Author's Note: Why hello strangers! This took longer than I planned, so let's just get right to it, shall we? :) I own nothing. Enjoy~
Sleep is overrated, Soul coached himself, fighting the urge to let his eyelids droop. Falling asleep in front of Shinigami and every other important person in Shibusen wouldn't do much for his credibility.
More importantly, it wouldn't help Maka's mood much, either, and he knew she was still smarting from earlier. They hadn't really gotten a chance to finish their conversation (though he was somewhat grateful for that, as everything that had transpired had been far too close to a very bad, if very intriguing, idea) and afterwards, Kid had rounded them up and sent them off to Shibusen in the dead of night. She'd sat down next to him without hesitation, but she hadn't spoken a word to him since they'd arrived, which wasn't helping too much with the whole 'stay awake' plan.
It hadn't exactly been a boring 24 hours, to be fair. Between having resonance problems, fixing resonance problems, a healthy dose of Black*Star blackmail and one overly violent meister, Soul had begun to accept that he'd probably never sleep again.
He stared around in bleary-eyed contempt at the "quick emergency meeting" Kid had assembled. The second hand of the clock ticked loudly behind him, marking the nearly four hours he'd spent in this ridiculous assembly of idiots.
What had started as a simple strategy meeting had been quickly and efficiently derailed by Black*Star within the first ten minutes. Though Soul wasn't necessarily surprised, he was still ready to throttle Black*Star, secret-spilling consequences be damned, for mentioning everything that had happened this afternoon.
Well, almost ready. The idea of Black*Star sharing that with all of Shibusen's leadership wasn't a particularly attractive one, especially with one Papa Albarn in attendance. As such, Soul was forced to shut up and stew angrily while the conversation circled idly around him. He'd given up on getting a word in hours ago, because although originally created to discuss Crona's disappearance, Kid's little pow-wow had turned into a hybrid resonance bitchfest.
"I still don't see why it needed to be the two of them," Spirit was griping, cheek pressed up against his palm in unabashed disappointment. "Here's a solution. Maka could have just found a different weapon. It would have been better for everyone."
He shot Soul a heated glare, as if it had been Soul's inspired idea to let Black*Star wreak havoc on their wavelengths all afternoon. Tired as he was, Soul was well-practiced at being the bane of the death scythe's existence, and he flashed him a quick grin across the table, relishing the angry red that filled Spirit's face. A different weapon? To be honest, Soul had entertained the thought when this had all started. He'd needed to. He felt another rush of gratitude for Stein and his mildly illegal experimentation methods.
"I think it could be a real breakthrough, something we could really use," Lord Death exclaimed, clapping his hands together happily. "It really is a marvel that we've never seen it before!"
He glanced at Kid, seeming to cheerfully ignore the fact that it had been his spawn who'd been forced to endure the brunt of the "research" process. Kid sighed heavily, trying to get the meeting back on track for the thousandth time. Lips pursed, he rapped his knuckles against the table.
"Malaysia," he said emphatically, taking the keychain out of his pocket and dangling it before the group. He shook it lightly, Crona's button dancing around the word. Soul could tell Kid was finally losing patience, like a babysitter who'd spent the past four hours dealing with a bunch of irate children. That wasn't so far off the mark, Soul thought, as Spirit crossed his arms and let out a muted harrumph across the table. Soul didn't bother to stifle his chuckle, keeping his eyes carefully averted as Spirit's face approached a hilariously robust red. Already clued in to their exchange, Maka glanced between the two of them with an air of slightly amused superiority.
So determined to be different, Soul thought shrewdly. He wasn't buying it. Maka and Spirit had their problems, it was true, but Soul still had a hunch that they were much more similar than they knew. There was definitely something in the fact that the person he found it the most fun to goad, other than Maka, was her father.
"Maka and Soul were the ones that used hybrid resonance because they needed to use it," Stein was saying to Spirit. "It wasn't a question of preference."
That was the second time he'd cut Kid off, and Soul felt the slightest sense of foreboding as the younger reaper's eyes glinted.
"I'd prefer you didn't discover it at all," Spirit muttered, which Soul chose to ignore. Next to him, however, Maka's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I really think it would be more practical to discuss-" Kid started again.
"Oh, can we see them resonate?" Death exclaimed. "I'd really like to-"
"I'd really not like to-" Spirit threw in.
"If we could get back to the point of-" Kid said, only to be interrupted again, seconds later. His teeth ground together, and Soul felt alarm bells go off, though he seemed to be the only one that noticed. He glanced at Maka, who was looking equally tense. She had twisted her hands together, adopting an eerily calm stillness next to him. Oh boy, here we go, he thought.
"They've only done it a few times, so it hasn't been perfected," Stein, ever the negotiator, explained.
"I'd still like to see it, for the sake of science," chided Sid, who had been wary about the idea since Black*Star's cries of 'now I can even beat you up with your own resonance, Soul!' had first begun.
"Just want to reiterate that I'd still like to never see it if it's Maka doing the resonating," Spirit interrupted.
Soul held his breath, watching the emotions in the room spiral higher. His eyes swept the room, flickering primarily from Kid to Maka, since he couldn't decide who looked more frightening, and he started counting backwards from ten.
He made it to eight.
"WILL YOU IDIOTS JUST SHUT UP FOR A SECOND?" Kid exploded, just as Maka launched herself across the table and landed a perfectly placed chop on Spirit's head. The room fell deadly silent (except for Spirit's yowl, Soul noted with more than a little satisfaction) as everyone turned to stare at Kid who, despite his outburst, was standing motionless at the front of the room. He waited another second before he began again, every eye in the room fixed on him. Soul had to admit, as long as you didn't stick him in a room full of asymmetrical shit, Kid's self-control was pretty impeccable.
Maka, satisfied with the break in Spirit's babbling, circled back around the table and squeezed Soul's shoulder as she sat down. It occurred to him that she'd been defending him, a little bit. He tried to scowl, immediately chagrined at the idea that Maka felt the need to defend his capability as a weapon. But then she didn't move her hand, and suddenly the pressure on his shoulder drew him back to a different feeling, to the whispery feel of her skin on his fingers the night before...
He cursed himself, hurriedly grabbing the reins on any and all Maka-related feelings before he got carried away. God, he was hopeless.
"Malaysia," Kid repeated slowly. "The reason we're here, remember? What does it mean?"
He spun the keychain around his middle finger and laid it on the table, pointing at it and staring up at the room. The gesture felt incredibly final, and Soul took a moment to appreciate how well Kid's intimidation tactics were working. Four and a half hours later, he thought, it was time they got some damn answers.
Death, Spirit and Stein exchanged a glance that nobody missed, clearly having an unspoken battle over who would be forced to give the monologue. Normally that job fell to Stein, it seemed, though Soul had always assumed that was due to Death and Spirit's perpetual laziness rather than Stein simply enjoying the sound of his own voice. Regardless, it came as a surprise when Spirit spoke up.
"As you know," Spirit began, standing and pushing his chair back slowly, his hair falling forward so that it just barely covered his eyes. "Crona is missing. Based on this," – he nodded at the keychain – "We can only assume that Malaysia, obviously, is where he's been taken."
"So it's a summons," Kid said, crossing his arms. "Whoever took Crona wants us to follow."
"So it would seem," said Spirit. Soul noted for the first time that Spirit had also probably not slept much the past couple of nights; the bags under his eyes took on a more pronounced shadow as he regarded the group.
"But who would do that? Medusa's gone. There's no reason for anyone else to be going after Crona, is there?" Liz said, who was trying to shrug off a lightly snoring Patty lying on her shoulder.
"Unfortunately, it seems that Crona isn't the only one to have disappeared," Spirit said. "We've had reports of other… incidents… across the world over the past few days."
"What incidents?" Sid said angrily, confirming Soul's suspicion that, as usual, Shinigami had kept everyone out of the loop for far too long. "What even happened when Crona disappeared?"
"That's the problem," Stein said slowly, just as Spirit was about to speak again. "Nothing."
Wait. Nothing happened? If not for the deadly serious expression on his face, Soul would have wondered if Stein had finally come – for lack of a better word – unscrewed.
"Surely," Stein continued, "Someone with Crona's abilities would have been able to put up enough of a fight against your average attacker. Enough, anyway, to wake the other two people who live there."
He glanced at Marie a moment, and Soul could almost sense something that had crept into Stein's voice – regret, possibly? But within a moment it was gone, and he was back to nonchalance personified, glasses flashing as he leaned back in his chair. Even so, the message was clear: whoever had gotten their hands on Crona was a threat.
"So, what you're saying is… nobody knows anything about Crona's disappearance," Kid said flatly.
So they'd been here all night for absolutely nothing. Excellent. Kid's indignation was so tangible that Soul could turn into a scythe and cut it.
That's it, Soul thought impatiently. Never calling a single one of these assholes if I ever have a damn emergency.
"That's not what I said at all," Stein said, rather dangerously, and Soul hit the brakes on his derision as everyone stared back at Stein warily.
"What Stein means is," Spirit said, shooting him a warning glance, "We did find something in common with the people who've been taken."
And then something strange happened. His eyes flickered, completely inexplicably, to Soul. It was fleeting; if Soul had blinked, he would have missed it. Honestly, he probably wouldn't even have noticed if Stein hadn't done the same thing a few seconds later, breaking eye contact only when Soul raised a questioning eyebrow at him. Hell, it even felt like Death was looking at him, though he supposed he could never truly know if he was the subject of a Shinigami staredown.
"All of those who have disappeared," Stein said slowly, his eyes settling on Soul once more, "Were infected with the black blood."
A second of silence passed. He felt Maka's eyes glide slowly over to his face. He dimly registered that he had no idea what his expression looked like. The gazes of everyone else in the room burned into him, but then Stein kept going, and one by one he felt their attention sliding away. He tried to grapple with what this meant, but then Sid's question pulled him out of his reverie.
"But the black blood shouldn't be affecting anyone, should it? How is it that so many people are involved with it?"
"Bad news travels fast," said Stein wryly. "Medusa's little creation is spreading, if only slightly. As far as numbers, there are only nine souls that we know of that are infected. Seven of them have gone missing."
Soul swallowed the lump in his throat. Maka glanced at him again, and he looked lazily around the room, feigning disinterest. A high probability that he'd be kidnapped soon? No big deal.
"As such," Spirit said, ignoring the colossal elephant in the room, "We need to act quickly. We're sending a team in to do a little reconnaissance. Since we don't know who or what we're dealing with, this mission must be incredibly low key. We have an idea of where to start, but I cannot stress enough the importance of incognito. There's a lot at stake. We have to protect our own."
He looked up at Soul, and Soul stared back at him in disbelief. What was this, Spirit getting sentimental? Huh. Maybe somewhere in that obstinate heart of his, Spirit kind of cared for him a little. It was a nice thought.
"So, Black*Star, Tsubaki, and you three," he said, pointing at Kid and the Thompsons, "Get packed up, you're leaving in the morn… uhh…" He looked up at the clock. "You're leaving in three hours."
"What's the plan for us, Papa?" said Maka expectantly. Spirit regarded her for a second, finding his words.
"I should have thought that would be obvious," he said. "You two aren't going."
"What?!" Soul and Maka said in unison, both jumping to their feet. It probably would have been pretty funny if Soul hadn't been so pissed. That controlling bastard! Of course he'd turn this into a way to keep them from working together. Soul couldn't believe he'd bought into 'we protect our own.' A small part of his brain reminded him that Spirit's words might still have been born of genuine concern, but he ignored it. The idea that Spirit was just a dick was much more gratifying.
"Of course we're going, Crona's there," Maka said shrilly, clenching her fists at her sides.
"You can't resonate by yourselves at the moment, for whatever reason," Stein said, while Soul tried very hard not to look guilty. "And your partner is on a very short hit list. If you go, this would be a suicide mission."
"All the more reason to go with the team, where our resonance will be even stronger and we can protect each other," Soul retorted, crossing his arms.
"We don't even really know what hybrid resonance is, or what it does," Spirit said. "I'd love to see you try to use a type of resonance we don't understand on an enemy that we don't know how to fight."
Despite himself, Soul laughed, and then tried to cover it up with a cough. Everyone stared at him.
"Uhh," he said, trying hard not to smirk. "It's just… you just said you've love to see us try hybrid resonance."
Spirit blanched, and Maka smiled. Soul was hit with a sudden idea.
"Just watch us resonate once," he said. "See how much stronger we are. It could be an asset to us."
Stein surveyed them for a moment, impressed. "An unknown tactic against an unknown enemy," he mused. "I like it."
"It might be worth a try," Death agreed, shooting them a double thumbs-up.
"There's still the question of your black blood," Spirit said, though it was clear he was running out of arguments. "You'd both be safer here."
"That's bullshit. Based on the odds, I'm gonna end up there anyway," Soul said. He'd rather go on his own than be part of some lame-ass abduction.
"If you go, you're playing into their hands," Stein said. "You'd be making it that much easier for them."
"If you all think we'd just sit around because there's a slightly bigger chance that we'll get hurt, you're nuts," Soul said. "There's a risk every time we go on a mission. We're going. If something happens, and I become another part of this little black blood collection, I've got a pretty cool partner to bail me out."
That last part had tumbled out before he had really thought about it, but the beaming smile he got from Maka in response made the reaction of the rest of the room easier to stomach. He kept his eyes trained on Maka, mostly to keep himself from strangling Black*Star, who'd adopted a goofy smile and was fluttering his eyelashes in traditional asshole fashion.
"Let 'em try," Maka said, and they locked eyes for the first time since they'd fought hours ago. He grinned at her and she smiled back, determination stirring in her eyes.
"Papa, you wanted to see us resonate?" she asked lightly, grinning, her eyes never leaving Soul's. Spirit's disgruntled murmur was music to Soul's ears.
Feeling more and more like a circus animal on display every time he did this, Soul stood up with Maka and they made their way to the front of the room.
"Don't get too carried away this time," Black*Star murmured, turning for a moment so only Soul could see his smirk. "Wouldn't want to give everyone too good of a show."
Soul wholeheartedly agreed, but he scowled at Black*Star nonetheless. He steeled himself and shot one more self-satisfied grin at Spirit before he transformed.
"Let's go," Maka said, looking expectantly at the other two.
"Hybrid resonance!" they echoed.
… And then everything went black.
I know, I know: Oldest trick in the book, but don't worry. There's a possibility that ~very bad, if very intriguing~ things happen when everything goes black. ;) Just realized I've left you two cliffhangers in a row. I'm a jerk. Thank you guys so much for your patience, I know this was a bit of a wait. Madagascar was a blast, but I'm excited to get back into a *real* writing schedule! Look for chapter 7 in the next week and a half or so!