A Twist in Fate

Delta stood there at the railing of the bridge, looking over into the water of small stream below. It was midday and he had just finished his job for the day. He sighed, "Why do I have to do this?". He seemed to be oblivious to anything but his own thoughts at the moment.

A girl by the name of Luna came suddenly out of the bushes. She headed towards the stream, not noticing a boy standing a few feet away. As she got closer to the stream, she became aware of the boy. Her first reaction was to slip away quickly before he noticed her presence, but her legs did not let her move.

After a moment Delta shifted his weight, only then noticing the girl. He noticed a frightened look on her face. He looked down at his clothing, checking for any stains, and after seeing none called out to the girl. "Hey you, you okay?"

Luna opened her mouth, yet no words came out. Finally after staring at the ground, for what seemed to be a decade she was able to build up the courage to speak. With a shaky voice she said, "Me? I..I.. I'm okay" as she stared down at her dirty torn up clothes.

Delta saw how nervous she was, and thought that she was scared of him. Most people were due to his dark red hair and amber eyes. "Well you should try getting a new change of clothes. Those look like they are falling apart." Delta said with a bitter tone he didn't want to have.

She finally looked up at him and stared into his eyes. For a moment she had almost dropped her guard. Quickly her eyes shifted back to the ground. "They are all i have left, but they will do for a bit longer." Luna said trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

Delta took a moment to respond to that. He noticed the distance between them there was, and how loud there conversation could get. Hoping not to scare her, he said. "Give me a moment. Let me walk over to you." He said as he stepped off the bridge. He kept both hands up as to show he meant no harm. "I hope my appearance doesn't scare you, seems it does for a lot of people. Now what do you mean you only have one pair of clothes left?"

Luna hesitated and took a step back, as ready to run. She stopped herself from running and spoke softly, as if feeling less afraid. "I am not afraid of your appearance." As she lifted her eyes once again, watching him walk towards her. " I've been on the road for a while now, clothes become damaged. Once they are irreparable i throw them away. This is all i have left." She said as she looked down at her appearance for a quick second, only to look back up at him.

Delta let his guard down for the moment. "Are you alone?" he was hoping otherwise, but knew better than to think that way.

"Why do you ask?" Luna asked as her guard came back up.

"Jeez can't a guy ask a question?" Delta replied bitterly. He sighed, knowing this wouldn't go anywhere. "Look if you are alone and your clothes look like that you are probably close to broke right? It's good news for you I just got off a job so I have some extra cash if you need anything." He offered nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry. I'm just not the best at speaking to people, but i'm guessing that was obvious." she said trying to loosen up. "Look, how about we start over. I'm Luna." she said as she looked into his eyes. "As for your money, I don't accept charity. It's your money and you worked for it. I'll get by, i always do." At first her voice was firm but as she kept speaking her voice began to sound sad.

Delta was starting to get mad, but tried not to show it. "My name is Delta. Nice to meet you bright eyes." he said putting out a hand. "At least let me help you in someway?" he asked. In his mind he wanted to make sure this girl was okay, but tried not to show it too much.

Luna looked at his hand hesitantly, and then proceeded to shake it. " How about we make a deal, since you seem so keen of helping me and i wont accept charity. How about i help you with something and that way i basically worked for it?" She looked at him, giving him a small smile.

Delta frowned, knowing that taking her on a "job" could cause her to get stuck in the life, and he wouldn't want to do that to anyone. He sighed, "Okay give me some time to think of what you can do. First though, as your new temporary boss, I say we go get some food. What kind of food do you like?"

Luna's stomach began to grumble softly as the topic of food was introduced. It had been a couple days since she had eaten a good meal. "I could eat." She said in a mellow tone, trying to hide the fact that she was starving. "As for what to eat, well i leave that in your hands. I'm not picky."

Delta thought for a moment. His eyes brightened as he got an idea. "Yakisoba! I know a great place that makes it to perfection! Follow me." He said leading her to a cafe. As he sat down he said. "I am going to have yakisoba but they have plenty of other choices. Anything on the menu is yours." Delta said slightly boasting.

Luna took a few moments staring at the menu intensely. Finally she peered her eyes over the menu, "Yaki udon sounds pretty good right now." She said trying to be cautious of the fact that a total stranger was buying her a meal.

After they ordered, they sat there awkwardly. Delta looked around thinking. "What kind of task can I have you do that isn't too dangerous..." Just then a man in a large coat and a hat walked up to Delta, spoke in his ear, left an envelope on the table, and turned to leave. Delta turned pale hoping that this job wasn't going to be deadly. He opened the envelope and read what he was to do, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You okay there? For a second i thought you were going to faint." Luna asked suspiciously, and becoming uneasy. "i don't want to sound nosy, but what type of magic do you use?"

Delta's walls went up for a moment. "I'd rather not say in detail, but I use requip magic mostly. Some Shadow-make as well as of recently. I'm okay now, just swallowed wrong. What is your magic?"

"Understandable, just trying to make a little small talk. I'm not very good at talking to people." Luna said as she played with a noodle in her bowl. "As for my magic, Take-Overs."

"Woah that sounds awesome! How long can you keep a Take-Over going for? What kind of Take- Overs do you have? Which one is your favorite?" Delta stops himself before he get too hyper, not knowing where the excitement came from. He cleared his throat before saying, "I mean... That's cool..."

Luna's eyes became wide as she tried to analyze all the questions. "I can't really answer all your questions, I'm sorry." She said with disappointment in her voice. "All i will say on the matter is i use Myth Soul, most of my Take-Overs derive from Mythological creatures."

Delta sat there with his mind going crazy. ''Myth Soul? I wonder what kind of creatures that entails? I wish I could see at least one of them... ''Suddenly Delta had an idea. "Hey so I figured out what we can do for you to pay off some new clothes. In this envelope I have a job to escort someone through a nasty area. We can split the detail to make it easier to protect them. Then we can take you shopping and whatever is left is yours. How does that sound?" Delta asked half hoping she would agree, the other half still cautious of his family finding out.

"It sounds great!" Luna said excitingly, she quickly caught the excitement in her voice and cleared her throat. "I mean, that works." After agreeing, Luna began to feel doubt herself, ''what if I get him hurt? everyone who's ever been around me gets hurt. I shouldn't have agreed to this, but I can't back out now. If I do he will know somethings up.''

Delta paid for the bill before saying, "Let's take you to get at least one more change of clothes now. I don't want you to get sick or anything while working." He lead the way to a local shop which he thinks has some nice looking girl's clothes. ''I hope she likes what she sees. I don't know of any other stores in the area.''

Luna looked at him with confusion. "Why are you so keen on helping me anyways?" She asked as she looked around for something simple. She finally picked out a pair of plain black shorts with a plain black top, nothing to showy.

Delta paid for what she picked out before answering outside. "I... My family has asked me to do some crazy things in the past. Things I am not proud of. Thanks to my magic... people have been known to call me a reaper. So I try to help others, even in small ways, to try and counteract my guilt. It's a selfish reason to help you, but... yeah... Ready to go? We have to meet them at the train station." he said with a very gloomy look in his eyes. He turned away from her ashamed and started walking towards the station, thinking that she would for sure run away.

"Well at least you have a fam..." Luna caught herself suddenly, hoping he hadn't been paying attention to what she had just said. "I mean, let's get a move on. We don't to be late." She said staring at the ground. ''Should I ask about that? Probabably not...'' she thought.

Delta smiled softly as she started to follow. ''She doesn't seem scared, more like just shy. I wonder why she cut herself off so suddenly?'' he thought as they approached the station. He stopped before going inside, pulling out a large hooded sweat jacket for her. "I'm glad you wore all black. It helps with the look. I want you to keep the hood down at all times. You don't want to be caught with me while we are working. It will be bad news for both of us." He put on a jacket himself, then leading to a rear car of the train.

Luna put on the jacket and raised the hood over her head. She tried tucking in all her green curls but it seemed nearly impossible to hide them all. She looked up at him and thought, ''I wander why hes so cautious about me being with him. I hope he doesn't get hurt because of me''. She caught herself staring at him, and looked back down hoping he hadn't noticed. "Just a little heads up, me and vehicles don't go well together." She said trying to give a nervous giggle. "I've got an extreme case of the Motion Sickness, best not sit to close."

Delta turned towards her seeing small wisps of her green hair poking out, but with her face completely hidden. ''Good. I can't tell who she is from here, so no one else should either. ''he thought. "I think we should be okay. This train care has been modified to keep it from shaking, or feeling like it's moving at all. It will also be sound proof so I think you will be okay." He opened the door to see someone sitting on a bench seat against one of the walls. It was an older gentleman with jittery eyes.

"Let's just hope my body decides to agree with the train modifications" Luna said letting out a little smile. She became lost on her thoughts for a few moments, I'm basically a nobody, so it would be impossible for people to recognize me as is. She took a peak foward only to see the older man, for a second her fears took over her body and she began to shake. For people and her didn't really mix well, but she tried to conceal her shaking from Delta. she began to think, ''How can it be that I didn't run away from Delta, yet I'm afraid of everyone else. What's different about him?''

Delta bowed before the man, not saying a word. He took Luna to the side and whispered to her in her ear, "''Don't say anything until I say so got it? We don't know who he is or why we are escorting him. We must stay quiet to be anonymous." '' he pointed to the far wall motioning that he will be standing there. He stood there, watching the Luna and the man, who looked increasingly jumpy. He sneaked a thumbs up for her to see to let her know everything was okay as the train began to move.

Luna took took a deep breath, and tried calming her nerves. She couldn't stop the shaking, but she tried her best to keep it hidden from Delta. At this point she felt safer with him, and didn't want him to send her way. She didn't want to go back to being alone wandering again. Luna took a second and nodded to Delta as to show him that she understood.

The man decided to speak up finally. "Y-y-you two can protect me right? T-t-this item is very valuable. I can't let them get it." he said with a squeak.

Delta Nodded to the man, then looked around to try and see if he sensed any disturbances. Suddenly there was a soft thud on the roof. Delta looked up to see a blade cut through the roof like butter. Delta grimaced, summoning his Death scythe. I hate using this scythe but they told me to use this as a "calling card" or something... he thought as he pointed towards the blade in the roof.

When Luna noticed the blade in the roof she quickly began to Take-Over as Echidana. He body began to glow white as her eyes glowed blue. She quickly began to form a white tail and her hair began to turn pink. I hope I can stay in the form as long as possible, I want to prove to Delta that it was worth me tagging along, she thought to herself.

Delta noticed the glow, seeing Luna change before his eyes. Woah that's awesome! he thought to himself. Soon the roof caved in and three men jumped down in all black. One of the grabbed the man while the others faced off towards Delta and Luna.

"We are here for the man. Fight us and you will lose." one of the men said. Delta sighed when he spun his scythe before striking the floor with its tip. The cabin of the train car was engulfed in darkness, allowing Delta to see but no one else. He moved over to Luna and grabbed her hand to give her the ability to see with him. The others in the car became disoriented and confused as where everyone was. They called out to each other frantically. Delta's and Luna's escortee was cowering in a fetal position waiting for it to be over. Delta leaned over and whispered to Luna "You want to get rid of them?"

"I think so..." Luna said with doubt in her voice. ''I guess he forgot that being part snake gives me the ability to sense motion, so giving me the ability to see through the darkness wasn't very necessary. But I'll just let it slide.'' She let out a giggle while lost in her thoughts. As the sound of the giggle came out she snapped out of her thoughts and became aware of what needed to be done. She whispered to Delta, " I don't have any attacks, the best I can do is a death grip. It will keep him from being able to move while you're able to do what needs to be done." As she waited for a response she found herself once again trapped in her thoughts, Reaper, huh? I should have been afraid of that when he told me, but I just thought of him to be different like me. It seems like he's done somethings that have left him with mental scars, that's no different then me. The darkness though, this is something I've never seen before and to be honest it's kinda scary. To think that he's got tons of more abilities, I wander how they are, and if they are just as dark as this one.

Delta sighed while thinking out loud unknowingly, "Killing wasn't supposed to be part of this job. I really don't want to do that in front of Luna. I don't want to scare her anymore... did I just say that?" he asked turning towards Luna's face slowly to see her reaction. He sulked for a moment, seeing only the fear that he thinks is there. He shook his head before saying. "Nevermind that. Grab our employer over there and hold him tight. I will remove these guys from the cabin once you have.... without killing somehow..." he said quietly at the end. Inside his head he was kicking himself, thinking ''man you are an idiot. Why would you let that slip?? You were doing so well too!''

Luna looked into Delta's eyes, although his eyes were a dark and unwelcoming she could see that he was sweet underneath it all. She quickly began to think of an alternative idea, to killing. She grabbed his hand for a second and in a sweet understanding voice she said, "No killing, we can tie them up or do something. I could possibly get Sphynx to put them to sleep till we are far enough away."

"That sounds like a good idea. But I don't have any rope. I can pick them up and drop them off beside the tracks. Can you make them fall asleep first?" Delta said, hoping to see some more of Luna's magic before the attackers were removed.

"Yea that sounds good." She said with hesitation in her voice. Luna knew that changing again was going to leave her exhausted afterwards, but she had to do what needed to be done. She began the transformation to Sphynx, her hair became white as snow and big ears began to show. Her eyes became cat-like and her agility increased. Luna became a little wobbly and her balance was a little off. I'm already beginning to get tired, oh no! We have to do this quickly. She thought. "I need you to clear the darkness to get to them and ask the riddle."

Delta noticed Luna's wobble. I hope she is okay. he thought. He tried to shake off his fears and said "Okay. Here I go." He said as he tapped the butt of his scythe to the ground, dispelling the darkness. He focused again as the attackers saw what was happening. They grew startled at the sight of the Sphynx.

"What the heck??" one of them said before shadows started to stretch from Delta and towards the men. Once the shadows touched them they were forced to sit on the ground, unable to move. "Let us go! What are you, a demon?" they asked Delta, noticing the shadows leading to him.

Delta winced as he heard the insult. He brought up the Scythe to his neck, the dull side pressing lightly into his shoulder. "Answer her anyway you can and I won't be forced to kill you. Deal?" he asked threatenly. He looked back at Luna and tried to smile reassuringly, but it came off more as a devilish grin.

"Let play a game shall we?" She said staring into the men's eyes, as in leaving them in a trance. "The terms of the game are simple. You get one chance to answer, and once chance only. I give you a riddle, I'll repeat it twice. And You will have 30 seconds to answer. Answer wrong, and you'll be put into a deep sleep to which only I can wake you from." She said giving a small grin to Delta. "Ready for the riddle? Listen closely and good luck. Many have heard me, but no one has seen me, and I will not speak back until spoken to. What am I?"

One of the men decided to yell out an answer before thinking. "Sound!" he said. The other two men looked at him with disgust. the second man tried to headbutt the one who answered, but couldn't get close enough. "You idiot!" he said. Delta laughed at them. "They seem more like a comedy troupe than anything." he said.

Luna stopped giggling at Delta's remark, she cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but that is not the right answer. Sweet dreams." Before the men were able to say anything, Luna's eyes glowed green and the men drop to sleep. At the exact moment they slept she ran out of energy and went back to her regular form. She suddenly fell to the ground exhausted.

Delta dropped his scythe to catch Luna before she fell. "Are you okay?" he asked. He looked over at the men sleeping on the ground, and at there employer still whimpering in the corner. "I think we did good here huh? Thanks for the help." he said as he brought her against the train car wall to lean against.

"Yeah, this is the first time I've done two Take-Overs so close in time. It took a lot out of me. I just need to take a breather." Luna said, barely being able to get the words out. "Thanks for making sure I didn't high five the ground with my face." She said trying to let out a little giggle.

"You're welcome" Delta said, glad she was okay. He turned towards the attackers. "Now to get them out of here." He opened the back of the train and grabbed his scythe once more, shadows then pulling the three men out of the door and to the side of the tracks. With three soft thuds the men laid unharmed to the side of the tracks. Delta sighed and put away his scythe. "Now that that is over, what should we do?" Delta said, going to the wall adjacent to Luna and sat down, oblivious to their employer at this point.

"We have to get off the train and walk. I can't keep them asleep forever, and staying on the train makes us sitting ducks. Once we are far enough away I'll awaken them. We need to find somewhere to sleep, in the forest. Somewhere where we can be hidden, atleast for the night." Luna stopped herself abruptly, noticing that she was being to knowledgable about being in the forest. "We all need rest. The poor man is all shooken up, and you and me used way to much energy. Or atleast I did."