A/N: Hey everyone, here's chapter 1. I just want to thank everyone that reviewed, favorited, and alerted the prologue. It really means a lot to me. Um, also, please forgive any errors you come across in this chapter. I really wanted to get it out before the weekend, but I do plan on combing through it more thoroughly and, if I find errors, will promptly correct them! Hope you all have a nice weekend, thanks, and enjoy!
Long Road to Ruin
Chapter 1: Black and Blue
Soul was in the hospital a lot longer than he ever expected. Then again, the damage he took from their battle with Elizabeth Bathory was greater than he initially thought. Being flung sixty feet was bad enough, but the worst of the damage was done when Elizabeth's last ditch effort to survive was a shockwave of power that coursed through his body. It did internal damage, causing bleeding in numerous places within his body.
It was lucky one of the people sent to back them up was Stein. If it had been anyone else from Shibusen, someone without the extensive medical knowledge, Soul wouldn't have made it half-way back to the school.
Spirit and Stein had just gotten back from a mission a little while after Maka and Soul left. Worried that Elizabeth Bathory was more than they could handle, Shinigami-sama sent the two after them.
"But we just got back," Spirit had whined. "I want and cheeseburger and a beer."
But when Shinigami-sama told him who had gone and who it was they were after, he was out the door before he even had all the details.
It was Spirit who held Maka as she sobbed into his shirt, the most she'd let her father touch in her in recent memory.
"I was supposed to protect him," Maka had said as she clutched at her father's shirt. "This wasn't supposed to happen again."
Before they left the battlefield, Stein did the best he could to staunch any external bleeding and set Soul's broken leg before they were on the move, racing to get back before, as Stein said, the seizures set in. That meant things were taking a turn for the worst and he wouldn't have long.
Stein used his meager first aid kit to treat Soul as well as he could away from his lab. When there wasn't any more he could do, he treated and bandaged Maka's face, and waited. It was all they could do.
Spirit and Stein quickly debated whether they should take Soul to a local hospital, but it was dismissed. Sure, they would be able to stop the bleeding, but there was no way they would be able to treat the latent damaged caused by Elizabeth's desperate eleventh-hour assault. Stein was one of the few people qualified to do so and, as far as they knew, his lab was the closest place that had the equipment to save Soul's life.
Several times during the ride back to Shibusen, as Spirit pushed the helicopter as fast as he possibly could, Soul came too. He never seemed to be aware of much that was going on around him. Clinical as ever, Stein at one point tried explaining to him what he was doing, but Soul's eyes never left Maka's, and he passed out again half way through the elucidation.
Spirit looked back several times at what was going on behind him. He looked miserably at his daughter's pale, weary face as she looked down at her partner, holding one of his hands in both of her own. While he initially disliked the boy, fearing he would drive a greater wedge between father and daughter, Spirit knew what the loss of her partner and best friend would do to Maka. And even Spirit had to admit that, as evidenced by the boy's current state, he cared for Maka and would do anything to safeguard her.
As a weapon himself, Spirit had to admire Soul. The boy had grit and perseverance and a protective streak a mile wide, even if he sometimes worked to hide it. Spirit now wanted nothing more than for the boy to be okay, to recover, because, during the war with the kishin, Arachne, and Medusa, he knew his daughter was lucky to have a weapon so loyal.
Spirit, if his observational skills were worth a damn, and they were, knew Soul loved his daughter. If he was smart enough to do that, to love Maka, then he was more than alright in Spirit's book.
When they finally made it back to Shibusen, Soul was immediately rushed to Stein's laboratory. He actually had more medical equipment in his lab than the school's dispensary.
Outside, they'd rushed past Black Star and Tsubaki. Maka saw the way Black Star paled when his eyes land on Soul's prone body held tightly in Spirit's arms. Wordlessly, Maka grabbed Black Star's hand and they followed Stein and her father, Tsubaki trailing behind them.
"What happened?" Black Star asked, his voice gruff, raspy. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and eyes squeezed shut tight. Tsubaki stood next to him, glancing between Black Star and Maka, who was crouched on the ground, arms wrapped tight around her legs.
Once inside the building, Spirit told the kids to wait in the hall while he went to find Nygus to help out. From inside the lab, they could hear the faint hum of a machine. It Maka's mind, it almost sounded like a buzzsaw.
Maka looked up at Black Star, attempting to open her mouth. Rather than words, a strangled gurgle issued forth and she broke down into chest heaving sobs. Tsubaki ran to Maka's side and wrapped her arms around the shaking girl.
Black Star opened his eyes and stared at the two girls in front of him. He regretted asking, knowing it had to be bad if Maka was losing it like she was. Nygus and Spirit came sprinting down the hallway then, right past them, and into the laboratory.
They heard Nygus ask, "What are his stats?" before the door slammed shut. After that, there was silence.
After a while, Black Star crossed the hall and sat on the other side of Maka. He wrapped his arm around the girl. He locked eyes with Tsubaki over Maka's head and he saw his own fears displayed across her face, the fear of losing someone close, of losing a friend.
Abruptly, Maka clutched her stomach and retched in front of her. She spent several minutes dry heaving, while Tsubaki went to the bathroom and returned with a wet rag and several lengths of paper towel. She wordlessly handed the rag to Black Star who placed it on Maka's forehead, and cleaned up the mess before disposing of it in the bathroom. She returned and sat back down on Maka's other side.
They sat like that for an indefinite amount of time before the sound of running footsteps greeted them long before Kid, Liz, Patty, and Crona appeared before them.
"I just heard," Kid said, out of breath. "Soul…is he…?"
"We don't know," Black Star said. "He's in surgery."
"Maka," Crona said, kneeling before the girl, tucking disheveled hair behind Maka's ear.
Kid sat down across from them, his brow furrowed in worried.
"Sissy," Patty said, hanging onto her sister's arm, "what's going on?"
Liz looked ashen. "He have to wait, Patty. Soul is in surgery right now."
Patty frowned, wrapping her arms Liz. "Is Soul going to be okay?"
Liz looked down at her sister, but didn't answer, couldn't bring herself to say the words they were all thinking.
We don't know.
Several hours passed before Stein emerged from the lab, Spirit on his heels. In the meantime, Kid had ordered them all food and drinks from a nearby place. Most of them just picked at their food, Maka not touching hers at all. Tsubaki did manage to drink half her soda after several minutes of trying.
Maka stood immediately when they walked out, her eyes wide and hands clutched in front of her chest. Spirit noted the red rims around her eyes, how they were puffy and bloodshot.
"How is he?" she asked, her voice timid. "How is Soul?"
Stein smiled reassuringly at her, resting a hand atop her shoulder. "The worst is over."
The sigh that left her body was visible to all, her slumped shoulders perking up slightly. Spirit walked over and wrapped an arm around his daughter and surprisingly, she leaned into it.
Continuing on, Stein said, "We were able to stop all the internal bleeding and repair the damage in his lungs. His broken leg and ribs have been cared for and the blood transfusion went well.
"What I was most worried about was the shock wave Bathory sent through his body right before she died. I was able to neutralize it, though there may be some side effects from it for some time, such as muscle spasms and numbness. I did see some evidence of shock to her nervous system. Depending on how the next few days go, he'll probably have to go through physical therapy to regain full control over his body.
"But," Stein said, smiling, "he's awake, which is a good sign. He's pretty doped up on pain killers at the moment, but you can go see him."
Maka rushed from her father's side and into the lab. Spotting Soul lying in a bad in the back corner hooked up to a bunch of machines. His eyes seemed to brighten when he saw her. She wanted to fling herself at him, into his arms, but she knew that would do more harm than good. Instead, she grasped his hand, bringing it to her lips and kissing it. His smile widened.
His eyes were glazed from the effects of the pain killers, but he seemed alert. The rest of their friends gathered in around Maka, but Soul barely glanced at them, seeming more at ease than they had for several hours.
"You're so pretty, Maka," Soul said, slurring his words some. He laced his fingers through her and grinned that wide toothy grin of his. "I don't know why I never tell you that, but it's true."
Maka smiled back down at him, wiping a tear away with her free hand. The movement caught Soul's attention and touched the wet trail down her cheek with fascination.
"I'm so glad I finally kissed you," he said. "I've wanted to for a long time now."
Patty giggled, Tsubaki blushed, and Spirit cleared his throat. "I do not need to be hearing this," he muttered.
The sound brought Soul's attention to Spirit. His eyes widened. "Whoa, Spirit, did you know your head is on fire?" He watched the bright red flames flicker around Spirit's head with amusement.
Patty guffawed, pointing at Spirit's head. "It does look like it's on fire, Sissy!"
Stein chuckled. "Ah yes, there is a trace of hallucinogen in the pain killers I gave him."
"So what's Patty's excuse?" Liz asked, a bit embarrassed that Patty would say something like that to such a high-raking weapon, and a Deathscythe at that.
It wasn't long before Stein ushered them all from the lab, informing them that Soul needed to rest. Before Maka left, Soul had attempted to pull her to him for a kiss but, realized what he was doing, Maka laid a kiss atop his head. Her face was flushed when she pulled away and her father refused to quite meet her eyes when she looked at him.
"We should report to Shinigami-sama now, Maka," Spirit said, leading her from the room. She nodded, throwing one last look at Soul, before allowing herself to be ushered from the room.
"Can they all come with me, Papa?" Maka asked, pointing at her friends. "I think they want to know what happened and it might be easier for me to give the report with them there."
Smiling down at his daughter, Spirit said, "That's fine with me."
"Oh, are we having a party?" Shinigami-sama asked when the all walked into the room. He clapped his hands together.
"No Father," Kid said, smiling at his father.
"So how is Soul doing? I heard he was injured."
"Soul has a long journey ahead of him," Spirit said, "but he'll be fine. Actually, Maka's here to give her report," Spirit said. He ushered Maka forward so she could sit across from Shinigami-sama at his table.
Her father and friends gathered around her, Tsubaki laying a reassuring hand on Maka's shoulder.
"Whenever you're ready, Maka."
They had arrived at the small Argentine village around two in the afternoon. It didn't take long before one of the villagers pointed them to a dilapidated mansion built by a wealthy plantation owner after the country became colonized by the Spanish. The villager, a middle-aged woman with long black hair streaked with white, told them of the whispers of a phantom haunting the property, snatching away their children in the dead of night. She said that they would find the girls' bodies in ditches and behind buildings, their throats and wrists slit and bodies drained of blood.
No one was sure how the girls kept going missing. There was never any evidence of break-ins, no broken locks or windows. There girls were there when they went to bed at night but just gone when their families woke up in the morning. One man even sat up all night staring the door with a rifle in his hand, but both his daughters were gone the next morning, their bedroom window still nail shut from the inside.
As the approached, they saw that the property was overrun by trees and weeds and ramshackle garden sheds. Windows were broken and the house seemed to be nearly stripped of paint from age. The fancy woodwork was weathered into or broken nubs and the front porch was more sunken to the ground than not. Graffiti covered much of the ground floor of the mansion, lewd words and pictures sprawled across. It made Maka mutter under her breath and even Soul had to frown at the juvenility of it all.
The plan was to sneak into the mansion and corner Elizabeth Bathory so she had less a chance of escape. They would corner and then do battle and afterwards, Soul would gulp down her soul and they would be one closer to their ninety- nine soul requisite. Sure, it wasn't much of a plan really, but it was the best they had and they tended to work better when they just winged it anyway.
Elizabeth must have had traps set up to warn her of intruders because she was on them even before they made it half way across the back yard. The sky erupted then, torrential rains falling down upon them. Lightning zipped across the sky above them, followed almost instantaneously by crashing booms of thunder. Briefly, Maka wondered if the weather was Elizabeth's doing as the sky had been blue and sunny only minutes before.
Soul transformed into his scythe mode, and Maka caught, quickly taking a fighting stance before the enemy.
"So," Elizabeth said, "more from Shibusen have come to try and kill me. How utterly predictable."
What surprised Maka was not that Elizabeth knew where they came from, but Elizabeth herself. She looked hardly older than fourteen, around Maka's height. She was thin, her skin a medium brown, hair long, straight, and black and it became drenched with rainwater. Her voice was that of an Argentinian, nothing like the European woman Maka was expecting.
"You're Elizabeth Bathory?" Maka asked, eyes narrowing.
She laughed then, bringing her slim hand to her mouth. "More or less," she said. "Or, as they like to say in these parts, mas o menos." She laughed again.
"You mean you world renowned meisters and weapons from Shibusen still haven't figured it out?"
Maka didn't answer, simply narrowing her eyes further.
Elizabeth chuckled, running fingers through her hair. "I guess you haven't," she said humorlessly. "I've just gotten a new batch and you're about to die, so it wouldn't do any harm if I showed you."
She grabbed what looked like a pitcher from atop a nearby stone table. She began to raise the pitcher above her head. "It's simple really. A simple slash into the soft skin of a girl, and I collect the blood. It isn't any more difficult than that." She laughed again, but this time it sounded more like a cackle.
When the pitcher was raised high above her head, Elizabeth tipped it. Dark, thick red blood surged from the pitcher onto her head, drenching her. The blood plastered her hair and dress to her body. When Elizabeth opened her eyes, it looked like two pits lying in a black void.
Maka felt her stomach quicken and she hoped she could keep her lunch down. She could smell the blood from where she stood.
"What the hell?" Soul asked, his face gleaming across the blade of the weapon. "What is she doing?"
"I don't know," Maka said in a low voice, her eyes never leaving Elizabeth.
The blood began running down her body to pool at her feet. As the rain washed more of it away, Maka jumped with a start. The face staring back at her was not the face she had seen only moments before. This one staring back at her was a few years older, dark eyes staring vivaciously back. Maka watched as her breasts grew, her hips widened and waist narrowed, and Elizabeth sprouted up several inches.
"See," Elizabeth said, stepping towards them, "it's so simple. It's how I've managed to hide for so long. I can look like anyone I want. I just need their blood."
Maka felt the revulsion, the horror, building inside her. It festered until she couldn't think, could hardly breathe. Before she knew what she was doing, Maka was running towards her, scythe raised high.
Maka brought it down. Elizabeth raised her arm, knocking the blow from where it would have struck her in the chest. It left a long stripe of blood down the length of her forearm. Maka raised Soul again and this time Elizabeth jumped back just in time. It wasn't long before she was covered in cuts and gashes. Her eyes looked terrified and Maka was glad of it. She wanted this woman who had done so much damage to pay for her crimes. She had been human at once, but that was a long time ago, each sin adding up. Surely, if left to her own devices, Elizabeth Bathory would one day become a kishin. It was almost amazing that she hadn't already become one.
That was when Elizabeth grabbed the handle of the scythe just as Maka was about to swing it. her grip was tight and she was strong, stronger than she looked. She sucker-punched Maka in the stomach. The next thing Maka knew, Soul was wrenched from her hands and she was being gripped tight by the neck, nails digging into Maka's throat.
"You know," Elizabeth said, looking up at Maka with a bemused expression, "you're really a pretty girl. I bet you drive all sorts of boys wild. Like that partner of yours over there."
She jerked her head in the general direction of where Soul lay on the ground. "I think I could use you. Drag you off and slit your throat open while your partner's still sawing logs. I use your blood, transform into you, and then while I'm back at Shibusen learning it up, I take out my biggest threat from the inside."
Elizabeth grinned up at her. Using her free hand, she ran her fingers through one of Maka's pigtails. "It's been a while since I've been a blonde," she said.
The grip Elizabeth had on Maka's throat began to tighten. Maka screamed before Elizabeth's hand squeezed and cut it off. The rain began coming down harder, hard enough that Maka had to strain her ears and still couldn't hear what Elizabeth was saying.
And then Maka was landing in a puddle on her butt. Elizabeth loomed over her, eyes widening before she screamed and fell to the ground. Soul stood there for a moment, arm a scythe blade, before he collapsed on the ground.
"Thank you for sharing that, Maka," Shinigami-sama said.
Maka nodded, feeling the tight grip of her father's hand on her shoulder. It was reassuring actually. Since the battle with the kishin, Maka and Spirit had been forming a tentative relationship. About once a week at least, they would try to get together for dinner. They were extremely awkward at first, but as the weeks passed, they became easier and easier. Sometimes, Soul came with them or some of Maka's other friends. Once even Stein and Marie had crashed a dinner. Spirit liked getting to know the people Maka held most dear to her.
They didn't usually talked about Maka's mother since it was still a sore subject for both of them, but overall, Spirit liked the way things were going. Even if it wasn't exactly Maka's business, he'd stopped going to the bars and had taken to drinking his alcohol in front of the television with a bowl of potato chips on his laps. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but it made him feel better and that's what counted, right?
As they left Shinigami-sama, Maka looked up at her dad where he walked next to her, and asked, "Is it okay if I stay with you tonight, Papa? I don't want to be at home tonight, not when Soul's not there."
Spirit's face softened. "Of course, Maka. You're always welcome to my home. Anytime you want."
Maka smiled back. "Thanks, Papa."
When they arrived back at Spirits apartment, he ushered his daughter into a seat and set about making them some dinner. They ate the chicken and rice in silence. Afterwards, when they were each nursing cups of tea, he leaned forward and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Talk about what, Papa?" Maka asked, pouring more tea into her cup. They were once that they'd had since she was a little girl and she'd always loved them for the delicate purple flowers and graced the porcelain. While there used to be an entire set of them, there were few of the cups left because of her clumsiness as a child.
Maka eyed the lilacs and sighed.
"Maka, you went through a lot today. You almost died, you almost lost your partner. You helped take down one of the worst villains on the planet. You have to be feeling something." Spirit's voice was full of concern.
"That was Soul."
He frowned at his daughter. "What's that?"
"That was Soul. That took down Elizabeth Bathory. Before that, she was just toying with us." Maka sighed again, stretching. "Papa, I just got down talking about it all with Shinigami-sama. I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Spirit nodded. "I understand. I do have a question for you though."
"What is it, Papa?"
Looking right at her, he narrowed his eyes and asked, "So what's going on between you and Soul?"
Instantaneously, Maka's face turned crimson. "What do you mean?"
Spirit laughed, he couldn't help it. His daughter just looked so cute when she was embarrassed. "C'mon Maka, I wasn't born yesterday. Papa knows a thing or two, believe it or not."
She remained quiet, picking at her cuticles.
"Throw your Papa a bone, would you? He tried to kiss you when you left earlier."
"Um," Maka said, clearing her throat, "well, right after he killed Elizabeth Bathory, I was checking on him, and…we kissed. And then he told me he loved me, Papa." Her face remained flushed.
Taking a sip of his tea, Spirit asked, "How do you feel about him?" Maka's face, if possible, deepened in color. Inwardly, he groaned.
Spirit couldn't say that he hadn't seen this coming. It was bound to happen one day, even if Soul hadn't been the one. His daughter was beautiful and smart and kind. He'd just hoped it would be a few more years before he'd have to deal with this.
After she remained silent for a long time, he laced his hands together and looked hard at her. "I understand, Maka, believe me, I do. You care for him, and that's okay. I hate to say it, but he's probably going to need you now. According to Stein, Soul will probably have a long road ahead of him full of rehabilitation and physical therapy. There's a chance he'll have to relearn to do a lot of things. Stein didn't say it before, but he told me that Soul's entire nervous system got scrambled.
"The two of you will have to relearn to fight together, Maka."