Sometimes I wonder if my spelling of certain words gives away where I'm from...
She scrambles up, out the corner she's been resigned to and mouths her wordless thank you to him; her body, mind and soul still processing the shock of the last few minutes.
"Professor Stein…" she says with alarm, still panting. "He's going to wake up!"
"I know. Maka, we should hurry. Don't worry, Sid will take care of the professor."
The world around her is rushing around so quickly, she barely even processes what's happening as Patty, Liz and Kid haul an unconscious Soul up to his feet; as Sid busies himself rummaging through Stein's desk drawer and pulls out a syringe full of liquid, plunging the thick point of it into the professor's arm.
How did they know we were in here?
"It's done," Sid says, wiping a sheen of sweat from his forehead in relief. "He's out, Kid. The effects should last for the next… four hours, at least."
Kid's eyes darken. "Secure him in one of the cells. We will be in the infirmary, with Soul." He turns back. "Maka, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine." She shakes her head. "You got there just in time. How did you know…?"
"We didn't know exactly, but Sid and I both sensed some dangerous wavelengths, originating from Professor Stein's office." He clears his throat, dryly noticing the dirtiness of his surroundings and stepping out into the hall. "Given what happened to Stein last night, we assumed the worst." He continues, happier in a cleaner space. "What I didn't expect was to find one of my most valuable weapons and friends incapacitated on the floor." He grimaces.
"Stein's pretty scary when he loses it like that, huh," Patty comments, and Liz gives her a look.
"Yeah, you don't say." The older sister shudders in response. "You alright, Maka?" her eyes kindly regard Maka, who nods unsurely.
"Fine… is Soul going to be okay? Professor Stein… he gave him something."
Kid makes a face, shuffling down the hallway; one of Soul's arms draped loosely over him, carrying the whole weight of the boy.
The thought doesn't escape Maka that it might look to an outsider as if they had killed Soul and were disposing of the body, dragging him limply along like this.
Don't think like that. He's going to be okay.
As if sensing her mind, Liz puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Maka, we're going to make sure Soul is alright. Kid- should we call Marie?"
"I think that Nygus may be of more use in this situation." He replies. Liz whips out her phone from her pocket, presumably to make a call to the combatant nurse. "But as Stein's partner, I'll notify her as soon as we've tended to Soul." He replies, beginning to sweat a little. "Speaking of which, I could use a little help…?" he asks politely. "He's a little heavy."
Liz and Patty titter, sharing a look. Maka reaches underneath Soul's other arm and wraps it around her, bearing half the weight.
She reaches, sensing for his wavelength and breathes an audible sigh of relief when she finds it; weak but still alive; still reverberating.
"I can sense his soul." She tells Kid. "He's okay."
Well, okay might be a stretch. Alive was more generally applicable.
They reach the infirmary, and Kid and Maka haul Soul onto one of the spare hospital beds with some difficulty. Maka stares tearfully down at her weapon, and then her olive orbs reach searchingly up to Kid, as if asking for answers.
"Nygus is on her way," Liz offers. "I'm sorry, Maka. It looks like he's out cold. I think there might be a good chance you might have to wait this one out." The girls all glance down at Soul's sleeping physique.
"He looks so sleepy!" Patty interjects, with a smile. "I kinda want to draw a moustache on him," she laughs. Liz's expression is one of wry amusement.
"Let's wait until he's better before we draw anything on him, okay Patty?" she says a little condescendingly, placing an arm in front of her as if to keep her at bay.
Meanwhile, Kid is staring intently at Maka, which doesn't go unnoticed by her. She also notices, for the first time, how grown he looks. Still fairly tall and slender, his hair is now cut a little shorter; a less boyish style. He dresses in a similar way as always; expensive black suits adorned with little grey stone skulls. But far and away the most striking thing about the change is his face; his face looks so much older, wiser. He's accumulated dark under-eyes from the stress of running the academy, his expressions take on a world-weary pallor; less youthful and trusting.
Something occurs to her, a vague memory of something she'd barely managed to take in at the time.
"What was in that syringe? The one Sid put in Professor Stein's arm?"
"Oh, that." Kid frowns. "It was a sedative. The last time that Stein lost his mind; during the rise of the kishin Asura – we decided to put in place measures that would help us to easily immobilize the doctor, in case we ever needed it again." He replies, his tone sombre. "In the madness, I suppose Stein forgot all about it; or at least there was enough of his sane mind left to leave it there for us." Kid muses, thoughtfully. "As for my attack, well, that was pure luck. If Stein had not been so preoccupied with you… well, let's just say the whole ordeal would have been a lot more difficult."
So the academy was just relying on blind luck, now?
She swallows her anxiety as Kid continues.
"Now might be a good time to discuss things with you, Maka." He gestures for her to take a seat, one of the ones for visitors of inpatients. "Patty, Liz. Would you mind giving me and Maka a few minutes of privacy? When Nygus arrives, please let her in." he waves his weapons away. The girls exit accordingly, and Kid sits down to face his friend-turned-employee. "Listen, Maka. After our meeting this morning, I got hold of Asuza for advice." He explains.
Asuza?
Asuza was one of the Deathscythes that Lord Death had assigned to oversee the hunting of kishin across the globe. She had a particularly strong ability to sense intricate details of an environment; particularly soul wavelengths, so came in extra hand for espionage or intelligence missions.
"Okay…?" Maka replies.
"We wanted to rule out the possibility that the insanity wavelength could be caused by the kishin. Asuza's soul perception analysis of the moon indicated that the Asura… is dead and gone."
Well, that was one heck of a relief.
Except…
"What about Crona?" she asks. "He went up there with Asura. Is he dead, too?"
Kid hesitates. "Curiously, she couldn't find any trace of Crona, or his weapon, Ragnorak. It's possible that they both perished along with Asura. Or they might have escaped. Being exposed to those levels of madness can have unprecedented effects on a person."
Maka jumps up with her chance to speak. "Kid! The enemy, on the mission yesterday. Whoever it was, they wielded a powerful black sword. Could it be…?"
Kid's eyebrows spring upwards in perfect unison. "You think the madness could be being caused by Crona and Ragnorak?" his hand flies to his face where it strokes his chin, deep in thought. Maka nods a little fiercely.
"I just had this feeling… I came here to tell you about it. Then we bumped into Professor Stein," she shudders, reliving the memory back. "Not that it really matters, but Stein didn't seem to agree."
But then, Stein was not exactly of sound mind right now.
"We can't rule out the possibility of Crona and Ragnorak's return." Kid says but follows it up a little darkly. "Though… knowing the levels of insanity that they must have been exposed to; locked in with Asura all that time, if it was them, I doubt there would be anything left of the Crona we knew." He says theatrically.
Maka's eyes fall worriedly from Kid to her partner, pale and sickly-looking collapsed on the infirmary bed.
"What does that mean?" she whispers.
"It means… I really hope that you're wrong, Maka."