Author's Note: What can I say? This chapter is the long awaited 'execution' chapter, that everything has been leading up to for the last 15 chapters.
Quite a few people were confused about last chapter, and how I mentioned Arachne has a daughter, implying that her daughter is Crona. Now, if you look back a few chapters, you will find the answers to that question. Now I'm not going to say it outright, but you can work it out using the things said by a certain other character.
I want to thank Midlina, Mouers, SAHCB, raelynn gross, bluenian98, KirstyKakes, and We Rock the House for your reviews. Hopefully, this chapter is satisfying enough for you :P
Please drop a review if you have the time, but otherwise, enjoy the read!
Soul is dressed and ready. He just needs to collect his book bag and his cell phone. He looks down and see's Maka's bag next to his and rolls his eyes. Did she forget her shit? Someone should tell her you can't go to school without your books. What an idiot.
Turning towards the desk, he picks up his cell phone and sighs heavily. He supposed that she could probably get away with not taking books to school today. The execution snuck up on him, and the dreaded Monday arrived much faster than he wished. He's tired as fuck. He didn't catch a wink of sleep last night, and knows he has dark bags under his eyes. He looks in the mirror briefly and can safely say he looks like walking death.
He sighs and attempts to collect himself. This isn't being fair on Maka. She has been surprisingly tolerant of his rotten moods over the past few days, only giving him one or two Maka chops for his idiocy. He isn't sure if she knows what he is going through, or is just generally lacking the energy to beat the living daylights out of him. On the surface, she looked totally fine about the execution when he was talking to her the night before. She shouldn't have to deal with his worries on top of her own.
With a scowl firmly planted on his face, he turns, picks up both book bags, and heads out for breakfast.
Maka goes back to her own room to finish getting her things. She grabs her tie and ties it perfectly. Next she hops into her bed, brings her knees to her chest and puts on her socks. Where is Soul? He must have already been out in the main room. She hasn't talked to him this morning and wonders what kind of mood the clown is in. He hates mornings and she hates his grouchiness until about ten. Then, his tartness is more for show than it is a reflection of his real deportment. She turns to pick up her book bag, before she realizes it is not there. She remembers leaving it in Soul's room on Friday night and quickly makes her way through the door.
She darts into his door, softly opening and closing the door behind her. At a quick glance, she cannot spot either Soul or her book bag. She figures he must have taken it to the main room with him. She leaves as quickly as she entered, pulling the door shut behind her.
When she gets to the entrance of the kitchen, she sees Soul eating breakfast while reading a newspaper. She doesn't say anything, and just watches. He's not in a good mood. He has quite a scowl going on. In fact, it is very pronounced. His eyes are moving across the page slowly, but very erratically. That means that he really isn't reading it. His eyes are moving to make others think that he is, but he's in contemplation. Her friend is very uneasy. His breaths are evenly spaced, but they are deep, meaning that he is giving himself the 'just calm down' talk. What is on your mind, Jackass?
Okay, what is my problem?
He has a very bad feeling about today. Something is going to go wrong, he just knows it. No matter how hard he tries, he can't stop the thoughts about the execution gnawing at his subconscious. What's the worst that could happen? He curses inwardly. That was a stupid question to ask himself, because now he has death scenarios of all his friends stuck on endless repeat inside his brain. What is it about the execution that makes him to anxious? The chance of someone actually escaping is next to nothing. So what has him so riled up? Is it the .01% chance something may go wrong? Soul blames Kid for this. Surely escaping from an execution is mere child's play in the books of someone ranked 13? The adults will all be there. The thought should calm him, but instead, all it does is fuel his anxiety.
He can hear footsteps behind him, and assumes they belong to Maka. He decides not to look at her yet because he swears that she can read his mind sometimes and he doesn't want her to start digging anything out of him until he can figure himself out.
As she comes toward him, she notices that he decides not to look up, intentionally. His eyes move her direction on the paper and then dart to the other side. Inwardly, she sighs. What the hell is he sorting through? As she walks by, she smacks him in the back of the head which instantly makes him look up. "Hey! What the hell! Can I get some peace?" He asks as he turns around to look at her.
As soon as his eyes make contact with hers, she starts her search while carrying on a conversation. "I decided to stop your eyes from the senseless wandering since your brain isn't picking up any of the words." She says factually as she sits down and grabs her chopsticks. Keeping a hold on his orbs, she notices that his eyes are still his normal shade of crimson, so he's not angry. But the outside corners are down a bit. He's definitely worried.
The boy's eyes become the size of saucers. "I-I was reading! Just because you don't read newspapers doesn't mean you have the right to criticize the rest of the well-informed public." Shit. She knows something is wrong. How did she know that I wasn't reading? His eyes become immediately glued to the page.
Maka rolls her eyes. Soul diversion tactic number one: when you want someone to leave you alone, insult them in a way that will make them pissed enough that they won't want to talk. Unfortunately for him, she's already caught on to that show. He knows damn well that she reads the newspaper. He's just pissed about being busted. "I knew that you weren't reading because your eyes didn't move in a pattern of reading." She says evenly. When his eyes go back to the paper, she knows right then, that there is definitely a problem. He is refusing to look at her which is definitely taboo in the book of Soul. She needs to get his eyes back up so she can get to the bottom of whatever the bullshit seems to be. So, she insults him with a chuckle. "And you being well informed might be debatable."
How does she do that? That is almost creepy! He looks up at her out of reflex with his scowl firmly in place. "And I suppose that you are?"
The girl decides that she has to annoy him enough to keep his gaze engaged. "I didn't say that I was. I was just saying that you being so is up for discussion." She is wearing a smart-assed smile and she notices that he has forgotten about his issue when his eyes get engaged in the banter. But, then, it comes right back. They stare at each other for a second. Soul knows that she is fishing, and wants to look away, but can't. However, his dorm mates come to his rescue. Tsubaki and the Thompson sisters walk past them with their bags slung on their shoulders.
"Get a move on, we don't want to be late." Liz speaks at last, pausing to glance at the silent conversation occurring between her friends. Soul looks like he's been through hell and back, while Maka appears to simply be curious.
Soul and Maka begin to gather their belongings, while turning to face the others.
"Morning." Maka briefly greets Tsubaki and the sisters before sauntering off to put her plate in the sink. Soul follows closely behind, sparing a short wave at his dorm mates, before doing the same to his plate as Maka.
"Good morning to both of you." Tsubaki greets with a smile, as she cleans the table, pushing the chairs under the table neatly and brushing off any crumbs with the back of her hand.
"Where's Blackstar and Kid?" Maka can't help but ask. She hears a loud bang come from outside the front door, and her question is answered for her. Tsubaki offers her a sheepish smile but Maka waves it off, in favor of heading out the door.
Professor Stein is already waiting as they exit the dorm. He has a roll check, and a pen in hand. He offers the students a quick motion of his hand to follow, as he quickly marks them either present or absent. They walk in absolute silence. Maka is still peering at Soul, whose condition had made little improvement in the time they had been out of the dorm. She leans over and whispers in a soft voice "What's wrong?"
He doesn't know what the hell to say to her, and her worry only makes him feel worse. "Nothing." Immediately, he picks up his pace so that he is walking alongside Blackstar, leaving Maka to trot with Tsubaki and the Thompson sisters.
Liar. There is definitely something wrong.
They have been walking for at least half an hour along crowded streets, and narrow alleys, and still don't appear to be getting any closer to their intended destination. Just where the hell were they going, anyway? Professor Stein still hasn't said a word since their journey began. His pase is brisk, and ridiculously fast. The only member of their dorm able to keep up without breaking a sweat is inevitably Blackstar. Soul's legs ache. He doesn't want to be the first to complain, but man they hurt. He supposes it takes his mind off what he is about to witness. If he is concentrating on how much pain he is currently in, maybe his mind won't wander. He can only hope so.
They reach the execution grounds an hour later. Soul thinks it was a stupid idea to walk if it was this far out. His muscles are screaming in agony, and he is literally coated in sweat. Not many others were in better condition. Maka's fringe was plastered to her sticky forehead, as was Kid's. Even Blackstar's hair had lost some of its 'bounce', and he could tell his own snowy-white spikes had wilted. Professor Stein didn't look any different from when they had left. What the hell was that guy anyway?
The execution ground was surrounded by a metal, spiked fence. It was huge, maybe 20 or even 30 feet high, and covered by barbed wire. There were large poles running through the fence, and by the crackling air around them, he didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that it was electric. In all, it looked like a fort, and so heavily defended that an army would have a tough job breaking and entering. So why was he still so scared?
4 heavily armed guards pick their group up in an armored vehicle. Each is equipped with an array of guns, knives and other necessities.
Slowly, the gate is opened.
The vehicle drives in cautiously, entering the gothic looking place at a snail's pace, as the gate closed firmly behind them.
The whole interior of the grounds look similar to one of the spooky graveyards you sometimes see in horror movies. The grass and trees were dead, or slowly dying, and the most vibrant color in the whole area was the red of Soul's eyes.
Maka can only see grays, browns and blacks.
An astounding number of people crowded around the centre podium. Upon the wooden frame, sits the lonely device that was to be used for the last time. It is a simple scaffold-like structure, with a rope with a noose at one end attached to the top. There is a platform, in which Maka guesses that the criminal walks out on, before having the rope bound around their neck, then the platform taken away so they would fall to their death.
The crowd is a mixture of gray, and brown. Maka figures they are from either the army, or maybe from the police station.
A loud siren bursts through the oppressive silence, gaining everyone's attention instantaneously. Maka and the others from the dorm dismount the vehicle, wandering behind Stein, over to the platform in the middle.
The siren blasts loudly once more as from one of the outer rims the dirt appears to be being dug up, or pushed aside. Soon, the sand and dirt covering the object is gone, revealing an old, rotting wooden hatch buried in the side of the structure. The hatch is slowly swung open, as a numerous guards filed out; large rifles in hand all pointing in the same direction.
The path eventually clears, and both Soul and Maka can see what they are all aiming at. In the centre of the commotion, is a figure. There is a brown cover over his head, so none of his facial features are clearly visible. His limbs are so thin and scrawny, you could literally see the bones jutting out where they joined, like in his knees and elbows. He was covered only by tattered rags, so that the majority of his scarred and malnourished chest was visible. His ribs slowly expanded before retracting as he takes one deep breath after another.
Even looking in the direction sends Maka's spine crawling. She wants desperately to look away, but she can't.
Each step the criminal takes is wobbly, as if that without the support of the guards on each side, he wouldn't have the strength to stand.
Soul thinks the man looks like a miserable thing. The so-called '13 level' monster, looks that pathetic? For some reason, even though the wreck about to be executed almost made him laugh, he felt something was off… there was something wrong. Every time he glances in the escort party's direction, his blood runs cold, his breath catches in his through and he his spine crawls. Something over there radiates pure evil.
The party reaches the stand, and the criminal is roughly pushed forward. The guard doing the manhandling catches Maka's attention. He is wearing an officer's cap that covers his hair and cloaks his face in the shadows. Maka cannot stop staring at the guard, as the criminal is feebly struggling as the guard delivers another brutal blow to his face. Very soon, the same guard is wrapping the noose around the criminal's neck with ease and precision… It looks like the guard has had a lot of practice. The bag is roughly pulled of the condemned's head, displaying to everyone in the area his wretched face.
The criminal's eyes dart around the crowd, desperately searching for something. His dull brown eyes meet Maka's a second before the guard roughly pushes him off the platform.
As he is falling through the air, as his eyes are wide in fear, as his hair is flapping in the wind, all he does is mouth a singular word that only one person in the entire audience catches, before falling to his death.
The resounding 'snap' of his spine cracking and his neck snapping echoes through the deadly silent area.
Slowly, the crowd begins to break out in cheers of pure happiness and joy. Soul can't take his eyes from the scene. The feeling hasn't dispersed. The feeling of something evil… a monster, being right beside him lingers on. It feels like there are hands wrapping around his throat, and a knife being pressed into his back. He should be happy… shouldn't he? Why… why was he trembling in fear?
He looks at Maka standing silently beside him. Her eyes are the widest he has ever seen them. Her pupils have shrunk to the size of tiny dots and her mouth is hanging wide open. She looks absolutely terrified.
Maka can't breathe. She can't fucking breathe! By the cheers and sounds of congratulations echoing around her, she knows deep down that she is the only person who caught what the 'criminal' mouthed before he died.
She turns away stiffly, feeling vomit crawl up her throat. Soul grabs her arm in a desperate attempt to halt his own violent shaking. Maka can't feel him, nor can she see, nor hear him. All she can hear is the man's mouthed words- his silent scream, echoing endlessly in her mind.
'RUN'