WHO: Natalia, Santi, Chelo, and...the Reaper. WHEN: February 18 WHERE: The Park SUMMARY: The mask breaks. The Reaper is revealed. CW: Mild violence.
Natalia, Santi, and Chelo were in the middle of a late-night ice cream run. As they left the shop, they could hear soft whispers—much like that night, many months ago, the first time a monster appeared...
Natalia was enjoying her mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. She stopped when she heard the whispers, "Guys. Have I finally gone crazy or do you hear something?"
There was a power to owning your feelings, and having done so, it was easier now to enjoy his favorite flavor. Chelo was happily enjoying his first mango ice cream in a while. He had actually eaten half of it already and was now trying to slow down to savor the remainder as they stepped outside. At first, he didn't notice that strange sound: the one he'd heard a long time ago now, with Santi at the film festival. Back then, he hadn't thought anything of it, but now... He lowered his ice cream and frowned. "...yes?"
Santi was idly licking at his cookie dough ice cream when hh, yeah, heard something, too. His ears twitched a little even if he wasn't really hearing anything with them. It was something else. "Didn't we hear that before...?"
Natalia hummed, narrowing her eyes before taking a cautious bite of her ice cream. "I haven't, I don't think. But I think some people have mentioned the whispers before"
"We did...I think. I have heard this..." Chelo was quiet for a moment, looking for a place to possibly discard his ice cream as he tried to remember exactly where. "It's probably an Elysium thing...should we investigate?" They were supposed to use a phone tree now, too, he thought...But he didn't really know what that was.
Santi was not throwing away his ice cream, so he continued eating. "If you guys are going, then I.... I will too."
Natalia stopped enjoying her treat for a moment, her eyes wide. Elysium thing. Sure. Was she finally going to get some excitement? Maybe horrible, terrible stuff but excitement? "I think... we should investigate. Just see and maybe have a text written up to send just as we know it is something. Call in a chosen or whatever."
This was a good idea, so Chelo nodded...preparing to send Tit-- er, Alejo a text. "Ready when you are...Lead the way?"
Natalia looked at what she had left. If she had to fight, could she part with minty goodness? Already she had to consider sacrifices. She took a large bite, giving Chelo-py and Santi a look, perking her eyebrows up. Just like at home, she had to make the decisions. Why does she always find herself in the company of men like that? Ah well, she loved all of them and would protect all. "Okay!" She declared, her mouth full. "Follow me!" She took another bite and winced at the ice cream headache but still pressed on.
Smiling at Santi, reassuringly, Chelo and began to follow their newly coined leader: Natalia. Santi followed right after, huddled close to Chelo as he finished the last bits of ice cream.
The whispers led them towards an empty park, again, full of trees obscuring the view. As they moved closer, they started to feel sluggish, as if the energy rush from the sugar was leaving them, or perhaps because it was getting late?
That ice cream headache must have be pretty bad. Natalia winced as she found herself at the park again. Was this the one mentioned before? Man, she should have remembered the notes better. Her inner Gunnar found this suspicious even though Natalia thought it had been late, and she had a treat, it could make her feel that way. Energy never just stops, she found herself thinking. She narrowed her eyes. "Something bad is here. Don't you feel that? I never just suddenly feel tired. Unless there was alcohol in the mint." She ate the last bite of her cone. "Chelo-py, I would send that text?"
Had the sugar high worn off? Chelo found himself feeling heavy and tired, like he'd stayed up too late and worked out too long and maybe forgotten a meal (which he rarely did, but he was in med school, so sometimes it happened). He shook his head, trying to pep himself back up, but the sluggish feeling stuck. He glanced at Nati as she brought up also feeling suddenly odd and frowned. After a moment, he nodded and hit the send button. "We should stay close..." He didn't know if that would actually help or hurt them, but it seemed like solid advice. Since his phone was out, he turned on the flashlight function, surveying the trees.
Santi stifled a yawn as he finished his cone, wiping his hands on his napkin. "Maybe we shou--"
As they walked deeper into the park, they heard combat—a sound like a loud roar reverberating in their ears. A large bipedal beast that almost looked like a bear swiped its large claws at the man wielding a large scythe. It then followed up with a second attack that sent the man flying into a tree.
Natalia blinked a couple times. She whipped out her phone and quickly tried to turn on her video. Wren had difficulty last time but maybe this time since the Scythe person was distracted. "Scythe was one of the bad people, right?" she whispered.
"He's in trouble. We have to help him. " Chelo looked down at his hands, feeling a swell of fear. But the bear was going to maul scythe-guy if they didn't do something, and then they'd be next. Scythe-guy had a scythe, so maybe if they worked together with him, they could take down the bear and...? He didn't know. It didn't matter that much. All he really cared about was that scythe-guy was in danger, and he wasn't going to stand around waiting to see how that panned out. He ran at the bear, his plan being to smash into it with his shoulder and shove it back or knock it down or at least throw it off-guard—generally, distract it from any immediate mauling efforts, but the bear easily swatted Chelo away, inching closer to him.
"Chelo!!!!" Santi rushed in between the bear and Chelo before it could hit him again.
Natalia had been filming as best she could, ignoring her hands being all sticky from the ice cream. Then she had to see the boys trying to be heroes. For each other. This would be great fan fiction fodder if she did fan fiction about real people—but she wasn't creepy like that. Instead, she winced. Stuffing her phone in her pocket as it continued to run, hoping she had the camera part still sticking out. What would Gunnar do? Gunnar was ranged. She stayed back, grabbing a stick. "Um..." She looked around and then her eyes fell on the Scythe person. "Can we help?"
Chelo tumbled to the ground with a soft grunt, but quickly sat up, trying to get to his feet...just in time to realize it wasn't the bear in front of him, but... "Santi, don't! Get back!"
"No! Run away!"
The reaper was already back on his feet, throwing a bolt of shadow at the bear. The bear groaned in pain, rolling off to the side after almost hitting Santi.
"Fuck. Catch." The reaper tossed a stone at Chelo and Nati before running to Santi's side and holding one out for him.
Natalia raised an eyebrow. She didn't expect someone like the scythe bearer to swear like that. It made them seem almost human. At the urge to catch, she ran, dropping her stick to see if she could catch said stone.
"San--" Chelo was on his feet, prepared to run for Santi and tackle him, but the Reaper hit the bear, and his effort seemed unnecessary. He turned his head, though did not face away from the bear, about to thank the stranger, when the Reaper started throwing rocks. He caught his, out of reflex, brow creasing. What the...?
"What's..."
"Take it."
Santi reluctantly took it as it was pushed into his hand, and the stones began to glow faintly, their techniques from Elysium coming back to them in a flash.
The bear was back on its feet, growling, and once again tackling the Reaper, who managed to parry the attack, for now, but both the bear and him were now at some distance from the others.
Natalia tried to be cool catching the stone, but it ended up hitting her in the shoulder and plopping to the ground. As she picked it up, it felt warm, and suddenly she knew. Every memory she tried to grasp ahold of, no longer felt that way—they were fully accessible. And much like Sailor Moon, her clothing changed to Gunnar's fighting uniform of light armor and one mechanical arm covering her own like slightly heavier armor. She knew which button to hit, to slide out her good ole pistol. She grinned as excitement buzzed through her veins. "Hello old friend." She grinned as she ran in the direction of the bear, to get in range. Aiming, she used her armored arm as a steady crutch. Gunnar would hate this but Natalia had to. "Bang." The carefully aimed shot pierced right through the bear, giving it a limp...and yet the bear struck again, attacking the reaper, who barely managed to block, the claw piercing right through his hat and half of his mask, but he jumped away under the shadows of the trees, the bear chasing after him.
Chelo watched Nati shift into a familiar garb—a look that was a little odd, because he knew it on a very different person, but which suited her nonetheless. He squeezed the stone in his hand, and as his body regained a muscle memory borne of hundreds and thousands of hours of training and fighting... His sweatshirt and pants began to shimmer, gleaming metallic and heavy, and a nostalgic weight filled his hand as a sword appeared there. He looked, wonderingly, at his now armored person, then at Nati, already bolting ahead and firing at the monster, and then at Santi. "Looks like this is for real..." He laughed, because it felt surreal while also feeling very real. But there was no time for dawdling, because even though Nati's shot was good, the man with the scythe was still in trouble. Chelo nodded to Santi and began racing after Nati, the bear, and the reaper.
Santi glowed faintly, closing his eyes as memories of many years of arduous training were finally back within his grasp. His clothes changed into Karim's battle garb. It was form fitting, leathers and fabrics, exposing his very strong arms almost completely, but his hands were protected by a pair of magically crafted gloves that were passed down his family. It almost felt like he was wearing nothing, enhancing his speed and reaction time, but also protecting him through its special craft that was also a family secret trade. "It's very real... but we have to go help him." With a chuckle, he dashed after Chelo, moving noticeably faster than he did.
The reaper had recovered from the attack and bore down upon the bear with his scythe. It left a superficial cut in the bear's thick hide. Enraged, the bear attacked once more, tearing at the reaper's armor, removing the last bits of his mask and knocking his scythe away.
As her bullet hit, her eyes sparkled. This wasn't a dream. This had been really real. The bear had been injured, but still relentlessly attacked the reaper. And now, she saw the two near her. She recognized Pius, and she grinned. Then she saw the reaper lose his mask. She squinted to see if she could recognize the person but the roar from the bear caused her to focus and take aim.
Santi came rushing in at full speed, delivering a rising kick, lifting the entire bear before dunking it back down on the floor with a loud smack that left a crater on the ground. "Nati!"
Nati pulled the trigger.
Chelo had fallen behind. He was in great shape, but also he was not used to running with a good portion of his body encased in metal—and even with the muscle memory, it was kind of a weird feeling. As he caught up with his much swifter boyfriend and nimble Nati, he managed to catch the tail-end of Santi's impressive kick and Nati's next shot. The stranger had lost his mask, but Chelo didn't have a chance to check to see who was beneath it, nor if he had been badly damaged in the loss of his facial armor. His sword flashed, the blade beginning to glow with light magic. Like Pius had with the Phasma, he swung, sending an arc of magic towards the beast.
"What did you...do to it...?" he asked the reaper with a grunt. That monster sure seemed to want a piece of him...
The monster crumbled into dust and a ball of energy that flew off into the distance.
"That was..." Santi laughed and looked at Chelo and then at Nati. "So cool!"
Natalia gasped as the bear went down. She got to take a moment and look down at her transformed clothing. Just how she remembered. She beamed. "I can't believe it. This is awesome!" Then she paused and looked over to the Scythe wielder. "Hey, uh... sir? Are you okay?" She attempted to approach him.
Chelo nodded, smiling a little at Santi's excitement, but his attention—like Nati's—was directed at the reaper. He felt a little self-conscious wearing Serenitan armor, so after a moment, he deactivated the stone, returning to his plainclothes and asked, "Do you need an ambulance?"
"Guys, just... uhhh... give him space."
Natalia looked over at Santi and stuck her nose in the air, not so much to appear snobby but perhaps with a sense of pride. "I can heal if he needs it. Do you need it, sir?"
Mateo had been stuck between a rock and a hard place. He could sneak out and keep his identity secret...but he'd lose his scythe. He needed that. So he had attempted to sneak away while they were busy with the bear, and then sneak away again—his only method of hiding his identity keeping his face tilted away from the three. "Uh. No. I'm good, thanks. Thanks for killing the bear. Bye."
Of course he knew who it was when he handed Santi the stone. He couldn't believe it, sure, but his cousin had to have a reason. "Just--let's uh... go...."
Chelo frowned. The reaper had taken a beating, and he couldn't believe the guy was fine to just dust himself off and leave. He glanced at Santi in confusion, but shook his head. Probably Santi didn't want a fight with another person. Monsters was one thing, people were another. But he had no intention to attack, especially since he had already deactivated his stone. "Wait. We don't want to fight you. But please let us make sure you're okay..."
"Hmmm.... no." Natalia felt a little of Gunnar's bluntness but she still kept her breathy tone. "Yeah, please let me heal you. I mean I would love to ask questions but I will settle for healing."
Santi walked in between his friends and the reaper, arms wide open.
"Santi...?" Chelo asked.
"Let him go. He helped us..." Santi replied.
"I'm not looking to hurt him! I promise. He helped us back there," Natalia said.
"That's why—" Chelo glanced at Nati and nodded. "Exactly. That's why...or well, that's not entirely why, but we should help him. He got knocked around a lot..."
"I'm fine. I can just...go." Except he really couldn't. Mateo was fully willing to take advantage of Santi being the best person ever, he loved his cousin, but his first attempt to turn and walk away as fast as he could made it apparent his leg was not a fan of this and buckled under his weight after a few steps. This was fine. He could crawl.
"Teo!" Santi blurted out when he heard the fall, eyes wide and covering his mouth when he realized his mistake.
Natalia ran towards Mateo and around Santi as she saw the reaper collapse to the ground. She uncocked her gun and zipped it back into her arm as she adjusted a few buttons to get the curing juices flowing. "Oh, clearly you are not fine." she lightly chided as she knelt beside him. "Now hold still. I haven't done this since... well, since before." She placed her hand on his leg gently.
That cold wave of fear he'd had before? It was back. Chelo stared at the ground between his feet and Mateo, his heart pumping in a way that made it hard to think. Teo. Santi's cousin. The Reaper. He swallowed. His mouth and throat were so dry. He managed to prise it open, breathing shakily. "I texted...Alejo...already..." He looked up. He didn't know what the right thing to do was, but... He knew what would happen when Prince Titus arrived. He looked at Santi, and then he moved towards Nati, trying to grasp her by the arm and pull her away from Teo. "I texted Alejo already!" he repeated in a panicky voice, looking up at Santi. "You have to take him and go."
Santi ran up next to his cousin and crouched down by him, casting away his powers. "Hop up! We have to go...!"
The healing magic was magic Mateo hadn't felt in quite a long time. He had depended mostly on time to recover from any of his reaper responsibilities. "Thank you. I owe you." Upon hearing about the text, he paled. There was enough issues with these three, he didn't want to deal with Alejo. "Yes. Okay. Let's go. I'll ... yeah."
Natalia nodded, already beginning to feel a little tired from using this specific ability. At the mention of Alejo, her eyes went wide. Yeah, this would not end well. They knew who the reaper was. And Santi was so kind and good. And Mateo had helped them. There were puzzle pieces missing that she wanted to ask about but she put them away for now. "Okay, I will stop for now. I can continue if you need more." She stood up and dropped her transformation, taking a deep breath. "And you owe me nothing."
Nodding his head and securing his hold on his cousin, Santi considered the best route of action, and he decided they were close enough to his parent's apartment, so he headed there with his cousin in tow.
"You...don't have to stay," Chelo said to Nati, watching Santi as he hurried away with Mateo. "I...I'll think of something...to tell him when he arrives..." He shook his head, his brain feeling empty—his understanding of everything shaken. But he took a breathe and steeled himself. "I'll take responsibility."
"You don't have to say the reaper was here. We can say we found our stones and defeated the shadow bear ourselves."
"Yeah...maybe...that is what we should say..." Though he hated to lie to that face...
Nati crossed her arms and hummed. "If you want, I can do the talking." She gave him a wink with a clicking sound.
He laughed. "I'm not a very good liar, so...maybe that would be best."