MAJOR EDITS APPLIED!
- Anya.
Chapter 2 – Ivy
"Nygus, how is her condition?" Maka asked in the dispensary the next day.
"Well, her pulse is a little unstable and her body is fatigued from lack of sleep and water, but apart from that, everything seems to be normal," she replied.
"Nothing . . . out of the ordinary?"
"We'll find out more when she's conscious."
"What about her blood?"
"I'm not able to check her blood pressure when she's asleep, Maka."
That wasn't what she wanted to know, but she dismissed it. "I see."
"I'll send Professor Stein for details on her condition," she said, softer this time. Maka smiled aprreciatively.
"Say, Maka, what did you say her name was?"
"Uh, I'm not sure. I think she said it was Ivy."
"Ivy, hm." Nygus jotted that down on the clipboard. "So what exactly happened yesterday? Did the mission end well?"
"Uhm, to be honest," Maka said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "We neither lost nor won."
"Hm?"
She then began to explain last night's happenings. Nygus took a seat on the swivel chair, crossed a leg over the other, and listened intently.
"Sounds very hectic out there," she remarked when Maka was done.
"You can say that again," Maka said and turned to am insentient Ivy. Her face was sickly pale to the point of yellowish green, making the contusion stand out more. She was also dressed in a cleaner hospital robe, provided by Nygus. "When do you think she'll wake?"
"At the very least, later this evening or tomorrow," Nygus said. "I will let you know as soon as that happens. You should get to class now."
"Right." Maka stood up to leave and waved. "Thanks, Nygus."
As soon as she was walking the hallways on her own, thoughts from the previous night, ones she had tried so hard to set aside when she slept at night, came flooding back to her mind. She couldn't make any heads or tails of anything. Nothing made sense and none of the pieces fit.
Ivy . . . Just what exactly are you made of? Are you human? Are you a freak of nature? Is your blood black . . . or red? No, I distinctly saw it was red. But it was dried. Or was it? It was red! But it could be black. How else was she able to create those weapons straight of her flesh? A science experiment gone fatally wrong?
Wrong? If anything, that experiment was an accidental success, even if it was for a horribly wrong reason, whatever it was.
Experiment? Ivy said something about an experiment, and so did Jose and Sidney. Was she an experiment? Some kind of helpless lab rat? Was she dissected and had those blades stored between her organs? Sheesh, I sound so much like Professor Stein. And not to mention that sounds really gross and impossible. I really can't imagine anyone dissecting people other than Stein.
Medusa.
If there was anyone capable of fabricating this preposterous scheme and stooping this low to disarrange the human race, she would be first on our list. But she's dead. And Crona is with us. Does that mean . . . she has another unidentified successor?
But who?
"Oof!" Maka bumped into someone going in the opposite direction.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Maka. I wasn't looking," a soft, kind voice said.
"Tsubaki," Maka exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"BlackStar's gone missing again," Tsubaki said with a sheepish smile. "And Professor Stein is out of the class, so I took the chance."
Maka folded her arms across her chest and grinned form ear-to-ear. "Rebelling, are we, Tsubaki?"
Tsubaki chuckled, a playful hangdog appearance written all over her face in red. "I-I can't find him anywhere."
Still smiling, Maka put a finger to her chin and thought of the places BlackStar could be. "Have you checked Shibusen's front yard?"
"I was heading there before I bumped into you," Tsubaki replied. All of a sudden, there came a crash and an ear-splitting shout.
"YAAAARRGGGHHH!"
"Speak of the devil," Maka mumbled. "Let's go, Tsubaki!"
"Right."
They dashed towards the school's front courtyard and found a blue, towering tattooed figure, Sid, staring straight ahead at an unfolding, brazen brawl, his expression unreadable. Maka immediately caught glimpse of spiky blue hair and flailing fists that didn't belong to Black Star amongst the clash.
Who's he fighting this time?
No sooner than three seconds later, she got her answer.
A boy with dark hair and signature three, white streaks on the side of his head emerged from the dust, clutching two handguns upside down.
"Kid?" Tsubaki exclaimed.
"Good duel, wasn't it?" he said, much to Tsubaki's confusion.
But he wasn't talking to her, but a beaming BlackStar.
"Good? Next time we do this, I'll finish you off for sure!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"I'd love to see you try, BlackStar. I'll be looking forward to our next duel," Kid smirked and dashed away, presumably to class.
"Eventful day, wouldn't you say, Maka?" Sid said, ignoring Kid. Maka, slightly taken aback, nodded feverishly.
"It's only morning, though," she added.
"Sid!" a female voice called from above. It was Nygus; she was calling from the dispensary window. "Could you come up here? There's something I want to talk to you about."
"In a minute!" Sid shouted and turned to face Maka, who looked at him expectantly. "I trust you can handle these troublemakers?"
"I, uh, you can count on me?" she said, unassertive, but Sid had took off for the stairways.
What does Nygus want with Sid? Don't tell me she's going to tell him all about Ivy! What if she knows something, but isn't willing to tell me? Why so secretive? It's not like I'm going to blabber it to everyone at Shibusen!
A clap on her back made Maka jump. "What're ya muttering about?" BlackStar said brusquely.
"N-Nothing," she stuttered, still quite startled. Did she really say her words aloud? I hope BlackStar doesn't question me.
He didn't; he simply shrugged and walked away. "You know you can tell me anything, right, Maka?" he called over his shoulder.
"Ah, yeah."
Only she wasn't sure how to put it into the right words.
Later on in class, while Stein was yet again preaching the students on dissecting another innocent creature, Maka couldn't concentrate at all. Her thoughts kept lingering away to Ivy. How was her condition? What was in her blood? Was it black or red? And whenever Soul tried to reach out for her, she would always dismiss him with a despondent grunt.
The whole day passed by in a transitional blur, moving form one dull, boring class to another. The whole day, Maka couldn't take her mind off Ivy. She couldn't stop wondering of what she was or what she might be or what else she capable of. She didn't want to be pestered with these thoughts, but she could hardly help it. Her burning curiosity was overwhelming. She had to find out what Ivy was.
Then, finally . . .
"Oi, Maka," Soul said, snapping her out of reverie. "School is over. Do you want to head home?"
"No," she immediately replied, stood up and grabbed her books. "I-I mean, there's something I need to check up on first."
"Sure, cool. I'll just prepare the curry then. See you later." Soul gave a flick of his hand as a wave and sauntered out, leaving Maka alone with her thoughts.
Maka rushed straight to the dispensary and as soon as she opened the door, Professor Stein was talking to Ivy, who was now conscious but still looked dead tired. Her shoulders are slumped forward, as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her back and dark bags cradled her dull blue eyes which seem to sink into her skull.
"Ah, Maka," Stein said when he heard her approach. "Just the person I wanted to see."
Maka approached Professor Stein cautiously, her eyes flickering over to him to Ivy, who paid no attention to her—Maka saw her eyes were a deep indigo and empty—, to a waiting Nygus, then back to Stein. "Yes?"
"Ivy," Stein said, waving a hand in front of the blank, pallid girl to get her attention. "This here is Maka. She rescued you last night, along with her partner, Soul. You remember her, yes?"
Ivy looked up slowly. "Yeah."
The ardent girl she witnessed yesterday was gone, and was replaced by a drone. Maka was extremely astonished by this.
"Nygus told me what you told her, Maka," Professor Stein said. "And I think she might've been undergoing extreme experimental procedures."
Maka nodded. "So, uh, how's she doing?"
"She seems to be doing fine, other than her ridiculously large bruise. She's malnourished and dehydrated, but feed her lots, and she'll be back in shape in no time. Also, Nygus told me you were concerned about her blood."
Maka's eyes lit up. "Yes." She lowered her voice and ushered him to a secluded corner of the dispensary. "Yesterday, while Soul and I were fighting off Ivy's attackers, she started pelleting them with various blades, all of them made out of her own blood! There was one time her skin ripped apart on its own and this little contraption appeared out of her flesh, like she did it with her own mind! Mind control, or something like that—"
"And you began to wonder if black blood had infiltrated her body."
Maka stopped short. "Y-Yes."
"I performed a blood test on her earlier," Professor Stein explained. "Her blood is evidently red but an extensive range of chemicals have been . . . injected into her bloodstream. It will take some time for me to identify each and every single one of them because so many of them have already mixed with her red blood cells. I don't know what those chemicals contain, but I can tell you fore sure they are not certified. It seemed like the two doctors you encountered yesterday made these substances all on their own, for their own purposes."
It was a lengthy explanation, but Maka understood every word. "So, what do you propose we do?"
"I propose you take her home to your apartment for the time being. Make her feel at home. She's very confused and disoriented. She has no idea where she is or what she's doing here. Which reminds me—" Professor Stein lowered his voice. "She seems to be suffering acute memory loss."
"What?!"
"Is it really that much of a shocking news, Maka? This girl has been experimented on for who knows how many years, administered with various chemicals and potions and whatnot all her life. It's only natural her memory gets scrambled in the process, and maybe some of her internal organs, too."
"Oh God . . ." Maka suddenly felt weak in the knees.
"But don't worry, Maka. If she questions nothing about the past, then don't bring it up in front of her. Save us the trouble for now. We'll deal with that as soon as we figure out what's been slipped inside her, okay?"
"But, Professor, what about the others? BlackStar? Kid? Tsubaki? Liz and Patti? How will I explain her to them? Surely, they'll ask lots of quest—"
"Then answer them, but answer them minimally. We don't want too much unwanted, unknown information spilling out. Tell them the entire story when Ivy is out of earshot, also as nominal as possible. It's also best to bring her home now, too.
"Look at Ivy now. She's been going in and out of consciousness for the past half hour. The procaine we gave her will wear off in a few hours, but even then, she won't bother listening to a word any of us are saying. I tried talking to her before I injected the procaine, but it was as if her mind is visiting some distant planet. See how Nygus is trying to entertain her so that she stays awake until she can get home? That's how much focus she has left inside her."
"I see," Maka said, even though she doesn't quite see Stein's point. "Is that all, Professor?"
"Don't do or say anything that would provoke her; hopefully you'll find out what they are intime. Psychologically, her emotions are unstable and her heart is fragile. Anything too wild or rambunctious would accelerate and harden her blood flow and would awaken the weapon stream. She could do some serious damage to Shibusen students. And I don't think people are going to be too pleased with her presence. They might find her suspicious. I think for the time being, her biggest enemy is BlackStar, if not the scientists, because you know how he feels about attention."
Professor Stein pushed up his glasses. "Yes, that should do for now. I'll let you know as soon as I find a breakthrough." They returned to the bed where Nygus is intensely poking and prodding Ivy's cheeks.
"Getting a little desperate, Nygus?" Professor Stein said with a small smile. Nygus jumped up in surprise.
"About time," she groaned. "Not that I have anything against Ivy. Oh well. Maka, she's all yours. You better get going soon; the sky is darkening."
"Oh, and Maka," Professor Stein added. "I suggest you lend her some of your clothes. She can't go around town in a hospital gown forever."
"Right, of course. Leave it to me. Thank you. Come on, Ivy."
Ivy stood up, her thin legs barely supporting her as they walked out of the dispensary and out to the empty streets of Death City, but she had refused Maka's help when she offered a shoulder.
It was a quiet journey home. Maka gripped the hem of her shirt and smoothed down her skirt and twiddled her fingers as she racked her brains for a good conversation starter. Every time she came up with a good one, she would then promptly be reminded of Ivy's lack of memory and had to think hard for another one.
And the cycle repeated itself for three-fourths of the trip, until Ivy finally spoke up, her voice clearer now, but still evidently sleepy.
"Where are we going?"
"My apartment," Maka said. "Just up the street."
"Oh."
Then it was back to silence.
Maka sighed internally. She wished the situation wasn't so awkward. She began to daydream about how it would be like if she and Ivy were best friends; sharing secrets, hushed conversations about boys and making fun of them, swap their favorite books and read them together over the weekends, cry over mind-tripping plot twists, have study dates in Deathbucks Café, look back on inside jokes . . .
It could be fun, Maka thought, starry eyed.
And before she knew it, they had arrived at the front door of Room 506.
"Here we are," Maka said. "This is your new home."
"Oh. Will I live here alone?"
"Uh, no. You'll be staying with Soul and me. You remember him?"
"I . . . guess."
Memory loss, Maka. Dammit!
"Don't worry. I'm sure you two will get along just fine," Maka said, smiling, and twisted the doorknob.
It was empty and all the lights are switched off; Soul must've gone to bed already. That was early of him.
"So, um, here's my room," Maka said, pushing open the door. "You can sleep here for the night, or for the rest of the nights, until we find a room for you."
Ivy nodded and slinked inside without a word. She was already dead on her feet and Maka shut the door gently. It was the couch for her tonight.
The door opened just a crack. "Maka?"
"Yeah?"
"Is my name really Ivy?"
Maka was a little perplexed, but said, "Yes. You told me yesterday."
"I did?"
Does this have anything to do with her acute memory loss? Can she really forget her own name? Or even not remember giving anyone her name?
"Oh," she said absentmindedly. "I was sure my name was something else." Then she shut the door, leaving Maka with very confused thoughts.