It Is What It Is
Chapter 7
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters.
Drifting several hundred miles away was an old galleon, its tattered sails billowing despite the lack of wind. The chains that hung along its side rattled against the half rotted wood that creaked and moaned as the ship cut through the ocean waters. There were other sounds—the sound of feet thumping along the planks, shouts for a lending hand here and there, the occasional scuffle and blades clashing to pass the time. But deep within its hull, in a small room that no one except for a few could enter, was another sound: the sound of glass breaking.
It was a small jar that once rested on a long, rotted shelf amongst others like it. The glass shards lay scattered, light green fluid with minute flecks of orange dripping down to the table below. Floating a few inches above the mess was a stone. It could have passed for obsidian were it not for the patches of light green that glowed here and there through the cracked like lines that painted its surface.
"Hm…that was faster than expected."
A leather gloved hand reached out and plucked the stone from its place, holding it up as dark eyes studied it.
"It didn't even finish absorbing everything before the kid took it out. Hell, we just got back."
"He's a quick little death god," a voice called from a dark corner of the room, the sound of steel scraping against hard granite following after. "That's a good thing, yes?"
"Yeah, but I was actually looking forward to see where this one went," the other sighed. "Lived a good forty years and took a while to find the right parts."
There was a low chuckle. "You sound like a mother who lost their child."
"Shut up. And it would be more like a proud dad, thanks."
"Whose one of many sons went off to war? You still have plenty out on the field."
"You and your metaphors. Just send the report already."
Another low chuckle as the one sharpening the knife shifted, boots thudding against the floor as the buckles of many belts rustled against one another. "What should it say?"
"Tell her he took the bait." The voice paused as the hand holding the strange stone brought it closer to the bearer's face, eyes narrowing as it watched the green splotches slowly darken to black. A smile formed. "…And things may get a little more interesting."
"Oh?" The other figure leaned in to watch the stone. "What's it doing?"
"I have no idea. If he killed it then it shouldn't be doing this." A smile. "Guess I'll have to hold onto this a little longer."
"So you're not sending it over?"
"Nah…not yet. Tell her I'll send it once it finishes. It won't be as complete as the other one, but it'll still do the job."
"There's not much left, anyway."
"And we'll have plenty of leftovers. So just a few more to go."
The chair creaked as the one holding the stone leaned back to stare up at the wall of glass jars that lined the several shelves before them, each one filled with similar looking stones. Each stone was at a varying state of blackness, some darker than others. It was the bottom shelf that held the blackest ones, one so black that the liquid within the jar was also stained black. The hand tossed the stone up and down as eyes focused on the black jar.
"Just a few more…"
From above, the island of Dyer's Cove had an unusual shape. The northern and main part of the body rounded into an almost perfect circle, but it sloped inward, making the southern portion curve into a hook like shape. It was like a curved tear drop of sorts. Mangroves covered a large portion of it, and as he flew lower, Kid realized that only the southern curve and the eastern slope of the island was actual ground. The rest was just covered in mangrove trees and marshland. Most of the inside curve served as a beach with an open cave situated near where the sandy shores turned into rock. The water along the shore was an odd crystal blue, and as he landed he made yet another discovery. What gave the water its color was not the water itself, but the sun's light reflecting off the thousands of small cerulean stones that littered the coast under the water.
Like on Verrills, the moment they landed the girls transformed out, Liz stretching her arms as she did. Patti immediately went to the water, crouching down to stare into it.
"Hey, sis, check this out," she called over.
"Wow, these are gorgeous!" Liz breathed as she came to her sister's side and picked one up. Its shape was similar to the island—a strange tear drop shape with a curved, hooked bottom. But as she held it to the light, she paused. "Oh—it's like the jewelry back in Gallows."
"Really?" Patti moved closer to the older girl for a better look. "Whoa, it looks like there's water inside!"
"I know, right?" As she tilted the crystal to catch the sun's light, there was an odd shimmering as the light's reflection danced through the crystal's structure. With its light cerulean coloring, it really did look like there was water inside, but a quick shake proved that there was not any inside. It was solid rock. Or crystal? She then turned to Kid. "Hey, Kid, you should really look at this."
"Later," he said brusquely as he walked past them toward the cave. "We need to keep moving."
The light grin that had been on her face slowly disappeared before she sighed and turned to her sister, pocketing the crystal. "Come on, Patti. Break time's over."
As soon as he sensed the girls were near him, he glanced back at them before focusing his attention back to the cave ahead. The girls had been too distracted to notice that the seemingly (sub)tropical paradise was less idyllic than it looked. Although it could have served as the perfect poster island for Bermuda's tourism agencies and romantic getaway locations, there was something sinister lurking here. Not only could he not hear any sounds of birds or insects, he could not detect even the minutest of souls. Even those of fish were scarce. The fact that he could not use his Soul Perception around the cave was also suspicious. Each time he tried, he would find himself blocked from venturing more than a certain range.
Something else inhabited this island. He just did not know what. Yet.
They walked in silence, the small shards of sea shells crunching under their shoes as they walked along the sand. But as they neared the cave, Liz realized a little too late that there were fewer shells and more bones. They were small, likely fish or some other sea creature, but seeing so many scattered about the shoreline brought little comfort. For all they knew there could be human remains somewhere buried here, and that thought made her cross her arms.
Her grip only tightened when they reached the entrance as a sudden chill in the air greeted them. The cold wind that breathed from the cave's mouth only increased the sense of foreboding from the darkness within. Other than the sound of the wind whistling through, the ocean water lapping against the rock walls, and the echoes of water dripping from its ceiling, it was silent. The sun was also starting to set, which made the air even tenser.
"Liz, you brought the flashlight, right?"
Kid's sudden voice made her jump a little before she nodded. "Uh, yeah, hold on." She then pulled her small backpack around and pulled out the requested item, handing it to him. The one good thing about being a weapon was that when transformed, all their gear came with them. "…Are we really going in there?" she asked warily.
He did not answer as he turned on the flashlight. There was a small, rocky path that lined the innermost part of the cave. Small pools and puddles covered it, and the glistening of the smooth surface was more than enough evidence of its hazardous state. Carefully he stepped a few feet into the mouth of the cave, waiting until he could place a hand against a nearby column made of lime and calcite that was likely formed hundreds of years ago. He scanned the area with the light, studying the rock walls before sending it directly into the darkness. The only things that were visible were the rocky cave walls, more stone columns in addition to the standard fare arrangement of stalactites and stalagmites, and the ocean water that flowed into it. He could hear the faint echo of water further in, indicating that the water must run deeper into the cave.
Now that he was more inside the cave, Kid wondered if his Soul Perception would work any differently. He did not have much to lose, so he tried again. At first he could not sense anything, but he also did not feel the barrier that had blocked him before. In fact, it was almost as if it had disappeared. After a moment of wondering, he deepened his search, pausing only when he thought he felt something.
"…There's something in there, but I'm not sure what," he said, his voice giving a slight echo.
"Do you think it's another one of those weird kishin egg things?" Liz asked as she kept a close eye on him.
"Hold on." Kid took a few more careful steps forward and focused. It seemed the further he went in, the easier it was for him to use his Soul Perception. He half wondered if it had something to do with the cave's structure when he felt that all too familiar wave of madness. But there was more to it. A defining wavelength that made him straighten and widen his eyes. "It's here," he murmured to himself before he turned to them. "The kishin egg we were sent for has been hiding here."
"What, seriously?" Liz said, her eyes widening. A cave. Of course it had to be in a cave. "Why didn't we look here first?"
"Considering this island's location being in the opposite side of where the attacks occurred, I imagine they assumed that it would have its lair closer to its feeding grounds," he answered as he made his way back to the girls, taking extra care not to step in the puddles.
"Feeding grounds…do you really have to say it like that?" she groaned.
He just gave her a look before continuing. "We'll have to be careful. It's still some time before nightfall, so we may be able to sneak in and take it out before it awakens."
"But it's dark in there," Liz countered. "We might flash the light on it or make some noise."
"And there's also the risk that we might get trapped in the darkness and be at the disadvantage," Kid murmured as he tried to think of the best strategy. "The path is also slippery and narrow in some areas. But if we wait for night, it will still have the upper hand."
"Maybe we should just call Morgan and ask for help. We know where it is and it doesn't know we know…right?"
"No, it could move or go out to hunt for more souls. By the time they arrive it will be too late." They had finally found their target and he did not want to ruin this opportunity.
Liz had been afraid he would say that. "Maybe we can lure it out?"
"How?"
"I know how to get it out," Patti finally spoke up. Her voice was light and playful, but as she stepped toward the cave, a dark, mischievous grin appeared. A grin that only appeared whenever she went into her "dangerous gangster" mode.
Both Liz and Kid paled as they both yelled, "No, Patti, don't—!"
"HEY BAT! WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE SO COME ON OUT AND STOP HIDING YOU FUCKING BASTARD. THINK YOU'RE SO TOUGH AND SAFE IN YOUR LITTLE CAVE, AAAAAH? WELL WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU DEAD!"
And there she goes, Liz groaned. Also, if you're going to kill someone they're going to be dead…
Kid on the other hand took Patti's sudden action with less repose. "Patti, what the hell were you thinking!" he hissed as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
The girl only gave him a wink and raised her hand with the gesture for victory. "That should get its attention, right?"
He just gaped. "Are you insa—"
A high pitched shriek from deep within the cave interrupted him. It was immediately followed by a high frequency sound that forced them all to brace themselves and cover their ears. As they did, millions of bats burst through the cave mouth, all of them crying out as their wings drummed the air. Liz let out a small scream of her own as she moved back more to the outside of the cave wall for cover, Kid and Patti soon joining her just to be out of the massive army of bats' way.
It took a full minute before all of the bats cleared and silence filled the area once more. As Kid watched them disappear into the now deep orange sky, he had a sudden realization and froze. He had not sensed the souls of those bats. There had been so many and no matter how small the souls may be, there was no way he could have missed their presence. He had even felt the madness. How did… The images of the spiders from the day before flashed through his mind and in the next instant he called out to his weapons.
Just as they appeared into his hands, there was another ear piercing shriek before a giant, black blur shot through the cave. The madness that followed slammed into Kid so hard he staggered backwards as his head pounded. Even the Thompson sisters flinched as they felt it hit them. But it was different. Not only did they feel the twinges of insanity distort their vision and thinking, they also felt pain. Kid in particular felt a strange pang in his chest, similar to the one he felt back on the other island. But this time it was twice as painful.
As soon as it passed, Kid gasped for air before spinning around to face the creature that hovered in the air above them. The body was twisted and grotesque, the face wrinkled, its snout scrunched up with three red eyes—
Insanity.
—that glowed as it stared down at them. Instead of fur, the remnants of sunlight glistened and reflected off what looked to be some kind of scaly material. It was not as large as the others before it, but it seemed to hold more power than the other corrupt kishin eggs combined. A soul so large that Madness pulsed with every beat of its tattered, leathery wings.
This was it.
This was their quarry.
This was the one they had been searching for.
"Congratulations, little death god," the bat said with a sneer on its twisted face. "You found my lair. Though you probably had some help with that, yes?" A twisted, fanged grin. "But can you catch me long enough to kill me?"
It released a high pitched laughter, a kind that no normal creature could possibly make, and with a mighty flap of its wings it ascended high into the air before flying toward the rising laughing moon.
"Kid, this is crazy!" Liz yelled at him as they sped through the skies. "There's not much light left!"
The dark orange skies were steadily turning to a strange crimson as the blues and violets of night crept toward them from the direction the bat disappeared to. But Kid did not need a visual to track it down. He only needed to follow the repugnant trail of madness it left behind. Perhaps it was this madness that was driving him to throw caution into the wind and follow it. Even if it was, he did not care. He needed to take it down and he continued to ignore his weapon's pleas.
Kid was also trying to come to terms with the fact that what had once been a normal animal was now not only a powerful kishin egg on the verge of becoming a full fledged kishin, but could also speak and think like a human being. It was the complete opposite of how a kishin egg evolved. Usually a human that turned into a kishin egg would devolve into a creature of no reason and act only to consume more souls for power. But he had felt it. He had felt the core presence of the bat's soul as well as the now familiar corrupted wavelengths shared by the spider and the crab.
What the hell is going on here?
It was not too long before he could make out the black outline of their target. It was fast, but it could not compete against the demonic skateboard when it hit full speed.
Or it may have deliberately slowed its pace so that he could catch up.
When they were within range, Kid raised the guns and fired several rounds. With surprising agility and without even looking back, the bat dodged them all, twisting and swerving in mid-air before spinning around to release an attack of its own. Large balls of soul energy hurtled toward them, forcing Kid to bank hard to the side to avoid them. Undaunted Kid continued the assault the moment he was clear, maneuvering the skateboard with well practiced ease to try and come around to close the gap.
This continued for several rounds, with Kid utilizing both long range and close combat tactics. He would veer around, gaining momentum and speed and using cloud cover before slamming the skateboard into the body of the bat. But the body was much harder than he had expected and he had to be quick to push back off to avoid the claws that lined the wings as the bat spun around to counter. It also made him more vulnerable to any sudden blasts the bat released and several times he felt the burning heat as one brushed past him.
But as Liz feared, there was not enough time and the sky quickly darkened into night. The only light that was afforded to them was the moon as it watched the battle, its deep rumbling laughter echoing into the night.
"Give it up, little death god," the bat laughed, the sound like broken glass scraping against hard stone. "There's no way you can win now."
"Damn it," Kid gritted his teeth as he took a moment to catch his breath, the skateboard skimming a few feet above the water's surface as he stayed low to keep up the momentum. Although they were a strong team and still had plenty of energy to continue fighting, they were not coming into this battle fresh. It was also an additional strain to concentrate and direct the skateboard. He could feel his hands becoming raw from gripping the handguns so tightly, not wanting to risk losing and dropping one into the ocean below.
"Kid, we really should just retreat and go back," Liz's voice came from his right. "You can track him down again!"
"Why not just use Death Cannon and blow his ass out of the air?" Patti called out from his left.
"It would take too long to charge and it's a straight shot—it would be easy for it to dodge it," Kid answered, his eyes never leaving the bat that seemed to be waiting for him. It was like the bat was taunting them—and it infuriated him.
The bat smirked at them. "Calling a time out, are we? Take your time, take your time. Gives my little helpers more time to scout out more souls for me."
At those words Kid stiffened, his look hardening as he shouted out to the bat. "So you are responsible for the recent soul hunter attacks."
"Responsible? For those little pirates? " The bat flapped its wings once before it started to fly in a circle around them. "Oh I don't know about that, but they do help. I scratch their back, they scratch mine. You could say I owe them, but at this point it's likely to be the other way around. Besides, I prefer my own little minions. They know what I like best."
What? Was this creature not in charge of the soul hunters? Seeing the confusion on the Kid's face only made the bat laugh again.
"Haha, you don't know, you don't know! You don't know anything. And I bet you're wondering what I am, too, aren't you?"
The bat suddenly shot upward, its black body disappearing into the darkness. Immediately Kid activated his Soul Perception but he could find… Nothing? How is this—
"Possible?"
The voice made him spin around, arms raised to fire as he found the bat hovering a feet away from him. The three red eyes glowed as a grin twisted upward on its wrinkled face.
"I'm a special one you see. Different from the ones you took down earlier. Maybe a few more decades and they could have developed, but they were flawed to begin with."
He could shoot. He had a perfect line of sight and all it would take is just a sudden barrage. Then he could kick the bat down and charge up the Death Cannon, firing it downward. There would be no way for the bat to defend itself. But this was just like back on the train when that Fisher King was telling him about Eibon and his father. Lies or truths, the bat was talking and this was something he needed to hear.
"What are you?" Kid finally asked, his guns still trained on the bat.
The bat's smirk only twisted further upward. "Just a little bat that got a little touched in the head." It bent a wing and a claw tapped its head in a mocking gesture.
"So you really were just a bat."
"Yes, and what a tragic tale it is!" the bat swooned, raising a wing in a dramatic gesture as it gazed toward the grinning moon. "But that was—what—a century or so ago? Oh how the time flies."
A century? Kid could only stare at the bat wide-eyed, his mouth open. "How…but that…"
"Impossible, now?" Once again the bat circled and once again Kid could only follow. "For your little group to not have even caught me or even heard about me?" Again the bat laughed, spinning in the air before once more merging into the darkness. But before Kid could even turn, the bat was suddenly looming just a few inches away from his face, the three glowing red eyes staring into his. "Guess dear ol' dad is slipping, huh?"
Immediately the shots rang out, the skateboard flying back upward as Kid created distance between them. Holes littered the body that hung in the air as if by an invisible string, and all Kid could do was try to catch his breath and calm his nerves. How could he not sense it? How had it— That was when he heard the clap and whipped around again to find…
There in one perfect piece was the bat clapping with the tips of its wings.
"Madness! Gotta love it," the bat laughed, and it was then that Kid realized that he had been under the influence of madness the whole time, most likely the moment the bat had disappeared. A quick glance only proved it. What he had shot was not the bat but just some cloud that had gathered.
"But there are a lot of reasons why I like it. It has so many uses!" It seemed impossible for that mouth to stretch any higher, but it did. The ends of the lips almost reached the two pointed ears that protruded near the top of its head, the red eyes now flashing orange. "Let me sing you a sweet lullaby about it. It's a knock out."
Before Kid could react, the bat opened wide its mouth. He expected to hear some kind of sound, but there was nothing. Instead he saw the air distort and ripple before pulses of madness slammed into his body. The screams of dead souls wailing filled his mind, the images of their torn and bloody corpses warping into the ones that had hung in their webbed coffins and lay wasted on the bloody beach. They were reaching out to him, the rotting flesh dripping from their skeletal hands.
But there was more to it than that. In the next instant he let out a yell, a hand clutching his chest near where his soul resided. It was not just the illusions of madness. That had been a feint. The real attack was to his soul. The vibrations ripped through him like a never-ending current and it was a pain he had never felt before. It pulsated and drummed through the core of his body and it was all he could do to maintain some kind of control and not fall the hundreds of feet to the ocean waters below. He could hear his weapons shouting at him. He could hear Patti cussing the bat out with every single word of profanity that existed—and possibly more. He could feel Liz's soul tightened in panic and terror as she tried to reach out to him to find out what was happening to him. She was the one closest to his chest and thus felt the waves the strongest. But he did not want her to get so close out of fear that it might spread to her and to Patti.
And that was when he felt it. No, he heard it.
A sharp snap as the connection between his soul and the sisters broke.
Immediately he felt his hands burn, sharp stabs of electricity firing into his hands that almost made him drop the guns. It was all he could do to keep a hold of them and he was even having trouble controlling the demonic skateboard. Without the connection, the jets would sputter and fail, causing him to wobble before he forced them to work again.
From inside, the girls could also feel the heat and pain from the dissonance of their soul wavelengths. They could not even resonate with each other. They almost transformed but it was only through sheer willpower that they maintained their weapon forms. Despite the pain they knew they had to stay in their gun forms for both their safety and their meister's.
But even without the direct connection, Kid could still feel their pain bouncing back to him, and he could hear them cry out from the pain (though from Patti it was more swearing and rage) and struggle. Infuriated he looked back up at the bat. Even if it meant he would have to use every last ounce of strength he had, he wanted to fly over and slam his fist into that disgusting creature's face. That desire only strengthened when he saw the twisted smirk. Maybe it was the increasing amount of madness that surrounded them that fueled his rage, but again he did not care. All he wanted was to beat the living shit out of it for hurting his weapons. But if only he had the power to…
He felt something beat within him.
Use it.
You have it.
Two—no, three voices.
Use it.
That's right.
The bat's smile heightened further.
He did have power.
It was laughing.
With a yell he summoned everything he had and invoked the power of madness that rested within him. The surge of power spread from him to his weapons, but that still did not reestablish their resonance. If anything it only made it worse, but he was too caught up in his need to destroy the thing smiling and hovering in front of him to really notice. Ignoring the pain and the protests from his weapons, he forced the skateboard to fly straight toward the bat. It happened within a blink of an eye. Even the bat had been caught by surprise as Kid slammed his shoulder into its chest. The force pushed them back several feet, the bat flapping its wings in attempt to maintain flight.
"Brilliant, brilliant!" the bat cried as it swerved around, creating some distance between itself and Kid.
Kid's leap into the air and bringing his heel down toward its face was his only response. It missed, but the demonic skateboard was there for him to land on. With the madness still pumping through him, he swerved the board around, eyes still locked onto the bat.
"Liz, Patti, concentrate and resonate!"
By this time Liz felt like her whole body was burning and the madness was starting to affect her temper. Hearing her meister command them to do what seemed like the impossible just pissed her off more. "Are you an idiot! There's no way we can—not like this!"
"Stop whining and do it!" Kid only yelled and suddenly the girls felt a large pulse of his soul wavelength push into them.
It was wrong. It was completely off and twisted. And it hurt like hell.
"Ow! Kid what the fuck is wrong with you!" Liz shouted, her anger rising as she pushed right back.
"Oh, a domestic fight," the bat cackled.
"Shut up!" Patti yelled. "It's your fault Kid is all fucked up right now!" Although she felt it as well, she seemed to be the least affected out of the three.
"I could fix that if you'd like." The smile the bat gave was not as wide, but it was more twisted than before.
"Forget it, I'll do this myself!" Kid shouted. The madness was driving him. It was driving him to once again fly headfirst into his opponent.
But he would not get that far.
It only took one pulse.
One beat of the bat's own wavelength that emanated from its corrupted soul.
One second for Kid to suddenly freeze and falter.
One foot to close the gap between him and the bat as the board came to a sudden halt.
One wave of pain as he once again felt the attack on his soul.
One smile—
"Nighty night, little death god!"
One blast of energy.
"Come play again soon."
And then they fell.
A/N: And now you can see why I cut the original chapter in half, haaa. The beginning portion probably would have been better at the end the previous chapter, but I only recently added it in. Oops. But this should be the last hard action sequence of events for a couple of chapters until it builds up again, and there should be more development and potential for some simple fluff moments. Just the little hints and things to get that ball rolling. Actually the next chapter or two should have a few little moments. Speaking of which, in my last note I mentioned how I changed the categories, but I just wanted to clarify that there will be romance…it just won't become more concrete or really developed until late in the story. So in the meantime there will be the little things and events that will help develop it, but not like a whirlwind of romance type of deal.
A lot of things have happened, and it might feel like a giant hot mess—I'm sure it feels that way to the characters—but things will start to fall into place as more pieces come together. Or rather, when the less obvious pieces become obvious. But if you think this story had a simple plot or was purely based off the Bermuda Triangle conspiracies…
Think again.
