First and foremost: serious warnings for blood, death, gore, minor flashbacks, and general trauma ahead. The title of the fic should cue you in that this is going to be darker than most TAU fics I've seen and very heavily in the teen rating, and this chapter is by far the worst of those I've planed out and likely the worst I will write. If you're squeamish, feel free to skip to the next chapter, I'll leave a quick recap there. If you have triggers regarding mental trauma or PTSD, you may want to consider not reading this fic. I've been doing some research and hoping to explore the themes here, so anyone feel free to send my notes or corrections if I'm doing something wrong.
On a brighter note, I'm so happy to see people enjoyed chapter one! We're going to get a good heaping of angst directly continuing with the action of last chapter and slowly starting the transition to the real heart of the fic!
To repeat: Trigger warnings for blood, gore, and trauma this chapter, including minor flashbacks.
Maka felt like she was reliving a nightmare.
In fact, she couldn't help but wonder whether she was awake or asleep as she stood frozen in the midst of the sullied altar as Alcor faced down the community that had raised her.
The room was dark, with a thick black and gold smoke that seemed to be both there and not, and strangely enough almost reminded Maka of the auras her Sight picked out in dreams. The candles all sat in their respective places flickering ominously, even the ones whose flames had gone out seemed to find some way to dance in place, as if they themselves were flickering out of existence, or as if there was something else playing across the wicks. The chalk of the botched Offering reflected their dim light, making the sigil seem to glow in Maka's mind, and every time her eyes danced away she could swear that the entire circle, not just the star that now crowned the center was red with blood.
But what was most hypnotizing of all were the wings that seemed to stretch out of the foreign demon- Alcor- into infinity as they melded perfectly with the haze, silver and gold stars suddenly bedazzling the appendages that seemed to twist impossibly backwards as if to cradle her. Somewhere deep within her mind, deep within her soul, the pinpricks of light themselves seemed to whisper a haunting lullaby, calling her to sleep or distraction like counting sheep while their owner finished what needed to be done.
The very thought startled Maka back into reality. Yes, it was all too easy to merely imagine she was dreaming.
With the spell broken the echoing whispers were instantly overpowered by piercing shrieks and bloodcurdling cries of familiar lives being torn away. Maka slammed her palms over her ears hard enough to make her head spin and her legs go out as she thought she recognized a cousin's voice, the soul sacrifice quickly falling to meet the polished floor and white chalk that had moments earlier reflected imagined blood.
Except this time the altar beneath her was the clean part. And everywhere else was soaked in the liquid.
As soon as Maka's knees hit the ground with a shock that jolted her head up, she found that her eyes couldn't tear themselves away from the sight of the temple beyond her stage. Alcor's wings (or what must be a spelled shade of them, seeing as the demon himself seemed to be detached from his limbs) still hovered in the air in front of where her head had been at, mysterious stars still twinkling in their increasingly forceful efforts to distract the soul they recognized as one of their own, to shepherd her to the Mindscape where she would be safe. Yet underneath the veil was an equally enrapturing, infinitely more gruesome sight.
Alcor the demon hovered in his monstrous glory before the quivering forms of the Community, turning to each member of Maka's family one-by-one as he tore them all to bits. There was no rhyme or reason to his madness, ripping his claws through Aunt Beth before turning to bite the head off of Cousin Susan and then merely snapping as Uncle Neil exploded into dust. Maka slammed her eyes shut to try to block out the world that had suddenly fallen apart around her and beat her fists into the ground.
Why was this happening? What did I do wrongWhyIsHeAfterME?
Even their agony was defiled by the demon, whose own cries of malicious glee rose above the suffering of those undeserving of his laugh. The playful sounds of almost childish wonder Alcor let out as he fiddled with one of the children's guts etched itself into Maka's mind and made her try to scrunch her eyes even further in a vain attempt to make it all go away. Yet each time concern overruled self-defense from the senses, and Maka found the dark backs of her eyelids as much abandonment of her people and standing under Alcor's spell.
As the demon turned to face her mother Maka tried to gather up the strength to run forward, only to sag as the dread so much like a nightmare running through her mind told her that not even such a simple action could be performed. Letting her head fall onto the altar floor Maka kneeled as her eyes darted about, adrenaline pumping them to try to find something she could do, a weapon she could fight with to stop the demon before he took away any more of the too little she still had left.
Her gaze settled on the center symbol of the seal itself, blemished by the drop of her blood that somehow landed perfectly forming the cradled star she recognized from Alcor's tailcoat. With a rush of determination the priestess-in-training smeared the blood away and clasped her hands together in a final attempt at prayer.
"Kellior! Kellior! Please hear my cry, your loyal people need you! Answer my call please!-" Maka felt her voice break, emotions filled to the brim and desperate to spill despite the adrenaline hammering through her veins to keep them in check. Out of the corner of her eye she detachedly noticed Alcor freeze before she closed further in on herself in the hopes that she could finally complete the summoning like she was supposed to and make this stop.
"Kellior, help me."
She could hear the swoosh of Alcor's hand striking the air and the sickening crack that sounded as all the screams were silenced, a dull thud of the remaining bodies the demon had shoved away falling to the floor the only noise before the temple was hauntingly empty besides the recurring choruses of Maka's pleas. In another beat of wind the demon was before her in all his bloody glory, his hand reaching out to her to smoother her and silence her before she could finally call upon her Guardian and-
A single finger settled a hairs' breadth from her lips, not touching her but silencing Maka all the same.
"Shh. It's okay, Mizar. You're safe now."
At the gentle sound an instinct deep inside Maka unscrewed her eyes, staring into the face of the demon before her. Gone was any trace of the monster who had been wreaking havoc moments ago, and now all that remained was a caring expression that almost looked human, almost looked like-
Maka twisted her gaze to try to look around the creature, to try to remind herself of the carnage and the chaos and the life he had taken away, but the golden eyes shining with concern were as dangerously hypnotizing as the stars earlier, and Maka could feel her soul inside her calm and her heartbeat faded to a normal rhythm.
Taking in the no longer panicking girl, Alcor let a soft smile paint his features. She's Mizar. Deep down, she knows.
The expression was just enough to shake Maka out of the enchantment.
Before she knew it Maka's instincts ran away with the second extremely brash and stupid move that day. I am so going to get killed for this, was the only semi-coherent thought that ran through her brain as her left fist shot out and hooked Alcor right in the face.
"Get the Hell away from me you Buttface!"
Alcor's gaze was torn to the side as his head recoiled from the unexpected blow. He blinked towards the hastily retreating Mizar as he cradled his right cheek with his hand, already feeling the heat as it formed a golden bruise. So they really could teach Mizar to join a demon-worshipping cult before getting her to properly swear, a part of his mind whispered. She truly was his sister's soul.
He took a step (or hover) towards Mizar as she backed up even faster, her arms shifting as they tried to find a defensive stance that could give even the illusion of keeping him back. Alcor raised his hands and let his wings unfurl slowly, trying to show Mizar that he had no desire to hurt her, that he did all this to protect her, but the girl, he still didn't know her name, only shook her head and seemed unwilling to listen to even the bits of calming magic he tried to settle on her mind.
It was too late that the demon realized, omniscience distracted by the tension of the situation, that Mizar was steadily approaching the edge of the circle, one of the three corners still dotted by a burning white candle, and with typical Mabel clumsiness she slammed into one of the posts, spilling the candle onto her and setting off a domino effect that would soon enough, Alcor's omniscience helpfully supplied a little too late, set the entire temple ablaze.
Yet despite her screams, Maka's eyes shifted to Alcor as soon as he darted even the slightest bit closer, rolling away in an attempt to both escape the demon and smother the flames catching on her white dress (which was quickly becoming stained with blood the second her side landed on the main temple floor) her eyes screaming out another desperate plea for him to stay away, one that suddenly reminded Alcor of the twelve Mizars before her.
As the light faded from her eyes into unconsciousness, Alcor could just make out the faint sound of sirens approaching, likely brought by the government after all the power the demon had just unleashed.
She would make it, omniscience supplied. Fairly unscathed, too. His vision flickered into the future of her sitting in a hospital, being cared for, being asked questions, but generally being allowed to rest. With a shock he recoiled as he saw with his own Sight the young Mizar being introduced to the world she had missed, things that he would only be delaying her from if he coddled her up in the Mindscape while waiting for her physical and mental scars to heal.
The part that was Dipper slowly started to re-emerge as the demon floated back and took the entirety of the temple in, shame and horror quickly overpowering everything else as the tiny hold he had on humanity realized what he had just done, what he had just done to Mabel, and suddenly there wasn't anything Dipper could rationalize that would make him disagree that it was better for now to respect Mizar's wishes and stay away.
For now. Surely his loneliness would drive him back later. To heal her. To actually protect her. To maybe earn her forgiveness.
If only Dipper could fully remember how humans went about doing things like that.
The story instantly made the national news.
Deep in undeveloped parts of the Sonoran Desert authorities discovered the remains of what was obviously an active demonic cult. Evidence of regular human sacrifice, mainly children, was found during further investigations. The most disturbing report however, remains the initial breaking headline: over 500 cult members were found slaughtered upon authorities' arrival in what appears to be a botched summoning ritual. Only one person, a teenage girl, was found alive on the scene, and is in emergency care due to what sources say are non-life-threatening injuries.
Rumors are already flying about what could've caused the alert, or the deaths, as anonymous sources have stated that police were only tipped off about the site after a larger spike in demonic energy than has been report in over 700 years, with the exception of the later confirmed falsified readings found in Buoyancy Floats back in the 20s. Some say the burst was due to the large number of cultists, more than have been reported as attending a summoning in over 2000 years, and the largest known residential cult in recorded history. Others have been spreading more unlikely rumors, such as those suggesting that Alcor the Dreambender, the post-Transcendence demon typically regarded as the strongest demonic spirit, was behind the attack. Officials and academics seem skeptical given that the Dreambender hasn't had a confirmed sighting or summoning in over three centuries. Most demonologists still question Alcor's continued existence, as many suspect he has either faded away or transcended to another form of existence as his power dissipated without a summons.
Local and federal investigators are unsure of what more may be uncovered, but have warned families of missing persons in the area to be prepared for further news following future investigations.
First the country, and then quickly the world tuned in at the story that was quickly making the demonology history books. Articles were quickly published in all the demonology journals, more speculation than fact at this point, but still enough to earn the science more attention than it had in decades. Any type of analysis or explanation was being eaten up by anyone from experts to governments to Ariel Simons, lone rock star subscriber of Sigils Monthly, who scrunched up her face and stared at the paper for a minute after finishing the latest graduate student publication interpreting the charred remains of the lone summoning circle found.
And as the story evolved from the quickly-going-cold investigations to the rehabilitation of that one sole survivor, whose name was protected for privacy and security reasons but whose age and situation had already been made known, the public continued its outcry for information and justice, even if almost all the involved parties had already deceased.
Luckily, the media couldn't help but play the sixteen-year-old orphaned teen who had been raised into a deadly cult as anything but a victim, and the question of the fate of the Sonoran girl, the unconscious black-haired child shown in one leaked photograph from the scene, quickly set the stage for one of the closest examinations of the foster care system this century.
Child Services had already received a mountain of paperwork and phone calls investigating potential adoption the morning after that headline broke.
Maka opened her eyes to a sea of white and what sounded like a chainsaw going off near her ear.
She immediately startled at the flood of light and noise, snapping alert with a flinch as she tried to move her head to see the room around her to the side. Plain white ceilings weren't unusual, but this painful shade, combined with the strange sounds and smells of antiseptic and burning flooding her nose and suddenly the dam broke and there was dark and cries and things that were nothing like what just happened where am I what's happening?
Swinging her head to her side did nothing, as the movement only made the girl aware of a foam brace keeping her neck in place.
In reaction to the movement a head suddenly leaned over Maka, obstructing the view of the white ceiling and startling the teen out of her thoughts. The woman was in her mid-thirties and was a face Maka had never seen before, which was strange. She had known everyone in the Community, and they knew her. The last new face she'd seen must've been-
Alcor. And with that came the detached realization that everyone was gone. Mostly everyone, perhaps there was still hope that someone was ali-
"Can you hear me?!" The woman was almost shouting, and belatedly Maka realized she must've been talking at a normal volume this whole time and was getting concerned by the lack of response, if the worried expression on her face meant anything.
Just seeing the teen's eyes focus on her was enough to get the woman to calm down. The nurse, Maka's brain supplied as it put together her condition with the sterilized surroundings. It could just be that everything Outside was like this, but somehow the teen knew that this being a hospital was much more likely.
"Good. I was worried there for a minute. The EMTs found no signs pointing towards brain or ear damage, but even with scans you can never really tell until the patient wakes up. I'm Monique, I'll be your primary nurse while we take care of you. What's your name?"
"Maka."
"Last name?"
"What?" Maka blinked. Monique's expression echoed the confusion for a second, before flashing with concern, before a stony façade rose up and the woman's face appeared just as caring as before the exchange happened.
"Well Maka, I can tell you that there are certainly quite a number of people out there interested in talking to you now that you're awake, but just hold still for a bit while I finish up here." The chainsaw-like sound started up again, and Maka felt that panic return for an entirely different reason when she saw the device in Monique's hand.
"What are you doing?!" The last work came out with an undignified squeak, but Monique ignored it as she brought the razor up to Maka's scalp and shaved away another lock of thick black hair.
Monique stood up and moved over to the other side of the hospital bed as she spoke. "You came in with some pretty serious burns on the right side of your scalp. Nothing that should cause permanent damage after treatment, but we had to shave away the hair there to debride the wound. We were nervous about starting surgery without your consent, but given the situation DCF was eventually able to give permission to proceed..." Sitting over in another chair pulled up on the other side of the room Monique pushed herself to Maka's bedside. "Now, I'm just evening it out so you don't have an awkward bald spot where the wound is. Just have to finish up with the other side-"
Memories of Mother sitting next to her and brushing the thick back-length locks flashed through Maka's mind. All the older women had loved how heavy it was, how even it stayed in the desert heat when straightened and its pliability under a lovingly applied curler. The memories still felt hollow, but far precious now than they had ever been before. Maka couldn't help but wonder when the full pain would finally hit.
"Leave it."
Maka's hand darted up, slower than it should be, with a numb prick alerting her to an IV needle sticking out of her arm. Maka recognized it from when she had volunteered with the nurses in the hospital tent for a few weeks, Mother and Papa trying to figure out where she would be most helpful before the dreams and the Sight came and Papa took her under his wing.
Monique's figure in the corner of Maka's eye took a slight tangerine tint before shifting to a thin blue. Maka wanted to rub her eyes before she remembered the needle in her arm, and could only blink a few times to clear her sight before staring at the nurse's form. This couldn't possibly be a dream, but the Sight was there-? But maybe this was a dream, maybe she fell into an illusion or something that Alcor made, maybe tomorrow would be the Offering or maybe she'd wake up and open her eyes in the temple watching all over again as everyone was mowed down by that unstoppable malice and rage and-
"Hey! Calm down. Maka, you're okay." Seeing the teen's gaze snap to hers, Monique exhaled a deep breath to prompt the girl to calm. "Whatever happened to you is done now, you're safe now. Just breathe."
The two sat there for a minute in silence, Monique just checking on Maka and Maka staring at the barely visible traces of aura until the nurse suddenly rose. "Well, given that there's no medical reason we need to fix things aesthetically so my job's done here for now. I'll be back to check on you soon, though I can't guarantee the authorities waiting outside will be as patient knowing you're awake." A grimace crossed her features, and Monique shook her head as she grabbed her clipboard.
"I'll be telling anyone who asks that you're fading in and out of consciousness. It should give you some quiet time if you need it, but given how exhausted you look I recommend that you actually do try to sleep. There's a blue call button right next to your headboard if you need anything." Monique nodded her head towards said button before walking over and unclipping and removing the foam neck brace, "Don't need that anymore. Your head may feel a bit lopsided but again, it's just the hair. Let me know if you need anything at all, and I mean anything." The nurse sent Maka one last kind look before exiting the room, the door swinging opening to the distant buzz of a busy hospital.
Maka closed her eyes and let out a sigh as the door clicked closed again, trying fruitlessly to catch her muddled thoughts. The teen was just about to fade off to sleep with a pop sounded above her and she felt the phantom pressure of something hovering overhead. Opening her eyes, Maka found herself face-to-face with a wide pointy grin and two inhumanly golden sclera.
A gloved hand landed on her mouth before she could scream.
Alcor's hand caught Maka's wrist as it shot out towards the call button on her bedside, his face somehow perfectly balancing a playful grin and a deep hurt at he leaned down closer from where he was suspended in the air above her bed.
"What's wrong, Mizar? Aren't you happy to see me?"
