After school everyone went to the Dispensary to visit Akira.
"They're sleeping, it would be in your own interests to keep it that way," Mira said, a slight threat in her voice.
"Don't worry, we'll be quiet." Maka assured her.
Mira took a long, pointed look at BlackStar, and pulled back the curtain.
"W-why are they… gray?" Tsubaki asked quietly.
"Apparently that's their natural color or something." said Liz.
"So what really happened?" Blackstar asked angrily, "Gimme the details."
"Well, this woman showed up out of some blinding light and attacked Akira, then they yelled at us to call his dad so we did, then some black spikes came out of the alleyway we were near, and a knife, and killed the woman. The spikes went through Akira's arm to get to the lady," she said, pointing to the bandages going from Akira's shoulder to wrist, "and he got stabbed under the ribs. Stein said he fixed that though."
"Liz told Lord Death that she saw some girl about my age in a purple cloak with silver boots in the alleyway, so she must have been the one who killed the lady." Patty exclaimed in a lowered voice.
"Silver boots? Isn't it a bit warm out for that?"
"Yeah, they looked like metal, and had some sort of weird tree design on them. But she was wearing a cloak, whatever weird fashion statement she's trying to make clearly is for all weather," Liz muttered.
"Tree like?" Maka asked.
"Yeah."
"Hm."
"What?" Soul asked, glancing at his meister's thoughtful look.
"Well, yesterday, on our way back from here, Akira told Soul and I about her family. Apparently they have a sister. Their family crest has a tree on it too. It may just be a coincident, it's not nearly enough information to just assume it's her though. Did you see anything else?"
"Nothing certain, no."
The group was quiet for a while, watching the steady rise and fall of their friend's chest under the white blanket.
"What do we do if it was Rowan though?" Soul asked finally, "What would it mean?"
"I'm not sure." said Maka finally, "But if it was Rowan, then why wouldn't she want to be seen?"
"Maybe she isn't supposed to be here." Suggested Tsubaki. "She might have known something was going to happen and came to save her brother."
Akira turned over onto their side in their sleep and winced, opening their eyes. They looked around at everyone and frowned.
"We're you guys just standing here, watching me sleep?"
"Basically, yeah." remarked Soul, "what woke you up?
"I tried to roll over. Bad idea."
"How are you feeling?" asked Liz.
"Like I was stabbed and then had my arm skewered. I'll be fine."
"I thought I told you not to wake the patient!" Mira said angrily, parting the curtains.
"Oh don't worry, I woke myself up by turning onto my side while I was sleeping they haven't done anything." Akira called. Mira fround.
"Well you'll have to leave soon so Akira can get back to sleep."
When she left, the group resumed their conversation.
"Do you know who attacked you?" Asked Tsubaki.
"Not personally."
"Do you know what she was?" Patty asked.
"Yeah."
"Well? What was she?" Liz demanded after a moment of silence. Akira pursed their lips.
"I'm sure it can wait." They replied, feigning casualty.
"No, it can't, and since we're your friends we have to know what's trying to kill you!" She whispered harshly, and Akira flinched.
"She was an Angel." He said finally.
Everyone stared.
"Yeah, and I'm a unicorn." Soul joked, cutting off his laugh when Akira gave him a sharp glare.
"Erek was the first of them, just as my mother was the first of the Demons. He was always intimidated by her power, but I never thought he'd be as stupid as to do something like this, unless this Angel was acting out on her own to start something. All I know is that for the longest time my mother didn't want him knowing about me or my sister for some reason, which wasn't hard since they rule over different realms. What happened doesn't spell good by any means though."
"Well you need to tell your father immediately then!" said Maka.
"I'm sure he already knows. He's probably talking to my mom right now unless he went straight to Erek, but I'm not sure he'd do that."
"So what happens next?" she asked.
"I don't know, depending on what my mother and/or Erek say, a council meeting might be in order."
"A council meeting?"
"Yeah, Life, Death, Angel and Demon. For all I know there may be more but they're the only ones I've met or heard about."
"Wait so there's a life god too?" Soul asked.
"Well yeah, if there wasn't shit wouldn't have balance. You can't have death without first having life, and having life without death would be a disaster of overpopulation and stuff among other things, it just wouldn't work. Lady Life's pretty cool, has a huge crush on my dad but she's just happy that he's married to someone he loves even if it isn't her. They're pretty good friends." Akira tried to stifle a yawn, but it was too big to do much good.
"Well, we should probably get going and let you sleep." Tsubaki said, putting her hand on BlackStar's shoulder.
"Yeah, we'll check on you before school, okay?" said Patty.
Everyone filed out of the Dispensary after saying their farewells, and Akira drifted back to sleep.