A/N: MASSIVE spoiler for 112. You've been warned.
Stein hit his knees, his eyes wide. The madness crashed over him, drowning out the voices that were echoing around him, erasing his senses so that he could not feel the hands that were dragging him to his feet.
His eyes were locked on the moon, the moon that was black as night, covered in a substance as thick as blood. It obscured his sight from what was happening, but it didn't matter. He knew what had just happened, and a hoarse laugh escaped him.
They had died. The kishin was defeated, but Senpai, Sid, Nygus had died. They had to be dead, their wavelengths were gone. He had thrown Marie to the moon, but he refused to acknowledge that. Surely one of the sets of hands that he was now dimly aware of was hers. His hand reached towards the moon as he collapsed against the hands that were holding him up, hysterical laughter bursting from him.
He only barely heard the shouted order for them to restrain him over it.
He opened his eyes slowly, testing the shackles around his arms and legs. He could still feel the hum of the madness deep inside, his eyes twitching in their sockets. He could see snakes dancing in the shadows, the darkness hiding them whenever he tried to focus on them. He hissed like a snake as he pulled his arms against the metal caging them, his wavelength crackling from his palms and skirting up his arms.
It stopped just short of the metal, his soul straining to force it over it.
He could feel it then, the undeniable presence of someone else walking into his cell. He turned his head away from the largest of the snakes in the corner and looked at his captor.
Black hair fell to her chin, her suit pristine and unsoiled. There was a look in eyes hidden by glasses that he could almost place, but it was emotion that didn't exist in science and so he didn't care.
"Stein, do you know me?"
He was silent. Flashes of memories flooded through his mind, but he couldn't place the woman. Instead of "No," all that came from him was an eruption of laughter that seemed a much better answer to her question.
She left him strapped to the table, his wavelength trying in vain to surge over the metal that was holding him captive, his lanky body shaking with laughter.
"The witch's steel is working," Azusa said as she walked out of the room, the guards at the door saluting smartly. The death scythe didn't acknowledge it.
She fell into step beside Kid, suppressing the urge to shrink away from him as he nodded. "I am glad to hear that. The witches are proving themselves valuable allies, even with all the resentment that both sides are feeling."
"It's dangerous to force this too quickly, Kid-Sama."
"It's just Kid, Azusa," Kid said absently, already tired of correcting her. She just gave a small nod before continuing.
"If we force the acceptance of people that have been acknowledged as enemies for over a thousand years all it will do will cause a fracture. People are slow to release old anger, and this has had a millennia to simmer."
"I know this, Azusa. I am trying to make certain that nothing happens to challenge the fragile order that we have at the moment. How is Dr. Stein?"
"Lost."
Kid stopped walking and turned towards her. "I don't know what we can do for him."
"He was still linked with Marie's wavelength when they died-," At the look Kid gave her she sighed and changed her wording, "disappeared. It is possible that he will never regain a functioning level of sanity. Marie and Spirit were the only people he was truly close to, if anyone could claim to be close to him."
"Let us hope that he does then, I do not want to keep him bound with witch's steel for the rest of his life."
They left the unspoken words float in the air. If Stein didn't regain his sanity he was far too dangerous to be kept bound in witch's steel for long.
They fell for what felt like forever. Marie's hand was clenched in Spirit's; Spirit's other hand in Sid's and Sid's hand holding onto Akane's, who was holding Marie's. Nygus and Clay were in weapon form being held by their meisters, and Marie felt fear grip her.
What was happening to her and Spirit's meister?
A gust of wind hit them; it came not from below them but from the side and it ripped her hand from Akane's. She screamed as another gust caught her light frame and ripped her other from Spirit's grasp.
"Marie!"
A moment later she watched as Spirit wrenched his hand from Sid's and tucked his arms and legs together to come hurtling towards her. He caught her hand when he was close enough to and looked over his shoulder to grin at the others.
They were nowhere in sight. Spirit pulled her into his arms as another gust of wind slammed into them, forcing them further south. She buried her face in his chest and hiccupped sobs of relief and fear.
"Transform!" Spirit's voice echoed in his chest, making her look up at him. Worry painted itself across his features and she hazarded a look down. The ground was coming up to meet them swiftly. Even as he demanded again that she transform she was, and she gave a small sigh as she watched him do the same.
Just as they slammed into the ground she watched as his arm reappeared, wrapping around the hilt of her tonfa form and pulling her closer. Then everything went black.
"Hey Kid! How'd everything go? The doc ok?" Black*Star asked from the hospital bed. He wore no casts, even though their interim doctor had begged him to and tried to get Kid to order him to.
"Dr. Stein hasn't had any change in his condition. What have they said about yours?"
Black*Star huffed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "These quacks say I need weeks, weeks of recuperation. Like it's going to take that long. I feel better already!" To prove his point Black*Star raised his damaged arm into the air, his hand a fist as he pumped it up and down. "I'll be out of here in a day or two tops."
Kid just laughed. "Sure you will be, Black*Star."
"Just you wait and see. Nothing will keep me down for long!"
Stein lay still. His head was pointed to the ceiling and he was doing his best to ignore the large snake that was crawling along the wall to the left. He would dissect it later. All he had to do was remain still enough that his captor's thought him a non-threat and released him.
The door to his cell creaked open and the black haired woman approached him again. She asked again if he knew her, and he forced himself to remain still.
She would come closer. He could fool her. He didn't even breathe, his eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling.
"Stein?"
She was nearly beside him now and his hand itched. His lab coat was pooled around him, but there was nothing in the pockets to relieve the itch with, and he knew that.
He had to wait. He had to wait. He had to wait.
Her face was in front of his, and he felt her hand on his shoulder. Her mouth was moving, but he could no longer understand the words that were coming from it. There was a cracking sound as he wrenched his arm against the restraints, and his hand wrapped around her wrist.
Behind her glasses her eyes widened in sudden fear.
Maniacal laughter escaped him as his wavelength finally found release. The woman flew from his grasp and he jerked against the bonds, trying to escape while he could, but he wasn't strong enough to break them before she was on her feet, her body smoking from the force of his wavelength.
He continued to laugh as she staggered out the door.
Azusa slid down the wall, breathing heavily. Every cell in her body was screaming in agony and her heart was beating so fast that she was afraid that she would have a heart attack. The guards were beside her and dragging her to her feet before she even made it to the ground, and a few moments later she was supported between two new guards and being carried to the infirmary.
She couldn't even find it in herself to demand that they set her down. As they moved, their pace rocking her between them like a baby in a cradle, she let the darkness claim her that she had been fighting against.
His arm was broken, his ribs bruised and possibly broken, but Spirit Albarn had never felt more alive. He had no idea where they were, or where the others could be, but he and Marie were both alive and she wasn't hurt, and that was all that mattered to him at the moment.
Well, that and the growing need for food.
He laughed a little bit and Marie looked over at him and he shrugged with his good arm. "I'm hungry. Just thinking how funny it was that despite everything we've gone through my body still remembered that this was the time that I normally eat."
Marie gave him a little smile before nodding. "Well, we better hurry if we want to get back in time for dinner."
With a nod to match hers they started off, slightly unsteadily, in the direction of the setting sun. Hopefully they would find shelter before nightfall.
A/N: Would ya look at that. Lia, writing a new fic. Miss me?
This is just some head-canon I had after reading the raws for 112. I'm really, really hoping that Sid/Nygus/Akane/Clay/Spirit/Marie aren't dead. Don't forget about Sid's Compulsive Burial ability with Nygus!