Soul stood, both surprised and confused for a moment. When his senses finally rushed back to him he stumbled backward, tugging away from the witch, who was now attached to the end of his arm, but only succeeded in dragging the witch along with him. The witch could only grunt in displeasure as he was nearly torn from his footing.
"Watch it!" the witch growled holding onto Soul's wrist. "I'm not some sort of tinker-toy, don't poke around in there!"
The witch reeled back, dragging Soul along with him. Suddenly turning the very serious moment into a childish game of tug-of-war. The two grunted as they hobbled back and forth, vying for control of the situation, neither gaining the upper hand. After a couple moments it became apparent that they were getting nowhere, and with an unspoken truce both of them came to a standstill. Soul huffed angrily, crossing his arms in displeasure as he stared daggers at the witch. The witch shook his head in annoyance; neither was willing to be at fault for their current predicament.
"Very interesting" Stein remarked, examining the fused flesh. He prodded at the strange mass, deep in thought. Soul could only imagine the horrors going on inside that nightmare factory he called a brain; whatever was going to be next on the dissecting table was going to have a really bad day.
"Don't do that, my pancreas is very ticklish." the witch snorted while swatting the man's hand away; although the witch poked the strange flesh himself, clearly bemused by the newly learned fact that internal organs can, indeed, be ticklish.
"This is so wrong." Soul muttered. The witch gave no sign that he heard him, as he was busy concentrating, most likely trying to think of a way out of this mess without being disembodied again. His hands began to glow as they inched towards the point of contact.
"As far as I can tell, no one's toying around with your innards are they? So who really has the short end of the stick here?" the witch grumbled as his hands darted inside his own body. The boy made an odd face, looking like he wanted to both laugh and throw up at the same time. After a moment, Soul felt something close tight against his hand, it stung like he was being burned but he grit his teeth as the witch slowly dragged his hand closer to the surface. There was a strange sizzling sound as his palm touched the fresh air, he felt woozy for a moment like the world had turned upside down. The witch gave one final tug and Soul's hand popped out of the witch's chest along with the witch's hands. There was a smell of burning flesh in the air, but the witch seemed in decent condition, considering the circumstances. The witched glanced down to make sure there was no surface damage and was irritated to find there was a circular hole burnt into his shirt. He flicked the edges carefully, grumbling about how it was his last one. After losing interest, he flexed his arms and yawned.
"Just the leg stretcher I needed." he said blissfully, facing the sun, letting the rays wash over his face. Buddy let out a gruff cough, striding up to the witch and smacking the boy over the back of the head. The boy let out an annoyed moan as he held the back of his head, he glared up ready to pounce on whoever hit him, stopping short the moment Buddy's face came into view. With the witch's attention obtained, Buddy swept his arm, gesturing at the courtyard around them, his big eye twitching with annoyance.
"See what your little 'leg stretcher' caused?" he scolded agitatedly. "The hell is wrong with you?"
The witch glanced sheepishly around himself yet again. Tripping over his words while Buddy held up a hand threateningly. Soul made a somewhat concerning connection between the homunculus's behavior and his own meister's behavior, the similarities were uncanny.
"I suppose a 'My bad' is in order then?" the witch coughed awkwardly.
"You killed my friends." Maka deadpanned, keeping her emotions in check. The witch let another psychotic grin burst over his face.
"Not dead." he said, "I prefer to think of it as 'temporarily detained'."
His use of finger-quotes was unsettlingly suspicious, but they watched expectantly as he strolled up to the statue and slid his hand along the smooth edge. The statue seemed to hum the moment the witch's hand made contact, as if responding to his presence. The witch stared happily up at the statue, proud of what he called 'craftsmanship'. Unexpectedly, he reached up and tore an arm off of Black*Star. The standing and able meisters jumped into action, taking quick strides towards him. But before they could reach him, the witch turned around, laughing at the group.
"You should see… the looks… on your faces!" he managed to say between cackles, letting the arm plop to the ground with a dull thud.
"You ripped his damn arm off!" Soul retorted, advancing excitedly at the witch. The witch rolled his eyes; the information gap between the groups was becoming both very apparent and quite a hassle.
"These aren't the actual bodies," he sighed, picking wax out of ear, examining the refuse before flicking it away, "I'm not that stupid, thank you. This is merely a vessel." he shifted his body toward Maka, giving her a cheeky wink, "Told you I had good craftsmanship."
"What do you mean vessel?" she asked warily, motioning for Soul to back away in case it was another trap.
"Calm down princess, it works as a doorway." the boy stated simply, pacing around the statue until he faced it head on, "Put things in and retrieve them, sort of like a storage space; your friends are floating completely unharmed in a sort of limbo as we speak. Unfortunately, the door can only be opened by the witch that created it. You're lucky I'm a lot sturdier than I look."
He rubbed the base of the statue till it shined, giving another half cocked grin as he licked his palm, slamming it against the well polished spot; a green circular opening appeared, hovering in the air, its edges rippling with divine magic power. Kid, Black*Star, Patti, Liz and Tsubaki were launched out of the hovering portal, landing in a cacophony of moans and grumbles and a heap of limbs. They groaned as they all stood up, looking pale and uncertain of their surroundings. Everyone except for Black*Star that is. He stood up and stretched out his arms like he had just woken up from a damn cat nap.
"What did I miss?" He asked with a big smile on his face, he turned slightly to see the witch leaning against the base of the statue, his smile disappeared, replaced with knitted eyebrows and pouty lips while the witch's smile grew wider. "Why is he still breathing?"
"Long, weird story." Maka sighed, glaring at the witch, "That's only a drop in the bucket though."
The witch winced as he became brutally aware of the rest of the damaged area around him, shaking his head with displeasure.
"This is going to hurt... a lot." he muttered under his breath, shaking out his limbs. The witch's entire body tensed, and the air seemed to grow thick around him.
"What are you talking about?" Soul tensed, taking a step back out of precaution, half expecting the witch to break out into a second fight. Before anyone could do anything the witch held both of his arms high in the air, creating a cradle in with his cupped hands, a glowing orb slowly growing and filling the cradle. The orb began to pulsate as it grew, beating once every few moments before the pulse quickened into a furious pace. The area around them began to waver like a mirage. Both the meisters and the environment began to glow along with the orb. The moaning meisters hushed and relaxed, the damaged structures began to seal themselves, seemingly of their own accord. Shattered stone floated back into elongated gorges and craters, even dust began to fill in the space between the cracks. The red stains that littered the incapacitated meister's clothing began to disappear, broken and sprained bones and joints began to reset themselves. After a few moments, the courtyard and the meisters looked much better. Some of the lesser injured combatants stood up and dusted themselves off. By the looks of things, things would appear to be back to normal in a matter of seconds. Suddenly, the orb began to pulsate erratically, the color distorting with each passing moment. Buddy reached out and shook the witch out of his trance like state, causing the orb to disappear and the regeneration to stop. The grounds were nearly completely fixed, what were once deeply-etched scars were merely scratches on the walls and ground. Most meisters appeared to be nearly completely healed; the rest only had barely noticeable cuts or disfigurements.
"Impressive." Maka muttered, half in shock. Soul could only nod along with the sentiment; his voice was either stuck in his throat or halfway to Cancun by now. If the witch had the ability to pull something like that off was he merely toying with them at this point? The boy put his hands in the air, jokingly waving them around.
"Magic!" he cooed, taking a step towards the disturbed group. As soon as his foot left the ground, the boys head lolled to the side, and his eyes rolled back inside the head. Buddy jumped forward and grabbed him before he was able to fall to the ground; so much for the witch 'just toying with them' Soul thought, slightly relieved. The witch struggled against Buddy's hold, but gave up shortly.
"I need to eat… and sleep… and barf." The boy moaned, unfortunately adding emphasis to the final note. Buddy's face dropped at the mention of the last action. The boy used Buddy as leverage, carefully placing his feet on the ground. He shakily took a few steps forward.
"Priority one is food." He groaned patting Maka on the shoulder as he passed by, "you're covering the tab, sweetheart."
After a very tedious stroll through the city, they finally found a buffet that hadn't banned Black*Star or himself.
The décor was… minimalistic. There were a few tattered paintings on the wall, and a statue with chipped paint. The smell coming from the kitchen was too sweet, as if someone had dropped an entire bin of sugar on the floor. There weren't any actually customers inside, except for a drunken man that was sleeping in a disturbing pile of his own filth. No one in the group would have even considered the place, but the moment the witch had caught sight of it, he had beamed with delight. The boy dashed straight for the buffet table, filling up three plates to their capacity before finally sitting down at a table. He began digging into his food at an unsettling rate. Soul would almost have been impressed if he weren't so disgusted; he made a note to himself to chew his food the next time he ate. Maka explained to the rest of the group what had happened while they were gone, and informed Buddy what his friend had done. Buddy shook his head after hearing the asinine tale.
"I honestly can't believe you sometimes." Buddy sighed, rubbing his temples as he stared down at the witch, who was currently preoccupied diving into plate seven.
"Boohoo, the big bad witch had a little fun at other people's expense. Honestly that couldn't be more me." The witch choked out, halfway through a piece of chicken. He took a few more chomps out of the chicken before dropping it and grasping at his stomach. Soul was slightly worried that someone had poisoned his meal(he did plan on getting revenge for the whole hand thing after all), but all fear was shed after he saw how green the witch's face was.
"Bathroom!" He managed to groan, as one of his hands closed around his mouth.
"It's the first door on your left." Buddy advised as he pointed to the nearest hallway. The boy shot like a rocket down the hallway, the door to the bathroom slamming behind him as he began to make ungodly sounds.
"Now that he's not here," Buddy began, carefully peering over his shoulder to ensure no interruptions from his sickly friend, "there are a few things I need to make clear. I don't know you people, he doesn't know you people, and most importantly, none of you know us. That isn't necessarily a terrible thing, most people that do know him want to decapitate him, but that's beside the point. While you were all occupied, I couldn't help but notice the little problem that you've caught on to." Buddy said. His eyes darted around the room nervously, looking for possible threats or last resort exits. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the subject as touchy to him as it was to the rest of the group.
The door to the bathroom swung open lazily. The witch exited shakily from the entry-way, wiping his arm across the mouth. Buddy turned around, surprised at the sudden re-entry. The witch waved wearily at Buddy, a tired grin on his face. There was some shouting from the kitchen, the sweet smell was overshadowed by a dank, sour smell filled the air and a black cloud exploded from the doorway. The witch gripped his mouth again, spiraling around and diving back in the bathroom, dragging the door behind him. Buddy let out an exasperated breathe, turning back to the group.
"I can explain more about this later. Right now, all you need to know is: we're on your side and we can help, whether he's willing to admit that or not." Buddy relaxed. He lazily looked back as the bathroom door opened again; the witch tumbled out, leaning against the wall for support. A weary look of worry flashed over Buddy's face as he turned to the group for the last time.
"Oh, and don't call him a 'son-of-a-bitch'." He whispered to them.
"Why?" Soul chuckled, amused at the seemingly random bit of information.
"Long story, but suffice it to say that they're still finding all the pieces of the last guy who did." Buddy quipped sinisterly, the pupil of his big eye dilating slightly. He fell silent as the witch approached the table, waving away some of the dank smoke that was beginning to crowd around their table. Usually, when someone used that statement, Soul assumed they were embellishing the facts, making them seem tougher, but he actually believed Buddy was telling the truth.
"Whatever you do, don't go in there." The witch sighed as he fell into his chair, his head lolling from side to side. His face appeared slightly less green but he didn't look anywhere near 100%.
"That is utterly disgusting." Kid groaned into a napkin.
"Thank you ever-so-much for your concern, Stripes." The witch muttered as he rested his head on the table in front of them.
"Stripes?" Kid choked, mouth agape as he stared in disbelief at the witch. The witch chuckled from behind his hands, clearly satisfied by Kid's reaction. Soul did his best to repress a snort but Black*Star laughed along happily.
"I don't know your names, I took the liberty to give you a couple myself." The witch said, resting his head against his shoulder. "and I wouldn't laugh to hard if I were you, spikes."
"Change it to Spikes: The harbinger of your doom, and I'm fine." Black*Star agreed, downing the rest of his drink. His eyes wandered over to the far end of the dining hall, resting on a rather large aquarium. "Oh, fish."
Without another word, he stood up and walked over to the display shortly followed by the rest of the group, save Soul and Maka, who could only stare on completely confused.
"My God." Buddy breathed wide-eyed at the disturbing display in front of them, "Their like toddlers."
The witch looked disappointedly at his plate of food, scooting the dish away suddenly losing his appetite. He decided to instead to observe the others.
"A couple minutes in Limbo tends to do that to a person. You should've seen the guy that was stuck in there for over a day, totally convinced he was a rabbit, had a real craving for carrots after that. Nice guy." He murmured as he watched on with Buddy.
Soul would normally shrug off the antics, even if it wasn't their fault, but they were here with… he wasn't even sure what to make of the witch anymore. He could easily run now if he wished, they would have to chase him but that probably was of no concern to the witch; he had in fact attempted twice already. Either way, he should at least be handled with a mild sense of concern. But, no, he's friends were content with drooling over some stupid fish in a back-alley buffet. Though it was mildly entertaining to watch his friends make fools of themselves, but there was something that was bothering him.
"What's my name?" he asked the witch. He felt a little childish for wondering, but the others had gotten names. What about him. The boy looked up from his drink with a devilish smile as he began fiddling with his straw absentmindedly. He quietly hummed along to the theme of jaws, turning again to the commotion.
"Great White." He said with a chuckle. The look on Soul's face must have been good because the boy couldn't help but laugh again.
"Gre- why?" he choked. He wasn't exactly upset, just confused.
"Partially the hair, mostly the chompers." He stated, clacking his teeth together for emphasis. Great white, like the shark, suddenly everything was OK. He turned with a smug look on his face to his meister.
"I'm a shark, sharks are cool." He said dumbly, a stupid grin on his face. Maka shook her head, groaning at the entire group.
"You're all children." Maka said, clearly agitated, she turned on the witch, "You're infectious."
"I'm fun." The witch retorted, nibbling at a slice of meat. He stuck his tongue out, clearly disgusted. Soul could tell from across the table why. He had done his fair share of hurling but that stench was definitely not human. He felt like he was going to fall out of his chair. The witch shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his jaw constantly moving as if he was trying to find a comfortable(or at least not disgusting) area to place his tongue, but to no avail. "Does anyone have mouthwash… or gum… or tar. Anything that can get this taste out of my mouth?"
Soul dug around in his pocket, fishing out a half melted peppermint, wasn't much but he figured it was better than nothing. He slid it across the table to the witch's waiting hands. He popped the treat in his mouth, sucking on it a few moments.
"better, too bad there isn't a spell for fresh breathe." he grumbled as he looked back toward the ridiculous group. Maka finally got feed up with them, throwing herself out of the booth and stomping over towards the group, finally finished with their airhead behavior.
Soul got time to sit alone with the witch and it only began to occur to him that they really didn't have a reason to trust him. Sure he had fixed the grounds and healed the meisters, but he had caused it in the first place. He had outright attacked one of the new students and always refrained from giving them any usable information or legitimate reason to trust him. Suddenly it felt like the room had grown colder, he was sitting alone with a witch that couldn't be trusted. If he were going to attack, now would be the opportune moment to strike; they were all distracted and could easily be eliminated. Just as he truly began to grasp that horrifying thought, the witch peered up at him from underneath his deep-green hair, his eyes weren't human. Granted he was a witch, but even then witch's eyes looked relatively normal; normal eyes had pupils and blinked, the eyes he was staring into had no such features. Two quivering crimson slits that were some sort of excuse for pupils examined him, reminding him eerily of the first time he met stein, but something made him feel like the witch wasn't going to tear him apart for some scientific purpose. He was paralyzed with fear, deep down he knew he was going to die, and he would not go peacefully. Soul silently turned both arms into scythes under the table, waiting for the witch to make the first move. The slivers quivered at him one last time before the witch looked back down at his food. The witch looked up again and Soul was prepared to pounce the moment he moved an inch.
The witch's eyes weren't different anymore, if anything they were innocent. He stared confused at Soul's steely gaze, shifting in his seat to glance backward, only finding the homeless man fitfully sleeping through the babbling idiots. Soul relaxed, marking the occurrence up for the Black Blood. He noted the sweat drop running down the side of his face, taking in a shaky breathe as he put his scythes away. He flopped against the back of his seat; he decided his brain was officially messing with him.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" the witch wiped his sleeve across his face. When he couldn't find anything wrong, he relaxed back into his chair, content with staring out into nothing. They sat in silence for a moment before the sound of Maka's frustrated shouts for control rang over to them. He half hoped that Maka would MakaChops the group out of their stupor and make things return to some sort of normalcy. Soul lazily and reluctantly peeled himself off of the cheap leather with a groan and an almost embarrassingly loud Shlick and slouched his way over to the group. It was only when he got closer did he realize that Kid had decided to go for a swim, almost all of his upper torso submerged in the tank.
"I think you might want to stop him. The owner is giving us funny looks." Soul said drearily, trying to keep a sense of aloofness. Maka pouted slightly as she glanced over at the door to the kitchen, the man glaring back at her had a face that was turning from tomato to eggplant on the 'pissed-off-at-rowdy-customers' scale. Soul was beginning to contemplate getting violent when the witch calmly tapped him on the shoulder.
"Let me try something." He said, still sucking on the peppermint. Soul was expecting him to used some refined way to manipulate the boy out and calm him down. Was that his plan?
Nope. Frying pan.
Not very magical, but damn efficient. Kid didn't know what hit him, literally. After dragging his floating body out of the dirty fish water, flopping onto the ground with a rather disturbing splash.
"Sort of like hitting a TV to make it work; although, a TV doesn't tend to get upset or make… squishy sounds." The witch explained while he poked the boy with the pan. Kid made a coughing sound, signaling that he had not yet drowned, "Oh good, you're alive."
"One of the fish's stripes was off center." He stated simply, as if that was all there was to it; Then again, this was Kid they were talking about, that could be all that there was to it. The witch nodded along in a trance, as if that made perfect sense to him.
"Of course, that seems about ri- Wait a minute." He said, suddenly catching on to the absurdity behind Kid's reasoning (or lack thereof).
Kid stared up at the witch as if it were a perfectly reliable excuse to trash a restaurant. The witch looked to the rest of the group, most likely hoping that they didn't all function off of that kind of logic.
"He's a bit... neurotic." Maka said, carefully choosing her words. Soul decided to put it more plainly, twirling one of his fingers next to his temple. The witch let out a low 'Ah', nodding along with Soul's explanation.
"If it's about symmetry, isn't the human organ system asymmetrical?" He pondered out-loud, looking to Kid for confirmation. Unfortunately, that comment made Kid lose his mind again; luckily, the witch was still wielding his trusty frying pan. After making sure that Kid was no longer freaking out he placed the pan back on top of a table. He stung his tongue out a sad look on his face, "I think i need another peppermint."
The witch chuckled at himself before his whole body tensed. At first, Soul expected a band of commandos to burst through the shop windows by the way the boy was acting; but when he turned to follow the boys gaze, all he could see was the manager exiting the kitchen and walking towards the hallway.
"Run" the boy hissed under his breath, the edges of his mouth pulling down into a grimace. He shifted towards the door ready to bolt at the drop of a hat. "the bathroom... run."
The boy turned around and sprinted out the door followed closely behind by Buddy. Soul only had a moment or two to process what the boy had just said when he heard the manager shriek, "OH MY GOD!"
Soul began to think that the witch and Black*Star would've been really good friends in a different life as the whole group broke through the doorway. Patti laughed hysterically while dragging Kid along with Patti, her laughter mixing with the witch's as they ran far away from the restaurant that was now added to the list of 'places they can no longer go'.
His stomach gurgled angrily as he began to unwrap the food he had just bought. He began to dig in to the sloppy burger, dropping toppings to the ground as they made the last turn towards the apartment complex that apparently belonged to the pigtailed girl and 'Great White'. After a few minutes of constant belly-aching he had succeeded in getting some food. In retrospect, getting food before being sick wasn't a clever choice. After throwing the crinkled paper into a nearby trashcan, he took out the second burger from the bag. He ignored the looks from the escorting group as he took a grisly bite out of the mediocre meat.
"Why are we going to your place again?" He asked in between a set of particularly large bites. The girl in pigtails, he decided to call her grumpy, only shook her head, letting out a small sound of some sort of mix between annoyance and frustration.
"Roommate." Great white said simply, as if he was supposed to know what that meant.
"Roommate?" he questioned, trying his best to not sound too unhappy; the more time he spent tagging along with the strange gang, the less time he spent cooped up in a padded cell with much more security.
"Said it was an emergency." Great white said, sounding more and more unhappy with each passing step. The witch couldn't really relate, he hadn't had anything that resembled a home in a long time, much less a roommate; however, the witch trudged along with the rest of them until they were standing in front of a nominally large apartment building. He was about to follow them inside when he noticed the disturbance.
"You go ahead," He said, flashing his most convincing fake smile, "I just want to finish my burger."
Grumpy was about to object but Stripes simply nodded, probably worried about the witch making a mess of the stairs or hallways. After they had all departed, he was left alone in front of the building. Too open, he thought, steering himself towards the nearest alleyway. There wasn't much to see, but he took a careful look at the area around him. There was a large garbage bin filled to the brim with bags and two rusty, metal garbage cans, there was also a fire escape ladder that was also a good 10 feet off the ground. Not much to take in, but that only meant maneuvering around fewer objects. After finishing his burger, he tossed the paper into the nearest can and waited. Sure enough, two men dressed in suits rounded the corner; he briefly debated turning and running out the other way before a third man blocked off the last sane escape route. One of the men pulled out a small metallic object. He heard the all too familiar sound of a gun cocking and was greeted by a muzzle pointed at the center of his forehead.
"You know that won't do any good." The witch said shakily, it might not kill him permanently but it would hurt a lot. He resisted the urge to use any magic; after depleting his energy reserves once already today, he didn't think his body could take another without falling into a coma. The man with the gun motioned with his free hand and he noticed the man near the entrance of the alleyway turn around, reaching for something.
"It might not do anything to you," the man said coldly, reaching behind him and pulling out a struggling girl, no older than 9, "But it would undoubtedly kill her"
The witch cursed internally, but kept an aloof demeanor on the external. He casual glanced at the sky, as if the girl's life meant nothing, running through all the possible ways both he and the girl could leave the alley alive. He couldn't use magic, he couldn't outrun a bullet, and he most certainly couldn't talk any reason into the snakes that just cornered him. He resigned himself to considering something he swore he would never do, for the second time in one day. The men sneered at him totally unaware of what was about to happen. The girl sobbed quietly, pleading for her life. The man holding the gun became agitated, slamming the butt of the gun against her head. The witch winced and decided it was now or never to make his move.
"Now come quietly with us, or her blood is on your hands." He said as a devilish smile appeared on his face. The witch tilted his head slightly to the side, he could feel the power and was almost sorry for what he was about to do. He felt the area around him quiver and grow cold as his body dipped into his dark power, he felt his eyes change, his pupils shrinking into deranged slits and his recoloring and reshaping itself. He noticed the steady thrumming that engulfed the entire base of his skull, he pushed the feeling aside focusing on the terrible task at hand.
"He can't be trusted." He stated simply, his voice ringing strangely against the brick walls around him as if he were underwater. he nodded towards the man at the entrance of the alleyway, as if directing his meaning. The accused crook was taken aback, certainly not expecting the sudden outburst.
"What are you talking about?" He spat angrily, turning towards the man with a gun. "Kill the girl; we can take him by force."
Instead, the man stared into space the gun at his side. He mumbled slightly to himself, repeating the witch's words. "Can't be trusted, he can't be trusted."
The other men tensed, rattled by the man's sudden change of heart. The man at the entrance glanced out at the street, checking for witnesses, "C'mon, we don't have time for this."
The man lifted the gun up, but he didn't aim it towards the girl; instead, he aimed it at his accomplice. He simply stated "You can't be trusted."
"TOM WHAT ARE YOU DOI-?" he shrieked as his eyes widened before rolling back in his head. He crumpled to the ground in a heap. The man with the gun turned back towards the witch, a dazed and confused look on his face, but still very much in a trance.
"Tom... You're tired aren't you? Tired of this line of work." He asserted, his voice still quivering strangely, the man nodded along with the witch. "You can't have a normal life, not after all the lives you've ended... You should join them."
The man shakily raised the gun towards his own head, nodding as his hand shakily pulled the trigger. The girl screamed as he slumped over sideways, the gun skittering out of his hand. The witch released himself from the dark ability, feeling heat reenter his body.
Before the other man had time to do anything, the witch snapped his fingers. The latch to the fire escape ladder burst, releasing its cargo which slammed into the man's head. He fell over sideways while gripping his head with both hands. The witch jumped on him, pining both of his arms down in the process. He squirmed against the hold on him but gave up, scaring in shock up at the witch.
"What the hell are you!?" the man screamed in shock.
"Shut up! I'm asking the questions!" He shouted back, grabbing the back of his neck roughly. "Why did he send you after me?"
"I'll never talk; you'll have to kill me first!" He said, his voice shaking. He was clearly scared, scared of what might happen to him. The witch slammed the man's head against the ground.
"If you returned empty-handed, he'll kill you anyway." He reasoned; the man shook his head stubbornly, squirming more against the witch's hold. He wished it could've ended differently, just once he wished they would cooperate, give him a reason to let them live. He bowed his head, solemnly saying "If I let you go, you report back to him and tell him what you know… I can't have that."
The man's eyes widened, pleading for mercy as the witch pressed his free hand against the man's chin. He struggled against the witch's hold, one last time.
"I'm sorry. I truly am." He said, his hair shading his face from the sun. With a vicious twist and a sickening crack, the man laid still, forever. He stood slowly, shaking ever so slightly. He felt a tug in his stomach as he used some of what little magic reserves he had left to pull them into limbo, he couldn't leave the bodies behind to be discovered. When he turned he was face to muzzle with the gun, on the other side was the scared crying girl.
"What did you do to them?" She said. Her hand, and the gun as an extension, shook dangerously. He could see the fear in her eyes, the slight water glaze that gave away the fact that she was seconds from breaking down. He knew if that happened, she would just become a danger to herself.
"You don't want to do this." He said calmly, doing his best to keep his voice level. Her eyes widened, covering her ears with her hands.
"You're doing it to me now, aren't you!?" She shouted. She backed herself against a wall, shuddering at his mere presence.
"No, no I'm not. Look at my eyes, they're normal." He reassured her calmly, keeping a close eye on the gun that made him more and more nervous the closer it inched towards her own head. "I can take all the pain and fear away, I can make you forget. Would you like that?"
He took small steps towards her, each step making her flinch. Her fear was nearly tangible, but he could also feel her longing to forget. She slowly lowered the gun as he closed the small gap that was left. He reached down, tenderly taking the gun from her hands. He lifted up his other hand, holding two fingers to her forehead. He felt her breath graze his arm as the tips of his fingers began to glow. He drained out the fear and pain from the last couple minutes, replacing the terrifying memories with happy thoughts. After a moment, the light flickered out and she was left standing still. The fear in her eyes was replaced with confusion; she glanced around the grubby alleyway as she wondered how she got there.
"You should be more careful." The witch said, hiding the gun behind his back so she wouldn't see. "You should pick your shortcuts more carefully next time."
He motioned for her to hurry along, she smiled and waved goodbye as she skipped out of the alleyway and down the road. As soon as she was gone, he let out his held breath. He rested against the wall. Far too taxing of a day, he thought tiredly, tossing the gun into the trashcan. He rubbed his hands against his temples, grimacing at his actions.
Lucky, he thought. His guilt and sadness violently turning to anger. No one was around for me, why does she get this break? He felt the anger clawing up inside himself, attempting to consume him. It began to choke him, he knew he should feel fear from it, but he couldn't bring himself to care about his own well-being. Struggling. Just trying to make it. Am I the only one that has to feel that!? The anger began to close around his throat sealing it shut and making the edges of the vision grow dark. Just as he was about to be consumed completely, a voice rang out from the door to the apartment complex.
"Where are you?" he heard the voice of the neurotic boy. He let the anger disperse, his body feeling suddenly very tired. He unhappily trekked back out of the alleyway. When he rounded the corner, he let his hands fall from his temples to his sides, and replaced the tired expression with a fake smile.
"What was that noise? What's taking you so long?" Stripes said as he exited the building and walked towards him.
"Just some kid, showing off their firecracker collection." He said a little too fast. It was a stupid lie, but it was the only thing he could come up with off the top of his head. He patted the boy on the shoulder as he walked inside. "Let's not keep the others waiting."
After a couple flights of stairs they reached the door to Grumpy and Great White's apartment. The witched grabbed the door knob and walked inside the main room. Buddy was kneeling on the ground, his upper torso inside of a drying machine. There was a puddle all across the floor, originating from the washer/dryer pair.
"This was the emergency?" He chuckled, his voice barely audible because of his tiredness. Grumpy and Great white groaned in unison, clearly used to but not accepting of their roommate's behavior. He was about to make a snide comment but a sudden tiredness overwhelmed his body. He flopped down on the couch, stretching out with his feet and arms dangling off each end. He felt something jump onto his chest and looked up with surprise at two large orange cat eyes staring down at him, a vibration rushing across his chest as the cat purred.
"That would be Blair." Soul said leaning against the wall, a smile growing on his face for some unknown reason to him. Being on this side of the information gap sure is frustrating, he thought to himself, this must be what it feels like to be them all the time.
He laughed to himself quietly as he fell into a deep, well-deserved sleep.
Not-story-stuff:
Don't underestimate frying pans... ever.
I tried adding more detail (thanks for the input), but reforming a writing style is a tad bit harder than I originally anticipate.
Thanks for reading!