The DSM?
Chapter 23: Into the Madness
For weeks personal matters were put on the backburners of the lives of those associated with the DWMA. As madness ran rampant through the world, those burdened with the task of fighting it got progressively busier. Dawn barely saw Kidd again, he was sent on many missions and she began spending hour after hour, day after day, training with Lord Death and Sid (when Sid wasn't on a mission as well). It was becoming clearer that a large-scale battle between the academy and arachnophobia was going to happen, and soon. The death scythe meister was pushing herself harder in every waking moment, determined to be able to fight alongside her friends and help them. As a result, she herself in a particular situation many times…
Blinking her eyes against what appeared to be unfamiliar surroundings, Dawn yawned and stretched slightly. Her muscles felt tensed and strained. Briefly unable to remember previous events, she rubbed at her eyes in attempts to pull out of her drowsy state.
"Hey! Great to see you're awake!"
"Holy shi-!" she yelled and jumped up so quickly that, in her still half asleep state, it caused her vision to black out for a few seconds. Dawn's balance failed her as well and she fell back down off the infirmary bed she had been on and flat on her back.
For the first few seconds the numb prickling through her body made Dawn want to avoid moving as much as possible until it passed. Hence, she simply turned her head to view the figure now leaning over her.
"Damn it Death, don't do that!"
The cloak he wore moved only slightly, causing Dawn to narrow her gaze. He was laughing at her. Rolling her eyes she pulled herself off the floor to sit with her legs crossed neatly in front of her.
"You get a kick out of it, don't you?"
"I must admit, it's quite interesting to see that someone is more naturally scared of my current voice than my original, deeper one. No matter how much time passes."
"So… that's a yes?" Dawn deadpanned.
Once again, he avoided the answer completely and instead held out one of his large hands to help her up. When she had taken his hand in her own and stood up Dawn decided to just let it go, knowing he wasn't about to give her any straight answers. She looked around to observe her surroundings finding she was in the academy infirmary. Before she could say anything Nygus pulled the curtain to the closed section and peered in.
"Oh good, you're up. We need the bed."
A brown haired boy limped in, half carrying a girl whose arm was draped over his shoulders. She had long dark hair but that was all Dawn could tell for sure, her clothes were torn to the point of barely existing. Not to mention she was covered in blood, and still bleeding. A great deal of her blood was now soaking into the boy's once white hoodie and Dawn could only assume the boy was her weapon and the two were coming back from a mission which, judging by the meister's condition, had gone horribly wrong.
As he laid his meister down on the bed, Dawn couldn't help but think at how familiar he looked. Before she could place it however, Nygus ushered her and Lord Death out of the makeshift room, calling for an assistant to get her disinfectant and equipment to seal the girl's wounds. A moment of silence later Dawn turned to Death where they stood in the hall.
"So why was I… oh crud I did it again didn't I?" she groaned.
Lord Death nodded. "I'm glad to see you practicing so hard and fully dedicating yourself but it would be better if you stopped practicing to the point of passing out."
"Yeah…" she sighed. "Sorry about that."
"Don't be silly." He bounced as he spoke. " You know what? You've been working really hard lately and you've made a lot of progress. Why don't you take the day off tomorrow?"
Dawn objected immediately. "I can't do that!"
"Of course you can." He waved it off. "I'll just sign you of regular classes, very few students are here anyway. You can stay home, you deserve it. Also, we're running out of beds in the infirmary for me to place you in anyway."
After speaking with him some more Lord Death, with much insisting, convinced Dawn to stay home the next day. As she was heading back to Soul and Maka's she remembered that Kidd was supposed to have returned from a mission that same day. Smiling, Dawn took a detour and headed towards gallows manor. When she got up to the walkway and arrived at the front door however she found it locked and no one answered when she knocked.
"Looking for Kidd?"
Jumping and turning simultaneously in surprise Dawn found Blackstar smirking at her from the sidewalk, hands casually behind his head and a smiling Tsubaki beside him.
"Hey Blackstar, Tsubaki. And yeah I am. Why, do you know where he is?"
Blackstar dropped his hands down to his sides and turned to face her fully as she walked towards them.
"Yeah, he's out on a mission."
"So he hasn't gotten back yet?"
"No, he has."
Dawn blinked in confusion causing Blackstar to sigh exasperatedly.
"You seriously mean you don't know?"
She continued staring blankly until Tsubaki stepped in to explain the situation.
"Kidd got back just over an hour ago but as soon as he came back Lord Death sent him out on another mission right away."
"Yeah, something about another magic tool in a town called sarcophagus." Blackstar added.
"Aw damn." Dawn pouted. "If I hadn't passed out again today then I may have been able to see him before he left."
The young assassin's smirk grew and his expression itself seemed to be taunting her with 'I know your secret!' that she returned with a warning glare. After another few seconds without either of them moving, Tsubaki stepped forward with her eyes darting between the two meisters.
"I'm missing something… aren't I?"
The glare Dawn had been holding faded being replaced with the tiniest upward twitch of her lips that hinted at a barely contained smirk. Her gaze flickered quickly to Tsubaki before settling back on Blackstar once again. It was so quick a normal person would have missed it, like Tsubaki did. Though Blackstar, however loud and obnoxious he was sometimes, had his skills. Observation being one, and it became his turn to glare in warning.
"You wouldn't."
"Neither would you, right?" she said sweetly.
He broke into a large grin, clapping a hand onto her shoulder.
"I think we are both better off keeping our mouths shut on this."
Dawn smiled, nodding to which he nodded back and began walking away. Blackstar got a few meters away before turning back to Dawn.
"Take a good look Dawn! The next time you see this star, I'll have surpassed the power of the gods!" he yelled enthusiastically while pointing to himself. Then he turned to his partner with a much more calm attitude. "Come on Tsubaki."
This snapped the young weapon out of her confused trance and she giggled, nodding and smiling sweetly as would be expected of her.
"Right. Well bye Dawn, we'll see you later."
Waving to the pair as they left, Dawn gave no thought to how Blackstar had it in his head that he would surpass god-like power before he saw her again. At the most it would only be two days. Yet, those thoughts evaded her mind so she had no questions as to what he would possibly be doing to give him that opportunity and no suspicions as to what was being planned behind her back. The next morning at sunrise all the meisters and weapons from the academy could be found in the halls of the DWMA preparing to storm Baba Yaga's castle and take down arachnophobia. Well, all but one.
It was almost noon when Dawn woke up, yawning and rolling onto her stomach blissfully. Strands of her loose hair fell over her face while she smiled, stretched, then sunk back into the mattress.
"Finally a day where I can sleep in la-"
Without warning the ground lurched violently at the same time a loud grunt-like sound rang throughout the entire city. The movement made a sudden stop, dumping Dawn out of her bed and face first onto the ground, killing her good mood.
"Oh come on!"
The ground jerked again and she was thrown against the wall of her room. She grabbed desperately for something to steady herself, getting nervous. It felt like the entire building was spinning. A nauseous feeling began setting in while she moved to get out of the building as quickly as possible. Stepping out however, she was shocked to see that areas of the whole city were moving. Dawn stood in the street dumbfounded until just as suddenly as it had all started, the moving stopped. A different sort of movement started and seconds later Dawn came to the conclusion that all of death city was now moving forward in unison.
"I need to get to the bottom of this!"
She sprinted off with a newfound speed that the pre-return-to-death-city her would have marveled at. Even though now she knew that most of the meisters at the academy were still faster than her. Taking the steps two at a time it wasn't long before she reached the top, and was thrown to the ground as the city spun again.
"What is it this time?!" she screamed in annoyance and frustration.
When she actually saw the answer to her question though, her face paled and her mouth dropped open in shock. Hands reached out from the city as it spun and grabbed at… a giant moving spider? She wasn't sure if that was accurate but that's what it looked like to her. The 'spider' shot lasers from its eyes that swept across the city, one of which nearly hit Dawn as she stumbled backwards out of its path. She started to question her sanity when she thought she heard Lord Death yelling, "Hot, hot, HOT!" from somewhere underneath the ground on which she stood.
"Forget Asura." Dawn mumbled, back on her feet and running through the school halls looking for Death. "This is insanity."
"Dad, don't kill us!"
The yell brought Dawn to a halted stop. Knowing it was Kidd who yelled she didn't hesitate for a moment to take off in the direction she heard it come from, leading her to the death room. Emerging from the guillotine hallway in a rush she found Kidd, Liz, Patty, and the woman she vaguely remembered as Azusa clutching to the edge of the stage. In the moment however, she disregarded introductions due to the circumstances.
"What's going on?!"
That got their attention for sure.
"D-Dawn?!" Kidd looked at her is surprised worry. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying to figure out why I woke up to the city moving."
As she took a step towards them, only a few feet from the group now, the city lurched again and she was nearly sent to the ground for the third time. The only thing that stopped her was Kidd when he stepped forward to catch her. Silence followed, during which Dawn and Kidd simply looked at each other slightly stunned and flushed. Azusa calmly watched the situation unfold, Liz stood to the side smirking and Patty ignored what was going on to speak her mind.
"You really did just wake up didn't you? You're still in your pajamas!" Patty tugged lightly at the hem of Dawn's worn t-shirt, shifting the girl's attention away from the young reaper still supporting her weight.
"You know, I woke up to a face full of carpet, was thrown against a wall, the entire city was moving for reasons unknown and I was worried about changing clothes." She quipped sarcastically.
Her remark earned a chuckle from Kidd as he helped her get steady on her feet. It lasted only a second because his expression sobered and he described the situation to her. By the time he finished Dawn was upset to say the least.
"He gave me the day off of school so everyone else could go fight against arachnophobia without me!" she ranted a bit, and while her tone had started off angry it faded, sounding upset near the end. "I promised I would help him with his cause, I don't understand why he won't let me."
Azusa finally spoke, pushing her glasses further up her nose resulting in a glare over the lenses.
"Excuse me but how long have you been a student here exactly?"
"Um… I came just after the kishin's revival so… four, five months maybe."
"Then what makes you think a student of less than six months can stand against an organization like arachnophobia?"
Before Dawn could voice her offense at the comment that Azusa made, they all jumped; startled as something or rather someone fell into the death room.
"What was that?" Liz spoke up this time.
"Not what, who."
Kidd's eyes narrowed as he was obviously looking for the soul of whoever had interrupted them. His eyes widened in a startled recognition that made Dawn's stomach flip.
"Asura."
The voice wasn't Kidd and Dawn's head snapped in the direction that it came from. There, a good hundred feet away, stood Lord Death with Death Scythe slung over his shoulder. Everything after that for Dawn came in a blur, the level at which Death and Asura fought was astounding. The last thing she remembered was the swish of a black cloak covering her field of view then… nothing.
Blinking, Dawn winced at how bright the light seemed to be. Her head was pounding and when she finally opened her eyes fully, the world around her blurred, black spots dotting her vision. It took a moment but when she regained her sight she saw a large piece of rubble in front of her face.
"Huh?"
Rolling over, she turned to come face to face with an unconscious Spirit.
"Whoa!"
Dawn sat up, pressing against the rubble and as far from the man as possible, startled. Her stomach disagreed with the movement however and threatened to discard whatever was left in it from the previous day. One thought drew her attention away though, if Spirit was here and unresponsive, then what about Lord Death? She stood up to look around, and that was when she saw him, cloak in tatters and medical machines hooked up to him.
"L-Lord Death!"
Running over to him despite the pain she felt, Dawn felt panicked until she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.
"The medics said he'll be fine." Azusa stated in a manner than was much calmer than she herself felt.
"W…What happened?"
Dawn had tears pricking at her eyes, on the verge of spilling over.
"Asura made a low move and aimed for us, or more specifically, Kidd. Lord Death jumped in front to take the hit for our little group and protect us. He saved out lives."
The mention of the group drew Dawn's attention to a different person now that she knew Death was going to be okay.
"What about Kidd?"
An uncertain and concerned look crossed Azusa's face but she said nothing.
"Azusa! Is he ok?"
"Yeah… I think."
"You think? Azusa what happened? Where is he?"
"He… left to fight the kishin."
"What?!" Dawn felt her stomach plummet and her heart stop.
"Asura was sealing himself in a barrier that would have blocked everyone out and assured the world's descent into madness. Kidd decided to get to him before the barrier closed and prevent that from happening. Maka and Blackstar made it in as well but that is all I know. The barrier is preventing me from seeing anything else without a pre-established link with someone on the inside."
After a few deep breaths Dawn composed herself and looked up at Azusa with a determined look in her eyes.
"Establish a link with me then."
"Dawn I don't like where this is going."
"I have an idea. I think I may be able to break through the barrier."
"Dawn-"
"You can establish a link with me or I'll go without it anyway."
"Kidd's already left under my watch I can't let you go too!" Azusa snapped.
"And I'm sick and tired of sitting by while those I care about fight! While they get hurt protecting me! Do you have any idea what it feels like to owe your life to people? For once, I want to be the one to help others, to fight for them!"
Dawn had screamed back, taking Azusa by surprise. The death scythe returned to her calm demeanor in response.
"But trying to fight the kishin is not a good way to start."
"I'm still doing it."
Dawn was walking away when Azusa grabbed her by the arm. She felt a static sensation before Azusa let go. Nodding at the older woman in understanding, she took off at a sprint for where she could now see the giant barrier surrounding the kishin. On the way she passed groups of terminated arachnophobia agents. Arriving on the edge of the barrier, Dawn swallowed thickly and her palms began to sweat.
"The barrier must be a manifestation of the kishin's wavelength… and a wavelength can't protect against one thing. Itself."
She sighed, resting a hand against the seemingly solid surface.
"Never again. No one will get hurt for me again." She fingered the choker on her neck.
"I'm going to need no restrictions. I'm sorry Lord Death, but today I'm breaking my promise."
Dawn pulled the fabric over her head and dropped the choker to the ground beside her. Hands pressed to the barrier, she strained to adjust her wavelength.
"Focus. Focus…"
Stein's head snapped up from where he had been watching Marie sit by Chrona.
"Stein is something wrong?"
"Now I remember… So that's what her soul looks like…" he murmured.
Suddenly the barrier was no longer solid to her and she fell through. Instead of face planting onto the ground like she had prepared for, Dawn found herself stumbling into a pitch-black area, no walls or even floor visible even though she definitely felt one beneath her feet.
"W-What's going on?"
"Foolish child." A male voice chuckled.
Dawn whipped around trying to find where the voice was coming from but it seemed to radiate from every direction.
"Who's there? Where am I?"
"Did you not think of the real result of your actions?" the voice taunted.
"What are you talking about?"
"You were right about one thing…"
She turned again, panic setting in and her breathing getting heavier.
"…A wavelength can't protect against itself." He continued. "However my wavelength is insanity. By matching you own wavelength to mine you gave yourself up… to the madness."
Author's Note:
Da da daaaaa. Cliffhanger!
Sorry about the timing =_=' Too many setbacks happened for me to even tell you. *sigh* Anyway, happy news is I may be able to go to Anime-North! For those who may not know, it is an anime convention happening in Toronto in May and I am so excited for the possibility of going! Mainly because John Swasey and J. Michael Tatum are the guests there! For those who don't recognize voice actor names, here is a list of anime characters I know the two play.
John Swasey:
The Undertaker (Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler)
Van Hohenheim (FMA:Brotherhood)
Yuzuru Suou (Ouran HSHC)
And…
Lord Death! *fangirl squeal*
J. Michael Tatum:
Sebastian Michaelis (Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler)
Komui Lee ( Man)
Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)
France (Hetalia)
Kyoya Ootori (Ouran HSHC)
And…
Giriko! Yay!
Wow, this is the longest chapter yet. In written format it is eight average letters pages written front and back.
Furthermore, I've just posted a CanadaXReader I wrote for a contest on DA, if any of you are Hetalia fans.
Also going to be posted is an alternative scene for this chapter! (Later when I write it fully and type it) The way this chapter happened was actually not my first idea on how to enter the battle. But I still like the original idea so I will write it soon and post it as the first installment to the random DSM side-fic collection that will include the paintball and strip poker ;) Probably will just end up calling it "Adventures of a Death Scythe Meister". Any better ideas would be appreciated.
Love always,
~Vi