Chapter 2
An hour or so later, Maka and I found ourselves at a ruined temple in the middle of seemingly nowhere, courtesy of my motorcycle. We hopped off and stood at the bottom of a crumbling staircase. The sun was just beginning to set, hanging drowsily in the sky. "Remember what Lord Death said; this won't be easy," Maka said, reminding me of what we had been told earlier. "Yeah, yeah. I know, geez," I said, waving a hand dismissively. Maka pouted and a slight breeze passed through, making her pigtails sway gently. "What?" "At least sound like you care, Soul," she said, crossing her arms. "I'm sorry for not bouncing all over the place like BlackStar. Now are we gonna go kick some Kishin ass or what?" I extended my hand to her. She blushed lightly and took my hand. We then made our way up the stairs, carefully watching our surroundings.
As soon as we had climbed the last stair, we froze. A low, eerie moan came from the gaping entrance, followed by a piercing shriek. Maka tensed and squeezed my hand. "Ready Soul?" She had a serious look on her face. I smirked. "'Course I am," I replied, before transforming into a scythe. She ran inside the temple, holding me firmly in her hands. Once Maka made it across the threshold, a huge stone door closed us inside. "The hell?" I said in confusion. I hadn't even noticed the door until then.
All of a sudden, the temple was filled with the sound of crazed laughter. Another eerie moan followed, along with a dull thump. "Can you see anything," I asked. "No. But the Kishin is definitely ahead." "Be careful, Maka," I told her, genuinely concerned. I didn't want my meister to get hurt. "Don't worry, I will." More disturbed laughter erupted from ahead. This time, it sounded closer. "Come out you coward!" yelled Maka. "Oh lookie! A fresh face! What a nice change," blurted a mysterious voice. An uncontrollable fit of giggles followed moments later.
Maka got into a fighting stance, her body becoming even more tense. The tortured moan sounded again, way closer than before. I actually shuddered a little. "What the hell is up with all the creepy moaning?" "I wish I knew. It doesn't help that I can't see anything," Maka said. A loud cackle filled the air. "Oh! You wish to see what you're up against? Ahahaha! You hear that, Theo?! The girl wishes to see us!" Maka furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean by 'us?' I only see one soul!" She let out a sudden gasp of pain and went flying into the wall, hard. "Maka!" She groaned quietly and lifted herself up. "I'm fine." Just then, the room was bathed in some sort of dim light. Maka blinked, and gasped. I let out a surprised grunt.
Standing several feet in front of us was indeed the Kishin. It had pallid and loose, stretchy skin that made it look like it was melting. Gleaming spikes decorated its arms and legs. It had long, gnarled claws that curled menacingly and wore a tattered black loincloth. But what really made this kishin creepy was the fact that it had two heads.
One of the heads was crying seemingly infinite tears, with mouth wide open and its face contorted badly, like it had been suffering for an eternity. It had large, dull black eyes. The other head was grinning maniacally, showing off grimy, pointed yellow teeth. There was a long pink scar going down the left side of its face and its eyes were large and entirely purple. Both heads had matted black hair.
Maka grimaced. "Your evildoings are about to end, because your soul is mine!" The Kishin snickered. "Our soul belongs to no one. Right, Theo?" The crying face let out a groan, as if it were answering. "Hehehehe! Your soul will be our dinner! And your weapon there will be our dessert! It'll be fun to rip your pretty little face off and hang it on the wall!" I growled. "Be careful." "I will, geez. You're starting to sound like my father." I had to roll my eyes at that.
Almost as soon as the words left her lips, the Kishin lunged. Maka jumped out of its path, narrowly escaping its claws. "Ooh! Aren't you nimble? Ahahaha!" A random thought came to my head. This thing's laugh was way more annoying than BlackStar's. The crying face let out another moan. "Don't worry Theo. We'll get our dinner...to go!" The grinning face cackled loudly. "Shut up," Maka yelled, swinging me with all her might. The Kishin dodged the attack and sent Maka skidding across the floor. She quickly scrambled to her feet, breathing heavily. "Dammit," she said quietly, glaring at the monster. "Maka, are you alright?" "Soul, I'm fine," she replied with a tinge of irritation in her voice. She took off running toward the Kishin. "That's right girl! Come to us," it screeched, claws ready. Maka jumped high and slashed at the creature, managing to put a nice sized gash in its side. "Yeah, Maka," I yelled excitedly.
Both of the Kishin's faces let out an ear-splitting shriek and swatted at Maka, barely missing her. The crying face was no longer shedding tears. Instead, blood began to flow down its cheeks. On the other hand, the grinning face was now glaring at us. "You won't get away with this! Just look at what you've done to us! You die now!" The Kishin shot multiple spikes from its body in our direction. Maka managed to evade all of them but one, which just barely grazed her cheek. She hissed softly. "I'm getting tired of you," she shouted, dashing at the Kishin once more.
"Tired of us?! That can't be! We're having so much fun!" It laughed and a malicious grin crossed its face. When Maka got within range, the Kishin began slicing frantically at her with its claws. "Stand still so that we can chop you into little pieces! We've worked up quite an appetite trying to kill you two!" Maka swung her leg and kicked the Kishin in its smiling face. It grunted, then snarled. "Don't make us wait any longer," it growled, purple eyes flashing. It crouched, then sprung at Maka with surprising speed. Her eyes widened, caught off guard by the quick movement. The next thing I knew, she was pinned to the wall by the monster. And I had clattered across the floor out of her reach.
"Maka!" She grunted and squirmed as the Kishin's grip around her neck tightened. "Hahaha! We've got you now! Oh yes, you're going to be all ours! Mmm, we can practically taste your soul already!" It licked her cheek with a grimy tongue and giggled crazily. Maka shuddered Crap, crap, crap. This isn't cool at all, I thought as I transformed back to back my human form. The Kishin didn't notice. Neither did Maka; she had her eyes shut.
I clenched my teeth. "Oh, you're gonna get it," I growled quietly. I morphed my arm into a scythe and charged. The Kishin laughed loudly, still focused on Maka. "Your skin is so soft and sweet. It'll be fun ripping it from your bones!" It was about to lick her again when I jammed my scythe arm into its back. A shrill cry of pain burst from its throat before it whirled around to face me, releasing Maka in the process. She opened her eyes and met my gaze. "Soul!" I smirked. "Whaddaya say we finish this thing off, huh?" I reached out to her. She smiled as her emerald eyes flashed knowingly. She took my hand and squeezed it. I instantly changed back into a scythe. Both of the Kishin's heads screamed furiously. "Soul..." "Way ahead of you." Maka got in a stance. "Let's go, Soul Resonance," we yelled in unison. Immediately, our soul wavelengths began blending together until they practically became one. My blade grew into the shape of a crescent, glowing with power. Maka leapt at the Kishin. "Witch Hunter!" She slashed at the monster. "Our soul is meant for no one! NO ONE!!" It bellowed, before being cut in half and unraveling the way enemies normally do once they've been defeated. In its place was a lone glowing red soul.
I returned to my human form and grabbed it. Maka smiled and hugged me. "We did it, Soul." I blushed a little, having been taken by surprise. "Yeah, we did." She pulled away and watched as I ate the soul. "Ahh, that hit the spot," I said contentedly. Maka let out a giggle. She swayed slightly before suddenly losing her balance. "Maka!" I caught her in my arms before she fell. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open a bit. "Maka? Maka! Can you hear me?" She didn't respond. Her chest was gently rising and falling. What the hell is she doing sleeping, I thought. Then I noticed how pale she was and her swollen cheek. Crap! She's not sleeping! I stood up, holding her bridal style. The mysterious stone door slid open and I ran out of the temple. It was nighttime now and the moon sat high in the sky, grinning. I wasted no time running down the stairs. I had to get Maka back to the school. ASAP.