A Steampunk/Soul Eater crossover.
A/N: Next chapter! Yay! Thanks for all the positive reviews I got for this, I hope you enjoy the second chapter as much as the first!
Metal Soul's Insanity (c) ToastWeaselofDOOM
Crossposted on deviantart.
Beta'd by Desert(dot)Moon!
Chapter 2
Two days later, the Shibusen descended from the sky and landed in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. They docked in the port of a small village in Australia in the dead of night. The next morning, Spirit led Maka and Death the Kid into town to begin to ask around for a doctor. They were pointed by an old man to the town tavern. The three Shibusen crewmembers entered The Dead Mole.
"Let me do the talking," the First Mate whispered to the two teenagers as they advanced on the bar. Kid and Maka nodded wordlessly.
The burly barkeeper looked up from the blonde woman he was talking to as Spirit approached. "Can I . . . help you, sir?"
"I'm looking for the town doctor." Spirit leaned against the bar after shooting the blonde a killer smile. At the look the barkeep gave him, Spirit fished in his coin purse, pulling out several pieces of gold. Sliding the coins across the bar, Shibusen's first mate asked, "Know where I can find 'im?"
"Yes," the burly man said, fiddling with the rolled-up sleeves of his dress shirt.
"Can you tell me where he lives?"
"Well . . ." The man looked at the woman he had been talking to. "No." Spirit wordlessly slid more coins across the bar. The barkeep looked as if he were about to pocket them when the woman spoke.
"BJ, for shame! You know as well as I do where Stein lives!" Spirit swiped his coins back and deposited them into his coin purse while the barkeep muttered something similar to "Can't help but try." Spirit turned to the blonde, whose hair was in pigtails and who wore a decorated eyepatch and dark red headband. She smiled and said, "You're looking for my meister, aren't you, sir? He's the doctor in this town."
Spirit once again flashed his killer smile. "Yes, ma'am. What's your name, Miss?"
"Marie Mjolnir. What do you need my meister for?"
"One of our crew is injured," Spirit replied. "My daughter's weapon." He nodded at Maka and all eyes went to her. She blushed a bit and tried to hide behind Kid.
Marie frowned. "How badly is he hurt?"
"It's not pretty."
She nodded. "Where is he, back on your ship?" Spirit answered her question with a nod. "Go retrieve him and I'll lead you to the doctor."
"Follow me." Spirit turned; Marie, Kid, and Maka followed him from the tavern.
Marie gasped when she saw the deep gash on Soul's torso. "Oh my . . . what happened?"
"We were attacked," Spirit said bitterly.
"Was he the only one hurt?"
"He's the worst. The rest only had scrapes, cuts, and bruises."
The blonde nodded, looking slightly shaken. She composed herself quickly before saying, "Alright, as soon as he's ready to be transported, I will take you to Stein." They waited as Nygus rewrapped Soul's chest with clean bandages before Sid scooped the teenager from the bed. The white-haired adolescent didn't move, didn't speak, didn't make a sound throughout the entire process.
Spirit, Nygus, Sid, and Marie departed Kid's room, Maka and Death the Kid trailing behind them. As Spirit walked down the gangway behind Sid, he called, "Maka, come with us. Kid, stay here."
"Yes, Sir," Kid said stiffly as Maka hurried after her father. When she joined the group at the bottom, Marie smiled at her.
"Follow me, please." The four crewmembers of Shibusen followed her about a mile to the edge of town, when a dark-looking house stood under the mountain that overshadowed the small town. Marie pushed past the wrought-iron gate and led the four up the path and into the house.
Inside, they found a large lower level. Marie crossed to the opposite wall and the door set into it. She knocked and called, "Stein, there's a boy out here who's critical."
A rustling was heard behind the door and it began to open as a low, calm voice said, "Critical, you say?" The door opened completely and the doctor appeared. He was tall, with silver hair and a bolt through his head. A row of staples ran down his face from under silver bangs, down under his right eye, and out of sight across his cheek. A monocle rested on his nose and a pipe was clenched between his teeth. He took a drag from the pipe before lazily blowing a smoke ring. "How critical?"
Marie said, "Very"; at the same time, Spirit exclaimed, "You!" rather loudly.
Green eyes glanced over at the first mate of the Shibusen. "Oh, hello, Spirit. Long time no see. Is that the boy?" The doctor gestured at Soul, who was being carried by the grease-smeared Sid, with the hand that held his pipe.
Marie nodded. "Yes, that's him."
"Put him on the table in there," Stein ordered, gesturing into the dark room he had just left. His eyes slid to Maka, who shrank back a little. "You're his meister, aren't you?"
The teenager nodded slowly. "Ye-Yes, sir."
"Hmmm . . ." Stein looked at her critically for a moment before blowing another smoke ring. "Marie, hot tea for this one." He nodded at Maka, then vanished into the dark room.
Marie led Maka, Spirit, and Nygus, who had remained silent, over to the kitchen, where she sat them down at the table. Sid joined them several minutes later; Marie placed a mug of tea in front of each of them, along with a bowl of sweets in the middle.
"Don't worry about your weapon, sweetheart," the blonde woman said consolingly as Maka looked as if she were about to cry. "He's in good hands."
The young teenager nodded, taking her tea and sipping it. After a while, she murmured, "Papa . . .?"
Spirit looked down at his daughter. "Yes, Maka?"
"How do you know him . . . the doctor?"
Her father sighed. "Stein was my meister . . . when I was younger."
Maka's green eyes widened. She had heard about the fabled Franken Stein; usually when her father was talking to others and didn't want her to hear. She thought back to what she had seen of the doctor.
He'd seemed alright enough, even though his shirt and pants had been riddled with stitches. His belt had been decorated with gears and held scalpels; a patchwork scarf had wound its way around his neck and his monocle had seemed to be attached to the bolt that went through his head. Not bad, compared to some of the other things Maka had seen, and wished to unsee, several times when the Shibusen had been docked at seedier ports.
"He didn't look that bad, Papa," Maka murmured.
"You have no idea," Spirit replied. "No idea at all . . ."
Marie smiled before throwing an apron over her blouse and corset. She commenced to bustle around the kitchen, obviously beginning a meal. Delicious smells wafted through the air; before long, Marie slid a bowl full of steaming gnocchi covered with a creamy sauce in front of Maka.
At the teenager's questioning glance, the woman smiled and said, "Eat up, sweetheart. Food makes things like this easier, and you look hungry. I'll get the rest of you a bowl as well." She set similar bowls of gnocchi in front of Spirit, Sid, and Nygus, then fixed one for herself.
About half an hour later, Stein emerged from the dark room, wiping his hands on an already bloodstained rag. His light green eyes met Maka's anxious emerald ones and he said, "Your weapon will be fine."
Maka looked ready to collapse from relief. "Really?"
"See, what did I tell you?" Marie asked as she stood and went to retrieve a mug of coffee for her meister.
"Thank you so much!" Maka gushed, life brought back into her eyes.
Stein shrugged and accepted the coffee his weapon gave him. "It's my job."
Spirit stood, looking anxious to leave. "When will Soul be ready to come back to the ship?"
The doctor took a lazy drag from his pipe before answering. "He'll need to stay here a few more days. After that, he'll be able to return to the ship, but he shouldn't get into anything strenuous for several weeks. Three at the most."
"You've . . . gotta be kidding me . . ." Everyone turned to see Soul, whose chest was bare, the gash stapled together, leaning heavily on the door frame. "Not cool."
"Soul!" Maka's expression grew worried again.
Stein frowned. "Go and lie back down. You're not ready to be moving yet."
"Bull . . . shit," Soul ground out. "I'm . . . perfectly fine."
"You should listen to him," Maka said quietly.
"I'm not listenin' to some Frankenstein freak," Soul growled.
The object of Soul's deprecating words raised a silver eyebrow. Stein set his mug, now almost empty, down on the counter and crossed the room to where Soul stood. Two pale fingers touched Soul's jugular vein and the teenager collapsed moments later.
Stein supported Soul's limp form as Maka stood, chair clattering backwards as she exclaimed, "What'd you do to him?!"
"He's only unconscious. Maybe now he won't move." The doctor picked the teenager up and carried him back into the room from whence he had emerged.
When Stein returned, Maka repeated, "What'd you do to him?"
Stein sighed. "I overrode his soul wavelength with mine. Doing so causes paralysis and unconsciousness. He'll be fine in a little while."
"Well, that's all fine and dandy," Spirit said from where he was standing. "We'll be leaving now. I trust you won't dissect him in his sleep, Stein."
The doctor laughed and plucked a scalpel from his belt. Twirling it, he said, "No promises."
"He won't," Marie assured Maka, who looked horrified. "I'll make sure of it."
"O-Okay," the teenager said, eyeing Stein uneasily as Sid and Nygus stood. Her father practically dragged her from the house.
"Papa," Maka muttered after the four had been walking for a while, "is that what you were talking about?"
Blue eyes looked down at her and Spirit sighed. "Yes, Maka. That's what I was talking about."
A/N: Yay for all of my favorite good guys being in one chapter! BJ, Spirit, Stein, and Marie, yaaaay~!
Designs are on my DA which is ToastWeaselofDOOM. ;D Please tell me what you think! See you next chapter!