Something is not right.
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Chapter 46: Setting Sail For… K̵̥̰̖̜ͅi͚̬͘ng͍̙̰e͖̠̦̝͈a̧̲ṱe̡r̫ͅ's͚ ̲͡C͚̰a͈̱͈̤̘̞̘͞s̩̟͕̜̭̣̹ṱ̠͇̝͓̜̙͠l̢̼͇̱͎ę̥̥͓̰
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"Oh my, all does not seem to be well with you."
The voice that greeted Kid was suave, whispering and fleeting.
Kid let out a strangled breath and immediately regretted it. His body burned as if he was on fire. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't speak, his heart had stopped, and he felt like he'd fought a one-to-one match against Asura while nursing a hangover.
He let out a cough, which only irritated his lungs and stung his torso, rolled his head to the side and blearily opened his eyes.
He was laid spread-eagled on some sort of altar in the middle of an… amphitheatre? It was hard to make out any detail of his surroundings. Everything beyond the altar was blurred and grey as if he was looking through fogged glass.
Most importantly though, Kid couldn't move. There were no restraints on his hands and legs, nothing that stopped him from moving, yet Kid just… couldn't.
"No, no, no, all is not well with you at all," the voice continued. Kid followed the sound and caught a glimpse of its owner.
The figure was roughly humanoid, but everything else about it wasn't. Its frame was thin and slumped, covered in heavy but faded robes. Through the robes, Kid made out leather wings awkwardly folded on its back. Its legs were as thin as sticks, and there was a tuft of black fur around the area where its neckline should be.
Kid had many questions, but he opted for one of the more obvious and pertinent one. "And you are?"
"Ah, you can hear me? That's…" The figure took a step back, shuffled awkwardly like a caged animal. Eventually, it extended a taloned hand, its forearm mauled and bloody as if a hungry wolf had bitten it and refused to let go. "I was eaten here. One of my current titles is Mister Eaten, but others have included the Drowned Man, Master of the Bazar Mister Candles… I had a long and lustrous career before I got stuck in this Judgement-forsaken place."
"Drowned… Man…?" Kid had heard this combination of words before, coming out the mouth of a starved priest on a chapel surrounded by lights… "You are the one who forces people into cannibalism-!"
The figure tilted its head in a sharp and jerky manner. "Forces? That's a bit of a misinterpretation of my followers I believe," it tittered. "They choose to follow me of their own free will and they learned my lessons because they choose to attend." It paced around Kid, and placed another hand, this one missing a few talons and joints, on where its chin should be. "Unless of course, your objection is with the eating aspect, but consider that it is unpleasant only for the victim. Everyone else benefits. Meat is very nutritious you know," it said with the attitude of a preschool teacher. "And it also teaches you not to trust…"
The figure stopped on the side of the altar where Kid's head was. It leaned down, and Kid made out two round sclera-less black eyes staring down at him. "Besides you are not one to talk about forcing beings onto a fate most unpleasant, Death."
Kid glared at the figure but didn't protest. He wasn't in the mood to have a conversation about the morality of his existence.
"Where am I?" Kid asked, looking around. The fog persisted and his Soul Perception came up even more muddled, like looking at a vortex made up of watercolours. "What's going on here?"
"Nothing pleasant I assume. Especially for you, since you are the one tied up."
"Are you purposefully being unhelpful?'
"I am? Pardon. I haven't had a proper conversation in ages. Always had to whisper and talk in human languages. Ugh, I think my throat is still sore from that."
"…Sure," Kid eventually said. "You still haven't answered my other question. Where am I?"
"A nasty place. Well, this part of you is within an aspect of the nasty place, and this specific aspect is… I suspect this is the one area of the Parabola that the Finger-Kings will never dare enter," the figure said. "But places like this stretch beyond dimensions, Irem being another example… Oh, how I miss its Pillars…" The figure let out a sigh. "And, I expect you are also at the physical location of the nasty place, or else you wouldn't be here, in the version."
Kid slowly nodded his head, pretending he understood all that. In actuality, all he got was that he was in some sort of dream-scape, which explained his foggy vision and nonsense Soul Perception, and that the physical side of him was in the equivalent physical aspect of this… area. "Does this place have a name?"
The figure flexed its talons. "Kingeater's Castle."
"Sounds pleasant," Kid muttered. The name was familiar. It was one of the places the Alarming Scholar had urged them to visit. Something about the 'End of the World'. "You mentioned you were eaten here?"
Kid wanted to keep the figure talking, in hopes it would let out more information about this place, even if said information was horribly disjointed.
The figure shuddered and its wings batted against the heavy robes. "If it only was that… No, I was tricked. Betrayed. By those I considered kin no less." The figure looked down at Kid. "Have you also been betrayed? Or…" it straightened its frame and its wings twitched, "were you the one that did the betrayal? If it's the latter, I'm afraid we can't be friends anymore, but I will always be available for business-"
Kid let the figure ramble while he recalled his last memories before he woke.
He was… distracted, and on an island, alone -the others were away but he hadn't hurt them, this had been one thing he was absolutely sure of- and then…
The Dawn Machine's fleet appeared. He remembered deciding to go against them, facing them as they appeared on the swamp island, but then…
"Well? No answer?" The figure's voice was now grating.
"I wasn't betrayed."
"So you did the betrayal?"
Kid frowned. "No, I didn't. I… ugh." He shook his head and tried moving his limbs again, to no result. He had to find a way out of this situation, not entertain a deranged cannibalistic ghost.
"Eating human meat makes me as much of a cannibal as it would you."
Dammit it all, did that thing read minds too?
"I can tell from your expression. Yes, I am pretty good with such… subtleties-"
"I can't stay here," Kid cut him off. "I have to leave, I have to…" Put an end to the Dawn Machine. Find the others. But in what order?
"By the way, the group that you travelled with appear to be quite the troublemakers… or at least that's what's been whispered to me," the figure nonchalantly said. "But alas, they won't last…"
Kid's fingers twitched. "If you hurt them-!"
"Oh my, calm down my… I suppose I can't call you delicious friend. Unappetizing friend? Yes, that would work," the figure muttered to itself. "No, my unappetizing friend, this isn't any of my own makings. I am trapped and you are trapped and your delicious friends will be trapped and all will not be well… but it's easier to say otherwise, don't you think?"
Kid gave the figure his nastiest death glare. It took a step back.
"Now, now, about your little group… I will not do anything they will not do to themselves. After all, this place was nasty long before I was betrayed here. I suppose this was why it was picked for…" The figure shuddered.
A painful prickly feeling rose at Kid's chest until he gasped for breath. The pain renewed, he could now move, he could breathe but it all hurt…
"Ah, waking up already…" The figure gave him a jaunty wave and disappeared, just as Kid's surroundings came into a sharp focus. "See you soon!"
\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/
There were few decisions Kid had taken which he had immediately regretted.
This instance of waking up was one of them.
Kid could barely feel anything, which was a good thing because everything burned. Not like fire, not like being bathed in boiling water, not like being engulfed in acid…
It burned like the fire of a thousand suns, like the epicentre of the world's most powerful atomic bomb, like every molecule of his being was torn apart with such fierceness that the pain transplanted itself into his very soul.
Kid couldn't move his head. He couldn't see the state his body was in, but judging from the agony…
"Why is it awake?"
"Need more shards, ma'am," a second voice said. "Or another dose of Correspondence I reckon."
Maybe not being able to see his body was a good thing.
"Have the Lorn-Flukes ready in case it tries to escape."
Kid's face was moved. The corner of his eye picked up a long and sharp tool, a stick. They wouldn't even dare touch him.
With her red gown, cold expression and golden eyes, the Bright-Eyed Sequencer's face came into view. She stood in front of him, a figure of bright colour against the greys of her surroundings, cracked marble and stone hearts that cast no shadow.
"I suppose an explanation is in order, out of respect," she said. "Even if such respect can apply to a being outside the Chain…"
The Bright-Eyed Sequencer cleared her throat and straightened her back, as if she was about to give a report. The tiny part of Kid's brain that wasn't screaming in pain found her gesture more mocking than respectful.
"You broke our agreement," the Bright-Eyed Sequencer began in a crisp voice. "In addition, the Machine was informed about your… peculiarities." She gave Kid a false smile. "I admit, scaring a God of the Zee was quite an achievement, but it was ultimately your downfall. It appears they prefer the Machine's rule than outright extinction." The Bright-Eyed Sequencer scoffed. "How foolish of them to cause this mess in the first place. To add to our misfortunes, the Mountain refused to cooperate, so we had to get our hands dirty… a horrible inefficiency, which will be gone the moment the Dawn Machines rules the Neath, as it ought to do."
Kid didn't even know if he could still talk. He didn't want to try.
On account of his failing vision, Kid switched his focus to his Soul Perception. There were other beings there as well. Humans, devils, prickly souls lurking below… all of them intertwined with a throbbing and blinding light.
There was a red glow around him, independent of the blue glow of the shards, like the red at Codex. Was Correspondence carved around him? Was it a form of restraint? The air stunk of pomegranates, Irem's roses and pine… What were they planning to do?
"Another batch depleted. You truly are…" the Bright-Eyed Sequencer muttered. "But no matter. The shards are not what is important. They are a flimsy bandage and we are dealing with major lacerations. Bring me another."
Something was hammered into Kid, the red glow intensified, and…
He didn't feel any more pain. He doubted he could.
Instead, he faded, ever so slightly.
For a moment, Kid's pain was forgotten in favour of sheer horror. He tried to move, react, anything, but he could only blink and sputter. The world went out of focus, the smells were vanishing and his hearing was starting to fail too.
The still conscious part of Kid's mind came to a horrible realisation. Their plan was…
"This is difficult for us as well. But we have to be cautious." The Bright-Eyed Sequencer gave Kid with a reserved but respectful expression. "The Machine cannot trust."
No…
"We may never be able to truly stop you…"
A Grim Reaper can't be killed, but there were ways of taking them down, one of them being…
"But we can delay you. Perhaps indefinitely."
What Crona forced on Asura…
"After all, that is not dead which can eternal lie…"
A deep sleep…
"But with strange aeons, even death may die."
\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/
Maka's heart felt like it had stopped.
Her limbs were heavy and exhausted. Her heart beat fast. Her whole body was immobile yet tensed.
Groggily, Maka lifted her head to look around and gasped.
The area she was in looked as if an ancient Greek amphitheatre had been uprooted and chucked into the Unterzee. Parts of it were collapsed, and the rest looked ready to do so at any moment. Its centre had sunken into the zee, save the east-most part of its base where a weathered and candlelit altar lay. Five stone hearts stood witness, at the highest ends of the amphitheatre, connected to each other via tangled cable-like veins. There was no wind, no smells, no sounds but her own ragged breathing.
Standing up, Maka noted the cracked marble seemingly reflected the darkness surrounding it, to the point where it was hard to distinguish the floor from the zee and false-sky. She was near the base of the amphitheatre, a small distance away from the altar. Nothing moved, not even the small pools of water where parts of the floor had collapsed into the sunken depths.
Gulping down her dread, Maka moved away from the altar and towards the collapsed edge of the amphitheatre, where something glinted in the pale Neath light.
As Maka approached the glinting mass, she realised it was a shipwreck. The unfortunate ship was missing parts of its hull, the metal cleanly ripped apart, its gaping holes leading into its hull and lower decks. Water silently lapped around it, as its hull had dug into the marble.
Biting her lip, Maka circled the ship in hopes of finding out more about this place and her situation in general. Where was she? How had she ended up here? Where the others here as well?
Her last question was partially answered by an enormous bloodstain that spanned a portion of a hole in the lower deck. It was spread on the very edges of the hole, and concentrated on the floor and lower side.
Parts of it still dripped.
Looking away, Maka activated her Soul Perception. Her vision came up dark.
There was no other soul on the island.
"Damn it," Maka whispered and took a step back from the ship and the water. What could have possibly ripped this ship apart? A human couldn't do that. One of those so-called zee monsters? Maka's group hadn't encountered any in their journey, but the overwhelming amount of stories they had heard and the very nature of the Neath itself left little doubt in Maka's mind about their existence.
If a zee monster had done this, were they still around? Her Soul Perception hadn't picked up any souls in general, though animal souls were harder to detect and identify...
As she looked at the ship again, she noticed a small detail on its side. Part of the hall was painted red, and the paint resembled writing. Could it be the ship's name?
Hesitantly, Maka slowly approached the side and squinted to get a better look at the writing. Though the paint was faint and scratched, its letters were as clear as day.
'THE UNSINKABLE VIII'
...No. No, this couldn't be...
Maka reread the name again and again, hoping that she was hallucinating, or that she'd find that the name was a misspelling or anything that could prove that this wasn't their old ship. It couldn't be, it had sunk long ago and they had been nowhere near an amphitheatre…
Maybe this was another ship with the same name. Yet, the sloppy handwriting matched Black Star's perfectly, and the odds of another ship being named something as ridiculous as 'The Unsinkable VIII' were as low as Maka's current understanding of her situation.
Maka wasn't wet, she had no wounds or no recollection of how she'd reached this place. She couldn't chalk it up to general Neath weirdness, there was always an explanation, some sort of internal logic, no matter how convoluted, behind it. The last thing she remembered was heading West, following the Brainwashed Captain's directions in search of a Castle…
The name Kingeater's Castle popped into her head like a moaning, shambling corpse. Maka shook her head in response, but the name persisted, like the carvings of a perished civilization.
Maka let out a groan and rubbed her eyes. If this place was Kingeater's Castle, and Maka was stranded here then… where was everyone else?
Her Soul Perception came up blank as Maka stepped away from the ship. She was the only one here. There was no other soul around her. She couldn't help but recall the faces of her friends, of Soul and hope that they were safe-
Her foot pressed down on something soft.
Maka looked down and saw pale flesh and a white tuft of hair.
She bit back a scream and scrambled away from the corpse, away from its familiar frame. The body, it couldn't have been...
There were other bodies around, all mutilated in some way, whether they were bloated or missing limbs, each one achingly familiar.
Maka ran, her chest burning, her cheeks hot and her breaths shallow. She reached the centre of the base of the amphitheatre and collapsed, holding on to the altar like a lifeline. The stone slab looked inviting...
"No!" Maka cried out loud. She couldn't afford to do nothing, and she refused to! Even… even if the worst had happened, there was someone that would have survived this, someone who could at least explain what the hell had happened, if this was even real-
"Maka?"
A familiar voice. A firm hand on her shoulder.
Holding back tears, Maka looked up. A pale face with a blank expression stared back at her.
"Kid!"
Maka lurched forwards and held him tightly, not wanting to let go of a known presence, even if this was only Kid, even if that meant… "What the hell happened?"
"What do you mean?" His voice was as blank as what little she'd glimpsed of his expression.
Maka disengaged from the hug and blinked at him. "What do I- the ship! The others, their… you…!" She lifted her hand to point at the pile of bodies but froze.
In the area where she had seen the fleshy decaying remnants of her friends was now filled with bones. Old ones, judging by the lack of flesh. None of them human.
Maka looked back at Kid then at the bones. She repeated the gesture multiple times. "I saw them!" she yelled and pointed accusatively at the pile. "I saw them, I swear, these weren't just bones-!"
Yet despite her shock, a wave of relief washed over her. It wasn't them. That meant that they still were- that Soul still was...
Wiping her nose, Maka stood up and surveyed the area. Besides the bones and the shipwreck, the area was empty. "Is it just us on this island?" She looked at Kid, who was staring blankly at nothing. "Where is everyone else?"
"... I don't know," Kid replied. Again, blankly.
"How are you…?" Maka began in a false start. "I thought you'd been taken captive by the Dawn Machine! After we got separated I was so worried-"
"You were?
"Of course I was! When you…" the words died in her mouth. "We all woke up safe and you weren't there and then we were arrested and found a way to escape and-"
"Sounds like quite the adventure." Kid gave her a smile. "I'm sure when we find the others all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well."
Maka frowned. That was… strange. Maybe he was trying to put up some sort of brave face?
"Do you think the others are on this island as well?" Maka asked, eager to change the subject. "My Soul Perception comes up empty…"
"We can always search," Kid offered.
Maka nodded and brought herself up. She wanted some time alone, which was silly considering her aim was to find her friends.
She walked around the amphitheatre, careful to avoid the corpse-filled side. She went up a couple of stairs and looked down at the amphitheatre's base. The candlelit altar stood out, it the rest of the amphitheatre was dark and Kid was… nowhere to be found.
Maka frowned and narrowed her eyes. She thought he'd followed after her silently, but…
"I have found it!" A high-pitched manic voice echoed around the amphitheatre. Maka looked at where the voice originated, up at the very edges of the amphitheatre where there was a person standing by the stone heart.
"The Heart of Frostfound!" the Doomed Scholar yelled. Their hands outreached at the false-stars of the Neath. "The Truth! The Secret! The History!"
They plunged down like a diver and Maka ran up the rest of the stairs, reaching the place where the Doomed Scholar once stood within seconds. When she looked over the edge and down at the Zee, there was no body, no waves to indicate anyone had fallen in…
"What…?"
Maka stood by the edge and rubbed her eyes. She looked back where she was met with the rotting, bloody and disfigured faces of Zaira and the Smiling Captain.
"All tragedies end here," they sang in unison.
Maka screamed and took a step back, stumbling, her soles tittering over the edge of the amphitheatre. She fell to her knees, one of her feet slipping into the abyss, but her hands grabbed the nearest ledge and held it tight. She stood like that for a few agonizingly long moments, until she brought her leg up while taking deep calming breaths.
When Maka looked up, the dead-eyed corpses broke into a familiar skull-shaped shadows. That must mean that the creator of the illusion was…
Maka slowly got up and looked at the figure coming up the stairs. Kid's expression was as calm as before, while hers was a combination of shock, disbelief and fear.
"Why...?"
Kid wouldn't look her in the eye. "You've betrayed me Maka." He gave her a sad smile. "As have I."
Maka looked at Kid like he'd grown a second head. Betrayal? Had he hit his head or something?
"Tell me, do you truly want to find me so you could help me?" Kid continued.
Maka gulped but resisted the urge to take a step back. "Yes," she answered. Why else would Maka want to find Kid?
Sure she was going to confront him about hiding things from her, but rescuing him was ultimately her goal.
Right?
"Are you lying to convince me, or yourself?" Kid spoke up, as if having read Maka's thoughts.
Maka wanted to give Kid a flippant reply and tell him to get a hold of himself, but paused.
It wasn't just the evasion. It was the hesitance, the gradual aloofness, the incident with the Devils, meeting with Salt, the…
...The black engulfing liquid at the Isle of Cats and Kid's disappearance… Even then though...
They were left unharmed.
"I'm not lying." Maka insisted.
"Of course, which is why you had to take several moments to form this simple sentence," Kid nonchalantly said.
Maka's frown deepened. Truth be told, Maka did have her reservations, her suspicions, but...
Maybe Kid wasn't aware he wasn't telling them things, maybe it was a subconscious act. Even then, even if Kid deliberately hid things from them, whatever reason he had couldn't be malevolent. Maybe he wanted to deal with things on his own like he had done at Venderbight, or maybe even he wasn't fully aware of what was going on and didn't want to worry their group even further. These decisions were still short-sighted in Maka's opinion, but Maka wouldn't leave Kid out to dry or anything. Whatever the reason, Maka trusted Kid, and wanted Kid to trust her.
Kid sighed. "Again, no answer-"
"Enough!" Maka cut Kid off and gave him a pained look. "We can sort out whatever happened Kid, but for now let's just get out of here, and find the others and go back home-"
"There is no place to return to-"
"You're lying," Maka shot back. "You have a home and-"
"A dead home-"
"I don't understand a word you're saying!" Maka cut him off. "Look, whatever's going on, I don't care! Just stop this and let's work together like we used to."
"Can't…"
"Why not?"
"Trust has been broken-"
"Not mine!" Maka yelled, stomping right into Kid's personal space and looking him straight in the eyes. "I trust you even if you make mistakes, dammit, so just trust me too!"
Her words echoed in the amphitheatre, followed by absolute silence.
Kid stared back with an empty look and Maka held his gaze with a glare of the 'you're my friend and I love you but you're acting stupid' variety.
Then Kid flickered, for a brief moment replaced by a shifting mass of muted colours and shapes, like a boiling unappetizing soup.
Maka blinked. Her vision returned to normal, Kid was still giving her the same blank look as before.
However that flicker… it wasn't just Kid. Her whole environment, the sky, the floor, everything.
Maka took a step back, as if seeing her surroundings for the first time.
Something wasn't right. Ever since she woke up on this silent wreck of an island, something was off, as if a veil had been put on her…
Maka used her Soul Perception again. This time, she expanded its reach looking for…
Maka opened her eyes and fixed the being in front of her with a glare it. "I knew it." Her Soul Perception was still active, coming up blank, even if her reach could span an entire city. "You're not Kid," she said as she looked around her with growing realisation. The edges of the amphitheatre melted like putty, already giving up the ghost. "This isn't real."
When Maka looked back at the fake Kid, its form was engulfed in darkness, a slumping silhouette with two beady eyes staring back at her.
"That's a bit of a relative term," the figure said in a whispering smooth voice, "isn't it my delicious friend?"
Maka punched the fake figure in the face, only for his frame to dissipate into nothing, leaving her alone and in silence.
"Come out you coward!" Maka yelled, her voice reverberating across her non-existent environment. "Whatever you're doing it won't work!"
She reached out with her Soul Wavelength once again, this time pouring all her aggression into the search.
A faint wavelength came up and Maka clutched it like a lifeline.
"Soul!"
The area was obscured by a cloud of fungal spores, with a small ogre-like figure casting a shadow. He lifted his head the moment he heard her voice.
"Maka?!"
She grabbed Soul's arm and tugged him along. The room was already breaking apart, the floor and walls peeling away like cheap wallpaper.
They were in a new area now, on a room made up of ice, and figure standing in front of a mirror, with its reflection-
"Black Star!" Soul called out.
The mirror broke into a thousand pieces.
"I got him!" Soul yelled. "Keep going!"
The ice melted and Maka was in a damp prison cell, where a figure lay in chains.
"Tsubaki get up!" Black Star yelled, and held Tsubaki's hand.
Tsubaki lifted her head, eyes wide. "Black Star?!"
"No idea what's going on, but we're getting out of here!"
The chains broke apart and Maka found herself in another cell, only this one was bloody and loud.
"I SAID GET ME OUT!"
"Liz!" Tsubaki called out and grasped Liz's hand. "It's ok, we're here!"
The scenery changed once again, to be replaced by an open field covered by spider-webs. A lone mutilated body with long blonde hair hand from a tree in the middle, and a figure stared at it from below.
"Patty!" Liz shouted, her arm wrapping around her sister's waist and holding her close. "It's ok, big sis is here!"
Once again, a change. A room with a table lined with corpses, a small crate of heartmetal on the side, an empty bottle on the side...
"Get your butt up pal!" Patty yelled. "This ain't over!"
A new room. This one filled with masks, and a pink-haired figure holding a multitude of them.
"Kim, you promised!" Jackie held out her hand and Kim hesitantly grasped it. "Now come along!"
A new area, this one in ruins, because of a mistake, a failure, a lack of…
"Stop moping around you big dummy!" Kim shouted as she grabbed Ox by the shoulder and dragged him along.
A different place, one that was and will be. Hissing serpents made up the floor, all of them conspiring, doubting-
"Harvar!" Ox yelled and held out his hand. "You know you can trust me."
Drunk bodies strewn on the floor, a calendar with no dates on, unchanging yet lagging…
"Kilik," Harvar called out. "Your journey is not over."
Hell on Earth, fire ravaging the land while thunder cracked the sky, battling yet never connecting-
"Fire, Thunder!" Ox shouted. "It's ok, it happens, it's not over-"
Glowing rusted cogs, eyeless pale blue bloated bodies, a broken pillar of salt.
"What's done before shall be done again."
A sky of empty husks glimmering like diamond-studded corpses and at the very top…
"The cycle will repeat itself."
A lone figure facing away, clad in black and with three white lines surrounding them.
"Are you sure you will not suffer the same fate?"
"Enough!" Maka called out. She had enough of these damned illusions. Motivated by pure anger and indignation, she ran head-first into the figure which it broke like water, giving way to….
She was back at the altar, only this time there were three masked figures around it, and on top was a bleeding, screaming, begging, betrayed creature with leathery wings and a voice so shrill her eardrums bled-
\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/
WAKE UP
