Kiddie: it's done... chapter 8 is done! I was able to finish it in less than a full day... and what's different, it was [in my mind] the hardest chapter for me to write at the moment, I literally had to thank my over active imagination, and a rerun of Soul Eater to get my muse on full drive! :D Anywho, due to some... problems on the other side, of having to get a special guest, Rose is not here at the moment. Don't ask, don't tell... I learned the hard way to just... walk away. Walk away.
So yeah! Chapter 8 is here and I hope you all like it! So... on with the story!
Blind Sighted
Chapter 8
Playing With Cold Fire
"You'll see, little brother." Wes turned to look at him, taking another drag out of his cigarette, while his other hand fixing his tie, "There's always that one girl out there, that you think you might be able to protect, and in the end... it's her who's protecting you."
Soul couldn't help but let out a small, quiet chuckle, "This is coming from the biggest 'single, richest violinist' out there, huh?" he let out another breath, the warm air outside causing him to get rather drowsy as the light chatter from the party inside was being held.
Wes let out a laugh now, as he tossed the cigarette on the floor and stepped on it, "That just goes to show you, brother." he turned towards the garden now, "I met someone who has been keeping me on my toes, isn't predictable, and countless times has proven to me that she can take care of herself. She's not looking for money, fame, or any of that stuff. She has it already, she just wants my company."
Soul raised and eyebrow at the last part of his brother's words, unsure of how to exactly take it, "Wes, there's always something they want from us. If she has all that stuff, why haven't I met her yet? Or father and mother for that?"
Wes only let out a small sigh, looking out into the distance, rather than the twinkling of lights put up all around the mansion for the party. "That's the surprise, brother. You'll meet her soon."
Soul was about to say something, when out of nowhere came the tapping of high heels on the granite floors. Turning to look at who was walking their way, Soul was met with golden eyes, her golden hair twisted in the front of her neck, all the while she smiled at him and tried to make small talk.
Soul's blood ran cold, as if he just walked into the predator's lair, unarmed and completely in her trap. His older brother completely oblivious about any of it.
The soft monitor continued to beep, it was the only thing echoing in the dark room as he slowly got up to stretch his legs. Checking the clock it was just past six in the morning, the sun would be rising soon as he walked towards the window. He couldn't help but take in a deep breath, he hated hospitals, they always brought back bad memories. And yet, here he was, for almost three weeks, he's been locked up in one. Not against his will, but to make sure she was safe. That's why he was here right now, that's why he was sleeping here rather than his own home, that's why he was practically living here.
Turning around to the bed, he saw the petite blonde lay motionless, if not for the soft beeping of the heart monitor, he would of thought she wasn't alive, and that was what scared him the most. Stretching his arms up to the sky, he was debating about going back to sleep, but the chances of him catching some sleep before Tsubaki came over to cover for him was slim.
Sitting down on the window seat, he peered out looking at the moon, grabbing his ipod he slipped on his headphones and pressed play. Trying to organize his thoughts, even for a minute.
He didn't understand how it happened. He knew Maka said she was attacked, but when he matched her wavelength, it didn't show any memories of her being attacked, nor did she have any physical injuries on her. And he knew very well, she wasn't capable of killing a kishin on her own. Not yet at least. He still needed to fully show her how to wield a weapon better, though she was getting there pretty fast.
He couldn't help but smirk as he tried seeing what weapon she could handle. Much to his surprise it was a scythe, and she was too good for someone who claimed she never even held a weapon before. Though he was having a hard time teaching her to use it better, when she didn't want to fight him with one. She was scared to hurt him really, this time he practically laughed at how worried she was for hurting him if she used it to train with him. She was still unable to land a hit on him, except for all those Maka Chops she gave him. Honestly, he never expected those, for a girl who was skinny and small, she was able to put in strength when it came to attacks. That one time she head butted him for the kiss he gave her. His lips automatically formed into a smirk as he thought about her reaction to it... though he did get a headache remembering how hard she hit him. Then there were the Maka Chops, those made his skull ache just by thinking about them. Who knew that the bookworm was able to pack a hit with just a book.
He let out a sigh as he tried not to think about it too much. He was still trying to understand how the hell she claimed she was attacked, but there was no memory or sign of it. Then there was that guy's name that continued to pop up in her mind, and her soul. Joshua, the first name sounded familiar, no matter how he put it. But, then again... Joshua was a very common name, right? He must of met countless of Joshuas throughout his life... but he kept having a sinking feeling that he knew him. She said she was with a friend when she was attacked, was that him? If it was, and he was trying to be a Death Scythe, was he the one who killed it? Why let Maka run away while whatever was chasing her tried to kill her? Did he try to protect her? He let out a frustrated sigh, changing the song as he continued to sort everything out.
It wasn't just what happened that had him confused. The necklace that Maka gave him had him puzzled too. He knew as soon as he put it on that Maka was in danger and he needed to get there fast. What he didn't know, was what kind of stone it was, for him to feel that, even after realizing that she had one just like his, but black with what looked like stars in it. It glowed bright from time to time, but that was about it. It wasn't until he called Kim and asked about it that he found out what they were called, but she couldn't give him more than the name because that was all she knew about it.
Closing his eyes for a brief moment, he heard her let out a breath, mumbling in her sleep once more, as she tried to open her eyes only to stop moving after a second. He didn't know how she got like this, and it wasn't helping that the Doctors didn't even know what was wrong with her. They claimed that she only hit her head pretty hard when she fell, but there was no sign of any permanent damage, just a small cut on the top of her left eye from when she hit the coffee table. They only told him that it could be a slight concussion and that maybe it was best to let her sleep until she woke up. But it was almost three weeks that he found her unconscious on the floor, blood coming out of her nose and from the top of her eye. He almost killed a nurse when he told him that Maka would have to wait to be seen by a doctor, because he was out to lunch at the moment. If it wasn't because he had Maka held in his arms, and Tsubaki right next to him, he would of probably killed him for sure.
He hated feeling like he couldn't do anything, while sitting down listening to the soft jazz play through his headphones, he knew there was nothing he could do for her right now. All he could do was just wait for her to wake up, and see if she still remembers anything that happened before she fainted, and about the attack.
Letting out a sigh, he closed his eyes, letting his thoughts get swallowed up by the music.
"Soul"
He heard someone call out his name faintly, as he groggily opened his eyes, peering up to see Tsubaki, her eyes full of concern as she waited for him to fully come to. Letting out a yawn, he checked his phone for the time, and like clock work, she was here exactly when she said she would be.
"Sorry" he yawned, getting up to stretch his legs and arms, "Fell asleep while listening to some Gillespie."
Tsubaki only smiled at him as she walked up to fix Maka's hair.
"Doctor says she might wake up soon, she's showing signs of trying to wake up at least." He added, slipping on his shoes and jacket.
"Anything else? About her attacker or anything?" Tsubaki finally asked, sitting down next to Maka.
"Her soul isn't showing me anything other than what I already know. I even found out what she was desperately hiding from me for a while now. Explains a lot, really." Soul muttered the last part as he grabbed his keys. Turning to look at Tsubaki, he stopped before he left the room. "Call me if anything happens, I'm going to be a little bit late today, have to go check something out. Oh, and Tsubaki... if Black*Star tries to come back inside the hospital, please feel free to let him know that the hospital has already contacted Stein to come and get him strapped and willing to run some experiments on him if he even steps a foot inside."
Tsubaki only smiled apologetically, her face showing how she was embarrassed of the last scene her boyfriend caused when he came to visit Tsubaki in the hospital. The doctors and nurses weren't too happy to find out an unconscious Maka's face painted with special maker while the culprit only laughed, and boasted that it was payback to the blonde hair girl... a little louder than he should have if he planned to keep it a secret.
"I got it." Was all she could say after Soul walked out the door.
Soul let out a breath as he saw it turn to mist in front of him, the winter air was still clinging on to Death City, even in mid January. He got home pretty fast, and he was sure that taking a shower and getting dressed was a world record for him. But he had something to do, and though he knew he was going to regret it, he still had to get it over with. Letting out a sigh, he made sure to try and fix his unruly white hair. He checked his reflection one more time, his red DC shirt was underneath a black blazer, unbuttoned, and black jeans. He slipped on his shoes and grabbed his keys. The faster he got there and got it over with, he wouldn't risk his chances of seeing them.
Walking out the door, he made sure he had his phone and wallet with him, as he walked towards his garage. He starred at both his vehicles, either his car or motorcycle... he smirked. It wasn't even a fair question, he was going to take his baby with him after all. Revving up the motorcycle to life, he practically flew off in it.
The ride there was fast, with a quick ride to the train, and the train ride back home to his world, he was able to make it there in less than two hours. Which was saying something, as he tried to avoid these types of places for a reason. Checking his phone for any new messages, he noticed that he had a missed call from Liz.
Dialing back, it didn't even have to ring twice for the girl to answer. "Hey stranger, glad you called me back." she paused for a moment, probably fixing her hair or make up. "Got a minute to talk?"
Soul checked the clock, he still had an hour to kill until then. "What's up?"
"I did some digging, on that Joshua guy. And so far, you were right. He never attended DWMA, all I can get from him is his application, and even then. It's all dead ends with this guy." She let out a sigh as she paused to take a drink of something, "All I actually have is his full name; Joshua Tern. But other than that, his address is an old one, he moved from there a couple of months ago from what the land owner told me. And his phone number can't be reach. All we get is his voicemail and even then he never calls back."
"Joshua Tern?" Soul asked, parking his bike near the front of the building he was in. "Do you at least have a picture of him? ID or surveillance?"
"Nope! That's where it gets weird, you know in order to apply for this job, you still need to show how to you were able to get all 99 souls and 1 witch soul, right? Aside from that, you need your fingerprints scanned, and even a drug test. And all of that is empty." She let out a breath, clearly showing how frustrated she was with it as well. "There's nothing about it on his application. Yet, he's applied for the Death Scythes three times already. And all of them are the same. I've tried searching in the database about him, Kidd even checked with the Death City police to see if maybe that name has come up in their missing database or anything. But, it seems we keep running into dead ends. Joshua Tern is practically a ghost, who only shows up to see Maka, when none of us are there."
The last part of what Liz said echoed in his head, "None of us are there, huh?" he let out a sigh as he searched around the building, grabbing some white daisies and pink tulips, he walked up to the cash register. "I'm going to have to call you back Liz... but just a question, was there anything on his application for what awards or anything he won?"
Liz was quiet for a moment as the sound of paper being moved was heard over the phone, "Nope, nothing of the sort. But... now that you do ask, on the question about why we want to join, he wrote down 'to get rid of the scum that plague this earth.' as if that's not creepy at all." Liz muttered. "I'll let you go Soul. Where are you anyways, I hear the sound of a register?"
Soul only let out an exhausted sigh, closing his eyes for a brief moment, before he spoke, "Need to check something out... I have a feeling I might find something over here. But, it's going to cost me..."
Liz only chuckled, she could already picture his face, "That bad, huh? Well, as long as you don't go wandering around for a long time. Kidd's been meaning to talk to you about something. He won't say what..."
He was wondering when Kidd would bring it up as he handed his cash to the employee. "If he calls I'll talk to him, but if not, just tell him I'll go over there tomorrow if he wants to talk. Or we'll meet up somewhere."
"Alright, but I get the feeling you two might end up fighting, should I end up getting the first aid kit ready then?" Soul could hear her faint worry as she waited for his answer.
"Nah, it's all in your head." Soul stated, a smirk on his lips as he hung up on the confused girl, he thanked the worker and walked out the store, eyeing the flowers he got with a look of distaste. He didn't have to wait until this was over, he was actually regretting it now.
He quickly placed them inside the compartment and got on his bike, turning it on he drove towards his next destination, avoiding cars and driving a bit too fast for anyone else's comfort.
He stopped at his place first, entering the now dusty building as he walked straight into the living room. He figured when he brought Maka back home, she was going to have a fit about how messy his place has gotten. Seeing as it took her almost forever to clean up the place. Letting out a small whistle, he saw his dog come out of his room.
"Hey Bones," Soul smiled as he bent down to pet the dog. He was grateful that the maintenance people were able to come in and walk Bones, as well as feed him daily. Though, he had to pay them a little bit extra for cleaning after him, he didn't mind. The last time he took Bones with him to Death City, he pretty much chased after Black*Star for a good six blocks before Black*Star was up on the roof of a building. Besides that, Bones wasn't too keen with Blair either. "Everything good here?" he asked, standing up to look around.
The loyal dog gave a loud bark as it walked next to Soul, jumping on top of his bed and laying down comfortably.
"Yeah, bet you don't miss me then..." Soul muttered, letting out a small chuckle as the dog barked and let out a loud yawn, the golden retriever going back to sleep.
He was about to clean up a bit when his phone rang, the familiar number showing up on the screen. Letting out a sigh, he flipped his phone open, "I'm on my way."
"Well, you better hurry, Evans." a female voice answered, "It's very rude to keep a lady waiting, you know."
Soul's lips went up to that devilish smirk, his sharp teeth showing, "Since when do you get there in time? I'll be there before you even step out of your place. You haven't forgotten the place, right?"
He heard the girl give off a small laugh, "Why Evans, what kind of girl do you think I am? Unlike those harlots you've been seen with... I have class. I am, after all, one of the circle of friends you're parents approve of."
"Yeah, and don't make me regret keeping contact with you, then." He stated, exiting his place and walking down towards his bike. "I'm telling you now, if you told them..."
"I know, I know." She pretended to sound hurt as she continued on, "You'll make sure when you become president, that our business will never run. I'm not stupid, Evans. I know that informing you're parents of your... rare visit would cause me. Especially when they find out that I talk to you more than they do."
"Glad we cleared everything up." Soul smirked, turning his bike on as he hung up his phone, he let out a breath as he began to drive towards their meeting area.
The restaurant floor wasn't packed, and it was greatly due to Soul reserving the entire floor. The chances of anyone else hearing their conversation was slim, besides the two waiters that were put in charge to cater to them. He honestly hated it, but it was the only way to make sure that no one else could hear them. Even if it meant, dinning at 'Berinjo's'.
"Well, I guess you were right?" he heard a familiar voice speak, standing in front of him. "Seems like you would get here faster, with you still driving that god awful death trap, but as long as you got here before I did."
Soul gave her a simple nod, as he got up and handed her the flowers, a quick kiss on the cheek, he pulled the chair out for her. "Don't think you're special." he added, as he pushed her in, "I may not be running around in our 'circle', but I still know how to treat a female."
"You still don't see me as a lady?" she chuckled, pushing her brown hair away from her face.
"Not when I know so much about you than I would like to." Soul answered, turning to the waiter that was coming with their menu, "I'll have the smoked Salmon, Coke, and she'll have the Alfredo Pasta with shrimp in it, a sweet tea to drink." turning to the girl he looked at her waiting for her confirmation, she only nodded, pleased with Soul's order.
"After all these years, you still know what I like." She smiled at him, flashing her blue eyes.
"Force of habit, when you eat the same thing like someone I know." He couldn't help but smirk as he remembered Maka's eyes shinning when she was able to make for them at his place.
"I hope it's not one of those trash girls that follow you around, Evans." she pouted, pretending to seem worried.
Soul gave her a lazy smile, "The day I have to take advice from you, I'll be calling my parents for a lunch date."
She eyed him carefully, as she rolled out the silverware, "You've changed. But that's aside from the point, I'm guessing you're not here to see how I've been doing or to talk about personal affairs?"
"Look Angelina, you know I'm not interested in the reliving the past. So let's get to the point." Soul watched her stand up straighter, as if to show she had more dignity than what he thought. "Tell me if you know about the killings from the mysterious animals, and if any of your witch friends have said anything about it."
Angelina bit her bottom lip, turning to look at the waiter bringing their drinks, she pretended to laugh as the waiter eyed them suspiciously, once he left, Angelina turned towards Soul, letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes for brief moment, debating if she should even say anything. "Okay, look Soul." she paused for a moment, looking around just in case, "Words getting out. There's this soul out there, a powerful one, and everyone is out to get it. Witches are finding ways to control pre-kishins to do their bidding, but it's not all of them. I, frankly don't care about this soul. But, Medusa is pretty hell bent on getting it."
"Why?" Soul asked, not bothering to even touch his drink, he saw Angelina about to speak when the waiter came back with their food.
The waiter smiled at them as he placed their food on the table, not bothering to wait for them to ask if they needed anything else, he went back to the kitchen, waiting for Soul or Angelina to call him if need be.
"Medusa is up to something, something that is being kept on the hush even in the witch circle. No one knows what's going on, but even then... no one is trusting her. Too many witches are being ratted out and captured by the Death Scythe... but it's only those that try to find out what she's up to." she paused to take a bite out of her pasta.
"Why would she rat you guys out, if she's a witch herself?" he was actually asking himself that, but he saw her shrug the question, unsure of the answer herself.
"She's not the only problem, Arachne is up to something but it's not as big as what Medusa is doing, that's for sure." She whispered, peering over her shoulder just incase someone was listening.
"Arachne?" Soul raised an eye brow as he leaned in closer to the table, pushing his plate to the side. "What is she doing? Thought Death took care of her a long time ago."
"I'm telling you, this soul is something else. A Grigari Soul or something, I don't know. But as soon as it was sense, everyone started to look for it." She let out a sigh of disappointment, "Even my own mother decided that it wouldn't hurt to find out who it is. In case we needed protection from Medusa."
"That still doesn't explain how Arachne is alive, Angelina?" He noticed she squirmed for a moment as he stared at her, his crimson eyes on her.
"Alright!." she gave a small pout, trying to earn some sympathy from him. "She used a spell to make it look like she was completely dead, spreading her body out to into those ugly nasty spiders! No one could find her, even her fellow witches were after her! Everyone barely found out she was alive, when she showed up to speak with the head witch. Said she woke up a couple of months ago, when that soul was sensed. She even went with that perverted idiot of hers to greet us, she acted all high and mighty, acting as if she didn't kill one of ours to get what she wanted."
"Giriko?" Soul was having a bad feeling at that. "Arachne's with him?"
"Well, if that's the name of that perverted drunk that follows her around like a lost puppy, looking for things to slaughter, then yes. That idiot there. You know him?" She raised an eyebrow at him, as she took a sip from her drink.
"Unfortunately, though he's not someone I keep in my contacts." he muttered, finally taking a bit from his food.
"Soul Evans! You shouldn't be hanging around with a savage like him!" She gasped in shock at Soul's words, almost a little too loud did she yell out, pausing for a moment, she lowered her voice down once again, turning to look around to see if anyone heard her. "He's bad news, and if you even hang around with him, then you'll get blood on your hands before you can blink. He's a psychopath, and gives any serial murder a run for their money. This guy loves to kill, Soul. As soon as I met him, he gave me the chills right down to my toes. I'm warning you..."
Soul only smirked, leaning back on his chair, "Relax Angelina, he's not someone I like to hang around with. And I heard he got captured by the Death Scythes."
Angelina's eyes went wide for a brief moment, before she shook her head, "No Soul, if he got captured, it was for a reason. That guy is too fast. Maybe Arachne thought it would be better for him to infiltrate them from the inside, you know. See if they know anything about that soul that's been causing too many problems..."
That caught Soul's interest, he thought about it, when they captured him. But the way Stein had him strapped to an electric chair that would shock him as soon as he tried to change or bring out his weapon. Along with his multiple 'experiments' on the guy, let's just say... if he did want to get caught, he was regretting his decision now. But hearing it from Angelina did make him rethink it.
"Thanks Angelina, you've been some great help." He stood up from the table, taking out the bill for the food, he nodded at her, before he turned to leave, he decided to see if she knew something else. "By any chance, does the name Joshua Tern bring up any memories? From school or anything?"
She paused for a brief moment, putting her finger by her cheek, she turned to look at Soul, "I can't recall the face, but the name does sound familiar, think he graduated from our class of music three years before we did... I'm sorry, before I did. You were way too advance to even be in there." she pouted, muttering the last part. "Speaking of music, Soul... are you ever going to start writing music again? I do say, I loved that last album you made."
Soul only shrugged, not even bothering to say anything else on that matter. He walked out the restaurant and towards his bike. His mind was still processing all the information he just got from Angelina. He'll give the girl credit though, she wasn't one of the smartest girl to be telling him all of it, but it just went to show how well that girl trusted him. Though, if she found out he was one of the Death Scythes, she would probably change her mind from then on.
He didn't bother going straight to his place, as he drove straight to the train station, grabbing his phone on a red light and dialing a certain person's number, as he turned on his bluetooth.
The phone rang for a brief moment, when a bored voice answered, screams in the background, that... frankly, Soul didn't want to know why. "Better be good, Soul. I was in the middle of dissecting a certain person. Wanted to see how the weapon was able to bring out a full weapon out."
"You're sick." Soul muttered, as he passed another car. "I need to check something with you."
"Sure, go right ahead. Let me just shut the subject up before we continue, I'll wake him up when we're done." Soul could hear him almost chuckle as he thought about his future experiment.
"Need to know if Arachne was really dead..." he paused for a moment, hearing the threats come from the scared subject as Stein was probably injecting him with the whatever concoction Stein came up with.
"Last I heard, yeah. A couple of hundred years ago, when Death was still doing all of this solo. He found Arachne infusing weapons with humans and witches, kind of like what you are. Though, Tsubaki's family is thanks to Arachne's experiments. But Death didn't like it, and he hunted her down, as well as her own kind. Why?"
"Because, I just found out she's alive, and planning something as well." Soul let out a sigh as he turned off his motorcycle and waited for the train to arrive. "I don't really know what, but I can tell you that you're assumption was right. Medusa is the one ratting out all the other witches we've caught. So far, I'm thinking is to toy with us. Other than that," He paused, a devilish smirk on his face as his sharp teeth were visible, "ask Giriko where Arachne is. He's working for her."
"Is that so.." he heard Stein take a drag from his cigarette, silence in the other line for a brief minute before the line went dead. Soul had a feeling Stein was more determined to torture Giriko now, and he wasn't sad about it for a second.
Letting out a sigh as he placed his phone inside his pocket, Soul took out his ipod and slipped the head phones on, pressing play as the train popped out from the ground. He watched the train take his baby to the cargo box, knowing it was safe, he went inside, nodding to one of the conductors in it.
He sat down at the end of the row, ignoring the other passangers that were entering in there as well, it wasn't until he saw someone sit next to him, turning to the side he saw a blue haired girl grin at him.
"What are you listening to?" she asked, flashing his eyes at her.
Soul mentally groaned as he took of his headphones, "Jazz." he simply stated, slipping his headphones back on.
The girl smiled once more, as she was about to move his headphones one more time, before she got the chance to do that, his phone rang. Taking them off and answering the phone, he turned to look at the girl, waiting for her to get up and leave. When she didn't get the hint, he let out a breath, "Do you mind? It's not cool to eaves drop, and before you try, I'm not interested."
The girl quickly pouted as she got up and walked away rather angry.
"Ouch." Liz added on the phone, a slight chuckle, "Problems with a female companion already? Maybe Maka was right, you have some crazy stalkers chasing after you, don't know what they see though."
"Ask the same thing about guys chasing after you." he let out a sigh as he leaned his head back. "Any news?"
"No news about Maka, I stopped by to see how she was doing, the Doctor said she's starting to come to already, should be waking up in a couple of days. But other than that, Kidd wants to talk to you when you get back. Says it's urgent." She let out a frustrated sigh, "Though, I don't know why he doesn't call you and tell you this in the first place."
"He did." he pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to recall if he left him a voice mail. "I was with an old acquaintance of mine and had my phone on silent. I was about to call him when I got back anyways."
"Acquaintance? Sounds fancy. Is that why you went over there then?" Liz asked.
"Sort of, had to check something out, and also see if Bones was actually being taken care of by the maintance people."
"You should bring him over here again, I bet *Star would love him, not to mention Kidd." She let out a small laugh, "I still remember when he had a fit when you brought your dog over and it shed it's fur all over Kidd's white sofa. He almost shaved the dog just to put the other side of the sofa to match it. I swear, I though he was getting better, but it seems to be coming back all over again."
"He has a lot on his mind. With having to start taking over some of the roles as a Grim Reaper, not to mention finding out what Medusa is up to." Soul answered, he had a feeling Liz called him for something else other than Bones' visit.
"Hey, Soul. I have a favor to ask you." and there it was, "I know you know someone who knows how to hack, and is pretty damn good at it."
Soul raised an eyebrow at Liz's favor, "Why do you need a hacker?"
"Something's fishy. I can't tell you yet, not until I get everything figured out. But, something's not right, and I need a hacker to go in and find me a file from the Death City database, as well as the database in Upper Cape Cod."
"So you just want me to tell one of my reliable sources to help you hack into a file, that I have no information about, and wait for you to tell me." he couldn't help but let out a small laugh, "Leave it to you to add suspense to something like this. As long as it's not one of those 'last minute' items you wanted, and made me get a hacker to cancel the transaction from the last bidder so you could get it."
Liz huffed as if hurt with his remark, "Trust me, when I figure out what's going on here... you're going to end up kissing the path I walk on."
"I'll just get one of your admirers to do that, it's not cool to gloat."
"And it's not cool to fight your feelings, Soul." he could hear her smile as she hung up on him.
Soul stared at his phone for a brief moment, unsure of what Liz was talking about, "Man, how uncool was that." he mumbled, leaning his head towards the window as he slipped his headphones back on.
He wasn't sure how he fell asleep, as the train ride was finally over and he was woken up by the loud whistle signaling it's stop. Letting out a loud yawn, he got up and stretched, slipping off his headphones, he grabbed his phone, pressing the number eight he waited for the familiar eight rings before he heard Kidd answer.
"I'm guessing Liz was able to reach you, then." Kidd stated, his voice sounding a bit irritated at the white hair reaper.
"Had business to take care of in the other world. You ready to meet somewhere." he grabbed his motorcycle, and turned it on.
"Yes, want to meet at my place? Or the usual?" Kidd asked, his voice sounding tired.
"I'll meet you at Deathbucks, need to get a cup of coffee there anyways." Soul replied, "I'm headed over there now."
"Very well, make sure to pick a symmetrical table with the same amou-"
Soul didn't let him finish as he hung up on him. He was already getting a headache from everything going on, he didn't want to add to that Kidd's crazy OCD habit. Letting out a sigh, he slipped his phone inside his pocket, and placed his bluetooth on, driving towards their regular Deathbucks.
He didn't bother even listening to all of the 130 voicemails he had. From most of the girls he would see on occasion asking where he was at, to Kidd and Black*Star calling for something idiotic. He had plenty of miss call from Kidd calling to complain about how Liz tweezed her eyebrows and one was missing just two hairs from the other. To Black*Star calling about how Tsubaki and him would 'get it on', which to Soul's horror, he really didn't want to know about any of that. Nor what her interest were, before it got that far, he deleted every voicemail that started off "Oi, Soul! Guess who just got lucky tonight!" in a heartbeat.
Soul took a sip from his coffee as he finished checking his voicemails, who knew that he would have so many since he's been here. He was about to call Kidd when he saw him walk up to him, taking off his jacket, he sat down in front of Soul.
"Any news on Maka?" Kidd asked, grabbing the cup Soul ordered for him.
"Just that the Doctors think she might wake up soon." Soul answered, leaning back on his chair. "Is that what you wanted to talk about?"
"Well, we still have to do the serum, and find out what is going on, it's almost been three weeks, Soul." He let out a sigh as he placed his elbows on the table, "The longer we wait, the farther we get from finding out what Medusa is planning."
"We don't even know if the serum can cause any side effects after she wakes up, Kidd." Soul snapped, eyeing the future Grim Reaper, "We don't even know what happened to her, even after Kim tried healing her up and everything, Maka still didn't wake up... and the first thing you want to do when she wakes up is give her the serum?"
Kidd let out a frustrated sigh, as he closed his eyes for a brief moment, "Look Soul, I understand the circumstances, but... you've been putting this off for a long time. We could of given her the serum while she was unconscious, you just wouldn't do it. And we are running out of time."
"For fucking sakes, Kidd." Soul's voice sounded calm, but his eyes were darker. "You don't even know if that serum could harm her, even Stein has said it when you wanted to give it to her when she was out. It's still a test trial, and he didn't know if it would work with Maka's current condition."
"Soul, I understand. But you also have to believe that this has gone far too long. I have a job to do, and Maka is the key to figure it out. When she wakes up, she needs to take the serum. It's an order."
"From who?" Soul snapped, "You're not even the Grim Reaper yet, and you're already trying to act like one. I told you once Kidd, and I'll remind you again. Maka's not an object, nor is she something you can just use to get what you want."
Kidd's eyes narrowed for a moment, his voice sounding cold. "This is coming from the guy who tosses girls out like trash every day? Don't act so chivalrous, Soul. If you didn't know her, you would probably do the same thing as I'm asking you. I just need to find out what that book has in it. If we keep putting it on hold, we will be to late, and you of all people want Medusa dead."
Soul had enough as he stood up from the table, "It's uncool Kidd, to use someone who we need to protect as bait and put her in harm. Kind of contradicting itself, and unlike the others, I'm not willing to risk Maka's life to find out what she's hiding." He grabbed his cup, and before he walked off, he turned to Kidd, his crimson eyes meeting yellow, "I'm serious, Kidd. I will fight you if I have to. So back off and wait a bit longer."
He didn't bother waiting for Kidd to say anything else as he walked away from him and out to the bitter cold air. He checked his phone, it was already way past five, and he knew he was gone for more than two hours as he got on his bike and drove to the hospital.
When Soul got there, he saw Tsubaki combing Maka's hair as she lightly hummed to her. He lightly knocked on the door as he saw her smile at him.
"Busy day?" She asked, walking away from Maka, she slipped on her sweater and grabbed her scarf.
"Wouldn't know the half of it." Soul muttered, turning to look at Maka.
"She started mumbling a bit more in her sleep, and even moving her fingers as well. The Doctor says that it's progress, he started lowering down the sedative, to see if she'll wake up sooner. But so far, all she's doing in mumbling, and sometimes calling out your name, Soul." Tsubaki said, she sounded tired as she wrapped her scarf around her neck.
"Thanks, Tsubaki." Soul turned to her, giving her a faint smile. "I owe you one."
"Consider it the least I can do, since Black*Star did paint her face with magic marker a couple of days ago." she gave him a genuine smile as she waved goodbye and walked out the door.
Soul let out a sigh as he slumped on the chair next to Maka's bed. His mind still reeling in everything that was going on.
He had a little bit more of an understanding what Medusa was up to, and even informed Stein about Arachne's existence once more. He knew that Stein was going to be determined to get it out of Giriko now. But he was still wondering if what Angelina said was true. Did Giriko really let himself be captured? And what about that Joshua Tern? Angelina said that if she was sure it was the same guy, they went to the same music class. He even graduated three years before Angelina did. He wasn't too fond of remembering the past, especially those years, but if that guy really went to the same class as they did, then why didn't Soul ever meet him?
He let out another sigh as he leaned his head back, placing his arms behind his head. None of this was making a lot of sense, but he did have more information on it. Besides Medusa's plans and Arachne being alive, Soul still had to deal with Kidd, something he wasn't too happy about.
He knew Kidd had a lot to deal with. Hell, no one but Soul know how hard it was to try and fit into what society wanted you to be. The only difference, was that Soul was able to get out of it, even for a brief period. But, Kidd wasn't so lucky. How was the future Grim Reaper able to quit being the Grim Reaper? Soul didn't even want to think about what would happen if that was possible. He let out a breath as he still remembered the conversation with Kidd. He knew he didn't mean any harm, and he had a point. The longer they waited, the harder it would be to stop Medusa. But he wasn't going to risk Maka's health to get that information. But he had a feeling that Kidd wasn't going to let it go any time soon. Not when he needed to find out what Medusa was doing to stop her. Not when he needed to stop all the pre-kishins from slaughtering every person that fit Maka's description. Still, what was he suppose to do, when his job was to take care of Maka, make sure she was safe from danger, and keep an eye on her soul. Now he was worried he had to add Kidd to the list of people to worry about? That wasn't cool at all.
He was about to get some sleep, when he noticed Maka's phone blinking. Reaching out to check who was calling her, seeing as she only had a handful of contacts to talk to. And they all knew she was currently unreachable. His eyes went wide for a brief moment, when he saw a picture of Maka kissing a guy a block away from his place, at the bottom of the picture were the words, 'Thank you for a great night, beautiful.'
He raised an eyebrow as he saw the number, it was unmarked, so he knew the chances of Maka knowing who it came from was slim. Soul was tempted to delete the picture, though he had no idea why, but he had to stop himself when he noticed something. Zooming into the picture, he noticed up on the corner of the building there was a shadow like figure... one that wasn't a clear shot, but he was able to make out a small detail of it. And one thing he was sure of, was that it wasn't a human at all.
Soul finally had a picture of two things. One, of Joshua Tern, if he was right. Two, of what ever attacked Maka.
She didn't know how long she was running, as she finally tripped on her own legs, scrapping her hands on the concrete floor. She was having a hard time breathing as her lungs burned for oxygen. She turned to see if she was still being followed, but saw nothing behind her, as leaves were swept by the wind.
She let out a breath, trying to take in as much air as she could, turning back to the front, she let out a curling scream. As she saw the image in front of her, the very reason why she was running. Her blood ran cold as she stared at the blood shot eyes, the oily hair that was clumped together, and the deep scars running around the girl's body. The girl couldn't speak, as every time she opened her mouth, blood pooled out from it.
Still she didn't want to know what the thing in front of her wanted to say, or show. As she quickly got up and began to run, her legs begging for rest, but she was scared to stop running. No matter how fast she ran, it was still behind her. No mater how long she ran, she was yet to get out of the damn area she was in. She knew it had to be a dream, there was no one there, but her... and the things following her.
Multiple times, she saw a shadow like figure on the corner of her eye, but she was too scared to stop and check who it was, or what it was. Still, from time to time, she would hear his voice, it sounded faint, but she knew it was his voice. She screamed out to him, pleading for him to help her, to save her from where ever she was at! But he couldn't hear her, and she was left alone to run away from the shadows and creatures after her.
She turned the corner of an abandoned building, checking to see if it was still following her, she saw nothing but the empty street. Still, she was ready to start running again as she turned to look in front of her. There was nothing around her at all, but the old abandoned building. She was about to let out a sigh of relief when she felt something cool and silky slithered around her leg, peering down, she saw the ground covered in snakes, letting out another scream, she kicked the snake away from her leg. Running away from the building, she didn't bother to look back, as she heard a female voice whisper out her name.
For the life of her, Maka knew she had to wake up, where ever she was at, she had to wake up, even if it meant facing whatever it was chasing her.
Soul heard her stir in her sleep once more, mumbling and whimpering in her sleep. He quickly got up and tried to console her, he saw her mouthed his name before she stopped moving and the room got quiet once more. He let out a sigh, as he checked her soul once more, it was the same as the past couple of days. Nothing had changed.
For the past three days, Maka had been showing some progress. Since they took off the drugs to keep any pain she was feeling away. Maka was moving a little bit more each day. From squirming in her sleep, to even moving her hands and gripping the sheets.
He knew she was probably having a nightmare, but it wasn't the first time she would practically shout out his name, grip the sheets and squirm in her sleep like something was out to get her. It only made him want to help her wake up even faster. But, at the moment all he could do was call out her name and comfort her. Soul Evans had never felt so pathetic in his life, until now.
"Mr. Eater?" he heard a male voice speak, it was the doctor, what ever his name was, as he walked over with the usual items. "Is everything fine?"
"Looks like she's trying to wake up from her sleep." Soul answered, rubbing the back of his head as he sat back down on the chair.
"Well, that's good. She's showing some improvement, listen Mr. Eater." the doctor paused for a brief moment, combing his black hair with his hand. "The reason why I'm here right now, is to run something by you. We might be able to wake her up, without waiting for her to wake up on her own..."
"You mean by force?" Soul's eyebrow rose at the Doctor's words. "And how would it work?"
"It wouldn't be painful to the patient, really." he stopped to fix his glasses, the light shinning off of them. "All we would need to do is inject her with a drug that would lift her out of the state she is in. It's like, giving her coffee or an energy drink of the sort. It wakes the brain up, but there are some side effects." he added.
Soul only nodded, waiting for the Doctor to continue.
"All it will do is lower down her reflexes until her body and mind are fully able to comprehend everything that is happening. She won't be able to talk fully, with just small words until her mind fully wakes up." the doctor let out a breath as he checked Maka's vital charts, "We've ran as many test as we could, and so far, she shows no permanent damage physically or internal. So we know the drug we would give her won't endanger her life. As long as you keep an eye on her for a couple of hours, she should be able to be herself again."
"Why now?" Soul asked, curious as to why the Doctor was barely bringing this up.
"Well, we needed her to show signs of wanting to wake up. We couldn't perform the procedure without making sure that she was showing signs of coming to from her coma." the Doctor added.
Soul only sighed, "If there is no risk of endangering her life, then it's fine. As long as it wakes her up."
The Doctor only nodded, writing something down on the clipboard he had. "We'll get everything ready by the end of the day." he added as he walked out the door.
Soul let out a breath as he turned to Maka, who was squirming in her sleep once more.
"Maka." he whispered, walking up to her, "If you can hear me, wake up already." he felt her hand grip his as she whimpered once more. "I need you to wake up." Soul held his breath at what he saw next.
Maka's eyes opened for a brief moment, her eyes glazed over as she turned to look at him, she whispered something too low for Soul to even hear as she closed her eyes and fell back asleep.
"Maka?" Soul shook her hand, her body stop squirming, she let out a breath as she fell back asleep. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, he had a feeling that Maka was bound to wake up before the Doctors were able to run that procedure on her.
He was about to sit back down on the chair when his phone rang.
"Oi, Soul!" Black*Star loud's voice made Soul stretch the phone away from his ear. "Lord Death wants to talk to you. Tsubaki is on her way to cover for you."
Soul was hesitant to tell him he couldn't leave, not when he saw Maka open her eyes, even for a brief moment. "Man, do you know why?" he asked.
He heard Black*Star drop his weights as he walked over to pick up the phone, figured the guy had Soul on speaker. "Don't know. Might be about a mission. He's running out of Death Scythes to take on missions, this one isn't even meant for one of the DWMA students."
Soul only let out a quiet groan as he turned to look at Maka. "Well, not like I could tell him no. Practically everyone is on a mission, and I'm guessing you're headed to one right now?"
"You bet!" Black*Star shouted, "You know, I , THE great Black*Star always has missions! A God like me can never rest! Those puny missions cower when I'm going to take them on!"
Soul couldn't help but smile at his blue haired friend. "Sure, Black*Star." he muttered as he hung up the phone. He quickly slipped on his shoes and changed his shirt before Tsubaki got here. As he finished brushing his teeth, he heard a faint knock on the door.
It didn't take long for Tsubaki to get there, as she smiled at him. "Lord Death needs to talk to you."
He only nodded as he grabbed his jacket and keys. "Call me if anything happens, and let me know what the Doctors say. If I'm not back by the end of the day, the Doctors are going to perform a procedure on her, make sure to not let her out of your sight, Tsubaki." he stated, stopping to add "I'll call you after I'm done talking to him. To see what he needs me to do."
Tsubaki only smiled at him as she sat down besides Maka's bed, taking out a book from her purse.
He couldn't help but smile as he heard her read out loud from it to Maka, before he closed the door.
Soul let out a mental sigh as he walked on the dark streets, he knew he shouldn't of taken the mission, but Lord Death had no one else to ask to do it. Not before the death toll escalated, that is. He checked his phone once more, to see if Tsubaki had any news to report, but so far there was only the same one. That she tried opening her eyes, but fell back asleep.
Letting out a breath, he slipped his phone back into his pant pockets and slipped his hands on the pockets of his sweater. He started whistling a tune as he continued to walk down the dark street. He had enough information to know what time to search as he walked up to a restaurant to get some food. "Might as well eat before the party starts." he muttered.
She could do it. She knew she could. Taking in a deep breath, she stood her ground, watching as the girl's corpse moved slowly towards her, blood spilling out of her mouth. Maka wanted to run, her mind screaming for her to run away, heart pounding in fear, she still kept her ground. She knew that running away wasn't getting her out of here, and usually... in nightmares when you faced it, you woke up right? She was sure that that was always the case. She would read books about it, besides... it was dream, what could happen here? Sure, she scraped her arms and knees and she still had the scrapes to prove them. She could also feel the pain she got when she fell. But, didn't all dreams have that? The realistic feel to it?
Maka still didn't want to fully to think about it. She had a theory, and though she was scared out of her mind, she had no choice than to try it out. Waiting for herself to wake up from here was proving useless, and running around wasn't helping either. No matter how many corners she's turned, going up or down, left or right... she always manages to end up in the same spot. The street where she was first attacked, where she met Soul.
So here she was, trying to keep herself from running away, and trying desperately to slow down her terrified heart as the lady in front of her was almost at her reach. She had to stifle a scream as she could smell it's rotting flesh, she saw closer that there were maggots coming out from some of her wounds, and it took all of Maka's strength not to run away. It opened it's mouth, a gurgled noise was being made as blood kept coming out of her. Maka tried not to flinch as it was finally near her reach, it stretched out it's hand and touched Maka on her forehead.
Pain seared through her entire body as she screamed out for help. But the more she screamed out, the more she felt suffocated, and she began to notice blood coming out of her mouth, feeling it fill up her lungs, she began to panic. But she couldn't move. Her whole body was frozen as the corpse in front of her just staring at her, her mouth opened from time to time trying to speak as blood came out of it's mouth every time.
"It hurts." Maka whispered, tears starting to come out from her eyes, "Stop it, it hurts!" Before she could scream out anything else out, her legs gave out as she fell to the ground. Her body was trembling, and the taste of blood was still on her mouth, her vision was going dark as she tried to keep herself from fainting. 'Soul' Maka thought, as she tried to understand what was going on.
Soul let out a sneeze as he looked up at the moon, his phone vibrating in his pocket, he slipped it out, realizing it was a text from Tsubaki.
"Maka woke up." he reread the simple text over again as he processed it.
"Just my luck." Soul smirks as he slips the phone back in, he now had a bigger reason to finish this job and get back home. He had to make sure Maka was okay, stretching out his hand, his scythe formed as he spun it around, a smirk on his face as he heard a growl underneath.
Maka's wasn't sure she understood what happened, as she turned to look at Tsubaki who was talking to a Doctor in a low voice. Maka wasn't able to hear properly, a ringing in her ears, and her mouth felt like it was stuffed with a dried rag as she tried to process what had happened.
"Ms. Albarn?" she heard the Doctor's voice, though it sounded far away, she was still able to hear him.
Maka turned to look at him, he was wearing a lab coat, jeans, and some hospital shoes. He fixed his glasses as he peered to look at Maka, she could smell the cigarette on his breath, and she tried not to gag. His light brown eyes were covered by some metal framed glasses, and Maka slowly reached towards her face, checking to see if she was wearing her glasses. She felt the plastic frames around her face, as she pulled them off. If she was able to make any noise at all, she would let out a surprised shock. Without her glasses, Maka was able to see! She didn't know what had happened for her to see, but she still turned back to the Doctor who was still talking to her, asking her questions that she couldn't make out.
"Ms. Albarn?" he looked at her worriedly, taking a small flashlight and checking her eyes, then her ears, and lastly her ears. He let out a sigh as he checked if her eye sight was fine, grabbing a pen and asking her to follow it. Maka did as she was told, still unsure what was going on.
She saw him turn to Tsubaki, who's own expression was full of concern and happiness, as she began to talk to the Doctor once more. She saw the Doctor shake his head in disapproval when Tsubaki said something, and once more when she turned to look at Maka, a look of disappointment in her eyes.
"It would be better to contact Mr. Eater to get here." she heard the Doctor state to Maka, his face looked worried as he grabbed Maka's vital chart, wrote something on them, and walked away.
"Maka?" she heard Tsubaki's voice, though it sounded muffled, she knew it was her voice, as one of her friends came up to her, her eyes brimming with tears as she reached out to hug her. "We were so worried about you! You just collapse out of nowhere, Soul said you got attacked, but Kim wasn't able to wake you up, neither was I!" she heard Tsubaki sob as she tried to control her crying, "Soul has been here since he found you, and right now he's on a mission, but he's going to be back soon. I just need to make a quick phone call, and inform Liz and Patty that you're up." Tsubaki calmed down as she pulled away from Maka, the latter's face was still trying to take everything in.
Maka saw Tsubaki take out her phone and dial someone, her voice sounding too far away for her to make out what she was saying on the phone. She stretched out her hands, her eyes going wide with shock as she noticed something familiar in her hands.
She had the same scrapes on her palms like in her dream. Closing her eyes, Maka prayed that this was still a dream.
"Dammit!" Soul snapped, as he avoided another attack from the pre-kishin. It's clawing too close for comfort as Soul felt his phone vibrate one more time. Blocking an attack, he pressed his bluetooth to answer. "Better be good." he answered, taking a swipe at the beast.
"Maka has woken up." Liz was practically shouting on his ear as he blocked another attack.
"So they told me. Have you gone to go visit her?"
"Not yet, Kidd went over there already, after Patty told him that she already woke up though." she paused for a moment, hearing the growl and swipes from Soul's end of the phone. "Jesus, Soul! What are you doing? Taking it out to tango?"
"Believe it or not, I've killed this fucker seven times already! Its's under a spell of some sort. Can't get rid of it." Soul snaps, taking a swipe at it once more. "It just won't fucking die!"
"Sounds like you have your hands full. Glad Kidd told Lord Death that he'll skip it. I don't want all of that after I just did my hair."
Soul had to jump out of the way to hear her clearly, ignoring the pre-Kishin that was growling at him. "Kidd denied this mission?" Soul jumped out of the way as a crate crashed where he was at.
"Yeah, he said you told him you needed to get some air, and that this job was perfect for you. 'Who else could deal with something like this than Eater himself', he mumbled." Liz wasn't sure why Soul was getting mad either, she also thought Soul needed to get out from being locked in that hospital for a while, even though it meant leaving Maka alone with Tsubaki.
"Liz, you have to listen to me carefully!" Soul shouted, taking another swipe at the beast. "Kidd and I had an argument! He wants to give Maka a serum as soon as she wakes up! I told him to wait, we still don't know how Maka will react to it, we don't even know what was wrong with her!"
Liz let out a long list of profanity to both Soul and Kidd, along with something about a stick and some nails in them going up a place that Soul was sure shouldn't ever go in. "I asked you two if there was anything going on, and you wait to tell me now, god damn it Soul! I swear!"
Soul wasn't able to say anything else as the line went dead, clearly a fuming Liz was out to try and fix things between it went worse. But that had to wait, he still had a pre-kishin that just wouldn't die, no matter how many times it would attack it and kill it. It even cut it's head off, and it grew it back! GREW it back! He thought he's fought practically everything in this Earth, but clearly he was dead wrong.
"Why won't you just fucking die!" Soul growled, taking another swipe at the thing, he's already used too much energy attacking him, even going so far using 'shadowing' to kill it. But no matter what it was clear that it was being controlled, and from far away as well. "Fuck it." Soul cursed, jumping out of the way to land on the roof, he saw the beast's eyes follow him, reflecting Soul on them. "Let's go find you're master." Soul smirked, disappearing into the darkness.
Maka saw Kidd enter the room, his eyes scanning to look if anyone else was in here, he turned to Tsubaki who smile at him. Maka thought he was acting a bit suspicious as he talked to Tsubaki, glancing at Maka every now and then.
She saw Tsubaki smile at him and nod her head, grabbing her things she turned to Maka, "Lord Death needs me to go help Black*Star with a mission." she spoke slowly, letting Maka understand the words, she then saw Tsubaki turn to Kidd, speaking a little bit louder for Maka to also hear her. "She's having a problem hearing properly, you have to speak slowly to her. The Doctor needs to run some test when Soul gets back, to see if every thing is okay." she turned back to Maka and gave a quick hug before she hurried off to go meet with Black*Star.
Kidd smiled at Maka, while she raised an eyebrow at the future Grim Reaper. She saw his lips move, but Maka wasn't sure what was going on, she got a bad feeling as he walked away, coming back after what seemed like five minutes, with what looked like discharge papers.
"It's okay Maka, we're going to go meet Soul somewhere quick. It'll be quick." she heard him say, before she felt a small sting and darkness took hold of her.
Soul was right, as he took another swipe at the damn pre-kishin that wouldn't take the hint and die. Letting out a growl, he heard the witch laugh at him as she floated on the broom.
"Its useless, Eater." she smirked at him, her sharp teeth showing through as she landed on one of the roofs overlooking the fight, "As soon as you try to get near me, it protects me, and as you know... it won't die either."
"Then I'm going to have to go and kill you first, though, that ruins my plans." He smirked as he quickly disappeared before the beast attacked him. Appearing behind it, Soul brought his scythe down fast on it, cutting it's head off in a matter of seconds. He quickly disappeared once more, he knew he didn't have much time until it would grow it's head back and attack him. "Got you." Soul smirked, his blade inches from the witche's throat.
"Tch, what are you going to do kill me? That still won't stop it from coming after you." she growled.
"No, but once you're dead, it won't come back to life when I cut it's head off, again." he was getting pretty frustrated with all of it.
"Thought you said you needed me alive." she smirked at him, sure he wouldn't kill her.
"You... yes, but you're arms are something else." he stated, his scythe slowly moving towards one of them. "Don't think I didn't notice the strings entangled on it. If I cut your arms off, then it won't be able to move at all, that's how you're controlling him. But if you don't believe me, then we'll test it out. Let's just hope you can grow your arms out like it can."
"Wait!" She shouted, squirming for a second before Soul amputated her arms. "You can't kill me! I have something you might want to know, it concerns that Grigori girl of yours."
Soul raised an eyebrow, as he lowered down his scythe inches away from her. "You might be quick, but you know I'm faster when it comes to slicing you in half, so spill what do you know."
"She was given a purse right?" the witch turned towards him, her grey eyes starring at Soul to see if she was right. "That purse had two very important things, and they were meant for her. I'm guessing, you guys weren't able to see anything in that book, and the music box didn't work?"
Soul only stared at her, his scythe still inches from cutting her down, as the pre-Kishin growled a couple of feet away from them, waiting for the right moment to attack Soul while it's master wasn't in harms way.
"That's because, if anyone else found it, they would think it was trash. But, if Maka found it, she could read it... only if she was to listen to the entire music box." she smirked at him, moving her fingers little by little.
"Wouldn't think about it." Soul added, his scythe touching her skin now. "Don't want you bleeding while you tell me the rest of this information."
"Tch, can't a girl have any fun."
"Not when I need to be somewhere fast." his tone was bored, as he waited for her to continue.
The witch let out a sigh as she dropped her hands, causing the pre-kishin to fall to the ground, still except for it's heavy breathing. "Fine. She has to listen to it all. Her soul will be in a state of trance and it'll be able to decipher it all."
"Her soul?" he raised an eyebrow at the girl, as he waited for her to answer him.
"It's a spell that is only able to work with a Grigori Soul, no Grigori Soul, no spell to work with. Once she listens to it all, her soul will be the only thing that's awake, not her mind. Any other method to get her to read it won't work, and will be too painful for her." she gave him a wicked smile as she turned away from him, "It must suck really. Use the musical box and her soul gets a taste of corruption, use any other way... and her soul won't be able to handle it and burst. Though even if she doesn't use it and survives, the spell Medusa put on her will surely kill her. After that attack of hers, I wonder for how long she can fight the poison that snake gave her."
"Poison?" Soul asked, but before he could say something else, he noticed something, it was too quiet where he was at, as he turned around and noticed that the pre-kishin wasn't where he was at before, he didn't bother to look for him, as it's grotesquely arms wrapped themselves around Soul's body, trying to break him in half.
"That will teach you to mess with one of the most powerful witches." she hissed, calling her broom out.
"Hey," Soul closed his eyes for a brief moment, as his signature smirk was plastered on his face, "For 'one of the most powerful witches' you really don't know when you're being used, huh?"
She didn't have time to even scream, as her skin started moving around her... in less than a minute, her body was destroyed, as a hundred snakes poured out of her, disappearing soon after her death.
Soul only let out a sigh, he figured it had to do with Medusa, if she had that information then she was working with Medusa, and one way to pass on a message... would be to send in a messenger, though, he couldn't help but think the words 'don't kill the messenger' were in order here. He didn't even bother with the pre-kishin, as it let out a cry when Soul sliced it in half in seconds. True to his theory, it didn't resurrect anymore.
'Man, I hope this wasn't dragged on too long.' he let out a sigh as he made his scythe disappear, 'Let's just hope Kidd didn't decide to do something stupid.' he quickly grabbed his phone as he jumped off the roof, landing on his feet. 'Now, where did I park, again?'
"Maka? Can you hear me?"
'Who?' She was having a hard time concentrating on what was going on, as she opened her eyes, everything was blurry for a moment, when her eyes began to adjust.
In front of her stood Kidd, with someone who looked like he came out of a horror movie. His face and clothing were all stitched up, while he had a screw going right through his skull. She noticed he turned it a couple of times, and Maka couldn't help but squirm a little at the sight. He let out a puff of smoke from the cigarette as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Light being reflected from them.
She turned towards Kidd, who was talking to her, his golden eyes were serious as his tone gave Maka the shivers. Some thing wasn't right. She peered down to see her necklace go completely black.
"The darker it gets, the best it is for you to make sure to get away safely"
"You won't feel a thing." she heard Kidd tell her after he explained something that skipped Maka's mind.
"You sure about this Kidd?" she heard the guy in the lab coat say, his voice sounded muffled, but Maka was able to make out the words.
"We need to find out already, I can't postpone it any longer." she saw Kidd's eye flash with a hint of sadness, as if he was being forced to do this.
What ever this was.
She looked down to see her hands weren't bind, but they did feel a bit heavy after what ever Kidd used on her to knock her out. It took all of Maka's strength to be able to fully move.
In a blink of an eye, she was already running for the door, but before she was able to reach it, she was picked up by the man in the lab coat. 'Put me down! Please! Let me go!' she wanted to scream, but her mouth felt like they kept stuffing cotton balls in it.
So, Maka did the next best thing she could do. She started fighting. She needed to get out of there, something wasn't right. Soul wasn't there, and Kidd was acting weird. Not to mention, who was the guy with the screw in his skull?
She heard Kidd shout her name but she didn't bother to see what he wanted to do, as soon as she saw him with a small pink bottle, Maka's necklace got darker, and she felt it grow cold.
"N-No!" she shouted, punching him and Stein as she tried to get away. As soon as the words were out, Maka regretted it, she felt something warm come out of her mouth and the taste of iron soon followed. 'Blood?' she thought, as she threw up the red tint on the floor.
"Maka?" She heard the guy with the stitches shout, as he tried to help her up to stop her from chocking on her own blood. "Kidd, call Soul. We can't give her the serum, she needs to go back to the hospital."
Maka was dizzy as she continued to taste her own blood in her mouth, the image of the corpse in her dream popped in her mind before she collapsed.
"You got to be fucking kidding me!" Soul shouted as he almost punched the wall, "How can you tell me that you just let her walk out of here when she barely woke up?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Eater, b-but, the Grim Reaper's son was here, he said that it was okay, under his orders that she was to be released and returned within two days at max." the male nurse was having a hard time keeping himself from cowering in fear.
"Dammit it, Kidd." Soul muttered, walking out the hospital as he grabbed his phone. It didn't even ring twice before he heard Liz answer the phone.
"Soul? What's going on?"
"Kidd took Maka out of the hospital, I think he's planning to give her the serum right now. But it's going to kill her!" He was practically shouting as he got on his motorcycle, speeding off towards Stein's place.
"Calm down, Soul." she heard him let out a breath, trying to think of something. "I'm sure he's not going to do something stupid like that. Lord Shinigami won't even allow it! I'll help you look for him."
"Don't bother, I know where he's at, I just need you to do me a favor." he was already reaching Stein's place with the speed he was driving at. "I need you to bring me the music box that we found with the book. And ask Kim to come to my place too. I'm going to need a lot of her rejuvenating magic to help me out."
"Uh, yeah, I got it. I'll call you when I get the things." She quickly hung up as Soul stopped in front of Stein's place.
He didn't even bother to knock, as he opened the door, "Stein! Kidd!" he shouted out, practically running towards Stein's lab.
Soul stopped when he saw Stein cleaning up some blood off the floor. "What happened?" Soul asked, his voice going cold.
"Relax Soul." Stein answered lightly, as he rinsed the now red towel on the sink. "I told Kidd that we couldn't give her the serum, not in her current condition. She's been poisoned, her body is fighting itself. Thus the reason why I'm cleaning up the blood she threw up."
"Where is Kidd now?" His eyes were serious as he still stood there.
"Told him to go drop her off at the hospital, she needs medical attention fast, with the amount of blood she threw up, she might need some blood given to her." he turned on a cigarette as he threw chlorine on the rags he just used to clean up Maka's blood.
Soul for a brief moment let out a sigh of relief. "It won't work." he muttered, causing Stein to turn to look at him. "Just found out by a witch I just killed. Medusa was the one that poisoned her. The attack she had, it was real. That's when the poison was given to her. The only way to read that book, is by making her listen to that music box thing that came with it."
"It's broken." Stein added
"Made to look that way, it needs a Grigori Soul for it to work, in another way, it needs-"
"Maka to wind it up and play it." Stein finished, taking a seat while he took another breath from his cigarette.
"Yeah, but if she listens to it, she gets a small taste of corruption. If she doesn't hear the music box soon... she dies. The poison will only go away if we make her listen to the musical thing." He let out a sigh, as he grabbed his phone, "Any other way to get her to read the book will kill her. Her soul won't be able to handle it and burst."
He heard Stein give off a chuckle as he let out a puff of smoke to the air, "Leave it to Medusa to play such a twisted game."
"You're not to far away from it yourself," Soul muttered as he dialed the hospital number, they should already be there by now.
"Hey Soul." Stein's voice hinted something serious, as he turned the screw on his head. "How far is Kidd willing to go to get Maka to read the book?"
Soul raised an eyebrow as he hung up the phone, not even bothering to let the person finish greeting him. "Why?"
Stein took a long breath from his cigarette as he turned his chair behind himself. "Because the book is missing, and so is one of my bottles of the serum." he finished as he let the puff of smoke fly up in the air.
"Son of..." Soul let out a growl as he quickly opened his phone and dialed Kidd's number. He turned to Stein, who seemed to also be dialing a number as well. "Where would he have gone?"
Stein only shrugged as he placed the phone close to his ear, "If you're right, and he's guess she's going to put up a fight... some where secluded, where no one is at."
"School." Soul whispered as he walked away from Stein's house to his motorcycle. 'Maka...'
Her throat hurt, and her body felt heavy, while there was still the ringing in her ears. She quickly snapped her head up to see where she was at. It was a school, of some sort, but they were in the school's nurse's office. She tried lifting her body up, but it was taking too much effort as she tried to make any noise.
"I'm really sorry about this, Maka." she heard Kidd's voice, it sounded sincere as he peered to look at her. His golden eyes reflected his tone, as he grabbed the pink bottle and was about to give it to her, when his phone rang.
Maka's body slumped as she tried to use that time to escape.
"Soul, I'm sorry... but I have to do this, the longer we wait, the harder it would be. Medusa is already showing signs of her plan being put into actio-" it was hard for her to make out the words, but her heart dropped at Soul's name.
'He's in on this?' she thought, pulling herself up from the chair and running out the door. She heard Kidd shout out her name, but she didn't want to stop, she didn't want to think about why she heard Soul's name, why Kidd was doing all of this, and why she was having a hard time being able to speak. She wanted it all to go away, but she was having a hard time trying to keep her mind from blacking out.
The wind stung her body as she ran out the school, not bothering to look back as she ran away from it. She didn't know where she would go, but she needed to get away, some place that one else knew about. That's when she realized where her feet were taking her, to the abandoned observatory she had found. She didn't bother to stop, her eyesight had improved since she woke up and was able to see perfectly as she turned another corner, stopping for a brief moment to see if Kidd was chasing her. She was letting herself catch her breath when she realized she wasn't being chased by him. 'Tsubaki... did she leave me knowing Kidd was going to do this?' she shook her head, trying to clear all the negative thoughts from her head, as she began to move towards the observatory.
Her body was cold as she realized all she was wearing was some jeans and a black spaghetti strap shirt, no shoes nor socks on her feet and her hair was all over the place. Hugging herself to keep herself warm, she rushed towards the abandoned building. For now, that was the only place she knew she was safe.
Soul couldn't help himself as he punched Kidd right in the face, Liz and Black*Star trying hard to hold him back, before he did anymore damage to the future Grim Reaper. "What the hell were you thinking!" He growled, still trying to land another punch on him.
"Soul, calm down!" Liz shouted, trying to keep the white reaper still.
"Kidd, what you did wasn't right, man." Black*Star was tempted to let Soul go, but he held back from stopping the fight for a good time while Soul pummeled Kidd to the ground, the latter not even bothering to fight back. "It's low, even an assassin like me wouldn't go that far."
"I'm sorry." Kidd muttered, wiping the blood from his mouth with a napkin. "I just, I needed to get the information from the book, no matter what. Even right now, Soul. You have to understand! Medusa is ou-"
Soul didn't let him finish as he was able to get away from Black*Star and Liz and push him towards the wall, his hands gripping his shirt. "I warned you, Kidd. You put her in harms way, and it would be me would you deal with. That serum was going to kill her, she was vomiting blood for damn sake, and you still took her some where to give her the serum, what's worse, you let her run off in the fucking cold!" his eyes were cold, his voice was low, full of malice from the once famous "Eater" that everyone hoped would never surface again. He was tempted to punch him again in the face, anywhere else for that matter, when he dropped him on the floor, walking away from him. "You fucked up, Kidd. Remember that."
Black*Star and Liz shouted for him to stop before he ran out the door, in search of Maka before some thing else were to happen.
Maka was falling asleep in the cold floor as she leaned her head back. The room was spinning, and no matter how hard she tried to focus, she could of sworn she felt snakes slithering near her, but she was too tired to run away, too tired to move at that. She was about to go to sleep when she heard footsteps echo across the room, getting louder and louder as it reached Maka.
Emerald eyes met blue, as she noticed it was Joshua, his eyes looked amused for a brief moment but she wasn't sure if she saw correctly. "Ms. Albarn?" he asked, leaning towards her, his voice muffled in Maka's ears.
She tried talking, but her tongue felt heavy, as she only nodded at him, trying to catch her breath. 'What's going on...' she thought, feeling tears form on her eyes.
She felt someone's arms pick her up, as she leaned in closer to him trying to get some warmth from him. "If you were trying to look like the dead, you won." she heard him mutter as placed her head on his chest.
'Soul...' she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to stop the room from spinning as she noticed Joshua was taking her out of the abandoned building. She shook her head, trying to push herself away from him.
"Maka? You need to see a Doctor..." she heard his voice, his eyes were worried, but once again, she saw a brief hint of amusement in them.
Shaking her head once more, she pushed herself off of him, scraping her hands in the process once more. She was about to move away from him, when she saw the girl in her dreams in front of her... Only she didn't have blood coming out of her mouth, no... that was Maka now. As she tried to speak and blood poured out once again, the taste of it made her puke once more, more blood came out. She saw her smile, as she mouthed out the words 'give in' before she disappeared.
'Give in?' Maka couldn't help but scoff in her mind as she tried to clear her vision and stand up, 'Fuck no. I need to get out of here, I need to get back home.' she had to stop to stare at Joshua again, as she realized he was talking.
"Did the Death Scythes do this to you?" he asked, his tone serious for a moment as he peered out to look around where they were at. Maka wasn't able to say anything, she couldn't and didn't want to point fingers at all. "Look, Maka. I'm asking because I saw Eater and Shinigami's son talking at Starbucks a couple of days ago. And they were talking about giving you a drug. Soul and Kidd wanted you to read something for them... they didn't care if it could hurt you... Their hiding some things from you."
'Stop...' Maka thought, as she shook her head, she didn't want to hear it, she didn't want to be betrayed by Soul, 'He wouldn't do this...' she thought, feeling tears coming out of her eyes. Before she was able to stop herself she let out a scream, it was loud, and when she was done screaming she realized she was alone. Joshua wasn't there, nor was the image of the corpse from her dream, or the snakes that slithered around near her. She was the only one in the abandoned building.
Maka let out a breath as she chocked on a sob, before she was able to say anything else, she threw up once more, the taste of blood still in her mouth as she leaned back towards the wall, breathing heavily, she let the tears fall down. Knowing full well that no one else was there.
Soul was running out of places to search as he continued to drive around the city, while Liz checked alleys, Black*Star checked the forest around them, and Tsubaki checked the hospital and areas near it. Mentally cursing, Soul stopped for a moment, checking his phone for any updates. He was about to drive off when he felt the stone that Maka gave him grow warm, it was glowing lightly as pulled it out from underneath his shirt. "It's doing it again..." he muttered as he stared at it. "They look like star..." That was all Soul needed to say as he revved his bike and turned towards the abandoned observatory.
She woke up once more, her body was numb as she let out a breath, seeing it turn to fog right in front of her eyes. She saw the corpse stand in front of her again, a smile on her lips as she had blood stained on her teeth. She mouthed the same words over and over again from time to time,e when Maka was too weak to fight her sleep. She didn't want to go to sleep.
Not after the same dream kept popping up in her mind, her parent's death, and then her mother's body being dragged as she choked out Maka's name, her eyes were wide as she pleaded for Maka to follow her, but Maka couldn't move. As much as she wanted to follow her mom, to save her... she couldn't pick up her feet, that's when the screaming would come up. As she saw a snake swallow her mother's corpse, blood dripping down it's mouth.
No, Maka didn't want to give in at all. She didn't want to sleep, and she knew she had to get up and move. Taking in a breath, it took all her force to get up, using the wall as a support for her to lean on and walk, Maka started to walk towards the door.
She was half way there when she saw Soul run towards her, her heart raced, while her mind began to panic. Before she knew what happened, she attacked him. Trying to get away from his grasp, she squirmed and kicked, tears pouring out of her eyes as she choked on a sob.
"Maka." his voice sounded calm, as he never let her go, pulling her closer to him. "It's okay, Maka. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." she could feel his warmth as she leaned in closer to him, finally giving up in fighting.
"S-Soul..." she whispered, before the crying began.
Soul was relieved to see her cry, to hear her say his name as he held on to her close. He waited until she was done crying for him to take off his his jacket and wrap it around her. He pulled her towards his motorcycle, making her sit in the front while he reached out to drive. Through out the entire time, Maka never let him go. She was either holding on to his shirt, or his hand. Her body was trembling as she choked out a sob every now and then.
He was tempted to take her back to the hospital, but had a feeling she wouldn't want to go back. He still needed her to find a way to get rid of the poison, as he waited for Stein and Lord Death to find a way to help cure her.
Soul let out a sigh as he parked his bike, holding her hand, he helped Maka walk up to their building, occasionally he was tempted to pick her up, but Maka would flinch when ever he would try to.
Once they were inside, he made her sit down on the sofa, gave her something to drink and wrapped her in blankets to warm up her body. A couple of minutes after her made her some warm soup, Maka's eyebrow was raised when she saw the steamy food.
"Yeah, I actually know how to cook..." Soul muttered, a smirk on his face when he saw Maka's face deadpan, clearly mentally cursing his name for her always doing the cooking.
He was about to say something else when he heard a faint knock on the door, "Hey Kim..." he nodded at her as he walked back towards the living room. "Need a favor, can you cure poison?"
"Not all of them, why? Do you know what kind of poison she has?" Kim asked, smiling at Maka, waving to her as Maka only stared at her, fear in her eyes for a moment.
"It's okay, Maka." Soul grabbed her hand to try and calm her down, he didn't blame her for not trusting anyone anymore, since what Kidd did.
Maka only nodded as she saw Kim place her hands next to her head. "Maka," she heard her voice faint again, "I'm going to heal your ears, okay."
Maka nodded as she saw Kim's hands begin to give off an soft glow near her ears. At first it was warm, tickling her ears in the process, then everything was quiet, and Maka noticed that Kim was talking to her again, but this time... she couldn't hear anything at all.
She shook her head, reaching out to grab her ears, trying to see if she was imagining everything, that's when Soul raised an eyebrow, she saw his face etched with concern as he let out a sigh. He walked away from her, leaving a confused Maka to try and figure everything out. She was about to walk away, when she saw him come back with a piece of paper and pen, on it was Soul's handwritting.
Can you hear anything at all?
Maka shook her head clearly showing him that she was now completely deaf. She saw him let out a sigh as he wrote on the paper once more.
Answer yes or no. Do you remember what happened when you got attacked by whatever it was, on Christmas Eve?
Maka nodded, as she grabbed the pen and paper from Soul, the latter looking at her with a confused face, writing down in neat letters, I couldn't see it. I couldn't sense it's soul. It cornered me, then next thing I know, it hit my head... hard... but, that's what I thought happened.
That made Soul raise an eyebrow, his eyes scanning her's to see if she was joking.
What do you mean, 'thought it happened'
Maka read the sentence over again as she grabbed the pen once more, The person I was with, he... well, he kissed me. And I kicked him because of it. When I did, I slipped on ice. That's what he said happened. He took me to go eat, to see if I had a concussion or not... and the waiter mixed up our drinks. I, accidentally got drunk, and so he took me home. And I imagined the whole thing.
Soul muttered a list of curse words as he turned to look at Kim. "She's second guessing her attack. Someone told her she made it up..."
Kim let out a sigh as she bit her bottom lip, "I know a way she can fully remember what happened." She paused, unsure if she should continue. "It's a spell, my family has passed it on to every witch when she's of age to make it. It's a memory recovery spell, and it's suppose to help the person gain the memory they lost, come back. It works great with amnesia, concussions, and in Maka's case... it might work against whatever they used on her."
"Might, isn't a word I'm risking to try, Kim." Soul sighed in frustration, a growl forming on his lips as Maka stared at him with a curious look. "We made things worse with a 'might' right now. Now she's completely deaf. We are running out of options, the only thing left is using it."
"Yeah, Liz gave it to me after the whole ordeal with Kidd, she had a feeling that Maka wouldn't trust her either due to all that happened." she went towards her bag, taking out the small musical trinket that Maka had found. "Though, will it work if, she can't hear anything?"
"Only one way to find out..." Soul got up to get his phone, just in case of an emergency, he would need it to contact Stein, or the hospital.
Maka's eyes went wide for a moment as she grabbed the small item that Kim gave her. She saw Kim make a sign for opening it, and Maka looked at Soul to see if she wasn't hallucinating. Soul only nodded, sitting next to her as she lifted the small golden trinket, her skin grazed over the red embellishment on it, and to her amazement it opened up.
The inside was a mirror on top of it, a small ballerina in the middle, as Maka's eyes went wide for a moment, she suddenly remembered seeing one when she was little, a lady with golden hair and golden eyes had given her one... but the day that her parents were killed, it had vanished. Maka could have sworn, this was the one that the lady had given her.
As if she was checking to see if her theory was right, Maka grazed over the ballerina's head, and slowly the ballerina began to turn, a soft melody playing, at first it was faint, but then Maka was able to hear it clearly, it sounded a lot like a violin. She turned to look at Soul, who's eyes were shocked as he listened to the melody as well. Before she was able to ask him if every thing was okay, Maka's eyes began to feel heavy, she noticed Soul reach out towards her, before she collapsed in a dreamless sleep.
"Did it work?" Kim asked, as she went over to see if Maka was okay, she was laying down on Soul's lap, her head buried there as Soul stroked her hair.
"One way to find out." He took the musical trinket from Maka's hand, as she let out a quiet sigh. "Can you check if she's fine?"
Kim nodded, hovering her hands over Maka's head, the faint glow came back as she whispered a spell to see if the blonde girl was fully recovered. "There's nothing inside her. I can't feel any poison in her body, nor any problems with her ears or brain."
Soul let out a breath as he leaned his head back, a small grin on his face. "Well, that's a relief." he muttered, "Thanks Kim. I'll call you if I need anything."
Kim only nodded as she grabbed her jacket and waved goodbye to Soul, the soft click from the door signaled that they were completely alone.
Soul's eyes trailed back to the small trinket, that was now on the table. The lighting being reflected by the gold around it. He was able to get a better look at it, now that he wasn't worrying about where Maka was at.
It was shaped like an egg, with red embelishment going around it in the middle of it. There was two snake eyes in the middle for an opening. It was carvings around it with a darker gold to make it stand out, but what surprised him the most was the inside, he could of sworn now that he looked at it, it looked alot like those Mostowsky Poloniase Heirloom glass ones his brother gave to the girls he was interested in. The last one he gave, being more special. It was hand carved, one of a kind Heirloom glass. One that Wes gave Medusa... and he was staring at it once again, the familiar song playing, he knew the notes well.
That was his brother playing it, he couldn't mistake it at all. Not when he knew his brother's playing.
As he looked down at Maka, he knew that it wasn't a coincedence. If Wes had given Medusa that Heirloom, then Medusa had used it, is that how she found Spirit and Kami Albarn? Is that how she was able to attack them when Maka was little? The other witch told him that it needed a Grigori Soul to work, is that why Wes said he killed them? Because Medusa used him to find out where Maka was at?
It was all making sense now, his blood boiled as he looked up to the roof.
They were all being used by her, even now... Medusa had never let Maka out of her grip, he was sure of it.
Tell me what you think! I'm really grateful to all those who have been reviewing my story! All the feedback and even one person who emailed me telling me was sharing my story on his blog or whatever made my day! Thank you guys! *.* u all deserve a hug!
Any ways, to sum it up, I feel like it's a bit shorter than the rest, but I wanted this chapter to focus on Maka healing and all that jazz. =3 I'm still not revealing a lot about some of the characters, even though I had someone message me telling me to tell him about how Joshua fits into all of this, I'm sorry. Lips are sealed. If you want to know, read the story like all the others. :D Mwuahaha, the power! :P
As for Chapter 9, believe it or not, I used up all my imagination right now to make this story, and with pretty much a whole week of no sleep... I'm about to go into hibernation for almost a month... now to see if my Kids get the memo about it, though I don't think they would even care about it. LOL.
But I am in the process of working on it! So yeah, hope you guys like it! And remember, reviews are greatly appreciated! Any feedback is great!
-KiddieXx