Chapter 14: Kai: Running the Final Stretch; Trapped in the Eternal Maze? Pt. 5

"We really need to get you fixed up!" Liz pointed out a few minutes later, after I had given the three an explanation for my disheveled and bloody state.

I shrugged, not really bothered by it anymore as my dormant black blood was buzzing slightly, healing up the wounds. "I'll live. What I'm worried about most is Black*Star." My eyes went several shades darker just thinking about his situation.

"You look so angry!" Patty giggled, tapping my nose with her finger.

"Your bond must be very strong," Kid mused.

Standing up, I couldn't do much else than shrug again and hide my blush. As a meister and a weapon, our bond was very strong. Stronger than most, at least. I felt as if Maka and Soul should have had the same level of resonance by now, but I had never talked to the other girl about it. Just the idea of sharing what it felt like to resonate with Black*Star felt strange to me, like I was telling someone this big secret about our relationship. Whatever.

"I need to get going."

Patty and Liz shared a look, obviously disapproving, and Kid just straight up shook his head. "You're coming with us, Kai. I don't know what my father was thinking, putting pre-kishin in this maze, but I sure as hell can't let you go off by yourself!"

I tried to hide my thankfulness, but I couldn't. A small smile graced my face for a few seconds before I turned away, feeling out the area. It seemed like, by this point in the maze, kishin were few and far between, so there wasn't one within my ability's reach. As far as people went, however… "How are we behind Snow and Tsubaki?"

After a whimper, Kid sunk to the ground and curled into another ball. "I know! It's disgraceful!"

Oh dear Death.

Black*Star made sure to move at a ruthless pace, doing his best to tire out his tag-along. Merle, infuriatingly, kept up with him. She was always smirking, which was annoying as fuck, and Black*Star would have given anything for a reason to just punch her. However, since her confusing comment about being able to help him defeat god, she had been completely silent. Nothing, not even watching him dispatching a kishin with his bare hands, had even caused her to make a peep. Inwardly he was struggling with just punching her and getting it over with or saving it until he found his weapon. Either way… that bitch deserved a good ass-kicking.

In other news, Black*Star was getting really damn thirsty. The parched sensation in his throat was nearing the level of discomfort, but a big star like him could handle it! That is, until he could barely feel his tongue. How the hell could he get dehydrated this quickly? It wasn't like he'd been skimping on the h2o (a stars' got to stay at his fittest!) so there was no reason to be so suddenly dried out. And, since he had neglected to bring any water, the only other choice was…

With a scowl, Black*Star turned back to his shadow. "Do you have any water?"

The grin that lit her face up was discomforting. "Water? Of course! I have a bottle with me now! Want some?"

He simply grunted and turned away, stretching out a hand towards her, trying not to look like he was hiding a blush (which he was). Though he would never admit it, sometimes his lack of preparedness was a little embarrassing. Big stars like him should be able to remember stupid shit! But whatever, that's why he had Kai. She could be as lazy as he was but most of the time she had everything taken care of – even if they did have take-out more than they had home-cooked meals. Merle placed a bottle into Black*Star's hand and he shoved it into his mouth and tipped it back, nearly groaning in relief when the coolness hit his throat. Why was it so fucking hot all of a sudden?

"God, it feels like a friggin' desert in here!" Black*Star kept the bottle in his grip and started walking through the maze again, praying for a wind to cool his skin. He was sweating like a fucking pig by now, and had nearly drank the entire bottle of water. Part of him felt bad for drinking it so fast, but most of him agreed that it was fine punishment for Merle being a bitch. Let her die of thirst!

Drinking the water had energized him, and now his footsteps were lighter. Something in his gut told him that they were nearly at the end of the maze. Just a few more minutes and they would win! Kai, though, was the important thing. Black*Star did his best to focus on his own personal meaning to finishing: he could check on Kai. They could watch on the T.V. right? So the sooner he got done, the sooner he could make sure his weapon was okay and not being devoured by some jackass kishin.

Why the fuck was his brain so fuzzy?

Black*Star gulped down more water to clear his head, and his pace increased once more. If he had bothered to look behind him he would have noticed that Merle had no trouble keeping up anymore, but was always just a step behind him. The orange-haired girl seemed hardy put off by the loss of her water bottle, instead noticeably raking the meister with her eyes while he drank, her own gray ones growing brighter by the second. She, too, could tell that the end of the maze was near. Hell, she could sense it. Her entire being was humming with the thought of finishing with Black*Star. What would everyone say about the meister-less weapon when she had one of the greatest assassins of their time on her arm?

But there was more to that.

The pair rounded a corner, and there it was. Standing taller than anyone could have ever hoped to jump, glowing and glorious and otherworldly. Beside it stood a single mirror with a sign next to it: "Knock Knock!" What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"42-42-564, if you want to knock on Death's door." Merle mumbled, stepping up beside the assassin and peering around his shoulder. "My guess is that he has something to tell us."

Black*Star shot the carrot-top a dirty look before stepping forward and breathing on the glass, writing the digits in the condensation. Almost immediately Lord Death popped up in the mirror looking as cheerful as ever.

"Hiya Black*Star! Hiya Kai!"

Both teens reacted angrily, Black*Star snarling and Merle nearly hissing. "I am not Kai!"

Lord Death blinked in shock for a few seconds, obviously needing a moment to process. The resemblance between the girls was actually very strange if one were to consider it. Without proper lighting Merle's orange locks resembled Kai's blood-red strands, and though her eyes were several shades bluer, mirror-calls weren't exactly HD quality. With Black*Star beside her, it was nearly impossible to tell. After apologizing profusely, to which both the bluenette and his weapon's look-like simply glared, Lord Death gave up on consoling the two and moved on.

"Black*Star, where is Kai, exactly?" the Shinigami questioned, slightly worried but mostly just curious. The two never seemed to be apart, and it was strange that they would have separated in a place such as the Eternal Maze, anyways.

"Ask her," was the assassin's only response, his pissed-off expression only increasing.

"Hmm," Lord Death considered it, then seemed to turn away from the screen and say something to someone in the background. After another moment he returned, looking slightly distressed. "Black*Star, you cannot continue without your weapon. This next obstacle is the resonance wall. It's designed to test the strength of a pair's resonance or, in Merle's case, the strength of someone's soul wavelength attack. And everything has been pre-programmed for each pair, so unless you and Merle plan on going through together, you're unable to cross through."

"What?" Black*Star yelped, his hands fisting. "You mean to tell me I've made it all the way here and now I have to let her win? No way in hell she deserves it any more than I do! She friggin' sabotaged me and my weapon! How the hell am I supposed to just let her through?"

Two big blocky shoulders shrugged as Lord Death nervously shifted his weight around in front of the meister. "I'm sorry Black*Star, but there's nothing that can be done. All I can do is give her a time penalty, but that won't help the situation much, I'm afraid."

Black*Star fumed, glaring at the mirror and then at Merle, then finally just closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths. His competitive nature was getting the better of him, he knew, but somehow he just couldn't let this go. Merle didn't deserve to beat anyone after the stunt she had pulled. Kai could be hurt. Someone could have gotten seriously injured, and yet all that stupid orange-haired freak could do was stand there and smirk at him like somehow she'd won the lottery. Like somehow she knew what was going on in his head. That was a thought that made him even angrier, knowing that she thought she knew him well enough to predict his moves. She probably thought he was going to stay and wait for Kai and let her go on. After all, the entire time he'd been almost 100% focused on getting his weapon back by his side.

No, he wouldn't let Merle win. At all.

"What if we went through together?" Black*Star asked through gritted teeth, nearly biting his own tongue in his aggression.

Seeming to consider this, Lord Death scratching his chin. "Well, if Kai knows how to attack with her soul wavelength then I'm sure it will all work out. As long as you and Merle can resonate."

Black*Star knew that Kai did, in fact, know how to attack with her wavelength. It was a move he'd taught her months ago during their Exchange Program days. What he didn't know is whether or not she would be strong enough to match whatever ridiculous standard that Lord Death and his Assistants of Torture had set for Merle. "How strong does her attack have to be?"

"She'll have to be able to match the strength of Merle's own attack," Lord Death said hesitantly, "but-"

Just like that, the meister's good mood returned tenfold: "She'll just have to match that weakling?" He laughed loudly, hooking a thumb at the still-smirking Merle. "Then we have no problem! All we gotta' do is hit the damn thing while we're resonating, right? And the purple wall will break? Alright, this is gonna' be a piece of cake!"

"Yes, Black*Star, that's what you have to do, but there's something you should kn-"

"Don't worry about it, Lord Death! My weapon has been trained to defeat god! There's no way such a simple little thing like Merle could be stronger than her!" Then, turning to the girl he waved her over. "Come on, we're getting through this damn wall."

Merle's smirk only grew darker, and in a flash of vibrant green light she dropped into Black*Star's hands as a longsword. It was an uncomfortable fit at first, but after a moment she seemed to adjust in his hand, fitting her wavelength with his in an all-too familiar manner. Somehow her wavelength felt an awful lot like Kai's, though at the same time it felt much darker; much more violent. The edge was something Black*Star was unused to, but found that his soul fit with it rather easily.

"Let's go, soul resonance!" He shouted, feeling the power build up as their wavelengths meshed. Dust spun around them, creating a small cyclone, and the air seemed to vibrate with power. Merle was oddly silent, but he could feel her emotions in the bond: a focused determination, a relaxed center, and a… feeling of triumph? But there was no time to figure out why. With a battle cry, Black*Star raised the weapon over his head and leapt towards the wall with all of his strength.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long for this one! The Eternal Maze is getting a little long for me, so I jumped ahead and started planning other chapters, and then I started watching Free!, and anyone else whose watch Free! knows that once you get hooked, you're kind of stuck... so that spawned an idea for another fic, which will most likely be written very shortly after this one, depending on a few different factors (which we'll discuss later).

As always: review, comment, and follow! Ciao, ducklings!