Here's a little joke for all those who know a tad bit of Latin, Brevis means short or small like abbreviate, brief, ext; and Asha for all those who know a little Arabic means 'life'. Making the name Asha Brevis a suitable name for the victim of this chapter.
Again, just a little note for all those who are catching all those little things throughout the story so far. & for those who already have figured out the murderer.
Also, a tip for everyone else who likes writing -try to base your writing off of an emotion you are feeling right at that very moment. (For example, I am writing off a freaked-out emotion because all the phones downstairs are ringing saying that someone upstairs is calling... and when I got down stairs and turned the phones off, the ones upstairs started ringing. No one else is in my house...)
Anyway... 12 Days Left! Hope you ENJOY! :)
"Hello? Kid? It's three in the morning! What?"
Soul could hear Maka talking on the phone in the main room. He buried his head in his pillow. Whatever it was, it'd better not interfere with his sleep.
"WHAT!" Maka's voice raised an octave.
He heard the phone beep once, and drop to the floor. He could hear Maka's footsteps coming rapidly down the hall. Please don't come in here.. Please don't come in here.. Let me sleeeep.
The door to Soul's room slammed open and he looked up to see Maka'sworried face. He knew it was bad news and immediately forgot about his sleepiness.
"What is it Maka?" Soul muttered drowsily.
"There's been a murder at the academy."
Maka hugged Soul tightly she buried her face into the back of his coat. The motorcycle came to a halt and the two got off. Shibusen after dark with the cold snow coming down was quite ominous.
"Hurry! Liz, Patty, and Kid are inside, Kid might be on to whoever did this."
"Listen. If this is just a murder why aren't the police involved?" Soul walked up the steps a few paces behind his miester.
"You may not have noticed, but where at the academy, this is definitely a job for the students. Besides there may be a kishin that has infiltrated the academy." Maka opened the main door.
"You think it's the same guy in your closet?" Soul had no answer, instead Maka continued into the building. A bright light met the two when they first walked inside. It seemed every single light was on in the main entrance.
The most shocking difference was how festive the place looked. Ribbons and Tinsel were surrounded by tiny shiningami masks and strung around the ceiling. Bells and chimes were above some doorways while in certain corners mistletoe was hung.
"Woah, if no one's gonna be here, why'd they even bother with the fancy get up?" Soul paused a brief second to take in his surroundings. His partner was already running down the nearest corridor.
"Hurry up SOUL!" Maka shouted waving her hand in mid-air. "GET your lazy butt over here and down the basement!"
Soul followed the sound of her voice and came to a large door. A sign read, "Basement, " right above where he was standing. He sighed and started down the stairs. They were short and narrow steps and it took a while to navigate down them all, but when he did, he found himself in a large area. It was damp and dark, but her could hear murmurs coming from a passage just ahead of him.
"Wooooah! Look at all the blood, sis!"
"That's really not something to be interested by, Patty, it sounds disgusting."
"Whoever did this is truly sick."
Soul entered the room and his eyes flew open wide. The storage room was lit up, not with the dim light that was on, but by the blood inside. The remains of a small skull were scattered across the floor, stained crimson which must have been her blood. Several organs were splayed across the wall and on top of shelves and boxes. Blood was smeared against the wall in a weird pattern which read in it's Japanese characters. "Weapon, Miester, Weapon, Miester."
He covered his mouth and nose with his right hand as the fresh scent of blood filled his nostrils. He felt dizzy and bent over, his eyes flew up to see Black*Star, Tsubaki, Myuki, Liz, Patty, Kid, and Maka standing over him.
"It took me a few seconds to adjust too." Maka rubbed to back of her head. "I'm used to blood.. but this is just gross."
"It's also another reason for the police not to be involved. This is a capable murderer. Kishin or not, this is something for the DWMA to handle." Kid crossed his arms and looked down. He tapped his black shoe on the other to scrape off the remains of what Soul thought to be an eyeball. Sickening.
Kid turned and faced the other way. "Yes, it's true I'm used to death, but this whole stunt makes even someone like me want to faint."
"Can we go now, Kid? We've found enough clues already." Patty shivered and closed her eyes.
"No, we most certainly cannot!" He rubbed his fingers through his black and white-striped hair. "Any comments Maka? We think he might strike again."
"The writing on the wall seems peculiar." Maka still seemed a little lightheaded as she wobbled up to the blood-stained wall. "Miester, Weapon, Miester, Weapon. Hmm.. Who died?"
"Asha Brevis, second year, class 2-A, one star miester. Weapon, Tobais DuFable, also second year, in class 3-A, a class of French knife. Profile, semi tall, brunette, dark blue eyes." Kid talked on and then showed a picture of the girl to everyone in the room. She looks familiar, Soul thought. She certainly looks nothing like she does now.
"I've heard of Asha. She was a good student, but why was she targeted?" Tsubaki turned to Maka and Kid for answers.
"Who knows, but whatever it is, we can assume a weapon is next on the list." Kid replied grimly pointing to the writing on the wall. Patty hugged her sister tightly. Tsubaki cringed and even Myuki looked awfully nervous. I hope I don't look like them. It wouldn't be cool.
"It's alright. This big STAR will protect you!" Black*Star tried to calm Myuki down, by putting his arm around her shoulder, but she swiftly refused. Tsubaki looked over with interest.
"This strange thing about all of this, is it happened inside of Shibusen." Kid muttered on still studying the carnage around the room. "Either the murder happened here, which brings up the question, "what was she doing here?" or… Or, The murderer killed her elsewhere, and staged this whole thing. Maybe to leave a message for his next victim, a member of Shibusen."
"Well he did write on the wall." Liz flipped her hair out of her eyes.
"Liz, Patty go search Asha's apartment. See if you can find any hints of homicide there." Kid turned to face Myuki. "You, Tsubaki and Maka will investigate upstairs. Black*Star, Soul and I will stay here and have a little chat. I know it's different for me to be separating you from your partners, but trust me on this."
"Who made you leader?" Soul sighed but followed orders. He stayed behind and watch the others depart until it was just Kid and Black*Star.
"We can assume, whoever did this, if not a Kishin egg already, is on there way to becoming one. I want you to inform all your partners if they know anything, to come to me right away. I have been doing some research on this matter. I didn't think it would come to the academy though."
"What do you mean?" Black*Star asked with great curiosity.
"Well, the academy isn't the only place in Death City that harbors weapons and miesters. As you know, Black*Star, Myuki is a weapon and she goes to the public school on the east side of town. St. Francis is it?"
"Yeah, your point is?" Black*Star got annoyed by this and he shifted his weight to his other leg.
"Well there are girls and boys out there who don' want to accept the fact of what they are or don't want to use their powers. For some, their families don't allow it. Well, about ten days ago, a girl, supposedly some sort of weapon, was found in a similar state."
"Where?" Soul asked.
"St. Francis." Kid replied dismally.
"Maybe that's why Myuki's been so jumpy lately." Black*Star seemed proud he had figured out the answer. "She might've been a close classmate or friend!"
"Maybe."
"So we know he has gone after girls lately. The weapon girl, a miester…"
"A weapon.." Soul whispered.
"Exactly." Kid turned and stared off at the wall. He looked completely bewildered.
There was a silence around the bloody room. The three stood looking around and trying to figure out of the culprit had left any more hints. Soul didn't like where things were going. This was going to be a depressing Christmas break, and if they didn't figure it out, maybe the rest of the year.
"All we can do now is wait. If the pattern follows, we can assume it is ten days until the next murder." Kid spoke in merely a whisper.
"Hopefully." Soul sighed.
"We should get going. Maybe we can catch up with the girls." Black*Star headed for the door. "Besides I'M gonna get sick soon if we stay here any longer." He pointed to himself.
Kid and Soul said nothing and started to walk out. Soul looked down, just before they left and noticed something in the corner of the room. It was a tiny figure and was probably a left-out Christmas decoration, but it was enough for him to rush over, bend down, and see what it was.
A tiny voodoo-looking doll lay in a pool of Asha's crimson blood. It was poorly made. The fabric was withered and grimy-looking with patchwork coming off. The strings that held it together were loose and intertwined with one another. Two button eyes were stitched on it's tiny head and it looked like actual rodent teeth were sewed on for it's mouth. A lock of brown hair was attached to what seemed to be it's forehead and a demonic presence seemed to be about the doll.
"Kid.." Soul gasped. "I think you should come see this."
