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 2 In space no one can hear you scream, a line that is obvious yet went forever ignored. Kei flew the small space ship she was able to buy with her retirement benefits. It had a miniature warp drive used for basic planet to planet travel in the immediate system. Now she was to use it to depart the system to a planet this Demon draped in shadow programmed into the console. Kei could not stay quiet. “Who the hell are you really?” “You ask the right question, I shall give the right answer, I am Sir Centurion Hammerfall royal guard,” “Royal guard for whom?” Kei turned around and saw the blood had dried for the most part. “A dead empire upon a planet outside this star system, it has been dead for a long time, I know not how long. Those that sought its downfall created who I am,” “A super Soldier?” “No not some sort of cliché as that, although the one we seek to kill is such a fiend, a soldier beyond all soldiers, a being who can be anyone or anything,” Kei found it hard to understand such words. She turned to the window before her. Stars flew by surrealistically reminding her of the many days of her youth mere months ago. In the reflection she saw the shadow once again. To her surprise the cloak was removed and tossed aside. Beneath were dozens of armor from metal to padding all covering a scrawny yet well built and kept body. Kei turned around to see the rather normal, innocent looking man, a human by any other definition. He then drew his sword out all the way. It was an oily black and red much like his cloak and showed much use and chipping. She watched helplessly at him and his sword which both reeked of death. “You fear me?” Kei could not speak. Before her was the mass murdered no one in their mind wanted to take on one on one. Rumors had it said that he was a mere myth, a god of death, the reaper, the being who sought the downfall of mankind. “I see it in your eyes, Kei, you fear me. You should fear me, you should hate me, and those rumors of the countless people slaughtered are true. I know not how many have been killed on my quest but all have died with one purpose: to end mankind’s existence. “But you are a human,” “NO!” he shouted. Kei nearly fell from her chair upon the floor. “I was made into a human by those hyoomons, I was not a human all my life. I was a gentle soul once, in my youth, it was raped from my body mind and soul by those monsters!” Kei swallowed hard and tried to get back in her seat. He walked forward, every movement making him seem stronger, taller and bulkier. Kei’s apparent fear made him far scarier than he really was by any other observation. She sat there in her chair holding it tight. His movements spoke of her impending death even though she knew he needed her. “Kei, Yuri will die if you do not follow me, and even though you so fully wish to save your lover’s soul, your own will be brutally sacrificed,” he looked his blade over admiring every blood stain and deformation made upon it. His admiration was that of joy and sorrow, but only served to make him angrier. “W.what?” Kei was surprised any words came from her mouth. “I want you to know that your decision will be the gravest one you have ever made, I want you to know what kind of hell you put yourself into,” “What do you want?” “Good question, I will give no answer, but I will give an explanation of this hell. There is a cycle we all live in and this cycle is the path I walk,” he sheathed his sword and took a seat beside her. “Sa-Cycle?” Kei stammered. It was all she could do to get a word in edgewise. Her whole body was trembling in fear. No amount of training mattered at this point and no amount of nerve would give any support. This man, demon, whatever loved to kill and did so fluently. She was stuck with him. It was kill or be killed. Meanwhile Yuri was in danger. “Hatred, you see I hate humans. I hate humans because humans hate my kind, my people. They destroyed my people. They kill anyone they see as inferior and teach it to their youth. I hate humans enough to kill them, to save my own people I would kill all humans,” “Your people?” “They are not human. They are evolved from different animals than those primate proto humans. Any animal with proper help and time can become human like. We knew love, peace, and respect for all life,” he stood up again. His teeth were clenched, his fists were clenched. His anger seemed out of control. He took a deep breath, “That was raped from me and I can never know such innocence again,” he sounded furious. His voice was animalistic, enraged, sadistic, and somehow dry. They stood there staring into each other’s eyes. His eyes were piercing, deadly. They look as if they’ve seen more death than an entire army and sought to see more. They looked thirsty. Kei watched as if hypnotized by them. She couldn’t drag herself from the chair and traveling in space left little room to run. If she was going to die then let it come. Waiting for death was worse, but knowing she was needed helped a little. He stared into her eyes which spoke of fear and sorrow. She feared for everyone not only herself, he would kill her but not now, this was to be his final mission and if he should fail, she would be spared. After an hour an alarm went off nearly slicing the atmosphere of the room. They were closing in on the planet that was to be their destination. Kei turned her chair quickly to face the view screen, her hands were shaking badly yet she was able to adjust the controls. “Take us to that city there,” he pointed at the screen. “Yes, sir,” Kei replied unconsciously. She flew the ship towards the spaceport in Newton City on the planet Mars. It was an outpost outside the regular cities. Kei assumed he had a friend there, yet the idea of this guy having friends scared her more if that was possible. “I commend your bravery and courage, now land this ship. I must be on solid ground soon. It would benefit you greatly, to say the least.” He was grabbing at his knee pads as if he was restless. “Yes, Sir,” Kei replied again, after ten or so minutes, she landed the ship. The hatch was opened at once and this Reaper was gone from her sight. She breathed heavily and was glad for fresh air and more so for his departure. She rubbed her face and smacked her cheeks trying to get herself under control. She could not afford becoming an emotional wreck now. Having gotten some of her wits back she figured she’d work to get the rest. She took to the steel floor and started a round of push ups. 1,2,3, 20, 25. She tried to out do her record out of sheer exhilaration. “Excuse me, Miss?” She jumped off the ground and landed on her butt nearly hyperventilating. “So sorry, you are Kei right?” “Wh-who are you?” “Heh, sorry again. My name is Christopher. Just call me Chris, sorry about Cent,” “Cent? Centurion?” “Yeah Cent, he’s a friend of mine. He had me go back and take care of you, you ok?” “Cent? Cent!?” Kei could almost laugh. She never realized that such a demon could have such a belittling nick name. She started laughing uncontrollably, an emotion she forgot she had. “Heh, well Centy works too, but he doesn’t go for that cute stuff so I don’t bother,” he rubbed his neck at a memory. “Centy? Bwahhaha,” Kei fell over laughing. “Well I’ll come back in ten minutes, heh,” Chris figured it would do her sanity good to get a laugh out of this. Never mind what Centurion would think of all this. He walked off back to his motorbike nearby. He put on some local music and relaxed on the ground. The sky was a lovely pink. It would be blue, but mars just wouldn’t be right with a blue sky. After awhile Kei walked out of her ship and closed the hatch behind her. She looked around and saw Chris lying on the ground there. “Chris is it? How do you know Cent?” “Oh, hey, feeling better?” Chris stood up at once. He was shorter, around 5 feet. He also wore a lab coat and goggles like some sort of scientist welder. “Yeah,” “Well Cent and I go way back during the second war, back when Techtonica was well, human. Wish she still was frankly. Everything went to hell when he tried to kill her,” “Huh?” “Heh, I’ll tell you the whole story then. Cent’s off on one of his rampages, won’t be back for hours. Ok, Techtonica, Cent and I used to grow up together in the same city. We were all human then, as time went on we realized something was wrong,” he adjusted his goggles and continued. “Nightmares, hallucinations, visions, sound, and smell, you name it. They would haunt our every movement driving us insane. I became addicted to technology and helping people at the expense of myself. Cent would kill all before him. He nearly killed me on numerous occasions, but we were brothers of sorts.” Kei listened intently, maybe some of this information could be of use, at any rate make sense of all this. Also seemed like there was nothing she could do until that walking genocide returned. “Techtonica was known as Vicky back then. She was a calm young women. So kind, we both had a crush on her. We hung out all the time. As the nightmares continued we grew closer. Cent grew angrier and saw her as human, as the enemy. I nearly got killed protecting her. As time went on she refused my help and tried to sort his nightmares out. I don’t know what went on between them, but the moment he tried to kill her, she awoke.” “Awoke?” “She was apparently in a default mode, her memories were taken away much like ours, I thought her for one of us. From the way she acted, from the way she carried herself. When he struck her with his sword, she didn’t die. She didn’t bleed. She became a demon beyond all demons, a demon beyond the demon known as the Reaper. Last thing I remember was the city being destroyed. I fled with who ever I could find. I don’t know how many died.” “Damn, so now they continue this stupid war?” “Yes, and now, I’m sorry,” Chris got on his bike and started it up. “Sorry?” “Come with me, it looks as if he chose you to join him. I don’t know why he would pick a human to join him. It is very out of character for him,” “Alright,” she got on the bike and held on to him. He seemed a nice guy and she was not going to let this go ignored. He adjusted his goggles again and sped off down the runway towards the streets. “Where are we going?” Kei yelled over the noises of the streets and the wind. “I’ve a warehouse where I keep my inventions. I have a prototype for you to use. It’s probably why he chose you to help him. He wouldn’t use it in his life and I hate fighting,” he yelled back. Even in yelling his voice was soothing. She never thought in her life that retiring would lead to this. It looked as if her life would never be without adventure. To think if this could ever end right she would be with Yuri and Robert looking after little Yuri or Robert or both. She would have a kid or two and she could be their aunt. She smiled at the notion having not thought about it until now. Taking care of the little ones would make this all worthwhile. The warehouse came into view and Chris parked the bike next to it. Night was setting in fast. “What is this prototype?” Kei asked. “Come, come,” Chris walked through a door on the side and stepped in. Kei followed close behind and marveled at the site. There were rows upon rows of tables all covered along with the ground by all sorts of machinery and tools from across the universe. If not for the walls surrounding the mess, it would appear endless. “What is all this?” Kei asked in astonishment. She was really taken aback by all this. “My collection, it really is in order, heh. Cent gave up on me and my ways of this much like I gave up on his ways. We have our own means of dealing with insanity,” “Well, ok, but, order?” Kei tried to step over this and that. It wasn’t going to be easy. It seemed like Chris handled walking through his collection without any problems. He picked up some parts and computer boards and started fiddling with them. “Yeah, it’s in working order. Everything out so I can just grab stuff and make stuff. As long as I can make something and have a feeling of accomplishment, I’ll be fine. The nightmares still come now and then. Even knowing the truth of my past, it doesn’t stop or change anything. The damage cannot be undone.” “The prototype?” Kei asked, she wanted to get this mission over with. Just the thought of having a demon worse than the Reaper parading around the paradise planet with Yuri was making her skin crawl. She could not stand that she was in danger and she couldn’t be there to help her out. “Yeah, just wait a min or two, sorry about this,” he continued to fiddle with the device until a shock resounded. More like a zap. It was subtle so Kei was not alarmed yet a flash came from in front of Chris’s body. “What was that?” “Huh? Oh I just electrocuted myself again, I didn’t even notice hehe, thanks,” Kei sweat dropped in exasperation at the response. This guy was a real goof ball. After sometime sifting through the piles, Chris pulled out a box that was locked tight. He struggled to get it open without much luck. It looked as if he didn’t have a key for it. “Need help there?” Kei bent down and put a hand upon the box. “No that’s ok, thanks,” he tried to pry it off with some rusted pliers. “It’s ok, I can get it,” Kei offered. “Heh, there’s no need for a pretty lady like yourself to do this when a man can, right?” Kei blushed at the comment and tried not to laugh. This guy was unbelievable. The moment was interrupted at once. A large gloved hand had grabbed her by the back of the neck and lifted her off the ground.