Chapter 5

Wow, I am kind of addicted to this place. Well, thanks to all the wondrous reviews! Oh, and the winner of the 'guess that quote' contest is Murdering Star! Congrats!

The quote was from 'Final Fantasy Fugitive'- the first time I saw it, I couldn't stop laughing.

Yes, I'm weird. But you already knew that, didn't you?

So Murdering Star, just send me a little outline of your character, and I'll see how much I can work in! Okay, so here's the fifth chappy of Black and Gold!

And according to these papers from my common sense…I own nothing. Shocker.

"A lock-in? Really?" I read the bulletin off the board. They do those sorts of things here?"

"Looks it." Mary shrugged. "What do you think?"

"Uh…"

'Uh' was right. It was rather mind-blowing to me that anyone would so willingly volunteer to be locked in a room with my friends. It'd been a few weeks, surely these people knew better…

"I wanna go." Mary said, as though that settled everything. "Where's John and Damian? I thought you three had third period together."

I thought back to early this morning, when Damian had come to me (well, more like inched and crawled like a handicapped bug) while wheezing and coughing as though he were a 60-year-old nicotine addict.

"We do. But Damian's convinced he's got some incurable disease, and is unable to attend class. So he wrangled John into helping him limp to the nurse's office."

"Is he okay?"

"Did you know there's a test in third period today?"

"Oh. So you're not going?"

"No."

I see enough of my friends as it is, especially now that we're living in a joint-apartment. Did you know that they actually fought for two hours over which movie to play on 'DeathFlix' night? Well they did. I don't think the movie was even that long. Anyway, having them out of the house for a whole night was a dream come true. Now I might be able to put my food down on the counter and actually eat it before the "invisible elves" stole it.

Though wanting to be rid of my friends was only half of it. Not that having a metal tracking-and-god-knows-what strapped to my neck made me bitter or anything, but I wasn't in the mood to be referred to as 'the girl engaged to Kid', 'Lady Life's daughter' and now 'girl with collar' behind my back a whole night. Plus, Stein was going to be a chaperone, and I do NOT want to be locked in the same building as that guy.

So somehow during my internal monologue, my feet had brought me to the classroom. I climbed up to my usual spot beside John.

"Where's Damian?" I asked.

"Nurse says that he's running a temperature." John said shortly, shuffling through his notes.

"Really?" I blinked. "My bad."


I swiveled carelessly around in my chair, reading. Everyone was at the lock-in, except Damian, who wanted to spend the night in the nurse's office. He was either a huge drama queen or a jerk for wanting to rub in my face that he'd actually been sick. Pfft. It was unusually quiet, so every time I heard a 'creak' or other house-made sound I jumped and spun around, ready to demand why someone was sneaking up on me (There are four boys in this building who simply find it hilarious to surprise you to the point that you nearly fall out a window. Suffice it to say, I won't be sitting near any exits for a while). I was fiddling with my phone when it started to vibrate with a text message. I hadn't gotten any texts or calls in a while, considering my cell service's limit was met when I passed into the middle of nowhere. Flipping the phone open, I saw it was John.

L.J.:

Frgt my bag. Bring it in 4 me? Thanx.
-John

I frowned. John wasn't the type to forget his stuff, but sure enough, I journeyed out and saw it sitting on the dining room table. I chose not to be irritated about the boys always wanting to stay in our side of the complex, and instead be mad about having to find my shoes and get dressed. Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I stomped my way up the hill and up the steps of the school, as though they would hear me and tremble before my annoyance. Only one section of school was all lit up, so I figured they were probably gathered in the ballroom. Slipping into the main entrance, I made my way down the halls. There was some kind of spooky music playing down the hall, which meant one of two things: that they were watching a horror flick, or Stein was conducting a musical. I opted for the first, because no slasher film could be scarier than that. I was pleasantly greeted when I stepped into the ballroom and found the students in their pajamas and all gathered around a television. Blood was splashing all over the place, so it didn't take many guesses towards which movie the chaperone had cast his vote for. Like I said, I was so not bitter about the whole collar thing. Which by the way, not only kept track of me, but monitored my heartbeat, blood pressure, and wavelength. How did I found out? Because today's lesson consisted of Stein posting a graph and asking us to determine patterns in my adrenaline levels. Yeah. But I was above being bitter.

"L.J.!" John waved at me. "Thanks for coming."

"Yeah, yeah, just take your junk." I muttered, handing the bag to him and turning around to go the way I came.

However, when I tried the door, it just made a little 'click' instead of moving like a good door should.

"What? Come on!" I banged on the insolent thing angrily.
"No one can leave after eight o' clock." Stein appeared out of bleeding nowhere, his glasses shining just as a blood-curdling scream erupted from the television.

Coincidence? I think not.

"B-but-"

"You made it just in time." John handed me the bag, and when I peered inside it, I saw a bunch my toiletries and other essentials stuffed inside.

Son of a bitch. That was it. Break out the white flags and 'Partner Wanted' fliers, because I was giving up on these boys.


"Oh, cheer up, L.J." Mary said, sitting back against the wall and toying with a bottle cap. "Someone with friends as cool as us shouldn't shut in as much as you do."

I literally bit my tongue to keep it from lashing at her.

"Yeah. Maybe if you had more fun with other students, you'd get that thing off your neck sooner." Adam added, trying and failing to juggle a couple of erasers so that one came and bounced off my head.

The way they were talking, you'd think I was some sort of recluse that only came out at twilight to feed on the blood of small goats. The movie had long since ended, and students were talking, playing board games, or (especially in Black Star's case) eating from the snack table.

"Oy, L.J." John poked my shoulder. "Isn't that Romeo over there, staring at an air vent?"

I followed his gaze, and saw Kid was indeed looking at an air vent over on the other end of the room.

"It's probably stunning him with its symmetrical quality." I shrugged, turning back to the book I was holding.

"L.J." Leah gripped my shoulder, "…Something's happening."

Leah was right. All around the gym, shouts and yells were beginning to erupt, all from the males in the room.

"What in the hell…!?" I stood up. "If this keeps up, it's going to get-"

A table soared through the air.

"-violent."

"What's going on? Adam!?" Leah gently nudged him, but he'd gone rigid, his face blank, as had Isaac and John.

I looked at the ground, where an odd orange smoke was creeping across the floor. I sprinted across the room towards the air vent, where Liz and Patti were trying to stir Kid. Looking up into the vent, I saw the orange smoke pooling and tumbling out of it and into the room.

"John!" I called.

"I'M BUSY!" He angrily shouted back, his voice shaking me.

What he was 'busy' doing was throwing furniture around the room. I spun in place-Stein was nowhere to be found. Which could be a good or bad thing, depending on how you looked at it. Kid was still staring into space with pupils the size of olives.

"Um…Kid?" I asked, joining in. "Kid? Ki-id?"

"It's no use, he's completely out of it!" Liz exclaimed, shaking him.

"Huh…OY, STRIPES, I'm talking to you!"

He blinked. Well, that was a start.

"Hey, you…oh."

How can I put into words what sort of expression he was wearing? Hm…he looked like a lopsided blob had just skipped up to him and called him an asymmetrical mass with wayside skunk streaks and no sense of organization. Oh, and that one of his shoes were untied.

Yeah. Just think on that a minute.

"Now Kid-"

'CRASH!'

"Ow…" I found myself in a pile of rubble and broken plaster. "You threw me through a WALL!?'

He had indeed, and I had the boulders in my shoes to prove it.

"L.J.! Are you okay?" I looked up and saw Maka and Leah standing over me.

"Uh, yeah." I cracked my shoulder back into place with some difficulty as I stumbled over the debris. "Where's Mary?"

"We got separated. Ugh, what is going on? It's like the guys don't even recognize us anymore!" Leah groaned.

"I don't know. Where's Stein?" I asked, jog-limping down the hall as my leg healed.

"I saw him rush out a bit before the smoke started flowing in." Maka explained, striding beside us as we came to the front doors.

"We've got to find a teacher." Leah said, pushing against the doors. "What the hell!? It's stuck!"

"What?" I shoved my weight against it, and sure enough, it stayed firmly in place.

"Guys, look!" Maka pointed at a nearby window, which was coated with green sludge from the outside.

We couldn't even go to Lord Death for help, as he was in a different segment of the school. So we were trapped in part of the building with no teacher and a bunch of badass male classmates that were pumped up on testosterone to keep us company, which rendered most of us without our weapons. Someone serious was clearly not our biggest fan. There were footsteps behind us, and I turned slowly around to see a very angry looking Soul, Adam and Kid standing behind us.

"Aw, hell." Leah groaned, cracking her knuckles. "Maka, think you can talk some sense into your partner?"

"I'll try." She nodded.

"Leah, be care-Agh!"

BANG.

"I am so SICK of you kicking me into stuff!" I shouted, pushing myself off of the cemented doors. "It was just a comment about your hair, for crying out loud! GET OVER IT!"

But this was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Kid dropped into some weird fighting stance (A/N I don't get that 'stance of crime' he sometimes pulls. I mean, one gun'll be pointed at the sky, and the other at his foot! What's up with that?) and stared at me with the same weird look in his eyes-pupils dilated, and brow furrowed into a definite glare, so that he looked furious and half-asleep at the same time. Kid came at me so fast I barely registered the movement before aimed a kick at my head. I dodged just in time, but five minutes into the fight it became apparent that while I spent my weekends partying and napping, he had been out god-knows-where training. Because quite frankly, I was getting my ass kicked. The blows came so fast that I was forced entirely on the defense, not able to tell where one attack stopped before another was sent my way. I did manage to made contact with him a fair amount of times, even knocking him into a pillar. But each blow I landed seemed to only anger him more, and it's not like I actually wanted to hurt him…yet. However, if Kid hit me in the stomach one more time, I might change my mind. I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see Leah thrown into a classroom, and he took the opportunity to grab me by the neck and slam my head into the floor. It hurt. A lot. Stars twinkled, danced, and mocked me as they spotted across my vision. The tiles under me were cracked and shattered and the ground felt like it was shaking. I tried to get up, but my head couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down. I was wondering if attempted murder would be a liable cause for divorce and waiting for him to give a final blow when I suddenly felt…rain. Wait, what? Was I in heaven? I looked around groggily and saw Stein standing over me.

Dammit. I was in hell.

But I felt someone pull me to my feet, and upon realizing it was Maka, the world began to slide back into place. I was still in the school, still alive, and it was the sprinkler system I had felt, not rain. The boys seemed jarred, looking around as if unsure of what had happened. I was drenched to the bone, but couldn't really care much about that while I was convinced a piece of the floor was sticking out of my head, what with the throbbing increasing with every dull heart beat.

"Where the hell did you go?" I heard myself say, looking at Stein.

"I felt a witch's presence in the city and went to investigate." He said solemnly, which I found odd.

There was something off about his lack of a slasher's grin or ever-faithful office chair. I looked at the front door, and the goop that had glued the doors shut was half-disintegrated. My groggy mind figured that whatever had made the ground shake was what had destroyed the barrier.

"How'd you know we were in trouble?" Leah asked, rubbing her side.

"L.J.'s collar detected that her heart rate and adrenaline levels were off the charts." Stein replied, waving a small device around.

My eyes narrowed. Of course.

"The other teachers are already taking care of the other students. That witch must've lowered her soul protect just long enough to infect the air conditioning system with a hormonal manipulative substance. We'll send out a search, but she's probably long gone by now."

"And?" Maka too had noticed Stein's unusually somber attitude. "What else happened?"

Stein crushed up his cigarette, and my eyes grew wide. Now it was serious.

"Come with me."

We followed Stein outside, Maka supporting me and the boys still looking dazed. When we were on the front steps, we saw it. A large symbol of some sort of bird, with its wings outstretched and its head tilted back was stamped on the very front of the school.

"Oh my god."

"That's not all." Stein said, hands in his pockets. "Something was stolen from DWMA while we were all kept busy."

"What?"

"A special serum capable of depowering and, if taken in extreme dosage, killing Forces."

This was just not my month.

Okay, bear in mind that I wrote more or less the last four pages all in one night, and at 4 AM. I'm going to get some sleep now, and look over it again when I wake up, and edit it if necessary. But right now, I just wanna ship something out so you know I'm still alive. Next one'll be up in a couple days, once I catch up in homework. Oh, I might be drawing a picture of L.J. one of these days and posting it up as my profile pic, FYI. And while you're there, take one of my polls! I'll change them every now and then to get your opinions. Hugs! OriginalAlienSuperspy. Sooo…sleepy…