Phase One: Reborn

I don't have a clue about what happened, but I'm pretty sure I died.

From what, I'm not really sure. I just know it happened. One thing is clear to me though " these images that keep flashing throughout my mind. They seem and feel so unreal. These images...the things in them...they're the embodiment of monstrosities. They killed everyone in an instance with their bites and made everyone like them. They were like zombies out of a sci-fi movie, but much more dangerous, more vicious, and carried way too much blood lust. From the way they operated, it felt like they were being controlled by someone or something. But, those things didn't kill me, something else did, it wanted me for itself. I can't recall the memories of what happened after the figure got its crusty fingers or claws on me. I just feel like, I'm missing things now…memories feel like they're fading, and fading fast. Just think...I was nothing more than a high school senior in preparation for graduation ceremonies before I died…I had friends that fought with me, family that cared about me, and a good future ahead of me. Now, I can't even remember a single one of their faces.

Is this a phase of dying?

I'd like to say that I lived a good life, but I feel like I'd be talking out of my a*s if I did. Such an unfair and cruel fate, but I don't accept this death…not like this...I can't die like this...

Topaz orange-hues fluttered open, their owner groggily regaining his senses. The fleeting memories of the dream had already left him, though the sunken feeling that came with it remained briefly. The black haired male laid there for a few moments trying to recall the memories of his dream, but to no avail, the dream had already dispersed from memory. The dream did not seem to be the only thing missing from his memories however, but a whole lot of other things as well. He clutched his head in frustration as he fruitlessly tried to remember something " anything. Knowing that this would get him nowhere, he finally admitted defeat, for now, and looked around the space he was in.

From what he could see of the room from his laying down position: there were a few picture frames plastered around the walls with no pictures in them to note, the king sized bed he was currently in, and the dresser right beside it. The entire room was decorated in golden interior from the ceiling to the floor, and everything about it looked like one of those ‘too good to be true’ kind of things.

The black haired male used his elbows to prop himself up into an upright position then shifted to sitting on the edge of the bed. He buried his face into the palms of his hands and let out a long, frustrated sigh. He knew that he wanted to be viciously angry at someone or something, but no matter how hard he tried, the young man just could not think of what it was. His memories were completely gone. The only thing he could remember was a simple word. He wasn’t even sure if it was really a word or not, it could have been a name.

“Noir…” He muttered lowly to himself in the palm of his hand. He removed his face from the darkness of his palms and gazed upward at a golden picture frame in front of him. “Noir.” He repeated, gazing at himself in the reflection of the frame. Noir must have been his name. He stared into the reflection of the mirror to soak in his own appearance.

He was of average height with a lean build, with black hair spiked up in the back, skin the color of caramel, and topaz orange eyes. He wore a black, hooded shirt, left unfastened with nothing beneath, black fitted jeans with a chain attached over the left pocket, and black/white shoes. On closer inspection he also donned a few accessories: black headphones around his neck, skull earrings, and a silver chain with a purple pendent attached to it.

Noir soaked in his appearance all at once so he would have a clue as to how he looked like at least, and he found himself staring at the image for a full five minutes before he was finally able to tear his eyes away. Letting out another sigh, the boy stood up from the bed and was about to turn to explore the room, when a voice suddenly invaded his ears.

“I'm guessing you don't know where this is either, do you?” It asked.

Noir quickly turned to the side and caught sight of a silver-haired male sitting on top of a nearby desk, simply staring at him. Instinctively, he took a few steps backwards from the other and glared darkly at him. The silver-haired male then held his hands up defensively and made a show of waving them about back and forth in peace.

“W-whoa, no need for the dark looks pal! I don't know what's going on here myself!” He sarcastically flailed. “Honestly, I can't even remember a thing before waking up here.” He quickly explained before the other decided to attack him.

Noir continued to glare daggers at the stranger while cautiously looking him up and down. The other was a tad more muscular then himself with pale-skin, aqua blue eyes, and silver hair that reached past his upper-back. He wore a black formal shirt and white tie, dark baggy shorts with a chain over his left pocket, and black combat boots.

After staring at him for a few more moments, Noir was able to deduce that the silver-haired male was not a threat…though he did seem a bit familiar. Noir felt like he had seen the male somewhere before now, he just couldn’t put his finger on it...like many other things left unrecalled.

The silver-haired male watched as the other relaxed a little, guessing that the dark-skinned teen had realized he was not a bad guy in this situation. He then sighed in relief, his aqua-hues scanning around the room to see if there was anyone else inside of it besides the two of them. When he finished, he noticed that it was only himself and the black haired male in the room. And knowing that no one else would randomly pop up as the other guy did gave the pale teen a sort of comfort.

“What's your name?” The silver-haired male asked looking back in the direction of the other. “I'm Ivory, nice to meet ya' by the way.” He smiled. From the silent reaction and the indecisiveness in his eyes, Ivory assumed that the other would not answer. Noir had been silently watching the other since he made his presence known. Though he determined Ivory was no threat, it was still oddly suspicious that he was in the same empty room as him, especially since they didn’t know each other. Or " at least, it appeared that way. Deciding that it would not hurt to tell his own name, Noir leaned his back against the wall.

“Noir,” He muttered, staring down at the floor with a distraught look. “I'm not sure if it's my real name though, it's the only thing I can remember.” Ivory could see the dejected look coming in across the others face.

“You too then?” Ivory asked with a small smirk. Noir's eyes darted up to see Ivory smirking; not really getting what was so funny. “I'm the same way. Can't say that I'm not bothered by it, but there’s no reason sulking about something I can't change.” Ivory shrugged. Noir's eyes lingered over Ivory for a moment, the worried expression on his face disappearing. Ivory smiled when he noticed Noir's distraught expression vanish.

“I can tell that you're one of those silent, cool, analyzing types of guys who observe everything, a'ntcha?” Ivory asked throwing his head to the side and smirking yet again. Noir's facial expression remained steady as he made his way from the corner and started looking around for any type of route that would lead somewhere, preferably out of the room. Ivory just shook his head and sighed.

“I figured you were.” Ivory smiled and slouched back on the desk until his back was against the wall behind it. “No use in looking for exits, already tried. No doors, no windows, no anything. We're trapped like rats.” Ivory said relaxing.

Noir's eyes darted over to Ivory when he cautiously walked passed him, then around the room for anything out of place besides the two of them. But it was as Ivory had just said; there wasn’t anything around the room, no means of entry or exit. It felt like they were inside of a box. Ivory found himself grinning the entire time the black haired male walked around the room until he finally admitted defeat and settled back down on the edge of the bed with a defeated sigh. Once Noir was finally settled back down on the bed the others chuckling caused him to glance up towards the sound.

“Tried to tell ya', we're trapped in here,” Ivory stated shrugging his shoulders. “So…might as well bask in the company of being trapped in a room with another guy, especially one as funny as me.” Ivory said sarcastically doing a small bow in his sitting position. Noir shot him another glare that Ivory easily translated as, “Stop talking now.” And he flailed both of his arms in response before slouching further back against the wall.

Ivory placed his hands over his stomach, folded them, and stared around the room in silence. Noir silently stared at the carpet of the room while trying once more to recall memories, anything relevant at all, but he felt like he was staring at a blank sheet of paper. Nothing was there. At this rate, he felt like his name was going to be the next thing he forgot.

Before they could ponder anymore about their current situation, both males were suddenly brought out of their sitting positions and onto their knees, the oxygen in their lungs slowly depleting. Noir and Ivory scrambled about the floor as they tried their best to fight back up to their feet, but to no avail. It felt like they were being asphyxiated by the very atmosphere of the room itself. The longer they struggled, the harder and harder it became to breathe. Both males were fighting to retain the bit of oxygen they had left, but even that proved inevitable: they could hold down as much oxygen as they pleased, but they would eventually need more to carry on. As they were struggling to keep it down, they began to notice the beautiful golden interior of the room turn into a crimson mucky substance.

Said substance began leaking from the ceiling and onto the floor all around the two teens. Ivory was the first to catch onto what the mucky substance actually was.

I-Is that b-blood?! He thought hesitantly while trying to maintain the last bit of oxygen he had been clinging onto. His eyes widened when his suspicions were confirmed after staring at it long enough.

That wasn’t all though, when Noir caught a glimpse of the mucky substance, he saw it begin to bubble around him. Suspicious of the substance, Noir stared at it boil. But his eyes soon widened when he saw a skeletal hand fly up from the pool of blood surrounding the two males. From reflex, Noir instinctively rolled out of the way of the hand and into a crouched position. The hand landing in the spot that Noir had just been hunched over in before it dug its skeletal fingers into the floor. Noir watched in horror as muscle tissue began to mold around the hand followed by grayish flesh. His eyes widened even more when he saw a figure dragging itself from the murky pool of blood.

The figure had molded gray skin with large portions of flesh missing from its face along with various other parts of its body. The creature rising from the blood was bulky; its arms looked like tree trunks, and it had the body of an ape with the legs of a normal human being. But the last thing Noir noticed were the eyes, a dull gray indicating that the monstrosity was blind.

Ivory turned when he saw the zombified creature rise from the blood and attempted a yelp of surprise and only managed to choke on the little oxygen he was retaining. Noir’s eyes widened as he got struck with sudden flashes of several images inside of his mind, he had seen creatures like this one before.

This thing...I've seen it before...Noir thought with an astonished expression taking over his face.

Ivory used the little strength he had left in his arms and threw himself next to Noir, hoping that the black haired male knew what to do with this creature since his face read that he was familiar with it. He attempted to speak, but was stopped by his mind from opening his mouth. If he talked, it would only accelerate his death by asphyxiation. Then again, dying by loss of breath did sound a hell of a lot better than being crushed by that freaky monster. His aqua-hues went over to Noir only to see the other staring at the creature " not in fear, but in curiosity. Ivory scoffed to himself at the sight.

We're suffocating and he's gawking at a buffed up gorilla zombie? Ivory shook his head at the other with a small smirk. I admire the guy's optimism.

The abomination roared at the two, the density of its breath nearly blowing the two males off balance. Ivory's eyes widened and he leisurely waved his hand in front of his nose with a mildly disgusted face. He wanted to make a smart remark, but under the current circumstances, he settled for just making puking noises. Noir's eyes stayed locked onto the beast the entire time, and noticed it preparing to rush the two. Ivory and Noir tensed up in preparation of dodging the monster when suddenly, they felt their legs beginning to seep into the floor.

What the hell!? Ivory thought as their bodies were being quickly swallowed by the blood that had flooded the floor while they were paying attention to the creature. Noir and Ivory attempted to fight their way out of it, but the blood was like quicksand, the more they struggled, the harsher they were dragged in. To make matters worse, the creature sprung into the air and raised its large fist preparing to crush them.

S**t, not good! Ivory gasped as the monster’s fist came down at what felt like light speed. But at the last possible moment, Noir and Ivory were completely swallowed into the pool of blood mere seconds from impact. What lay beneath the pool of blood was water, ocean water to be precise. Shocked by the sudden change of environment, Noir glanced up towards the floor they were just spat out of and saw the monster angrily smashing at the surface to get to them. That was one problem solved, but now another had arisen. They had already been holding their breaths as it was; now they were under water with no view of the surface.

Ivory tried to move his body, but found it in complete paralysis. Noir noticed Ivory's face cringe up as he struggled to move to no avail. Noir tried the same and found himself completely paralyzed as well. The air that they had been holding only lasted for thirty more seconds until their lungs finally gave out on them. Noir and Ivory both felt the water start to rush down their throats as the pair found themselves drowning, on the verge of passing out right beside each other. Ivory and Noir glanced over at the other with their final moments of life slowly coming to an end. Images of who they once were starting to flash throughout their minds as they started blacking out. But just as their consciousness was almost gone, the voice of a female reached out to them.

“Noir! Ivory! Breathe!” The feminine voice called out. Almost in sync with her voice, the two boys flashed back to life in an instance. Ivory gasped and grabbed at his chest in surprise and Noir simply stared wide eyed into the sea for a moment, simply astonished. Both were still a bit shaken up by their near death experience. After a few moments of being stunned the two finally glanced back over at each other.

“Brother?” They asked each other in unison. Both were equally shocked by the images that had passed through their minds a few moments ago.

“Not just brothers, twins.” They heard the feminine voice speak to them again. Ivory turned and started searching frantically for the source of the voice that had saved his life. Though he searched, he came up with nothing.

Noir was the first to notice that they were slowly descending to the bottom of the ocean, Ivory noticing as well a few moments later. Neither of the two said a word as they descended, both were intrigued in what exactly was awaiting them at the floor of the unknown sea. Several moments later, they felt their feet touch down on the ocean floor gracefully, sand gently lifting up around their legs. Ivory folded his arms and looked around slightly disappointed. There was nothing down there but water and shifting sand.

“Mystical voice in my head, please show thou self!” Ivory called out in an over dramatic display of hand movements. Noir watched Ivory's gesturing movements in silence with a slightly disturbed look on his face, but said nothing. In the following moments, two compressed orbs of energy advanced ahead and stopped respectively ahead of the two. One orb was compressed of light energy while the other held complete darkness. The two orbs of light and dark energy then exploded and engulfed the two in a blinding light. Both Noir and Ivory grunted and used their hands to shield their faces from the sudden light. Once the powerful flash died down the two removed their hands and were stunned by what they saw. The two compressed orbs of energy had expanded into people, but because of the light was still dying down they could not yet see their faces.

“Well kiss my a*s and call me the devil.” Ivory muttered staring at the two figures that appeared before them.

Finally when the light completely died down they were surprised by what was standing there in front of them. Two people, both female. The shocking part didn’t end there though; the female set resembled the both of them like a mirror image. Well " in a way, the girls did look a hell of a lot like them, only feminine.

The woman in front of Noir shared some of his physical traits such as skin complexion, eye color, hair color, and similar clothing style. The only differences were that her hair was longer than his own and tied into a slightly messy ponytail by a red string, her black shirt was worn and unevenly cut just a few inches below her breasts to reveal a white tank-top that did little to cover her toned stomach, and her pants stopped just at her ankles. Other than that, her appearance was on the mark.

The girl in front of Ivory also shared similar traits to him as well. Same pale skin complexion, soft eye color, hair color, and clothing style. Like the other girl, her hair was longer than his, but instead of being tied up into a ponytail, it hung loosely down her back in silver waves. The only difference in her outfit was that instead of baggy shorts, she wore dark skinny jeans.

Ivory's jaw dropped at the sight of his female look alike, his eyes then went over to Noir's who looked equally as stunning.

“Always said if there were another me out there somewhere, I'd marry them,” Ivory cooed slanting his eyes while looking at his female look alike. “Well, at least I'm sure I said something around that. I wouldn't be able to remember if I did anyway, with no memory and all.” Ivory admitted sheepishly shrugging his shoulders, his female look-alike giggling at his flustered reaction from seeing her for the first time.

“Looks like Noir and Ivory are okay then.” The silver-haired girl smiled brightly.

“Well aside from almost being crushed by a monkey on steroids and drowning? I'd say I'm perfectly fine.” Ivory joked. “This guy though,” He jabbed a finger in Noir's direction. “He was freakin' out like a baby, if I weren't there he probably would have probably cried or something.” Ivory finished before looking in Noir's direction. He saw the other standing there in front of his female look-alike trading silent stares with each other. When they stood next to each other, they looked like relatives.

“Sorry about that,” The silver-haired girl giggled once again, something she seemed to do a lot. “We tried pulling Noir and Ivory out quickly, but that ghoul’s grasp on the purgatory room was too tight.” She sighed nervously.

“Ghoul?” Ivory asked raising an eyebrow. “Wait- you were the girl calling out to us when we were drowning a few minutes ago weren't you?” Ivory asked reflecting on the sound of the voice. The girl nodded her head.

“Yes, Noir and Ivory were trying to get Ivory and his brother out before things got bad, but the plan went south fast.” She frowned looking downwards. Ivory raised an eyebrow at the girl’s strange speaking pattern.

“Wait, I thought me and my supposed brother’s names were Noir and Ivory?” Ivory asked in confusion. The silver-haired girl became flustered and shook her head.

“S-sorry, Ivory didn't properly introduce herself!” She apologized quickly. “This is Ivory!” She pointed to herself and smiled.

“And I'm Noir.” Noir's look alike spoke in return, talking for the first time since she had appeared. The male Noir shifted uncomfortably after hearing her say her name.

“Wait? So you're Noir and Ivory?” The male Ivory asked. “Then what does that make us? Pretty boy and the beast?” He asked in confusion. “I'm pretty boy by the way.” He added on behind it turning to smirk at the male Noir. The black haired male retorted with a silent huff and looked away.

The silver-haired female laughed at Ivory's response to which Ivory did a small bow in return. “You're Ivory and Noir as well, silly!” She giggled. “It's kinda complicated explaining the reasoning behind their names. Ivory can just call her Shiro and the other Kuro to make things easier.”

“Shiro and Kuro?” Ivory asked.

“Yosh.~ It means black and white in Japanese just like Ivory and Noir means!” Shiro nodded her head. Ivory shrugged his shoulders in response, deciding to just go along with it.

“Okay, Shiro. How about me and you-” Ivory's sentence was cut off by Noir's sudden input on the topic.

“What are you two?” Noir asked aloud, interrupting Ivory's sentence. Ivory eyes scrolled over to Noir and he let out a huge sigh of annoyance.

“Now you want to gain a voice box?” Ivory asked, his eyes pointing over to Shiro, reading, “You really want to do this NOW?” But Noir simply ignored his look.

“Ah, that's the complicated part.” Shiro explained biting on her bottom lip to try and figure out the correct way to phrase what she was about to say next. While Shiro was trying to figure out what to say, Kuro decided to cut in.

“We're deities that were slain long ago by a force of humans known as the Reaperz. You two are our long awaited incarnations, the chosen ones to inherit our abilities, souls, and objectives.” Kuro stated bluntly. Ivory stared at her with a look of disbelief washing over his face.

“Everyone except for Noir back away from the crazy lady. She might be contagious.” Ivory gestured for Shiro to back away from the other two. “On the count of three, we'll run.” He said kicking his leg against the sand a few times. Shiro laughed at Ivory's movements unknowing of how serious he actually was.

“It is as Kuro says; Ivory and Noir are their long-awaited embodiments!” Shiro exclaimed, clapping excitedly. Noir and Ivory traded uncertain glances with the other, they weren't sure if they could follow exactly what these two were saying, then again, they didn’t have a choice in the matter considering the fact that they were trapped on the ocean floor with nowhere to go. Reluctantly, Ivory decided to listen while Noir just quietly stood there.

“Shiro will start by saying that Kuro and Shiro aren't like Ivory and Noir, they are what people would call mythical beasts.” She frowned trying to pick her words carefully.

Choo! Choo! Here comes the train to Looney Ville! Ivory thought to himself pretending to ring a train’s horn.

“Yes, Shiro is talking mythical as in dragons, chimeras, werewolves, basilisks, ghouls, etcetera.” Shiro said folding her arms across each other before nodding. The mention of ghouls catching Noir's attention.

“Wait- if you're a mythical beast, why do you look just like me and Noir? Shouldn't you be all giant and scaly and stuff?” Ivory interrupted. Shiro nodded her head and waved her hand back and forth in front of her face.

“Shiro was getting to that,” She laughed. “Actually, this is Shiro and Kuro's natural human form. So in actuality, Noir and Ivory look like us.”

“No way, does that make you like our great great great great great great great grandma's or something?!” Ivory asked.

“No, not at all silly. Shiro and Kuro aren't in any type of blood relation to Ivory or Noir at all.” Shiro shrugged. A look of slight disappointment built up on Ivory's face, just when he thought he had figured something out about the two mysterious women he was proven wrong.

Clearing her throat, Shiro prepared to finish telling her story. “Getting back on track, as Ivory may or may not already know, close to all mythical beasts were hunted down and slain by men, some for mere entertainment purposes, some just by the fact that they were regarded as simply monsters hell bent on the destruction of mankind. But those stories were nothing but lies fed to the ignorant!” Shiro felt a growl rising in the back of her throat. “All they ever wanted was to live in peace and be left alone, but the humans were just bent out on harming us for their own selfish purposes. Don't get Shiro wrong, not all of them were the saints Shiro is saying they were, but some of them were innocent bystanders caught in the slaughter. All it took was one look at them and the humans were gathering armies and calling down their gods to come have their heads.” Near the end of Shiro's explanation, Ivory noticed that she was starting to clutch her fists together. “They were so afraid of being hunted down and killed, that some of them took on human forms so that they could live in peace. They avoided the humans for safety purposes and lived a few more years of their lives in something close to peace…until they appeared-” Shiro had to cut herself off. The thought of what she was about to say next was making her stomach do flips.

“The Reaperz.” Kuro stepped in finishing the others sentence for her. Noir and Ivory felt their stomachs churn at the mention of the name Reaperz. It seemed familiar to them now that they were hearing it again.

“Thanks,” Shiro nodded her head at Kuro. “Those b******s had somehow managed to see through their guise thanks to a traitor amongst our kind. After that, everything went horrible. The rest of our kind were hunted down like ravage wolves and permanently exterminated. Only a few of them managed to survive, but the heavy hitters like the dragons were all slain.” Shiro finished. “Shiro and Kuro were also apart of those casualties that were taken out beforehand.” Shiro added before lowering her head. Noir’s eyes glanced over and noticed that Kuro had lowered her head as well.

“Okay, but how does any of this involve us?” Ivory asked, raising an interested eyebrow. “Sounds like those Reaperz should be ancient about now doesn't it?” He added.

“Sadly they aren't. Like all annoying trash, the Reaperz don't just go away so easily.” Kuro replied glancing off to the side.

“Reaperz believed in the rebirth of the soul, that somewhere along the timeline we mythical beasts would return one day in the form of human beings. A hybrid if Shiro may say,” Shiro pointed at Ivory then at Noir. “Noir and Ivory are those hybrids.”

Noir and Ivory's facial expressions dropped in surprise. They were the embodiment of some kind of sacred beasts? It was a bit hard to swallow at the moment, especially with all the information they were being forced to choke down at once in a single setting. Then again, why would these two lie to them? So far, what they mentioned was true about the similar appearances and the controversies between humans and mythical beasts…or at least they choice to believe everything they had been told were truths.

“W-wait, if you two are supposed to be dead, does that mean me and gloomy here are dead too?” Ivory asked, having a feeling that he wouldn’t like the answer to his question. The two women traded uneasy glances with each other before nodding their heads. Noir and Ivory felt their hearts sink down into the pits of their stomachs. Dead? How could they be dead? Would they be able to recall the memory of their deaths if they were murdered?

“Dead? How can we be dead?! What happened to us!?” Ivory demanded stepping toward Shiro.

“You were murdered in a battle against a renegade beast and the Reaperz.” Kuro answered. More bad news to the pair of ears. But the Reaperz were ancients, or they sounded like they should have been ancient, and if the two of them were hybrids, why would they be murdered in a battle against their kind and the Reaperz? Noir thought that these mythical beasts would be on the same side as them.

“I'll explain how it happened,” Kuro input stepping into the conversation. “Like Shiro said, the Reaperz believed in rebirth of the soul. So over time they trained special groups of men to keep an eye out for any hybrids that would be born over the centuries. These men are better known as the king’s knights, witch hunters, and nowadays, special forces.” Noir and Ivory were stunned by the news that they had received. These Reaperz had been around for centuries hunting down their kind. But that didn't answer what they wanted to know the most. How did they die?

“So, how did we die?” Noir asked speaking up as well. Shiro looked over at Kuro, who actually had an uneasy expression on her face for the first time since Noir and Ivory had met her.

“You two were killed while preparing for your graduation ceremonies when a battle between a renegade mythical beast and the Reaperz broke out on your school’s campus. You may not remember it, but the two of you are also twin brothers.” Kuro declared.

The news came as a heavy shock to the two males, who didn’t really let the information sink in until that moment. Both Noir and Ivory looked over at each other, were they really related? That wasn’t possible, if they had blood relation wouldn't they have figured out as soon as they’d seen each other in the golden room? The longer they stared at the other the more and more they became as equally confused, but at the same time, it sort of made sense. That was most likely the reason as to why they became so relaxed around the other after such a short period of time instead of being alerted by a strangers’ presence inside of the room they’d woken up in together. Also another piece did fit: when they were passing out memories of the other had come to mind.

“Wait, go back. From what you’ve explained so far, the Reaperz are normal people, and the thing that attacked us wasn't. So I can only assume that has to be a renegade beast, right?” Noir asked. Kuro nodded her head in response. “So, why was it trying to kill us if we're on the same side?”

“Good question…” Ivory stated behind it.

“You’ve answered your own question, it's a renegade beast,” Kuro folded her arms. “Shiro already said that not all beasts were innocent. The one that attacked your school was one of those “bad” beasts.” Kuro explained. Noir rubbed a hand through his head as he tried to cope with the information he had been processing. So far, all he knew was there were apparently three sides to this whole ordeal; mythical beasts, renegade beasts, and Reaperz. Two of which were present during the time of his and Ivory's demise. This only left one question unanswered.

“Now the million dollar question is: what are we supposed to do about this? Last time I checked, me and gloomy here were ghosts, and not the lifting skirts kind.” Ivory frowned and flailed his arms around a bit as he spoke. Shiro chuckled at his perverted statement, while Kuro overlooked it.

“Nothing to worry about, because Shiro is going to resurrect Ivory!” The girl smiled and grabbed onto Ivory's hands causing him to stumble forward a bit. He raised an eyebrow at the statement as he was yanked forward by the other.

“And back on the Looney train we go it seems…” Ivory grumbled looking away, Shiro cocking her head to the side a bit in confusion.

“Resurrecting the dead? And how exactly are you going to do that?” Noir asked. “Even if you did resurrect us, wouldn't we just appear on the battlefield again with those things? There would be no point in resurrecting us if we just died again.” Noir pointed out. Ivory nodded his head in agreement even though he had not even thought of that possibility.

“If you two were normal that would be the case.” Kuro stated as she walked up to Noir and placed a palm against his bare chest. Ivory's eyes widened and a sly grin came to his lips as he sputtered the words, “Bom-chicka-wah-wah.” Shiro chuckled at Ivory's reaction while Noir and Kuro blew it off altogether.

“As this boy’s embodiment and partner, I shall bestow him with my powers.” Kuro chanted pulling the hand back she had just touched Noir's chest with. In the background of her chant, Ivory was mocking what she was saying.

“As the embodiment of tall, dark, and gloomy, I shall now rub him down.” He mocked in the background while comically making faces. Kuro glared at Ivory from the side of her eyes.

With a small sigh Kuro continued to get back in tone with her incantation, unexpectedly thrusting her entire hand through Noir's chest, piercing through his heart. Ivory's mocking tone soon ceased as he watched in horror as all the life drained from the black haired male’s eyes.

“H-Hey, what the f**k!?” He exclaimed, taking a step forward only to be pulled back into place by a smiling Shiro. He struggled to get out of the girl’s grip only to realize that she was a whole lot stronger than she appeared to be.

Blood trailed down the side of Noir's mouth as his vision began to fail him. He felt the life draining right out of his body with each passing second. He could faintly hear Ivory yelling in the background, but even his hearing had started to fail him as well. His body became limp and his skin began losing its rich color. Not a thought came to mind as he felt the hand piercing further through his heart; his only reaction to spew more blood. As everything started going black around him, he could see Kuro mouthing some words that he barely managed to make out.

“Be reborn, my crownless prince...”

Those were the only words he made out before, both of them slowly began to become encased by a sickly black aura with an hourglass forming in the middle. Ivory's eyes watched as the aura turned into an orb around them. Just before the orb closed off completely, Ivory witnessed Kuro leaning in to kiss Noir's lips right before the orb encased them both inside of it. As soon as Ivory felt himself about to mouth some words to Shiro, he felt a hand piercing through his own chest. His eyes widened in shock as his head slowly went down to see her hand going through him, wondering how he had forgotten about her so quickly. His eyes scrolled back up to her face to see a gleaming smile and her head slightly curved.

“I-I remember…N-Noir always use to say never trust a girl that l-laughs at my j-jokes.” He wheezed and coughed up blood with a smirk on his face. Shiro returned his smirk in turn. Then with a faint chuckle, the silver-haired male found himself losing consciousness at a rapid pace.

“Don't worry, Ivory,” Shiro muttered stroking the male’s hair softly with her free hand. “Ivory will be reborn, as the right-hand to the prince, as a loyal knight.” She whispered.

Just as it had done for Kuro and Noir, an aura started to surround the two. But instead of a sickly dark aura, this energy consisted of the four basic elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. The four elements formed a sphere around the two. Then on cue, both elemental and dark spheres shot into the air at a blinding speed, smashing through the now blood filled room with the monster still trapped inside, obliterating it in the process. But the spheres just kept going up until they came to a white road in the sky. The instance the black orb came in contact with the white road; the pure white colored had been drained out of it and replaced by a tainted black one. When the elemental sphere touched it, the now tainted black road was lit ablaze with flames, sparked with lightning, frozen by ice, shrouded by wind, and cracked by earth. The elements then lined up on side of the road, as if making a pathway for the spheres, and both of them raced along it. Soon they were met by a blinding white light, both spheres shooting towards and eventually through it.

The spheres emerged over a small island at dawn where a school building was located, a large bridge connecting the school island to the main island itself. The bridge had been raised because of the battle that had begun taking place on the island. Below the spheres, more creatures like the one that Noir and Ivory had encountered in the golden room were at war against armored men with laser guns and jet packs. The entire school island was completely devastated; bodies littered the school grounds; the windows on the school building itself were shattered with smoke seeping through them, and the cries and dying screams of soldiers and students alike being slaughtered by the monsters echoed throughout the entire place.

The elemental and dark sphere floated over to the top of the school building, slowly descending onto the building’s rooftop gracefully. When they landed, the two orbs dispersed, dropping the lifeless set of males, Noir and Ivory, from its clutches with no signs of Kuro or Shiro. They both hit the surface with a thud, the impact from the fall bringing them both back from the dead as they cringed together in pain.

“O-Ow! What the hell!?” Ivory shouted hopping onto his knees and rubbing his bruised forehead. It took him a few moments to recall the events of what had just transpired. Instantly, he unbuttoned his shirt to check his chest. Remembering about what happened to Noir, Ivory looked up without even examining himself to see Noir rubbing his bruised forehead as well. He then sighed in relief at seeing his brother again.

“What was that all about?” Ivory asked pretending to be upset about what just happened. In truth, he did not know just how to feel about everything. He was upset about being stabbed through the chest, while at the same time, he was also grateful for not being dead.

Noir's eyes simply went over to Ivory, but did not respond. Instead, he continued to cater to his bruised forehead, rubbing it lightly. As he stared at Ivory, he noticed something on his chest. Squinting his eyes, he kneeled down in front of Ivory, and opened up his shirt much to Ivory's surprise.

“What are you doing!?” Ivory asked before shoving Noir back a little.

“You have a strange mark on your chest...” Noir muttered examining the mark on Ivory's chest. Ivory tilted his head to the side and noticed that Noir had one also.

“So do you,” Ivory pointed out. “Looks like the roman numeral for one.” Ivory replied. Noir looked down at his own chest and noticed a similar mark on his.

“Don't know how I would know that considering the fact that I can barely remember my own name...” Ivory mumbled to himself rubbing the back of his head. Noir looked at his mark, then at Ivory's.

“Two.” Noir said lowly. Ivory cocked an eyebrow.

“I don't think right now is the right time to be trying to take a number two.” Ivory frowned.

“No, two,” Noir repeated pointing from his mark to Ivory's. “If mine is one, yours is two. They look similar.” He pointed from his mark then to Ivory's. Ivory gasped in understanding then nodded his head.

“Oh, I see. In that case,” Ivory stood up and buttoned his shirt back up, then adjusted his tie. “Let's stop with the chest staring before some cute girl comes up and think we're into that kinda thing.” Ivory smirked. Noir stared at the silver-haired male in confusion, not quite understanding what Ivory was talking about, but just went along with it anyway.

“You have a new logo on your shirt that wasn't there also,” Ivory pointed out staring at Noir's shirt then at his own. “Looks like I do to.” Ivory frowned brushing a finger over the “G” logo that was now embroidered on his shirt. Passing it off as nothing, Ivory tore his mind away from the subject all together before it sparked another topic of conversation that he did not feel like wondering about at the moment.

Ivory stretched a bit, and loosened some strained bones, Noir doing the same, feeling somewhat refreshed after whatever happened. Though, it took them a while to notice that the two women who were with them weren’t there any longer. Ivory was the first to acknowledge it.

“Yo, where are those two girls who were with us?” Ivory asked looking around. “I gotta vent after being pierced through my heart.” He said agitatedly searching around them. Noir silently looked around for them as well; also curious to know where they went. Then a few words flashed throughout his mind.

Nothing to worry about, because Shiro is going to resurrect you! He reflected on what the girl that resembled Ivory said. His mind then flocked back into their conversation, eyes widening, Noir searched for the nearest ledge of the building and rushed over to it without saying a word.

“H-Hey, don't just go running off without saying anything!” Ivory called out behind him. “Damn jackass...” He whispered to himself before following behind Noir. Ivory noticed that when Noir got to the ledge, he froze up. Once caught up, Ivory stopped jogging, and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“You’re a royal pain, you know that right?” He sighed before placing his hands behind his head. When Noir didn’t respond, Ivory scowled. “Yo! Earth to Noir?” Ivory asked walking beside him. But when he was side by side with Noir, he had realized why the other male had frozen up.

“N-No, freakin' way...” He gasped, completely shocked. What he and Noir saw from the ledge of the building was a battlefield. They saw, at least, more than three dozen, if not more, of those monsters that had attacked them in the golden room squaring off against a bunch of sci-fi-looking foot-soldiers who were getting massacred. Along with that, they noticed a bunch of school students being killed in the crossfire.

“Is this for real?” Ivory asked taking a few steps back, away from the ledge and lie over it. The situation was becoming a bit too overwhelming. Everything those two girls " Kuro and Shiro had said, was true. He would not have believed it if he had not finally seen it for himself, but those creatures were real. Their being there must have meant that everything that they mentioned about the two of them having died in the midst of battle with those things must have been true as well. Now he felt like a fool for not hearing them out seriously while Shiro and Kuro were speaking earlier about the situation.

Unlike Ivory, Noir had the complete opposite reaction from seeing the battle against those monsters and the soldiers down below. Instead of being afraid of it, it caught his interest. The things that woman, Kuro, had said were true. Which also meant that they really had died, and that they were just brought back to life again by the power of those two mythical beasts.

“Reaperz...ghouls…” Noir mumbled under his breath while overlooking everything a second time. While he stood there thinking to himself, he could hear Ivory in the background freaking out about the situation, though he paid it no mind at all. This only meant the other things that they said were true too, about them being hybrids of mythical beasts.

As this boy’s embodiment and partner, I shall bestow him with my powers. Noir reflected on Kuro’s muttering before piercing him.

Power? He thought to himself holding out his hand and glancing silently at it. When he stared at his hand, he saw a black streak of energy shoot across it. At first, Noir thought he had merely imagined the black spark of energy, that was, until it went across his the palm of his hand again. The second time he gulped in surprise after seeing that it wasn’t just part of his imagination. After staring at his hand for a few moments longer, while Ivory went on muttering nonsense in the background, he clutched it closed and determination soon filled his topaz orbs. He cast his gaze off to where he seen a bridge raised up on the far side of the school island. Just upon seeing it, he instantly knew that was where they had to go.

“Dude!? Are you even listening to me!?” Ivory exclaimed, throwing Noir off of his concentration. Noir then quickly turned to face Ivory, to Ivory's surprise, and folded his arms across each other.

“You see the bridge over there?” Noir asked before nodding towards the bridge with his head. Ivory followed the direction in which Noir suddenly pointed out and nodded his head confusingly. “That's our only chance of escaping off of this island. We need to get to it.” Noir said sternly.

“And how do you suppose we get through the giant mass of mutant monsters on steroids and people shooting guns?” Ivory asked placing his hands on his waistline sassily. Noir raised his right hand into the air and opened it.

“Those two gave us some sort of power when they brought us back,” Noir said slowly as black streaks of energy began to form into a ball in the center of his hand, shocking Ivory in the process. “We'll use this power to get past all of them and off of this island.” He finished. Ivory watched in amazement as Noir crushed the ball of energy in the palm of his hand, and watched the energy particles scatter into the air.

“Well damn, show me how to do that little magic trick of yours and I think I could manage.” Ivory smiled eagerly. Noir only looked away.

“I don't know how to do it willingly, it just happens. You'll have to find out on your own.” Noir responded before walking past the silver-haired boy. Ivory's eyes fluttered in confusion for a split second, not registering what Noir meant at that moment.

“W-Wait, what do you mean you don't know how to do it!?” Ivory shouted turning to Noir. “What the hell do you want me to do? Get in a death or death situation and pray that something happens!?” Ivory asked, mild sarcasm rising in his slightly panicked voice.

“If that's what helps...” Noir responded before opening the door that lead into the destroyed school. Ivory hissed beneath his breath.

“Why do I feel like my character trait as the smart a*s of this duo was just used against me?” He grumbled to himself. “I liked him better when he wasn't talking…” He growled and followed behind Noir.

The two cautiously made their way into the school building while being on the lookout for ghouls or soldiers who might decide to suddenly appear and attack. They silently made their way down the stairwell that would lead them to the bottom floor, but half-way down, Noir happened to glance over the railing and noticed that the stairs past the nineteenth floor had collapsed. Ivory looked after Noir did and had a mini face palm moment, and then followed Noir to the door that led onto the nineteenth floor.

“Is this a school or a skyscraper?” Ivory groaned as Noir cautiously opened the door and gazed around the corner. “What type of school has a nineteenth floor anyway?! This place looks like it was made exactly for this horror film bullshit.” He complained.

Noir silently agreed with Ivory, but said nothing. It was true that this school was expeditiously large, the nineteenth floor only furthering their statement of how large the school was with its vast and equally dense hallways. The entire floor was littered with papers, blood, and the bodies of former students. The scene made Noir feel a bit queasy about using the nineteenth floor, but they had no choice if they wanted to get to the bottom of the school building to escape.

Gulping lowly, Noir entered the through the doorway cautiously with Ivory following right behind him. The vibe from the floor itself was making Ivory sick to his stomach. Seeing the pools and endless splatters of blood and the lifeless bodies were enough to make anyone feel sick to their cores. Not only that, Noir couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Ivory looked inside each classroom they passed for any signs of ghouls or armed soldiers. He was hoping that they could find a soldier’s body and lift a weapon off of it just in case one of those things showed up and attacked, but had no such luck. Then while they were walking through the eerie walkway, a figure came running out of a classroom a few feet ahead of them. Noir and Ivory instinctively taking a few steps back.

“Noir! Ivory! You guys are alive!?” A female student exclaimed in surprise.

Ivory's eyes widened when he saw the girl wearing a similar outfit to his and Noir's. The girl was a short brunette with emerald green eyes who looked the worse for wear with blood and a few bruises covering over her slim body. Neither of the two males reacted after seeing the girl though, not knowing exactly how to respond to a stranger running out and shouting their names. The girl took notice of both males dumbfounded expressions before calling out to them again.

“It's me, Emily!” She exclaimed in a slightly confused and frustrated tone. Noir and Ivory traded unsure glances with each other then back at the girl.

“Sorry, but do we know you?” Ivory finally asked. The girl flailed and took two steps towards them.

“Of course you know me! We've been in the same homeroom together for the past four years straight!” Emily shouted. “Ugh, never mind that. We need to get out of this place, there's some type of weird zombie apocalypse going on! S-So many are already dead…!” She exclaimed before walking towards them. But when she did, Ivory and Noir took a few more steps back. Her eyes widened in shock at the reaction.

“W-What are you doing!? Come on guys we gotta go!” Emily shouted walking towards the two a bit faster than before. Ivory frowned and Noir simply stared at the girl with a blank expression on his face, almost as if he were spaced out. Then, as if suddenly coming back to his senses, Noir suddenly stretched out his hand in horror.

“GET THE AWAY FROM THAT DOORWAY!” He shouted surprising both Ivory and Emily. In synchronization with Noir's voice, a giant gray arm shot outstretched from the doorway and knocked Emily's head completely off her shoulders in the process, the now dismembered body part shattering through the nearby window and falling out of it. The girl’s headless body soon dropped to the ground seconds later with a hollow thud, shocking Ivory as fresh blood squirted from the neck.

“H-Holy s**t…” He muttered to himself, trying his best not to gag from the sight.

The ghoul that the arm belonged to then slowly strolled its way through the doorway Emily had come from a few seconds later. Noir and Ivory watched in horror as the ghoul picked up her decapitated body and hurled it through the broken window as well. The monster soon rolling its head in the twins’ direction with a low, sounding grunt. Ivory gulped loudly upon seeing the ghoul not only looking in their direction, but actually grunting at him. He had a bad feeling now that the ghoul had its sights set towards the both of them, the monster turning its body completely in their direction.

“Noir,” Ivory whispered. “What are we going to do...?” Noir silently analyzed the situation for what the best solution to getting out of there as quickly as possible would be. After a few seconds in absolute silence, he placed a hand on his hip.

“We're going to try to get past it…” Noir responded before Ivory slowly looked in his direction with a dumbstruck look plastered on his face.

“THAT’S the best plan you could come up with…just get past it!?” Ivory asked in an ‘are-you-serious’ tone. Noir only nodded his head in response. Ivory sighed.

“Great,” he muttered. “We're going to f****n' die...” He whispered to himself.

The ghoul moaned and opened its mouth wide, exposing all of its rotting teeth. Ivory made a disgusted face in response. Lifting its arms up, it began banging on its chest rapidly while groaning loudly, causing Ivory to panic and quickly hide behind Noir.

“Oh s**t! That's some type of mating call for ghouls or something,” Ivory cowardly pointed from behind Noir. “I'm not too fond of the idea of becoming a ghoul’s bride.” Ivory admitted, causing Noir to nudge the fool away from him.

“Get serious, it’s about to come.” Noir prepared himself to run as soon as the creature showed any signs of charging them.

“Ha, that's what she said...” Ivory responded childishly before taking a similar running stance next to Noir.

The creature bellowed loudly once more and started to charge at the two teens. At first, it took a regular running stance on its normal human legs, but as it started moving faster, it switched to using its arms as well to propel itself forward. Noir was the first to rush toward the creature. And as soon as the two were about to collide, Noir threw himself towards the wall and started running along it without a fault in his step. The ghoul and Noir shot each other passing glances as he passed it by and landed on the opposite side. Ivory simply gawked in amazement at his amazing brother.

“Don't just stand there, it’s still charging!” Noir called out to Ivory. The silver-haired teen was pulled back into reality just in time to see the creature preparing to lunge at him. In a panic, Ivory quickly rushed forward and slid on his knees in-between the ghoul’s legs, barely avoiding being crushed by it. Ivory then spun back onto his feet in an overly dramatic fashion and skidded to a stop next to Noir.

“Yes, I'm always this bad a*s.” Ivory taunted with a small, signature bow. The ghoul leapt into the air and used its fist to slam against the ceiling and stop itself from crashing through the wall, the impact from its fist causing the entire floor to rumble underneath their feet. Noir examined the surrounding and realized that at this rate, the ceiling would soon come tumbling down on top their heads if they stayed there much longer. Noir nudged Ivory on the arm to signal him to run, then broke off into a full sprint down the hallway.

“Huh?” Ivory questioned turning to see Noir run ahead. He stood there motionless in confusion until he caught onto what happening; debris was starting to fall from the ceiling as the floor shook. Not only that, but the ghoul had also begun charging towards him again.

“C-Crap!” He shouted before scrambling into a run as well.

He ran as fast as he could, his legs never ceasing to stop their constant cycle of motion, his mind never straying from its single thought, to run the hell away. Ivory's lungs were on fire and his heart was about to beat right out of his chest. It was a strange sensation, he discovered, being so excruciatingly pained but unable to stop moving. His bones were made of lead, but some unknown energy forced them to continue to work with his strained muscles and have him continue through the halls. His eyes were glued onto the back of Noir's spiky head. Ivory didn’t dare glance behind him, fore he feared that if he did, if he slowed down even a little bit, the crumbling ceiling would topple him, or he would be caught by the ghoul he could feel practically breathing down the back of his neck. So his aqua-hues remained locked on one thing: Noir, his brother.

Ahead of him, he saw Noir suddenly turn down a corridor that he assumed led to a second stairwell. When he reached that point, Ivory was relieved to find himself at the promised set of stairs and saw Noir motioning for him to hurry. He practically threw himself down the stairs from the way that he jumped. While in mid-air, Ivory noticed that Noir was pointing behind him. The silver-haired male then turned his head to see the ghoul in mid-air just out of arms reach attempting to grab a hold of him. But somehow, Ivory managed to avoid the creature’s first attempt to nab him. Adjusting himself to so that he was now facing the ghoul, Ivory held up his guard just in time to block the ghoul's incoming fist. He felt his arms lite ablaze with pain, and was propelled downward at a harsh velocity. Noir barely managed to catch Ivory just before he hit the floor, but was sent hurling into the wall from the sheer force. The dark-haired male harshly jerked forward when his back hit the wall, coughing up saliva on impact.

The creature hit the floor a split-second later, the force of his weight against the ground causing the entire eighteenth floor hallway to shattered under the massive pressure. All three were dropped down onto the seventeenth floor hallway, but once again, due to the ghoul’s heavy weight being dropped at high speed, the seventeenth floor shattered as well. The process repeated as all three were constantly dropped through the incoming floors down below, like a domino effect.

While falling, the ghoul attempted several more times to attack both of the males still. Noir recuperated from his impact first while Ivory was still stunned from being slammed into. With no other option, Noir tossed Ivory further into the air and tried to figure out a way to hold off the monster’s attacks.

It's persistent, Noir growled inwardly. We'll be hitting the first floor soon...Noir groaned to himself.

The ghoul attempted to pull Noir down to it, but he swirled out of its reached just in time to dodge yet again. Growling in frustration, the Ghoul used the debris falling around them to throw itself upward towards Noir and started another attack. Surprised by its sudden actions, Noir barely swirled around the creature and out of reach.

It's smarter than it looks! He shouted to himself barely managing to dodge another one of the ghoul’s attacks. Every strike sped up just a bit more as Noir continued to dodge them, leaving Noir with no margin for error. If his dodging were to falter for even a moment, he would be killed. Descending a few more floors, Noir realized that twirling out the ghoul’s reach each time it attacked would get him nowhere, so he decided to finally take up the offensive. Swirling out of the way of its punch one final time, Noir propelled himself forward and delivered a right hook to the ghoul’s distorted jaw. The ghoul stopped reacting for a moment, leading Noir to believe that he had dealt it some damage, until it turned its head toward him and let out a roar. Taken back by the bloodcurdling roar, he barely managed to avoid the creature’s head-butt at his mid-section.

This isn't going to get me anywhere! He hissed to himself. This is the ninth floor. At this rate, we're not going to survive long enough to see the first floor. He thought frustratedly to himself. Crashing through four more floors, Noir realized that if the ghoul didn’t kill them soon, the fall would. Either way, he had to manage a way to take out the ghoul before they came in contact with the first floor, or it would end up shattering that as well. Closing his eyes, Noir attempted to clear his mind to come up with a solution before they hit the first floor. But he was finding it hard to concentrate due to the constant thrashing through the floors, the fifth floor quickly passing them by as well.

I'm not going to make it! He shut his eyes tighter as the ghoul lunged towards him yet again. Then, somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice called out to him.

Giving up isn't an option, you have to overcome this. Dig deep within yourself, and find your power.

The voice whispered in the back of his mind. Reopening his topaz orange-hues, Noir now knew what he had to do. As the ghoul's arm came closer to grab him, he calmly stared at the monster. Fear no longer lingered in his eyes as he parted his lips to speak.

“Time-space drive.” Noir whispered. On command with his words, grim energy suddenly erupted around the black haired male. “I'll show you a force that even Death Gods bow to.” He whispered coldly, in a voice unlike his own. The tainted energy began to distort around Noir, becoming sickly; skulls appearing all around the mist of darkness. The ghoul stopped attacking in response after seeing the overwhelming display of power that hadn’t been there before. Truthfully, it was not just that, what he thought had been Noir was nothing more than an afterimage of him. The real Noir had suddenly appeared behind the beast, slowly sheathing a katana. The moment the blade was sheathed, the ghoul fell into pieces after finally smashing its way through the final floor. Just as Noir was about to fall through the hole the ghoul had made leading towards the ground floor before he was slashed to bits, Ivory swooped in and quickly grabbed him by the hand.

“It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's the amazing Ivory!” The silver-haired teen grinned. “Yeah, that death or death situation thing really worked out in the end.” The point that he had been flying had surprised Noir a bit, but due to the circumstances of the ceiling rumbling above their head, he saved his questions of how for a later time.

Ivory turned left, then right, then made another left while swerving to avoid falling debris. The entire school was on the verge of coming down right on top of their heads. Ivory flew desperately to avoid the oncoming debris falling all around them, but he was having a difficult time holding onto Noir's hand in the process. Both of his arms were still on fire from taking a hit that should have broken both of them and shattered his rib cage. Still, he ignored the pain and pushed through until he found the exit from the school building. Up ahead, a bright light became visible ahead of them, and assuming it must be the exit, Ivory rushed towards it.

“F-Faster,” He groaned to himself as the pain from his arms started taking effect. “Faster, faster, faster, faster! I have to go faster!” He shouted to himself, urging his body to go on. Noir noticed that Ivory's arms were trembling, most likely from the hit he’d been delivered earlier. He blinked a few times in amazement at the fact that Ivory had somehow found the strength to carry him.

“Crap!” Ivory shouted. Noir looked ahead and saw the ceiling coming down right in front of the doorway. In desperation, he quickly threw himself from Ivory's grip towards the debris. “What the hell are you doing!?” Ivory asked.

Noir ignored Ivory's question and rushed ahead of him before pulling the blade from its sheath once more as he sailed through the air. The sound of fifteen slashes echoed around them soon after, though none were seen. The falling debris ahead of them fell crumbling into pieces allowing Ivory to fly right pass it. Noir sheathed the blade and quickly started running behind Ivory after landing on the ground. Ivory paused at the doorway and turned to see Noir a few meters away from him, he feared that the other would not make it.

“C'mon! Hurry up!” Ivory urged for Noir to move faster. Unbeknownst to the silver-haired male, the ceiling above his head had caved in and was on the verge of toppling him. Seeing this, Noir gasped and started to move faster to the point where he had disappeared in a black blur. Ivory searched around for Noir still unknowing about the ceiling falling over him. Until Noir suddenly appear right in front of the silver-haired boy, tackling him through the glass doorway of the entrance. Just as they made their exit, the entire school collapsed in on itself. Noir and Ivory then hit the ground and slid to their feet to shield their eyes from the oncoming dust and other bits of rubble that flew out in every direction all around them.

When the dust finally did clear, Noir sighed in relief at the fact that they both managed to make it out of the school in one piece. They were injured, but alive, and that was all that mattered at that moment. After a while of checking his bearings Noir heard a light crunching noise coming from beside him and turned to see Ivory floating beside him while chomping into an apple. His face fell to a blank expression.

“What are you doing?” Noir asked, not really expecting a highly educated answer. Ivory stopped mid bite of his red fruit and looked over at dull-faced male.

“Eating an apple.” He responded taking another bite out of it. An emotionless gaze soon fell over Noir's face.

“An apple?” Noir bluntly asked. “Why are you eating an apple?” He followed up behind his first question causing Ivory to frown slightly.

“For the reason that people eat apples?” He responded sarcastically taking another bite from his makeshift meal.

“Where did you even find an apple?” Noir asked in confusion.

“When we were falling through the floors, we fell through a kitchen, and I saw it. Falling through nineteen floors really takes it out of a guy you know.” Ivory responded. Noir was about to continue questioning Ivory, but figured that it would only lead to further confusion and decided against it.

The sound of a gun clicking behind them caused Noir and Ivory to pause suddenly in their tracks. They stopped their conversation and slowly turned to see that both ghouls and soldiers alike had ceased fighting and were all staring at them. Noir looked over mass of enemies; a vast number of both Reaperz and ghouls watching them closely. Somehow Noir figured that the Reaperz would not be on their side after watching them emerge from a collapsed school building, while Ivory simply gawked on in horror over towards the ghouls and Reaperz that had accumulated.

“Ta-da?” He slowly chimed, biting down further on his apple as an explosion erupted from behind both he and Noir, blowing the remaining bit of the school left into pieces. Noir sighed in response and Ivory just continued to munch on his apple while casually floating behind the other.

“Things just got a bit more complicated,” Noir said clutching the sword in his left hand. “Guess phase two of getting off this island is about to start…” He said tilting the sword upwards from its sheath with his thumb.

To be continued in…“The Bridge”

Author's Note

Tell me whatcha' thought about the setting, plot, and characters!

Reviews

[TJ]

First of all, thank you for commenting on "Road to London: City of the Dead" and I hope you continue to read on as I upload more chapters!

After reading that you want to publish a manga, I decided to read this imagining it in my head as an anime, and in that sense I felt it worked really nicely. The two characters Noir and Ivory work really well as a pairing, the descriptions of the action really paint a vivid and exciting picture and best of all, this story doesn't take itself too seriously! It was good fun to read and I really hope you continue with this.

As other comments have pointed out, there are places where the linguistics and syntax could be tightened up but I get the idea that this really isn't a high priority of yours and neither should it necessarily be if storytelling is your main objective here. I understand that you refer to Noir and Ivory as "males" often to distinguish them from Kuro and Shiro but in my opinion the words "boys", "guys" or even "them" would suffice in the interest of not overusing the same words (also applies to your use of some other words)

Other than that, no real other constructive criticism from me and i'd just like to say I really enjoyed reading this! :)

TJ

[Shep]

Ok first of all i thought my chapters where long. Consider they average 5 to 6. Good story beginning i like the idea of waking up with a clean slate. Lots of details that i like. No more i can say but i really liked it.

[Daydreamer54]

I agree with everyone that this is definitely interesting. you mastered description, but when you're describing Noir, you already mentioned that he had black hair so you might not want to include that there, or not say anything about how he has black hair and save that for your description. Other that that it was great, a bot long for my liking, but great.

[Mizuki Tsukiakari]

I'm interested...please add another chapter :)

[sonnetmoon]

I thought this story had a great form and structure. I really enjoyed reading this , keep up the good work.

-sonnetmoon