A Sound Soul chapter 10:

A "Sticky" Situation (part 2 of 2)

A/N: Well, as you might have guessed, these two chapters have been called A "Sticky" Situation because Octo is a witch whose animal is the octopus, and octopi have tentacles which have suction cups, which are sticky. I know that I said I would make a little Christmas themed chapter, but unfortunately, I couldn't finish it in time, so... yeah."Islas del Pez de Dorado" is Spanish for Islands of Golden Fish. I have good news though! A Sound Soul will be getting much more frequent updates! And, to make things even better, a couple more chapters, and we'll be halfway through the story! However, This chapter won't really have much dialogue until later on, so the beginning will probably be pretty boring, but it'll get a bit more interesting, so just bear with me for now. This chapter is actually pretty long, compared to the rest of this story...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Soul Eater

?'s POV

My... name... is... My name... is... My name is... My name is Johnathon...

I must... get away... far, far away... from... here... before SHE finds me... I thought as I awakened. I tried to stand up, but a searing pain in my leg prevented me from doing so. I leaned my back against a tree and tried to remember what was happening before I had woken up. All I could remember is swimming, pain, and a woman's face. The latter not exactly being the best of the memories because her face was cold and devoid of emotion, her gaze like a black hole full of emptiness.

Zack's POV

We arrived at the group of islands we were heading to. I jumped off the boat and into the sand. The others came after me and we set off to find the nearest village. We got there shortly and were greeted by a sign stating in big bold letters: "Welcome to Islas del Pez de Dorado, at the very heart of the Pacific Ocean" we entered the village and were surprised at the liveliness of the town, because even though the islands where it was located was small and rather unheard of, it was energetic and bustling. Musicians could be seen performing songs for money on the street corners, men could be seen drinking merrily and laughing heartily, fishermen were bringing loads of fish into town, and traders and merchants could be seen setting up shop. Although a majority of the people living there were Hispanic, many spoke English. Probably because they were invaded long ago by an English-speaking group of people. Everyone was happy, and there didn't seem like anything was wrong. But... shouldn't there be people in distress? Destruction? Violence? Were they not even aware of the threat their islands were under? We split up and asked around for information on the town's history, current events etc., under the guise of tourists. It turned out that there was currently preparations for an upcoming festival. I looked up in the sky. It was getting late...

"Hey, guys, we should go find a place to stay. Tomorrow, we'll look on a different island." I said to the group. We agreed on that and set off for a place to stay.

We found an inn called the Golden Dolphin. The others went upstairs to their rooms, but I stayed downstairs to get some food. I sat down at a table when I saw something odd. There was a boy on a bed with a big ass hole in his leg and cuts and scars all over his body. But that wasn't the only thing odd about him. His skin was tinted a light green and on the sides of his face he had what looked like gills.

The waiter brought me my food and asked "Do you need anything else, sir?"

"Yes, actually. Do you know anything about that boy over there?" I asked, gesturing to the boy on the bed. This caused the waiter to frown.

"As a matter of fact, I do. His name's John. The owner of this place found him along the shore of our little island and brought him here. He claims to have been captured and experimented upon by a witch. But, I doubt the truth of that. There hasn't been anything of that sort around these islands for a long, long time. Rather a nasty business, if you ask me. A word to the wise, kid. Don't get caught up in stuff like that." I thanked the waiter and took a sip from a the drink he brought me. I stood up, walked over to John and pulled a chair up to him. A nasty business indeed, I thought, but this John fellow just might be a witness to the reason why I came here.

"Hey, John," I said, "I heard a lot about you. My name is Zack, I'm a one-star sword meister. Nice to meet you. I think you might know something about a subject I'm interested in. About this witch you spoke of. The one that captured and experimented upon you. Can you tell me anything about her?" I asked, trying to sound as friendly and calming as possible.

John became nervous and started looking around, almost expecting the witch herself to appear and kill him. "No, I can't, I don't want to relive those memories... It's best to forget the past, and get far, far, away from here. If she finds me, she won't hesitate to kill me and find a new test subject." John said, trying to avoid eye contact with me.

I frowned. "Somethings shouldn't be forgotten John. You can't just keep running, living in fear of danger. Sometimes life gives you lemons, and you make lemonade. You just go with the flow. Other times, you take those lemons and throw 'em right back at life. You kick life's ass, and then burn his house down! You can hide, and live quietly in fear of being found until you die. Or, you can come with me, and we'll kick some serious ass. We can teach that witch what exactly we do when life gives us lemons. Come with me. I promise I'll help you." I smiled and extended my hand.

"Y-you don't know... You haven't seen what she can do. It'd be suicide! It's much safer to hide and run! She's just too strong." John said weakly.

"You don't have to come with us. But please, at least just guide us to where she is. You can't defeat your past by running away from it. Those who try to escape their past are doomed to repeat it." I responded. Just a little more convincing and he should be ready to reconsider. I thought.

"Us?" He asked, his tone no longer weak and nervous, but more curious.

"I may have brought a friend or two with me to these islands. If you agree to help us, I swear that you won't get a scratch. Or at least no life threatening wounds." I said, grinning.

John shook my hand nervously, and I then stood up. "Well, I'll go get them. Don't go anywhere." I sprinted up the stairs and headed towards my friend's rooms. John frowned at my back and mumbled "As if I could go anywhere with a giant hole in my leg."

I opened the door to one of the two rooms we were staying in. Inside was Ike, Samuel and Dan.

"Guys. I'll get straight to the point. I got good news and bad news. Good news: we have a lead to our mission in the form of a witness. Bad news: He's injured and someone's gonna have to carry him." They all looked at each other and then looked to me. "What?" I asked.

10 Minutes Later...

"Dammit, is it really necessary for you guys me to carry him?!" I yelled. Fusion smacked the back of my head.

"Quit your complaining and just do it. And do us all a favor and quiet down, okay?" Fusion said. If looks could kill a man, with the glare Fusion always gives me when she finds something I say is idiotic or annoying (which is a lot), I'd be dead a thousand times over by now. So, we just kept marching through the night without stopping. John was giving us directions on where to go. Eventually, we had reached the shore of the island we were on.

"You guys can swim, right?" John asked.

"Yeah, why?" I asked. I had quite the bad feeling about what was going to happen. John looked at me quite seriously.

"Put me in the water. I'll lead you guys to the castle. Oh, and a good tip: hold your breath for as long as possible."

Yup, I thought, looks like her base of operations is underwater. Well, that explains why no one in the town we were in really knew about her.

"All right, in order to not draw attention to ourselves, we need to travel in small numbers. It'll hinder our ability to swim without any trouble, but the weapons should stay in weapon form." I put John down in the water, then reached my hand out to the side. Fusion grabbed it and transformed. Samuel had already transformed into his weapon form. I looked over to Ike. He was holding Katherine who had transformed into a katana with a red and gold grip. I looked at John and was rather shocked at his appearance. His shirt was no longer there and his appearance was more fish-like than it was even before. We jumped into the ocean and swam. It was a bit slow, what with us not being able to swim that well while holding our weapons. The ocean was beautiful and shone almost as if it was made of gold. We kept on swimming for a while. We could see the castle after about twenty minutes of swimming then coming back up to breathe. We reached the door. John activated it. We swam inside and held our breath for as long as possible as the water drained out of the entryway. Once our heads were above the water we quietly gasped for air. We were wet, extremely cold, and exhausted. John had returned to normal. (Well, minus the fact that he was still shirtless.) We kept on going through the castle, which was eerily quiet. We arrived in a room with four exits, including the one we entered. It was completely empty, with the exception of torches hanging in their brackets. We kept walking through the dark and silent room when the torches burst into flames. Octopus tentacles blocked all the exits and a giant robot emerged from the ceiling. It hung from it and observed us. It froze when it saw John. It began to speak. "Oh. YOU'RE here. Mother has been waiting for your return. She's been thinking about you a lot. I spent some time thinking about what you did, not so much about you. I've been thinking about how I died. You know. After you MURDERD me. I've been waiting long to see you again, Johnathon. Mother will be pleased to know you've returned. I'll inform her. Keep on going. She'll be thrilled to know you're safe and see you home in one place. Oh, and a little tip: If you want to kill mother, you're going to have to escape the traps I've set. I'm sure this will be beneficial for both of us. You get exercise, and I get to see you struggle in suffer. Have a nice day, brother." She went back through the hatch she came through, and immediately, tentacles emerged from the ground once again and wrapped around us. We were caught. The tentacles were strangling us. I managed to speak my thoughts before it got hard to breathe and speak.

"Well, this is quite the sticky situation."