A/N: Hey everybody. Sorry this one took me so long, but I was on a short-to-long Hiatus. In that time, I attempted to improve my writing style and detail skills. This Chapter is short, but only because it's more or less an experiment on the new techniques I'm trying. Enjoy!
Smoke rose over Death City as the Doctor, Black Star, and Tsubaki as a chain and sickle, rushed towards the source. The trio was dashing furiousy towards the smoke, when two familiar faces pulled up from an adjacent alleyway.
"Hey, guys." Soul called, almost out of breath.
"Soul and Maka!" Tsubaki shouted. "So you heard it too?"
"Who didn't hear it?" Maka yelled. "That explosion shook all of Death City!"
"What was it?" Soul asked, pulling up beside the Doctor.
"Something very bad." The Doctor said, as they pulled around the corner to confront the cause of the explosion. What they found was unexpected, to say the least.
Bits of ash and rubble covered the ground around a gaping black hole now in the center of the plaza. Water spewed into the abyss from the pipes where the fountain used to draw water from. Dust was still settling in the air. For the nearby buildings, the glass was completely shattered, and some even went up in flame, causing stacks of billowing smoke to rise into the air slowly. Police officers and pedestrians scrambled in a struggle to help each other rescue others from the hole and put out the fires.
"Whoa." Soul gasped.
"Whoa indeed." The Doctor said, running towards the hole. "It appears as if it exploded from the inside. Caused by…" The Doctor picked up a rock and sniffed it. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned it. "…Tricoglycenium Siitate. Interesting" The Doctor paused, studying the black burn pattern in the rock. "What does this look like to you?" He held it up to Maka's face.
"Uh… Er… Explosion lines?" She stammered, caught off guard.
"Yes, but very funny, these explosion lines." He threw the rock into the abyss. "They show the explosion coming from the inside, but the explosion itself happened under the rock."
"Gas main explosion?" Maka asked.
"No… the pattern of lines and the material used don't add up to any gas main. This was man made…" The Doctor looked at the group of kids around him.
"And?" Black Star urged him to get on with it.
"…and whatever caused it is down there." The Doctor pointed back at the hole.
"Why didn't you say so?" Soul and Black Star almost said simultaneously as they rushed at the hole. The Doctor tried to object, but not before the two of them jumped in head first, leaving Maka alone to grieve the stupidity of her partner.
"God, Soul…"
"Companions. They just…" The Doctor trailed off.
"Never listen?" She finished.
The Doctor gave a reaffirming smile as he reached out for Maka's hand. She took it, and the two of them jumped into the pit.
"Do you think that they'll make it out alive?" One man asked.
"They have to." Lord Death responded, watching the group dive in from his mirror.
"They won't last you know." Another man said. "And plus…"
"Don't say it, Spirit…"
"…You're sending in my daughter!" Spirit Albarn screamed. His hair was almost as red as his passion for other women. He wore a clean cut black suit with a red undershirt and black leather shoes.
"I know" was Lord Death's only response. He seemed to watch the screen intently.
"Well then, you know we must go in and get them. Come on, spirit." The man attempted to snap Spirit out of his tantrum.
"Wait, Stein." Lord Death halted Stein mid-step. "Not yet. They can handle themselves… for now."
"And when they're in danger?" Stein asked calmly.
"Then you may go and help them."
"…Very well." Professor Stein walked out of the death room and back to his classroom. One thought was on his mind.
If Lord Death didn't wear that mask, I could have sworn he was smiling.