Sorry, this one has to be short. I promise the next chapter we should be something close to SoMa!
Stein followed the winding stairs with his hand on the hilt of his sword. The whispers were a cacophony today even though he'd taken double his usual potion regiment and as he hit the final floor to the row of cells, his footsteps were drowned out by the sound. Madness had always been a constant companion but Stein felt that wall disintegrating. And you're welcoming it, aren't you? Feeling the crumble and forgetting who you are and what you should be just to embrace the fun of it all.
Free was leaning against the bars, still amusing himself by tossing quips at Medusa masquerading as a little girl and being even more entertained by the lack of answers when he caught Stein rounding the corner. It was obvious that sleeping still wasn't within Stein's grasp and while Free was rarely one to mother anyone, he felt a pang of worry that he quickly buried under concern of another kind. "Didn't request you, Stein."
The words didn't seem to settle in Stein's ears until he was almost upon Free, looking up at him with that mild amiability. "Thought I'd check and see if you needed anything."
"We don't," Free answered casually but his eyes were analyzing along with his nose.
Let me out.
Stein let out a long, low sigh as he tried to keep his eyes on Free. "Soul's been making arrangements."
Let me out, Stein.
"He's met with most of the councils which means it's a matter of days."
Let me out, Stein, and I can give you what you want.
"But I wanted to caution you," Stein paused to press his fingers to the bridge of his nose but before Free could interject he forced himself to continue. "That Yaara might be wherever we end up and you'll have to consider that she is Soul's mother-in-law-"
Let him kill Yaara, or, better yet, let me go and we'll all kill her together because isn't that what she deserves?
"I don't owe Soul that many favors," that amused lilt was still there but Free's eyes were narrowing. "You feelin' alright?"
"Tired," Stein answered back quickly. "I'll be fine when we're with Marie."
If you can make it to Marie's. If you can hold on until her healing touch. I know you want it, but I doubt it. I really doubt it. It's easier, so much easier to-
Free let out a sharp laugh, "Never imagined I'd be stuck with two love-sick husbands."
Stein managed a toothy smile.
"Ah, and here's husband number two now," Free grinned as he tossed a wave Soul's way.
Soul tried to offer the same exuberance but came up short, just managing a tight smile. "Two days," he said with a finality that pulled his guts into knots.
Let me out, Stein. Two days is just long enough-
Free reached out and patted Soul on the back, sending his head jutting slightly forward. "Which means we'll get there a full week before your wife."
His smile barely budged, barely bloomed. "Which means we're putting Marie in danger for about a week. I'm still going to rely on you to watch that thing." Soul waved a hand at the creature that should be a girl, still seeing that cold reflection in the eyes before turning to Stein. "Do you think Yaara will come with her?"
Do you think Yaara won't kill Free, me, and maybe even you just for the hell of it?
"It depends," Stein made no commitment with the sentence.
"On?"
"Too many factors to name," Stein answered glumly. "And, honestly, I wouldn't trust my assumptions about Yaara. I hate to admit it, but I might be biased."
Let me out.
Soul shook his shoulders, trying to loosen the annoyance. "Fine. We only need one of them anyway and… it might as well be Maka." He let the worry evolve to guilt, followed only momentarily by the thought he kept trying to solidify in his mind. She's strong, she's a fighter, this is what she would want to do, to help. I sent her away, kept her out of it, but I'm sure she's hated every minute of it.
"Let's hope Yaara's learned her lesson," Stein muttered under his breath before giving in to the weakness and letting his eyes wander to the marionette behind bars. He had been right all those nights ago, it was not a cold face of pain but a gleeful smirk.
It barely seemed to part but he could hear the words again clear as day, Let me out.
Maka had carefully arranged them at the table, Spirit on one side with her and Black Star sandwiching Crona between them while the pile of papers sat in the middle. Looking at it, one could almost believe it was the children getting a scolding from Papa, but Spirit looked like he was in the hot-seat, eyes darting between the three on the other side. Maka nodded at him but when no words started to tumble from his lips she put a soft hand on Crona's shoulder and whispered gently, "We have to ask you something. I'm afraid it might upset you but we're all here to support you."
Except for Yaara, of course, Spirit thought bitterly. If the babies were a problem with Maka's mother, Crona was anathema and Spirit had done his best to keep Crona in the house at all times. Yaara could most definitely see the sick soul bobbing around the house, he was sure of that, but at the very least he could ensure one child stayed out of her grasp. "You remember Stein, Crona?"
"Well, yes," Crona offered quietly. "He, um, isn't coming here, is he?" Crona's couldn't say their memories of Stein were the fondest and the shining personality trait they could remember had to do with dissection. The tension in the house was enough so he waited with a grim smile.
"No, but he sent something with Maka, something we need you to look at," Spirit clarified as he started to unravel the bindings around the papers. "That witch that's been bothering Maka, we want you to take a look at her."
"Oh, um," Crona started before looking at Maka. "What can I do?"
Maka shook her head slowly. "You don't have to do anything, just tell us whether you recognize her or not. Then, if you remember anything about her, we'd appreciate it if you told us."
"I think I can do that." Crona's wide eyes hit the table, holding them open even against the fear of the image.
"You'll be fine," Black Star patted them on the back but their eyes only jutted along the table.
Spirit had been circulating through sheets, finally settling on the charcoal drawing that Soul had produced in the likeness of a woman who wasn't hideous but didn't give comfort to look at. As he turned the drawing towards Crona, his eyes watched the slow evolution of horror on their face. Crona's hand was instantly in Maka's, squeezing with a fury that made her breath catch in her throat. A tiny whimper left Crona's mouth as their other hand shakily touched to the edge of the paper just to recoil as if bitten.
"You know her," Black Star urged but let the rest of the idea drop off as Maka's eyes narrowed at him.
Maka patted her other hand over top of Crona's before turning from a glare to a smile. "It's alright. No matter what you say, we're here."
"That's…" Crona reached again, smudging some of the black around the curve of her hip. "That's my mother. Medusa."
Black Star eased back in his chair, exhaling hard at the ceiling as he planted his hands behind his head. He just barely held in the curses, letting them silently fly from his lips upward.
"Your real mother?" Maka balked but in the next instance let it settle as almost an obvious piece of the puzzle. No wonder their life was so horrible, so lonely. "Does that mean you're a witch?"
Crona shook their head quickly, "No, not a witch, but I'm a…" There was a slight wriggle to their body, a leaning from term to term in their head. "Well, that sword was made for me, I'm part of it and it's part of me and that's how Medusa wanted it. The black blood was supposed to…" Crona turned their head and blinked at Maka, a grimace pressing between their lips. "Supposed to make me into something. Just like it was supposed to make Prince Wes or Prince Soul into something but-"
"Prince Wes?" Black Star shot forward and while Maka instantly had her hand out, trying to calm him, the volume of his voice couldn't be muted. "You mean it wasn't just Soul that she ruined but that shit that happened to Prince Wes, the ambush, that was Medusa?"
Even in the face of Black Star's yelling, Crona turned frantic eyes to him and gave a trembling nod.
"Tell me," Black Star urged as his hand clamped around Crona's arm.
"Black Star-" Maka started but Black Star's fist hit the table, making the paper and the rest of them jitter.
"I'm not mad at you, Crona," he pronounced each word tightly. "I just need the information, OK?"
"OK," Crona squeaked before clearing their throat. "Well, um, I was supposed to go to Prince Soul. Medusa went with Prince Wes. She… well, she knows everything that happens in that castle, she has snakes everywhere so knowing where Prince Wes was going to be, like in the ravine that day, that was easy so she… well, both of them, Prince Wes and Prince Soul were supposed to be infected since… we couldn't be sure if either of them would survive the blood to begin with so… Prince Soul was strong enough but Prince Wes… Medusa killed him because he wouldn't be useful."
Black Star dropped his grip from Crona's arm and his eyes went back to the ceiling, narrowing as if he were reading an ancient text there.
Crona turned their attention to Maka, "And I'm… I'm sorry but you were supposed to die, too."
"Me?" Maka whispered softly. "Why me?"
Their shoulders jittered in something like a shrug. "Medusa knew about your mother, about the way she could see souls, but… you can do more than that. You can tell feelings, thoughts, what someone is, and what their intentions are. That's dangerous, or at least to Medusa it was."
Maka risked a glance at Spirit, finding a sour frown on his lips but nothing more. "Then have you heard from her since you got here? Since you've been staying with us?"
"No," Crona urged back quickly. "And I swear, I don't want to. I don't want to do her things. I like this. I want to stay here."
"I believe you." Maka squeezed their hands gently, that calming smile coming to her lips. "But I think, maybe, none of us can stay here anymore."
"What?" Spirit was quick to jump on the edge of her words and even Black Star's attention was back to her.
Maka took a deep breath and looked between the two men before focusing on Spirit. "How much longer, especially after we've traveled here, Mama's traveled here, do you think you can keep Crona a secret? With Medusa interested in us now, maybe Eruka out there, and maybe whatever that wolf-thing was, how long?"
Spirit started shaking his head, "But that doesn't mean jumping right out into the open."
"Marie's isn't the open," Maka started slowly but saw Spirit's eyebrows instantly furrow. She attempted to look to Black Star but it was a strange mirror in the face, all skepticism from both sides. "We'd be getting all of us together in one place-"
"Which is a perfect recipe for killing us all at once," Spirit spat.
"Or strength in numbers," Black Star said with a sigh. "And Crona knows Medusa, probably the others too and could give us information and maybe even fight with us."
Spirit was shaking his head on repeat, the motion bordering on dizzying. "Or leave Crona open to being manipulated again."
"With all of us there, Crona will be protected," Maka urged back. "You won't be the only one who'll be watching and supporting them."
"I'm going with you?" Spirit balked.
"Yes," Maka answered back quickly. "And I'm going to imagine that Mama's going to follow us there as well, so it'll be…" she paused to sigh, "... quite the group."
Black Star stood up from his chair but instead of a scream, a loud bout of laughter left his lips. "I never thought I'd hear a crazier plan in my life - bring the person who tried to murder my best friend back under the same roof as him and his pregnant wife along with her insane mother and mediocre father while we all battle a fucking apparently indestructible witch together."
"Soul won't be there," Maka shook her head.
"That's the part of the plan you have trouble with?" Black Star let the laughter spring from his mouth again. "Look, if you don't think Soul's already there or is going to be there soon, then you don't know him half as well as I thought. He's probably gone crazy by now and he's with Marie or halfway there."
Maka huffed out a sigh as she rolled her eyes, "We all agreed-"
"But you gave him that damn note about the babies," Black Star cut through with a smile. "Which we both know probably lit a fire under him that even Stein can't put out so I'm guessing he's there. You can place your bets elsewhere, but since you already owe me a lordship and godfather, I don't know what you have left to wager."
Maka fought against a smile, against the hope that Black Star was feeding her but it was a herculean effort to keep the thin line of the frown. "Even if he is there, it's not a bad idea."
"It's not a good one either," Black Star cackled. "But I guess nothing's a good idea. So what the hell do we have to lose."