It wasn't long before they came upon an obstacle, in the form of Medusa planted smack dab in the way. She obviously didn't intend to let any of them pass. They promptly held a little battle conference in the middle of the hallway - ignoring her presence, mainly because they didn't have a choice. Medusa had told them that her son … which turned out to be Crona, was also waiting for them further down, and if any of them somehow managed to get past her, he would kill them anyways.
A plan was devised, Stein and Spirit would take on Medusa, and the others would simply have to wait for an opportunity to get past her. It was agreed that Kid would go ahead since he was the fastest, and would try to get to the Kishin first. Black Star would take on Crona, since he could use direct soul attacks like Stein. And Maka and Soul would back up Kid, or take on any more surprises they found along the way.
"You people are either overly confidant or just stupid to be holding a strategy meeting right in front of me," Medusa observed, looking miffed and also bemused.
Stein sent her a grin. "Or maybe just desperate."
Medusa shrugged. It was obvious there was some tension there between them, and Soul and Maka shared a look.
Still, this wasn't the time to be gossiping about the faculty… because they were facing a very powerful witch. She proved just how powerful, when she unleashed a mass amount of black arrow things from her body. None of them were sure exactly what they were or what they did, but nobody was under the impression that running into them would be fun, happy times. Likely they were sharp and fatal.
Kid and Black Star got past easily enough, being inhumanly fast as they were, but it was a bit tougher for Maka.
She waited until there was an opening in the arrows, and then ran; putting every ounce of strength she had into her legs to propel her as fast as possible. But more arrows sprouted from Medusa's body and curved up in a deadly arch… before shooting right at her.
"Run Maka!" Soul yelled, seeing them coming.
She didn't waste breath on a response – she could see them just as clearly.
It was terrifying. The jet black tips looked deadly sharp as they came towards her and she had absolutely no doubt that they had the capability to rip her to shreds. Her mind quickly analyzed the situation, and she could tell that the only way she could possibly make it through alive was to go straight through the center, right at Medusa. It wasn't a path the witch expected her to take obviously, but it was her only option and so she did it without hesitation. The only obstacle was her own physical limitation. She was already pushing herself to the absolute maximum speed she could achieve, but it still wasn't quite enough.
"Just keep running! Don't worry about it!" Soul shouted.
Blindly, Maka trusted him and put every ounce of concentration into forwards momentum, not even looking at the arrows. Their souls had already been synced since falling, and so she could sense him as he shifted his hilt in her hands, and –feeling his intention – she shifted his hilt around her body without looking, wielding him blindly. None of her attention was on him, it was all on moving forwards as fast as possible, and so it was up to him to guide her hands and body, which he did with nudges of his own soul against hers and his metal against her skin.
As they met the arrows, he whipped around her running form, knocking all of the deadly projectiles aside. She used a palm here or there to prevent him from flying away from her, but mostly it was his hilt rotating around her limbs that warded off the black points of death.
They squeaked through the narrow opening with only a few shallow cuts, since they had managed to get there just a hair before the majority of the arrows. Thanks to that, Soul had been able to deflect the glancing blows easily enough. If he hadn't though, there had been a few that would have pierced and stalled her for the rest to turn her into a pincushion.
Maka never slowed, and slipped right past Medusa, with only an inch or so to spare between their bodies.
She kept running, and didn't stop until she had put a great deal of distance between her and the witch. Then she paused for a brief moment to catch her breath, feeling like her lungs were about to pop under the pressure. Her knees bent and she braced herself with one hand on a leg as she fought for breath, her other hand holding Soul propped across her shoulders and back.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." She wheezed back, and slowly straitened.
"Well, you sound marvelous." His reflection grimaced at her, showing a full set of pointy whites as he dismissed the statement that she was fine.
"Thanks…." Her voice matched his for sarcasm, but it lacked any sort of bite.
Soul stayed in weapon form as they continued down the path. She let his hilt rest across her shoulders and used it as a perch for her forearms, which helped to open up her lungs some and get more oxygen in her.
It wasn't long before they came upon Black Star and Crona. Unsurprisingly, it seemed Black Star had already made a move on the pink haired boy.
Strangely….as soon as Maka saw him, something bloomed within her. It wasn't rage exactly – though anger bubbled in her blood – and it wasn't exactly a wish for vengeance either. It was simply the utter knowledge that he was her opponent…hers to defeat. She didn't exactly know where the feeling came from or why. The only thing that could possibly explain the odd sensation, was that it stemmed from sheer intuition, a second sense that she had learned to trust in battle, because it usually proved right. It was the same sort of knowledge that had told her not to go into the chapel where she had first met Crona, and not listening to it that time had nearly costed Soul's life. She wouldn't be making that mistake again.
Whatever the cause, it drove her to interrupt their battle.
Black Star was predictably enraged. "What are you doing Maka?! This is my spotlight!"
He almost looked like he was going to punch her next … until he saw her expression. Those flat, intense green eyes glared through him, focused solely on Crona. "He's mine."
For once, Black Star backed off…. But he did it with his usual flair. "Pshhh! This guy's too small for a big guy like me to defeat anyways! Scream for me if you need help!"
So saying, he set off down the way with a loud scream of, "WAAAHOOOOO!"
"Maka, what are you doing? Do you seriously think we can take this guy on?" Soul asked urgently.
"Honestly? No."
There was a long pause, and then Soul began to laugh. "You're crazy Maka, you know that right?"
"Yep."
"Alright then. Let's do this thing."
Crona was exactly the same as she remembered – seemingly timid, mad as a hatter, and not knowing how to deal with anything, including Maka.
The battle commenced. Maka went at him with scythe blade, which only resulted in cutting his hand as he blocked it. Those kinds of attacks weren't going to work on him, not with his black blood which shot out at her like a spear. Crona attacked with his scream resonance omega, driving Soul and Maka back.
"How's a toothpick like him so fucking strong?!" Soul groused after a bit.
"It's the black blood! It's strengthening his body."
"Yeah, no shit."
What Maka didn't say, was that there was something else, something she could just barely grasp with her soul perception. She could almost see a twinkling of something recognizable in him, and it was the thing that had given her a sense that she couldn't possibly lose somehow. But she just couldn't put her finger on it.
If only she had more time, if only she was as powerful as Crona…maybe then she could figure it out. She had to submerge herself into her soul perception if she wanted to find Crona and figure out just what it was that she was sensing. But she couldn't do that at her current level of power. Maybe she couldn't do it anyways, since she had no notion of the madness clouding his mind – and to truly understand that …thing that was calling to her…she might have to synchronize her soul with his. Without his insanity, she doubted she would be able to sync to him.
At any rate, there was no way they would even survive this battle at their current power level.
"Soul…maybe we should…"
Picking up on her train of thought, Soul's reflection grinned in his blade. "Good thing we've practiced this before right?"
"Yeah."
"Soul resonance!" they said in unison.
Maka concentrated on Soul, and matched her wavelength to his, as he did the same thing. With a crackle and pop they began to merge, their souls matching up until they harmonized perfectly and melted together. The resonance was stronger than anything they had done before, and Maka almost shied away, but she fought the urge to put up a shield between them. There was no time for that kind of nonsense right now.
Right now, practically becoming one soul was almost comforting as she felt a surge of power flood through her. It was nearly intoxicating, and thus it took her a moment to realize that they were… glowing. The power coming off of their combined soul wavelengths reflected light off the ground and encircled them, a ring of power kicking up dust as it started rotating around Maka's feet. It caused her pigtails to blow and her coat to be picked up as if in a sharp breeze, despite the fact that there was no wind.
Crona and Ragnarok resonated too though, and a similar ring of light appeared around them, theirs being purple while the light around Maka was blue like the color of Soul's soul.
"We need to resonate higher!" Soul urged, hearing the stronger resonance coming from their opponents.
Maka nodded, trusting him, and tried to match her wavelength even tighter to his. It got to the point that she felt like their breath became one, their heartbeats became one, and she could feel Soul almost inside every part of her. It was intense, but she couldn't focus on the nearly crushing intimacy of it, she had to wield his blade.
"Witch Hunter!"
Soul's red and black scythe grew abruptly into the large crescent shape she remembered from the last time, and he glowed white hot as if he could burn her, but his steel remained cool to the touch though he now vibrated with power in her hands. She could feel their combined souls' wavelengths pulsing through the metal, as if he thrummed to the same beat that held their souls so tightly together. They could both feel that same pulse throbbing within them, and could also feel the other's sensation of it. It was like a room with a mirror on either side, reflected back and forth into infinity. They could see into each other forever.
It was intoxicating, feeling so much power resonating in her hands and inside of her, but at the same time it was an immense destructive force, one which she knew she could discharge accidentally and kill them both. She used every ounce of training and practice to wield him safely. Strangely though, it almost seemed to come naturally this time. Because they were so closely linked, he knew where she wanted him to go, and he went there.
Without further ado, they launched themselves at Crona and attacked with a number 6 attack and a letter U attack, both of which she had read about in a book and had been dying to try out. They were two different deadly arches, one coming from above and curling under. The second reversed its course and then came up from underneath. They were executed perfectly, and yet they didn't seem to affect Crona at all, and he broke the Witch Hunter easily.
In contrast, they staggered back under Crona's assault. They were still resonating, but didn't have the time to form another Witch Hunter attack.
This was mainly because Soul was afraid to resonate with Maka any higher, and had even toned it down a level, because he could feel the black blood pulsing strongly in his veins and knew if he bound himself any more tightly to her, it would infect her as well. That was the last thing he wanted.
But that dumb little devil just wouldn't let it drop.
"Come now Soul, do you really think this is going to work? Just let your reason go. Let me take the lead, I can give you so much power…"
"No. My reason and sanity stays right where it is. You can give me all the power you want, but I'm going to control it. It's not going to control me."
"Yes? And what about Maka? You refuse to resonate with her any higher because of your fear. The both of you will die if you keep this up."
Soul winced, not because of what the devil said, but because Crona's screaming resonance was hitting him at full force and had already caused a few superficial wounds to his soul. Even here, in the dark red and black of his personal soul-space where he was currently arguing with his resident demon, the pain was getting to him.
"See? That boy is going to tear you apart. You can't fight insanity with reason. You have to fight dark with dark. Insanity with insanity."
"No."
At his continued denial, the little beast lost his normally pristine composure and started yelling, complete with flying spittle.
"You dumb incompetent little brat! Do you think you can get all the power and not give something up in return!? It doesn't work that way! You have to give up your sanity! GIVE INTO THE MADNESS! GIVE UP YOUR HUMANITY ALREADY! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FIGHTING SPIRIT, EH?"
He raged at Soul…but Soul raged right back, in the exact same tone and volume and level of crazy mad. He even matched the demon's spittle and bared sharp teeth.
"OH YEAH? Well how about you just shut up you bastard? You mean nothing to me! And nothing doesn't fucking SPEAK! I'm the lead here, I control this ship, and you do not make any decisions - so shut the fuck up already! If you have any brilliant tips on how to gain more power then tell me and I'll decide whether I want to go with your idea! But don't give me any more of this fucking 'go insane' crap because I'm over it!"
"Just how am I supposed to tell you how to gain power while also shutting up?"
"I dunno! Pretend you're a mime!"
Meanwhile, the black blood had already found its way back inside of Maka despite Soul's attempts to prevent that from happening. Her concentration shifted from the battle to a small insidious voice that spoke to her in her own head, ushering her inwards. Suddenly it was like she had a split consciousness - there was a part of her that was still outside, focusing on the battle, but another part was drawing inward. Suddenly she found herself in an unfamiliar space. With her soul perception, she automatically knew that this was Soul's personal soul-space, the scene he pictured inside of his soul when he retreated to it. It was nothing like her own soul-space, but then that shouldn't surprise her.
Everyone had a different soul-space, and it wasn't entirely by choice. It was partly what you would call a person's 'happy place' but it was also their deep subconscious, and so they didn't necessarily have control over what showed up there or how it looked.
There were several surprises in Soul's.
She never would have expected it to be so…formal…or dark. It looked elegant and ominous, with red and black checkered floors and red velvet walls. If it wasn't so gloomy, it would have been almost a seductive setting, and still was in a way. But it was definitely a menacing sort of seductive. There were paintings on some of the walls, and in fact she caught a glimpse of one area that seemed more brightly lit – partially hidden behind a heavy curtain – which was all paintings. Currently she was in what appeared to be a formal sitting room, complete with an old record player…the kind with a trumpet-like speaker.
She supposed this is what people meant by someone having an old-soul…although she never would have pegged Soul as possessing one.
The largest surprise of all was the fact that he wasn't alone in here; he had a little red demon guy who was persistently arguing with him. Since Soul hadn't noticed her yet, she took the time to do a little eavesdropping, feeling a bit bad about it but unable to pass up this perfect opportunity to find out just what was going on with him. It wasn't difficult to figure out.
This little demon guy was the physical manifestation of the black blood in Soul's body, and it was trying to persuade him to submit to the insanity dwelling within him. This was undoubtedly the dark power she had felt from Soul, and the reason his wavelength had grown so powerful and very nearly overwhelmed her own once or twice. But he obviously had acquired a tight control over the little demon, because he was holding his own.
Maka couldn't help but be impressed at how Soul fended off the demon's insistence, with a practiced ease which told her this was probably a near constant conversation going on in his soul. But it did give her an idea.
Soon, the demon turned and ushered her in, and suddenly she knew it was him who had called her here to begin with, undoubtedly to use her as a bargaining chip. He was up to something, and planned to use her, but she planned to use him instead.
"Maka?! What are you doing here?!"
"Well, I'm not actually sure. I think he somehow called me." She answered, pointing at the little demon.
Soul scowled at him. "What's the meaning of this? Are we all in my brain or something?"
"Well, your souls are still resonating right now. So it was easy to bring her to your soul-space. You're basically the same soul when you resonate after all."
"How do I know this isn't just something you made up? How do I know it's really her?"
Soul promptly followed the question by grabbing Maka and poking, prodding, and generally testing her. He stuck his fingers in her mouth to pull on her cheeks, yanked on her nose, tugged on her ears, everything he could think of to verify her identity. She could only put up with so much of that before… "Maka….CHOP!"
Where she pulled the book from she wasn't sure, but it appeared when she needed it.
"Okay…yeah she's the real Maka." Soul groaned, holding his head.
After a moment of silence – in which he crouched and nursed his sore head – he stood and gave her a thorough once-over. "So, what's up with that outfit?"
She glanced down, noticing for the first time that she was wearing a long black dress. It was quite a pretty dress really. The bodice and skirt were made of a silky, gleaming material that slunk around her form and hugged her like a second skin. The bodice was strapless and curved over her breasts in a beautiful manner, and above that was thin, sheer black mesh that covered practically all exposed skin. It ended midway up her neck in almost a turtleneck fashion - though it was so comfortable she couldn't even feel it really and had to discern where it ended with a finger run across her throat. The stranger part was how the sheer mesh also covered her shoulders and arms, all the way down to her fingers. The skirt was long, down to her ankles, and loosened around her hips from the snug bodice to flow gracefully when she moved. She was thankful that the skirt wasn't tight like the rest of it, because as comfortable as it felt on her upper body, she doubted it would have been comfortable restricting the movement of her legs.
She looked back up to see Soul staring at her expectantly, and remembered that he had just asked her why she was wearing said dress.
"Uh, I don't know. Probably for the same reason you're dressed like that." She countered.
He glanced down at his black pinstripe suite and blood red shirt. This suite was even better tailored than the one he had worn to the dance, and made him look even more handsome – a sentiment she instantly silenced. But she couldn't help thinking he looked dangerous almost, like a very powerful gangster – like a mob boss. Or a pimp – a concept which almost had her laughing.
He heard her second idea and scowled at her. They were still resonating, and could hear each other's thoughts to a certain extent. They still couldn't pick up on the thoughts that were hidden inside their respective safe-boxes, but any strong images or feelings that flashed through their minds were fair game. Thankfully she'd hidden the ones on how handsome she thought he looked before he'd picked up on them. She had heard his thoughts on her outfit though, and had been pleased to hear that he thought she was beautiful in the dress, though she refused to dwell on that fact.
He wasn't too pleased about her thinking that he looked like a pimp though, but then she sensed amusement from him and a surge of pleasure. It wasn't that he wanted to look like a pimp, but the previous comparison did please him - that of a powerful gangster, which he thought was pretty cool.
She rolled her eyes at him, amused by his thought process.
But of course things just had to get weirder, and for whatever reason the little demon guy thought that this was a conversation that would be done best while dancing. So he put on some swanky music, and Maka couldn't help but think it was oddly sexy in a weird jazzy way. It was certainly seductive – which was appropriate really, since the demon was trying to seduce them both.
This time, as they came together to dance, Soul wasn't stiff like before. He was in his element, in his own soul in fact, and he was in control. There wasn't any of the uncertainty of before; though it was obvious he found the situation somewhat odd and uncomfortable like her. But surprisingly, it wasn't as weird as she would have thought. It almost seemed natural, like this was a thing they were supposed to do…as if dancing together in their temporarily joined souls was the most natural thing in the world. It was easy.
"You have to lead this time Soul. I don't know how to do this." The music that devil had put on was weird to her, and she couldn't pick up on a beat to dance to.
He smiled. "Yeah. This time for sure."
That was a comment on her stepping on his foot before.
He did indeed take the lead. Being in a soul-space, it was difficult to tell if they were really moving or not, but it felt like they were. Yet of course there was no physical stress, so there was no getting out of breath. He pulled her close this time, instead of keeping her at arm's length, and she could feel the warmth of their "bodies" heating the space between them. Their faces were close, quite close in fact since they were almost the same height, although she'd noticed he'd grown a little lately.
"So…what are you doing here, Maka?"
"Like I said, he called me."
"Yeah, but why did you come?"
She remained silent for a while. That idea she had was still percolating in her mind, and she felt that now was probably the time to bring it up to Soul.
"Hey Soul, when we're resonating like this, you can read my mind right?"
He blinked, and then his eyes sharpened as he obviously took the hint and intentionally paid attention to her thoughts. She could feel him there, in her mind. Though she had been able to feel him there the whole time… now it was a more distinct presence. It was a little unsettling, but she didn't focus on that, instead she laid out the idea she had. She wanted to use the black blood and infect herself with the same insanity that Crona had. The black blood would strengthen and protect her and give her the time necessary to go deep into her soul perception and try to find his soul…and that mysterious something she had been able to sense. The resulting insanity would also help her by letting her sync her soul to his once she'd found him. She was positive that would be the key to their success.
She could see when it clicked in Soul's mind, and heard his disbelief loud and clear. "You have got to be kidding. You wanna use the black blood? Seriously?"
"Yes Soul. If I could just be as strong as him, just for a little while…I know I sensed something in him. But I can't reach it if I'm this weak. Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it without matching his insanity. "
"There's gotta be a better way."
"I can't see one. We're running out of time."
"Maka, if you do this, you know that the madness might drag you under right? You may not come back the same person."
That was a frightening thought, and he could sense the little zing of unease that went through her, but she was stubborn and she'd made up her mind.
He could feel that easily enough.
After a long moment…. "Okay, okay. I give." He said with a sigh. And then he pulled her closer, almost to the point where their bodies touched. There was barely an inch between their faces as he said seriously, "But remember Maka, I'm still your weapon. No matter how far you sink, I'll pull you out. I swear."
Normally, the proximity would have sent her running the other way, but at the moment they were talking soul to soul, were inside Soul's personal mind and heart, and were dancing in front of a demon that was about to flood her with black blood. So it didn't bother her nearly as much as it normally would have. There were too many other weird things going on for her to focus on, though her heart did seem to pick up a bit more.
"I know." She said simply with a smile.
"Good."
He released her at that point.
The agreement had been struck, and suddenly she could feel darkness seeping into her through their connection. She was ripped from the posh red and black sitting room, and was thrown into a puddle of blackness so dark and deep she couldn't tell up from down. This was a different kind of soul-space. It was similar to the empty space that a weapon's soul would retreat to during weapon form, the blank space that was reflected in their blade. It was the kind that stripped you of your clothes and left your soul naked and faintly glowing.
Her body was now no longer her own really. The split from before - where half her attention was on the fight and half was on the conversation taking place in Soul's mind - was no longer the case. The tiny bit of reason still left in the half controlling her was swamped by a wave of crazy. The insanity tugged at her, driving her to do the strangest, craziest things. She couldn't control her actions or what she said anymore really. It was her, but not her.
The real her was inside, deep in a pit of blackness, watching the activities from there. She cringed as her body did a few particularly embarrassing things, like bite Crona's head for some reason. That was humiliating – even more so when she followed it up with a gigantic lick.
"Maka! What are you doing out there?!"
That was Soul's voice ringing inside her.
They were still resonating.
"I'm not out there…not really. I'm insane now remember? I have no control over my actions anymore. I'm lost in the blackness…"
"Well hurry up! Do whatever you've gotta do… and fast! Or else you'll never be able to come back!"
She could hear the strain in his voice and knew instinctively through their connection that he was being pulled under with her. "Hang in there Soul, now that I have the same madness, I can match my soul's wavelength to Crona's and figure out how to fix this. Just a little longer."
She felt his affirmative.
Though she was trapped in here, it was perfect really. She still had access to her soul perception, and so she used it to its fullest in the darkness. The first soul she spotted was the closest – hers. It was small and shone with a golden light. It looked almost like it had pigtails, sort of like her, which was a feature she had long since been amused about.
The next closest was of course Soul's. Smiling tenderly, she swam up to the little glowing blue ball, which funnily enough was stamped with a jagged impression of his sharp teeth, and without thinking she embraced it. It was simply an instinct really, like when you see an adorable kitten or puppy you just have to pet and snuggle. Not that she thought Soul's soul was cute like a baby animal. No, his soul was beautiful, warm, and drew her like a moth to a lightbulb. It felt like home and friendship and love, and holding it gave her a small bit of sanity back, and comforted her in this strange inky world she now found herself in.
Meanwhile, Soul was not having a fun time by any means.
As soon as Maka accepted the black blood and was sucked into insanity Soul found himself chest deep in the same miasma, which kept trying to drag him down with her. He absolutely refused though, and through sheer stubbornness managed to keep his head up and above the blackness. He could barely feel Maka's soul wavelength anymore, so steeped in blackness was it.
Then, suddenly, he felt her, like a warm embrace wrapped all around him. He had no way to explain it, no way to know what the hell just happened, but it somehow drew him from the madness. How her soul could be a light for him when she was completely drowned already he had no idea, but the warmth of her soul pulled him from the black ooze some. It bolstered him just enough to keep himself afloat.
Then it was gone. Though Soul wanted to yell for her to come back, he waited patiently instead, grinding his teeth as he felt himself begin to sink again…but the progress was slowed significantly. She had bought him a few precious moments and he intended to use them.
Maka left his soul to go and search for Crona's.
It wasn't too hard to find thankfully. It glowed purple, and Maka reached out and gently grabbed on, syncing her soul to his wavelength.
Before she knew what was happening, she had entered into his soul-space, which turned out to be a desert. That wasn't entirely surprising, it was like he had been drained of all happiness and was left with a wasteland. And abruptly Maka realized what she had been picking up from him. She had sensed the same sort of pain and loneliness she herself had experienced, only his was so much worse. He was completely isolated, abused by his mother, and friendless. He was also terrified of interacting with other people.
When entering his soul-space, she found that she had turned into a child, and that he was a child when she ran into his soul.
"What are you doing here?!"
Little-Maka smiled. "I felt your loneliness. And your fear. I came to try and help."
"H-help? What do you mean?"
"Well…can I come in?" She asked in reference to the pitiful line Crona had drawn around himself in the sand.
"No! No one can come into my space! This is my space! Just for me!"
So…this is his personal bubble huh? Time to pop it then. Maka thought to herself, and walked right across the line. She had to get close to him, had to show him that not everyone was going to hurt him if he let them in. It was a lesson she had been forced to learn herself.
Crona reacted rather badly, especially when she took the time to erase the line entirely with her foot. He seemed to go into shock in fact, and his gray eyes blanked out. Maka took the opportunity to go over to his soul, and her little soul hand touched his shoulder. He jerked, his absolutely horrified face whipping up to look at her.
"See? It doesn't have to hurt Crona. Not everyone is out to get you."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" He screamed, trying to back away.
Maka's hand fisted in the material of his dress and held him still. "I do understand Crona. I'm here, in your soul, remember? And believe it or not, I know what it feels like to be lonely and afraid. Believe me."
Finally, she saw the crack she had been waiting for. That line in the sand had been his first defense, and now his whole soul was out of whack. Her words had just cracked him wide open, and through it she could see the madness within him. His soul was a mess of chaos. Whatever terrible thing Medusa had done to him, it had left him with a tangle of nonsense. It was no wonder he was so screwed up.
He had Ragnarok, a whole different soul, which constantly influenced his own, almost like Siamese twins in the womb. He had his own feelings that had been ripped apart by all the abuse. He had some innate fears and anxieties that it seemed he had been born with, and those had only been worsened significantly by the abandonment, neglect, torture. He had been forced to do unspeakable things, coerced into thinking that it was the right thing, and punished if he fought against it. There was dark and light inside of him, but there was so much dark that it was strangling his soul.
And suddenly Maka knew what she had to do. With this opening she could reach him. It was time to return.
"Soul! Pull me out of here and hurry!" She called to her weapon, once again drifting in a sea of darkness as she left Crona's soul-space. She had to hurry, Crona was self-imploding and would probably go completely insane if she didn't hurry.
"Maka!"
Part of his soul leapt free and landed in a completely different soul-space than the one he was currently stuck in in his weapon form. It almost seemed like his soul-space, the one they had danced in earlier, but somehow submerged or deeper.
"Where are you?"
"Here!"
He looked down towards her voice, and saw that she was reaching up towards him from what seemed to be the other side of a mirror or under a layer of water. Hissing, he knelt and quickly reached for her, having to shove his whole arm into the thick insanity. It was like reaching through tar or hardening cement, nearly impossible to push through, but through force of will he managed to shove his way to her, and he felt her latch onto his hand tightly. For a brief nauseating moment it felt like she was going to pull him down, but he set his feet hard on the rippling glasslike surface and heaved with every ounce of resolve he possessed. To both their relief, she popped free.
In an instant he was back in his weapon's soul-space and Maka zipped by on the way back to her body.
She caught the briefest glimpse of Soul, caught up in something that looked like mucky evil tar, and then she was back, wondering for the first time why Soul was naked in that other soul-space when he was in weapon form. Shaking that thought from her head, she turned her attention to Crona, who had gone completely nuts and was shooting spikes of black blood from every part of his body.
She set Soul aside and approached.
"Maka! What are you doing? You'll be turned into a shish kabab!"
"Don't worry Soul. I've got this."
He grew silent and just watched, apparently trusting her enough to know what she was doing. For that she was grateful, and slowly approached the bomb about to go off.
"There's no need to be so scared Crona." She murmured, as if to a wild animal, and also to get his attention.
His wild eyes turned to her as he screamed, "No! Don't come any closer!"
Instead of a circle of sand, she was confronted by spears of blood, but she walked through it all the same. Sharp tips sliced across her skin as they shot by her, leaving a few trailing lines of red, but none of them punctured her.
Soon she was right on top of his kneeling form, and she let her body fall into his. Since she had come into contact with his soul, she knew him, and her soul reached out to his. The normal fears that accosted her when resonating and such were quiet for once, overwhelmed by his own terror. But still, she pulled them forth, and let him feel them, let him feel how scared she was of opening up and trusting others, and used it to resonate with him. He quieted some and finally let her soul touch his once again. She brought her hands up to his back to hug his skinny frame, a gesture which sent a shudder of unease through him. But then suddenly he collapsed, all tension running from his body.
As he collapsed into her, she held his frail body up.
"It's not that you don't know how to deal with other people, Crona….It's just that no one's taken the time to deal with you." She wisely observed.
"It's okay. I'm used to it." He said in his normal bland tone, sounding sort of spacy though as if he was in shock.
Maka could feel her own soul swelling, and her body began to glow with golden light, lit from inside by her soul. She could feel more than see how those pigtails lifted and revealed themselves to actually be wings. Much in the same way that she and Soul had glowed together as they resonated, Maka glowed as well, her soul visible to the naked eye in a way it normally wasn't as a purifying wavelength spilled from her into Crona.
It was unintentional on her part. In fact she had no idea what she was doing or that she had the ability to do it, all she knew was that she felt warm and it was as if her soul had become light as a feather. 'Feather' was an appropriate analogy as - for the first time - her soul was revealed as a Grigori soul, one of the rare "angel-type" souls that possessed purifying, sanctifying, anti-demon wavelengths, the kind that she was currently using to purify Crona. She could feel that inky darkness in him, almost like a toxin, and pictured her light piercing through it and wiping it away.
Soul, meanwhile, had retaken his human form and watched in wonderment as his meister embraced their enemy, who was reduced to a sobbing sputtering mess. He was even more shocked as she began to glow in a way that made the demon within him cower and hide, shutting up completely for once. It was a beautiful glowing golden light, warm and making him feel like he was standing in the face of the sun, but a much nicer beautiful sun that wasn't cackling down at him.
Then, something happened, which had him squinting and looking closer. If he wasn't mistaken, it almost seemed like a super tiny, indistinct pair of golden wings made entirely of light had sprouted from her back, but to be honest it was really impossible to be sure. They glowed brightly, along with the rest of her, and she lit up the dark cavern like a lighthouse.
It was over within a brief span, and she quickly began to dim.
Maka still had no clue what exactly it was that she had just done. There was still insanity within Crona, she knew that well enough, but it was much less and more in balance with the rest of him now at least. It would be impossible to wipe all the blackness from him, though she had tried, but the black blood that flowed through his veins was impossible to reverse. It was a physical thing, not a soul thing, and she could only purify his physical body to a certain extent. He also had the soul of a demon inside of him – that demon sword Ragnarok. She couldn't remove him, but had managed to wrangle him to a more manageable size within Crona, since - when she had first entered his soul in their real forms - Ragnarok had almost overwhelmed Crona's soul.
What she had succeeded in accomplishing though was to restore his sanity. She'd put him in a position where he could choose to control the darkness, the way Soul did with his own little demon and black blood problem.
Of course, Maka didn't know how she had done any of this, and fully intended to ask Dr. Stein about it if they all survived. She also didn't know that she had purified the black blood from her own body entirely.
What she did know was that whatever she had just done had taken a lot out of her and suddenly she felt exhausted. It was going to be a real trip through hell to try and go the rest of the way, but they had to try and go back up the rest. But, before that happened, Maka had to regain her balance, because suddenly Crona and her switched positions on who was holding up who as she lost an alarming amount of strength.
After a moment she pulled back and shakily extended a hand towards Crona with a smile. "So, what do you say? Wanna be my friend? Please say yes."
The pink haired boy stared at her with googly eyes for a long moment, and then burst into a new crying jag as he slowly clasped her hand and bobbed his head.
"Good." She said with another smile, closing her eyes and wobbling a little in place. It was a good thing she was sitting down, because right now she wasn't sure she would have been able to stay upright.
This battle – at least – was over.
It took Maka a few minutes to recover enough to regain her mobility, but as soon as she was able to get on her feet they needed to take off and go find the others and the Kishin. They left Crona to deal with the much smaller demon sword that popped out of his back as he yelled and shrieked and made a big fuss about how Crona had failed and how much trouble they were going to get in. It looked highly unpleasant, but the sword's tiny fists weren't able to do near as much damage to the pink haired boy as before and he held his own pretty well.
So they left him to it and ran off to try and get to the inner-most room in time.
Unfortunately, they were just a second too late, because they came upon a scene of chaos right out of their worst nightmares. The Kishin was regaining his skin, in a horror show of loose flesh and bones. The others had been beaten soundly and weren't able to catch him as he finished putting his skin back on – which in and of itself was nearly enough to shock Maka into stillness.
But she had just enough wherewithal to dash forwards at the last second as he got himself put together. He made to run away by simply bashing his way through the ceiling. Maka was able to snag the very end of what she realized was a scarf made of skin to her disgust, but she clung to it with every bit of strength she had left as he plowed his way through the ground. That turned out to be harder than one would have thought, because as he broke through all the sturdy rock, he also managed to send plenty of stones tumbling down at his tag-along, not to mention bashing her against the rough stone walls. It was all she could do to hold onto him and Soul at the same time, but like hell was she releasing either.
What exactly it was that she was thinking was a mystery to her. She knew she couldn't stop him by merely grabbing onto him; she had just acted on instinct. Following her instinct had gotten them in a tight spot though, because as he finally broke through to the surface she found herself being dragged up into the sky to a rather alarming height at an incredible speed.
She simply reached her limit, and had a brief moment of clarity. The knowledge slapped her across the face that if she rose any higher into the air, she would die. Undoubtedly they would plummet to the ground at some point, and if they gained any more altitude that fall would kill them. She might have tried to hang on until maybe he went over a tall roof or something they could land on, but the other factor of the situation was that her already exhausted fingers simply could clench no longer.
In fact, she basically passed out for half a second.
Soul had been yelling at her the whole time, questioning her sanity and wondering aloud at what the hell she could possibly thinking. None of that compared to his scream of "MAKA!" as she let go and began to plummet to the ground.
She didn't pass out for an extended period of time, but it was still long enough for her to lose her grip, and she woke back up in time to scream in utter terror as she registered their free fall. The sound was whipped from her mouth by the fast flowing air, and she couldn't even tell if she had made any kind of noise, due to the roar of air going past her ears and the sound of her own pulse dominating her hearing.
Maka had known fear before, but nothing quite of this caliber.
It went so fast, and yet as they fell Soul had just enough time to transform back into a human - an action which made no sense to Maka. If he just stayed as a weapon he wouldn't be hurt by the fall. Instead he was making himself vulnerable. If she had more time, she would have screamed at him to stay in weapon form, and she did try, but all that she could manage was, "Soul?! Wha-?!"
Again, it didn't matter anyways, because he certainly couldn't hear her. She couldn't even hear herself.
It became clear why he had transformed though, when a second later he managed to snag her mid-air and pulled her to his warm chest, wrapping his arms very tightly around her form. She gasped, feeling him turn them somehow, putting himself below her. A shot of fear that wasn't for her own safety seared every brain receptor she possessed, but she didn't have time or the ability to express the intense emotion.
She didn't even have time to brace for impact.
With a crash that felt like it had popped her eardrums, they landed back-first in a tall pile of crates. Those crates were full of produce, which softened the blow just enough that they didn't die on impact. But that wasn't saying much.
They still hit hard enough that Maka felt all the wind get knocked from her, and it jolted their bodies from the protective ball Soul had curled them into. They both splayed out, though Soul's arms somehow stayed wrapped strongly around her middle. In fact, he was gripping her so tightly that she was positive she would have bruises in the shape of his arms, but of course those bruises would just be hidden under a million darker and more painful ones. His grip acted like a seatbelt, being the only thing that kept her from getting tossed off him and into the rubble. She could feel his nails bite into her to help him keep his vice-like grip on her. The sensation was sharp against her skin even through her shirts and coat.
Oranges, bananas, apples, grapes, and watermelons went flying, crushed under them and falling to lie on top of their bodies as they hit the ground. They crashed through all the crates till they hit ground level, where they stopped all downward momentum very abruptly. Maka was knocked silly for a moment, the world getting all squirrely, and for a second it all went black. However, she still felt Soul's full-body shudder of pain beneath her, and it snapped her out of la-la land very quickly. He had taken the full brunt of the fall.
His back was most likely broken, and that was if he hadn't been stabbed by a stray shard of the wooden crates they had crashed through. Instantly she reached out for him with her soul to try and see the damage and figure out how to disentangle herself from him while inflicting the least amount of pain. He accepted her soul and let her feel his pain, which shocked her a little, but soon she saw why. He was trying to reassure her that he hadn't been fatally wounded.
"I'm fine, Maka…" He coughed from under her, his arms refusing to unwrap and just holding her tightly to him. It almost seemed to be for his comfort now.
Through the resonance she could feel that he had transformed his back into a blade, which had cut through the boxes without harming him and had taken the large majority of the impact. It had stabbed into the solid concrete ground beneath them - which explained why there was a network of radiating cracks out from under the point of impact - and he was only just now letting the blade ease back into his body. His back was sore, but there was no spinal damage thankfully. There also didn't seem to be any internal damage, but the bruise on his back from neck to ass would probably be pitch black. They might also want to check and make sure he hadn't hit his head.
It was a miracle that's all that had happened.
"You're not 'fine.' You're in too much pain." Maka groaned back, attempting to sit up.
That didn't work out too well, as her entire body protested the attempt and forced her to ease back down on top of Soul. He took her back with a very soft grunt and assisted her with his hands on her shoulders to make sure she didn't just fall back and bash his face in with the back of her skull.
"Easy there, just rest for a bit okay?"
She relaxed into him and into their resonance, feeling his heart beat against her back and soothed by its constant rhythm.
Lord Death and the Kishin were going at it in the air above them, and they probably needed to get the hell out of here as soon as possible or risk being a casualty of the intense battle. But neither of them could quite get up the will to move just yet.
Thankfully the fight quickly moved to another air space and both Maka and Soul breathed a little easier.
After a while the sounds of battle ceased entirely, which signaled that either the Kishin had been defeated or had escaped entirely. It still took them a little more time to finally peel themselves up from the ground and they leaned on each other the whole way home. Somehow they managed to stagger back to their apartment. That probably had a lot to do with Blaire, who popped out of nowhere half-way there and helped support them both.
The sexy kitty helped them both into the apartment, and then said, "You guys need some medical treatment. Who's first?"
Soul pointed at Maka.
"Hey! You got more hurt than I did." She protested, but he just shrugged.
"Not really. You actually have blood on you from fighting Crona. I just have bruises."
Before they could argue about it any further, Blaire was disrobing Maka to get to her wounds. All conversation switched tracks instantly.
"Hey! What're you doing Blaire?!" Soul yelped, his eyes blown wide in shock
"Stop that, you dumb cat! Hey! That's my shirt!"
"I can't help bandage these wounds if you have clothes covering them."
"Well yeah but…" Maka started but was cut off as her tie got hung in her mouth on its way over her head.
Soul gawked at first, and a different sort of throb started up in the front. He hissed and finally slapped a hand over his eyes as Blair got her claws into the bottom of Maka's shirt and started trying to pull it over her head.
"Okay…uh…you ladies figure it out…I'm just gonna…" He sputtered, standing and making his way to his own room blindly.
He closed the door behind him. There was no way he was going to catch sight of Maka naked. He didn't know if his already tenuous hold on sanity could handle it.
Author's Note:
Hello everyone! Sorry for the slight hiatus, real life caught up with me temporarily. Yay.
Anyways, Here is the newest installment, I hope you all enjoy it. It's quite similar to the original scene I know, but I tweaked and twisted it into my own version and certainly had fun doing so.
And yes, I am aware that the angel wings thing is perhaps a little cheesy...sue me. I happen to like wings. I'm re-watching Fairy Tail right now, and got the idea from Erza's armor. (might wanna keep your eyes peeled for Fairy Tail fanfiction down the pike...anyone interested?) ;D
So there ya go. Hopefully life will settle down and I'll do my best to keep updating every week on the weekends. Getting reviews also helps, it lets me know that people are enjoying it (otherwise there's really no point to me continuing is there?) On that note: A HUGE thanks to everyone who has reviewed, you are all absolutely amazing. :D
Bye for now! See you all next week. ;D
*poof* (author disappears dramatically)
