Warning: Slightly suggestive themes, mild swearing, and some angst.
Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.
Prompt #3: Insanity
The dark sky had given the people of the world reason enough to stay in their homes, their heads silently giving into madness.
The Black Blood couldn't quite be sensed, just seen in the clouds overhead.
If all he had done was warn them, they wouldn't have been going through it.
He had felt it since the sky blocked the sun. He felt it in his bones, dry mouth, everything.
The Black Blood heightened his senses by each hour, each day, each second.
He was going down, deep into the madness.
Sadly, that meant he was taking them all with him.
She licked her lips, a giggle coming out maniacal.
His eyes widened as he dodged, the blade a hairs-width away from chopping off his arm.
She tried again, the blade of her katana did not cut deep enough to her disappointment.
He winced and grabbed the bleeding arm. He couldn't do it, not to her. Anyone but her.
"What's the matter?" she smirked, different from the quiet smile she'd usually give. "Scared?"
"No, worried," he spat before giving a battle cry.
She leaned in, the tip of the weapon at her opponent's throat. "Oh, how cute~!" she leaned in to kiss his cheek.
"SOUL FORCE!"
The group looked at the giggling girl in the cell sadly once more before being ushered back up into the main floors of the school.
Black Star had been oddly quiet and monotone, creating a façade of indifference as his weapon partner delved deeper and deeper into insanity as the clock ticked.
She had tried hard to persuade him too, promising the glory days he had always wanted and his wildest dreams.
Promising the things only Tsubaki would know.
The shackles around her ankles, wrists, and waist would jangle as she laughed hysterically.
"Oh, Black Star!" she would moan loudly. "Please! I've been waiting! Don't make me wait any longer!" she complained. "Join me!" she whined, her violet iris' barely showing as her pupils enlarged with madness.
"Tsubaki, you can still fight the madness! I know you can!" Maka, her best friend, was the only one to say anything in their one hour visit. "And if you can't, then I'll help you," she promised, hands clenched into fists. "I know you're still there."
Soul's teeth clenched.
Black Star turned away as soon as the guard came back, the group following him.
"I just can't understand why Tsubaki was the first one to become... Insane..." Maka said as soon as they were in the locker filled halls of Shibusen. She looked at Soul, eyes silently saying, it should have been us.
He knew she was right. They were supposed to go down first, go crazy first, be locked up first.
So, why weren't they?
He looked away first, glaring holes at the locker beside him.
"Black Star, I know she's-"
"Shut up, Maka."
Her eyes hardened, the determined spark in it never leaving. "Tsubaki is still in there, I know she is. She's my best friend..." she gestured to the rest of the group. "She's our best friend. You can't just give up-!"
He laughed bitterly, his eyes blank when he gave a cruel smile. "Give up on her? She gave up on me first!" he growled, stepping closer to Maka.
He didn't mean for it to happen, but Maka had never seen him act in such a way before and had naturally been afraid.
She took a step back with wide eyes and her heart thumped loudly against her chest. The fear spiked her soul wavelength and shocked her partner, the results being an almost haircut for the teal-haired meister.
The scythe blade had shot out in an immediate flash of blue, separating the two meisters.
"Dude, what the hell is your problem?" Soul asked, standing in front of his meister.
The demon laughed as Black Star leaned closer to the weapon.
"Nothing," he gritted out before clutching his head. "I'm going ho-" he paused, looking away sadly. "Bye," Black Star said, hurried to escape the claustrophobic atmosphere he suddenly felt around his friends.
Soul did not like when he suddenly could not hear the demon.
They were getting picked off, one by one.
"BWAHAHAHA!"
He had to say something, he had to.
Black Star's eyes contained stars, a clear sign that madness was running through his veins as it had his blood relatives.
He howled in laughter, the girl in the cellar farther away had started to laugh too.
"YOU ALL ARE PEASANTS! SUCH FOOLS TO THINK YOU CAN LOCK ME UP AND KEEP ME HERE!"
Liz had chosen to skip out on the visit, taking care of her ill sister was high on her priorities list.
"What is going on..." Soul whispered, he could already see the demon's face splitting smirk.
Kid looked at him, seeing right through his façade. "You know something."
Soul remained silent, as well as Maka.
"Both of you do."
Without saying anything, the weapon-meister pair left the young reaper to his own thoughts.
They walked home, Soul suggesting that it would help fight off the madness; which was only half-true.
"Why can't we just tell him?" she pulled him to the side by the elbow.
"Look, we're not supposed to even talk to each other about what we say between them. Remember?" he whispered as low as he could. Why wouldn't she just wait until they were back at the apartment?
"But Soul..." There was fear in her eyes that was so strong, he felt a lump in his throat.
He knew what she was going to say.
"I can feel it too."
The ebony-haired boy couldn't understand why they would hide something so important at a time like this, a time of madness.
He shook his head and landed Beelzebub near Gallow's Mansion, a mile walk would be good for his thoughts.
In fact, why hadn't the two been the first to go?
The thought made him stop right in his tracks.
Soul was directly contacted with the Black Blood, even if Maka's anti-madness wavelength existed, he had a great chance of becoming insane. In fact, according to them, they had both used Black Blood before. They should be the first in Spartoi to go insane.
The pieces were not fitting in the way he wanted them to. Tsubaki would have been the least likely to fall into the madness first but Black Star would have been close second. Was there a pattern? Did the least likely go first, then someone who would have been top of the list, then another least likely, and so on and so forth?
His eyes widened at the sudden premonition that one of the girls...
He sprinted to the Gallows Mansion, door slamming into the wall as he threw it open.
"LIZ! PATTY!" he called out desperately, fear buried in his throat.
A maniac laugh made him break out into a cold sweat.
"LIZ!" he ran up the stairs, skipping two to get up faster. "PATTY!"
He looked left and right but saw neither of them in the halls. He then turned right, heart beating wildly as he ran to their room only to be disappointed. He turned and ran back into the hall, going down to his room only to be pulled back by his collar roughly.
The cold blade of a knife was pressed into his cheek, an arm wrapped around his neck tightly to suffocate him. He looked up as the blade drew blood, hands clutching desperately at the arm cutting off his oxygen. He looked broken at the moment, golden eyes sorrow as he breathed out, "Patty..."
The arm tightened and he glanced up to see the older Thompson with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Patty," she whispered, a gun raised toward her.
They were having a staring match and it had gone on for what seemed like hours.
One of them was certain to become insane first, with the pattern it'd be someone who would be expected to give into madness.
"Soul, Maka."
They both looked up, their staring match forgotten with the eerily dead eyes of their reaper friend.
"Tell me what you two know," he demanded, arms crossed. "This has gone on long enough, I know. If you don't tell me, Liz will beat it out of you. We all know she's capable of it."
The pair exchanged a glance before getting up and telling him quickly to meet them at their place for dinner, they'll tell him then. They hurried home quietly, their hands intertwined.
When they got home, he let out a deep breath and hugged her tightly.
"What do we do?" she clutched his jacket, fear and guilt in her stomach.
"Tell him-"
She pulled away, wide-eyed. "Are you crazy?! He'll put us both down there!"
"We'll be down there if we don't tell him!" he shouted at her, running a hand through his hair. "I've known, you've known, we're guilty."
She clenched her fists. "We both thought it was just a feeling, we didn't know! No one deserves this but-"
"But what?" he asked, tired of hiding. The pressure was too much for him, it should have been for her too. "We should just sit back and stay quiet while we watch all our friends get thrown into their solitary cells? We should wait until it's our turn?"
She bit her lip, pushing hair away from her face as she looked away from him.
"Maka, we have to tell him sooner or later. Sooner, will have fewer people killed and you know that," he clutched her shoulders and shook her lightly. "Come on, our friends are hurting because of us. They are trapped because of us."
She closed her eyes and sighed. "It would be the right thing to do," she placed her hands on his and looked back at him with a smile. "We'll just... do this together."
He nodded, returning the fond smile, "Together, of course."
They arrived with him held tightly in her hands. The door had been wide open, an obvious sign that something was wrong. She swallowed loudly, shifting her hands around the shaft of the scythe. He appeared at the scythe blade with a frown on his face. They looked around, stopping to stare at the figure at the top of the staircase.
"Oh! Soul and Maka are here to join the party!" Liz smiled with one arm around her tied up meister's neck and a hand swirling wine in a glass cup sophisticatedly. Kid looked defeated, slumped forward with a rope tied around his ankles and wrists, and his mouth was covered with a strip of duct tape.
Soul sneered up at the blonde weapon, "That's your fucking meister, let him go."
"Oh, him?" she gestured at Kid, spilling her wine. "But he was the one who took my sister and I in!" she held a hand to her chest, the wine leaving stains on her shirt. She leaned in and whispered loudly, "He was the one who put my little sister in a cell." Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth in horror. "Oh, but don't tell anyone!"
With a deep breath, Maka skipped up the stairs. "Liz, let Kid go."
"No!" she cried, wine splashing on the top of Kid's head. "He locked my baby sister away so I'll return the favor to him!" she threw her glass down while tears rushed down her red face. Kid gasped, some glass bouncing off the ground and falling against his arm and cheek.
Maka finally ran up the stairs as quickly as she could and swiped the scythe blade at Liz.
"Be careful, Maka! We're not supposed to kill her!"
"Yeah, careful Maka." Liz stepped back, pulling her meister up and wrapping an arm around his neck. Her face darkened as she grabbed a large lock of Kid's hair and yanked hard, his head leaned back. The eldest Thompson smiled as she leaned forward to lick her meister's neck. "Mmm~," she moaned, her unoccupied hand pulling out a Swiss army knife from her back pocket. "Isn't his neck clean?"
"Maka!" Soul warned as she took another swing, only to have Liz jump back a few feet away and press her knife to Kid's neck. "She's threatening us, just fucking-!"
"I know what I'm doing!" she yelled back, eyes trained on the insane female holding her own meister hostage. She had to do something that wouldn't have Kid or Liz killed.
Liz laughed, blood sliding down the reaper's shirt. "Oh, Maka. Maka, Maka, Maka." Her blonde locks fell in front of her face as she shook her head. "You thought we wouldn't know? That I wouldn't know? How you're the one that made me like this? You're the one that made Tsubaki, and Black Star, and Patty like this?" she placed the blade onto Kid's stomach and swiped it long and hard, creating a ripping sound.
Soul growled at Kid's muffled scream, his friend wiggling around in Liz's arm. "Let him go, you bitch!"
"I'll let him go if you let my sister go. I mean, you're involved in this too," she then placed the knife on his right arm and cut down. "You're the reason Kid's in pain now."
"SHUT UP!" Maka threw the scythe toward Liz, fed up with her crap. Soul transformed just in time to kick Liz in the face, causing her to fall back in surprise and let go of Kid. Maka grabbed the fellow meister and undid the ties around his hand and ankles. Soul repeatedly punched Liz in the face until she was unconscious.
Kid quietly peeled the duct tape off his mouth, pressing his left hand to the cut down his bicep. Silently, Maka and Soul tied Liz up for when she woke. The green-eyed meister slid the Swiss army knife into her partner's pocket before going to the bathroom to get first-aid supplies.
Soul sighed and plopped down next to his ebony-haired friend. The reaper looked at his tied-up weapon and placed his free hand on the cut across his stomach. The scythe looked at Kid, his lips twitching into a bitter smile. "We... uh, we didn't know..."
"I know." His eyes were blank but still flicked over to the weapon next to him. He gave Maka a thankful smile when she came back and sat next to him. She handed him and Soul a glass of liquor before she placed a hand towel under each of Kid's hand. She placed a bowl of water next to her and pulled out a needle and thread.
Soul thanked Maka while she silently cleaned up the cut on Kid's throat. The reaper swirled the liquid in his glass as he leaned back while listening to Soul and allowing Maka to silently fix him up.
"A month before. We knew. We could feel him but, we just thought it was... a spasm of the blood or something." Maka stitched up the wound, Kid clenching his fists. She patted his knee when she was done, moving on to the cut on his bicep.
"Then we heard him as soon as Asura." Kid finally tipped his head back to swallow down the liquor, Maka dipping the towel into the bowl. "Tsubaki was first because it was unexpected. Black Star because he couldn't help but want to be with his partner. That's the pattern." Maka moved on to the cut on his stomach.
"We didn't know he was telling the truth. He lies sometimes. We didn't mean for this to happen."
"I know," Kid nodded, throat burning from the drink given to dull the pain.
"We're sorry," Soul looked down at his glass. The ash-blonde meister snipped the thread and put everything away. She only paused when her injured friend raised a hand to block her.
Kid sighed loudly, looking at the pair. "I can't kill you two now or when you go mad. But, that doesn't mean I won't hurt you."
His lips skimmed her skin, pleasured gasps escaping her lips. He peppered kisses on her neck as he continued their dance, memorizing every sound and reaction she made. She shut her eyes and pulled him closer by the neck, screaming his name.
"SOUL!"
His eyes snapped open, sweat beads on his forehead. He sat up and rubbed at his eyes, trying to ignore his morning wood. It had almost been a week since it last happened and suddenly it was back, it worried him. The dream was vivid against his lids, her moans-
He shook his head and got off the bed, walking into the kitchen to get a drink or snack or both. He poured a glass of milk and microwaved a ham and cheese Hot Pocket. He chewed slowly, staring off into space and his mind nowhere in particular. Then the demon chuckled, making him stop chewing. His eyes widened and he put the half-eaten Hot Pocket down, then he wiped his hands. "Fuck," he downed the glass of milk before turning around in his chair to face his meister.
"Hey, Soul. What're you doing up?" she popped the 'p' in 'up' and rocked on her heels.
He slowly got up, eyes wide. "You have to fight this, I know you can. I can't-I can't pull you out this time! You're too deep in!" he yelled while taking a step back when she stepped forward. "Maka, I know you can fight it. Please, fight it," he grit his teeth, eyes stinging with tears.
She giggled, reaching out at him. Soul stumbled into the dining table, causing the glass cup to topple off the side of the table and crash to the ground in a million pieces. "But Soul, it's feels so good. I feel free! And look!" she exclaimed as she looked down with wide eyes, stepping on the pieces of glass scattered across the floor. "It doesn't hurt!"
His tears began to leave the corners of his eyes and slide down his cheeks. "No, no, Maka, please." He looked down at the blood she left on the glass when she stepped closer to caress his cheek. The black blood made him swallow hard.
"You should give up too," she whispered, taking his face in her hands and touching her forehead on his. "Give into the madness, so we can be together." She looked at him in the eyes, and he couldn't help the feeling of wanting to lean in and kiss her.
He shook his head and tried to push her away, but she was firm on her feet. "I won't," he hissed as he tried to pull her hands off his face, "Because if I do, we're both dead."
She shook her head, her nose rubbing against his. "Kid wouldn't do that, he couldn't do that." She placed herself between his legs, sliding a hand behind his neck. He stifled a groan as her mouth was pressed against the comer of his lips. "Why don't you just... fall?"
He closed his eyes as she kissed him, pushing against her shoulders. The demon smirked in the Black Room, the jazz record playing loudly as black blood began to fill it. It was filling his lungs, it was hard for him to swim through.
He opened his eyes and grabbed Maka by the waist, flipping them over so that she was the one leaning against the table. He kissed her back aggressively, pulling her leg over his waist. She moaned loudly and he pressed against her, hand held behind her head.
He slid his lips down her neck as she slid her hand under his shirt. He stumbled backward and hit the wall, trying to get to the bedroom. She scraped her nails down his abs while he pressed her against the door of his bedroom. He reached behind her and opened the door, both stumbling onto the bed and ridding each other of clothes.
Soul and Maka drowned in the black blood as passionate cries filled their apartment.
"Soul, I miss you~! Let's break out of here, yeah~?" The green-eyed meister giggled maniacally.
He gave an ear-splitting grin, eyes wild. "Miss you too, babe! I can't wait to be in you again!" He laughed, shaking the chains bound around his wrists, ankles, and waist. "In fact, I'm gonna get us all out! And we'll spread the madness!"
Kid glanced at all his friends before nodding at the guard and pulling his mask down. He walked back up the stairs as their laughs echoed through the cells and halls.
The little demon laughed even louder.
Until next time!
-That Person