"Not that I don't rock this look…" said Liz, as she and Patty emerged in matching red quipao, "but why are we the only ones who have to dress fancy?"
"Because, we are the hosts." said Kid, who was wearing a red Nehru jacket. "Even Dad's getting dressed up for the occasion."
At that moment, Lord Death emerged from his room. Instead of his usual plain black cloak, he wore a burgundy one with silver embroidery on the sleeves and mantle.
"How do I look?" he chirped.
"Fabulous, Dad." said Kid.
At that moment, two servants opened the front doors and the guests started pouring in. Absolutely everyone was dressed in the spirit of the holiday, seeing Sid dressed in a red and green striped sweater was both shocking and amusing and Blair was dressed quite wholesomely, save for the violet, snowflake-patterned open-chest sweater she wore. Ox and Harvar called in sick, so Kid promised to send them some party favors later. The Santa began breakdancing and two caterers began scurrying around offering small drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Everyone had been instructed to save room for a surprise he had prepared…his special brew of eggnog.
Scarecrow watched from his hiding place as the party commenced. The students were happy, the teachers were lively, and Stein's guard wasn't just down…it was completely gone. Stein was laughing, making jokes, guzzling absinthe, and loving it. Joker would have loved to be here right now, but he was spending Christmas Eve in the cold, hard ground…so either Stein or his loved ones would be joining him before the end of tonight. He watched as "Santa" stepped down from the stage as Soul Eater and Maka Albarn stepped one to sing Oh, Christmas Tree, he watched as Eruka and Mosquito served the last guests who had not eaten or drank yet. Once Maka and Soul finished singing, a large mistletoe and tripod camera were brought out.
"Who wants to go first?" Kid asked loudly.
"Us!" Black Star piped up, taking Tsubaki Nakatsukasa's hand.
Everyone began cheering and whistling as Black Star and Tsubaki smooched under the mistletoe.
"Oh, please…" Scarecrow sneered.
Kid took two photos and handed them to the two young lovers. Next were Kim Deihl and Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupré, followed by Stein and Marie. Finally, Patty Thompson approached Kid, who began nervously backing away.
"Patty…Patty, don't you dare…" he chuckled nervously.
He tried to make a break for it, but Liz Thompson grabbed him.
"Oh no ya don't!" she snickered, spinning him around, so Patty could take him in her arms and snog him. Kid struggled for a moment, before giving in and putting his arms tightly around Patty. Scarecrow saw Lord Death slinking off, so he checked his timepiece and saw that it was eleven fifty eight. Beneath his mask, he grinned in anticipation.
"Everyone!" Kid cried giddily as the cute blue-haired girl with pigtails and horn-rimmed glasses brought out a tray of glasses filled with his special eggnog. "Time for some fireworks!"
Everyone grabbed a glass and hurried to Kid's side as red, white, and green fireworks shot into the night sky and exploded in the shape of Lord Death's mask. Everyone began sipping the eggnog, but as soon as everyone had drained their glasses, the ballroom was full of the sounds of glass shattering and people gagging. All around him, Kid saw his friends dropping their glasses and clutching their throats. His first impulse was to grab Patty, whose face was turning a pale blue. Maka, Soul, Spirit, Tsubaki, Marie, Liz, Clay, and Jackie were all on the floor, choking and wheezing.
"S-Stein, do something!" Kid cried in desperation.
"Don't bother." said a familiar voice.
Everyone who wasn't choking looked up and saw that one of the servants had removed his wig to reveal the face of Giriko. At that moment, the servant girl removed her glasses and let her hair down…it was the frog-witch who helped revive Asura. The Santa tore off his hat, wig, and beard…it was the immortal wolf-man, Free.
"No way…" Crona gasped, trembling from head to toe.
"You!" Blair shouted at the pink-haired witch who strolled into the ballroom, munching on a cookie as though she had every right to be here.
Finally, the curtains parted and one last home-wrecker strolled out to meet the frightened Meisters and helpless Weapons.
"Merry Christmas…one and all!" he growled in malignant glee.
He was clad in a dark brown, crudely stitched, hooded trench coat. On his right hand, he wore a gauntlet with syringes attached, and his face was hidden behind a tattered burlap mask vaguely resembling a skull, only his ghoulish pale blue eyes, his torn lips, and what was left of his nose were visible. Stein seemed to be the first to recognize him.
"Crane?!" he gasped.
Crane…that was the name of one of the two madmen who attacked the city last year on Halloween.
"Stein, my old friend …" said Crane. "You look positively shocked to see me."
"I knew you'd be back one day!" Stein snarled, his voice seething with hatred. "But I didn't think it would be so soon!"
"You never should have abandoned your guard Stein." said Crane, relishing every moment of the hell he had raised.
"I have waited patiently for this night, the night when I walk back into your life to take everything and everyone you hold dear."
"Like Hell you will!" Stein hissed, releasing Spirit and lunging at Crane.
Crane morphed his left hand into the biggest scythe blade Kid had ever seen and thrust it toward Stein's stomach. Stein grabbed the blade just in time and held it at bay as best he could.
"Your students don't seem to be enjoying the little treat we added to Kid's eggnog." Crane went on, his voice frighteningly calm, despite his struggle with Stein. "We designed it to attack anyone with Demon Weapon blood within them. They will not die anytime soon though; we will have our fun with them after we've dealt with all of you. Now…on with the festivities!"
Before anyone else could make another move, Giriko's boot collided with Kid's face, knocking him away from Patty. He then morphed his right arm into a chainsaw blade and tried to bring it down on him, but he rolled out of the way. Blair screamed as the other caterer (who's soul felt very familiar) threw her off of Maka, who was desperately clinging to Soul. Glowing whisker-like blades shot out of the pink-haired witch's fingertips and she skewered Blair right in the thigh with them. Free punched Crona, knocking him away from Marie and blasted him into a wall with a magic blast from his magical eye. The frog-witch conjured one of her tadpole bombs, but Kim jumped to her feet and judo-tossed her away from Jackie, she got thrown back further from her own bomb exploding. Two muscle-bound men with Kishin-egg souls crashed through the skylight and wrestled Sid to the ground. Black Star protected Angela, and Mifune darted toward the caterer as he opened his mouth to reveal a pair of fangs. He dropped Maka, grabbed Mifune's wrist and twisted it, causing him to drop the kunai he had produced from his sleeve. He then backhanded Mifune, sending him flying across the room. He was about to reach down and seize Maka again, when one of Blair's magic pumpkins rammed into him, sending him tumbling away from her. Another collided with Free and exploded on impact. The explosion threw him back away from Crona, who summoned Ragnarok and unleashed their Screech Alpha attack. Free rolled away from the deadly wave and it struck the vampire, pushing him toward a window. Blair drove her fist into the pink-haired witch's eye and hurled two more bombs at the vampire as Crona fired a salvo of dark projectiles at Free. Kid–who had been clutching Giriko's arm, trying to keep the blade-part from touching him the whole time–finally managed to throw him back. He then got a few good hits on him with his Reaper Combat Art before suffering a deep cut to his shoulder. Another of Blair's pumpkins hit Giriko in the back, singing it, Kid then grabbed his head, slammed it onto his knee, and kneed him hard in the groin. Giriko fell back and swung his blade-arm again, slicing into Kid's midsection.
"This place is a little too crowded!" he shouted, clutching his groin. "Let's go!"
Each villain busted, sliced, or blasted their way out of the ballroom, as Crane continued to struggle with Stein. Kid and Black Star rushed toward them and Crane jabbed Stein with his syringes and ran for the nearest exit. He threw a large pouch at Kid and Black Star, which burst into a cloud of nebulous orange gas. He vanished and Kid and Black Star clapped their hands over their mouths and backed away from the gas.
"Are you alright, Stein?" Kid asked.
"Yeah," said Stein, "nothing I can't handle. But we need to get the others to my lab immediately."
"No, no…" said Sid, picking up Tsubaki, Spirit, Marie, and Jackie in his massive arms. "we'll take them to my place."
"Are you sure, Sid?" Stein inquired.
"Trust me, Stein." Sid insisted. "I've got this."
Hiro, Akane, and Clay were dead, sliced open by Giriko in the chaos. Crona had become good friends with Hiro, but he didn't have time to mourn him, so he picked up Maka and Blair picked up Soul. Stein picked up the Thompson sisters and Kid rushed to find his father, who he found still inside his mirror, which was almost completely shattered. He was clutching something large and circular, wrapped in glossy red paper.
"I'm sorry, son." he said. "A tiny pink-haired witch threw a bomb at the mirror and it broke before I could make it through, the mirror at the other end is broken too. What's going on out there?"
"Every villain we've ever faced came and crashed the party…the ones who are still alive, that is." Kid explained. "Everyone with Weapon blood, including Maka was poisoned, they're all being taken to Sid's place as we speak."
"Sid's place?"
"Yes, I suppose Stein's taught him a few things."
"Ever since last Halloween, the two of them have been together a lot." Lord Death noted. "What are you going to do?"
"Is there no way I can get you out of there?"
"No." his father replied. "At least one of the mirrors has to be repaired as carefully as possible and then enchanted again. That takes time you don't have."
"Then I'll stay and make sure no one comes back to damage this mirror further!" Kid swore. "Without my weapons, that's all I can do."
Kid sat by the broken mirror and began gasping, choking back sobs.
"Don't cry, my son." his father said softly, pressing his hand against the interior, as though trying to reach out for his son. "I know you feel helpless now, but you aren't…just wait…you'll see."
In less than two minutes, Stein helped Sid turn his studio apartment into an infirmary. Everyone who was poisoned was lying on a bed and hooked up to a heartbeat monitor. While Sid began extracting the infected blood out of them, Stein was pumping fresh blood back in. He knew every student's blood type, but this also meant they would be without their Weapon powers for a while. Stein's computer was hard at work, analyzing the poison, he doubted it would yield results quickly enough, but he still wanted to know what they were dealing with. He had just injected himself with an antidote to Crane's fear-inducing drug, but it took effect slowly.
"Where you going?" Sid demanded as Stein headed for the door.
"To find Crane!" Stein replied, slamming the door behind him.
Sid disposed of all the infected blood and checked to see that everyone was stable. Kim held Angela, who had her head buried in Kim's chest.
"Hey, Crona." said Sid. "What do you think would happen if we added a little of your Black Blood to everyone?"
"Well…" said Crona, thinking he knew what Sid was getting at. "Black Blood will protect them from ever being poisoned again, it may even neutralize any poison that's left in them now…but not everyone's mind and body can handle Black Blood. It could drive them completely mad…they're all so weak right now, it may even kill them."
"I see…" said Sid with a sigh. "Just a thought."
Crona watched as Black Star gently stroked Tsubaki's head, he watched as Kim laid Angela down beside her, then sat down beside Jackie and started caressing her hand. He watched as Blair pulled a handkerchief out from between her breasts, dabbed the tears from her eyes, and planted kisses on Soul and Maka's foreheads. He thought of kissing Miss Marie on the forehead or holding her hand, but what was the point? It wasn't going to make her wake up any faster. Suddenly, a loud boom erupted from somewhere in the residential district, followed by the sounds of screams. Everyone who was conscious rushed to a window and saw that several houses had been set ablaze and a few monstrous shapes were moving through the streets.
"…the hell they doing now?" Black Star demanded.
"Either they want to lure you away from your loved ones, or they're just tired of waiting." said Sid. "Either way, all of you, get out there and stop them. I'll protect the sick as best I can."
