For some reason, this was SO HARD TO WRITE! Also, we're up to chapter 47 and I still don't know where the hell I'm ending. I hope you're along for the ride.
It was the wail that brought Spirit from casual steps to a bounding run. It was the sight of Maka buckling against the door, Marie's soft touch doing nothing for the agony on her face that made his heart start to gallop in his chest. It was the figure suddenly slipping through the arrow slit that made him draw his sword. It was then that he found his voice, "Maka, move!"
That was enough to at least momentarily break Maka from the horror and the sight of Eruka slipping out of the frame of the crack of a window brought her rushing towards her Spirit, pulling Marie with her. "Papa, I have to go," Maka urged as she grabbed the dagger from the back of his belt.
"No, you'll stay here," Spirit snapped. "If that girl-"
Eruka's pocked lips were smiling, as what looked like tiny marbles released from her hands and rolled across the floor. The black orbs had minds of their own and as they got close enough Maka saw they weren't really rotating but slithering, tiny little amphibious looking creatures edging towards them on the floor. As they reached close enough the explosions started, leaving divots in the floor where Maka's feet should have been but had barely had time to move out of the way. Marie grabbed her but one of the tiny things launched into the air, close enough to Maka's hand before bursting to leave a blackened char of flesh behind on her forearm.
"Shit," Spirit hissed as one of the little things combusted to leave a hole in his pant leg and a red rash on his skin.
"They only last so long," Marie snapped at him. "Keep moving. Maka, go."
"No," Spirit started again but Maka didn't listen, springing down the hallway desperately.
Maka didn't have the breath or the time for his complaint as she ran for the stairwell, listening to the desperate pops from behind her only overpowered by the clashes in the hall. She practically tumbled outside into the dust, moving along the wall of the building as she calculated window placement in her head. The hall had those high, delicate windows and when Maka finally placed them she started the search with her fingers for the first handholds. The babies were surprisingly stationary, steady while her mind wasn't. She was just high enough that Yaara had to reach to grab her ankle.
"What do you think you're doing?" she snapped like a mother finding a toddler in the cookie jar.
"Let me go," Maka hissed. "It's either Soul or Crona that's hurt and I need to be there." Her head barely made it over her shoulder enough to look down, but her eyes clearly narrowed at Yaara as cold as the first frost. "If you care about me at all you'll go back the way I came and you'll help Papa and Marie. If you don't, you may as well never try to see me again." She popped her ankle out of Yaara's clutches and started again, ignoring the pain in her fingers as the grips left her only tenuous space to climb.
It was viscous oil between Soul's fingers and even though he'd been here before, hands covered in blackened blood, there was an eerie surprise to the color. "Crona?" he practically groaned out.
"Soul!" Free was bellowing for his attention and when Soul turned his head, already starting to feel weak and dizzy, he saw the not so innocent little creature sinking its teeth into Stein as those terrifying black vectors started to materialize on the floor. It was a dangerous chess match unfolding and Soul was watching his pieces crumble.
"Soul, you have to go," Crona whimpered as they forced Soul's hands off of the gaping wound in their stomach. "And watch out, the blood can't stop the vectors."
The saturation of his fingers had told him that much but the words settled into Soul with a new horror. "Crona, stay the fuck alive," he eked from his throat before launching to his feet, narrowly avoiding the traps on the floor to get within talking distance of Black Star. Just as Soul got to his friend the mad cackling of his mentor started.
Stein was bleeding from the neck, punctures like a snake's bite oozing with each horrible shudder from his throat.
"Where's that damn woman when we need her," Free hissed.
"Forget him, Free, you're on Medusa." Soul sent a desperate look at Black Star, "You think you can manage Stein?"
"Won't even break a sweat," Black Star threw back a laugh before drawing his sword and running for the man bathed in madness.
Soul didn't have a minute to watch, catching the streaking darkness out of the corner of his eye and launching himself just in time for the arrow to chew into the stone, spewing the rubble up his leg. Each move made him feel more like a mouse, barely dodging fang after fang as the snake coiled around him. Free was fairing only slightly better, sputtering ice to life around the girl's tiny body only to disappointedly see them crumble to another black point.
Stein had dropped his sword to the ground, dodging Black Star's first strike easily as his open palm slammed into his chest. The air squeezed out of his lungs, threatening to send whatever he had for breakfast out into the feud rather than another smartass comment. He sucked in air, narrowly sliding out of the way of another direct contact from Stein. Collapsed on the floor he got a direct line to Stein's knee, knocking it and making him buckle as Black Star rolled behind him, managing to get to his feet just in time to toss an arm around Stein's neck. "Go to sleep, Stein." The answer was another cackle as Stein bucked, throwing Black Star over his shoulder and onto the stone with a crack.
While Soul desperately needed to see the outcome of that sound it was the strange scraping behind him that his eyes frantically fell to. For some reason, his mind fell to a spider climbing up the walls and he was sure that another sickly head was going to pop into the fray. "Free, a barrier or something!"
Free tossed up a wall of ice, listening to the clink of those sinister ebony arrows clacking away as he moved towards Soul.
Soul's back was against the wall, his chest heaving as he aimed his sword close to the opening but not enough that it was in view of the hole. He was ready to strike when the blond head appeared in the entry, Maka's face straining with pure annoyance. "Maka!" He grabbed her shoulders before she could even turn her head and pulled her the rest of the way through the window. "Oh, fuck, why? You should have stayed out there-"
"No," Maka snapped. "We do this together. You know that." She slipped her soul into his, feeling an even more palpable ease to the connection and as his finger grazed hers it was the strangest sensation, a slow crawl over her skin.
"Maka…"
There only seemed to be whites to his eyes and Maka followed his gaze. The wound that one of those terrible little pre-toads had left on her arm had been oozing but now she realized it was not char that was making the darkness but the blackness of her own blood that was now solidifying, weaving a strange tapestry up her arm and across her shoulders. As he grabbed at her other hand it seemed to spread faster, creating an oddly beautiful lacy pattern that tucked the clothing close to her body. As she came to her trembling feet, it flared down, a delicate black dress made of blood.
Soul didn't have time for wonder, hearing that finality to the next crack against the ice. "Maka, you have to touch her, right?"
Maka was trying to taper her own wonder off as her hands touched what should be a sticky mass but found almost a soft silkiness between her fingers. "Yes."
"Free, carry her." Soul unceremoniously pushed Maka into Free, a tentative smirk hitting his lips at Maka's shock but Free's easy amiability with the request. "We both know you won't be that fast, Maka. Let him get you there. Go for an opening that's right, Free."
"What are you going to do?" Maka narrowed her eyes at him, trying to send the message that they'd talk about that little shove later.
"Whatever I can," Soul shrugged before starting off.
There had been a few more sickly cracks from Black Star's direction since it had now become a trade of hand to hand blows between the two. It was a disorienting deja vu as Stein tossed him around, harkening back to the days when he was nothing more than a boy that didn't stand a chance against a man. It was as if Stein was toying with him, a horrific game of cat and mouse because Black Star was waiting for the inevitable use of that dangerous sewing technique, and every time he lifted his foot he was sure it would be his last, that it would stick in place and leave him all too vulnerable.
Instead, it was blows mostly to his middle as he felt ribs give in and grow brittle, sure a few sharded in the process. Breathing hurt, moving hurt, and looking Stein in the eyes seemed to bring the worst of the pain because while he would never give the thought life from his lips this was the man that was the closest thing he had to a father, and it was the man that was trying with abject enjoyment to take his life. "Fucking Stein," Black Star croaked. It was then that he caught sight of the blond in her periphery, hearing the snap of Soul giving orders for once, and he let it wash over him. There's no dying today. Not for any of us.
While he had mostly been avoiding the other side of the fray, Black Star started to pull Stein towards the horrible little creature to the point where he could feel the whizzing moves of the arrows behind him. It was then that Soul crashed into him, pushing him a little further out of the brawl. "You're getting too damn close."
"You need me this close," Black Star huffed as he barely dodged another handhold from Stein. They were shoulder to shoulder for a moment, breath syncing. "If I pull him into her it's more chaos."
He could practically hear Soul's teeth set but the reply came back as a gruff order. "Fine. Don't die."
"As if I would," Black Star cackled as he rolled off Soul's shoulders. Turning your back on your enemy was never advised but Black Star needed to see Medusa, needed her to know he was just as much interested in her as he had been in Stein for the past few strikes. He waited, knowing Stein was ready to strike and quickly side-stepped, letting Stein barrel forward with the momentum of his strike, sending him almost into the little Medusa thing. He moved just far enough in Medusa's periphery, stretching her sight between himself and Soul enough that he could imagine the inky blindspot behind her.
Free did his part, erupting ice just to the side, trying to fake out their own position as he rushed Maka forward, holding her steady on his back like some child in a game. She was anything but as he felt the buzz of power from her, especially as his fingers touched over the strange blood armor. Soul and Black Star were closing in, Stein starting for Black Star but finding him weaseling through his legs, sliding on the ground to ensure the closeness that would grab Medusa's attention. As the vector flew towards his spot of earth the strangling scream broke from the little girl thing's mouth.
Maka had both hands on those tiny shoulders, clutching the girl after Free dropped her. It was an earsplitting, reverberating scream, freezing each in their place. Suddenly, a torrent of blackish-purple ichor shot from the girl's mouth, puddling to the floor until it stretched out into the vaguest form of a woman. Maka passed the tiny body to Free as she edged forward, her hands reaching for the slowly solidifying mass.
"Maka, don't!" Soul was tumbling towards her but Stein met him, connecting hard with a punch to his ribs. The air collapsed from his lungs as he tumbled back, the older man coming with him with hands ready to grab. Like that terrible night, Stein was stealing the air from his throat, hands clasped tightly to crush his windpipe like a tube of clay.
In the delirium that came with lack of air, Soul swore the blond head was nothing more than Maka, coming to uselessly try to pry the hands from his neck. Instead, it was a stern admonishment, the same he'd heard a million times in the days of their practice. "Stein!" Marie was suddenly behind Stein, her hands clasping to his cheeks in search of skin. Stein collapsed into a groan, his fingers loosening.
Soul sucked a breath into burning lungs as he rolled to his side, just in time to see Maka's attention diverted to the two others who had come through the door to add to the fray. In that distraction, the bubbling mass that was now becoming more of a woman was reaching towards Black Star, grabbing at his boot.
"Shit!" Black Star was up off his back, recovered from the roll but not fast enough. "Maka, go!"
Maka's eyes fell from the relief of seeing both of her parents, not the vision of a happy couple but at least together and while definitely not unscathed at least intact, to the mass at her feet. The yellow eyes were clear through the black now and it had started to streak away from that feminine face and that was all she could keep her eyes on. Maka didn't bother to see the dagger Medusa had stolen from Black Star's boot or the swing that it was taking for the most obtrusive part of her, the defined swell of her belly.
Soul tried to shriek her name but nothing came of it, his throat lame from the pressure. It was stolen from him anyway, Spirit and Black Star vying for supremacy in the next shout of her name, pulling Maka's attention back to them. When the blade hit, Maka felt the pressure, a knock to her gut that definitely made a mewling groan leave her lips.
"You bitch," Black Star hissed as he threw an arm around Medusa's neck. "You fucking goddamn bitch!" Each one came as a desperate scream as he tightened the flex of his arm, only taking a modicum of relief from the way the air squeezed from her throat.
Spirit was there, grabbing the hilt in Medusa's hand but wondering at the missing blade, his heart sinking at the idea of the only place it could be. "Maka?" he looked up at her weakly, the blood preemptively draining from him, leaving nothing but a woozy dreaminess behind.
Soul had scrambled to his feet, tripping and falling a few times in the scurry across the floor, trying to reach her before there was any sort of collapse. But as his hands found purchase, there was no need for support, Maka firmly standing on her feet as her eyes blinked down at the floor, her finger slowly motioning to the blade. "It just… broke. It hit the dress and… broke."
A terrified hiccup of a laugh barely left Soul's throat, but his sense came back to him, reeling to the floor and picking up what was left of the dagger as he solidified the blood in his hand, letting him clutch desperately to the blade. He fell towards Black Star, the tip sinking just below the flesh of the arm around Medusa's neck to tear into the tissue. It wasn't in the least smooth, a jagged rip starting in the still inky black skin, erupting with red as Soul continued to dig the edge in deeper, cutting into sinew and bone. It was almost impossible, the sheer force of it exhausting him but as the last bit of skin resisted, the words croaked up from his throat. "You tried to take her from me. No one will ever do that."
Maka had watched the gore, letting it bring a tumultuous mixture of calm and fear to her before her eyes trailed around the room. They hit the ghostly figure sitting next to the door that Yaara or Spirit had obviously destroyed to get in and a weak groan left Maka's lips. "Oh, Crona..." Ignoring the sucking of blood next to Soul, Maka rushed to the doorway, slapping away the hands that tried to grab her along the way and stop her. The floor around Crona was a pool of midnight but regardless she slipped into it, the oily mess saturating her knees as the dress started to crumble away from her, disappearing like ash in the wind. "Crona, please, Crona," she was muttering the words over and over as her hands touched the delicate body.
Crona's eyes fluttered open, sad and heavy. "Maka... I couldn't hurt you."
"No, I know that." Her smile wavered on her lips, trying to hold it steady as the tears started in her eyes.
"I couldn't hurt any of you ever again," they murmured weakly as their hand tried to raise but did nothing but twitch in the puddle. "I'm just sorry I didn't help."
"It's fine," Maka whispered as she slid a hand over their brow. "It's all fine, Crona. Everything's over and you're free. You don't have to worry about it anymore."
"And you're still my friends?"
"Always," the word choked from her throat as she kept smoothing their hair.
It wasn't until she felt Soul's hands touch her shoulders that the tears crumbled down her cheeks, shaking silently as she watched the light slowly fade from Crona's eyes.