[3.4] Black Blood

Akuma and Brann groaned over their full stomachs. "That was goooood, i tell you!" Brann boldly proclaims to which Akuma only nods in agreement.

"So, wanna go get your status plate done?" Brann asks. [That bastard Zack. He never told me anything about it. He may have wanted to kill me from the beginning. If so i have to find and warn Haku.] Akuma drifts into thought before giving an answer that satisfies both himself and his bald companion. "Five minutes."

Five minutes later the two postpone getting Akuma's status plate by another five minutes around three more times. Yet when it seems their procrastination would never end, Akuma stands on his two feet. "ALL RIGHT! LET'S DO THIS!" Akuma boldly proclaims, tugging Brann along.

"I get it! I get it!" Brann groans as he is pulled by his heterochomic smaller friend. He soon regains posture and walks beside Akuma like a normal person.

The two stop at one of the counters, where a young lady with glasses and light brown hair tied to a ponytail sits. "How may i help you?" She asks with a kind tone to her voice.

"I'm looking to get the kid a status plate. Can you do that?" Brann asks, standing in front of the counters with Akuma leaning with his back towards the wall.

"But of course!" She responds energically. Her enthusiasm rubs off of Akuma as more annoying than motivationg. "Please come this way." The counters girl points the duo to the back of the building.

Akuma and Brann oblige and walks past the counter to the back. When they enter they see a small room with an unknown source of light. When Akuma looks up, he notices a glowing horn in a sphere of glass filled with water. A similar horn to the one he used when he was at the depths of the dungeon. Apparently those horns are used quite commonly, Akuma just never noticed.

"Please sit down." The girl says, smiling with her eyes closed while pointing at a chair. Akuma obliges and sits down.

Out of nowhere the girl pulls out a small injection needle. As soon as Akuma spots his eyes widen and body is filled with unease. "W-What do you plan on doing with that?" He asks nervously.

"Oh, this? I will draw out some of your Kriya along with your blood. After that your blood will be dropped into the Soul's Mirror." She points at a half sphere sitting atop a table nearby. The sphere itself is supported by something that resembles a tripod. "The Soul's Mirror will then display the color of your Kriya. After that, the blood that took on the color of your Kriya will be taken and stamped on your status plate. The color on the status plate is also used against thieves of status plates."

Akuma tries to calm down and soon succeeds. He then proceeds to pull up the sleeve of his cg shirt and braces himself for the needle. "Don't worry, kid! You'll be fine." Brann proceeds to encourage Akuma.

"Ready?" The girl asks Akuma who looks her in the eyes and nods. The girl only now notices Akuma's differently colored eyes. Before long, the needle enters Akuma's veins and blood starts glowing into it.

"How do you feel?" The girl asks with a noticable neutral tone to her voice. Akuma holds the answer in for a few seconds, as if he didn't even register it. "I'm...I'm feeling...pretty dizzy." He speaks through hard breaths.

"That's alright. When your Kriya is being forcibly removed, like now, it will make you feel really tired." The girl finishes both speaking and pulling out Akuma's blood at the same time. As soon as the needle exits Akuma's arm, he falls unconcious.

"What's with him?" Brann asks. The girl smiles as she responds. "He is only unconcious. You shoud take him to his room. You're his guardian, i'm guessing."

"Well. Something like that." Brann responds, scratching the back of his head while avoiding the girl's gaze. "He should be fine once he has a good night's rest. It is quite late, after all."

The girl talks as she moves over to the table with the Soul's Mirror. "Though i haven't seen anyone pass out before. The boy probably belongs to the weaker side." She turns back to Brann who has Akuma on his back. "You should just let him rest and come back a few minutes later for his status plate."

"Will do!" Brann proclaims as he walks out. [Now to hit the sack. Lucky kid, he gets to turn in sooner.] Brann thinks to himself as he rents a room and walks up the stairs towards it.

Once he enters the room he sees two beds opposite to each other, a small round table, a chair and two small cabinets and a small mirror.

Brann lies Akuma down on the left bed and covers him with one of the blankets. He then sets his own gear down next to the bed on the right.

Brann stretches as he groans silently in order not to wake Akuma up. For a few moments before heading down, Brann stops to look at the sleeping Akuma.

With a smile, Brann makes his way downstairs to the counter. When he finds the girl nowhere to be found, he decides to make his way to the room where Akuma's Kriya infused blood was taken.

As he opens the door he sees the girl sitting down at the table, her hands supporting her head and hiding the Soul's Mirror in her process. Her eyes stay locked on the Soul's Mirror with an almost pained look in them.

"Everything alright, miss?" Brann asks as he approaches the girl and taps on her shoulder.

The girl looks behind her shoulder at Brann. For the first time, Brann is able to take a look at the color of Akuma's Kriya. What he sees however isn't something he would expect.

"Pitch black...It's...pitch black." The girl says. Something like this comes as a surprise even to Brann. After all, he expected Akuma's Kriya to be orange, or maybe even red. But black. And one so dark it would make the Soul's Mirror invisible if the light was just a bit more dim.

"W-Well this...was unexpected." Brann stutters nervously as he speaks.

The girl doesn't say a word. Instead she pulls out a small metal card and puts it under the Soul's Mirror. A few moments later she pulls it out with Akuma's full name and Kriya color written down on it. Yet strangely enough, Akuma's Kriya type is missing.

The girl picks up Akuma's status plate. She walks towards the shocked Brann and stops at his side. She pushes the status into his chest before speaking up. "I'll tell you one thing. I don't know what the boy went through for his Kriya to turn so dark. But i can tell you are a good man. After all, i've had my share of bad parents. So you better take care of the boy."

She looks Brann in the eyes one last time.

"Or i'll murder you myself." Even though she is a head shorter than him, her brightly green glowing eyes and condescending, almost emotionless tone are enough to intimidate even Brann.

The girl leaves the room, leaving Brann with Akuma's status plate. Brann looks down for a few moments before heading back to his room.

As he enters, he places Akuma's status plate on the small table. Brann looks at Akuma for a few moments, simply standing as the ray of moonlight, split by the window frame, divides the room.

With a pained look Brann heads to his bed and covers himself with a blanket.

Nearly half an hour later Brann still lies awake in his bed. Stuck thinking about Akuma's black Kriya. [How did it happen? When did it happen to him? Why did it happen to that kid of all people?] Such thoughts run through Brann's mind. [Why did such a nice kid like Akuma have to suffer so much for his Kriya to turn black.]

Brann turns to his side, heading the wall and after a while finally falls asleep.

Though one question raises itself, who is Brann's friend?