CHAPTER 12
"Had you going for a bit, didn't I?" Kami chided Liz.
"Oh, good, two failed Death Scythes. I am in such good hands."
Soul's eye twitched at that one, while Tezca's bear mask obscured any apparent anger. Therefore, his voice had to do more of the work:
"Failed?! I will have you know I have cheated death, twice!" Tezca shouted from inside the mirror, before hacking up something fierce. "Don't suppose I can bum a smoke off of you, Kami?"
"Quit two months ago." She avoided Soul's stare at her, as she serendipitously replaced her cigarette pack. She left her lighter still sitting in the dirt. "Why are you here?"
"Azusa thought you might need some backup: consider me and Enrique your Christmas gifts all wrapped up!"
"And you aren't further south, why?" Liz questioned.
"Unlike some people," he thumbed at Kami, "I can delegate to my lieutenants."
"An army of cosplayers spread throughout South America-I'm quaking in my boots," Kami teased, her sense of humor returning. Then she studied the monstrosity behind them. "Actually, you lit the way for us in more than one way. Check it out!"
The mummies had their bodies partially incinerated by the blast, but more importantly, each of the individual corpses now had exposed at its center its own soul-the red balls very slowly receding into their bodies as muscle and skin reformed over them. But still, all of them realized, the souls could be drawn forward, and hence collected.
"So, you showed us that light and fire can burn through these mummies!" Kami was ecstatic. "Makes me wish I brought one of my students here, actually-he'd a made quick work of them."
"Not quite," Soul said, pointing from his blade's reflection at the remaining body parts, as they crawled to each other and, upon a bolt of energy leaping off of the two souls, reformed into a two-headed mummified beast.
Liz squirmed. "Have I mentioned that I really cannot stand mummies?!"
"No," Tezca said, placing his head between his hands. "Please, go on, this should be fascinating and not at all tedious." He sat up straighter. "So, you think what I'm thinking, Kami?"
Soul completed the thought for them: "You light 'em up, Kami and I sever the souls' connections with their bodies, I eat up before they get any further."
"And give a prize to the sharp-toothed Death Scythe!" Tezca congratulated his peer. "You with me on this, Kami?"
"Plan sounds good," she agreed. "Pistol, stay back and watch-give us cover as we need it."
"Fine by me!" Liz said, holding up her hands as she was re-loading his weapon.
As Kami stood and leapt over the barrier, with Enrique following after her, Liz heard an object fall out of her breast pocket and onto the stone floor. Picking it up, Liz saw it to be Kami's cigarette lighter, the fluid capsule still in it. She rolled her eyes-not that she had much room to criticize: a cigarette sounded really good right now.
It felt more desirable, as she saw the mummies surround the two meisters, neither one able to hold back their opponents for long. While Tezca's reflection of light was able to blast through one or two mummies, they were reconstituting themselves at a faster rate than before.
"Quite a significant find, eh, Bradbury?" Herzog repeated, as he smash his fist against Kami's throat, knocking the Death Scythe from her hand and tossing her against the wall. Kami was able to flip herself back upright upon her descent, and tackled the armored mummy to the ground, fighting bare-fisted. Yet her efforts were voided when Bradbury knocked Enrique to the ground, took his mirror, and smashed it over Kami's head, before tossing Tezca across the floor, landing behind the Volkswagen and the awaiting Liz.
"Tezca!" Liz shouted, picking up the mirror. All she saw was static, the mirror communicating nothing, showing nothing of the Death Scythe.
Soul reformed into his human form, and ripped Herzog off of Kami. He stabbed through both Herzog and his armor, nailing him to the wall, and with his other hand again bisected Bradbury. He then felt his chin knock against the tunnel floor, as he was tackled by El Santo.
Upon seeing this abortive fight, Liz bit her lip, knocking the side of the mirror with the palm of her hand. "Come on, dude, don't do this to me!" I am not going to watch my friend and my other friend's dumb mother die because you and I and some monkey can't kill some ugly, stupid, mummified mummies!"
"Hey!" a voice said over her shoulder. She turned, seeing El Santo holding an unconscious Soul over his shoulder, looking at her over the Volkswagen. "I'm not ugly!"
Liz shouted, slamming the mirror's edge against the mummy, knocking him across the room, and sending Soul tumbling across the floor. As Liz panted, eyes glaring at the corpse as it bounced along the floor, and at her disabled friend lying motionless, she heard a voice: "Nice one, Liz!"
Liz's eyes widened, as she looked back at the cracked mirror, seeing numerous instances of Tezca waving at her. Despite her surprise, she still was able to smirk. "Glad to see you back, furry." Then she looked more serious. "Not that it does much for us at this moment."
"Maybe for you guys."
Liz grimaced.
"What? I've survived worse."
"Kami is currently sliced on the floor, and Soul is being eaten by mummies!"
Tezca peered out of the mirror. "Huh. She looks like she only has a flesh wound."
Liz held out the mirror and dropped it unceremoniously to the floor. "Fuck this," she muttered, as she lifted the cigarette from the floor, and ignited it with Kami's abandoned lighter. She felt calm flow through her body with the first inhale.
"Can I bum a smoke?"
She stared at the mirror, its shattered glass facing down onto the floor. "How would that even work?" she asked, as she lifted the mirror back up. She ignited the light again, and held it up to Tezca's image: "What, do I just give you the light first, and then—"
"Just give me the cig, already," Tezca said.
Then Liz and Tezca both recoiled, as the flame exploded from the lighter, taking the form of a skeletal hand reaching for her.
Liz rubbed her skin, feeling a slight burn taking off the hair from her hand. "Did…Did a hand just reach out at me?"
Tezca was clutching his own hand. "I don't know," he said, "but my hand feels like it's on fi—"
Inside the mirror, he uncovered his hand, to find that same flaming skeletal hand—as he desperately patted it against the mirror itself to extinguish the blaze. "Shit, that was freaky!"
Then Liz and he looked at each other.
"If you can already reflect light to blast the mummies—"
His mask assumed a fiendish sneer. "Then I'd like to see what a little fire can do."
She returned the sadistic smile. "You tear them apart, I'll fire at the remaining ones."
"Let's do this!"
She ignited Kami's lighter, threw it at the mirror, and took off running away from the Volkswagen. From the corners of their eyes, as they pushed away mummies, Soul and the two meisters could see the vehicle explode, as it rose from the floor and crashed into the roof, knocking down part of the tunnel and sending reverberations through the floor. The mummies stopped pacing, looking up long enough for Liz to put bullets through each of their heads, sending them down to the ground.
"Guys, duck!"
Kami, Enrique, and Soul did as instructed, as Liz continued to fire at the monsters.
"And what good is that going to do?!" Kami shouted, lifting her head up.
She was answered by a growl coming from the now dilapidated section of the tunnel. Enrique gave a grunt of recognition.
"The hell was that?" Soul asked.
A burst of flame came from the rubble, taking the form of a skeletal hand twice the height of any of the mummies. As more rubble was pushed, what was revealed was a figure made of fire, its limbs taking the form of bones, save for clawed feet and hands, and the head of a sharp-toothed bear.
"Tezca," Kami said, with a smile.
The bear roared, as it smacked away mummies from its path, their bodies exploding in flames, crashing into the tunnel's walls, until flesh and muscle dissolved, leaving behind only bones and souls.
Bradbury and Herzog looked at each other.
"I think our experiment requires some revision, yes?" the latter asked the former.
"I couldn't write anything weirder than this!" the former shouted, as they dashed for the exit.
They were blocked by a gun-toting woman, no longer afraid of mummies, as she eyed the duo.
"Gentleman," she said, the cigarette still hanging in her mouth as she offered two to her opponents. "Last smoke?"
Herzog growled, knocking the items from her hand as he pounced at her.
He was met with a lighter, igniting his face, as Liz kicked him backed and unloaded bullets into him. As Herzog rolled across the ground, he attempted to rip off his helmet, but to no avail, as the now hot metal fused to his skull.
Bradbury ran past Liz, yet felt her hand grip around his neck, as she tossed him against the tunnel wall. She held the lighter against his chest, searing his chest until his red soul was revealed. She then backed away, and fired repeatedly into his cavity. As Bradbury felt the temperatures increase beyond 400 degrees, he really wished he had asked for that cigarette.
"Kami!" Liz shouted to the meister, as she tossed her cigarette onto the floor. "Take Soul and start eating up these Kishin eggs before they pull their bodies back together!" She stamped out at the cigarette onto the floor. "Hurry!"
Kami hesitated, then nodded. She held out her hand, and Soul, without a word, reconstituted himself into a Death Scythe. Enrique followed, holding the still quivering mummies down as Kami swung her weapon against each other, exposing their Kishin eggs. For each one, Soul's arm would emerge out of the blade, and deposit the soul into his awaiting mouth.
Meanwhile, Tezca gripped the last mummy—the one in the luchador mask—and flung him away by his cape. He landed at Liz's feet.
"But I'm too cute to die!" El Santo whined, the flames engulfing his body.
Liz smirked, as she aimed her firearm directly between his eyes. "I'd say you're too hot not to die." She fired.
o-o-o
"God, I'm parched!"
Maka downed her water in one gulp, her throat parched from the reading and shouting. Acting sure took a lot out of her. In her lap laid Patty's head, the aspiring writer fast asleep by the fireplace. Maka tussled with her hair, which somehow caused Patty to start kicking her leg a bit. She glanced at Tsubaki, who for minutes had stared forward at the fire.
Maka cleared her throat. "I guess I did a pretty good job acting, huh?"
"Yes!" Tsubaki was a bit too eager to answer. "Um...Have you, um, tried that before?"
"Those positions?! Heavens, no!"
"N-no! I mean, the acting?"
"When would I have an occasion to?"
Tsubaki shrugged. "I'm sure you could get some really mean revenge on Soul, if you thought about it."
Maka studied the fire, a wicked grin crossing her face. "That's a really good idea-thanks!"
"Don't mention it." Tsubaki paused. "Really, please, I don't want that kind of credit."
Maka smirked. "Hey Tsubaki?"
"Hmm?"
"Hornball," Maka started to chant, waving her arms.
SNICKT!
"I could cut you right now," Tsubaki whispered, the kunai appearing seemingly out of thin air.
"Sorry, sorry!" Maka said, pushing her hands forward, before she commenced again tousling Patty's hair. "And thanks for the distraction."
"You are welcome," her friend replied, relieved that the teasing had concluded for the evening.
The two women sat in silence, Patty's heavy breathing being oddly meditative as they studied the flames.
"We never lit a fire in my house," Maka said, absentmindedly.
"Hmm?"
"I mean, it is warm enough around here that it's not needed. But I kind of wish we did. We had some odd traditions every year, though. I used to sneak into my parents' bedroom exactly at 12:01 AM-set my Neko Muerte watch to it exactly-and shout, 'Wakey-wakey!' Mama and Papa would wake up, take me downstairs, and let me open one box, for an early start to gift opening." She glanced at Tsubaki. "Sorry, I'm rambling. I just mean, we didn't need a fireplace to gather around every year-it, well, just tended to be that I could congregate to their bedroom." She paused. "That stopped after the divorce."
Tsubaki took her hand. "Didn't you say that your mother used to take you around the northeast in the winter?"
"A few times," Maka answered, the topic of her missing parent not evidently troubling her. "Her cabin in Northampton is great-you should come visit!"
"You...plan to meet with her there?"
"Yes! Mama already scheduled a date after the New Year. There probably won't be much snow, but it should be fun. I roped in Soul-oh! You and Black Star should come! Mama always gets a kick out of seeing him-she always goes on about how grown up he is."
Tsubaki looked incredulous. "Black Star, grown up?"
"Well, compared to how he was when he was toddler. As long as Black Star isn't soiling himself, Mama thinks it's an improvement."
Tsubaki struggled to stifle a laugh. "I haven't had a chance to vacation somewhere else since, well, training with him at my parents' estate."
Maka studied the floor, afraid to bring it up. "You have anything that you're family would do, around winter?"
"We're not a big Christmas family, if that's what you're getting at."
"That transparent?"
"Very. But the snow is so beautiful in that part of the country. You'd see some footprints from the animals that may still be up when they should be hibernating." Tsubaki now tousled with Patty's hair. "I can think of a few of us animals that should be sleeping."
"Blame our dumbass partners for keeping us up."
"Hush," Tsubaki chided her. She kept looking into the fire. "My brother was great at identifying those footsteps." Her smile started to fade. "I still have the book he left, where he sketched the different prints and the animals he thought they were." Her hand was trembling as it went through Patty's hair, and the sleeping women started to squirm a bit. "I keep wanting to finish some of...some of the entries he didn't…"
Maka wrapped her arms around Tsubaki, letting her friend cry into her shoulder.
o-o-o
She inhaled deeply. "God, it's good to smell fresh air after so long!"
"Weren't you guys only in those musty halls for, like, an hour or two?" Tezca called out to Liz from the mirror, Enrique holding it so that he could get a view of the expansive Avenue of the Dead. "I mean, for crying out loud, you act like it took days to get out there."
"Hard to keep track of time when you are having so much fun," Soul said, rotating a sore arm after the displeasure of staying in weapon for so long. Then remembering how long it had been for Tezca, he stopped. "Thanks for your help back there."
"Meh, I was around-think nothing of it, kid." Tezca glanced around the edge of his mirror, as Kami finally emerged from the darkness, her face illuminated by three red orbs she juggled in one hand. "Hey, Kami-you gonna eat those?"
Kami wasn't having any of Tezca's humor. "Here," she said tossing them at the mirror Soul was about to open his mouth to protest, then stopped himself: the other Death Scythe not only had seniority over him, and his own set of problems, but as usual, it did not feel right to claim souls that he did not procure with Maka by his side.
Her mother walked past Soul, Enrique, and Liz, while nibbling was heard from Tezca's mirror.
"I want to thank you all for your help." Kami kept her back to them, as she hunched over a bit, placing her hands in her pockets. "It...was fun."
Liz and Soul glanced at each other.
"It's not often that I get to work with some competent people who can handle themselves, whether fighting solo or in teams." She glanced back. "You too, Soul."
He studied her.
"I see you will do a great job fighting solo when you finally get your assigned continent." She struggled to force a smile.
"Not looking forward to speeding up that process," he muttered, rubbing his shoulder.
"Excellent work from you, too, Elizabeth."
Liz almost fell over backwards. "A compliment?"
"Don't get spoiled on it. Good work kicking some mummy ass."
Despite herself, Liz was practically gushing, as she began to laugh uncontrollably. "Well, you know, it's not big deal," she began, placing her hand behind her head. On either side of her, Soul and Enrique started to inch away, thinking she was about to lose all her sanity. "Wow, how cathartic!" Liz exclaimed. "Nothing like some brutal murder to exercise them demons."
"Exorcise."
"That's what I said, granny," Liz replied to Kami as she walked by her, the older woman's eye starting to twitch. "So, let's get you back to Death City, reunited you with your daughter, and we can end this roller coaster ride of a Christmas Eve!"
" 'Bout time," Soul said, hutched over with hands in his pockets. "I look forward to a few Z's and then gift opening."
"Assuming Maka got you anything," Liz teased.
"Hey," he said, a smile across his face as he thumbed back to Kami, "with what I'm bringing back, I expect one hell of a good gift!"
Liz resisted telling Soul what she thought Maka would give as a gift-she didn't want to pollute his innocent little mind. Not that she had much chance to say anything, as Kami immediately spoke up:
"I'm staying."
Liz and Soul's eyes widened, as they looked behind them.
"I'm sorry to disappoint, but I have clean up to do here, reports to file, and training to re-commence on the 26th."
"I could cover for you," Tezca answered from the mirror. "As Death Scythe, my intervention supersedes yours, so I have to report to Azusa. Woo, I look forward to seeing her! I heard she is quite a sight this year." He started chuckling. "Your ex sure got her good!"
"No."
"Oh, come on, Kami!" Tezca shouted. "I can even cover for your teaching! I'll be the fun avuncular presence to your old and bitter rule-stickler! The kids'll like me-I can even do funhouse mirror games with them!"
"They'll eat you alive and spit out the bones," Kami answered deadpan, continuing to walk down the many steps back to the highway to wait whatever bus would happen to pick her up.
"No problem-I have a knack for defying the death odds!"
"Hold it!" Soul called, holding Kami by the shoulder. "Maybe none of us can convince you to come back with us, but I'm sure Maka could. What do you say to her, when she learns that Lord Death assigned me to come out here-and she will, trust me, she is really good at reading things she shouldn't"-he glanced at Liz, adding, "like some people I know."
His fellow weapon crossed her arms, taking mock-offense.
"And what am I to do when I come home with nothing?"
Kami looked at him, with a sad smile. "Tell her that you failed to bring me home."
Soul's sneer disappeared into a grimace of confusion.
"Truth tends to quiet people's unease. You should try speaking it."
"Could say the same to you! You aren't staying out here just because you have work-you stay because you are afraid!"
"Damn right I am!" Kami shouted, gripping Soul's fingers, as he felt her vice grip crushing them. Her voice quieted. "I have not spent Christmas with her for four years now."
Soul's glare dissolved into a neutral look.
"I didn't come back to the North American branch until February this year, right? So this is my first Christmas back. But no matter what, no matter how much I tell myself, I can't face it."
She struggled to harden her eyes. "The Christmas lights, the dinner, the snow walk together—I cannot give any of that back to her." She struggled to keep her eye contact with her daughter's partner, a boy—a man—that—that could be such a huge mistake for her darling Maka. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm on a mission, Spirit is on a mission—when he's not on top of who knows which woman—so Maka needs to around with people she can depend on." Soul ignored the pain, as he felt her dig her fingers into his skin. "Go home. It's too hard for me."
Soul, while determined to maintain his glare, looked away first.
"Bullshit."
Kami felt a hand grip her shoulder from behind, forcing her to turn and face Liz Thompson.
"It's hard? So sorry that facing your daughter is hard. Sorry that you, little miss perfect soldier, can't stand to see your daughter on a day she has been looking forward to seeing you for so long."
Kami felt Liz's nails dig into her shoulders. She fought back hot tears-not from this brat, but from her own failures.
"A child wants more than anything to see her parent! Even if it is just to see her so her daughter can slug her in the mouth and curse that bitch out for not being there when she needs her, she still wants to know that she is alive and loves her just enough to drag herself to be physically present. Hard?!"
She took Kami by her shirt, and gave her a shake, crashing her against another of the dilapidated walls around the ruins. "What is that rule from the Academy you keep preaching, that you feel fear to get stronger? Think you plateaued, huh? Like you don't need to get stronger? Fuck that! Stupid asshole—you can face mummies but not being a mother?"
Liz snatched the mirror away from Enrique.
"Look in the mirror and tell yourself that you aren't strong enough! I want to hear you admit what every fucking bitch mother like you thinks, that she can't be bothered to show any love to her fucking daughters!"
Kami could have torn her soul out with her own hand. At any other moment, she could think of 37 ways to kill an opponent, starting with the limbs, the nervous system, the heart, the brain, even the pinkie toe. At that moment, she was considering an old-fashioned bearhug—not to kill Pistol, heavens no, but just to shut her up already.
She hazarded a glance at the mirror, to see what was probably a bawling, horrid mess of a face.
She did a double take, and her tears stopped, as she looked up at Liz. "Um, Pistol? I don't like what I see in the mirror."
She gently turned it around to Liz, who saw Tezca's skeletal form staring at her.
"Hey. What's up?" he said with a wave.
"D-don't ruin the metaphor!" Liz stammered, pushing Kami back against the wall with one arm, her grip increasing upon Tezca's mirror—creating more cracks in it, the cosplayer looking with hesitation as his space became more precarious to occupy.
"Now get on that gaudy motorcycle"—
"Hey!"
"Fuck you, Soul! And you are riding back to Death City, now!"
Kami pushed Liz's arm off of her. She smirked, as she wiped away her tears. She chuckled, and put her hands into her pockets. " 'Bout time you grew a pair, Thompson." She marched to the bike, studying it. She kicked the tire.
"Soul, don't you keep any helmets?"
"No, Mrs. Albarn, I don't," Soul droned.
He knew where this was going.
"Soul Eater! I am not riding some death vehicle without proper protection!"
Liz glanced at Enrique, then at Tezca. She smirked, and crossed her arms. "Any place to drop you two off?"
From the mirror, Tezca looked around. "Nah. I think I had enough asskicking for this Christmas. I kind of want a night to just us."
Tezca gazed at the stars. "Too pretty tonight to head to any urban squalor. Plus Death City looks too gaudy this time of year."
He looked at Enrique. "What you say, buddy? Stargazing on Christmas Eve?"
Enrique gave a squeal of agreement, snatching his Death Scythe from Liz and hurrying down the hill. As Liz shook loose her hand, imagining it would remove whatever germs littered Enrique's hand, she watched after them, then looked up to the stars. Actually, she thought, upon seeing the duo stop at the center of the Avenue of the Dead, maybe looking at things from the vantage point of such a scary place wasn't such a bad idea. After all, you need to be a little scared to appreciate what you got around you. Fear is what allows you to test your courage, right?
Well, time to test it tonight.
"So, losers," Liz called out to the fuming meister and pissy Death Scythe, a grin forming across her mouth, "we heading out or what? I want to get home in time for Christmas."
WRITER'S NOTES: Chapter 12
I hope that my portrayal of Kami is suitable for fans who place this character in the middle of so many debates. The arguments I tend to notice refer to her as someone who fails as a parent by abandoning her child, or as a great parent who allows her child to stand on her own as an independent soldier. Because Maka's mother has no canonical appearance, the criticisms against her cannot be supported. Yet I do not want to introduce her as just a perfect character: she is someone who had a poor marriage, took the responsible action to get out of it, and has continued to have a part in Maka's life, whether from a distance or, as my headcanon is, within a close physical distance. I think it is fair to present her as having doubts about her role as a parent—not only because she is still a young parent, but because I cannot imagine any person thinking they do a perfect job taking care of their own kids.
And Liz Thompson is badass. Based on her own problems with a mother, I like that she is the one to talk Kami down. There are many problems with my story—it fails the Bechdel test on every Maka/Tsubaki chapter as their conversations refer to Soul, Black Star, or now Masamune. While that is not the only means by which to determine how well a story handles representations of gender, I do think those chapters are some of the weakest in having those characters sound real. My goal was, as with the eventual payoff to Kid's story, to show how these more serious characters like him, Maka, and Tsubaki contend with gift-giving challenges with their more irascible partners. As well, I wanted to look at what goes through Tsubaki's mind when she thinks about her brother, especially during the winter holidays. I even get to have a throw-back to the Book of Eibon with Tsubaki pulling a kunai from out of nowhere.