Reaper's Purgatory

Cider was punched hard in the face, by none other than Megumi. She could only look on, in horror.

Cider flew and fell to the ground hard. "OW!!"

"Ow. Ow. Ow!" Cider felt his face. He glared up, but seeing Megumi, his expression immediately changed.

"I-I-I'm so Sorry!" Megumi blurted. She hurried over to Cider's side.

"Megumi?"

Megumi started to ramble off, apologizing. Cider didn't pay attention to this. He smiled and jumped up in joy. "There you are!!"

"Huh??"

To Megumi's surprise, Cider practically danced around her, stupefying not only her, but the other two Reaper's that were fighting Cider not too long ago.

As they watched, the skeleton reaper that was accompanying Megumi arrived behind him.

"I told her not to rush in," He sighed.

Dove glanced back, finding the skeleton reaper just watching Cider climb over Megumi.

"W-w-what the hell!??" Dove stumbled back onto his butt and Chime watched the Reaper with a cold sweat running down her face.

Dove reoriented his eye, as if recognizing him, "W-wait aren't you-"

"That demon child…" The Reaper interrupted. "He's with us…"

"H-huh?" Dove looked on, in surprise hearing the Reaper's words.

"I think someone stole his core off of us when we weren't paying attention. It wasn't until he entered his chaos state that I realized he wasn't with us."

The Reaper glanced back at Dove. "I take responsibility for the trouble he caused. I'll try keeping him on a shorter leash."

The Reaper looked at Cider much more intensely. "That child… He somehow freed himself from the chaos state… He's much stronger than I expected…"

"Are you sure you want to keep this demon with you? We can take him off your hands." Chime echoed.

"Ah, Chime. That won't be necessary. But what brings you two, to Gondola?"

"It's a private matter." Chime glanced at Megumi, who looked relieved, despite Cider's playful nature being on full display. "I'm also assisting someone else, like you are."

"You mean this kid here?" The Reaper, clearly referring to Dove.

"No. Hahahaha. My student here to help me with the matter at hand."

"I see."

"HEY!" Dove suddenly shouted.

He held out a note pad with a pen, bowing in respect. "Can I get your signature please!!"

This surprised the Reaper.

"He's a fan of yours. He's heard of all your past exploits."

The Reaper sighed. "Another person dove into the forbidden archives?"

"I'm sorry." Chimed echoed.

"Don't worry about it. I can't expect all my work to be tucked away forever." The Reaper quickly signing the notepad to please the other reaper.

"Megumi! We're leaving." He shouted

Megumi turned back to the Reaper. "O-okay."

At this moment Cider finally realized that the Reaper was with them. "You!"

He hopped off Megumi, dashing forth to attack the Reaper. 

"Wait! Cider! He's not here to hurt you!" Megumi yelled.

Ignoring Dove and Megumi, he closed in to cut the Reaper with his now black clawed hands.

Unexpectedly, the Reaper used his bone tentacle to grab Cider by the leg, slamming him to the ground.

Cider became dazed by this sudden action but quickly recovered. Seeing the Reaper, he swung and swiped at the Reaper, all the while he was hanging upside down by the bone tentacle.

 Everyone witnessing this, was unsure what to make of the scene before them as Cider rambled on and swung away like a puppy defending its master. 

The Reaper could only sigh exhaustedly from this.

"Will you stop if I promise to buy some Ice cream?" he asked.

Cider immediately ceased. He continued to stare at the Reaper indignantly. "Maybe."

********

Cider ate away at a large banana split ice cream with vanilla and chocolate scoops.

Meanwhile Megumi slowly licks away at a cherry flavored ice cream, awkwardly watching Cider eat his.

They were all eating at an outside an ice cream shop table where people and demons alike passed by them. Watching them from afar was Dove and Chime, who also got their own scoops of ice cream. 

"Hey chime?"

"Mmm?"

"Yes?" She echoed.

"Why did you get ice cream?" Dove asked.

"Hmm?"

"I don't know." Chime promptly threw away the Ice cream.

Both chime and Dove carefully observed their group quietly as they all ate their treat.

Soon, Cider finished his unnaturally large portion of Ice cream. Gasping in satisfaction with the treat.

Shortly after he glared back at the Reaper pointing indignantly once again. "Don't think I've forgiven you for what you did! You hurt my friend an-"

Cider was pulled up by his legs once more. Once again, he attempted to fight the Reaper in vail.

"Well, that didn't last long." The Reaper said. He then glanced back at Megumi seeing her a little unsure about something. "Is something on your mind."

Megumi seemed a little bit distracted.

"Megumi?" Cider suddenly called out.

"Huh?"

That same instant Cider was released, and like a professional he landed on his feet.

"O-oh sorry I was just a little distracted." Megumi smiled a little more gingerly. "Honestly, I'm so relieved you're alright. I couldn't be happier…"

Cider cocked his head, a little curious. "Did something happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know… There's something different about you" Cider got closer to Megumi.

Seeing that Cider was about to touch her hand, she quickly jerked it away. This surprised Cider.

"S-sorry! It's a force of habit. I try to keep from touching my hand, it-" Suddenly, Megumi dropped her ice cream, freaking out.

Cider and the Reaper became alerted.

"What happened!? Are you alright!?" Cider blurted.

The Reaper scanned the area for any suspicious person.

"M-m-m-my gloves!!!" Megumi screeched.

Megumi quickly dug in her jacket pockets, pants pockets, frantically searching for her gloves.

"Gloves?" The Reaper questioned irritated. "You didn't have gloves when you arrived."

A face instantly became flushed, realizing that the Reaper was correct. She instantly hid her face, completely embarrassed by her outburst.

"Here you go."

Megumi brought her head up seeing a waiter holding a fresh new cone of cherry ice cream.

He was tall, with long black-hair and squinted eyes that made it hard to tell its color. And just with a glance, she could tell that he was from an Asian descent, Chinese perhaps.

"Oh. Thank you."

Just as she took the ice cream in hand the waiter suddenly held out his hands in expectancy. "That'll be five-hundred opal."

KA-CHING

"Eh. What?" Megumi became stupefied hearing the absurd sounding number for ice cream. It didn't take long for Megumi to realize that he was asking for money with people asking for various amounts of 'opal'. It became an easy comparison to the normal dollar bill.

"Five-hundred opal?" the Reaper asked. 

"Yeah. two hundred for the new ice cream, and three hundred for the mess I have to clean up." he said, with an undeterred smile.

"Eh?" Megumi's mouth began to twitch.

To those not aware, Megumi was always known for two specific things in her hometown. The first, being her cursed touch of death. And the second…Her absolute lack of money. In other words, Megumi was always, inexplicably, broke!

Suddenly she crushed the ice cream cone in her hand, spilling her new ice cream on the floor.

"Oh, that's unfortunate." 

The waiter quickly pulled out a notebook and scribbled in it. Not long after he ripped it off and presented it to Megumi. "That'll be one-thousand opal now… If you want another ice cream of course"

Megumi could only stare dumbfounded by the man's actions. "W-why are you charging me for you to clean up my mess?"

"Because you made a mess, of course. Besides, I can't go home without getting paid." The waiter gestured with his hands, almost tauntingly.

Megumi picked a napkin from the table readying it. "Y-you know I think I can clean this mess myself-"

The waiter instantly took the napkin in hand, still standing tall and overconfident.

"Oh, please. You're our guest at our shop; I can handle this easily."

Megumi pulled the napkin towards her. "Then why are you charging me for doing your job?" She growled, trying to keep herself composed.

"A man's gotta make extra cash somehow in purgatory." He pulled it back towards himself, maintaining his smile.

"Then charge someone else!"

The bickering continued and left both Cider and the Reaper to watch on, in disbelief.

After a few more seconds the Reaper finally got up, sighing exhaustedly. "I'll handle the-"

"No! I'm sure she can handle her own tab. And she otta have some savings she could spare for this meager exchange. I mean, how could anyone come to Purgatory, completely broke?"

"Hmm?" the waiter cocked his head. He saw Megumi start to become more annoyed.

Cider, seeing Megumi's reaction Jumped onto the waiter exuding a menacing dark aura. The waiter glanced up curiously. He laughed. "And what do you think you're doing, you little devil?"

"I-I can't pay you!" She suddenly said.

"Huh?"

 "L-look, I'm completely broke. I… Really don't have any of those 'Opal's' you're looking for…" Megumi's face became flushed, completely embarrassed by having to reveal this to the man.

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Hey Cider." Megumi called.

Cider immediately turned to Megumi.

"Could you get off him?"

Cider looked a little more reluctant to listen to Megumi. Suddenly the waiter busted into laughter. He pointed and laughed straight in Megumi's face. "How could you enter Purgatory completely broke!?"

After seething for a moment, hearing his laughter, Megumi erupted with anger and pointed straight at him and indignant. "Grr! Kick his butt Cider!"

The Reaper Acted swiftly, pulling Cider off with his tendril before he could do anything. The Reaper could only sigh as he wrestled Megumi to keep calm with another of his bone tendrils

Not long after the waiter finally ceased to laugh, wiping a tear off his face.

"Ahh~. Thanks. I feel much lighter now. It's amazing how easy it is to lighten the load. Hahahaha."

Never has Megumi been so angry with a person until now. She could only watch on, as the waiter stretched, and smiled nonchalantly. "If you're really broke, I think I could think of a way for you to pay off your tab."

Without missing a beat, the Reaper tossed over a red clear looking stone to the waiter. He caught it in his hands, looking at it curiously.

"There, a thousand opals. We're not here to play any games. It's been a long day already."

"Aww… That's disappointing."

The Reaper instantly released Megumi, pulling her from the shop. Cider, not long after, was released too. He hurried alongside them, childishly calling the Reaper names.

"Maybe I'll see you all later." The Waiter waved.

Megumi could only glare back with annoyance. "Later? I hope I don't have to see him again."

He ignored this looking back at the small pill sized orb with an amused smile. "Oh, yeah. Forgot to give her that replacement ice cream… Eh, I'll cover it next time."

Back with Megumi and her group, they walked through the streets of business and markets, past all the different looking demons and regular looking people.

"Sorry about him." The Reaper suddenly said.

"What? O-oh. It's not your fault. I wasn't expecting to meet someone so… eccentric??" Megumi tried forcing a smile but practically failed.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Where are we going." Cider called,

"Oh right."  Megumi glanced back at Cider, Jumping around traveling ahead of them now.

"Can we go in here-" 

He was instantly pulled back by the reaper's Bone tentacle.

"Hey!" Cider yelled.

"New rules. You will follow my lead and the instructions… I don't need a demon of your caliber causing trouble for this city. The Reaper pulled from his robe a small collar, putting it on Cider.

"What's that for?" Megumi asked.

"If he enters the state of chaos again, the collar will zap him back to normal."

She was a little surprised to hear this since the collar looked very average. Glancing at the store that Cider was pointing to earlier it seemed to have a variety of gloves on display. 

Megumi's interest, instantly peaked.

"Uh… Hey, M-mr. Reaper? Can you get me some new gloves?"

The Reaper glanced over at the shop with Cider trying to hit him in vain still. He sighed. "Fine. But let's make it quick." He released Cider who fell to the ground hard. He quickly got up, following the two inside.

"Wait for me!"

"By the way Megumi… Feel free to call me 'K'."

"K…? Sure. Thanks, K"

********

Elsewhere in a stony prison, the demon women from the woods, trek past cell after cell looking for a particular person in mind. Most of the cells she passed by contained gnarly and grotesque looking demons, misshapen into beast.

Some of these demons went on the attack, while others cowered as she passed by them. Eventually she reached a cell with a normal looking human.

"There you are."

"Did you find him Annabelle?" a strange looking demon with Pale green skin approached from behind her.

"Yes. and it looks like he's raring to go."

The man in the cell glared back angrily at the two demons before him.

The man had short blonde-hair, blue-eyes and had a piercing on his left ear. He also wore a torn blue shirt and combat pants. Around his neck was a strange black looking collar.

""What do you want from me now?" He questioned.

A shock was immediately sent through him, emanating from the collar. He cried out in pain, falling to his knee and clutching the collar itself.

Be careful Dino… You might just become a demon if you're not careful." Anna taunted.

Soon the pain passed. Dino glanced back up, much more calmly. "Fine… What do you need from me… Today?

Anna curled a smile, satisfied. "Good."

"You have a very important mission; I need you to rescue someone very important to me. And failure is NOT an option."