Welcome to Death

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The girl giggled as she listened to Dana making up her mind about what she wanted. "Whatever you want Dana. I got this covered for us." She could see the line of souls in front of them and realized they would have quite a while before they could get ice cream. "Seems like this place is pretty popular." She placed her hands in her pocket and leaned her head back while standing behind Dana. "I might want what you're having, but I may have to ask you to help me know what other flavors they have. Just in case I want-"

S n i p

The sound of shears close to her ear made Zoey tense. She felt the blindfold slip, and felt herself reaching up to grab it in time before it fell from her eyes. But it was too late. It was as if someone had poured scalding, boiling water over her eyes when the sunshine reached her pupils. She heard herself scream and hunched forward, digging her palms into her eyes as the blindfold and some strands of her hair fell in a heap on the ground before her.

"Come on, do you really need that thing on?" a girl with blonde hair chided as she held the scissors in her hand. "It seems like you can see just fine without them."

Zoey's body shook as she clenched her teeth together. The pain was stabbing her through the head and she could hardly think. She couldn't even speak as her tongue froze in her mouth as she fought so hard not to make a bigger scene than what it was.

"So dramatic," another girl with black hair sneered, standing close to the blonde. "Is that how you got into the DWMA? By acting like something's wrong with you?"

The words hurt and stung, just as bad as the ache her eyes were going through. Crimson droplets formed under her hands, rolling off and hitting the pavement under her. Her knees began to feel weak, her head heavy and dizzy, and her ears ringing from the noises of the place. "D-D-Da....na..." She finally blurted out. Her tongue felt thick and hard to control. Her body swayed to the side, losing her place in line as the pain began to cloud her mind.

 

As they were waiting in line, Dana was happily swaying from side to side, eagerly anticipating the taste of ice cream in her mouth. It seems fate decided not to allow such an extraordinary event to pass, indicated by Zoey's blindfold being cut. Time seemed to slow as the blindfold fell and Zoey hunched over in pain, but despite this Dana was simply frozen as a whirlwind of emotions came over her. There was a little anxiety, a whole lot of rage, shock, and a little -just a little- fear. "What do I...." she started, trailing off in her uncertainty of just what to do.

The moment Zoey spoke her name, it brought Dana back to her senses. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you do that?!" she exclaimed. There was a moment where the bullies stopped their jeering, turning their attention to the girl they hadn't expected to do anything. Their sneers hadn't vanished from their faces, however.

"Wow, you two, like, don't match at all. She's pretending something's wrong with her, but the only thing wrong with you is your stupid fashion sense. How many trash cans did you have to search through to find your outfit? And that hair....ew" the black haired girl insulted.

The moment the words escaped the lips of the black haired girl, Dana's right arm turned into the bladed part of the staff, however as quickly as it had appeared it quickly vanished. For once, Dana had no words; too angry to actually speak. Instead, her entire body was engulfed in a glow starting with her eyes, and when the glow stopped she was in weapon form. In weapon form, she manipulated herself to be raised in the air swiftly and around to the girl's right, before transforming back into human form and lashing out with a quick punch into the girl's right eye, before landing and delivering a violent kick to the girl's stomach, knocking her onto the ground. "My outfit is the least of your worries right now. If you ever so much as even breathe in the nearby vicinity of Zoey, then you'll need a blindfold yourself, if you can even walk" the future deathscythe threatened.

With that said, she turned and looked at the blonde girl. "Same goes for you. Get out of here. Now" she ordered before waiting for both of the bullies to leave, then ignoring the looks of the people around she stepped in front of Zoey, attempting to block the sunlight with her own body as she kneeled down in front of her friend. "Are you okay, Zoey?" she asked, concern evident in her voice.​

 

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Zoey was shaking as she knelt on the ground, doubled over in pain. Small whimpers came from her hunched form as she kept her hands over her eyes tightly. Crimson liquid was trickling from her hands and into a puddle under Zoey's face. She heard Dana's words speaking to her through the haze of pain and cringed as her palms dug deeper into her eyes. "H-help m-me g-get t-to a d-dark.... p-place," she stammered out, forcing the words from her mouth. "N-no l-light..."

The meister gasped as she touched her forehead to the ground, knowing she'd had to move from where she was at from the ground eventually. This was so embarrassing to her... How humiliating it was to be this weak in front of her partner and others who saw the situation go down. The girl forced herself to raise her head up, keeping her palms flat on her eyes. Blood was dripping from behind her hands and down her arms and her teeth were clenched in agony. "I-I'm sorry," she muttered, trying to stand back up from the ground without removing her hands from her face. "I don't want you to s-see me like th-this..."

 

"Don't be silly Zoey. You're my meister, and my friend, if you're hurting I want to help so of course i'm gonna see you like this. We just need to find you a shady place, then we'll be able to deal with this. Shadowy, not shady. I mean, if you want to go to a super shady place we can, but that's probably not a good idea like this" Dana said, attempting to crack a joke as she sat with her friend. Moments later, Malik came over and addressed the two of them, commenting about how Dana should avoid fighting, then he asked them to follow him. She resisted the urge to make the comment of "i'll follow you anywhere" and instead decided to try something else.

"Yeah, they were asking for an ass kicking though, but I'll try not to get into fights in future. It'll give me cranky wrinkles anyway, can't have that. I wouldn't want to ruin this beautiful face of mine, wouldn't you agree it's so pretty sir?" Dana asked, batting her eyelashes as she asked the teacher who was, like, super hot and edgy. Zoey was in pain and that worried Dana, but a girl still had her fantasies. Badasses appealed to Dana, so she had to say something. She took another glance at Zoey as they walked, and the flirtatiousness vanished from her demeanour as concern took its place.​

 

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A faint laugh fell from Zoey's lips, then she cringed when her eyes throbbed under her hands. "D-Dark place. N-no light," she said again.

She stopped talking when she heard another voice addressing them. She never heard them before, but he referred to her name and Lord Death. Dana flirted to the man, and Zoey cracked a smile, only to feel light headed once more. She leaned heavily into Dana's framed, trying to keep her head away from her clothes so she didn't bleed on her partner. She felt tired, her eyes sore from the pressure of her hands, but also from the light that burned her eyes like fire.

"L-Lead..." she whispered softly, sticking close to Dana as possible. Dana was her guide for now. All she could see was blurred silver outlines that ran together. She couldn't see clearly in the darkness, not with her hands pressed so firmly against her eyes,

 

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Zoey felt a weight on her head and shuddered with relief when the sunlight disappeared from her body. She kept her hands over her eyes, letting Dana and this grumpy Professor guy lead. He was going to call Lord Death? Oh, great. Just what she needed.

She frowned at the insult of Dan. "H-Hey, she's really g-good," Zoey stammered, leaning heavily against the wall outside the nurse's station. She then pressed her hands to her eyes and turned to Dana. "T-take this off of me," she referred to the jacket draped on her head. Last thing she wanted was to cause more conflict with her condition and bleed on this guy's coat. "Th-thank you for br-bringing us here," she called to the man. "Take your c-coat back." She started to shrug it off of her, being as careful as possible to make sure it didn't brush against her face where the blood was.

 

Dana took the jacket off of Zoey very carefully, and simply stood there staring at it. An idea was forming in her head, one that would likely seem remarkably creepy and just a little obsessive, but that was probably because it was. "No no Zoey, he can have his jacket back, but he'll get it later. Yes, later.....probably....maybe.....do you think he sleeps in this? I bet he won't even notice if I keep it" the girl said, taking a big whiff of man in her nostrils. "It even smells like him. We definitely should keep it, kishins probably shake in their demonic, creepy booties when they see Malik. Can't blame him, he's got like, the best girlfriend ever supporting him. Oh yeah, he's into me, it was written all over his face. He's just playing hard to get, but he'll come around" Dana stated, completely confident in her words. She was irresistable after all, there was no way he'd hold out for long. She'd give him like, two days, and if he didn't break down in that time and confess his undying love for her then she'd ransom off his jacket for one date. Oh yeah, she had him right where she wanted him.

Remembering her friend was in pain, she snapped out of her dreamy state and blushing, she opened the door to the nurse's office and gently lead Zoey inside, apologising for not leading her there sooner.​

 

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"A-are you plotting?" Zoey asked with a half-smirk. "Y-you're so into him, a-aren't you?"

The nurse looked up when the door opened and saw the pair standing there. She gasped when she saw blood coming out of Zoey's eyes, and quickly stood up from her rolling chair. "Oh my, what happened Zoey?"

Zoey felt the gentle touch of the nurse and felt herself being led in the office. "S-someone c-c-cut my blindfold o-o-outside."

The nurse pressed her lips together, and then glanced over to Dana. "You may need to leave-"

"N-no, let her stay," Zoey stated quietly.

"Very well." The nurse led Zoey over to an examining table, helping the girl sit down. She then opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed what appeared to be eyedrops, except the liquid was glowing a strange blue color. The nurse then grabbed some other equipment and turned off all the lights, she then closed the blinds, making it as dark as possible. "Okay Zoey, the room is dark."

Zoey nodded and carefully lowered her hands from her eyes. Strange enough, they were glowing, just like the contents in the bottle. Blood was trickling down her face, and her eyes were stormy greenish grey and glassy, staring off into nothing. There were strange symbols etched into her eyes in what it looked like silver ink.

"It's a curse..." Zoey whispered quietly to Dana. The nurse moved over and used the glowing light from Zoey's eyes to open the eyedrops and put them in. "I can't handle light of any type... that's why I have to wear the blindfold." The blood began to run clear as soon as the eyedrops were put in. "So, I can see... except all I see are outlines, shadows, and the color of souls." She smiled sadly as the nurse worked on cleaning her up. "I used to see everything, when I was very little."

 

"W-what? No, no I am not! He's into me, not the other way around! I'd never stoop so low as to go for someone like him, how could you even suggest it?" Dana exclaimed, clearly flustered. She waited a moment, and then quietly just said "please don't tell anyone" in a very gentle, almost pleading voice. She then waited for Zoey's treatment to be over, amazed at the sight that was before her very eyes involving Zoey's glowing ones. She wanted to say it looked really cool, and it really did, but something told her that now was not the time.

"If you ask me, the fact you can't see like others can almost gives you an advantage. With the way you fought back with the pharaoh, your limited vision clearly doesn't ruin you, and you can see peoples' souls. If it's a curse, I bet we can find a way to remove it. I mean, you've probably looked, but hey maybe you just need someone to think outside the box or something. I dunno if you've noticed, but my mind's a little....different. People tend to either be freaked out by me, or just outright ignore me. Frankly, I'm surprised you've stuck by me even for this small amount of time. Even my own family don't think I'll do any good. Not sure what gave them that impression, I mean I'm awesome, but yeah...they were really surprised when I actually got accepted into here. So, miracles clearly happen and maybe we can find a way to get you a clear vision of the blue sky after all" Dana said, the usually hyperactive girl being somewhat...ordinary.​

 

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The girl smiled a bit at Dana's words, listening to them carefully. The nurse touched her chin and the top of her head, prompting her to look down. The tears that replaced the blood was wiped away, and her eyes felt cooler now than the boiling heat that plaugued her moments before.

She looked over to Dana, her eyes seeming like they saw right through her. "I was really nervous coming to the DWMA," Zoey started as the nurse made preparations to wrap her eyes with a dark colored gauze. "I didn't think anyone wanted to be partners with me because of... this. I worked so hard to make sure it wouldn't be a problem, but I knew I couldn't force anyone to be with me if they didn't want to."

Zoey smiled more as her eyes tried to adjust looking right into Dana's eyes. She could see the silver outline of her face, and could see where her eyes were, but she couldn't see the details or the color of it. "I like you because you're you... Your personality helps me to be happy, and you don't coddle me like a lot of people tend to do." She grinned, moving her head a bit to the side. "I like your mind and the way you think. It helps me to stay optimistic and keeps a smile on my face."

Soon, her eyes were covered by the dark bandages, darkening the room further. Once it was finished, the nurse moved over to the curtains and pulled the blinds so the room could have some light to see, but enough dimness that one could see around. "All set. Let me fill out some paperwork and then you're free to go." With that, the nurse left the pair alone, closing the door behind her.

Zoey listened and waited for the steps to recede before she glanced up at Dana. "I need to tell you something more... only Lord Death knows about this and handful of other people. But you're my partner, and you need to know." She then pointed to the bleeding moon tattoo on her cheek, her smile disappearing all together. "This... this is the symbol of a witch's curse. My dad, he was a meister for the DWMA. He made many enemies, and that included kishins and witches." Zoey pressed her hands together and folded them in her lap. "My dad, he took out a powerful witch before I was born. The witch had a twin sister, but he didn't know that. She was angry for what my dad did, and wanted revenge... she came to our house when I was four, and found me. She decided to curse me instead of destroying my dad, saying that I'll feel the pain she feels every day for the rest of my life; that I'll never see the world the same way again, just like she does. She took away my sight, and told me I'll never see the light of day again, because her own world was dark and unkind..."

Zoey breathed out slowly, raising her head up a little to glance at her partner. "My dad had to put me in the darkest room for a long time, trying to find a cure to what the witch did to me. But we didn't find one... and then we found out if I covered my eyes with something, I could bear the curse a bit better. Then we worked on maneuvering through my own world without bumping into anything, and then I made him teach me how to fight..."

The girl pressed her lips together and looked down towards her lap. "Lord Death told me he was going to try to find a way to break the curse, or make it easier to bear... but we both came to the conclusion the only way to be healed from this is to defeat the witch that gave me the curse in the first place. And since I trained myself to fight, he let me enroll in the DWMA."

Zoey blew more air and then hopped off the table, raising her head once more. "Not everyone knows about this because of the stigma of witches... but you're my partner. I needed to tell you, because partners tell each other everything." She smiled a little and rubbed the back of her neck. "I... hope we can still work together. I know it's a lot to take in with me..."

 

"Of course we can still work together. I got to taste my first soul because of you, and I got to go explore the pharaoh's tomb because of you, and we're going to be the best meister and weapon combo ever. Hell, we already are, they just don't see it yet. Besides, you still promised me ice cream remember?" Dana asked with a laugh, her cheerful persona returning almost completely. "Just because a witch decided to hold a grudge doesn't make you any less of a person, I mean you have more reason to be here than anyone with something like that. Be the protagonist of your own story, I'll be your sidekick and I don't let just anyone boss me around. Don't worry so much, we've got this whole thing downpat" the girl reassured.​

 

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Zoey tilted her head up in surprise. The last thing she expected from anyone was to be so accepting of her. Then again, Dana seemed like a laid back person. Zoey felt her eyes sting under the gauze and her lips turned into a smile as her chin quivered. The girl reached out her arms to the outline of Dana's body, her fingers searching through the air before she connect with fabric and skin. She then wrapped her arms around Dana, hugging her close. "Thank you so much Dana," Zoey whispered as she hugged her partner a little tighter. "They really gave me the best partner in the whole DWMA."

The girl then heard a familiar voice and perked up. She couldn't see the soul, but she saw a familiar outline and let go of her partner. "O-oh, Lord Death, hello." She bowed in respect, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ears. She listened carefully to his words while standing back up to attention. Boy, was she glad to let Dana know ahead of time before Lord Death walked in personally to see how she was. "Dana knows the whole story," Zoey said with a smile and a tilt of her head. "And the blindfold thing... It's not the school's fault it happened. It was the ignorance of other people. Guess I walk around so well they thought it was... odd for me to have something over my eyes." Zoey knew it wasn't the whole point of what happened, but she didn't want to get people more in trouble than they already were. "Dana took good care of me. Oh, um, Lord Death..."

Zoey poked her pointer fingers together nervously, making the gesture to look at the floor with her head. "Do you know where to find a fabric strong enough to not be cut with blades? I think I heard something like that existing, but I haven't found out where yet." She blushed and smiled sheepishly. It was kind of embarrassing to ask for any kind of help from time to time, and she was mentally kicking herself in the head for not finding a fabric like that in the first place before coming to school. She was lucky enough as it was to not have the pharaoh or his mummies rip off her blindfold at any point during the whole mission.

 

Shockingly, Dana was speechless as Zoey hugged her. She should have some kind of witty remark to make about it, some kind of joke thrown along with it, but no, she had nothing. Instead, she simply hugged her friend back. Such a tender moment was best not ruined with words, even if they were words that would likely raise the mood even higher.

Sure enough, Lord Death arrived shortly afterwards. Dana knew he would come, of course he'd come when a fight had broken out between two students. Dana just hoped he didn't subject her to the infamous reaper chop, she didn't want a headache that would last a few weeks. Surely he wouldn't be so cruel, but then again...if she were injured, surely Malik would come running, begging her to forgive him for not coming forth with his feelings sooner. Dreamy McEdgelord nursing her back to health wasn't a bad thought, maybe she should ask Lord Death to reaper chop her after all.

Snapping back to reality, her attention was caught by the words Zoey said about the fabric that couldn't be cut by blades. Numerous questions came to mind as she heard those words. Did such a thing exist? Would even Lord Death know about it if it did? And could she make a killer outfit out of it if so? So many questions, so few answers. With any luck, she would find out. First they would get a new blindfold for Zoey, and then Dana would create their clothing. They would have to have matching outfits, that one was a given, but what kind of shoes would they need? There was something badass about a lady that could swallow souls while in heels, but what would she do for Zoey? Wait, that was it! Zoey could wear indestructible socks and nothing else, striking fear into the hearts of their opponents due to the blind meister's raw courage and power! How had she not thought of it before? The plan was genius! She was a genius for thinking of it! Smiling like a giddy fool, the weapon waited for Death's answer.​

 

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Roderick and Zephyr took another taxi back to the London Eye, walking over to the nearby red light district, looking around for the girl who had helped them. Roderick really didn't want to talk to her right now, and shoved his hands in his pockets again as he spotted her, and walked over. "Um, hey," he said, looking everywhere but directly at her. "We, uh, just wanted to say thanks for your help. That guy won't be bothering you all anymore, we took care of him for good."

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Matthew held Mikio's clawed gauntlet defensively in front of him, feeling excited as he led the small group through the door that led South. Every step they took led them closer to their target, and he was about to get into his first fight as a DWMA Meister. "This is exciting," he said quietly. "Don't' you guys agree?"

 

"The mission was a breeze. A very hot, musty, icky breeze, but we managed okay. Zoey's preeeeeetty good with using a staff, i'm gonna be an awesome deathscythe and she's gonna be the best meister. That pharaoh stood no chance, oh yeah Lord Death I forgot to ask but is it possible for someone to get fat from eating souls? I don't want to ruin my body but they taste so good so I want to eat as many as I can, so yeah do they?" Dana asked, gently fixing up the blindfold on Zoey as she did so. It'd been on her mind since the thought had occurred to her before, so she had to find out now. She hoped the answer was no, if so then damn did she look forward to the feast coming her way. It was weird, she'd never thought that eating someone's soul would be so fulfilling...was she secretly a psychopath inside? Guys were into the crazy chicks, so combined with her normal attractiveness....that could be dangerous. The world was not ready for such a thing. ​

 

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Zoey listened attentively to Dana's report, smiling as she felt her partner carefully put the new blindfold on her. Her partner accepted everything about her up to this point which made the girl feel at peace within. She was nervous that others wouldn't want to partner with her, or would be too nice to say anything and then explode at her later. But Dana seemed to speak everything that was on her mind. And the way Dana defended her just a half hour ago stuck in her mind as well. Her partner seemed perfect okay with Zoey, curse and all. And Zoey felt the same way about Dana.

The meister heard the question her weapon had and snorted, covering her mouth with her hand. Zoey was fighting so hard not to burst out laughing on the spot in front of everyone. She knew Dana was outspoken, but she didn't think she would actually ask Lord Death if she would get fat from Souls.