H_E_L_L_O T_R_A_V_E_L_L_E_R
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Chapter 35: E A S T
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How long ago had they set sail for the East? A few hours? Days? Years?
The zee remained. The islands fell behind. Greater waves rocked their ship, and the false-stars paled until the Neath roof faded into complete darkness. The water's colour changed from dark and inscrutable to a rich green the hue of emeralds. The ship's engine toiled without sound. The air smelled of spice and pine. There was a faint echo of bells.
Maka watched a piece of driftwood lazily float by. She was on the highest deck, facing forwards. The ship was silent. Some were sleeping, others were tending to their duties with minimum enthusiasm.
"Maka."
Speaking of which.
Maka turned to see Ox come up the stairs, followed by Kid. Judging by their sombre expressions, they weren't the harbingers of good news.
"We keep heading East," Ox informed her. "If we keep heading out like this, we won't have enough supplies to make the trip back."
"I've scanned the area multiple times. There are no lands or souls nearby," Kid added. "I fear this… place is a dead-end like the rest."
Maka listened to them with grim disappointment. They had already visited over half the places the Scholar had advised them to, yet they weren't any closer to finding a way home. What if they visited them all and they still came up with nothing? They had already visited over half the major locations in the Unterzee, and all they had to show for it were tales of terror and plenty of confusion. What if none of the places of the Unterzee held the key to returning home? Would they have to explore Neath's landmasses? They already knew North always lead to the thankfully sealed Avid Horizon, and now they had sailed the endless zee of the East. Would they have to explore the corroded cliffs of the West, and the Dark Continent of the South as well? What if they still found nothing? Would they have to travel to the surface, where the light was a soul wavelength with a grudge? How long would that take? What dangers lurked out there?
With a heavy heart, Maka had to admit that she didn't have any way to answer these questions. All she had to go on was hope, and trust that they would all make it out together. Still, that did not mean she could afford herself to grow complacent. She had to exhaust any option, any possibility, examine every nook and cranny of the places they visited.
Once again, Maka activated her Soul Perception, more out of a sense of closure than any actual hope of sensing something, anything. Still, she couldn't help but sigh when her Soul Perception came up with nothing. Besides them, there was nothing ahead.
That was fine. Even if this place was a dead-end, she couldn't lose hope. They wouldn't stop seeking their home. They would always return home.
A gentle salt-filled wind blew against her face.
With her Soul Perception still active, Maka sensed it. A distortion in the air. The horizon pulsed and faded, like a mirage in a heatwave. Maka had sensed something like this, before they set sail for where the world never ended.
It was a sliver of a wavelength. Bright but far away.
"That's..." Maka's words came out like vapour.
"Maka?" Ox asked.
Kid followed her gaze. "Did you sense something?"
Maka's eyes were fixed on the horizon, on the distortion. It was barely perceptible now, unseen unless one had experienced it before. "Something is hiding."
The salty air died down.
Kid's frown turned into a scowl and narrowed his eyes. After a few moments, he closed them completely.
Ox blinked and looked questioningly between the two.
"It's like Aestival," Maka told Kid, her gaze still fixed on the horizon. "It's different though… somehow."
The three stayed in silence for a few moments, Maka and Kid focused on their Soul Perception while Ox watched them with mounting confusion.
Nothing changed. The zee kept gently lapping against the ship. The distortion vanished from Maka's gaze completely, like the mirage she was starting to believe it was.
Maka sighed. "It's probably nothing." She turned to Ox. "Let's turn around-"
"You!" Kid yelled, causing Ox and Maka to jump in place. "You're the one that got us here!"
Maka and Ox looked between the horizon and Kid.
"Uh," Ox began, "all due respect Lord Death, but who are you talking to?"
Kid kept his glare solely focused on the horizon. "They know very well who they are." The Grim Reaper crossed his arms like an angry mother. "And they know it's in their best interest not to stay silent!"
While Kid was yelling, his Soul Wavelength flared to the point of manifesting cackling shadows around his form. Ox took a step back. Maka clenched her fists. Whatever Kid was sensing, it couldn't be good.
"Hey!" Soul called out as he, Liz, Kilik and Harvar appeared at the stairs. "Is everything alright? We heard screaming-"
L-
A burning sound that overtook everything else, that created ripples in the fabric of space and time, that glowed red and everlasting and ate away at Maka's hearing like moths to fabric-
E-
"Enough-! You're hurting them!" Kid's voice. Burning sound subsided, and disappeared. Maka could gather her thoughts again, now if the ringing in her ears could stop- "Are all of your kind that inconsiderate or are you a particularly disappointing specimen?!"
Maka found herself on the floor, her hands against her ears. Around her, the others had done the same, with one now-pissed-off exception.
"Fuck me that hurt." That was Liz concisely summarizing everyone's sentiment.
"I think I've gone deaf in one ear!" Kilik yelled.
The wind picked up, brushing up against Maka and strangely enough irritating her already sensitive ears.
"Don't try to deceive me, I know it was you," Kid said. He was braced against the railing and still staring daggers at the horizon.
"Nevermind, it popped- I'm ok!" Kilik continued.
"What the hell was that?" Soul asked, rubbing his ears. He looked at Maka and let out a relieved sigh when he saw her already getting up.
"Guys!" Tsubaki ran up the stairs and joined them, followed by Black Star, Patty, Kim, Jackie. "Are you alright- What was that?!"
"Your Wavelength was the one that washed over us when we woke," Kid continued, still staring at the horizon. "What I was trying to fight off at the time."
Tsubaki looked at Kid, then to Liz. "Um, who is he talking to?"
Liz gave her a shrug. Unbothered by the shadows gathering at his frame, she poked Kid on the shoulder. "Oi, what's going on? Who the fuck are you talking to?"
"The reason we're here," Kid responded, keeping his gaze on the horizon.
Silence fell among them. Maka, her bearing mostly gathered, perked up at the statement. At least the East didn't prove to be a dead-end like everything else. Now, if she could only get her ears to stop feeling like they'd been right next to a jet engine...
"...You're gonna have to be more specific than that," Liz eventually said.
"They're called Salt," Kid informed her.
"One of the Gods of the Unterzee?" Kilik asked, paling. "These things are real?"
"Apparently," Kid said through gritted teeth. "Oh no, don't you dare go hiding again!" He chided seemingly nothing. "You'd better start talking or else-"
The wind picked up, carrying salt and winding through metal creating a subtle whispering sound. Kid went silent, and as the wind changed velocity or direction, so did Kid's expression change in understanding.
Maka frowned. Was this how Salt was communicating? It certainly was a better alternative than the Correspondence.
"Uh Kid, we can't speak wind," Liz spoke up. "Mind telling us what's going on?"
"The admit to bringing us here. They're the reason our clothes are covered in salt, their namesake." Kid placed his hands on his hips and glared at the horizon. "Which is all well and good, considering they're about to send us back!"
Kid went quiet as the wind picked up once more. Was it Maka's imagination or was the wind now slower? As if it was hesitant...
"What?!" Kid hissed, glaring at the horizon as if it'd tried to sell him a Jackson Pollock painting.
"Again, translation needed," Liz said.
"They refused."
Black Star threw themselves against the railing to the point of almost being horizontal. "Oi get us back to our world asshole, before I kick your ass!"
"Trying to bully a God," Soul muttered, "really smart Black Star."
"Yes, Black Star can actually do that," Kid informed the wind. "No, I'm not being facetious. Which is why you will send us back without making any excuses."
A gentle breeze blew past them, seemingly unnoticeable.
"What do you mean you can't?" As soon as Kid spoke, the breeze died down. "You-"
The wind came back in full force and Kid paused. "Shit," he eventually said.
"That sounds ominous," Liz muttered.
"It's the Machine." Kid glanced at them then back at the horizon. "Apparently, the Dawn Machine is gaining power and is aware enough to enforce some order into the Neath. Part of said order includes not allowing the spontaneous movement from one world to the next."
Maka gulped. The Dawn Machine could change the fabric of reality? She knew it had the power to brainwash, but they had fought it off. If it truly was that powerful...
"That bright thing?" Liz shivered. "It's alive?"
"Yes, in a sense." The wind picked up and Kid's frown deepened. "An 'artificial Judgement' I'm informed."
Judgement. Maka had heard that term before. The Fathomking had said that Kid was not a Judgement. It had been a weird thing to hear at the time, but Maka had chalked it up to usual Neath weirdness. However, if Judgements had the power to rewrite reality itself...
"What's a Judgement?" Maka asked.
Kid shrugged, a bit jerkily. "Bad news."
This was not a straight answer. This was the opposite of a straight answer. Why would Kid-?
Not now, Maka told herself. He probably has his reasons. Or is too distracted. Or genuinely doesn't know. Or a million other things.
"So, uh," Soul spoke up. "What do we do?"
Kid huffed. "The oldest trick in the book. Beat it into submission. The Neath will return to its semi-chaotic state, allowing Salt to transport us back to our world."
"So, if we weaken it enough we can go back?" Maka summarised. Was the answer to their problem so straightforward? Was this all there was?
"Yes, isn't that a pleasant coincidence?!" Kid yelled at the wind. "Oh you know very well what I'm implying! You knew the Dawn Machine was waking so you brought us here at the last moment in the hopes we'd be able to kill it!"
The wind downgraded to a small breeze.
"Of course you should be embarrassed. Dragging us here was rude and ill-thought-out."
The wind surrounded them inquisitively. Tsubaki shivered.
"So you just assume we'd go after the Dawn Machine only and leave you and your kin alone?" Kid crossed his hands.
The wind intensified, making small waves across the zee.
The Grim Reaper raised an eyebrow. "Can't? You really have no idea what you brought into your 'little corner of the world', do you?"
The wind picked up, harsh and combative. The waves rose higher, rocking their ship.
"You couldn't." Kid's words could shave ice. The waves subsided. "So, next time something like this happens, I heavily suggest you reconsider and ask politely, or I will be forced to take drastic action. Understood?"
The wind died down and they stood in silence. Just when Maka was about to tell everyone to head back West, the wind blew again. Only this time, it was cold against Maka's skin, hissed like snakes, and carried the scent of rotting flesh.
Kid tilted his head. "'The red-petalled dreams were true'?" The Grim Reaper repeated with a frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The air died, and so did the faint shimmer on the horizon. The Unterzee became turbulent, and the waves steered them West, away from the East and its looming and lost presence.
They were returning to port…
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T_H_I_S W_A_S A M_I_S_T_A_K_E