We are getting SO CLOSE. I'm hoping this weekend to work towards reuniting them (especially since I have Monday off!)...
Soul had taken the dagger Maka had left behind under the bed, reopened the slice on his arm, and proceeded to slather his blood on the window sill. He felt utterly mad doing it and knew that if the maids even noticed it would probably culminate in the strangest rumor about him yet but the fact that his skin had stopped a blade made everything else pale in comparison. Afterward, he had urged Stein to give up his notes, every last one that he had on the black blood, and now Soul toyed with ideas, options, hypotheses because he could. All of it seemed possible even if a week ago he was still afraid of the nightmares.
Reading that name had also brought him back to an uncomfortable place, his mind feeding him back the way Maka had whimpered it in her sleep. Crona. He had to admit that his first fear at that moment had been a lover, a sweet name that was creating the wall between them that at that point had only begun to topple, rubble still littering her heart. And now she's with him, or them and… I still feel it, don't I? Someone else is with her now, not me and… I hate it. A dark little creature stirred in his chest and he threw himself into the bed, trying to expel it with a rough sigh.
He forced his mind away from it, concentrating on the buzz of his blood along the sill. His imagination made it an extension of him, another hand waiting out in the darkness like the one he kept at his chest with the dagger. I need to be with her, so I need to end this, rang clearly in his head, a mantra deepening the tie between him and the window.
The thing wasn't Maka, not creeping up the side of the castle in a soothing show of love but for some nefarious action. Soul had decided that was the only possible entrance and he hoped that the thing, whatever it was, had settled into their complacency, sure that Soul and Stein were happy to live in the dream that Maka was visiting them. He didn't have to expend much energy on not falling asleep, his eyes creating patterns on the dark ceiling with thoughts aplenty, many full of those wisps of jealousy he'd tried to urge away. Just as that petty little voice in his mind was adding Black Star to the mix, he felt it.
There was a change in the hum to a groan, and in his excitement, Soul sprung his trap. He urged the blood to spike and while it was no grand show, more needles rather than spikes ready to impale, the soft cry that sprang out into the darkness fed his victory. Soul was up on his feet but the pins of blood hadn't kept his target still and as he made it to the window, he could see the droplets of fresh red but no quarry. Looking over the side gave him the view he wanted, a tiny figure desperate for foot and handholds, leaving smears of blood behind each grab.
Soul was out of his room in a flash, running down corridors and stairs with a concerned set of guards on his heels. It wasn't panic but exhilaration as he busted through the door he'd been looking for, sending Ox tumbling out of the chair that he'd been leaning in but barely even encouraging Free to open his eyes.
"I need your fucking nose," Soul gasped breathless but sure.
Free waved him off, turning in the sheets. "Tomorrow, prince, tomorrow."
"Now," Soul shouted but amended with, "please."
He sat up in the bed, eyeing the mix of need and, strangely, pride on the prince's face. "Alright, alright. I deserve something after."
"A fight won't be enough?" Soul tossed back playfully as the giant man slipped out of bed with a grin.
"Oh, you found your thing you think?"
"I know," Soul nodded. "Let's go."
Soul's running was nothing on Free's, who basically just kept a brisk walk next to the man as Soul rushed him below his window. It was there, the reek of the abnormal thing that had saturated both Stein and Soul, but with the added intensity of fresh blood. That was enough, and even though he smelled the sweetness of a child there, it was the poison he was more interested in, the fetor of taint. This thing was smart as well, bringing them to the edge of the woods, trying to mask the scent in all the millions of others but Free laughed at the challenge, letting the joy the prince was holding onto trickle into his heart as well. This thing will be fun.
Free sussed out the smell with the ease of splitting a man in two and followed it back to the dark corridors of the castle, through the music room that miraculously still smelt of the pheromones of love, and along the guest quarters. Soul was suddenly in the lead, no longer needing Free to take the best guess and bursting into a sprint for Stein's room. He crashed through the door just in time to find the child sitting on Stein's chest, dripping a liquid into his open mouth.
"Shit," the little girl muttered with a much more ancient voice.
"Stein!" Soul ordered as he jumped for the girl, grasping the shoulder of her tattered dress to keep her from tottering off of Stein. As the other man's eyes opened he watched in a haze as Soul yanked the tiny thing off his chest.
He felt groggy, sick, and his lips and tongue were saturated with a sickly saccharine sweetness that made him gag. "What happened?"
"This little gremlin," Soul was struggling against her, finding tiny nails digging into skin and a mouth threatening to bite,"... was poisoning you. Free!"
Free lumbered in, an amused snort erupting rattling up from his chest. "Oh, something's wearing that child like a mask. It's rotting, too, that's the smell." He leaned closer for another sniff but the little thing scratched out at him and without hesitation he shot out a hand and grasped it by the neck, taking it easily from Soul's hold. "What's in here? What are you playing at?" Free inhaled again with a grin. "I get it now."
Stein was out of bed but still sitting at the side, one of his hands pressed to his temple as the dull ache started. "It's technically a child, isn't it?"
"Again, the shell is," Free nodded.
Soul tried to examine the face of it, seeing a little girl but the shadow of reptilian eyes, of a toothy grin blurred around the edges. "But it's Medusa?"
"Good guess," Free chimed. "She'll need just a few more months in this shell before she can suck enough life out of it to transform."
"So you've seen this before?" Stein raised his eyebrows in interest.
"Heard of it," Free shrugged. "Never seen it but wouldn't put it past Medusa." He grasped the little hands and crushed them in his before moving closer to the face. "Isn't that right? Will you admit it's you up to your little games?"
The little thing hissed but gave no clear words one way or another.
"Stein," Soul suddenly pulled his attention back to the obvious haze still clouding Stein's gaze. "She was dripping something in your mouth…"
"What's done is done," Stein offered with a coldness that didn't allot Soul any comfort. "I suppose we'll find out what it is unless Free can shake it out of her."
"Come on, Medusa…" Free crooned as he acquiesced and gave the tiny body a shake. "Doubt you're trying to kill him, but what are you up to?"
"You're a traitor, Free," the little thing seethed.
"Oh?" Free raised his eyebrows playfully. "I owed you a favor or two for setting me free but that's about it. Not to mention, Soul tends to be a little freer with information." He sent half a smile Soul's way before turning back to the little face. "I kind of would have liked to know that the girl you wanted me to kill was pregnant. I do have some morals."
"Very few," it grimaced.
"So, we kill her?" Free tightened his hand around the thing's neck, producing a short yack from the little lips.
"You said it's a shell? Like that's some kid's body?" Weight started to press on his heart and Soul couldn't stop his hands from grabbing at the little body to relieve some of the choke.
"Well, yeah…" Free shrugged.
"And the kid's soul?"
Free paused to examine the kid, his lips falling into a frown. "There, but drowned out, losing energy fast."
Stein sensed the shift and grabbed at Soul's arm, pulling him a step away from the child that wasn't. "Soul, I know you don't want to kill a child-"
"Of course I don't," Soul shot back. "So how the hell do we get rid of her?"
He sighed heavily as he settled on the idea that he knew was coming but liked the least. "Expelling a witch's magic is something Maka or her mother could do. They're the only ones I've met."
"What about Mira? Or someone at the temple?" Soul offered with little hope especially as Stein started shaking his head as soon as the words started off his lips.
"Only those two," Stein reiterated. "Maybe we could catch Yaara if she's left Maka, but what you're considering is bringing the danger straight to your wife, which I believe was what we were trying to avoid."
"Do you know where she is?" Soul couldn't stop it from being a frustrated yell.
"Yaara was following Maka," Stein frowned. "I'm going to guess she's wherever Maka is."
"Can you get in touch with her?"
"Yaara?" Stein scoffed before asking with a playful laugh, "What kind of relationship do you think that we have?"
Soul sighed with exasperation, his hands falling from the little body so he could throw them in the air. "I don't know, but all of you knew Yaara was alive and you let Maka believe she wasn't, so there's something there that I'm not getting."
"Which is something we'll talk about after the little trickster is gone," Stein finished resolutely. "But I assume that means you aren't going to kill her."
"That's stupid," Free said frankly.
"I'm sure it is," Soul muttered. "But if that's a child, I can't in good conscience kill it. Just… it's a physical body, right? She can't get away?" he offered the questions between the two other men, his hands still searching in the air between them like he had something to grasp.
"Yup," Free sighed. "But I know where you're going with this and I have to say, Eruka got out under your nose the last time so how are you going to guarantee this little one's not going anywhere?"
"Because you're going to guard her," Soul shot back instantly. "I don't think I trust anyone other than you, but you'll have Kilik and Ox at your disposal and whatever other men you want."
Free blinked for a moment, eyes turning inquisitively to the child again before wandering back to Soul. "You trust me?"
Soul nodded resolutely. "And if it's a fucking mistake, so be it. So lock her up however you want to. Guard her however you want to. Just don't let her get away before we can get a hold of Yaara or Maka."
Maka forced the morning to start the same. The same pot again, the same tea, followed by the same walk, the same door, the same backyard, and the same look on her mother's face. What was it? Maybe apprehension, definitely some disappointment, and while Maka had tried to ignore it for their time together, she finally focused on that deceptive sweetness. So is that what you want, Mama? The babies gone before they even are? For me to leave my husband so there's never another chance of any more? What is it? As if answers would come that easily. "Good morning," Maka tried to be gentle but still heard the snap to her voice.
"Are you feeling alright?" Yaara offered back quickly as concern creased the skin between her eyebrows.
"Fine," Maka brought that jovial lilt back to her voice. "The babies are just very active, that's all. Papa said that I was the same way. Kept you up at night." She finished that with a soft, apologetic smile only to find that stern crease increasing on her mother's forehead.
"I don't know why he'd remember that," she sighed. "We were working when I was pregnant so sleep was rare anyway."
"Working meaning hunting, right?" Maka let her teeth press into her lip for only a moment before she let the second trail of words out. "How did you decide when it was a good time to go back to fighting? I mean, I know I have to take care of the babies but Soul… well, he seems pretty lenient about me fighting." Only half a lie, Maka could almost laugh at herself. We still haven't finished that argument on the bridge after all.
Yaara considered this but the tightness in her mouth was slowly unfurling, the start of a smile pulling at her lips. "Well, fighting is in your blood so you'll do it whether he approves or not, and really, Queens rarely raise their children as is. Though I'm surprised to hear you say he doesn't mind. I heard he was possessive of you."
"Protective is a better word," Maka corrected but tried to keep her smile.
"With men, they often mean the same thing," Yaara sighed back. "And a proper Queen is all show. It's a wonder to me that Marie encouraged this."
"Mama," she shook her head slowly in admonishment. "Marie didn't encourage it. I asked her and she allowed it. I… I loved him for a long time and I thought the contest would cure me of it."
"Instead, you let it confuse, consume you," Yaara corrected. "I know you said no speaking ill of him and it's not him exactly it's… you have such power, Maka." She leaned closer and Maka allowed her to take her hands. "Being in love, being a mother, I'm sure it seems important but what you were made to do was save the world. The rest should pale in comparison."
Maka forced her eyes to their intertwined fingers, tracing each detail of her fingers to keep the bile and rage from taking control in her voice. "But I'm… married, and the babies…"
"You're already this far," Yaara's voice started off small, barely a whisper but started gaining strength with each word. "It's very likely he expects you're dead already and it's not like he's without suitors to take your place. And the babies… you have choices. Options. You're so young and so talented that you shouldn't give that all up just to be a glorified wet nurse."
Sh, don't, she reassured the little ones in her head as they already started to stir. I'm not thinking about that, I wouldn't dare. You're going to meet your father, that's a promise. Maka brought her eyes up to the deep umber of her mother's. "Is that what you wished your mother would have said to you?" The words were quiet, thoughtful, but tore out a piece of Maka's heart with them.
"Maka," Yaara laughed softly. "You were different, of course, you were different, but these babies-"
"Are going to live," Maka urged back. "But I really do wonder at how I made it. How you let me come into this world if that's how you feel - if power means giving up everything you love." She shook her head resolutely. "Loving Soul, having these children, it'll do nothing but increase what I have. And being a mother doesn't mean I'm not a fighter because I plan to share my burdens instead of leaving them."
"Maka," Yaara charged again, "please, consider what you could have. You could come with me, we could be together and keep this world safe."
Maka shook her head once more and stood, leaving her mother's hands behind. "It's selfish, but the world doesn't mean anything to me without them in it." She settled her hands on the swell of her stomach, her smile trying to be bright for them but falling into melancholy as her eyes reached her mother's. "If that's what you expect, get rid of it from your mind. If… if you try to force this, to do anything to put anyone that I love in danger, well… I can't kill you, I don't think I have to heart to, but if you get in the way I will turn my head. Between Black Star, Stein, and maybe Papa, I'm not sure you stand a chance."