Chapter 05: Your Funeral
Maka and the others solemnly returned to the remains of the reception.
There hadn't been a lot of hope they would return as the conquering heroes. Spirit ran up to Maka and hugged her, and with a crack of thunder the sky returned to a dark coloring as rain started to fall. Maka hugged her father and glanced to the side where Eu found herself next to Nene, holding each other for comfort. Ayumu and Seraphim stayed close by, unsure of what to say or what to do.
Liz quickly went over to her babies and hugged them - just the idea of being separated from her children sacred her so much. Kid and Patty shared the sentiment but let her have the moment.
Maka saw it, she heard them but nothing felt like it reached her. Today was supposed to be a happy day but it was clear it wasn't going to end that way. It just all felt so unreal to her.
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"Wakey~! Wakey!"
Kami blinked her eyes open, her head spinning.
"Hey you up?"
Kami looked around, and found she was laying on the floor of the death room, Lord Death leaning over her.
"Hey." He held up his big puffy hand.
Kami blinked. "Ah, something is wrong here."
"Oh? What?"
"Aren't you dead?"
"Yeah, but what difference does that make?"
"I think it makes a lot of a difference!"
"Please, the dead never leave, not really."
Kami recognized the voice and felt a chill go down her spine, and as she turned around she found a woman sitting in throne.
She wore a long green dress, her hair a red pixie cut. Her eyes sparkled, and a mischievous smile was prominent on her face.
"…Oh dear god no…" Kami let out.
"Good to see you too, Sunshine."
"Morgan La Fey!" Kami growled out as she got up.
"You're dead! You died! You died twice! I was there both times! I saw your soul fall apart! You can't get any more dead!"
"What is that saying? Death is only the beginning."
"This is hell!" Kami shook her head. "I died and I'm in hell."
Death patted Kami's head and said, "Why would you say that?"
"I'm in a room stuck with my ex and my former boss. That sounds like it would be hell for many people."
"Okay," Death said, "trying not to be offended that I'm in the same sentence as the woman who tried to kill you and brainwash you."
"Don't listen to her, she's being overly dramatic." Morgan waved off her concerns.
"I'm sorry!" Kami yelled, "I'm having a tough day! It was supposed to be my wedding day but I ended up stabbed by a fairy king! I think I have every right to be upset!"
"And that brings us to my point." Morgan got up and walked to the mirror in the center of the room. "You were stabbed - you know that doesn't mean you're dead, just that you were stabbed."
Lord Death said with a sigh, "Yeah, I hate to admit it, but she's right. You're only mostly dead, which means you're partially alive. It's hard to tell the difference but trust me, I know this stuff."
"Okay." Kami took a deep breath before saying, "I'm near death, so this is shock? My mind is trying to cope with everything. Trying to keep me calm."
Morgan smirked. "Oh, deary no. You couldn't be more wrong. We are here with you. Don't ask me how it works but your family is strange. An old family who lived on a rift and purified spirits and evils. It left a tinge on you, let you develop your soul perception at a young age and then you went to work for Death. You have a natural affinity with death and the hereafter. Probably why those underworlds flock to you."
"Not that it's a bad thing," Lord Death interjected. "You just got your toes in a different kinda water. And it's easier for people like us to talk to you if they have a connection to you."
"Yes, and well...you need the help." Morgan tapped the mirror at the center of the death room.
The reflective image turned into something else, showing Kami in the middle of a tree trunk as vines and roots wrapped around her body. The roots dug into her cuts and wounds. The trunk seemed to be absorbing her. Kami's body was turning shadowy black, and she already looked dead.
"If I was going to take a guess," Death began, "I'd say that your body is being turned into one of those shadowy hellhounds. That sword didn't kill you, I mean, how much more trouble would it be to turn into you into a hunting dog if you're dead?"
"Yup hell," Kami gulped, "I'm going to spend my eternal life being a hound dog and hunting other people."
"Lovely," Morgan tethered, "you've always been so pessimistic. For all we've been through, and the up and downs-"
"So many downs," Kami added.
"Yes," Morgan continued, "I don't want that fate for you. I had a fairy teacher if you recall, and she was a beast. So, I know how this works. You can't give up."
"I'm as good as dead," Kami muttered.
Lord Death bopped Kami's head, and said, "Not that! The magic at work here depends on your giving up. The only way you can survive is to fight."
Morgan said with a sigh, "He's right. You need to remember the things you fight for. They are what has always given you strength."
The mirror flashed images of Maka held by Spirit and Eu and Nene cuddled together.
Kami placed her hand on the mirror.
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"No!" Maka yelled as she pulled her away from her father. "Mama isn't dead! She isn't!"
"Maka," Soul tried to reassure her.
"She's not dead, if she was killed why didn't her body get torn apart? Whenever someone dies violently like that, that happens."
Those around her blinked with Kid finally saying, "That is true."
"And all those hounds we saw still had souls - twisted and held together by shadows, but there were there. Erlking is a hunter, and if you don't hunt for food then you're hunting for trophies! Turning those he's captured into those hellhounds is perfect but unless you want to bring them back to life-"
"You wanna keep them alive," finished Soul, figuring it out.
"She's alive and we just have to recuse her." Maka pumped her fist. "We just have to find her!"
Chris said with a huff, "The story says that the Hunter takes his prey into his forest where they are never seen again."
"I can get us there." Excalibur stood up.
"Wait, you can?" Black Star said shocked. "You're useful?!"
"Yes, when I was with Arthur, we'd often have to journey to the fairy realms to retrieve his sister Morgan. But the moment we arrive in the forest Erlking will know we are there and attack en masse."
"Shock and awe," Kid spoke up. "A frontal attack: our main forces attack and distract him while a smaller group goes in and rescues Kami."
I'll go with them.
Eu held up her notepad.
She is probably hurt and will need someone to heal her.
"Okay," Liz spoke up, "I don't want to be that person, but what's to stop that guy from just coming back? I know he's a good sport and lets you go if you can make it through the day, but we are stealing someone he's already caught. He might not be happy to let her go."
"A binding spell," The Head Witch spoke up; it wasn't often that she actually spoke. "We have something that might work here to trap him in his own forest, but I will need the werewolf."
"Oh!" Patty cheered. "Free owes me a favor, so I'm sure I can get him to help! He loves a good fight!" Patty punched the air in emphasis.
Maka smiled with renewed hope.
"We need to be ready. We need to take on the army," Nene spoke up, all the usual mirth drained out of her voice. "We won't have a lot of time to get ready but when we get there we have to hit hard and fast. We have to get everyone we can get to fight this."
"If I remember correctly," Excalibur said with a tap of his cane, "it's easiest to sneak into the fairy lands at a threshold between certain times. Our best time to try this is at sunset and we must get back before the sun is fully set. Erlking will try to stop us and we will need it to be easy as possible if we intend to escape."
"That's how much time we have to get ready then," Nene announced.
The room was soon filled with people discussing plans, deciding on what supplies were needed and who to gather them.
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Kami smiled, her hand on the mirror. "Okay, I'll hold on for you. Just try to be quick."
Kami found herself alone in the room, unsure if this was real.
She could only hope - she had to believe that her family was coming to save her.
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Nene tore things out of her closet the moment she returned to her apartment. She vaguely heard Sarasvati promise to bring more help for the fight, Ayumu saying he'd get some backup. Nene didn't really listen, too busy searching for something. Then she found an old trunk and pulled it out. Quickly opening it, she found her old armor - she never could bear to throw it away, but she had also hoped never to put it on again.
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Maka was talking to Marie and Stein.
"Okay, let me just find a sitter and we will be ready to go," Marie told them.
Maka shook her head, saying, "We only came for Crona. You're retired after all."
Marie's eyes went wide in shock, "Kami was one of my meisters! She's one of my best friends! I can't just sit back and do nothing!"
Maka reassured her. "I need you to keep an eye on Kid and Liz's babies and … you retired, you earned your retirement. Plus," Maka added, "we all know you wanted to retire for the longest time and start a family. Mama would not want us to take you from them."
Marie frowned but knew that was true.
Stein walked in with Crona now wearing their dark armor.
"We're ready," Stein told them.
Sensing her worry, Crona worked up a smile. "Don't worry Miss Marie, we can handle this."
Marie smiled - the kids had grown up so much. "Okay, just be sure to be safe and bring Kami back. I still haven't given her my present."
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Black Star was watching the Head Witch on Free's back - she smacked him and the werewolf was doing everything he could to shake her off his back.
Black Star turned to Eruka and said, "So, he's in?"
Eruka shrugged. "Yeah."
Witch judge just added, "Simply let them work out some of their issues."
Tsubaki sighed, saying, "I guess you really don't get over someone stealing your eye."
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Kid held out a sack, which contained all the souls that were freed when Kami killed the hellhounds.
Meringue looked on at the souls. "Thank you, I think this will help a great deal."
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Nene walked down the street in her armor, with Seraphim, Excalibur, and Blair at her side. The Sun would soon set and they would have to meet the others. Nene insisted there was one more to recruit.
Seraphim pointed it out, "The sun will soon set. We will have to meet the others soon. We are fairly far."
"We are close," Blair explained, "not sure why you want to go to the petting zoo though."
As they reached the petting zoo gates, Nene let out, "Come here Boy!"
The ground trembled as a large looming figure drew close.
"Oh…" Seraphim said.
A large, three-headed dragon moved over to them. It was a horror dragon, a clone of one Blair had fought with the others once. Kami fought this one and tossed it into the desert and later donated it to the local petting zoo. Nene helped tame it, as it seemed Nene had killed a dragon before and it had left a sort of tell on her. It made other dragons wary, and made it easy for her to tame them.
The dragon lowered its head and Nene patted it. "Okay, we're going to battle. Everyone climb on."
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Everyone was pretty shocked to see a huge monstrous dragon running down the street.
They had gathered a small army of creatures, meisters, monsters, witches and more things than they could classify in one sitting.
Excalibur jumped off the dragon with the swagger of a man who wore a top hat everyday.
Maka smiled at her step mother and exclaimed, "Wow, you brought a dragon! You weren't kidding when you said we had to go in hard and fast!"
Soul had to ask, "You can control it?"
Nene nodded as Blair jumped down and turned into her human form. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's the dragon's alpha now," said Blair.
Kid stood in front of everyone and said, "Okay, listen we don't have a lot of time to do this so pay attention. Everyone knows where we are going and I cannot promise you it won't be dangerous. So prepare, fight together and get ready to fight the instant we arrive there. We are going to fight Erlking the King of autumn, an immortal and very powerful being in his domain. We go to rescue one of our own, someone who would do the same for any of us. Maka and Eu will lead a secondary team to find and rescue her. The rest of us will fight head on to distract them and give the secondary team a chance. If this all goes well, we will escape with the witches setting off a spell to keep Erlking from following us back."
"Enough talk!" Excalibur yelled out. "The sun is about to set." He turned to Nene and said, "I think you should do the honors."
Excalibur turned into a sword and flew into her hands.
"I'll direct us, just swing," Excalibur whispered to her.
Nene raised the blade, her only thoughts of her wife and wanting to be with her again. She swung at empty space and with a flash of light the area before the school ripped open, forming a rift for them all.
"Charge!" Nene bellowed, and with a kick of her feet the giant beast she rode on ran forward with everyone else following.
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Erlking in all his time didn't remember the last time someone had invaded his kingdom - he wasn't sure it had ever happened. Should anyone enter his domain without his protection, his beast and forest would turn against them and they would be hunted.
But a rift formed in the middle of the forest, and with an air-shaking roar, a dragon stormed out followed by the quickly formed army. In the middle of a picturesque fall forest, an army rose and charged.
It took a little more than a thought for the countless hellhounds to rise from every corner and attack.
Erlking stood on the balcony of his castle and watched it all begin. The fairy King snapped his fingers together and his steed appeared. "It looks like there is one more hunt this season. I never did get a chance to hunt a horror dragon - I thought they were all dead."
He climbed on his horse, jumped off the balcony, and charged.
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He was laughing as he charged at them, and that just pissed her off.
Nene kicked the dragon and it charged forward, but that wasn't fast enough for her liking. She leaped off the dragon as hard as she could.
Erlking raised his blade at the last moment, blocking the sudden slash.
Erlking grit his teeth. "I know that sword."
"Of course, who could forget me?" Excalibur hummed.
Nene pushed the blade forward as a pair of white wings appeared behind her.
Nene wasn't a meister, but that didn't matter since Excalibur could be used by anyone, minus a few thousand rules he might put up. Excalibur did make the occasional exception, especially when it came to family. There was something special about this moment: what very few remember is that Excalibur is the Great One of rage and his meister was filled with rage. There are few things that can put two people on the same page like unbridled rage focused on one person. Every ounce of rage they shared was focused on hurting the man who harmed Kami.
"Give me back my wife," Nene demanded.
Nene swung the blade again with enough force to blast him off the horse. Erlking spun wildly in the air, a pair of crystal-like wings sprouting from his back. With a new fire in his eyes he fought back.
Excalibur whispered, "You want to hurt him?"
"Yes," Nene replied.
"So do I."
Both combatants flew at each other and collided. It was like an explosion going off, followed by another and another. If this all failed then they would at least hurt him as much as possible before the end. He'd hurt their loved ones far too much not to at least give him that.
Down below, things had started to go crazy. The hellhounds gathered around the group and the fight erupted as everyone did their best not to be torn apart. A golden colored fox breathed out bright blue flames at the hellhounds. A snow woman captured the wild beasts in ice. The horror dragon was rampaging through the forest using his three heads to tear apart the hellhounds. Most of the meisters were working in teams, watching each other's backs to attack the swarm of shadows. While most of the witches were preparing for the final spell, many fired spells to back everyone else up.
From the shadows, red glowing eyes were seen a fraction before a clan vampire ninjas led by Sarasvati and Seraphim attacked.
Like a shooting star, a magical garment girl drove a pink chainsaw into one of the hellhounds with a move that a totally not a kick.
Not to be outdone, Black Star used Tsubaki's enchanted sword mode to bring forth stick figure-like shadows to slash at the hellhounds. In the air, Kid provided cover fire with his pistols. Crona flew above everyone, striking at the hellhounds that got past their front line with their sword.
This was not a battle they could win - they were holding the line, but against an army of seemingly millions they would be overrun given time. They were already taking minor wounds, and over time they were weakening them.
Maka, Soul, Eu, Ayumu, Stein, and Spirit broke off as soon as the fighting started. While the fighting drew the hellhounds and Erlking's attention, they moved through the forest.
Spirit and Soul had transformed already, and Ayumu and Stein were both ready to fight when the moment came. Maka held Soul and focused on locating her mother with her soul perception.
"We're close," Maka announced. Her mother's soul seemed faint but it was there, a short distance away.
They couldn't run or do anything that might bring attention to themselves. It was hard for all of them not to do anything while the other fought for their lives. This was still the best chance to win.
Finally they broke through the forest and found the tree that held Kami. It was a strange and eerie sight that was Kami.
Stein marveled, "The tree seems to be in the process of converting her organic material into that shadow-like substance."
"Can we get her out?" Spirit asked.
Stein shrugged, "I'm not sure, it's a strange and complicated process. If done-"
"Eu do you mind?" Maka asked.
Eu had already removed the gauntlet on her arm and used it to stab the tree. The armor was made by Nene and enchanted to subdue magic. The tree recoiled at the contact and screeched, dropping Kami in the process. Ayumu caught her and pulled her away, the shadows retreating from her body. The tree withered in pain at the contact of the strange armor and began to crumble.
Eu rushed over and started to heal Kami. That's when the snarling started - a group of hounds had circled them.
"Eu?" Maka questioned as she got ready to fight.
Eu just threw her a glance as to say, 'I need a minute.'
"Fine, get her a minute," Maka told them as she slashed the first hellhound's head clean off.
Eu focused her magic on healing her mother - it pained her to use her magic but she knew it would hurt her a lot more to lose her.
She worried it would not be enough.
Kami gasped before she slipped into unconsciousness. Eu gave them a thumbs up.
"Okay, good," Maka announced, and she noted how tired Eu looked and formulated a plan. "Ayumu, take mama and get her out of here, Stein clear the path. I'm going to help you out." They were about to argue back but Maka barked, "Move!"
Ayumu had learned that with this family it was better just to do as they say. He'd gotten a few wounds already but they were healing - one of the bonuses of being a zombie made by Eu. Ayumu picked up Kami, and Stein slashed through the hounds and rushed through them. Ayumu did his best to cover Kami's body, because if they hurt him he could heal so he was fine taking a few hits.
Maka slashed at the devil dogs, forcing their attention to them. They needed to buy time to let them get a head start.
Eu clicked on her pen and it transformed into a hellscythe. Maka and Eu moved back to back as the hellhounds readied to attack.
Though not by blood, they were sisters - they had come to save their mother and they were going to do that. Maka smiled, it felt right to fight like this. With her pen as a scythe now, Eu lost her ability to communicate with her, but they would cope. Maka felt her soul reach out to Eu, they were brought together by Kami, they weren't bound by blood but they were family. As they started to move, they felt the pull and the push of each other's movements. They felt their hearts beating and their breathing.
"Bring it on." Maka smirked.
The hellhounds jumped at them, but in unison the girls spun, using their scythes to swirl around and cut the hellhounds. The hellhounds were little more than animals, never realizing what was happening before it was too late.
Maka ducked forwards as Eu's scythe spun over head tear the jaw off a hellhound before Eu stabbed another into the chest of a third. As energy crackled off Maka's scythe, turning into the witch hunter, a swirl of magic wrapped around Maka, almost like an armor trying to ward off the other attacks, and to heal if not reinforce her. Maka cut one the beasts in half and Eu stabbed another before they both traded positions and repeated, making sure the hellhounds never got used to their moves.
The few guard dogs that had been left with Kami were taken care quickly by the sisters. Now came their chance to catch up to the others.
The young meister mounted the scythe as wings formed around the blade. She held out a hand to Eu and said, "Come on let's go."
As Eu climbed on, Soul only said, "Careful with that armor, it makes me feel weird."
"Stop complaining and go!" Maka urged Soul along and they took off.
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Stein could hear the fighting close by - they were almost there. They were close but more of the hellhounds appeared, spotting these stragglers.
"Attack!" Meringue yelled out.
Several strange beasts in school uniforms jumped out and attacked the hellhounds.
Meringue said with a smile, "Megalos, I helped forged the system that's made wandering souls into megalos. And the fairy king left me with a lot of lost souls with grudges against him."
"Yeah, Yeah." Chris sipped on her drink before slashing one of the hellhounds with just her hand. "Less talk, let's get blondie back. Nene would kick both our asses if she found out we just stood here talking."
"Good," Stein sighed in relief. "We have to tell the witches to perform the spell."
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A group of witches gathered around to perform the ritual as both the Head Witch and Free stood together, focusing their eyes on the Erlking.
The spell was a variation of the containment cube: it was to teether someone to an area, in this case the hunter to his hunting ground. It was fairly easy - he had a strong connection to the area, and they just needed the power and calculations to pull it off, and for him to not notice before it was done.
"Nene time to go!" Maka yelled out to the red head. "Mama is safe!"
Nene paused and moved back.
Erlking growled, "You think I'll let you go?"
"I don't think you have much of a choice." Nene smiled.
Before he could act, Erlking was hit by a white light.
"What just happened?" He looked on, confused.
Nene nor Maka waited as they both rushed to the ground to the others.
Erlking chased after them, eager to be the one to finish this.
Nene saw Kami and was overjoyed - she swung at the army of hellhounds and they were torn apart as a rift formed.
"Go! Go! Go!" Kid yelled out as people started to escape through the rift.
As the last few people slipped in, Black Star stayed behind to flip off the fairy king before Maka pulled him through the rift.
Erlking reached the rift and crashed into it, unable to pass. He touched the rift, but he was unable to push through. "What is this?" The rift closed and he tried to teleport himself away but it wasn't working.
He was confused, but not as much as when Megalos began to attack him. Meringue left a gift - a spell that made the wandering souls there transform into more megalo. As they attacked more of the hellhounds, they gained in number, attracted to magic like the kind Erlking was made of. Soon the fairy king was attacked by his former beasts and he had nowhere to run.
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Kami opened her eyes to find Nene hovering above her with white wings.
"Okay, I made it to heaven." Kami smiled
"You sweet talker," Nene said before she leaned in and kissed her wife.
"Should I put you down?" Ayumu asked.
"Yeah." Kami blushed as she realized Ayumu was still holding her up.
"This is a little weird for me too," Excalibur added.
"Shut up! You're running the moment." Nene smiled, too happy to actually care. She kissed her again, not ready to her go anytime soon.