"UMMA!!! APPA!!! NOOOOOOO!!!" a five year old girl screamed, before waking up from her recurring nightmare. She sat up on her bed and hugged her knees, sobbing quietly. The girl was Kim Hyoyeon and she had just lost her parents a month ago.

Her parents worked as bartenders at the nearby inn. They were very nice people, always putting on a smile on their faces no matter how rowdy or rude the customers were. They always brought along little Hyoyeon with them, as there was no one to take care of her. On that fateful day, a bar fight broke out, so Hyoyeon's parents asked her to go look for the watchmen from the village patrol for help and that was the last time Hyoyeon saw her parents alive...

Her parents had tried to stop the fight, but were instead dragged into the fight. By the time Hyoyeon returned to the inn with the village patrol, her parents were lying on the ground, motionless, soaked in a pool of their own blood. Hyoyeon was traumatized and was rooted to the spot. Then, the tears came... She cried and cried, until all her tears dried up, but she was still crying.

The head of the village patrol, Mr Jung, a close friend of Hyoyeon's parents, decided to adopt her as his own child, so that Hyoyeon could have some semblance of a complete family. Mr and Mrs Jung loved Hyoyeon with all their heart and Hyoyeon could feel it. She was very grateful towards her foster parents and decided that it was time to move on with life. That was three weeks ago, but she still had nightmares of watching her parents die.

Hearing Hyoyeon screaming, Mr and Mrs Jung quickly rushed over to Hyoyeon's room and hugged her tight, whispering words of comfort into her ears. In her foster parents' arms, Hyoyeon cried herself to sleep again.

Over the years, Hyoyeon grew up to become a pretty teenager, who loved to joke around and make those around her happy. However, when she was alone, she still thought about her parents and even though the nightmares did not occur as often, she would still cry at the thought of them.

At the age of eighteen, her foster parents gave birth to a baby girl and they decided to name her Jessica Jung Sooyeon. At the age of twenty, her foster parents gave birth to another baby girl and they named her Krystal Jung Soojung. Seeing the angelic faces of her baby sisters, she swore to protect them with her life and to make sure they would always be happy, even though they were not related to her by blood.

About a decade passed and Hyoyeon was thirty. As usual, she was at the inn, where her parents worked at when they were alive, dancing. Hyoyeon loved to dance, for it helped her forget all the unpleasant things that have happened to her and she was extremely good at it too. At the bar, she was known as the 'Dancing Queen', as no one was better than her at dancing.

But that day was different... That day, a depressed looking female walked in and ordered the strongest drink the bar had for sale. If she did not look so depressed, she would have been the most beautiful girl to have ever lived on earth; she had the perfect body, the perfect face and basically she was perfect in every way possible. (A/N: At least to me she is... )

At first, Hyoyeon did not pay attention to her and continued dancing, but then that girl suddenly started cursing and swearing at anyone she saw. She even taunted those who stare at her to fight her, if there had the guts to. Most people ignored her, but when she taunted the group of gangsters at the other corner of the bar, they responded.

There was about ten of them and as they walked menacingly across the bar towards the girl, she smirked and continued throwing insults at them. Hyoyeon was worried for the girl, as she knew that those gangsters meant business and could probably kill her with their bare hands. Hyoyeon was scared that a bar fight would break out, a bar fight like the one which killed her parents...

As the gangsters reached the girl, kicked their leader hard below the belt and then she laughed. Infuriated, the leader ordered his men to beat her up. The weird thing was, the girl never retaliated, she just let the gangsters beat her up. Hyoyeon noticed something else... The girl was crying...

Hyoyeon could not stand it any longer, she decided to interfere, so she shouted: "Stop beating up the girl! What kind of men are you guys? Hitting a defenceless girl?!!"

To her surprise, the girl shouted back: "SHUT UP!!! Let them beat me up... I WANT to get hit! This amount of pain is nothing compared to..." Before the girl completed her sentence, she burst out into tears again. The gangsters happily obliged and continued beating her up.

"Let her go or I'll make you..." Hyoyeon warned as she transformed her right arm into a scythe of pure white. The gangsters knew that without weapons, they were no match for Hyoyeon, as they have seen her in action, helping the village patrol take down twenty armed men by herself. With one last kick to the girl's stomach, the gangsters left the bar, warning the girl never to let them see her again.

Hyoyeon ran to the badly injured girl's side and got slapped in the face by her. "I TOLD YOU TO LET THEM BEAT ME UP!!! WHY DID YOU CHASE THEM AWAY!!! YOU B***H!!!" The girl shouted at Hyoyeon, spitting a mouthful of blood at Hyoyeon's face.

Wiping the blood away, Hyoyeon calmly told the girl: "They WILL kill you if I didn't stop them. Now, let's go to my house so that I can help you bandage your wounds."

The girl sniggered: "They can't kill me! I'm the daughter of the God of Death, my father won't let me die, even if I wanted to..."

"If you are the daughter of the God of Death, then let me see my dead parents right now." Hyoyeon challenged the girl, disbelieving the girl's statement. "Anyways, my name is Kim Hyoyeon, The Hypnotic Scythe, what's yours?"

"Challenge accepted" The girl replied, before introducing herself: "My name is Choi Sooyoung..." Sooyoung said, pausing awhile before continuing: "Maiden of Death."

After introducing herself, she stood up and to everyone's surprise, she transformed into a skeleton wearing a hooded robe. After a moment, Sooyoung had found Hyoyeon's parents and she whispered an enchantment which made them visible to Hyoyeon, for a few minutes.

"Umma? Appa? It really is you!!! I missed you two SOOO much!!!" Hyoyeon hugged her parents, tears of joy flowing down her cheeks.

"You guys have fifteen minutes to say whatever you want to each other before the enchantment loses its effect." Sooyoung informed the trio. They nodded and started talking and telling each other what they had kept in their hearts for twenty-five years.

Sooyoung watched the family chatting happily and realised she was too mean just now to curse at Hyoyeon, since she had only lost her boyfriend at the age of thirty, while Hyoyeon had lost both her parent at the age of five. She made a mental note to apologize to Hyoyeon later on.

As the fifteen minutes time limit drew near, Hyoyeon and her parents thanked Sooyoung for letting them talk to each other for one last time and Hyoyeon's parents asked Sooyoung to take care of Hyoyeon for her. Sooyoung nodded her head in agreement. Hyoyeon and her parents hugged and bade each other farewell, as her parents slowly shimmered and disappeared. Her parents, satisfied that their daughter was in good hands, thanked Sooyoung once more before moving on to their afterlife, hand in hand.

During the whole time that Sooyoung was in the Realm of the Dead, she knew that her boyfriend was lingering around behind her, but she ignored him completely as she was still angry at him for breaking his promise by leaving her. With one final glare at her boyfriend, she transformed back into her human form and told Hyoyeon that her parents had moved on already.

Sooyoung also apologised for her rude attitude towards Hyoyeon and Hyoyeon said it was okay. Then, on an impulse, Hyoyeon asked: "Can I be your weapon?"

Sooyoung was slightly taken aback, but she agreed as she had promised Hyoyeon's parents to take care to Hyoyeon. Also, she felt that Hyoyeon was different from other weapons she had met, it was like Hyoyeon was meant to be her weapon...

"Sooo... You want to come over to my house, so that I can introduce you to my foster family and help you dress your wounds?" Hyoyeon asked Sooyoung, breaking the awkward silence.

"All my wounds automatically get healed when I transform into my skeletal form and back. And I think you should tell your foster family that you're going to bring me along, before I go. Anyways, it's getting late, just go home and tell them I'll appear at their doorstep tomorrow." Sooyoung replied.

"But you don't know where I live and do you have a place to stay for the night?" Hyoyeon questioned Sooyoung.

"I have my ways and I have a place to stay for the night..." Sooyoung replied, smiling.

"How will you find me and where will you be staying?" Hyoyeon questioned Sooyoung again.

"How I will find you? You'll find out tomorrow. As for where I will be staying... I'll be staying in hell." Sooyoung replied with a straight face.

"WHAT?!! IN HELL?!! Are you kidding me?!!" Hyoyeon asked, staring at Sooyoung in disbelief.

"Well... My father is the God of Death and he spends most of his time in hell, so I'm just going to visit him..." Sooyoung replied

"Oh... Okayyy... See you tomorrow then..." Hyoyeon said as she prepared to go home.

"Kay, bye!" Sooyoung said happily before disappearing into the shadows, leaving everyone in the bar, shocked. Hyoyeon shrugged her shoulders and scratched the back of her head absentmindedly, not fully comprehending what had just happened to her. Unable to figure out anything, she decided to head home.

The next morning, Hyoyeon and her foster parents stepped out of their house, prepared to welcome Hyoyeon's new partner, even though they did not know how and where she would appear from. Jessica and Krystal were still sleeping as it was still too early for them to wake up. After waiting for five minutes, Sooyoung stepped out of Hyoyeon's shadow, nearly giving Hyoyeon a heart attack and shocked her foster parents as well.

"Would you please stop doing that!" Hyoyeon reprimanded Sooyoung in a slightly irritated tone, as she tried to stop her racing heart from jumping out of her ribcage.

"Live with it!" Sooyoung teased and stuck her tongue out at Hyoyeon. "Sorry for shocking you... It was just to tempting... Heehee" Sooyoung giggled.

"So how did you know where I was?" Hyoyeon asked, still curious to know how Sooyoung knew her location.

"Simple... I closed my eyes and felt for your soul. Once I knew where you were, I could then sense where your shadow was and I shadow jumped to it." Sooyoung replied, grinning.

"Okayyy... So you can teleport through the shadows?" Hyoyeon asked and Sooyoung nodded. After that, Hyoyeon introduced Sooyoung to her foster parents and Hyoyeon decided to follow Sooyoung travel around the world to help whoever is in need. Something like being a mercenary, but they would only take jobs which they felt was morally correct.

Hyoyeon thanked her foster parents for taking care of her for all those years and promised to visit them once in a while. She also asked them to help her say goodbye to her two lovely dongsaengs. Transforming into her weapon form, she landed in Sooyoung's hands and they shadow jumped away.

"Can't we use normal modes of transport, like walking?!!" Hyoyeon complained. Sooyoung just shrugged and to the astonishment of Hyoyeon, she started bursting out in tears suddenly.

Hyoyeon, unsure of what to do, just put her arms around Sooyoung and tried to comfort her. After a while, Sooyoung finally managed to calm down and stop crying. Sooyoung decided to tell Hyoyeon about her past, as they were going to be partners, so they should understand more about each other. Hyoyeon also agreed to open up to Sooyoung about her own past.

After sharing about their pasts, Hyoyeon made a vow to bring the smile back to Sooyoung's face. That is why Hyoyeon sometimes acted childishly to make Sooyoung laugh, but those antics failed terribly, as they just made her roll her eyes.

A few months passed and they had gone to many places, helped many people and fought many bad guys. Hence, they decided to go back to visit Hyoyeon's foster parents. On the way back to Hyoyeon's village, they had to pass through a small clearing and they decided to rest there for a while before they continued riding on.

"I still don't get why riding horses is better than shadow jumping... It's so slow..." Sooyoung complained, yawning. Hyoyeon ignored her partner and stuffed a sandwich into her partner's mouth.

After finishing the sandwich, Sooyoung asked Hyoyeon: "We've been working together for a few months already, don't you think it's about time I tried to soul resonate with you?"

Hyoyeon thought about it and replied: "Yeah, it's about time... You want to try it now?" Sooyoung nodded and caught Hyoyeon as she transformed into a scythe. Sooyoung held her weapon out in front of her and closed her eyes in concentration, clearing her mind of everything but hypnosis, which was what her weapon symbolizes.

When she opened her eyes, she was in a dazzling bright place, with mirrors, pendulums and chimes. Basically anything that can either make use of light or sound to confuse and hypnotize a person. Mostly importantly, Sooyoung was surrounded by many clones of Hyoyeon, only one of them was the real one.

"Bring it on!" Sooyoung smirked, as she closed her eyes and blocked out all the confusing input and focused on the only thing that mattered, Hyoyeon's soul. As the clones of Hyoyeon charged and attacked, she said: "Hyo... I know you want to bring the smile back to my face, and I want you to know that you're succeeding. During these few months, you made me feel much happier. I don't know what I would have become if I didn't meet you, I don't want to know either, I'm just glad that you're here for me..."

And Sooyoung smiled genuinely for the first time in months. She opened her eyes and swung her scythe diagonally upwards and to her left, as she spun half a circle to block the attack from the Hyoyeon who was attacking from her back.

As their blades met, that Hyoyeon smiled and she told Sooyoung: "Glad that you understand me so well... Now that our bond is stronger than before, let's strive to greater heights!" Sooyoung nodded and Hyoyeon dissipated into the air, her soul returning to the scythe in Sooyoung's hands.

Bright light engulfed Sooyoung and she returned back to the real world. "Hmm... I wonder what your soul resonating state power release does..." Sooyoung wondered aloud, while Hyoyeon shrugged. Just then, the gangsters which Sooyoung had aggravated the last time in the bar arrived with many more people and they were all armed as well.

"Looks like we can try it out on these unlucky ones..." Sooyoung grinned at Hyoyeon. Hyoyeon grinned back as she transformed back into her weapon form. The gangsters charged and Sooyoung yelled: “SOUL RESONANCE!!! Total Chaos!!!”

There was a blindingly bright flash of light and when it died down, the gangsters were all confused and total chaos broke out as they each other. Sooyoung told her partner: "That's a useful power! Let them fight themselves, so we have more time to eat!"

"All you can think of is eating..." Hyoyeon commented on that fact to her partner.

"Nooo... I think of you too" Sooyoung replied, grinning and hugged Hyoyeon, who had just transformed back into her human form.

"Ewww... Keep that cheesy stuff to yourself!" Hyoyeon said as she pushed Sooyoung away. Sooyoung laughed and so did Hyoyeon, as they mounted their horses and continued riding on back to Hyoyeon's village, leaving the group of gangsters to kill each other.

Unfortunately, Jessica and Krystal were out playing with their friends, so Hyoyeon missed the chance to meet her sisters again. Slightly disappointed, the pair left and went on travelling around for the next four to five years, before Sooyoung felt that it was time to gather and train the next Vanguard of Death.

At age thirty-five, five years after her boyfriend left her, Sooyoung decided it was time to move on. Hyoyeon looked on as her partner transformed into her skeletal form and stepped into the Realm of the Dead...