Chapter 7: An Impossible Task
Maka hadn't expected things to fall out quite this way. After taking Tsubaki and Black*Star (for it turned out those were their names,) back to see the Council, Spartoi had been summarily dismissed as the two newcomers were taken in for questioning. Maka and her team would not be debriefed until the next day, and even then, it seemed cursory. It had troubled her then—it still did. The Council was hiding something, something big, that much was certain; Maka couldn't help but to want to know what.
Eager to solve what she saw as a particularly bothersome puzzle, the Scythe Meister took to asking questions, yet she received no real answers. Time and again, she was told that the Council was handling things without being offered further details. She had no idea what had happened or what was going on, and it frustrated her. She had even sunk so low as to go to her Papa, but while he had gushed over how happy he was to see her and had even paid lip service to telling her anything she wanted to know, Spirit had conveniently sidestepped every question she asked. She'd left fuming; she should have known better than to go to him for help. Council or not, father or not, he was still the man who had abandoned her. She wouldn't trust him as far as she could throw him, and even in Scythe form, that had never been far.
There were other things on her mind as well—things that helped to distract her from her annoyance at the situation surrounding that last mission. Or perhaps it was the other way around. Training had become all consuming; she couldn't let what had happened to Soul ever happen again. Maka hadn't been strong enough to stand against Crona, not then, but she would get strong enough, even if it killed her, because she couldn't lose Soul. She had already lost her father, the sting of his abandonment still strong. In the months since she had met her weapon, snarky and apathetic as he was, he had become her best friend, the most important thing in her life. When she had almost lost him, something inside of her broke, and she'd realized that in a very real way, Soul was her world now. Without him, she had nothing. So she would protect him with everything that she was, and to do that, she had to be stronger.
Their training had begun some time ago, even before they started to take missions. Once Soul was strong enough, whenever they had down time, Maka had insisted they train. Now that they were getting no missions, it was all she could think to do, and she pushed them to work harder and longer. But then she noticed how exhausted he seemed and wondered if the training was too much for him. Her weapon slept so little lately that she was becoming increasingly concerned, but every time she brought it up, asked him what was wrong, suggested he talk to Stein about his insomnia, Soul waved her off. He was fine, he insisted, she shouldn't worry. She was thinking too much, as usual, and hey, she wasn't looking so good herself since she never took a damned break anymore—it wasn't good for people to spend every second of every day either fighting, reading, or training. Then it was her turn to wave him off, and she decided to train alone, hoping it would help him to get some rest while still helping her to get stronger.
Maka asked to train with Stein, who was hailed by most as the strongest meister in Boulder, and found herself improving in a few short days. The break didn't help Soul, and as the dark circles under his eyes deepened, so did her worry. The fight with Crona had changed him, and this sleeplessness, this exhaustion, had her more than nervous. The Scythe Meister wished she knew how to help her weapon, tried to comfort him with small gestures like making his favorite foods or giving him the occasional random hug or unexpected squeeze to the shoulder. She had even taken to offering him backrubs to help him sleep, reveling in the closeness they shared in those moments. She tried not to think too deeply about what that meant; she had enough on her plate already, like trying to get stronger, figuring out what was going on with the Council, avoiding the red-headed asshole who had abandoned her, and above all, staying alive.
A week after the incident with Black*Star and Tsubaki, Spartoi received their first normal assignment in some time. It was clear that whatever was going on, they were never going to be in the loop, so Maka took out her frustration on the few unlucky kishin they ran into during routine reconnaissance. They all did. None of them were happy being in the dark, none happy to have been told nothing of the slaughter they had only just missed. Of Black*Star and Tsubaki there was no word. Soul tried to reassure her that it didn't matter, sensing, perhaps, her need to be reassured, but it didn't help; she could feel his own mistrust of the situation in his wavelength.
When they returned from their mission, Maka hoped they'd get another right away. Boulder was feeling less and less like home as she and her team felt more and more like unwitting pawns in some larger game. If they were going to be pawns, she for one would rather be in play where she had some measure of control.
But the real surprise, the thing that Maka could not have guessed at, was when the group was called to headquarters after their latest mission. The entire Council was in attendance, which was unusual enough—normally one member gave them orders or debriefed them—but what truly unnerved her was the presence of the blue-haired meister and his weapon. At first, she thought that meant that Spartoi would finally be brought into the fold, would finally learn the truth of the massacre they had stumbled upon, but that turned out to be a false hope. As the group filed in and stood before the town oligarchy, Azusa cleared her throat, looking to each in turn before settling her gaze on Maka.
"Your group did well on this latest mission, I hear. Good work, as usual," she began, her eyes sharp but her face a mask of neutrality. "Spartoi has been so successful that we have decided to strengthen your team. We have some…" Maka was disturbed by the uncharacteristic pause from the generally no nonsense Gunbow "…longer and more complex tasks in mind for your group in the near future, and we want to be sure you are well prepared. As a result, Black*Star and his weapon Tsubaki will be joining your squad. You will remain in charge, Maka, but I urge you to treat the two as equal members of your team. They will make strong additions."
The pigtailed meister blinked at the Council leader and had to stop herself from shaking her head. Still no answers, and now they were being thrown together with the two who were somehow tied to the center of it all. Maka wanted details, needed to know what was going on. No better time than now to find out.
"What sort of longer mission can we expect to face? I think it best we have some idea if we are to prepare properly."
"You will be informed when it becomes necessary." That older woman shut down her inquiry immediately. "For now, the situation is delicate. The most important thing is for your team to take in these new members and learn to work together—" she was cut off by the blue-haired meister, who looked at Maka with a cocky grin.
"Don't worry, pigtails. We got this. With me on your side, you can sit back and relax because I'm the new star of this team! Yahoo!" Maka just shook her head in disbelief as the other meister beamed at her, one fist pumping triumphantly in the air even as his weapon silently squeezed his other shoulder, though whether it was in warning or solidarity she could not tell from the tall woman's placid expression. Azusa resumed as if she had not been interrupted.
"Well, now that that's settled, you are all dismissed." Spirit cleared his throat beside her, and she nodded in recognition, though of what was unclear. "Why don't you all get to know one another? We will have your next assignment to you soon enough. I would encourage you all to take advantage of the off time. Good day."
The dismissal firm, Spartoi shuffled out of the room, clearly confused by the whole affair, the new duo in tow. Maka couldn't decide what bothered her most about the meeting—the silence of the rest of the Council, their unwillingness to tell them anything, or being saddled with new teammates when she was just starting to trust the old ones. In any case, Azusa was right: if they had to work as a team, it really was best if they got to know each other. Maka was in charge, that much had been clearly reaffirmed, so it was up to her to bring her team together.
Once they were out of the Council room (really just a mid sized meeting room in one of the old downtown business buildings that had been claimed as headquarters,) the Scythe Meister turned to the rest of Spartoi, her focus on Tsubaki and Black*Star.
"Why don't we all go back to mine and Soul's house. We can have lunch and maybe watch a movie—" She felt Soul's hand on her shoulder and gave him a brief, questioning look. His eyes flicked pointedly to Black*Star and she got the message: were they really ready to have this guy in their house? It was a fair point. "—or we could play some basketball or go to The Warehouse," she shifted gears quickly.
"Yosh! Basketball! Bring it ON, pigtails!"
Basketball it was. And so, over a game of hoops, they had begun to get to know their new teammates.
It took more than just basketball for Black*Star and Tsubaki to become a real part of Spartoi. After a heated game (Black*Star, Maka, and Harvar beat Kilik, Tsubaki, and Soul—Ox and the twins sat out,) came a meal at one of the few small communal dining halls around town. Over the course of that meal and several to follow, they discovered that the Black*Star had come from Vegas of all places, the den of sin and Asura. He was a loud mouth, an idiot half the time, but he was also strong and determined and clearly devoted to his weapon, and in spite of his brash exterior, Maka was building a quiet respect for his loyalty and skill. She also saw how well Soul seemed to like the other meister even as he scoffed at his idiocy to Maka; seeing her generally aloof and suspicious weapon make a new friend had her smiling, and she silently thanked whatever fate had brought the blue-haired meister to them. After the loss of his brother, with their fight with Crona still clearly haunting him, Soul needed all the friends he could get.
Black*Star's weapon, Tsubaki, was tall, dark, and Japanese. The Shadow Weapon was both beautiful and deadly, but she was also cheerful and friendly, if somewhat quiet. Maka liked her very much and found it something of a relief to have another woman on the team, even if that woman made her look like a little boy by comparison. The newcomers made a strange combination to be sure, but their affection for one another was obvious and Maka found herself increasingly glad they had joined their team, even if they sometimes caused her headaches.
The real test of the new group came on their first mission together several days later. It was not the mission promised—Stein informed them that the Council would have orders for that soon, but that they were still "working out the kinks," as he put it. Instead, it was a standard supply run, with standing orders to take out any manageable kishin within range. Their destination was called Tri-Lakes, three small towns packed together on the mountainside just north of the old Air Force Academy, less than 100 miles south of Boulder. The Academy itself had long since been thoroughly plundered by Boulder patrols, and now they were making their way to some of the outlying areas. The heart of the area they were supposed to search was Palmer Lake, a picturesque little mountain town, a bit off the highway but still easily accessible; it was a gold mine of old canned goods and other necessities, as were most such places. Nestled on the mountainside and criss crossed by dirt roads, houses, and quaint shops and restaurants, it was the type of place Maka thought must once have been nice to live in, the type she sometimes read about in books, full of close neighbors and laughter. It was a desolate place now, an overgrown, crumbling reminder of all that they had lost, a place being slowly but surely reclaimed by nature, as was most of their world.
They had traveled down paths well worn by Boulder patrols to get to the town, so no kishin had been forthcoming on their journey. Yet, so close to the feast that the forests could provide such creatures, Maka finally sensed enemies as Spartoi rifled through the third house that morning. The group, following her lead, sped off to confront the threat, trusting the pigtailed meister when she insisted the enemies were well within their capabilities to handle.
The pair of kishin stood at the edge of what must have once been the lake, but was now more a patch of mud and grass, stalking a mountain lion that had stopped to drink at a small pool of water that was either the remains of the last snowfall that had melted in the unseasonably warm weather of the past week, or else, some remnant of the spring that had likely once fed this lake. As the tawny creature lapped at the water languidly in the brisk early winter air, the two misshapen things silently stalked forward, circling around to surround the big cat with a speed and agility that seemed foreign to such grotesque forms. The predator was about to become the prey and, confident in its dominance here so near its hunting grounds, didn't even notice the approaching danger. The kishin were massive, hulking things, moving quickly on two legs, grey, spiky and mean looking.
Maka was about to signal to hold back and attack once they were distracted with tearing apart their prey when she heard a shout of "Yahoooooo!" and saw the blue-haired meister bound in, Tsubaki at the ready in her Chain scythe form. The mountain lion looked up quickly at the sound and, seeing the humans and monsters alike, bolted in the gap left by the kishin. The kishin themselves had only time to snarl before Black*Star was on them, swinging the chain out wide to slice through one before dodging and performing a dazzling flip to land behind it and kick out forcefully, knocking it to the ground on its face. As the thing tried to get up, Black*Star came in with a punch that made not just Maka, but all of them, gasp. His hand glowed and the blow struck with such force that the creature dissolved before them, leaving only a tainted soul. The entire group was struck dumb, simply watching the blue-haired menace as he spun about to face the other enemy, who had thought to sneak up on him while he was distracted.
"YOU DARE TRY TO ATTACK A GOD FROM BEHIND?" the meister bellowed. "Tsubaki, ninja star mode!"
"Right!" the Shadow Weapon replied, and in a flash of light, Black*Star held a gigantic Throwing Star where once had been a Chain Scythe. He swung it around as the creature charged, throwing it to cut the thing in two. That kishin, too, disappeared, leaving only a tainted red orb behind. Black*Star turned to face the group as Tsubaki transformed behind him, cocking one hand on his hip.
"Well?" he looked over his companions. "Are you ready to bow before your god now?"
The stunned members of Spartoi, having been transfixed into inaction by the sheer spectacle before them, exchanged confused glances before there was a laugh. It came from Soul, and Maka looked to him and laughed as well. It was comical. It was ridiculous. Yet, it was reality. This ridiculously strong, heedless idiot, this was their new teammate. And the idiot was proclaiming himself a god. A GOD. Well, the pigtailed meister reasoned, at least he could fight. The others joined in, and soon all of Spartoi was breathless with mirth. Black*Star looked affronted, his other hand finding his free hip as he eyed the group with a frown.
"HEY! What's so funny?" Maka burst out into another fit of giggles at how comical the other meister looked staring them all down, in stark contrast with his weapon, who was red with embarrassment, eyes downcast. Soul struggled next to his meister, wheezing in gulps of air to try to say something.
"Y..y…you, dude. YOU." He managed as he practically choked on his own guffaws.
Black*Star eyed the group seriously for a few minutes, perplexed, causing the laughter to increase once more. Finally, he shook his head and offered a half shrug.
"These people are weirdos," he murmured to Tsubaki, words Maka just barely caught through her own now dying giggles.
"Well," he spoke up, motioning to Tsubaki to take care of the souls as he stepped towards the group. "Now that your god has taken care of business, don't we have shit to do?" He looked directly as Maka, who found her laughter dying off at the quick change. This guy really was strange.
"Uh, right. Come on guys. Let's see what else we can find." With Maka's orders, Spartoi moved back to pilfering supplies, but after that moment, the strange meister and his quiet weapon somehow felt like a part of their group, and god complex or not, reckless or not, Black*Star and Tsubaki made the team more whole.
A few missions later and the group really was a team. Once she had figured out that the Star was driven by pure ego and had the skills to back his claim, it wasn't hard to set him on the most obvious tasks, and he would generally perform and perform well. Maka could equally count on him to deal with the biggest kishin or hunt down a large supply of canned goods, because both tasks allowed him to proclaim his mighty godhood. More tricky was getting him to listen to intricate plans, or to tone down his actions when a mission required stealth. She was still learning how to manage him in those situations, but in all, things were working out well enough and she understood why the Council had seen fit to add these two to their number. Less clear was the motivations of the pair themselves; they were rather tight lipped about why they had come to Boulder, which Maka found frustrating, but she hoped they would reveal their hand in time.
When Spartoi was finally called in front of the whole Council again a few weeks after gaining their new teammates, Maka could not be surprised—after all, she had been warned that they had some sort of grand mission in mind for the group. What did surprise her was the mission itself. Standing in that same Council room in front of the assembled elders, she stifled a gasp as she heard the pronouncement.
"Spartoi's next mission is to find Lord Shinigami," the Gunbow said, looking down on the group with the same unreadable expression she always wore, the same expression she was known for. Maka looked Azusa in the eyes, her gaze level as she felt the tension and confusion in the souls of her teammates and the strange resolve of the Council members themselves. Even her father felt determined, if conflicted. But it made no sense! The woman had just told her that Spartoi was being charged with doing the impossible. She had just told them, beyond all rhyme or reason, that her group, her group of all people, were supposed to find a long dead god.
"I am sorry, Lady Azusa, but I must not have heard you right. Even the Shinigami himself, when he lived, could not raise the dead, and now he is among them. We cannot find a god who no longer exists."
There was a pause as Azusa stared at her, her face remaining unreadable. Finally, she nodded.
"Of course we do not ask you to find a dead god, but a living demi god. We ask you to find Lord Death's son." Maka felt her jaw drop of its own accord, could sense the surprise of her teammates around her.
"His...what? That isn't...He couldn't...He didn't….did he?" she sputtered.
"He could and he did," Azusa replied matter of factly. "Few are aware of this. Only those weapons and meisters left at Shibusen when it all fell apart knew, most of whom are in this room, but right before he died, Lord Death expelled a fragment of himself into the world, one immune to the plague unleashed by Medusa. He ordered the infant to be taken and raised up to replace him when the time came. It has been two decades—the time has come." Maka knew her jaw had dropped further, dropped almost to the floor. She thought she knew everything there was to know about Shibusen, yet her father had never told her this. Her gaze strayed accusingly to him for a moment, and he pointedly looked at his hands, the guilt in his soul palpable. Her teammates remained silent, unwilling or unable to speak. She looked back to Azusa and shook her head, was about to voice her confusion, when someone beat her to it.
"That's why you want Spartoi," the voice she heard was low and dangerous. Soul's voice. "You need Maka, need her Soul Perception to find him, don't you? But why not one of you? BJ or Azusa or Stein?"
"Because Asura will expect that." This came from the doctor, ever the strategist. "We are needed closer to home. If Asura is sending Masamune here, he won't stop at one attack. He will send others, and soon. He'll watch our leadership for signs of where to strike, and when he finds such signs, he will strike hard."
"That makes no sense," Maka heard Tsubaki say from beside her and was surprised that the shy Shadow Weapon had spoken at all. "Masamune said that what he wanted was not here. Why, then, do you concern yourselves with him? He will not attack Boulder again, of that I am certain. "
"It isn't him we're worried about," Spirit spoke up. "Masamune was just the beginning. We have good information that Asura will continue to make moves against us, and soon; we need to prepare, to defend—"
"—and to throw the Kishin off from his real goal," Stein cut in.
"Which is what, exactly, because you all seem to be talking in fucking circles without getting to the point," Soul interrupted with barely contained frustration. Maka would have chopped him for swearing at the Council if she weren't so close to doing so herself.
"The Shinigami," Azusa spoke again, eyeing the group sternly. "Same as you."
"But—" Maka began, unsure, even, what she wanted to say. She was surprised when Tsubaki cut her off.
"How will this lead to Masamune?" The Shadow Weapon's voice was low and dangerous.
"Because we believe that finding and eliminating the Shingami is the Dark Sword's goal. Tezca Tlipoca had been looking for the fragment for years, and he finally had a lead. Masamune left because of information he got from the Demon Mirror. That he, too, seeks the Shinigami is the only logical conclusion." The Gunbow's voice was even more stern than was her custom. She was clearly becoming annoyed with their questions.
"That still doesn't explain why you're sending Spartoi to do this," Maka couldn't help the frustration from slipping into her voice. "As Soul said, I'm not the only one who has Soul Perception, and it seems like a Deathscythe would be more suited to dealing with someone like Masamune."
"True. Which is what Asura will believe as well," Stein smiled down at her coldly. "He will have eyes looking for us. He won't be looking for you, which is why your group is the right choice. Masamune will be looking as well," his gaze shifted pointedly to Tsubaki, then back to Maka, "and it is imperative that you find the fragment first and protect the new Shinigami at all costs. We need the fragment to stand up against Asura, and it is your job to find him." Before Maka could protest again, Stein looked to Spirit, who nodded.
"We have an idea of where he might be. Stein and I will fill you in on the details, if you wouldn't mind following us." Spirit stood, followed by Stein, while the rest remained seated.
"Don't worry!" she heard Black*Star's too-loud voice proclaim. "Your god will take care of this!"
Ignoring the other meister's typical idiocy, Maka swept her gaze over the Council chamber. Marie, who had remained silent, looked unhappy, and Maka could read the trepidation in her soul. Azusa showed no emotion in soul or countenance, and BJ felt almost hopeful and looked the same. The mix of reactions was disconcerting and Maka couldn't help but to feel that they were getting in far, far over their heads. The very idea that there was a Shinigami anymore, let alone that he could be found, was absurd, yet this was their mission. Maka might have laughed if she didn't felt like crying, but did neither, shifting her gaze ahead of her as she followed Stein and her father out of the room. They'd been given a task, an impossible task, and somehow she felt this could not end well. These things never really did.