyed in due process. I know not motive nor care to. I know that being, she is there on that paradise planet where Yuri is at, on her honeymoon right?” Kei could only nod. “So then the final question, the most important one, you see our paths have crossed and now we meet. The question is, will you follow me?” he turned to her again. “Why the hell would I follow you? I can go save her myself!” “This demon strikes fear even in me, you would not survive without my help,” he spoke softly this time. A chill ran down Kei’s spine. What being could be worse than this urban legend? Whoever it was remained unknown for sometime, there was no greater bounty than the one on the Reaper. He stood up and turned around to face the doorway. He held his right gloved hand to her, “Will you follow me into hell to save your partner’s life?” “Hell?” “To follow me is to know a fate worse than death, the rumors are but a mockery of the truth,” he grinned beneath the hood and waited for a response. “Yuri is in danger,” Kei said softly. She could hardly understand the situation before her. “Yes, the paradise planet will be destroyed, that is a promise I make out of speculation. My final battle can know no greater action,” “All I have to do is go with you and save her?” Kei looked up at him and his hand before her. “You might have to fight as well, but I won’t ask of your help when it comes to that,” he watched with an eerie hidden smile as Kei took his hand and stood up. The room still spun, but was getting better for Kei. “I’ll go,” Kei did not want to, but fate had said otherwise. “Good,” he grabbed the hilt of his sword and yanked it out of the counter. The body fell to the floor and expelled more blood if that was at all possible.