There was adrenaline coursing through his veins as he pushed himself, further and further towards breaking point. The built-up pressure inside the tunnels pushed down upon him, his muscles ready to snap under the strain. Hot sweat beaded down his forehead and glistened in the artificial lights. Yet he still pushed on. He had to keep going. He had to get stronger. He was going to beat them all. That was his only goal now, his only motivation. He had to do it for all of them. He had to live up to the boastings of his immature past-self and prove to everyone that he was going to surpass the level of God.
Tsubaki worried too much about her meister. It was hard not to. She hated standing on the sidelines and watching him as he poured every ounce of his being, every breath, every heartbeat, into nothing more than training. Nowadays, in his confused mind, it seemed to be the only thing worth doing. All of his frustrations were vented out on to the punching bag suspended from the rounded ceiling. And oh, how his fists pounded on it. A constant rhythm. The beat of war drums.
With each blow, he shouted, he cried out, he roared and bellowed until there was no voice left in him. It was the same every day. Black*Star was just so full of rage. She had tried to help him keep a level head. Death, how she tried. Nothing seemed to reach him anymore. The only missions he took were the ones where he was guaranteed to be able to beat the shit out of something. Preferably a Clown. Or anything with those damned three Kishin eyes. Scouting missions weren't for him anymore. He wanted to hurt things. He wanted to kill. He wanted revenge.
First, Maka left them. Then Kid. Then Akane and Clay and everyone else. It was almost no wonder Black*Star preferred to shut himself away in the tunnel's training gym most days, or just lash out whenever he had the chance.
(He had once admitted to his weapon partner, in a rare moment of weakness, that he felt responsible for losing them. If he had been stronger, he'd said, maybe he could have somehow prevented it all. If he'd just been stronger...)
Nowadays, his bandaged knuckles were constantly red. From his blood or that of someone else, it was hard to tell. The boy rarely boasted anymore, either. Rather than ranting about wanting power, he inflicted injuries on the enemies of what remained of the DWMA to show what power he had. He had learned, it seemed, that showing was better than telling.
The shadow weapon quietly watched him continue with his merciless barrage on the innocent boxing equipment, and a heavy sigh escaped her. Just like every single day. The same thing, over and over again. The same punches, the same curses, the same scars made visible with every movement he made.
Death, he had so many scars now. All over his arms and chest. The ones in his mind may not have been visible, but they were just as prominent. And Tsubaki wished that she could have done more as a weapon to shield her meister; to accept some of those injuries and protect him. He would never let her do that, though.
"Black*Star," Tsubaki called out to him, causing him to pause at the sound of her voice. She forced her smile in place when her meister glanced in her direction, still making the effort to bring some warmth to their claustrophobic and cold "home". "That should be enough for today, and Angela's probably finished by now. Why don't we get her and have dinner together?"
The reply she received was nothing more than a grunt of acknowledgement, yet the sight of Black*Star running a towel over his face was proof enough that he was calling it a day, officially. Tsubaki found, at that single movement, the smile reached her eyes so much more easily and naturally.
Their walk together was a comfortable silence, the only sounds being the echoes of their footsteps which bounced off the rounded walls either side of them. Tsubaki always hummed to herself, and Black*Star was content just to listen to his partner. The silence between the two was as golden as the weapon's beautiful soul. Of course, the silence never lasted long. Not after a certain third party joined their group.
It was a routinely occurrence for the Star*Clan child and his weapon to pick up the young Angela Leon from her training sessions with the witches Tabatha Butterfly and Taruho Firefly. It also became routine that whenever the meister and weapon duo were approaching the room where said training session would take place, the chameleon witch would suddenly hurtle out through the threshold, scamper up the ninja's back, sit herself down on his shoulders and, with a particularly vicious tug on his blue hair, demand a piggy-back ride all the way to the canteen. For some reason, Black*Star never turned the kid down.
So there they were, all three together, the child happily chattering away about how much she was improving, whilst Tsubaki humoured her with compliments and bright smiles. Black*Star was quiet, silently brooding. Yet even with his slightly lowered head, Tsubaki didn't miss the briefest glimmer of pride across his blue eyes.
Routine ended there and then, abruptly. A girl came hurtling around the corner, almost crashing straight into Tsubaki. When she dusted herself off and caught sight of the trio, however, her sapphire eyes suddenly began to sparkle brilliantly, like jewels.
"Black*Star! Tsubaki! I was looking everywhere for you two," Anya Hepburn gabbled hurriedly, yet her words came out as clipped and proper as they always were. She pushed a golden lock behind her ear, brushing her fringe out of her eyes. As she spoke, her black, pleated skirt as well as the curled ends of hair which hung from her high ponytail bounced and swayed. "You both have to come with me. Quickly."
Before anyone had a chance to argue, Anya had grabbed Tsubaki's hand and was dragging her down the winding passages at break-neck speed. Black*Star huffed and rolled his eyes in exaggeration, ignoring Angela's question of where they were going, as he trudged along after them.
Their trip through the winding, twisting tunnels led them to a room Black*Star despised with every fragment of his soul. It didn't have a name – most of the inhabitants of the tunnels would ask if others were going to visit "The Memorial". And really, that was all it was: an empty room, with the only thing of any significance being the many names which had been carved into the white walls. The names of all their fallen friends. It was like a war memorial. He felt miserable going in there.
It brought back too many bad memories.
Once they entered, Black*Star's eyes instinctively trailed over to the spots of the wall Tsubaki had pointed out to him when they had visited the room for the first time over a year ago now. Even though he couldn't read, he had learnt the exact positions of the names which were important to him with her help. Ox Ford. Akane*Hoshi. Clay Sizemore. Hiro Pendragon. He noticed Anya's back stiffen when her gaze momentarily landed on the spots where he knew Meme Tatane, Tsugumi Harudori and Eternal Feather had been written.
"Oi, Anya. Why'd you drag us here?" he grumbled, trailing his eyes over to the far wall where he knew Maka Albarn was located, right beside Kami Ōgama, her mother. It seemed fitting that the two Albarn women were together in the end. "You know the great me can't stand this place-"
He froze.
His eyes had reached the point he was expecting. Yet they did not read the squiggled words he was expecting. The names had been blocked by a girl, his age, wearing an outfit of white and pale blue. A uniform he had never seen before. It looked angelic. Heavenly.
But those pigtails. Those green eyes which locked onto his blue when she turned her head.
He knew her. He knew her so well.
She smiled at him, awkwardly. Beside her, Patty gave a cheerful wave and Soul nodded in his direction.
Tsubaki was the first to move. She stepped forward with hesitation, one hand reaching to touch the other girl's arm. And when she made contact with the flesh she thought was a figment of her imagination, she found that Maka was, instead, real. Tangible. Warm: nothing like the icy flesh Tsubaki had grasped when Soul had carried Maka out from Baba Yaga Castle. Nothing like the cold corpse she didn't want to let go of. Tsubaki gasped, then released her breath with a harsh whisper.
"Is it really you?"
Instinctively, Black*Star felt his blood boil. His first thought was that somebody, Anya, was playing a messed up joke on him and his weapon partner. And Death, he wasn't ever going to let anyone fuck around with Tsubaki's feelings. He turned to Anya and glared, forcing Angela to cling on tightly as she wobbled from the sudden movement.
"What the fuck, Anya?! This isn't funny!"
Anya flinched from his outburst, but before she could respond, a shout from the pigtailed girl snapped Black*Star's attention away. Maka was staring at them, fire in her jade eyes.
"Black*Star, you dick! Stop bullying Anya before I punch you." But despite the threat, the affection in her voice was audible. Black*Star blinked back at her, mouth agape. Maka simply shot him a smirk in return, before turning her attention back to Tsubaki, who still had a trembling hand held onto her arm. "It's really me."
For a moment, Tsubaki was still, trying to process the fact that this was real. Maka was real. Right there. In the flesh. But when the tears began to stream down from her indigo eyes, her mask cracked with a single sob. A breath later, she was gathering the shorter girl up into her arms tightly. The blonde meister instantly returned the hug, patting her back gently.
Reassuringly.
Her eyes were watery, as well.
Black*Star could only gape at the scene, and he barely heard Angela question who it was. Slowly, it began to sink in. This was no joke. This wasn't a fucked up prank Anya was pulling on him. She was standing right in front of him. Maka was back. Despite all the odds, she was there. Somehow, miraculously, defying death.
His body ran on autopilot; gently removing the child from his broad shoulders and placing her beside Anya, carefully. He told the witch child to stay right there, before suddenly, his feet were moving on their own accord, pounding against the cold floor. He almost barrelled into both Tsubaki and the other girl, but skidded to a stop before he could cause any damage. A wide grin broke out across his face as a strong hand reached forward to ruffle the Maka's ash-blonde hair. Even the proud Black*Star almost choked on his words when he spoke, his façade slipping.
"Long time no see, Albarn."
Dinner that night was one of the most surreal experiences Black*Star'd had in a very long time. There was Maka Albarn, very much alive, eating with them. Talking with them. Laughing with them after they got over the initial shock of seeing her in the flesh. It was as though nothing had changed. For a long while, nobody seemed to want to bring up the obvious question of how she had got there. In their minds, she had been dead for well over two years now. There was no way she could have been sitting with them.
But, there she was, as alive as a beating heart. And Black*Star had missed her, missed the happiness, the ease. He was enjoying listening as the girls sitting across the table from him chatted away, reminiscing about their early days at the DWMA, back before it was a ghost in their minds. For a moment, he felt like he could forget everything. Forget the red skies outside, the madness and chaos. He could shut off from it. For a moment.
Patty was enthusiastically babbling away to Maka and Tsubaki, who laughed at what she'd said. Kim and Jackie were grinning at the trio as well, their fingers intertwined, and beside them, Anya and Liz seemed to be in a deep and important conversation about manicures.
Beside Liz, Kilik was busy trying to get Fire and Thunder to eat their meal without throwing it around and Harvar, as usual, was silently brooding as he stared at Anya.
Then there was Soul, who had remained oddly... quiet. Despite the fact the meister he hadn't seen in two years was sitting opposite him. Yet, the scythe seemed more interested in playing with his food, pushing the peas around his plate with his fork.
Black*Star couldn't help but think that, although he was over the moon Maka was back, as were most other people… something about the scene wasn't right. It didn't fit. Other people should have been there with them.
Eventually, the various conversations came to a natural end and a pleasant quiet surrounded the table. They all sat and ate their food soundlessly. But they could all feel it. There were questions burning in the air. They reverberated through everyone's very souls. They all wanted their answers.
It was Maka who had the courage to first break the silence.
"So… I really died?" she asked, wincing slightly at how morbid it sounded. The eyes of everyone else around the table snapped up, away from their plates to land on the pigtailed girl. The once pleasant calm suddenly became uncomfortable. "Can you guys tell me what happened? Like… why the sky is red and… stuff?"
Maka felt horribly awkward asking, but Death, she had to know. She needed answers more than anyone. Patty had dragged her to the memorial, showing her and her mother's tombstone. Yet it was still rather hard to get her head around the fact that she was supposedly dead. And so much else had changed, it seemed. Maka couldn't help but wonder if she was having some sort of crazy nightmare.
It was obvious that no one was comfortable answering the question, judging from the way her friends fidgeted uncomfortably, glancing at each other. The tension hung in the air for a moment, before finally, after what felt like hours, Anya cleared her throat. She folded her hands in her lap, straightening her back in an attempt to keep an air of regality about her.
"I am afraid that I personally do not know the entire story, as I was not witness to it all," she began, each word properly enunciated. "From what I do know, both you and Medusa were killed in the fight against Arachne Gorgon, during the DWMA's attack on Baba Yaga Castle. As I said, I do not know the full details, nor do I believe our friends are comfortable talking about it. However, I can tell you that the DWMA were forced to abort the remainder of the mission and swiftly retreat after you…" Anya paused and cleared her throat, evidentially uncomfortable. "After you died."
Black*Star couldn't help but notice how horrified Maka looked from the news she just heard.
Maka shook her head slightly, very much aware of the fact her face had probably gone quite pale at that stage. But she had to stay focused and find out the truth, even if it was unpleasant. So she gave a small nod in response, eager to learn more.
"So, what happened after that, then? My death alone couldn't have possibly turned the sky red."
"You'd be surprised," Harvar suddenly quipped. He sounded as cold as ever, as though he were a soldier in the army. He seemed to be glaring at Maka behind his sunglasses. "Once both you and BJ were gone, the DWMA was lacking meisters with strong enough soul perception. Arachnophobia was able to locate the Kishin-"
"On the moon, of all places!" Kim interrupted quickly, snorting at the absurdity of the situation. Harvar narrowed his eyes at the pink-haired witch, the glare ice cold, before he continued once again.
"Arachnophobia found Asura before us and teamed up with him."
"The Kishin and Arachnophobia?" Maka repeated, eyes clearly full of surprise at this recent revelation. Everyone else around the table, including the Pot twins, nodded in unison in response.
"Yeah, it's weird. We know," Black*Star muttered, his teeth gritted together. "But from that point on, shit really hit the fan." When his blue eyes glanced around the table to see if anyone else was willing to consider finishing the story, he found his friends deliberately avoiding his gaze. The Star*Clan child grunted in annoyance and cracked his knuckles. "Fine, I'll say it. Asura and Arachnophobia attacked Death City. We were outnumbered completely and Asura had these creepy-ass Clown things that just wouldn't die, and Arachne brought her entire army along. We were fucked. Lord Death was killed by Asura. Death City was pretty much destroyed. We… we lost a lot of people."
Black*Star hesitated, taking in a deep breath. When he started up again, his voice was more clipped, and Maka could feel how awful it must have been for them. "That's why we're stuck here. We had to fucking run away and with us gone, Asura took over. That's why the sky is red."
Seeing how it was affecting her meister, Tsubaki was quick to take over with the explanation. "At least there was an entire tunnel network running under the DWMA. It connected the whole city."
"Lord Death was clearly paranoid, stocking up empty tunnels to the teeth with backup power and supplies," Harvar muttered under his breath, causing Liz and Patty to both shoot glares in his direction. Tsubaki ignored the three and continued.
"So, we rebuilt our lives here as best as we could. Blair, Tabatha, and Taruho even used a spell similar to 'Soul Protect' on the tunnels, to keep all our souls hidden from Arachnophobia in case they try to hunt us down." She stopped again, before her voice dropped. She spoke so quietly, it was almost missed by Maka's well-trained ears. "It helps keep the madness wavelength away."
So they were underground. Maka felt another piece fall into place in her mind. It explained why everything felt so claustrophobic.
"I see…" she muttered to herself, frowning, before looking around the dinner table. Her eyes counted each and every individual, taking them all in. "Is that why Kid's not here right now? Is he in charge of the tunnels?" Maka continued pondering over the thought. "He must be busy. I mean, he's always been a great leader: I'm sure he's doing everything he can to fight Asura…" Her words were only met with silence. So much quiet, in fact, that Maka looked up to her friends once more, worry now lacing her voice. "...Guys?"
Everyone else looked horrified. Liz's eyes were watering, tears ready to bubble over. Kim, Kilik, Anya and Harvar quickly looked away from the ash-blonde and Tsubaki and Jackie held their breath. Soul and Black*Star both clenched their teeth, while Patty glared furiously at Maka, death in her eyes. Just like when they had first encountered each other above ground. Maka felt her stomach drop.
"No. You're wrong," Patty hissed venomously. Her eyes were darkening once more, soul flickering with seething yet silent rage. "Kid is gone, Maka. He's been gone for two years."
Maka was taken aback with the new information. Unable to speak.
Finally, Liz found the courage to speak up. She was shaking like a leaf, physically trying to swallow back the sob lodged in her throat. The tears, however, she was unable to stop.
"Two years ago tomorrow, when Asura and Arachnophobia attacked the DWMA… They took Kid," she spoke, sounding hollow. Empty. Her voice quivered, fragile. "They took him. They took him and we have no idea what's happened to him."
Maka's stomach dropped. Asura had Kid? The Kishin had her friend? Suddenly she felt wobbly, like the world was spinning without an axis. Her blood boiled in her bones, making her heartbeat thrum in her ears. That couldn't have been possible… The female meister swallowed and hardened her eyes.
"Haven't you tried to get him back? Haven't you tried to fight?"
"It's not that simple, Maka," Jackie sighed heavily, lowering her eyes. "The DWMA is much weaker than when you were around. Most of the Death Scythes have been killed. We just don't have the manpower. Trying to attack Arachnophobia now? It would be impossible…"
"Bullshit!" Maka snapped suddenly, slamming her hands on the table. "You guys just need to have more courage. Try harder! Haven't you considered going to the Witch Coven for help?"
Kim scoffed at that, folding her arms over her chest. There was an angry twinge to her turquoise eyes.
"Try harder? Oh Maka, you make it sound so easy. You have no idea," the tanuki witch hissed bitterly in response. "And going to the Witch Coven for help? Impossible. They're all dead. Arachne had them all killed so she could make more Demon Weapons. It was a fucking genocide. There are only a handful of us left now."
The pigtailed girl flinched, regretting her words instantly. She could feel everyone's eyes on her, burning into her soul. Maka felt shame washing over her at her outburst. After a mumbled apology with her eyes rooted to the table, the quiet returned again. Her mind was trying to process everything which she had been told, everything which had occurred, when suddenly another thought popped into her head.
"What… what about Crona...?"
Black*Star raised an eyebrow at her. "What about Crona?"
"What happened to them?"
"We don't know," Black*Star responded again, this time with a shrug. "When Medusa died, we had no way of finding out where they were. Still have no idea. It's been so long now, though, I doubt they're alive…"
That was it. The straw which broke the camel's back. This version of reality was too twisted for Maka to take. It felt like every bone was breaking at once. Like a bullet went through the glass house of her chest. Like the world swallowed her whole. Like all the nerves in her body froze over.
The first tear that fell landed on the table, splattering obviously. Anya was the first to notice, and instantly she stood up and marched over to where the ash-blonde sat.
"It's been a lot to process tonight, we understand," the golden-haired princess muttered quietly as she helped Maka to her feet and pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket, which she quickly used to dab away the water from the corners of Maka's green eyes. "You should get some rest. There's a spare bunk in my room which you can use. Come on." Anya gently took the older girl's hand and quickly led her out of the canteen, barely stopping to give the others a "farewell" or "good night". Once the two girls had gone, gradually everyone else slowly began to depart, each muttering or grunting their own good byes.
By the end of it all, only Black*Star and Soul remained seated at the table. The ninja glanced at his albino friend out of the corner of his eye, noticing how the scythe continued just to push his food around his plate aimlessly.
"You know," he began, causing Soul to briefly glance up. "For someone who's been sulking for the past two years about not having his precious meister, you're really quiet. What's wrong with you, Soul?"
Soul cast his crimson eyes away, grunting with a shrug. "Dunno. Just didn't feel like going down memory lane like the rest of you. It didn't exactly end well, did it?"
"That's a load of bull and you know it. You weren't talking to or even looking at Maka before that!"
His weapon friend remained silent, refusing to respond. So, Black*Star just continued staring at him. When that failed to get a reaction, he began to prod at the smaller boy's arm instead, jabbing his finger into his shoulder hard. He kept repeating Soul's name, as though he were a stuck record, but he only made it a few loops through before Soul shrugged his hand away.
"It was just weird, 'Star! Okay?!" the albino all but shouted, glaring daggers at his best friend. "Maka's dead. I fucking carried her corpse out of Baba Yaga myself. I saw Kid reap her soul." His tone kept rising, so much so that Soul was beginning to sound hysterical. His voice sounded like it was about to crack. "She shouldn't be here… she… she shouldn't… it's fucking weird. She can't be my meister. It's… it's some… some fucked up trick or something. It has to be. She can't… I want answers! I deserve answers!"
Black*Star hadn't seen his friend in this state for a while now. Not since, well… not since Maka died. The scythe looked like he was trying to hold back a sob, as though he was trying to keep his eyes hard and focused. But from the way his irises seemed to ripple, like disrupted water, Black*Star could see Soul Eater was doing a bad job at it.
Releasing a single heavy sigh, the blue haired ninja patted his friend on the back firmly, wearing a sombre expression.
"I know, Soul. I know…"
It was early the next morning; after a lumpy serving of porridge for breakfast in the canteen with her hysterically joyful father, that Maka found herself in Stein's office once more. The professor had wanted a private meeting with her, demanding explanations. If truth be told, those were exactly the same things she wanted as well.
She sat nervously and twiddled her thumbs, observing as Stein scratched his chin in thought. In the background, she could hear Marie rummaging around for something. Meanwhile, the cogs turning in the scientist's mind were practically visible whilst he mulled over everything Maka had said. And by Death, she had told him everything. Every slight detail that was different to this "Red World" (as she had aptly dubbed it in her mind) she found herself in.
She told him how the DWMA had ensured the fall of Arachnophobia, how a team named "Spartoi" had been formed to rescue Kid from the book of Eibon, how they had all defeated the Kishin on the moon with the help of the Witch Coven and Crona. The stories continued on: of Kid's ascension to Lord Death, how she herself made Soul a Death Scythe, how Marie had revealed her pregnancy with Stein (who was rather unfazed by the news).
Throughout her entire recollection, Stein's face remained set in stone – a neutral expression. Maka couldn't tell at all if he believed her or not. It must have sounded incredibly far-fetched. Even she was doubting her own words as she recounted it all. Marie, meanwhile, continued to busy herself with brewing some tea in the background. Though she was not an active participant in the conversation, Maka just knew she was listening in.
However, it was when Maka recounted how she had found herself in the "Red World" that Stein became most interested. He scrutinised over every single aspect, prying for more answers with specific, detailed questions. And when Maka mentioned their run-in with the Clown, something seemed to click inside the professor's mind.
"DIJINN... Do you still have it?" he drawled lazily, to which Maka nodded and hastily removed the necklace from around her neck. Stein's hand was held out expectantly, so she dropped the silver locket into his open palm without another word. She continued to watch in silence as Stein stared at the object he now held, giving the screw jutting out of his head a twist to match his thought pattern. His eyebrows knitted together, his teeth clenched tightly around an unlit cigarette and he just sat there, looking at it. Time seemed to draw out slowly. Maka fidgeted in her seat nervously, yet Stein paid her no attention. It was only after a good five minutes of total silence that the man finally spoke once more.
"I don't know much about DIJINN at all. What I do know is that it was a magic tool created by Eibon." He held his hand up, allowing the chain to dangle from his long fingers. In the breezeless air, the heavy locket swayed back and forth, catching the bright white lights of the room in its silver surface. "The first prototype for BREW."
At those words, Maka's thoughts instantly returned to the conversation she had had with Soul right before she had found herself here. Their own silly little hypothesis at the time may have been correct after all. The blood drained from her cheeks slowly, eyes widening just a bit.
"BREW?" Maka echoed the word with the smallest tremble in her voice. Already, she had a feeling she knew what Professor Franken Stein was about to say. Death, she already felt like she could explain how she ended up in the Red World.
Stein handed the necklace back to his student and nodded. Behind his glasses, his olive eyes were watching her clinically as she put it back over her head and let it dangle from her neck. When he spoke, his words sounded just as detached as his stare.
"Mmm… it's rumoured to grant wishes."
She must have been whiter than the walls which surrounded her at that moment. Maka could practically feel every single last drop of colour slowly draining out of her face, pooling itself in the pit of her stomach and rotting there like bile. The dread she felt was lead; heavy and toxic.
"Maka, what was the last thing you said before you found yourself here?"
Her head lowered in shame, gaze drifting off to the far corner of the floor beneath their feet. It all felt so stupid now, so ridiculous and immature. How could she have possibly known this would happen, though? Maka cleared her throat, her eyes still rooted on the floor.
"I wished Soul had never become a Death Scythe."
Her quiet words were met by silence. It was only the click and clunk of Stein's screw being twisted which added any life to the scene in that brief, fleeting moment. Maka could feel Marie's single caramel eye on her back, whilst Stein's darker ones were drilling into her head.
"I see..." Stein eventually spoke once more, clearing the frigid air with a dry sigh. A hand ran through his silver hair tiredly, and his eyes flickered between his partner and his student. When they finally did settle on Maka again, she found she was unable to read the emotion behind them. "Seeing as you died in our version of reality, you were unable to make your partner a Death Scythe. Soul is still an average weapon. It appears as though your wish came true."
"But it was a joke! I didn't mean it at all!" Maka protested instantly, her head snapping up so that her widened eyes could lock on her professor. Unlike Stein, she was much easier to read. Panic and guilt swirled around in her jade irises, and the frantic edge to her voice only strengthened that emotion. However, she calmed down slightly when Marie suddenly stepped forward and put a warm hand on the girl's shoulder, handing her a mug of freshly brewed tea. Maka accepted the drink with a murmured thanks and sipped it slowly, exhaling as the warmth ran down her throat and soothed the butterflies in her stomach. The demon hammer sent the child a warm smile and sat down beside her, her own cup in hand. Once both women had settled once more, Stein cleared his throat and continued.
"DIJINN remained a prototype for a reason, Maka. Rumour has it that Eibon created it by locking the soul of a genie inside. Problem is, genies are malicious things. They like to… mess around with people," From the confused look both Marie and Maka gave him, Stein could tell they weren't quite following what he was saying. His stoic expression remained intact when he drawled out, "The genie inside that little locket deliberately sent you here."
Marie's confusion shifted into a frown. Her amber eye narrowed ever so slightly when she glanced at the pendant that hung from Maka's neck. It all seemed very far-fetched to the Death Scythe. If truth be told, Maka herself was having trouble grasping what Stein was telling them. Unlike Maka, however, Marie was much more vocal about letting her puzzlement be known.
"You mean, a genie did all of this? Why?"
"It's possible. They are powerful beings and, from what I've read about them, they like to… deliberately cause problems for people. To put it lightly," The way his lips twitched upwards at the end made it almost seem as though Stein found something morbidly amusing about the situation. "I guess you could say that they're like Afreets with magic." Suddenly, his eyes snapped back over to Maka, and his frown deepened. "You would be wise, Maka, not to let that DIJINN out of your sight. Who knows what it could do in the wrong hands."
Maka couldn't help but gulp then, as her mind raced back to the Clown she and Soul had initially encountered. The Clown who stole DIJINN in the first place. That monster was probably going to use DIJINN to somehow bring back Asura, she suspected. In many ways, it was a blessing Maka had the magic tool now.
She was quickly pulled out of her thoughts when Stein cleared his throat once more, accompanied by the loud clunk of his screw being fiddled with again.
"Now, I have two theories about how you ended up here, if what you told me is to be believed. Either, the genie sent you to a parallel timeline of your own…"
"Like, an alternate dimension?" Marie interrupted, her own curiosity sparking in the very core of her soul. Stein frowned slightly at being cut off, but nodded at the woman before returning his eyes to Maka.
"Something like that. Only one which diverges from a certain point, and then runs alongside your own on a different course. So this dimension split off from the point when you fought Arachne in your timeline," he explained, pointing at the girl in question. "Only at the point of divergence, you either lived and made Soul a Death Scythe, or you were killed and failed to do so."
Maka nodded slowly, still baffled. All this talk of alternate dimensions and timelines sounded like the sort of thing she would read about in science fiction novels. She had never expected to actually come into contact with such a bizarre theory. The magic genie she could just about handle. She brushed shoulders with magic on a daily basis. But jumping between dimensions, or whatever this was? That seemed far-fetched, even for her. "I see… What's your other theory?"
Stein tilted his head to one side lazily, a permanent frown stuck on his face. "That," he began slowly, his monotone echoing throughout the room, "Or DIJINN actually did contain enough power to rewrite the past and change the world you know to the one you are currently in."
Both Marie and Maka gasped sharply at the same time, their backs going rigid and stiff at his hypothesis. That sounded even more mind-boggling than the other possibility. Maka's mouth dropped open, resembling a fish gasping on dry land, before she was able to splutter out a squeak of a question.
"What?"
"You mean, you think that Maka is still in the same world, but DIJINN changed everything so drastically?" Marie sounded just as stunned as the female meister. Even her hands wrapped around her tea cup seemed to tremble from the force of the implications of Stein's other hypothesis. "That locket had the power to kill Maka in the past, revive the Kishin, turn the sky red, destroy everything else, and then dump Maka back here?"
"Is that even possible?"
Stein shrugged in response. "I doubt it. But it is a theory."
Maka's face hardened, her courage swelling inside of her slightly. There was no way she was just going to sit dumbly and listen. Theories were fine, but they weren't going to change anything. She needed to do something. Actions needed to be taken.
Her eyes became steel suddenly, her voice strong. "What can I do, then? There must be some way to put everything right. Can't I just make another wish to fix this all?" The answer came in the form of Marie placing a hand once more on the pigtailed girl's shoulder, gazing straight into her eyes so cold, hard emerald met warm, soft amber.
"I don't think it's wise to start wishing around that thing again."
"Marie's right. Who knows what it might do." Were it possible, his gaze seemed to get even drier. "It could throw you into another dimension." Marie rolled her eye from her spot next to Maka, giving Stein a look, which he didn't acknowledge. "Besides," he continued, avoiding Marie's raised brow, "I already mentioned that genies are malicious. It won't exactly be helpful." Stein added as he stood up from his desk chair and towered over the two females. "No, there's only one thing you can do if you want to return to your timeline, or revert this one back to how it was if that's the case."
Maka frowned up at him slightly and kept her voice just as steady as it had been before.
"What's that?"
"You have to reverse your wish yourself." Stein replied instantly, as though it were obvious. He rolled his shoulders back and straightened his spine, shoving his hands deep into his lab-coat pockets. The next words which left him were so serious, however, Maka couldn't help but feel a shiver sliver between her vertebrae and get stuck there, even despite the fire in her gut. "It seems you need to make Soul a Death Scythe again."
