"Father, must I be stuck with babysitting duty?" Kid inquired. He raised his brow at such an interesting proposal. Since when was he tasked with training a fellow newcomer? "Is this the reasoning behind today's special mission? The one revolving around retrieving an artifact in Persia?"
"Ah, yes yes yes! But you see here, she's special!" Lord Death cheered. Again.
Kid was growing hesitant about taking up a seemingly simple task. "May you please elaborate, father?"
"...No!" Lord Death cheered.
"Father, I would kindly like some background information regarding this new recruit. It would greatly aid in my understanding of who she is, and where she came from."
"hmmmm, you do bring up a good point my boy..." He stroked his seemingly nonexistent chin. "Well, I actually don't know where she came from! She's a merciless fighter I'm telling you, and I think that you might be able to keep her in line!"
"And how do you suppose that I can do that?" Now he's a little curious about who this person might be.
"You are my son, after all. I'm sure you'll find a way!" With that, Lord Death waved his son goodbye and the transmission ended. Kid was standing outside the structure of DMWA with his partners in tow, and a pocket mirror used to communicate with his father. His father is an enigma in and of itself, as he seemingly believes that Kid can just drop everything and take care of a meister for a few days.
"This is ridiculous," Voiced Liz. "I mean, why are we going to watch over a new twat? If she was such a threat, wouldn't one of the teachers handle it?"
"That's my question exactly." This all seemingly was too suspicious. His father was a suspicious man, after all, so something like this shouldn't be much of a surprise. Maybe this was some sort of training?
Before he could finish his thought, the three of them glanced down at the steps and caught the figure of a cloak moving up the stairs, seemingly taking its sweet time to get to the top. There was no rush, no urgency to this walk.
"Ugh, can this person hurry up already? I'm already dying from the heat you know." Groaned Liz.
"I don't see you burned up to a crisp." The mysterious cloaked person retorted. Liz's surprise was quickly hidden by a menacing glare she gave to the figure. Patty giggled at the statement, and Kid felt second-hand offense from that.
"Watch it hot shot. I don't know who–" Liz's words slipped out of her mouth and escaped to the realm of 'hell nah, i aint saying shit.' The eyes that this person portrayed reflected the eyes that Liz wore when she was still back in New York. Those eyes spoke volumes of deep-seated hatred, seething anger, and perplexing of all: loss. All these emotions swirled up inside of the shorter person in front of her, and Liz was at a complete loss for words.
"I'm only here to get the artifact." Spat the stranger.
"That is excellent news. We too will depart soon to retrieve it. Now please, state your name."
"...Maki Oze."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They arrive deep into the structure of the 9th-century Persian building. The three wandered into a room that had destruction cluttered all around it. Complete floors were scattered about, strange beings that looked like death incarnated, fallen wooden poles, a few hanging torches, and a lovely wall with the decor of its era. Overall, the place smelled of dust and sand.
"ugh, this place is creepy..." Droned Liz as she clung protectively against her sister's arm.
"Hehehe, don't worry sis! Your tough sis will look out for you!" She placed a comical kiss on top of her older sister's forehead.
Death and Maki provided no words of sympathy or care, respectively. The two were too busy monitoring the sight in front of them.
"So, got any ideas?" She snipped.
"Well, for starters, it's best to not engage with the unruly mob of the dead. As easy as they would be to exterminate, we truly don't know much about these ruins."
"And you don't want them to collapse like you did with Anubis," Patty cackled.
"SHUT UP PATTY! THAT WAS COMPLETELY-" Maki quickly clamped a down over Kid's mouth, mentally praying that the monsters nearby didn't overhear his outburst. Thanks to her lucky stars, they did hear the loud noise. What was she hoping for? Of course, they were going to hear them!
"Run!" She spat out as she grabbed Kid and effortlessly tossed him over her shoulders before bolting to Liz and Patty. She took their hands and the four (technically three) of them made a run for it. They dodged and weaved across the crowd of enemies, their swords and spears just milliseconds away from striking any of the three. "Kid, do you see anything out of place?!"
"Um, th-th-that wall over there isn't symmetrical compared to the adjacent walls around it! The design of the wall seems off roughly 15 feet away from where the corner starts!" He points to a specific wall off to their left.
"WHY ARE WE WORRYING ABOUT WALLS AT A TIME LIKE THIS!?" Screamed Liz.
"Patty! Liz! Transform!" Maki commanded the two. With slight hesitation, the duo transformed into their weapon forms and landed squarely in Kid's hands. "Alright Lord Death's Son, you sure its that wall?"
"100% Certain!"
Maki gets a shamshir thrown at her that manages to nick her calf. She tsked, and roundhouse kicked a nearby wooden pole with enough force to break it from its base. As it was in mid-air, she kicked it again and it kabobs 4 of the many sand-i-fied zombies surrounding the team. "Alright, I hope you're right!" She then starts bolting towards the wall at full speed.
"H-hey, what are you doing?!" Liz began to panic.
"Kid! Guide me!"
"To the left, approximately twenty degrees!"
"Behind the bookshelf?"
"Behind the bookshelf!"
With that as a closing statement, Maki lets out a warcry before using her empty shoulder to tank through the wooden bookshelf. Books scattered about, pages abandoning their homes, she maintained her eyes shut to prevent anything from getting in them. The wood particles shot out in every direction, and Maki would be lying if some of them didn't dig into her skin. True to Kid's word, there was something off about the wall. There was a secret passage hidden behind it! Just as Maki ends up inside of a cement hallway and barely manages to keep her figure, the hoard of zombies were hot on her tail. They destroyed the remnants of the bookshelf as they trampled one another to get to the soldier. Quickly finding her footing once more, she raced down the hallway and skipped down the flights of stairs. She jumped when she reached the halfway point of the staircase, and the floor rumbled upon her landing, causing the cement beneath her to just crack a fraction of a bit. She readjusted Kid before bolting down the hall, soon finding out that there was no hall after just a few meters. A few twists and turns, and there was no floor in front of her. There was, however, an opening to the wall. With a deep breath, Maki took her chances and leaped, clutching Kid a little tighter as she ran parallel against the wall.
Liz felt a new sort of fear kick in high gear. "I-i-is she really running against the wall?!"
"Hahaha! Soooo coool!" Cheered Patty.
With another leap of faith, she propelled herself across to reach the opening that she was aiming for. She landed just barely inches from the edge of the cement flooring. If she fell, god knows what would've to lay beneath the darkness that awaited below. As she turned around to glance at the flailing zombies, some were pushed to the edge and fell to their doom. They were now unreachable by the enemy.
"Congratulations on your heroism! I do greatly appreciate the ride but, may you please set me down now?" Kid asked politely as he gave her head a small pat.
With an audible huff, she roughly sets Kid down before dusting off herself.
"Hey miss, your orange pants are turning red." Patty pointed down to a particularly large bloodstain forming around her calf area. This was the spot where the sword had struck her.
"ah, shit." She muttered. Letting out a heaving sigh, she haphazardly dragged herself to a nearby wall and effortlessly ripped the end piece of part of her pant leg. As she was busy tending to her wound, Kid allowed his weapons to detransform and huddle over Maki. Of course, Maki wasn't too much of a fan of having these people too close to her, but if she didn't focus on her wound then it would surely be a source of pain in the future.
"Alright, I'll be back. Ill see if there's anything else up ahead." Kid informed the group before he took off, keeping his hands in his pockets as he stepped through another cement opening in the wall.
"Hey, are you going to be alright?" Liz questioned her in a tone of voice that nearly revealed her sympathy. Maki bit down a snarky reply and instead sighed as her response. Ultimately, this is still seen as something of a negative response from the older sister. "...Ugh, whatever." Liz flipped her hair and started walking in the direction of where Kid went. The only one that decided to stay by Maki's side was Patty, who was just eagerly watching the shitty patching process that Maki was doing.
"...Do you mind?" She growled.
"Not at all! :)"
She lets out another sigh. 'Oh great Sol, please give me the patience I need to get through this hell.'
"We found it!" Cried out Kid. His body wasn't present, but the echoes of the walls helped amplify his cry of joy.
"Found what?" Retorted Maki.
"We found the artifact!" Liz interjected, sounding just as joyous as her meister.
"Oh thank god."
"Need help getting up?" Patty glanced down at Maki. At first, she was going to reject the offer, and maybe even belittle her for thinking she needs help but honestly, she's tired of acting like such a brute. She knows the others wouldn't want to see her like this...
"..sure, thanks..." She takes the hand that was extended out to her. She was surprised to see that Patty's footing didn't falter one bit when she got up. She's pretty strong, Maki had to admit.
"So, why are you so angsty?"
"Excuse me?" Maki glowered at her statement.
"Well, Patty believes that you have things going on in your head, you see. You're like Liz when she has a bad day. So, is today your bad day?" Does this child not understand the concept of fucking off?
She chewed on her lip, thinking and rethinking the 8 possible responses that she could give to this woman. She opts for the most neutral, and honest response: "I–...I'm not from this world, you see…" She starts. "...and I want to go back." She swallows the rest of the words she wanted to say. She wants to rant about her months spent on a foreign planet, learning the abilities and things from this world. She wants to talk about her yearning of reuniting with her family which is Company 8. To teach herself the rules of this planet months ago, and to learn to adapt without her second-generation ability was a daunting task. Seriously, why can't she use her ability? She's still the same Maki that used to work in Company 8, so why are her powers gone?
All she wants to do is go home…But…What happened to her? She was fighting an inferno, and then she was consumed by its flames. Almost instantly, her mind lost its consciousness. Seconds before her blackout, the burning of her lungs, and the intense pounding in her head were some of the last feelings she felt. It was as if someone was hammering a steel pipe repetitively against her skull, and it felt like she was inhaling the burning crisps of a forest fire. The final image she could conjure was looking down at her palms, and they were charred to the point where her skin had peeled itself off. Her gear was completely burned up but...
Nonetheless, she brushed off the temporary fleeting feeling of longing to open up. The two headed to where Kid and Liz were exclaiming about the artifact.
As if the great Sol was sending her advice through the means of this woman, the shorter sister spoke with a grin, "Don't worry Maki, We'll send you back home! But before we do, Patty will invite you to her favorite ice cream shop!" She loops an arm around her arm and sings, "A smile a day keeps the sadness away!"
Maki didn't have the heart to shrug her off, but she gives her a half-smile at her promise.