Black Weapons
Here is Chapter 3 everyone!
*S*
People have hope because they cannot see death standing in front of them
*S*
Song: Gonna Get Caught by Demi Lovato
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Chapter 3: Jack the Ripper Caught, Get Ready For A Fight?
The next morning dawned bright and early and Maka stared at the ceiling for several minutes before standing up. The bed next to hers was empty, and when she walked over to the window she saw Tsubaki and Soul sparring outside with Finny and Bard watching. Of course Maka thought… They got to train as they were "bodyguards". Them sparring the way they were wouldn't raise questions. She turned away from the window with a sigh and got dressed in her new uniform. She had just grabbed the apron to tie around her middle when a soft knock came at the door. Akane stuck his head in and offered a smile.
"Good morning Maka," he said entering fully.
"Morning Akane, is Kid up and about yet?" She asked. Akane nodded.
"He and Anya are playing chess with Ciel and Madame Red in the young lord's study," Akane's voice changed slightly at the end of the sentence and Maka saw a flicker of brown pass by the open door. She frowned and looked at Akane with a questioning look.
"Shall we go observe Tsubaki and Soul then?" She asked finally.
"That sounds lovely," Akane said offering her his arm. Maka took it and together the two meisters made their way out to the backyard of the Phantomhive estate. Finny and Bard had joined in and it looked like Finny was actually matching Soul in strength at least. "We have a shadow today," Akane breathed in her ear, making her jump slightly. Se took a few moments to actually take in her surroundings and found indeed they were being followed. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Soul," she called quietly. "Would you like to go see the gardens with me? MeyRin told me that they were wonderful and I'd like to see them for myself."
"Why would I want to—," Soul cut off and rubbed his arm where Tsubaki pinched him. "Geez fine," he grumbled glaring at the tall girl and rubbing his arm. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to her. He rolled his eyes when Maka started walking towards the garden and linked her hands behind her back. When she started humming Soul gave her a funny look. "What's with you today?" He asked her.
"Mmmm, just happy to be here with Princess Anya," Maka said in a girly voice. "She could have chosen so many others to bring but she chose me!" She pretended to look around at all the flowers and trees. "Its very beautiful here don't you think?" She smiled brightly at Soul and he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Sure if you like prissy things," he said wondering what she was up to. Lightning flashed through her green eyes and Soul realized just how close to death he was if he didn't play along with her. They headed further away from the house and out of the gardens completely, into the surrounding woods. Maka glanced around and a whisper of fabric was the only warning she got.
"Move," She shouted shoving Soul to the side. Where they had been standing a moment before was a man dressed like a librarian, topped with a bright red cloak and matching hair. She narrowed her eyes, his soul said it was Grell, but he looked completely different.
"My my," he said laughing, showing off teeth that rivaled Soul's. In his hands, dormant at the moment, was a chainsaw. It took her a minute, but Maka recognized it as Giriko's weapon form. "I think I missed. No matter. It won't happen again."
"Maka," Soul growled lowly, he stood crouched, hating that the lesser reaper stood between him and his meister.
"Something wrong Grell?" Maka asked, ignoring Soul at the moment.
"You being here could be a lot of trouble for me brat," Grell said yanking on Giriko's cord, bring him roaring to life.
"I think we've heard something like that before, right Soul?" Maka said leaping to the side as Grell rushed towards her again. Soul lunged forward and connected his hand to Maka's, transforming. She brought him up in a defensive position just in time to catch Giriko's blade on Soul's pole.
"If you won't leave, I'll just have to kill you and send the little reaper home to his father to tell him you all failed," Grell growled pushing harder against Soul. Maka gritted her teeth and felt her feet start to give way. Stupid flimsy, useless slipper shoes. She knew, no matter how strong she and Soul were, the only person who could take on Grell without facing serious injuries was Kid. She jumped backwards and kicked off her shoes while she could, she slid to the side, hoping to throw the reaper off balance.
"Lord Death is too busy to deal with you," Maka snapped. She calculated her next moves carefully. She grunted as Grell spun and lashed out with Giriko again. 'He doesn't use both hands… Only the one and switching back and forth depending on how he's attacking. So, I just duck,' She thought as she ducked under the swing and brought up her leg to kick Grell in the side.
"Gotcha girlie," Grell said catching her foot and flinging her to the side. Maka hissed in pain as her back hit a tree and Soul went flying to the side. She'd underestimated the man's strength. "Bye bye," Grell said at the same time Soul yelled her name. The reaper darted forward and Maka ducked right before his weapon could connect with her. "Oh poo," Grell said trying to get Giriko unstuck from the tree.
"STOP BEING INCOMPETENT AND GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Giriko's irritated voice came from the stuck chainsaw. Maka saw a small window of opportunity and darted over to Soul.
"We have to get out of here while we can," Soul muttered grabbing her hand and pulling her along.
"Where do you think you're going?" Grell abandoned his attempts of dislodging Giriko from the tree. He jumped over the pair and landed in front of them. "I simply cannot just let you go now that you know who I am. Of course, I assume you already knew who I was." Maka stumbled back from Grell and Soul growled lowly. "Don't worry; I'll make it as quick and painless as possible." He cackled as he took a step forward and flung Soul to the side as if he were a rag doll. Maka crouched to even out her weight and threw a punch when Grell was close enough. The reaper caught her fist and twisted until he heard a loud pop, Maka cried out and Grell smiled widely, yanking her closer to him.
"Maka!" Soul struggled to his feet.
"Don't worry about me," Maka growled. "I'm not scared of him." She glared at the man holding her arm.
"Oh my, why won't you just accept what's about to happen and move on? It's only natural right? Survival of the fittest?" Grell laughed softly. "You my dear are far from being the fittest." Suddenly he straightened and cocked his head. "Well damn… Looks like we'll have to finish this later." He thrust Maka away from him and into Soul, who had moved towards the two of them. He jumped over to his still yelling weapon and yanked him from the tree. "Ta ta for now dearie!" Grell called before vanishing.
"Bastard," Maka growled, clutching her broken wrist to her chest. Soul looked down at it guiltily.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I'll be fine," she said going to find her shoes. She struggled into them and turned back to Soul who was watching her in concern. "We should head back. And not a word to Kid!" She said.
"Agreed," Soul muttered. He had no death wish today. "But how will we explain your wrist?" He asked.
"I'll think of something," she muttered as they trekked through the forest. "I think it's just dislocated, but I'm not sure." Maka paused, her hair was a mess. "Soul, will you help me fix my hair?" She asked. Her wrist was throbbing in pain, but she knew she just had to bear it.
"Yeah hold on," Soul rolled his eyes and removed her hair ties. He put them back up, making sure every hair was there and that they looked as neat as they had before their little scuffle.
"For once, I kinda wish Black*Star was here," Maka said when they reached the manor.
"What?" Soul said whipping his head around when they walked in the back doors. "Did he hit you in the head or something while we were fighting?"
"No," Maka said laughing slightly; she winced as her wrist throbbed again. Inwardly she kinda wished Professor Stein had come along as well. "He would be a great distraction though." Soul frowned when he saw the pain in her eyes. He knew then that they were screwed; there would be no hiding this from Kid. They would just have to get their stories straight now. "Hey…" Maka said suddenly. "Where is everyone?" Soul looked around and shrugged. It was awfully quiet.
"Maka! Soul!" Tsubaki yelled coming around the corner from the direction of their rooms. "There you guys are. You guys disappeared for a while, Kid and Anya were worried." From the look in the dark haired teen's eyes, she had been worried as well. She looked them both up and down and reached out to wipe some dirt from Maka's skirt. Then her gaze fell on her wrist. Voices startled them all, and as they grew louder, Tsubaki leaned forward. "I guess you'll tell me about this later?" She said as Kid, Ciel, Madame Red, and Anya came around the corner. Grell, Sebastian, and Akane followed at a slightly slower pace.
"There you are," Anya said, relief clearly showing in her eyes. "You were gone for a while."
"Here we are," Maka giggled nervously as all eyes turned to them. She avoided Kid and Grell's eyes and fixed her gaze on Sebastian, the butler's eyes were on her wrist. "I'm sorry if we worried you Princess. We just lost track of time, and then Soul got us lost on the way back!" She elbowed Soul playfully with her good arm, while putting her other arm behind her back to hide her wrist.
"Yeah right," Soul muttered.
"You do have a terrible sense of direction," Kid said rolling his eyes. Ciel cleared his throat and pushed past the three DWMA students in front of him.
"If you lot are done playing stupid, we have somewhere to be, and we have been delayed long enough," he fixed his one-eyed glare on Soul and Maka before continuing on down the stairs.
"I packed your things Maka," Tsubaki said as they fell in behind Anya who was nearly in step with Ciel. "We were all invited to Viscount Druitt's ball and Lord Phantomhive decided to accept that invitation instead of holding his own here." Maka nodded and tried to keep all attention off of her wrist.
"We will be taking carriages into the nearby town where cars will be waiting to take us into London," Kid said coming up beside them. He reached out and touched Maka's arm gently. "I'm asking Akane to ride with you guys." The look in his eyes told Maka that Akane had told him about their shadow. "Soul and I will be riding with Lord Phantomhive and Sebastian."
"Yes sir," Soul and Akane said sharing looks with each other. Akane must have requested to ride with the princess since he worked for her family, Maka mused. Anya stopped on the front steps of the mansion and Maka stopped beside her, giving her a questioning look.
"Princess?" Maka asked, having to remind herself to address her correctly around the others.
"I want you to ride with Kid, with Akane riding with us, there will be no need for you," Anya said it with a slight edge to her voice. Sebastian raised an eye from where he was standing beside the first carriage and wondered again just who these kids were and what game they were playing. He wondered briefly if they were after Ciel, and stared Maka's swollen wrist. How it had gotten that way? It seemed to be twisted awkwardly as well. He was certain she had been fine when he'd spied them wondering off this morning.
"Ah," Maka said fidgeting. Being in such close quarters with Kid would make it harder to hide her wrist. As it was, her best way of hiding it so far was keeping it out of his sight. "Yes of course..."
"What's the hold up here?" Madame Red demanded from behind Anya and Maka. Maka hurried down the steps and bowed slightly. "
"My apologies ma'am," she said quietly as the red-haired woman passed her. Grell followed his mistress closely, bumping into Maka and knocking her off balance.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" Grell apologized reaching to help her.
"Don't touch me," Maka snapped yanking herself back and stumbling a bit before she caught her balance. Kid and Soul had both taken a step forward, Kid confused and Soul's face hard. She winced when her wrist jostled and she stared into Grell's shocked face.
"I-I was just trying to help," the startled butler said.
"You've helped enough," Maka said quietly. She straightened up and looked him in the eye; he winked quickly before turning to walk over to his mistress. Madame Red stared at Maka with cold eyes and Maka wanted to return the favor or out Grell right then and there, but she turned and walked to Kid and Soul. "Sorry," she said smiling. "I'm just tired of being knocked over. I figured twice was enough right?" Sebastian stared at her with a dawning light in his eyes before he chuckled and opened the carriage doors. He helped Ciel up and then offered his hand to Maka.
"Miss Maka, please allow me to help you," he said politely. He glanced down at her wrist then back up to her and Maka nodded slowly. She let him help her into the carriage and slid over to the window across from Ciel. Kid followed sitting beside her and Sebastian stepped up and sat down next to Ciel.
"I'm gonna ride up with the driver," Soul said sticking his head in. The albino closed the door and the carriage dipped a bit before taking off at a jerky pace. Maka closed her eyes and prayed to Lord Death that this day would just end.
"Maka are you okay?" Kid asked looking at her. She looked slightly pale and almost nervous. "Is Princess Anya overworking you? I can get someone to replace you." He tried not to fret, but the blonde meister was scaring him. When she looked at him there was a flash of pain in her eyes and her hands were clenched under her apron.
"I'm fine," Maka insisted. "I'm just tired from getting lost this morning." She giggled slightly before looking back out the window.
"Hmmm," Kid hummed before finally looking away.
"You seem awfully worried about your servants," Ciel muttered, a bored look on his face. He hated carriage rides, he hated long rides in general, but in order to catch a killer, sometimes you had to go to him.
"Wouldn't you be worried if one of yours got sick or injured?" Kid asked. "It's not like they're slaves. I cannot speak for Princess Anya, but Soul and Akane are valued members of my household."
"Yes I suppose," Ciel said looking at the two teens in front of him. He felt as if the golden eyed boy was lecturing him. He figured both of them were about his age, and he hadn't missed Soul's strange eyes and teeth, but Sebastian had assured him that the boy was normal. Looking at Maka however, he did have to agree that something did seem off. "Don't let Grell get to you," he said surprising himself even. "He's hopeless but harmless." He felt as if he'd been repeating this for days, and maybe he had. He watched a flash of fear go through the girl's emerald eyes before it vanished.
"Oh I'm sure," Maka said nodding, her pigtails following the movement. "Yeah right..." She muttered under her breath. The movement of her hair caught Kid's eye and he noticed that one pigtail had more hair than the other. His hands were halfway to her hair when he realized that all three of them were staring at him. "Lord Kid?" Maka asked blinking in confusion at him.
"Your hair," Kid coughed. "One pigtail has more hair than the other." He said looking away. He felt the heat on his face and cursed himself for several moments. Maka blushed and reached up with her good hand and pulled out the hair bands. 'Stupid Soul…' She thought. She decided to leave her hair down, it would be too much effort to try and fix it with her bad hand and if she didn't get it right, she didn't want to send Kid into an OCD coma.
"I saw nothing wrong with her hair," Ciel said looking between the two of them. Kid groaned. "And why did you only use one hand, why not both?" Maka cursed the kid in front of her and was reminded of Black*Star for a moment.
"Kid has OCD," Maka blurted out before Kid could ask about her hand. "If something isn't symmetrical he has a breakdown." She smiled slightly when she heard a loud laugh come from up front. Soul must have heard her. Ciel cracked a small smile at the look on the blonde's face. It didn't slip his mind however that she had skirted around his question and the fact that she had called him Kid instead of Lord Kid.
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Ciel's London Home, London, England
The ride to London had taken the better part of the day and Maka was relieved to flop down on the bed that she and Tsubaki would be sharing. It was a tighter squeeze than their previous lodgings; due mainly to unexpected guests from China. But at least Madame Red had her own home that she retired to. So no Grell for the rest of their stay anyway.
"Maka," Tsubaki said sitting down next to her friend. She looked down at her worriedly. While Madame Red and Ciel got reacquainted with their Chinese guests, the DWMA students were given some time to get settled. "Are you okay? Your wrist looks bad."
"Yeah, it hurts…" Maka said closing her eyes.
"What happened?" Tsubaki asked. "Akane told me that Grell had been shadowing you guys all morning and then you and Soul disappeared. Kid couldn't sense your souls anymore and he freaked."
"I underestimated Grell is all," Maka said sitting up. She looked at Tsubaki and down at her wrist. "I had planned on not telling Kid, but I guess I'll have to now." She sighed.
"Not tell me what?" Kid poked his head in the door. Anya, Akane, and Soul were behind him. Soul rolled his eyes; he should have known she'd cave.
"Soul and I had a little problem today," Maka held her fingers a little ways apart from each other.
"Little problem doesn't end with broken wrists and bruises," Soul muttered. Maka threw a glare at her partner and mouthed traitor.
"Broken wrist," Kid flew over to Maka and gently picked up her wrist. Now he could notice how swollen it looked and the odd angle it rested it. He blinked guiltily up at her. "Maka, how did this happen?" He asked.
"Well, as I'm sure Akane told you we had a shadow all morning. So I took Soul to see if he'd follow us," Maka said looking at him sheepishly. "I didn't expect him to confront us. By the way, he uses Giriko as his weapon. And it's not broken, just dislocated. Though he tried his best…"
"Oh wonderful," Tsubaki said frowning. Would no one stay gone?
"Maka!" Kid said frowning. "This is the sort of thing that got Black*Star eliminated as even a possibility in this mission." Maka hung her head.
"I know," She said miserably. Kid sighed and looked at her wrist again.
"Come on, Madame Red is still here and she's a doctor," he said helping her off the bed. "She'll need to pop it back into place and possibly wrap it."
"God I hope not," Maka said. "It's gonna be hard enough to fight with Soul without my hand being wrapped up." Tsubaki laughed nervously which drew Akane's attention to her; he gave her a strange look but said nothing. Anya stayed behind in the room with the others while Kid and Maka headed downstairs to get her wrist looked at.
"Wait… Who is Giriko?" She asked suddenly, drawing the others out of their own thoughts.
"Ah... Stupid chainsaw idiot we fought during the fight with Arachne," Soul said shrugging. He decided not to mention the fact that he and Maka had been useless during that fight as well. To him it seemed that no matter how strong they got there was always an enemy that was stronger.
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"I'm still not sure how you managed to dislocate your wrist like this from falling out of a tree," Madame Red said after she had popped Maka's wrist back into place and was wrapping an ace bandage around it. "I'll bring a stronger brace tomorrow, but this will work for now." The red-haired woman had to resist from looking at her butler. He'd told her all about these kids and the school they went to. He had also told her about the confrontation he'd had with the albino and this girl today. No wonder she had spazzed out on Grell earlier. She had thought about ignoring the girl and the golden eyed boy, but it would have looked strange if she hadn't helped her out. But she wasn't stupid; them being here meant just as much trouble for her as it did Grell.
"Thank you very much, it feels much better now," Maka said smiling slightly. Over the older woman's shoulder Sebastian was staring at her and Maka felt her face get hot. Did he suspect her of lying? She was absolutely sure that he'd known that her wrist was hurt before this. Madame Red finished wrapping her wrist and stood up.
"I'll be going dear nephew," she said to Ciel. "Will you please reconsider about going after this killer?" She asked as a last desperate attempt at keeping him out of danger. Maka's eyes widened and her gaze met Kid's but from the lack of surprise there she figured he already knew about this.
"Of course not," Ciel said turning away from her. "It's my job." Madame Red sighed and signaled Grell to follow her.
"I'll see you tomorrow before the ball then," she said before leaving.
"Sebastian, please escort Maka back to her room," Ciel said. "I'd like for Kid to get to know our guests." Maka looked up at Kid who nodded. She stepped out of the room with Ciel's tall butler. The trip upstairs was quiet and awkward and Sebastian stopped her on the stairs.
"Perhaps you would like to share how you really hurt your wrist?" He said looking at her.
"I told you, I fell out of a tree," Maka said looking at him.
"Then why did you keep it a secret?" Sebastian asked. "It must have been terribly painful."
"I've had worse, and I didn't want to worry anyone," Maka said shrugging. Sebastian narrowed his eyes slightly. He had no idea why they were here and he suddenly wanted to know. The thought of slamming her against the wall and demanding answers crossed his mind, but before he could act on it, Akane showed up.
"Maka, Anya needs you, she's ready to go to bed," the meister said giving Sebastian a cold look.
"I'm coming," Maka said looking over her shoulder at Sebastian as she climbed the stairs. "Perhaps, you shouldn't be so blatant about your intentions." She said before hurrying away. Sebastian looked shocked for a moment before smiling at Akane, who stayed behind.
"Maka can hold her own you know," Akane said. "Even with a hurt wrist it isn't wise to try anything." He smirked. "Even if she didn't kick your butt, there are two boys who would gladly do it for her here, and another back home." He rubbed his chin. "Any of her friends really." He turned to walk off. "You don't have to fear us though. Perhaps another."
Sebastian watched the teen walk off and he took a deep breath. Who were these kids? How had they known what he was planning to do? He'd been with Ciel for years and they were connected by the contract, yet the boy was blind as to his intentions most of the time. So how was it, 6 strange teenagers come in and know what exactly was going on? The demon growled lowly, his eyes glowing for a moment before he made his way back to his master's side. All in good time…
*S*
Hey all thanks for reading again. I actually got something in quicker! Yay. But updates will probably be few and far between. My laptop crashed and I don't have the money to get it fixed. All my updates will have to be made from a computer at the library, and I hate having to do that. So Maybe once every month or so. I'm also updating this earlier than I planned, I had wanted it to be a Valentine's gift to you all, however SwampCon is that weekend, so a few days earlier won't hurt right? Happy Early Valentine's Day everyone. Enjoy and be careful.
Anyway, any questions, concerns, or comments, or if you just wanna be nice and say hey, please leave a review or pop me a PM. I really would appreciate the feedback :3
Shimmerz
