Young Writers Society

Kentaro Hinamori:

At least Arcanus had been friendly.

The man, before his shocking jump out of his window, had been pointing an actual, real sword at his and Amy's face. He knew he should have been scared. That was the normal reaction to being threatened by a guy using medieval weapons in the modern day and age. But for some strange reason, Death lurking at his door had given him a strange surge of adrenaline. Even crazier was the fact that he was almost disappointed when the man jumped from the window.

Amy had gone running after him, but Kentaro just stood alone in his room, trying to understand what exactly had just played out. There had been someone in his bedroom who couldn't have entered the house the normal way - their back door was locked (he would have heard the man unlocking it - and he would have seen him enter through the front.

Maybe there was a secret passageway in his closet? That would explain how Arcanus had gotten into his room, and possibly be the reason for the man's presence as well.

Whatever the case was, he needed to see how the man was doing. After all, he had just jumped out of a window that was two stories up. But when he went to peer out of that very same window, he saw the man jumping to his feet and rushing off into Amy's yard (the girl in question in pursuit, yelling about how it was her yard and how she just wanted things to make sense).

Which was a very strange thing to say.

Was it possible that Amy was dealing with people like Arcanus as well? He had to know what was going on - the meaning behind her words, how the man had so easily gotten up after the fall, and why Arcanus had left the house in such a hurry. He grabbed his wooden sword for good measure before following Amy. As he exited the kitchen, he saw a note that Shaun had written to explain where she had gone.

He finally reached Amy's yard. To his surprise, he saw Arcanus and a boy with the hood to his hoodie pulled up entering the yard as well. "Did you see that person jump out of my window?" Kentaro questioned.

The two nodded. And it was at that moment that the same man who had jumped out of the window came barreling right into the boy with the hoodie.

Seres Renatus:

Why, of all things, did he have to run? He couldn't run in this suit. At least, not that easily. He knew he should've worn something else before he was brought to wherever he was now. Especially now that the girl was able to scale the fence herself and pursue him, complaining that it was her yard and yelling at him for not providing a clear explanation and for today not making sense. The last of which he could agree with. Yet, what was he going to say? What could he possibly say for her to believe in him? There was nothing she could do to help, because Seres wasn't honestly sure what was the cause of the problem in the first place. The most she could do was what she already had done, unless she wanted more questions and fewer answers. And that couldn't be worse than what she had now.

Why can't she just leave me alone already? grumbled Seres in frustration as he neared the other fence in the backyard, with the girl fast approaching. He turned and ran alongside the fence, but to no avail - she persisted, and was beginning to outpace him. This simply wasn't fair. At this rate, he wouldn't be quick enough to make an escape without her grabbing on to him or something. Who knows what kinds of consequences that would have for the both of them. So, when he reached a corner of the yard, he faked another turn, wheeled around, and sprinted towards the house itself. The girl only fell for it for but a second, but that was long enough for him.

"I don't have anything to say for myself, and I don't have any answers for you!" Seres called back in frustration as he made his way towards the street that he could see in the distance, hoping to move fast enough to escape her. If he could just make it to that black pavement, he'd be able to flee while distracting everyone else enough to fly away, hopefully for good. He was going to find a new neighborhood, or even a new town. There was certainly no way that he was ever going to come back here and run into these people...

It was then that he realized he should've been looking ahead, rather than behind. This, of course, came too late for him to change his trajectory as he found himself running straight for the boy from earlier (now with a wooden sword), another with a suit of armor, and a third with some kind of outfit obscuring his face (Seres having never before heard of a hoodie). Now it didn't matter how strong he was or how many people he could knock over; he was going down, thanks in part to that blasted suit of his. Eyes widened in horror as Seres ran straight into the kid with the hoodie, and they both toppled onto the ground.

And that's when Seres found himself staring at a kid with black irises, pale skin, pointy ears, and a pair of red horns.

Well, if this hadn't been nowhere close to the oddest thing he'd seen in his life, he would've started screaming. Certainly, however, he was surprised, and everyone else seemed to be.

What in the world was going on?

Shun/Shaun

Standing in the shadows behind Min Ru's throne in the Council Hall, I shuffled back and forth slightly. Who was I kidding? No matter what Min Ru thought, the Councilmen obviously didn't care for my opinion. I gave up trying to get a word in about the two strangers who had appeared in the City of Dreams. Two people who were like Luka.

After the longest time--what? Ten minutes?--I was bored to death.

Min Ru sighed, never keeping his eyes off the arguing officials before him. "Get out of here. I can't stand your fidgeting."

"Thank you," I whispered, and hurried around the throng of old sprites and out the door . . .

. . . Only to run into Luka, who only stopped us from both falling by grabbing my shoulders.

"Lady Shun," he said, but I pulled myself out of his grasp.

I cleared my throat. "Luka." Not here, not where someone could easily see. I sidestepped him, but he blocked my way.

It was getting harder to hold everything in. I needed to get away from him, fast. Before either of us got hurt again because of others.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" he pressed. "You're going back to the human world."

"H-how--No!" I stammered. As a being of mixed ("diluted" or "impure," some would say) blood, bearing no dream power--and no Immortals even had actual mind-reading abilities--it was still a wonder to me how Luka just seemed to know things, even after practically growing up with him.

"Shun," he said, his crystal blue eyes locked on mine. "Please don't lie. Not to me."

I swallowed. "Okay."

Luka blinked, and his pretty face resumed its normal neutral expression. "Please allow me to accompany you to the Mortal Realm, my Lady."

"What--what about Min Ru?"

A small smile tugged at Luka's mouth. "I'll tell him I was keeping you out of trouble. After all, I am merely a servant to the royal family."

"You mean Min Ru's trusted servant. And you know he's not going to believe that," I said, but I was already reaching for his hand, to take him and myself to the neighborhood.

Surrounded by dream vapors and feeling my spirit and Luka's soaring in the midst, I hoped that I didn't get too tired to come back later, having already made one round-trip.

Ah, well. Maybe it would give Luka and I some time to ourselves.

When the cloud dissipated and we'd stepped outside, I said, "Oh. Why am I not surprised?" The humans were in trouble again.

Amy

"You do too have answers!" Amy retorted. "They just might not be great ones!"

Fed up with all of the unexplained appearances of strangers in her neighborhood, Amy huffed at the sword dude's unsatisfactory response, and watched as the barricade of other lost people - well, mostly Mendax - blocked his path and finally stopped the guy from running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

Her frustration was put on a pause however, as the face and horns of Mendax were revealed. That is, if that was even his real name. Whoever... he was. She stared, unable to help herself in doing so. For a moment she didn't want to believe her eyes, and she tried to convince herself it was only a costume, but... that was one convincing costume.

"O-ok." She began, before anyone else could say anything about the weirdness happening. "Look. I'm sure it's uh, it's all gonna be ok. I'm sure there are reasons for all of this. Let's just... stay calm." She stretched out a hand and pulled up the fallen stranger, and then she helped Mendax up as well. She didn't know what else to call him at this point but the name he'd given.

Nervously, she gave a little grin to everyone, feeling just as unprepared for all of these events as she did a few minutes ago.

"How about we just start with names again!" She suggested, probably a bit too earnestly. "I'm Amy. I live here on Cherry Street in this little neighborhood, and I've lived here for most of my life. That's my houuuse - " she pointed back, circling her arms around in an overly grandiose and exaggerated gesture. "- and this is my front yard that we're all in. Next door is Kentaro's house." She pulled him over, putting an arm around his shoulders and squeezing briefly before letting go. "We grew up as kids and stuff. We know each other a little."

Internally, she felt her heart racing, and her mind buzzing with millions of questions and a butt-ton of confusion. She wasn't sure if her sweat was from just sprinting across her yard and scaling a fence, or from the sudden stress she felt from feeling like she had to be the one to facilitate these unexplained and weird events.

"Now you guys. Tell us what your names are. And if you can, what you know."

Shun/Shaun

"I think they need help," I said, heading over.

"Shun, wait," said Luka, but I ignored him, knowing that he would be able to persuade me to 'stay out of danger' in his gentle way if I didn't get to them first.

"Hey! What's going on?" I forced a smile and a friedly tone as I reached them. The group broke off from their staring contests and looked at me.

"I though you left, Shaun," said Kentaro.

"Oh," I said. "Um . . . I just meant I was going back to my house because . . ." I turned slightly when I saw their eyes shift to something behind me. Luka had come to stand there. "Because my, er, boyfriend, Luka, came to surprise me!" I linked my arm through his.

I just knew Luka was staring at me now. But I supposed it was close enough to the truth.

"But anyways, Kentaro and Amy," I rushed quickly on, "do you guys need any help solving this . . . incident?" I glanced at Arthur, at the huge, sword-wielding human, and the strange creature with horns, bearing a similar smell to Arthur. Acquaintances, perhaps? "I'm willing to help." As long as you guys aren't Immortal killers.

Magestorrow Rian:

He frantically tried to put his hood back up, but his efforts to conceal what he was were futile. The damage had been done, and all that he could do was exchange looks of wide-eyed horror with Soul. "I was so careful," he whispered. His voice shook slightly as he spoke; he wasn't going to cry. Not here, in this strange foreign world. Not now, surrounded by equally strange humans. Crying would show weakness that he couldn't afford to be revealed. That's how it had always been. Crying was a thing you did when you were alone, when no one could see how much you hurt.

He felt a tear roll down his cheek.

Oh, come on! It wasn't fair! None of this was, now that he thought about it. Soul and him shouldn't have been sent to this terrifying world of carriages with no horses and small mechanical contraptions.

Soul, understanding that if he embraced Mage he would start to sob, simply slipped his armored hand into Mage's. "Do you want to start?" his best friend questioned. The initial shaking of his head quickly turned to a nodding. It was best to get this over with. If they wanted to hate him once they learned what he was, he would be okay with it.

That's what he told himself, anyways.

"My real name is Magestorrow Rian," he began. "I prefer Mage, though. I'm a demon from a world called Alium. My friend was kidnapped by someone we had just met. Well, we had just met. His girlfriend had been traveling with him-"

"Zogin isn't my girlfriend."

He turned to stare at Soul. "She's not your girlfriend?" His question was answered by frantic nodding. "I just thought from how close you two were..."

Soul, seemingly mortified by this conversation (Mage had a sneaking suspicion that his friend's face was red underneath his helmet), quietly said, "She's just my best friend. We're not-We're not dating or anything like that."

"Oh." His attention returned to the group assembled. "As I was saying, my friend was kidnapped. I went with his best friend Zogin to find him, but we split up to cover more ground. When I arrived at the place he had been taken to, a group of human children started attacking me. One of them used some strange Sin that I've never seen before, and then I found myself here."

Soul continued where Mage left off. "I'm the friend he was looking for. I'm sorry for lying to you, Kentaro and Shaun, but my real name is Soul Error Arwitch." He hesitantly removed his helmet to reveal the appearance Mage felt he would never grow used to. "I think I'm an angel." He briefly lifted up the cloth covering his back to reveal a pair of wings protruding from the armor. "I used to be an automaton, but then my kidnapper did something to me. When I woke up, I looked like this...And I have to admit that I feel like I was always meant to be in this body rather than my old one...Um, to finish up where Mage left off, I saw him get sent here." His gaze dropped down to the ground. "I, uh, may have threatened to harm the boy who used that Sin into sending me here too...But I wouldn't have actually hurt him! I just knew I looked scary enough and I doubted he would do it if he thought he'd be helping his opponent!"

Seres Renatus:

Thankfully, he wasn't the center of attention now. On the other hand, all he could do was sit back and watch as the drama unfolded in front of him. That wasn't too hard, and he did find it a little funny (even if it did remind him he was a perpetual bachelor). The girl who'd chased him had assumed he was mad, or something to that extent, and he mostly blinked in dull amusement in response. These people, meanwhile, had stories to tell. To be honest, Seres was surprised. They certainly acted younger than they looked, and hadn't had nearly as many experiences as he has. Fortunately for them, of course; his was a story that he'd rather not see repeated and replayed, like a broken record where nothing goes right and the tale just gets gloomier.

And then they stopped talking, and Seres realized that all eyes were turned upon him.

He sighed. There wasn't any chance that he could make a run for it. Indeed, when he'd been knocked onto the ground, he'd lost all of his chances to make an unnoticed escape On top of the fact that another couple, who had addressed the ordinary-seeming boy and girl as Kentaro and Amy, respectively, had arrived. The girl - Shaun? - was watching him intetntly, and, while Seres wasn't quite sure why, he didn't exactly like it. Well, it could be the sword, mainly because it would be so hard not to notice it.

So, first, a name. Seres searched the thoughts in his head and picked the first one that came to mind. "Sirius Renault," he grumbled halfheartedly, choosing the words that sounded closest to his name without being his name. That was close enough to his actual name that he could easily remember it, and was sort of the truth. Besides, with his accent, if he said his actual name, anyone was most likely to disregard this and assume he was referring to his fake identity.

Then came the backstory. Seres nudged the massive sword in its scabbard on his back and said, simply, "soldier." Also part-true, but his reputation was too significant for him to reveal his true status without jeopardizing his duty in some fashion. So, he had to fake it as best as he could, and this was about as much as he'd decided to say. Hopefully, nobody would ask any questions about it, like his suit or appearance or the sheer size of the sword, as the last thing he needed was more attention. Preferably, he was waiting for a good distraction to allow him to escape, but such a distraction would be likely less influential if he was in some kind of an argument or fight.

Given that everyone continued to star at him, Seres realized that he needed one more piece of information to come across as sincere, and so concluded, "I'm not sure how I got here."

That, at least, was the truth.

Luka Gavrilov

It seemed that Shun had yet again been a magnet to trouble. And Luka still couldn't believe that she had actually called him her boyfriend. Not that he minded at all.

Luka loved how Shun always cared about others and wanted to actually know them, but he had to admit that sometimes it seemed a bit overboard, like an obsession. It was as if the sprite was drawn to humans and everything about them--everything that wasn't part of the secret 'Kill the Immortals' campaign, that was--and Luka didn't have a clue as to why, though he didn't mind and could never say enough thanks to her when she knew just what he needed, because, all in all, demi-Immortals were basically slowly-aging, long-lived humans who happened to share the Immortals' supposed fatal weaknesses to very rare things (at least originally) found in nature, like middlemist red flowers. Enough said.

Luka eyed all of the strangers, studying the two creatures supposedly from a planet called Alium and especially the tall man who had just spoken, and his impossibly large sword. Luka thought, Immortals are just as susceptible as humans to dangerous poisons and wounds. I hope he doesn't try to hurt Shun. Luka fought the urge to shudder and unconsciously touched his chest, remembering his and his father's cries as Nikolai, at just a little over ten years of age, had just flopped over like a rag doll when the bullet tore through--

He shut his eyes. No. That was over seventy years ago. Nikolai would want me to move on.

But he couldn't help but always feel as he was growing up that a part of him was missing.

Luka opened his eyes, assured that his mask of serenity was solid and unwavering, and took Shun's hand, squeezing it. She glanced at him, blissfully unaware of his inner turmoil, and squeezed back with a smile.

Schadel Kueper:

"Welcome," she began, her voice barely above a whisper, "to Tupper Pines, a gated community situated in the western United States of America." She thought for a second. Then she added, "California, to be specific."

Her assistant turned to her and spoke to her with words she assumed only she could hear. "How much are we getting paid for this job?" He adjusted his sunglasses ever so slightly with bandaged fingers to make sure they sufficiently covered his blue eyes; despite the gentle drizzle beginning to fall, he did not take them off. Neither of them wanted to deal with the screaming that would immediately follow should he remove them. He pulled the brim of his hat down for good measure.

"This isn't like usual," she said rather cryptically. "Blanx has been meaning to come out here, but hasn't been able to because of his job."

He interrupted her with, "The one involving death or the one involving antiques?"

"Both." She cleared her throat. "As I was saying, he's been meaning to come out here. This place is known for the appearances of things that don't really fit the human perception. Blanx and I were guessing that gates have been opening up between our world and this world; not strict ones like the one we both just came through, but more sporadic and random ones that open without any warning whatsoever. Since Claire wants to work on her painting, and Liz is at her doctor's appointment, that leaves the two of us."

"So we're not getting paid?"

She nodded. "Exactly."

"Damn it."

She stared at him. "Why does that matter to you? If you're out of cigarettes, I can go and buy you some. It's not like they would card me or anything..." He didn't argue the point, despite it being incorrect. Both of them were fully aware that she looked young than she said she was; it was an interesting thing to note once you knew how old she really was.

He glanced around the street they were on. "I broke Liz's tablet charger. She can still hook it up to her laptop, but I want to replace it-" He paused, and if he wasn't wearing his sunglasses, Schadel was sure he would have rubbed in his eyes in what appeared to be disbelief. "There's a demon over in that yard. Along with an angel."

She looked in the direction he was staring towards. "And do you see the size of that sword on that guy's back?! Either we just stumbled upon a mini-cosplay convention, or those are all real."

"Couldn't they be your kind?"

She shook her head. "I doubt it. None of us would be stupid enough to take those forms or show humans our weapons out in the open where anyone could see." She gave him a childish grin. "Well, I suppose it's time to do some good old investigating!"

They crossed the street and entered the yard. "Hello!" she said, the smile remaining. The group froze and stared at the two in shock, surprise, and even a little bit of horror. "My name's Schadel Kueper. I'm in charge of Schadel's Necromancy Agency, a detective agency that also helps with problems involving the dead." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "This is one of my assistants, Edward Smith. He's been mute his entire life. He can communicate with American Sign Language, but if any of you need a translation, I'd be happy to give it. He's completely covered because of a rare skin condition."

"It's nice to meet you all," he signed, smiling underneath the bandages he wore. What he actually said was, "Also, I'm as dead as a doornail."

Enide:

The lady walking down the sidewalk on the mostly empty street underneath a cloudy sky beginning to drizzle was surprised. Of course, where she was and what she was doing here was at the top of her list. However, her surprise came in the fact that she had not yet found her husband. Enide had visited a good number of the houses in this strange neighborhood, attempted to speak with the residents therein (to varying degrees of success, as soon outright shut the door when she appeared), and found no trace of him. That was appalling, and perhaps a bit concerning. He was more than capable of taking care of himself, but he tended to act as a walking trouble magnet because of his overblown sense of self-preservation. Not one of his more pleasant traits, yet an easily identifiable one.

She had no doubt that he was here. Her gray eyes did not have frail vision, and he had a tendency to accompany her anywhere. But what kind of mess had he gotten himself into that he didn't have the ability to make himself so easily visible?

That's what she was trying to find out. Enide strolled peacefully, a bundle held by one of her arms. Her old outfit had apparently been too strange for the people of this locale, so she decided to replace it. She was a little embarrassed to admit that she had stolen a green dress (her being most familiar with them) from a clothesline, though, in this world of strange but effective conveniences, she did not think something so antiquarian would appear. Then, of course, there were the pair of sandals from somebody's porch. Nevertheless, she wished she'd worn a hat, as the rain seemed to be pouring heavier onto the ground.

Yet, she was content. This seemed a peaceful enough place, and she hadn't come across anything dangerous. Except for, of course, the strange contraption that almost ran her over on the road, but she'd learned her lesson, and it seemed that the individual driving the car wasn't used to people walking on the road. Albeit, everything was odd and foreign to her, and she was still searching for her husband, even if he would be easy to find. Convincing him to not threaten or try to kill somebody would be slightly harder, but not impossible. Far from it, actually - she had enough experience with that. A small smile spread across her face, though perhaps a tad malicious.

Suddenly, Enide stopped in front of one house in particular, where there seemed to be enigmatic conversations coming from the backyard. The lady hid the bundle in a bush nearby. Sure, it wasn't the brightest move, given that the bundle did contain her weapon, but that left her far from defenseless. Too, based on the friendly and cordial greetings and mumbling, there didn't seem to be a lot of ill will. The mention of death, however, caught her attention. And now she was curious. Was this where her husband was? It seemed to be the one odd spot in the neighborhood, which made her suspect so.

Either way, she decided to walk up to the house and ring the doorbell (as she'd learned to do from her first house visit, when she pressed the button by accident). The better that the conversation come to her, at least.

Shun/Shaun

Sometimes, I wished I knew what Luka was feeling. But all of us who belonged to the Dream Tribe (even Luka) had trained since childhood to shield our minds, our memories, any possible futures lurking nearby from each other--or any strange people out there who somehow had similar powers to us. Besides, I had promised Luka I would never try to read him without his permission, even though both of us knew I could probably do it with sufficient effort.

We stood there together, watching the others. They had revealed their (not so secret) secret identities, but I would never give ours away. If I actually did, Min Ru would probably finish Luka and I both personally.

I could hear quiet footsteps coming from the front side of Amy's house. And then there was the quiet chime of the doorbell sounding inside. I could feel more curiosity bubbling up inside me. Who was coming next?

Luka gave me a warning look. Typical. Of course he knew me.

Kentaro Hinamori:

The necromancy assistant signed something. Kentaro, simply out of pure boredom, had tried learning ASL before. He could understand what the man was saying, though it was mainly because it was a rather simple, "It's nice to meet you all." Yet the ability to understand sign language wasn't really what affected him; it was the fact that he had very clearly heard the man say, "Also, I'm as dead as a doornail," that alarmed him.

Hadn't the girl - Schadel - just said that he was mute? The last time Kentaro checked, mute meant unable to speak. Still, the words he had heard could only have come from the man before him - a blunt denial of the purported truth.

He glanced back at Soul. Maybe he was just imagining things?

But the angel looked just as shocked and confused (and even a bit horrified, his equally inhuman companion mirroring the same reaction. Before he could ask why the supposedly mute Edward Smith had just said he was dead, the doorbell to Amy's house rang.