Sorry for the delay. Here's chapter 11.
Maka's reaction to waking was unexpected in every way. Her eyes were blinded with the sight of the dark realm only she was able to see. Asura was connected to her by the chain that ripped right through her and into him. The fungal witch who'd been the source of the chain was standing in front of her as she shoved Maka off the chain. The searing pain clouded her senses, because of this Maka was unable to feel when her body hit the ground and didn't notice that the witch was now crouching over her as she admired the work she'd done.
Despite what Maka was seeing and feeling, she was still in the bedroom where Kid sat at her side, but she wasn't aware of reality. Her arms that were clawing at the woman who clouded her vision were in fact clawing the empty air before her after having gotten one good swipe at Kid's cheek. Death the Kid's cheek was sporting four parallel cuts that were already dripping blood down his cheek.
Maka's screams, if you could even call them that, could be heard downstairs where Marie was putting her child to bed. Stein had been conversing with the head of the guards in charge of the dungeons when the howling upstairs began.
The guard was told to stay and watch over the child while the couple ran towards the source of the screams. In the room they found a panicking Maka, who was furiously swiping at the air around her, and Kid laying on the floor with his hand clasped over his cheek.
"Kid! What's happening here?!" Stein threw the door open for their entry. When Stein and Marie had entered the room Stein immediately noticed that below the left wing on Maka's soul was a gaping hole that traveled from just below the core of her outwards.
"Maka's not-"
"She's having an episode." Stein interrupted. "Kid get out of the way." He ordered. Kid scrambled to his feet and joined Marie off to the side. Stein, with a ready palm, shot forward and chopped a pressure point on one side of Maka's neck followed by the opposite side.
"Stein, why did Maka respond like that?" Kid asked as Maka was then laid back down onto the bed where she'd been laying in for the better part of the day.
"I'd assume it's a form of response to the rejection if not for the fact that a fraction of her soul was missing just a moment ago." Kid looked away from Stein for a second to looked at Maka as if her outward appearance could reveal some sort of damage that had been the reason for the hole that was in her soul but there was none. It was when he focused on her wavelength that he saw the Grigori soul as the hole in the lower quadrant was repairing itself and was nothing but a hole the size of a quarter and continued to shrink until nothing was left. Where the hole had been was now shades darker than it once had been.
"How'd this happen?" He asked the professor who was a specialist in souls.
"I was going to ask you the same question." Stein adjusted his glasses and let Marie take his place at Maka's bed side. "What happened in here?" Marie tucked Maka back in and sat at her side.
"Nothing happened. One second, she was unconscious then then next she was fighting. She wouldn't respond when I called her name." Kid was already treating the cuts on his cheek with a kit he had in the nightstand. "I don't think she could hear me."
"I will go find the witch advisor. She may be able to provide us with some insight." Stein left the room promptly.
Kid and Marie didn't have the chance to start any conversation as his pocket mirror went off. Liz was calling him. He picked up before the second ring and was greeted by one of her sniffles.
"K-Kid…" Liz's sad words came through the glass in his hand.
…
Liz watched as Patty was wheeled away from her as she and the Medics surrounding her were heading into an operating room. The grim looks on each of the Medics as they spoke over her unconscious sister unnerved her. She had been made to wait for two hours before she could no longer sit in her seat in the waiting room.
"Ma'am how much longer until my sister is brought out of the OR?" Liz asked the nurse behind the desk.
The women looked up at Liz with an annoyed expression. "I do not have that information. You will have to wait until she gets brought out." The nurse looked back down at the pocket mirror as she swiped through one of her many social media pages.
"Do you have an update of her condition at least?" Liz asked as she fought the urge to bite her nails as her worry grew.
"No." The nurse responded then lowered her eyes once again in disinterest.
"Do you have any-"
"Look you need to have a seat." The nurse raised her voice. "If that is too difficult for you to do, I can have you removed from the premises."
"But-"
"And if that isn't good enough, I can have the authorities called and have you trespassed." She had risen from her swivel chair and slammed her hands down loudly on the desk. "Do I make myself clear?!"
Liz narrowed her eyes in defiance and glared back at the nurse. "Oh, I understand. What's your name?" Liz didn't need for her to say it since it was written right there on her name tag but there was a reason behind her asking.
"Gina." The corner of the nurse's lips turned in a cocky smirk. Her name was not Gina. According to her name tag that was hidden mostly by her mop poorly flat ironed dirt brown hair, her name was actually Cole. Liz fought back the urge to comment how it looked like one of her parents forgot how to spell Cole (and that it was mainly used for males) and covered for it by saying it was their attempt at making it a feminine adaptation of the name.
Liz was on her way back to her chair when she heard her name benign called from behind her.
"Liz?" There was Maka's mother and father making their way towards her.
"What are you doing here? I haven't called yet?" Liz wiped the tears from her eyes. "There haven't been any updates."
"Oh honey." Kaori cooed at the emotional young woman. "It's going to be okay." She pulled the blonde girl into her arms and comforted her. "We thought we'd check in with you while we were here"
"Here? For what?" Liz was confused. The last she'd seen them they were at kid's house and… "Maka! Did something happen to Maka? Is she okay?" Liz pulled herself from Kaori's arms and looked frantically between Kaori and Spirit.
"No, no, Maka's alright… at least we haven't heard otherwise." Kaori spoke softly to ease the girl's panic. Unlike Spirit who'd messaged Kid to get an update on Maka, Kaori hadn't sent a letter or post card to Maka since Maka was four years old. Spirit covered for that by sending money to his friends across the world and having them send post cards that said they were from Kaori to his daughter, so she believed her mother cared.
"Soul had an accident while he was running." Spirit informed her. "He didn't see the stairs and cracked his skull." You could see the anger building in Spirit's eyes. "When I get my hands on hi-"
"Enough Spirit." Bickering between Kaori and Spirit would have taken place momentarily if a medic hadn't approached them from the authorized personnel doors leading to the OR.
"Are you the family of Patrica Thompson?" The medic with weary eyes asked.
"Yes, I'm her sister. Is Patty ok?" Liz forgot about the two with her as all she could think of is her sister.
"Your sister had a rather deep laceration across her lower left and right quadrants." The sleepy-eyed medic's words made Liz's heart skip a beat and speed up as her fears began to build. Is Patty alright? Did Soul… No Liz needed to listen. She couldn't let herself think of all the possible outcomes. She needed to listen to what the medic was saying.
"... there was a bleed during surgery…" Wait what? Did she just say Patty- "But we got it under control and there were no other complications." Relief washed over Liz, and she felt a lot of the tension that had accumulated in her relax. How long had she been holding it in?
"Can I go see her? When can I take her home?" Liz rattled off.
"Unfortunately, you will not be able to take her home for a week. We must keep her under supervision to ensure there are no complications from the procedure." The medic grabbed for a chart from the woman behind the desk and jotted something down before handing it back over. "She can have two guests at a time until she wakes, and the department head provides the okay for more visitors. Give it a moment for her to be escorted to a room for her to be in the system." The medic was no longer even a blimp in Liz's radar as she pulled out her pocket mirror and called Death the Kid.
"K-Kid…" The beep signaling that Kid had picked up had passed seconds prior, but Liz couldn't help the delay to her words.
….
When the call between the two disconnected, Kid turned towards Maka and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. He needed to get to the hospital and check in on Patty and, despite not being the one who was injured, Liz.
He left the room and had Marie stand watch over Maka in case she was to wake up while he was gone.
He had two things to do at the hospital. The first was to check on Patty and go over her treatment plan with the doctor overseeing her care. The second was to check on Soul who had to account for his actions.
…
"So, what do you think he did to end up here?" A particularly nosey intern medic asked as he hooked an IV up to the unconscious form of Soul 'Eater' Evans.
"He was running from a meister and death scythe and took a tumble down the stairs." He shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Foolish boy. Running from them is a death wish."
"Do you think they-"
"Hush! Don't speak such nonsense." The resident accompanying the intern stopped the young man before he could continue his sentence in front of the current meister and death scythe pair guarding him. Zubaidah and Jinn. They had been in town to report to Death the Kid, but current events prolonged their stay for an unforeseen time frame. Rapid beating from a machine connected to Soul made the intern run from the room to bring assistance. His fall had led to his brain swelling. The Medics thought they'd gotten all of the bleeds handled but a small bleed that went unnoticed was causing pressure on the other side of the brain Soul rarely seemed to actually use.
They rushed him back to surgery and repaired as much of the damage as they could. When they brought Soul back to his room the medics could feel the looming, dark presence of Death the Kid in the corner where he sat in a chair awaiting their return.
Kid had been upstairs in the ICU where Patty was being kept. The damage would keep Patty there for longer than Kid liked. He was going to have a witch come and heal Patty to the extent that they could. He wanted to hurt Soul tenfold compared to how bad he'd hurt Maka and Patty.
The medics wheeling the still unconscious Soul into the room informed him, after having fallen to their knees with a mix of admiration and fear, that Soul may suffer from severe neurological damage from the fall alone and that there had been some complications during his treatment. If Soul was lucky, he'd be awake within an hour. Soul wasn't lucky thought. Five hours passed and Kid was still sitting in the chair when Soul showed a sign of waking soon. It had just been the stiffening and relaxing of his toes, but it was still something. It would be another hour passed before Soul opened his eyes.
Kid left the room to make a call the Marie to see how Maka was doing and if there were any signs of Maka waking yet. He'd done this at least once an hour followed by visiting to see if Patty woke yet. This call went the same as the rest had. Maka was still out and showed no signs of waking. Patty was his next goal. He took the elevator and much to Kid's worry, Patty was still unconscious. Kid made his way back to Soul's room where he swore, he'd be when Soul woke so he could get an explanation from the white-haired young man he once dared to call a friend.
It was just as he was leaving the room an hour later that he heard the stirring of Soul on the gurney.
Soul's breathing grew erratic and his soul oozed waves of panic and fear. Confusion was written all over the man's face.
"W-Where- Wh-Who ar- Where? What's-?" Not a single question came out of Soul's mouth completed but the gist of what he was failing to say was easily caught by the three others in the room.
"Of fucking course…"
