A/N: We're on Chapter 48, guys! I can't believe it! Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and the next couple of chapters before the end. For my part, I'm super excited, both for the ending and the epilogue. Enjoy!
Review Responses:
cherrishish, all will be made clear. Thanks for the review and for continuing to read!
Wisteria, I will definitely tell you what's going on before the end, but I don't want to spoil anything. Enjoy the chapter!
Ynot7, well, he does sort of understand where she's coming from. And he's probably the only one who does. Thanks for the review, and enjoy the chapter!
Arcane Student, I don't want to answer that for you because I think it would be more fun for you to read it and see for yourself. Hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks for the review!
pokelover01, yeah, with the two of them, I realized that not only would it be too neat and tidy if all three of the pairings worked out, that Clark and Cassie really weren't giving me anything more than very strong platonic vibes while I was writing. (Plus they've both just realized how messed up they are mentally/emotionally, which isn't healthy in a relationship). Glad you liked the rest of the chapter, and Crona will definitely be playing a major role in the events to come!
Guest, she hasn't committed suicide, but she's definitely considered it. I'm having trouble coming up with a worthy opponent for Black Star, seeing as how he just destroyed an entire freaking island by himself, but I'll do my best! Enjoy the chapter!
Keyworks Kid, Annie's tower bedroom is her version of the Black Room and of Crona's desert/beach thing in the anime. Basically it's the representation of her mind, and Crona was in it. As for the rest, yeah you've basically got it. You'll probably figure it out in this chapter, but if not, remember who Crona's related to. Thanks for reading, and good luck with your own fic!
karma88, Cassie would be OP as all get out...I'm half-worried that I stacked Morgan with too many awesome powers, lol. Thankfully most are temporary and Cassie hasn't realized her full potential yet. (And in a universe that includes Black Star, Kid, Stein, SoMa, and like every witch ever, Morgan/Cassie doesn't seem that OP).
Magyk-Foal1, really glad you liked the Crona and Annie scene and all the rest. Thanks for reading and enjoy the chapter!
Andrea J, glad you liked it! The rest of the story is coming up!
Diana Raven, hopefully I'll write more. I have a lot of ideas but I can't promise anything, since at the moment I'm just thinking about finishing this fic. Thanks for reading and glad you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Lunacy Pt. 3, Order and Fear
A circle of gold spread out from around his feet, engulfing both him and his mother. Outside of the circle, Clark saw the rest of the world grind to a halt, saw Rei freeze in midair, hand outstretched towards him, wings frozen mid-beat. In front of him, his mother didn't pause, but continued to charge as if she hadn't noticed the circle at all. A pale pink light surrounded her hands, morphing into a pair of daggers. She twisted around as she reached him, her eyes shadowed by the curtain of her hair.
Clark swung Vayne in front of himself, managing to catch her attack on the weapon's flat. The blade skittered across the smooth expanse of steel. Before Elaine's momentum could get the best of her, she planted her foot lightly on Vayne's flat, kicking off of it and launching herself back into the air. She flipped over, landing nimbly on the ground a few feet away, and charged at him again, slashing at him with both daggers. Clark slid back, careful to stay within the circle, and blocked the attack.
Elaine simply redirected her energy, pressing against Vayne with the hands that held the daggers and sliding a few inches to the side. She spun the dagger in her left hand around deftly, the point of the blade sliding through the thin space between Vayne's handle and the blade. Clark jerked back, eyes widening. He managed to avoid getting stabbed in the chest, but only barely. The sudden movement brought the dagger's tip up and into the skin of his arm, cutting a line down his forearm as he moved away.
His mother was relentless, pressing the attack. It was all he could do to defend against her, his heart pounding. He swatted aside her next strike with the flat of Vayne's blade, then blocked her follow-up slash with his free arm, batting her arm away. He tried to slide in, tried to grab her by the front of her clothes, to restrain her, but she twisted in his grasp, yanking him back and flipping over in the air. Her foot connected with the side of his head, hard enough to make him see stars, and Clark grunted as the blow threw him to the ground.
His vision went black for a second, but he managed to stop himself from falling just in time. She launched herself at him again, both blades pointed downward in her hands, and he managed to bring Vayne up just in time, the dagger's points slamming into the steel. Beneath his fingers, Vayne let out a grunt of startled pain, stumbling slightly in the orange void of his soul space. Clark's eyes moved upward, over their crossed blade's searching out his mother's.
She stared at him, her gray eyes wide, utterly devoid of feeling. Those eyes were so different from the woman he knew, the one he remembered. Back then, she had been warm, sweet. Kind. He still remembered her arms around him, picking him up from the ground when he had fallen, wiping away his tears.
That woman wasn't here now. She pushed back off of Vayne, all power and lithe strength, and the force behind the push was hard enough to send him sliding back, hard enough to nearly force him over the boundary of the circle.
"Clark!" Vayne said as he righted himself, his voice a warning.
Clark nodded, his eyes narrowing as he adjusted his glasses with one hand. On the other side of the circle, Elaine Greysteil watched him like a stalking cat, a dagger in each hand. He could see the electricity sparking at her fingertips and knew there was no way, no way that he could win this. She was too skilled, too powerful, too empty of the same attachments that he had for her.
She would kill him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Just like she had killed Ophelia.
But she was in there, somewhere. He knew that, had seen it in her yesterday, when the fog over her eyes had lifted just slightly, when she had called his name. He knew it, and that was why he couldn't give up. That was why he had to fight her alone.
Because if she was still in there, then he had to try. He had to try to bring her back. And if she couldn't be brought back, if there was nothing he could do for her…
Then this was his battle to fight. Not Rei's, not Ayame's, not Cassie's. This was his war and nobody else's.
The only way to win would be to use every power available to him, and to do it at once. One concentrated strike, one where he couldn't hold back. If he hesitated, she would easily defeat him. If he tried to use his wavelength for too long, there was nothing stopping him from suffering the same fate. But he didn't want to do it. It was a choice between her and him, a choice between her and the world, and the five-year-old inside of him that had been waiting for this day for years still wanted to choose her.
Probably always would.
"Mom," he said, hearing the strain in his voice, the pleading. He raised his eyes to hers, feeling tears fill them from behind his glasses. "Mom, please. Come back. Come back to me."
Elaine showed no indication of having heard. She turned her head to him, but it was the calm regard of predator to prey. If she understood the words at all, she showed no sign of it.
He knew that it was lost then. He had no other choice.
There might not have been anyone in there at all.
She charged at him, wavelength snapping to life around her, and inside of himself, Clark let the same wavelength rise up, energy pouring into his fingertips. The air around him charged with static electricity as he faced her, already feeling the madness pushing against the outskirts of his mind, the comfortable white noise that he wanted to sink into. Its temptation was a siren song, but he ignored it, pushed it back with sheer force of will. If he was going to do this, he was going to be clear-headed. He wasn't going to escape, to let himself escape.
He was going to remember everything.
She charged at him and he dropped into a stance, knees bent, arms extended. The fingers of one of his hands thrust upward, heading towards her chest, the lance of lightning following in its wake. It struck her headlong, and Clark felt something shatter as the power slammed into her, the energy strong enough to catch her in midair. Clark saw her eyes widen as the Paralyzing Wavelength ran through her, something like surprise crossing her features. In that one frozen moment, her eyes caught his, widening in recognition.
And then the attack launched her backwards through the air, slamming her onto the ground. She landed in the center of the circle, hair covering her face, limbs splayed around her, and didn't get back up.
Clark let out a ragged breath as he released the wavelength he was holding, dropping to his knees. He stabbed the point of Vayne's blade into the ground, using it to hold himself up as his strength left him, as he bowed his head and let out a choked sob. Vayne's reflection appeared in the flat of the blade, eyes wide in concern, hands pressed against the steel as if he was trying to press through the barrier and reach him.
"Clark…" Vayne said, his voice soft like he didn't know what to say.
Clark shook his head fiercely, letting out another sob. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he tore his glasses off of his face in frustration, raising his arm to brush them away. Vayne's wavelength pulsed unsteadily beneath his fingertips, and it was just the two of them for that moment, alone beyond the flow of time.
"You did what you had to, Clark…" Vayne said. "You did what you had to…"
Clark didn't look up, only cried harder.
And then something happened.
There was a sound, the sound of cloth rustling, one that he barely registered at the edge of his consciousness. The world could have ended just then and he wouldn't have cared.
But Vayne did care. His partner spun around in his soul space, his eyes widening as he looked at what was behind them.
"Clark," Vayne said, a touch of wonder in his voice. "Clark, look up."
"I don't care," Clark mumbled, his voice coming out broken. "Whatever it is, it can wait."
"This can't wait," Vayne said. "Trust me, man. Look up."
Clark hesitated, but when it came down to it, he did trust Vayne. With his life. In the end it was the bond between them, the trust they shared, that made him raise his head, made him turn to see what Vayne found so interesting.
When he did, he couldn't believe his eyes.
Elaine Greysteil was sitting up, looking around her in some confusion. The pink light of the Magatama had settled into the form of a jewel hanging just over her chest, and her mouth was open slightly as she looked around, eyes widening as she took in the gold light that surrounded them. Clark rubbed at his eyes and placed his glasses back on his face to be sure, but she was still there, pressing a hand over her chest as if she had lost something that had once been there.
Her eyes landed on him, and the light that flared into them, the recognition, followed by guilt and joy and all of the things that he had expected from their reunion, was everything that he had ever wanted.
"Clark!" she said, leaping to her feet.
She ran to him, and Clark couldn't stop himself from releasing Vayne, couldn't stop himself from running to her. Their arms wrapped around each other as the circle of light around them faded, the two of them sinking to their knees.
They held each other as they knelt on the ground, time beginning to flow again.
The Morrigan waited for him at the top of the last island, her back turned towards him as she faced the moon. She was dressed in a long black gown, the dress's train rippling like water on the black stone beneath her. Her hair was pinned up in an elegant fashion, her back ramrod straight. Aside from the milky paleness of her skin, there wasn't a spot of light anywhere around her. It was as if she absorbed all color, all light, all hope.
In some ways, she looked like a queen.
Kid landed on the ground several feet behind her, arms extended, the sights of both pistols trained on the pale expanse of her back. He knew that the Morrigan knew he was there, but she didn't move, didn't turn, didn't so much as tense. His fingers inched towards the triggers.
"Don't move," he said, keeping his hands steady.
"Or you'll shoot me?" the Morrigan asked, her tone amused. "Don't make me laugh, child."
Kid scowled, but kept his fingers off the triggers. She was right. He didn't dare shoot her until he knew how far along she was in the process of absorbing Asura. If he shot her at the wrong time, broke her concentration—.
"At the end of the day," the Morrigan said, "you fear your brother more than you fear me. Isn't that right, Shinigami?"
Kid didn't answer. At his silence, the Morrigan turned around slowly, her eyes on him all the while. His fingers twitched towards the triggers, pulled back. Her eyes, normally the color of wine, were a bright red, a red that glowed. It was the only colorful part of her. Her lips quirked, noticing his reaction, and she raised one hand, a droplet of black blood trickling from her fingertips. As Kid watched, the droplet lifted itself from her cupped hand, shooting between each of her moving fingertips like a small bullet. Her eyes dropped towards it for a moment, watching its movements.
"Fascinating," she said. "As unorthodox as she was, Medusa Gorgon did show the occasional spark of brilliance. I suppose that's only to be expected. Even a stopped watch is right twice a day." She looked back up at Kid. "As you can see, the process has already begun. You can put those ridiculous guns away. We both know you aren't going to shoot me. At the very least, you should be celebrating me. You were never going to solve this problem of Asura anyway. This power was never meant to be yours, and Asura would never have bowed to you."
"That power was never meant for you," Kid said, pointing his guns at the Morrigan's face. "Or for anyone."
The Morrigan scoffed, flicking her fingers. The speck of black blood went flying, landing in the dirt at her feet. "You would have left it up here for eternity if you had the chance," she said. "A hero's bounty. Power, immortality, godhood. Someone would have come to claim it eventually. If not me, then another."
"I would have dealt with it when I had the chance," Kid said.
"Oh, really?" the Morrigan asked, arching one delicate eyebrow. "Pray tell, how? The Deaths of the past may have contained both Order and Fear within themselves, but not you, child. You were created to bear only Order. Asura's power would destroy you, and leave the world worse off in the process. Surely you see I'm the lesser of two evils."
"You would destroy the world," Kid said, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"I would remake it," the Morrigan replied. "Build it anew, build it better. The world needs a strong hand, not a fledgling Shinigami. But fear not, I know that you would not be so easy to kill, and I have no desire to relieve you of that Fragment of Order. You and yours could have a place in this new world. I'm always looking for capable servants."
Kid snorted in derision. "I've seen how you treat your family," he said. "I'd hate to see how you treat your servants."
The Morrigan flicked her fingers across the front of her dress, brushing away an imaginary mote of dust. "Family," she said. "A thousand years will weaken any bond. Even those between a mother and child, particularly when the child turns against the mother. And perhaps in a thousand years you will gain enough strength to defeat me. But that is my risk to bear."
"You really expect me to believe you'd let me walk free. Me and the rest of the DWMA?"
The Morrigan shrugged one shoulder, a delicate gesture. "I'd have both ultimate power and the will to use it," she said. "You'd hardly be a threat to me. As for later, well—the world cycles naturally between regimes. Order. Fear. Knowledge. Wrath. Power. Order has had its reign for a thousand years. Perhaps it's time for Fear to have a chance."
"I can't let you do that," Kid said, scowling.
"And yet," the Morrigan said, "you already are. Now watch, as I herald in a new era."
She turned away from him, facing the moon below her, her arms spread out at her side. Kid grit his teeth, fingers hovering over the triggers as power surrounded her, washing over her soul. She was defenseless now. He had to shoot, but he couldn't. His fingers inched closer to the triggers, almost touching them—
A figure rose up in front of the moon, a streak of light and shadow as bright as the sun. For a moment, Black Star hovered in the sky, sword extended, eyes fixed on the Morrigan, mouth split open in a gleeful grin.
"Black Star!" Kid shouted, his eyes widening. "Don't—!"
Black Star didn't seem to hear him. The warrior god opened his mouth, letting out a powerful battle cry as he charged, diving towards the Morrigan. He had caught her off-guard, and she raised her arms up to protect herself, eyes wide in surprise. Kid saw the first flash of magic appear at her fingertips before Black Star's sword came crashing through, shattering her makeshift barrier and throwing her back. She hit the ground hard enough to form a crater, groaning in pain.
And around her, the black blood began to seep and coalesce, rising up off the ground and forming shapes of its own.
A wall of earth rose up around Micah, blocking Angela's spear strikes as she rushed at him. She landed neatly on the ground, the wind flaring out behind her as she shifted position, sweeping the blade of her staff at him from the side. Micah danced backward, narrowly avoiding the blow. The jewel at his neck glowed brightly as he held up the card of the Hierophant, a shield forming in front of him to stop her follow-up strikes. Micah darted to the edge of the stone island they were fighting on, and Angela took the moment to center herself, snapping the spear back up to her side as she turned to face him.
The air and dust stung the back of her throat as she breathed deeply, sweat plastering her hair to the side of her face. Off to her left, she heard the report of the cannons situated on this island, firing intermittently now that Micah was occupied, but still occasionally sending a volley of blasts at the airship. She shifted Shelley's spear form to her other hand, sweeping the blade out to the side in a long arc. The wind trailed behind the spear's tip, a crescent-shaped blade of wind slamming into the cannons and silencing them as she blocked Micah's next blow with the spear's shaft. The two of them met each other's eyes in the center of the small island, the wind whipping around her as Micah glared at her.
The two of them sprang apart again. Angela kept a wary eye on Micah as he moved to flank her, already reaching into his coat for his cards. She shifted her grip on the spear's shaft, feeling a humming tension in the metal beneath her fingertips, feeling Shelley's awareness as she kept her eyes on the other meister, turning her body to follow him.
"You alright, Shell?" she asked, directing the question down towards her weapon.
Shelley didn't answer, but for a moment her face became reflected in the spear's blade. She was standing with her back straight, her arms folded tight against her chest. Light shone off of her glasses, hiding her eyes from view as the wind whipped itself around her, tugging at her hair.
Angela looked back at Micah as he charged in ahead of her, snapping the spear's tip up to bear.
The ground beneath their feet shook in the instant before they connected, a tremor running through the earth. The quake knocked them both out of alignment, so that Micah's fist sailed through empty air while she stumbled back, the two of them nearly losing their balance.
From the moon below them, there came a loud groaning sound, like the stones themselves being rearranged. A laugh, low, deep and terrifying echoed from the surface below them. Angela jabbed the spear's butt at the ground, using it to keep her balance as she looked up at Micah. He looked back at her, his red eyes wide, his own face pale.
The answer was clear. He had no idea what was going on here either.
Against her better judgment, she took her eyes off of Micah, looking back down at the moon. What she saw there stopped her heart.
The black blood was in motion, lifting off of the lunar surface and from the sky around the moon. Here and there, where battles were being fought, pockets of black blood formed domes that encircled combatants, but the majority of it was gathering, feeding into a swirling vortex near the crest of the moon.
Not near the island where the Morrigan had been standing. As a matter of fact, the black blood seemed to be angling itself away from the Morrigan, as if it was being summoned by another power. Another…
"No," Micah breathed, coming to a stop beside her. He stared at the growing darkness with a look of disbelief on his face, his eyes tracking from the Morrigan's island to the swirling mass of black blood. "No…" he said again. "That's not possible. That's not right. That's not what we intended."
"What you intended?" Anger surged through Angela, so sudden and fierce that she barely recognized it until she had a hand around the scruff of Micah's collar, until she was whipping him around to face her. "It's not what you intended?! Micah, look what you've done! Look what all of you have done!"
With her free hand, she gestured at the gathering storm. Micah shook his head, his face pale and bloodless. "It's not us," he said, sounding desperate. "It can't—this can't be happening. The Morrigan—the Morrigan wouldn't fail. It's not—it's not real. It can't be—."
She wanted to hit him. Her hands were full, so she settled for shaking him instead.
"It is happening, you delusional idiot!" she said. "It's happening because of you!"
For a second, Micah looked lost, his eyes searching Angela's, bright red and wide with confusion. Then they narrowed dangerously, a terrible light shining into them as his hand came up, grabbing onto hers with a grip like a vise.
"No," he said, his lips curling into an ugly sneer. "It's a trick. Another one of your illusions. It has to be. The Morrigan's plan was perfect. She would never lose to the likes of you."
He shifted his weight, slamming into her with his shoulder. Angela leaped back to lessen the impact of the blow, but it still knocked her off-balance as she landed in the center of the small island, the shaft of her spear held up in front of her to guard against a follow up attack. Micah leaped into range before she could recover, the light of the Strength card appearing in the air around him as he kicked at her middle.
She caught the blow with the shaft, but it was still enough to stagger her.
"Micah, please!" she said, as she caught her balance. "This isn't the time to fight! We have to—!"
"Shut up!" Micah said, reaching into his pocket. The look on his face was crazed, his mouth pulled back into a snarl. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a single card. "I've given you two enough chances, but it doesn't matter now! It's time to end this!"
He held the Death card aloft, the jewel at his neck shining as the card began to glow.
And Shelley moved.
Angela didn't register her partner's movement at first, as focused as she was on Micah. By the time she realized what was going on, Shelley was already standing beside her in human form and her hands were closed on empty air. The wind whipped around her partner as Shelley grabbed onto Angela's shoulder, shifting her weight, and threw her backward with enough force to send her flying. She landed on the edge of the floating island, eyes wide as she tried to run back towards Shelley and Micah.
A whirlwind rose up around the two of them, blocking Angela's way. Angela drew to a stop just outside of the vortex, breathing hard.
"Shelley!" she shouted. "Shelley, what do you think you're doing?!"
Shelley didn't answer, keeping her back towards her meister. As Angela watched, she held both her hands out to her side, her fingers shifting into slender scalpel blades. Her gold eyes were fixed entirely on him.
Darkness swirled around them both, hiding them from view.
In an eye blink, everything changed. One moment, Clark was charging towards Elaine, blade out. In the next, the two of them were kneeling on the ground, holding each other tight, Vayne's pendulum form stabbed into the ground several feet away. Rei hovered in the air for a moment, uncertain. When Elaine showed no sign of attacking them, he landed carefully on the ground, keeping his distance.
"Clark?" he asked.
He stepped forward, but before he could move any closer, Vayne transformed, holding out a hand to stop him. Rei looked up at his friend, but Vayne's eyes weren't on him.
"It's really you," Clark said after a moment, disentangling himself from his mother's embrace. "You're really back."
"I—I think I am," said Elaine, smoothing Clark's hair out of his face. One of her hands lingered on his cheek as she reluctantly drew back from him, the other moving to press lightly against her chest, just over where her soul rested. "You must have done something, Clark. In that last attack…you must have hit my soul. That's the only explanation I can think of—the only reason why I don't feel that wavelength anymore."
Clark blinked at her, uncomprehending, his eyes red from crying. "You mean it's gone?" he asked.
"It's gone," said Elaine, a look of wonder on her face. "All of my life, I've wanted that wavelength to disappear. It was a power I never wanted. I—." Sorrow washed across her face suddenly, the sorrow of realization. Her eyes lifted to meet his. "I only wish I could have done the same for you."
Clark's eyes widened, his own hand pressing over, although Rei knew he couldn't see it, the skin just above his soul. Even from this distance, Rei could see the spark of static that arced around the blue orb, could see the brief look of regret on Clark's face. Then he pressed his lips tightly together and shook his head, looking back at her.
"I don't mind," he said. "Really, I don't. That power helped me save you."
"Oh, Clark…" Elaine said, her eyes filling with tears. "That power is more of a curse than a blessing. You understand that, don't you?"
Clark didn't answer. Instead, he bowed his head, hiding his face from Rei's view. His shoulders shook, one of his hands going up to rest over his mother's. When he spoke, his voice was so soft that Rei almost couldn't hear it, the words said so brokenly.
"Why did you leave?"
"I never wanted to," Elaine said. "Believe me, Clark. I never wanted to. But I—I could feel myself fading. And you were so young—I didn't want you to see that. You shouldn't have had to see that in me."
Clark bowed his head further, his shoulders shaking.
And then the moon beneath them shook and rattled, making Rei look up in alarm.
"Rei!" Ayame screamed, a warning in her tone. Rei spread his wings and widened his stance, trying to keep his footing as the moon rocked and trembled. He heard Cassie scream and reached out with a hand, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her close to him.
In the distance, Rei heard the sound of stone scraping against stone. Then he felt it, washing over his skin, a wavelength so terrifying that it stopped him cold, the breath freezing in his lungs. He felt a presence in the air and stone around him, slithering across his consciousness like a snake. He looked up at Vayne and Clark, at Elaine, and realized that they felt it too.
The shaking stopped. In the silence that followed, the black blood beneath them slowly peeled away from the moon's surface, pooling in crevices and craters. The surface beneath the blood was golden stone, but Rei didn't have enough time to notice the contrast. The blood was moving, rising up, forming an army of faceless willowy beings, with long limbs, gaping mouths, and bright eyes. They shuffled forward, pushing the six of them closer to the crest's edge.
Rei backed up, keeping a tight grip on Cassie's arm as Clark and Vayne did the same. Elaine moved last, an arm thrown out protectively over Clark as she turned to face the creatures. All around the moon, the same things were happening, the black blood rising up around them.
"What is it?" Cassie asked, her hands clasped over her ears as if she could block out the world. "What's happening?!"
"Asura," Rei breathed, looking back over his shoulder at the drop. The Morrigan's forces had ceased their attack on the airship, but his parents were still fighting, the black blood rising up until he couldn't see them. Between him and them was another army, waiting at their backs.
He couldn't think of any other explanation for this wavelength, for the fear in him. He knew what must have happened, even though his mouth went dry to think about it.
"Go," Elaine said, looking back at them.
Clark's eyes widened. "I can't—."
The pink light of the Magatama was already spreading over Elaine's fingertips, forming daggers in her hands. The look she shot back at him brooked no argument. "Go!" she said. "Please. I'll hold them back."
Clark's eyes widened, fixing on Elaine in disbelief. "I can't leave you," he said. "Please don't make me."
Elaine shook her head, sorrow in her eyes. "I've caused you enough pain already," she said. "Let me do this for you, please. It's the one thing I can do for you as your mother. I need you to survive. Please."
Clark shook his head, opening his mouth to argue. Before he could get a word out, Elaine looked back, her eyes fixing on Rei's. There was an ocean in them, sadness and pain and hope and longing and feelings that Rei couldn't name, and somehow he knew that this moment would stay with him, would remain somewhere in his soul, incorporated into the fabric of his being, long after this event was past.
"Take care of him," she said. "Please."
And then before Clark could protest, she pressed her hand against his chest, pushing hard and sending him tumbling back over the edge.
"Clark!" Vayne shouted, transforming into weapon form as he leaped after him.
Rei's eyes widened, and before he had even thought it through, he grabbed Cassie and jumped off of the edge, catching Clark by the back of his collar a second before Clark hit the ground. Rei let out a grunt of effort as he lowered all of them to the ground, looking back up at the ledge he had jumped from. Elaine was there, the pink light of the Magatama surrounding her as she fought against the creatures attacking them, steadily, methodically. The black blood rose up around her like a wall, engulfing her until she too was hidden from view.
"No!" Clark shouted, jumping to his feet. "No! No, Mom! MOM!"
Rei grit his teeth, grabbing Clark around by the front of his shirt and tugging him roughly to face him. "Bigger fish to fry," he told Clark, shaking him once for good measure. "I need you focused right now. Please."
Clark blinked up at him, tears streaming down his face, breath coming in short gasps. Rei felt wetness in his own eyes and knew that he was close to crying too, but he blinked his own tears away, releasing Clark and turning to face the landscape ahead of them.
It didn't look good. His parents had been encased in a black dome similar to Elaine's, and several of the blood creatures were already shambling towards them, an army of shadows. The airship was still there, hovering a safe distance away, but for how much longer?
Clark caught him eyeing the distance from here to the airship and spoke.
"We're not running," he said, his voice hoarse with grief. He settled into a stance, Vayne's pendulum form resting in one hand. "Not this time."
Rei didn't answer. Instead, he swept his hand over the remnants of the Cloak of Shadows in front of him. Ayame shimmered as she shifted forms, the scythe blade of Requiem appearing in his hands. He squared his stance, turning to face the horde. The black blood rose up around them as the horde neared, forming a dome, locking them in, erasing the sky. Erasing their last chance of escape.
Rei held fast, waiting for the battle to start, waiting for the gap above them to close, the last vestige of blue sky to fade away. The walls climbed higher around them, the dome closing.
His soul reached out, finding Ayame's first, wrapping around hers in Resonance. Then, Ayame's warmth flooding him, he reached out for Clark, for Cassie. Their souls joined his, a link forming between them. Between him and Clark, between him and Vayne through Clark. Between him and Cassie.
It was a fragile, lopsided resonance, but it was what they had, and he felt it lending him strength.
The last trace of blue sky vanished behind a curtain of black. Rei held his breath, prepared to give it all in the end.
A sword sliced through the dome, cutting it open.
Light flared up behind the sword cuts, burning away the edges of the shadow. Through the gap torn in the black dome, Rei glimpsed a figure hovering in the sky, dark hair streaming out behind her. White wings appeared in the air just over her shoulders, and in her right hand, she held a gleaming sword. She swooped down, the sword moving almost too fast to see. It cut through the first rank of shambling creatures, and they twitched as they fell to the ground, black blood burning and bubbling where the sword had touched.
Rei stared in disbelief.
Morgan Fay landed on the ground in front of him, the sword held lightly in her hand. She swept it out in front of her in an elegant flourish, facing the ranks that attacked them. Her back was straight, her expression stone.
"Sorry I'm late," she said. "Had to go reclaim some property of my uncle's. Hope I haven't missed anything."
Dullahan's skeletal arm whipped around, lashing out at Maka's torso. She caught the side of the limb with the shaft of Soul's scythe form, pushing off of it. Maka leaped into the air, spinning the blade around her head with one deft movement, and brought it back down in an overhead slash, cutting down at Dullahan from above. The skeletal creature slid back out of the way, bones creaking and snapping back into place as it landed. Under its arm, its head rattled, eyes open wide as it sneered at them.
Maka landed on the ground several feet away, letting out a little puff of air as she straightened up. The scythe's handle was tucked under her arm, its blade stretched out towards the monster.
In front of her, Dullahan was a writhing mass of shadow and bone. The creature hovered in the air on its chariot, tattered cloak arrayed about it as its right arm stretched back and forth through the air in front of it like a sinuous snake. The arm was whip-like and segmented, the flesh peeling away from the bone. Its left leg, which up until that moment had been doing the same, snapped back into place, bony limbs disappearing beneath the chariot.
Its right leg lay on the ground between them, severed end still smoking where Soul's blade had sliced clean through it. In a circle around them, a handful of the Dullahan's spectral lieutenants lay motionless on the ground, the pale light of their souls hovering in the air above them.
Maka shifted her grip on her weapon with practiced ease, glancing down at the blade. Soul's face was reflected in the steel, looking back at her, his own expression grim. She didn't need to ask him if he was alright anymore, if he was ready to continue on. They knew each other well enough that she could read him as well as she knew herself. Maka raised her other hand to Soul's handle, feeling his agreement written into the steel as she settled her weight, widening her stance. Feeling his soul reach for hers, a familiar power coursing through them both as their souls enveloped each other.
Light surrounded her, bright and intensely familiar. In her hand, Soul's scythe blade shifted, settling into the form of Genie Hunter. She felt her partner's wavelength pulse around her as she eyed Dullahan down, as she bent her knees into a crouch, as she prepared to end this battle with one blow.
She leaped forward, feeling that power build up, hearing herself let out a small shout of defiance as she raised the scythe over her head, as she prepared to bring it down.
In the last moment before she released the blast, something changed.
Maka landed on the ground between herself and the Dullahan as she felt it, a tremor that seemed to pass through the moon itself. In the shadows, a consciousness seemed to awaken, a great eye fixing on her. Something tightened in her stomach, her breath catching in her throat. That awareness burned into her mind, leaving an oily, greasy feel in its wake, leaving a metallic taste in the back of her throat.
The world around her faded, lost in shadow. Her heart stopped.
In the darkness, red eyes opened, gleaming in the shadows.
And then she was standing on the moon again, a few feet from the Morrigan's soldier, and the black blood was rising up around her. It rose up in torrents, washing over the souls of the spirits that she had defeated, consuming them whole. Maka tightened her grip on Soul as the black blood swirled around her, as that wavelength pressed against her mind, her eyes widening, the color draining from her face.
Her breaths were coming faster and faster. Her pulse…
"Oi, Maka!" Soul said, spinning around to face her. "Keep it together!"
Her partner's words cut through the fear, bringing her back to her senses. She exhaled slowly, relaxing her grip on Soul, forcing her hands to move farther apart. Maka let her weight settle, let her breathing even out as the darkness rose around her, boxing her in.
She turned slowly, unhurried, and faced Dullahan.
The black blood had swirled around the creature as it threw its head back, ecstasy written on its features. There was whispering in the tide of blood, an endless chorus of murmurs that Maka couldn't hear, that set her teeth on edge and raised the hair on the back of her neck. The darkness had formed a dome around them, separating her from the others, leaving her alone with Dullahan.
As the black blood filtered into the creature, its soul began to expand, its wavelength strengthening. The severed leg in front of her dissolved, smoke rising from its surface as it disintegrated. A new leg sprouted from the stump of the Dullahan's leg, black blood flowing over its limbs like armor. She braced herself as the Dullahan's arm moved, whip-like, as it lashed through the air and struck at her torso.
The blow hit her with all the force of a bullet train.
She could hear laughter in the air as she was thrown back, as she slammed into the ground. There was a presence in the shadows around her, one that she remembered, one that she would never forget.
Asura.
Maka grit her teeth in defiance, getting shakily to her feet. She jumped out of the way as the Dullahan's arm came crashing through, the limb tearing a furrow in the earth as she charged at it, letting out a shout of fury. Soul's blade moved through the air, angled towards the Dullahan's shoulder.
In the second before it hit, the Dullahan's leg kicked through the air, aimed towards her side. Maka felt Soul jerk in her hands, the weapon instinctively moving to protect her. The leg crashed into them both, and Maka grit her teeth against the impact, translated to her through Soul. Inside his soul space, her partner swore under his breath as the powerful blow struck him.
The steel of his shaft cracked, a chip flying off into the ether. Maka braced herself on the ground as she landed, the force behind the blow making her slide a few feet to the left. She glanced down at Soul, her eyes wide.
"Soul!" she said.
"I'm okay," said Soul, from his soul space, clutching at his shoulder. His eyes were fixed entirely on their opponent. "Be careful, Maka. He hits a lot harder now."
Maka opened her mouth to tell Soul that she knew. She was cut off as the Dullahan's arm snaked around her back, grabbing her around the collar. Her half-formed words broke off in a shout as it yanked her into the air, slamming her into the ground like a ragdoll. Soul slipped out of her hands as she hit the earth hard enough to form a crater, the monster stretching out a leg to kick the scythe away from her. She scrambled to flip over, the Dullahan's hand still on the back of her coat, her arm extended as the Dullahan's foot landed on Soul's blade, pinning him to the ground.
"Soul!" she shouted, green eyes wide.
She saw Soul reflected in the scythe's blade, saw him stretch out his hand towards her, his eyes wide with the same worry that must have been on her face. Underneath the Dullahan's arm, its severed head opened its mouth, letting out a loud, gruesome laugh. The hand on the back of her coat snaked up to her neck, tightening, slamming her down onto the ground.
Shadows tore themselves away from the Dullahan's tattered cloak, shadows that formed themselves into spears of black blood. They rose into the air, adjusting their positions for one awful heartbeat before shooting down towards the two of them. Maka slid her arms underneath her and fought with all of her might to get up, to throw off the arm holding her down, to go to Soul.
She thought of Cori and Annie and Rei. Thought of everything she had ever said to them, everything that she had ever wanted to say. Thought of everything she would never say if she couldn't move dammit—
The spears reached Soul first, and that was almost worse. They rushed towards him, death raining down from above, angling towards his metal surface. She saw his eyes widen as he saw the spears coming, saw his eyes move from them to hers, saw the sudden resignation on his face. She forced her head up off the ground and opened her mouth, gathering up all the breath in her lungs for one last defiant cry, her partner's name tearing itself from her throat.
"SOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUL!"
Something small tore itself out of the shadows, rushing towards Soul. A blade sliced through the spears that rushed towards him, slicing through the Dullahan's leg in the process. The spears landed uselessly on the ground around him as Soul transformed back into human form, sprawled out on the ground with one arm stretched out towards her. She felt a weight lift itself off of her neck as the streak angled itself towards her, slicing through the Dullahan's arm.
And then someone was standing in front of her, between her and the spears.
Maka stared. The figure was small, no taller than a child, dressed in a knee-length black dress with a tattered hem. Her heart leaped into her throat, her eyes widening. Annie—except it was not. The child looked like her daughter in every respect, but where Annie had bright green eyes the same color as Maka's own, this child's eyes were a dark grayish blue. Where Annie had Soul's thick white hair, this child had long pink hair, flaring out behind her. Black blood streamed in a halo around her, coming from a small cut just above her right wrist.
In her hand was a black sword, a long thin blade with a mouth near the hilt. And as the spears neared the two of them, that mouth opened.
Both the sword and the child screamed.
