The Music of Our Hearts: Chapter Seven:
The wolves prowled closer, low to the ground as they snarled menacingly, edging nearer and nearer. Their black fur was matted and torn off in places and black saliva dripped from their snarling mouths and teeth. At a quick count there were six of them emerging from the forest and shrubbery.
Black Star turned to see them, "Huh? They must be pretty brave to come after me, especially after hearing how great I am." He grinned, taking up a fighting stance.
Maka huffed, "It was probably your yelling what brought them here..." She muttered, taking up a fighting stance as well. She knew her way around a scythe thankfully. While Soul hadn't been able to fully change until now, Maka had been practising with a practice weapon so that she could get the hang of it, and she thought she was doing good until she picked up Soul. It was nothing like how she practised. He was heavier, more solid built, and the feeling of his soul was something to get used to... It would take some time before she could perfectly match their soul wavelengths and she tried not to worry about it now.
Maka looked to Black Star and Tsubaki, his chain scythe. She wondered how well they had linked their souls... She wasn't entirely perfect at soul detection just yet so she wasn't going to waste any more time trying to do it. She stepped over to Black Star, "So... you want to take those three... I'll take these ones...?" She asked, watching as the wolves split into two groups, circling around them, forcing the Meister's to keep their stance back to back.
Black Star laughed, "Sure, if you want but if it gets too much, I'll take four and you can have the rest." He grinned.
"Whatever..." Maka watched the wolves, waiting for one to make a move. She knew if she moved first, the other two would grab her... She hoped that Black Star was smart enough to realise this.
She glanced to him and nearly died to find that he jumped straight in.
"Yahoo!" He laughed as he slashed one of the wolves with his blade, spinning to catch another in the snout as it tried to jump in to bite him. It fell back howling but quickly got back up.
Maka swiftly spun to see the three wolves that she had just as one attempted to jump her as she was distracted.
Maka reacted quickly and jammed the butt of the scythe's shaft up into the wolves gut. In one swift motion she spun the scythe sending the wolf flying into a tree and slashed another wolves with the blade as it tried to get closer.
She glanced to see that the wolf had gotten up after splintering the tree. These things were tough... They weren't natural for sure.
The next wolf pounced at her and once again she fended it off, hitting it with the shaft of the scythe. Thankfully Soul was durable. She took a quick moment to glance and check on how Black Star was holding up and he seemed to be doing just fine other than the fact that he was more interested in showing off than actually taking out the wolves. He managed to jump over them, land in trees, taunt them, and generally mess around but at least he was keeping them distracted and she couldn't help but wonder how he and Tsubaki got any missions done..
"Maka, watch out!" Soul shouted from within the blade of the scythe, making Maka spin back to see as a wolf pounced on her. She landed hard on her back, letting out a grunt as she felt the wind get knocked out of her and only glimpsed as Soul was knocked out of her grip and slid across the floor. She didn't even have a chance to get up as the wolf had pinned her, attempting to bite her. Its jaws were only inches away from her face, splattering her with the black saliva as she held it back as much as she could with her hands on its chest.
"Maka!" Soul shouted, transforming back into his human form to come to her aid.
Maka cursed under her breath, feeling her arms wouldn't hold out much longer against this ridiculously strong beast. She found she didn't have to fend it off much longer as it soon flew straight off her and into a moss covered boulder.
In surprise and shock, Maka looked up to see Black Star, standing there, an expression of rage on his face. He put his foot down which he had used to kick it off of her. "I'm going to kill you all." He muttered, apparently now more serious towards their dilemma. He stepped over Maka, going to the wolves. "Come on! Fight me!" He taunted, getting all of the wolves attentions. The one wolf that he had kicked didn't appear to be getting up any time soon...
Maka looked over as Soul rushed to her side, "Are you okay Maka?" He checked her over frantically and relaxed when she nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine... At least his timing is good.." She joked wryly, wiping her face from the black goo. "Come on... We should help him..." She murmured, getting to her feet with the help of Soul. She could feel her legs were trembling, still pumping with adrenaline. She looked over to see Black Star taking on the five wolves at once. When he wanted to fight, he could utilise Tsubaki incredibly well.
"Step back!" He shouted, "Tsubaki! Smoke bomb mode!" He shouted.
Hearing that was all Maka and Soul needed to take a good number of steps back.
Tsubaki's weapon form began to glow as she transformed, turning into a black bomb which Black Star threw at the ground, releasing a large plume of hazy smoke that washed through the area.
Both Maka and Soul covered their mouths and faces, shielding themselves from the smoke. From here they couldn't see what Black Star was doing but all they could hear was the wolves yowling and whimper as he effectively beat them up. The two exchanged a worried glance.
The two jumped and moved into a fighting position as something emerged from the smoke, however they relaxed to find that it was just Black Star grinning and laughing as he dusted off his hands. "Told you it wouldn't be hard."
Tsubaki followed after him as the smoke dispersed, she smiled a bit and nodded. "Mm."
Maka blinked, watching him. "Woah... You're tough..." She murmured.
Soul nodded, and leaned to look behind him, seeing the wolves lying on the ground. "What are they doing...?" He asked, pointing a bit to the corpses which began to fizzle into black smoke, disappearing. "Don't Kishin leave behind a Kishin soul...?" He asked, glancing to Maka.
"Yeah..." She frowned a bit, walking over. "Did you eat them already Tsubaki...?" She asked. They technically did do all the work... But it would've been very greedy for her to have taken all of them.
"Huh?" Tsubaki looked to Maka, "No, they didn't have any..." She murmured, hands behind her back. "They didn't have any soul I don't think... At least not one that stayed around..."
Maka frowned, looking back to the wolf at her foot as it disappeared finally.
Meanwhile...
"Hm..." Lord Death made a thoughtful sound as he watched the four students; Maka looking around at where the wolves were while Black Star stretched, still grinning and acting as if that were only a workout. "They have lots to learn... But they show lots of potential..." He murmured.
"Well, my Maka is going to be the best student there ever was." Spirit grinning as he watched Maka. "I can't believe you wouldn't let me help here when she was in danger." He hissed at Lord Death.
"There wasn't enough time." He said simply, trying to keep from pointing out how stupid and impulsive he was. "Besides, they have to learn how to help each other."
"Right... You didn't have to hit me though..." He muttered, rubbing his head and pouting like a child.
"But it's strange..." Lord Death murmured, watching the last of the wolves vanish. "No souls were left behind... Maybe... Maybe there's something else at work here..." He murmured, staring intensely at the mirror that displayed the forest as if it were a television. His words and his actions got the attention of Spirit.
"You think someone was controlling them...?" He asked, glancing to the screen, far more serious now.
Lord Death merely nodded, "We'll soon see, I'm sure..."
