Wow. I really didn't think this story would be alerted so much. I'm a terrible author, because I don't update as often as I should. I have too many stories on my plate, though, and that's my problem. I'll update everyone's faves as soon as I can. Hope you like this confusing chapter, 'cause I've been working on it for a while in my mind.
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Chapter Three: Leader of the Pack
Liz picked at her perfectly round omelet, carefully separating the tomatoes and spinach from the fluffy golden egg. Patty had already finished her won breakfast, and the whole morning Kid had been busy making even more mounds of food. Speaking of Kid, he placed a platter of four plates of food in front of another group of hungry people who had been waiting in line.
"Order up!" he yelled into the cafeteria. A surge of pride spread through him as he watched his happy customers leave with their dishes.
He rolled up the long dark blue sleeves of his new clothes, and set to finish the next few orders. Behind him, Jerry smiled. He hadn't seen such a fiery determination for cooking since his own years at culinary school. At first, when he saw those three baby-faced kids approached the order window, he thought that they'd be a whole lot more extra work to feed, much like Allen when he first arrived.
However, Kid was earning his weight worth in gold with such a performance.
When he and his friends awoke from their first night staying at the Order, they all found a fresh change of clothes and a supply of toiletries. Of course, Liz and the other girls (especially Maka) found the girls' uniforms a bit embarrassing, but the boys enjoyed a change of style for once.
Even Soul surprisingly was up for it.
This morning the DWMA crew was all seated at the same table, minus one Maka and Soul, and had been enjoying their stay so far. Allen and Lenalee had knocked on their doors at a reasonable hour and guided them to the showers, and after a quick tour, ushered them on to the cafeteria. At that point, Maka had decided to break away from the group despite Soul's protests, and insisted they practice combat for a few minutes before they ate.
About ten minutes into their food, Maka and Soul joined them, looking flushed and sweaty.
"You two are late," said Black*Star. It was slightly muffled by the forkfuls of pancake he had been stuffing into his mouth, but he was understood nonetheless.
"Now, Black*Star, you know they had reasons," said Tsubaki. She smiled as she scolded him on his table manners, and resumed sipping her morning tea. Usually it was all she had in the mornings, and despite the change of scenery, she wasn't about to give up her routine.
Soul shrugged, digging into a fresh and steaming waffle that Kid had just handed him. Beside him Maka's face was slightly worried as she sipped on her orange juice and looked off into the distance. Her stomach had been churning since they left "practice" but fortunately for her no one noticed much.
Well, Lenalee did, but she wasn't about to pry. She, Allen, and a very reluctant Kanda decided to accompany them for breakfast, and so far it had been going well.
"So you guys," said Allen, "I hate to interrupt, but we've an announcement."
"Oh?" said Liz. Her blue eyes rolled over to stare at Allen lazily. "What's that? We like your place and all, but I want to go home."
"I'm afraid we haven't found out where exactly you guys are from," said Lenalee, "so I don't think that's possible right now."
"Figures," muttered Soul.
"A-as you were saying?" said Maka. She was giving them her full attention now, and the worry had disappeared from her face for only one brief second.
"Well," Allen glanced at Kanda before speaking any further, but since he wasn't going to talk… "We've had orders to tell you that you'll be accompanying us on a mission."
The company had mixed reviews. Black*Star had a combination of determination, condescension and pride fighting for dominance on his face. His fork was hanging out of his mouth by the handle, and he chewed the utensil in thought. Soul was more of a "meh" reaction; he didn't even look up from his food. Patty was the most excited than any other member of the group—she began bouncing in her seat. Tsubaki was just as calm as ever. Liz and Maka, however looked the most worried out of any of them, though Liz was probably imagining how scary Akuma really were in person.
"I'm sure you'll do fine!" said Lenalee, trying to reassure a trembling Liz.
"Of course!" added Allen. "From what you told me of the 'Kishin' you have to fight in your world, this should be no different."
"Other than the fact that we might disintegrate?" said Liz, shrieking now.
"I doubt that," said Allen. Despite the overall tense atmosphere, he was still as cheery as ever. "Hevlaska said you all had Innocence within you. So, you probably won't die from the virus."
"But there's still a chance we could die, right?" said Liz.
"There was ALWAYS a chance we could die sis!" said Patty, reminding her of their former job at the DWMA. "Don't you remember Anubis? Or the time we followed Kid when he said not to?"
Of course the other pistol couldn't forget those awful times. Patty knew that all too well, and giggles when she saw her sister's face turn blue at the recollections.
"Ohhhhhhh~" whined Liz. She banged her fist on the table and hid her face from everyone. As of late, she was disliking being 'special' more and more. Being a weapon, having Innocence, next thing you know she'd be the only one to pilot some empathic mecha that saved the world from monster-things. "I really don't want to go!"
"Everyone doesn't have to, actually," said Lenalee. "Kanda and I will be staying behind."
"It's just reconnaissance." Kanda looked up from his partially-eaten French toast. "So stop being baby about it. Bean sprout can protect you little puppies despite how short he is."
"Puppies?" said Maka, looking quite offended at what he just called her and her friends. She was about to pull out her trademark textbook, but Soul stopped her hand before she could reach for it.
"Just let it go, Maka, everyone's staring."
For once Soul was right. Everyone in the Order had already been eavesdropping on their conversation, due to the fact that they were new around here. But the second they heard any tension, it seemed all eyes would focus on them.
Still, that Kanda guy really was stomping on her nerves.
"Anyway," continued Lenalee, giving the snarky samurai a frown, "Allen and the rest of you will be going to Nevada. "
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~ Somewhere in a Plane~
"This is more like it!" shouted Black*Star. From the time the trip began, he'd been scarfing down bags of airplane peanuts and ordering soft drinks. Tsubaki had tried to stop his behavior, but he ignored her and continued on to be just as loud as he could possibly be.
"Dude, not cool," said Soul. For a moment he wished Kid and the others were here to shut up the ninja, but (much to Liz's relief) they were still at the Order. For unexplained reasons, Kid hadn't been able to drag himself away from the kitchen, and Jerry was taking a much-deserved break.
"Maka-chop!"
A book connected with Black*Star's head before anyone could say a thing more.
Soul looked to the now-unconscious Meister and gave Maka thumbs up.
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~Somewhere in America~
After quite a while, they arrived in a desolate, dry neighborhood. Most of it was rows and rows of cookie-cutter houses, and the whole place seemed to have a fine layer of sand coating the entire place. A wind blew past the five teenagers, and they had to squint from the dusty gust of air.
The whole complex was built on a large, sloping hill. They were standing on a plot of land near the top, and directly in front of them was a house.
It was larger than the others in the neighborhood, (though evidently the houses got larger the further they trekked upwards) and was built Victorian-style, with dark grey shutters and a large grassy yard. It seemed older than the other homes, but the lights were on, a sign that someone was living inside.
The kids had asked around the neighborhood, asking if anyone had seen anything out of the ordinary. There had been a couple of odd phenomenon happening around the place, and the Order had picked up the reports. Now all the group of newly recruited exorcists had to do was pinpoint the source from the locals.
After Soul had startled a couple of kids into peeing their pants and spilling the beans about the creepy house.
"Rumor has it, there's a real creepy family living here," said Soul, folding his arms.
At the mention of "creepy family", Allen tensed up.
"Something wrong, dude?" asked Black*Star. "You look kinda tense, Allen."
It could be nothing, thought Allen to himself. It probably isn't them.
"Allen?" Maka's voice cut through his gathering thoughts.
"What?" breathed Allen. A second ago he had been gloomy, but now…
"Is something wrong?" said Maka.
"No, no," Allen shook his head. "I was just thinking about, things."
"Well let's go!" said Black*Star. "We can't just stand here forever!" He began to sprint across the front lawn, and with one reckless jump, crashed through the large bay window on the façade of the house.
"Black*Starrrrr~!" shrieked Maka. She ran right after him, Soul on her heels. Maka jumped through the hole and kicked the boy in the head as soon as she arrived. "You idiot! What the hell do you think you're DOING?"
"Improvising," said Black*Star.
"Improv—," he raised her fist to punch him out.
"It was foolish and stupid," said Soul. "Not to mention uncool."
"Uh, guys?" said Allen. He pointed to their right. They were in the middle of a living room, surrounded by five people. One adult male, two teenage girls, and two teenage boys. All of them were white with shock.
"Who the hell are you guys?!" yelled one of the girls, who stomped right over to where the group was. Her jade eyes were furious with a capital "F", as in "you guys are f**king dead". She looked strangely like Maka, and wore a black t-shirt, skinny jeans, and combat boots. Her hair was loose, and in her hands was a thick textbook.
After a moment, though, the other girl, a dark, slightly shorter copy of the other, donned a brooding look. It was literally only a second before she rushed over to Soul, grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall.
"What is going on here?!" said Maka and the lookalike at the same time.
"Who are you?" demanded the girl from Soul.
"My –gasp- name's Soul," he managed to say.
"DO NOT LIE TO ME!" Her grip tightened, and Soul started to see little flashes of light before his eyes. What he wondered most was why no one wasn't doing anything.
"Let him go, Ane!" said one of the boys. He looked to be the youngest, and had a head of fluffy ginger hair. "It's not him! I can see that!"
The girl released Soul, and he crumpled to the ground, hyperventilating. Maka picked her partner up from the ground, and gave the girl her most terrifying glare. But she didn't notice Maka's stare because her face was facing the ground, and her fists were clenched tightly. Her body was trembling slightly, and the Maka doppelganger came to comfort her.
"It's alright, calm down," she said, bringing the younger girl close to her. The clone pat her ebony hair and made shushing sounds as the girl shook against her. "I saw them coming, but not like this."
It was quite confusing what had just happened, and no one dared to speak for quite some time.
"Excuse me," said the only adult in the room.
All the teens' head swiveled in his direction, and he froze from all their stares. So many people were looking at him and paying attention. This was a first.
"Well," he said, pulling back his blood red bangs away from his face awkwardly. "I wonder if this has anything to do with my cousin, does it?"
"Who would that be?" said Allen, suddenly realizing the resemblance.
"I'm sure you would know if I told you my name," he said, pointing to himself. He walked over to Allen and held out his hand to shake. "My name is Spirit Cross, nice to finally meet you, Allen."
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Yes, I know I pulled a whole bunch of things out of the blue. Everything will make sense, in time.
