Well, as much as I'd love to be a hero (Yeah, absolutely no sarcasm there… what? Don't look at me like that), I still don't like spandex. So when I turned away and saw that Maka had yet again disappeared (hehe, I bet that was anticlimactic), I immediately walked away nicely. Not.
"Fuck," I snarled under my breath, taking pursuit. A dark figure disappeared around the corner, and I sprinted across the grass (with a very nice little woosh of air rushing behind me, might I add) in chase. It took me only five seconds to catch up with Ragnarok, who for all his strength was pretty slow, and the following moment to see Maka glaring at me furiously. Well, I thought with a grin, if she hated the fact that I had gone after her (and hell, did I just break my promise of never seeing her again? Crap), then she would absolutely loathe this.
It took thirteen seconds.
0:01. He dropped her on the ground.
0:02. I growled something inaudible (but very interesting) and rushed to attack him
0:04. I ducked as something rushed over my head. With a little satisfied smirk from me and a dark snarl from him, we punched each other at the same time. I think I was hurt more than he was, because he didn't even stagger whereas I did. It sucked.
0:07. I dodged his hits as I saw them. Missed something. He backhanded me in the gut.
0:11. Maka screamed at me. I think I laughed.
0:13. Ragnarok immediately backed away from me. What? I blinked, felt something under my mouth, and turned away from Maka. I wiped it away and hurriedly cleaned my hand with… dirt. Better than nothing.
When I turned around, he was gone. There was just Maka, me, and… awkward.
"How dare you?!" Maka screeched in a very… surprisingly, Maka-ish way. Who knew she could screech like that?
"Yeah," I sighed. She blinked. "I can't believe I didn't kill the guy," I continued. "Should have given him a good blow at least, but damn…" I flexed my jaw. "He hits like you wouldn't believe."
"You jerk!" Maka seethed. I flinched. Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes… "MAKA CHOP!"
I knew it. I so knew it.
"Why am I getting it for saving you?" I groaned. "I mean, I saved your life and got away with only a few bruises. That's a pretty damn good deal."
"Listen up, pretty boy," She growled. (It was hilarious, actually.) "I already told you! Your life is worth more than mine!" My grin dropped. I glared at her.
"No," I hissed dangerously. "You listen up. Don't ever assume that my life is worth more than yours, because one day, that stupid, fucking little naïve mind of yours will get yourself killed."
She lifted up her chin proudly.
"Don't you dare assume that I'm better off. There are things that even you," Maka spat out the word, "Wouldn't know. So fuck off!" She stomped off, pigtails flying (and not to break the mood or anything, but her skirt was flying up as well and I could almost see her panties). I followed her.
"What are you doing?" She asked indignantly.
"Making sure you don't get killed before I run off and never see you again," I said with a roll of my (ahem, muscular) shoulders.
We walked in silence, but I think I saw her bite down on her lip. Damn.
The gang was a mess. I had brushed off Maka when we got to the neighborhood (mostly cuz my feet were starting to hurt like hell) and had immediately smelled smoke when I neared the vicinities of the hideout.
"Is there a fire?" I mumbled, ducking under the doorway (and past that very doorway was the now-typical barrage of sleeping drunken people and… it was emptier now for some reason). Kazu, one of the gang members, turned and rolled his eyes at me.
"Shouldn't you be used to people smoking by now?" His brown hair fell over his eyes and he gave me a large smirk.
"Shouldn't you be used to being an idiot?" The words rolled off of my tongue as I brushed past Kazu. He just snorted, used to my blasé attitude.
"Heard that Shinigami-sama's in trouble," Kazu said with reverence to the name (thought I honestly had no idea why).
"Him? No way." The only scenario that I could imagine Shinigami in trouble… actually, there wasn't one.
"You don't believe me?" He frowned at me. "Go ask Kid."
As usual, I found Kid straightening up the place in a little depressing dark corner. He sobbed to the ground as he shoved people into symmetrical positions (and occasionally, if there were sleeping or too damn fat, he kicked them until they moved). I got his attention by standing there, breaking the symmetry. He turned on me faster than I could blink.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING STANDING THERE?!" He roared.
"Hey, Kid." I said, ignoring him completely. "Where's your father?"
He stared at me blankly.
"Ah…" He brushed his clothes, pushed me to the side slightly, assessed me twice, and then finally looked back up. "He's right behind you." What the fuck?
I whirled around, and there, in typical Shinigami-style, was the Death God himself.
"Fuck you, Kazu," I muttered before glaring up at Shinigami with the most hatred I could drum up at the moment. "Where the hell have you been? The place is a mess!" (Not that I gave a crap, but maybe if I pretended to, it would push me towards that rank up. Psh.)
"None of your business, boy," The man sneered voice completely different from his usual playful one. It resonated with different layers of burden and dark and pain and it scared the shit out of me (but you don't need to know that). "What I would like to know is where you've been."
"None of your business, old fart." I stared right back. It was slightly unnerving, staring into empty black holes and getting no response (have you ever talked to a fridge magnet? It's kinda like that). After five long seconds, he finally moved.
"Ungrateful little prat," He laughed humorlessly. "I take you in and you turn into a little bastard." There was that laugh again, but this time it sounded slightly more… amused. He turned around, sighed, and (Shinigami took off his mask! Nah, I wish) when he turned around again, he was back to normal. "My apologies, Soul. It has been very stressful lately, and although I do not appreciate in the slightest that you have been disappearing without any objective," He paused and shook his head mock-affectionately. "I can accept that any immature boy (Hey, I'm not that bad!) would do such. Although, you would definitely learn much from my son." I bristled slightly at his last words.
"Whatever," I muttered. Keeping my eyes down and letting my ivory hair fall over my face, I walked right past him with my back straight for once. I heard him muttering something to Kid and wondered to myself,
Is everyone against me?
It was raining. Great, I mused to myself. First Maka gets pissed at me (not like I care. Do I sound like I care? …Really? Shut up), Shinigami gets pissed at me, and now I'm pissed at me. The small room I occupied (bed, walls, window, all that crap. No porn magazines, I swear…) seemed even emptier than usual with the rain giving me a steady, lonesome beat. My eyes drifted close as the hours wore on.
The sound of crashing glass woke me.
The second I sprang out of the mattress, wind and rain pelted my face, and I nearly stabbed my toe on a large dagger that had imbedded itself in the floor (thankfully, not me) with a piece of paper attached. A note? (Whoever had sent me it had better included an apology for the broken window, or they'd have some serious explaining to do.)
I ripped it from the dagger.
Central park was scribbled in that same curly script from the letter. In a swift movement, it was ripped into pieces.
I only barely managed to hop out of the window without getting cut (don't ask how).
My shoes squeaked as I rounded the corner and swung into Central Park. There was no one there as far as I could see (or rather, as far as the rain allowed). Curious, I stepped further in, and came upon the very park bench that I had first met Maka. Without realizing it, a smile crept onto my face.
"Fuck off," She had snarled to me that day. I laughed bitterly. Why hadn't I? Would have saved me a lot of trouble, too. I was in too deep, and I didn't know how long I could keep it up.
"Hello, Soul."
I whirled around. No one there. Suddenly, a hand was on my shoulder. I spun around and punched…
…the empty air. Just two feet away from my fist was a woman cloaked head to toe in black. Blonde hair framed her face and was braided in front- her face reminded me very much of a snake poised to kill.
"Who the hell are you?" I growled.
"Now, now," She purred, sauntering up to me. "No need to get so… wound up."
I felt my muscles tighten up even more.
"What do you want with me?" I asked, this time slightly softer.
"The very words of cornered prey," The strange woman laughed delightedly, and then looked at me with the most corrupted smile I'd ever seen. "My name is Medusa. Surely you've heard of me?"
I nodded; I had. Medusa was the rumored 'slip-skin snake'. She was an experienced assassin and was "A lackey of Noah's, right?" She chuckled, water over jagged stones, and it sent shudders down my back.
"No," She murmured. "I am much more than an ordinary lackey." She looked at me with penetrating golden eyes, and I feared for a moment that, just like in the myths, her head would explode into a fury of snakes. "I have to admit that I am a tad… curious," She said, looking at me with a thin smile. "About the reason that you are not where you belong." I stiffened.
"Fuck off," I growled, shifting into a position more suited for attack. "It's none of your business."
"Oh, but it is," Medusa said wryly. "We both have our reasons for hating Noah, do we not?" How the hell did she know?
"Unrelated," I said grudgingly. She came closer still.
"Hate can drum up power," Medusa murmured. "I wish to extend a hand in… partnership." She said the word in a way that made no sense to me- happy?
"No reason," I snorted. "I don't even know you well enough to trust you." And then, as an add on that I had learned in my years in Shinigami's gang, I added, "What's it in for me?"
"I can offer you the revenge that you seek," She said. "I can offer you safety from threats (and from the way she moved, I didn't doubt it), and most of all…" She paused dramatically.
"What?" I hedged, only slightly unwilling.
"I can teach you to accept it," She said, looking at me expectantly. "Live with it. Use it to-"
"Shit," I cut her off, furious. "What the fucking hell? How did you get to know that?" I grabbed her by the collar, and she made no move to stop me. We were inches apart.
"You would be surprised," She murmured quietly, "to know the amount of people I know who have a similar… problem to yours." Suddenly, a smile lit up her dark face and if we were in another place and another time, I would have thought her innocent. "All of which I have helped."
"Great, a psycho therapist," I spat out. "An oxymoron if I ever knew one."
"Do you accept my offer or not?" She ground out venomously. I grinned- looked like the dangerous Medusa had a slight problem herself- she sounded impatient.
"I'll… think about it." Classic response- I mentally patted myself on the back. I saw her nostrils flare, and for a second her face twisted into one of fury.
"Why you little…" She forced herself to take a breath, and then her face was back to normal (meaning fucking scary, that is). "Very well. I will give you approximately a month," Medusa suddenly sounded thoughtful. Before I could accept or reject, she was gone. There was something on my head, too. A piece of paper.
You little shit.
"I try my best," I muttered under my breath.
The sunlight hit my eyes and startled me awake. I sat up, slipped off the bed and nearly hit myself with the dagger that was still there. Why the hell did I leave it there anyway? I threw it out the window (I think I heard a meow. Oops) and rushed out…
…and crashed straight into Shinigami.
"Ah," He said, as if something totally unexpected had just happened. "Just the person I wanted to see."
"Not me," I said foully. I still had a headache from my encounter last night with Medusa. "Please not me."
Five minutes later, I was standing in his office with a large bruise on my head.
"As punishment for slacking off these few days," He began slyly.
"It's your fault for disappearing," I said grouchily. (Shinigami hit me again.)
"I have another assignment for you."
I thought about the other times that he had assigned me to a mission, thought of Maka, and my blood ran cold. "I'm… afraid that I can't do that."
"Soul," He said slowly, deliberately, like he was talking to a five year old about something very important. "This mission is vital. If you accomplish this, I will consider giving you a rank equal to Black Star's." I groaned. Hitting my weak spot on purpose.
"Fine." Not again…
"WHOSE ASSES ARE WE KICKIN' TODAY?" Black Star yelled, jumping up and down excitedly. Kid frowned and pointed out that Black Star's jumps were slightly lopsided as I walked slowly alongside him.
We were on our way to… actually, I had no freakin' clue. Kid took a deep, impatient sigh.
"Actually, we're just here on a reconnaissance mission," He said, rubbing both side of his temples (even if probably only one side hurt). "So our job is to be as discreet as possible."
"Then why bother bringing Black Star?" I asked dryly. Kid and Black Star both shot me a dirty glance.
"If there is a chance we'll be fighting," Kid said slowly. "Then Black Star will be essential." Huh. So then the place we were going was dangerous? Kid shook his head as if shaking away a thought, and stopped in the middle of an empty street.
Then, he bent down and flung aside a manhole (and the funny thing is, it landed exactly in the middle of the street).
"No way," I shook my head vigorously. "I have white hair! It's like… having white clothes!"
"What are you now, a girl?" Black Star grinned. "I think it's cooler this way! I get to see a brand new area of the place I'm gonna rule sooner or later…" He flashed me a quick thumbs-up and jumped straight in. Kid flinched, but slowly made his way down.
I stared. No way getting around this. So with a shudder of disgust, I made my way down.
It was dark, dank, and smelled like shit. Probably cuz there was some. Kid led us through dark pathways that crisscrossed so many times I started losing track of them.
Finally, we came to a dead end. With un-Kid-like behavior, Kid placed his hand on the right side of the wall.
And to my amazement, it slid open to reveal a completely un-sewer like area. We were ushered in hurriedly and the door slammed right behind me, almost catching my pants in the process. As Black Star proceeded to attempt to not slam into a wall (and Kid was taking turns wiping his hands on both sides of a handkerchief), I took in our surroundings.
It was a small room, marble floors with many boxes. In any case, it was dimly lit with some candles on both the left and right side, and it would probably light the whole place on fire if they fell onto the boxes. A large door covered the entire fourth wall, metallic and possibly a foot thick (judging by the quiet rap Kid gave it). With a devilish smirk, Black Star pointed to an air vent.
"Again?" I groaned. I guess I spoke too soon, because not one minute later we were on our stomachs and crawling. Like the last vent I was in, it was small, cramped and dusty (plus, Black Star kept farting). We went along a few dark passageways, and then suddenly, Kid pushed us down an opening. We landed on our feet (actually, we all fell on our ass, but just pretend for our sakes) and were pushed into yet another dark corridor.
"A library?" Black Star groaned. "And here I thought we were here to kick ass!"
"We're looking up anything you can find on Noah," Kid threw over his shoulder, walking to a large bookshelf that reached the (thirty foot high) ceiling. It was a small room, but getting through the books would take a while. Black Star started shuffling through the books, grumbling to himself.
"Noah?" I frowned. "Why bother? No one would even try writing anything on him." Kid set down several books and then looked at me oddly.
"Actually, we're trying to find information on Eibon." His brow furrowed as he spoke, and it seemed like the name bothered him greatly. "There's a better chance of finding something on him relative to Noah than by himself." My mouth clamped tightly involuntarily, and without a warning, I started walking away.
"Hey, where're ya goin, Soul?" Black Star almost shouted, waving a fist at me. Probably irritated.
"Don't worry, I won't let myself get caught." I could feel Kid's stare on my back as I left the room.
I know it sounds weird, but the place smelled familiar. Rang a bell in the back of my head, and wouldn't stop bugging me. Had I been here before? There weren't any alarms to trip, so it couldn't have been that important a place (or at least, in my current standards). I'd been trained to recognize any traps of any sort, and there weren't even security cameras.
A loud bang shocked my out of my thoughts.
I held my breath, and peeked around the corner. A large room, no doors, and decorated lavishly. Or at least, it used to be- chairs and lamps lay on the ground in ruins. I blinked. What the hell had happened here?
"FUCK OFF!" A voice screamed. I knew that voice…
What the hell was Maka doing here? AGAIN?
A chair slammed into the wall, and I heard the clattering of glass. Eyes widening, I couldn't help but inch a little closer. Pigtails flying, I saw Maka fly back, skidding against the floor on her feet. Ragnarok was there, fighting her… I felt a bead of sweat roll down my face.
She was matching him.
I had been so nervous when she had been taken and I still had my ass creamed. But Maka was fighting this guy tooth for tooth, and… was it me, or was she winning? His fists were a blur, but Maka legs always shot up to block him, leaving her arms to do as she pleased. How come I didn't know that she could fight like that?
"Give up," Ragnarok growled out. His voice seemed a little weak, though, and Maka smirked.
"Getting tired?"
He snarled at her in an animalistic way, and it sent shudders down my spine. She didn't even flinch when he tried to sweep her feet, only jumped lightly up and made to kick his face. When he blocked, she merely sprang off in a graceful flip and continued her attack. Maka was powerful. Maka was deadly. Maka was, quite honestly, starting to confuse me. Why had she been so beaten when fighting Chrona, not even resisting when she had this kind of skill? Hell, she might even be better than me.
It was kinda uncool, thinking that I had rushed to protect her when she herself was more capable of doing so.
Maka darted forward confidently, and they were out of my sight again, behind a wall. I inched forward nervously- was she alright?
Suddenly, I felt the cool press of metal against my neck.
"Long time no see… Soul."
A/N: Hooray! Now that that's done… I have to know, do you guys prefer ChroRag or ChroKid?
And so, a big thanks to:
ToraHimeSama
Cuna99
Sanzo4ever
Gaara'slilsis
ExplosivePhase
SingerToPotatos
Mizora
MoonChild1959
DearlyBeloved-13
Eh… I can't tell you guys how much your reviews mean to me~ It makes me wanna cry…
So, ahem, on that note… Press the review button to make me happy again. Hehe~