"Come in."
Spirit and Stein stepped into the Death room side by side, looking upon their leader as he turned from the sleeping teens' image on the mirror to face them.
"Shinigami-sama..." Spirit began, looping his thumbs in his belt loops.
"How do you suppose we track the Ancient?" Stein finished his former Death Weapon's sentence, taking a step forward.
Death stroked his chin, deep in thought as he walked towards the other men.
"Hm... You do remember Yumi, right?"
Spirit and Stein's faces grew dark and their shoulders slumped a bit.
Death chuckled slightly, rolling his golden eyes.
"You two aren't students anymore, but you are adults. Start acting more your age. Besides, we aren't given much of a choice, huh? It's either the risk of Kid becoming a kishin and Death City going to hell, or the finding of the Ancient who started all of this and putting an end to that line of evil. Pick one."
The two of them sighed and straightened up.
"Yes. We shall have Yumi to assist us on our hunt." It nearly killed Spirit to say.
Stein just mumbled something, pulled out a cigarette, and nodded.
Death smiled.
"Jolly good. I shall summon her and Justin here after you two leave."
Stein's cigarette dropped from his hands, his eye beginning to twitch slightly.
"Him... too?"
Death clapped his hands together, rocking back and forth on his heels with a wide enthusiastic grin planted on his pale face.
"Well, the more help, the better!"
…:oOo:...
Marie was dozing off in her seat next to Maka's bed while Sid was already fast asleep in his chair next to Kid's. Maka shuddered a bit in her sleep, furrowing her eyebrows slightly, having a dream.
Maka walked calmly through the battlefield, as she always had in the beginning of a nightmare. She searched for any signs of violence, but there was nobody in sight. No corpse, blood, innards, nothing. Just a vast field with the flags of Death City flapping in the wind as the ropes that held them up clinged against the poles. Ahead, she heard some scuffle noises and small chuckling that sounded familiar.
Maka looked around, flinching in surprise at the sudden burst.
"Hello?"
Then she heard it again and saw a flash of black and white in the corner of her eyes, whirling around. Still nothing. She furrowed her eyebrows.
"If you're going to do something to make my sleep worsen, may as well do it!" She screamed, her voice echoing off the fields and hills. She blinked a bit when she noticed high mountains in the distance and a blue sky just above it in contrast to the gray one she stood under. Maka took a deep breath and gave the field she was standing in one final look before she walked on towards the mountains in the landscape. She looked at the ground below her, seeing brilliant golden flowers grow at the bottom of her feet, which were bare, whenever she walked. Raising an eyebrow, she smiled a bit, her pigtails flowing in the wind that blew around her. Again, she looked over her shoulder at the battlefield, her eyes widening when she saw an endless flower field in its place.
"Perhaps moving forward really is a good thing... if you put your mind to it... but I know. I will never accept it, no matter what the circumstance." She spoke in a surprisingly clear voice, making her eyes widen all the bit more. "Hm. May as well keep going while it's good."
She continued to walk, looking up at the array of lavender in the distance. But even further, she saw someone standing there. Squinting her eyes, she recognized the white stripes, and gasped in wonder.
"Why isn't this a nightmare? Why isn't he dead? Is... this dream just being mislead?" Questions flooded from Maka's head and out her mouth in silent whispers as she ran towards him. As she became closer to him, he turned with a warming smile that never failed to cause her heart to flutter with warmth. His golden eyes reflected that of the flowers, his pale skin standing out over the wispy lavender mountains that still stood further away in the distance.
Maka found a smile spring up onto her face and wiped at her eyes a bit, hoping she wasn't tearing up.
"Kid-kun!"
Kid chuckled, raising an eyebrow as he rested his hands on his hips, his raven colored hair blowing around in the wind.
"My, my... speak of the devil..." He grinned and Maka scoffed, rolling her eyes, pouncing on him, the both of them falling on the ground.
"Shut up!" She giggled, looking down at him with a smile.
He looked up at her and stroked her cheek, staring at her lips. Maka leaned forward slightly, beginning to close her eyes, when Kid pressed his fingers against her lips. He couldn't just press one finger to them, otherwise, it'd be asymmetrical and he didn't want to screw up the moment with his idiocies.
"Maka-chan... How would you like to climb up to the top of those mountains with me?"
Maka sighed, a tad disappointed, but rolled off of him, laying beside him with a small smile on her face.
"Kiddo-kun..." She stroked his chin with the tip of her finger, staring up into his eyes. "That's insane... We could get killed..."
Kid laughed a bit, shrugging as he met her gaze easily.
"Nothing is impossible when it comes to our partnership, Maka. We can accomplish anything we want to here. We can practice our combat skills, learn new stances and techniques that other meisters and their weapons never thought up yet, and even more..." He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers. "We don't have to worry anymore. We can live for an eternity here without anything coming at us."
Maka giggled, taking Kid's pale hands in her slightly tanned ones.
"Now you're just being silly... It sounds so beautiful, but... I'll miss everyone too much..." She frowned a bit but Kid's chuckle cheered her up a bit.
"Maka, Look around you..."
She sat up and looked around, seeing a large waterfall she failed to manage to see before, her eyes widening. At the top of that waterfall, stood Soul and Blackstar, who were laughing at the girls below.
"Stop being a bunch of girls!"
"WE ARE THE ALPHA MALES!"
Liz smiled mischievously, crossing her arms over her chest as her, Patty, and Tsubaki swam in the waters below the waterfall. She exchanged glances with the girls and Patty giggled while Tsubaki smiled a bit; unsure.
"Get 'em back down!"
Soul's eyes widened in fear and he shook Blackstar slightly as the girls got out their shoes.
"Oh Christ, Blackstar! They're gonna get us!"
Blackstar was too busy posing and laughing at the top of his lungs.
"I AM THE GREAT BLACKSTAR! NOBODY SHALL EVER SURPASS MY PURE GOD-LIKE WILL! HAHAHA!"
Liz threw his shoe at Blackstar first and he gasped and slipped, falling down the waterfall and crashing into the water with a painful scream. Patty laughed as did the other girls.
"Soul, you're next!"
Maka's eyes welled with tears and she rubbed at her emerald eyes.
"Blackstar? Soul? Tsubaki? Liz?" She cupped her face, smiling and crying tears of joy.
Kid sat up, wrapping an arm around her.
"See? You don't have to be alone ever again... Stay with us."
Maka giggled, looking up at him, but her eyes widened when he wasn't there. She looked around and noticed everything else was gone as well.
...It was the battlefield.
People screamed, burned, and fell dead around her, the scent of rotten flesh and iron strong in the air. The once clear blue sky blistered into darkness as fire smoke rose throughout the air. Her feet burned and she screamed a bit, scurrying away from the flame her feet had sat in, her back bumping into somebody. She looked over her shoulder to see her own mother, Kami, staring down at her with blood dripping down her face.
"Why didn't you tell me about Papa, Maka? If you would've told me, Mama wouldn't have cried as hard..."
Maka had a scream caught in her throat as she stared up at her mother, who had the shadow of her face upon her features.
"Mama!" Maka screamed and Kami grew sharp teeth, her eyes crimson with hate as she lunged downwards towards her daughter. Maka screwed her eyes shut, holding an arm up to block her face, but instead felt warm blood spurt on her. Opening one eye, she looked in sheer terror as Spirit stood in front of her protectively, Kami's arms bloodied and through his torso. Maka bit her lower lip, got up, and ran as fast as she could away.
"No!" She screamed, holding each side of her head as she saw flashes of the people around her. Their dull eyes, limp bodies, bloodied and burned skin...
She screamed again, digging her nails into her skull.
"I'm tired of this! Please! Stop!"
Maka looked up to see that in place of the mountains, was a tall cliff-side. She watched as her late friends and Patty crowded up around Professor Stein, their eyes unusually filled with hatred as well as crimson darkness. Stein smiled at them, his smile filled with pure insanity as he ripped out his screw, blood gushing everywhere as he threw the screw over his shoulder. Blood ran down Stein's face, coating the lenses of his glasses.
"Now class... Shall I... teach you how to kill?"
Soul grinned deviously, his eyes black and rotten to the core.
"That's what we're here for, Hakase..."
Stein chuckled and stepped to the side, showing that Kid was standing on the edge of the cliff, his eyes blind folded. His hands were cuffed behind him and his clothes were torn, exposing bloodied skin filled with stitch-able cuts.
He was like a helpless animal on show.
Maka could only watch with wide eyes, her jaw slack in fear. She began to run up the grassy hill that led to the very top of the hill.
Patty giggled, stepping forward and Stein pat her shoulder.
"You can do it, Patty... Demonstrate..."
Patty smiled deviously, sharp teeth protruding in odd angles from her mouth. She tugged the blindfold off over Kid's closed eyes. He appeared to be asleep. Maka forced herself to run faster.
"KID! WAKE UP!"
Kid's eyes opened and she was shocked to see the golden in his eyes melt away like tears down his pale cheeks and blood dripping their way down his face to replace the natural shinigami color.
"...M...Maka-san...?"
His eyes widened and he staggered slightly with a small scream as he kept his balance, the rocks at his feet crumbling to the ground hundreds of feet below.
"...What the Hell!"
He looked at Maka frantically over his shoulder as Patty gave him a shove, him disappearing from Maka's sight. She stopped running, screaming as he fell.
"NO!"
Maka screwed her eyes shut and before Kid hit the ground...
Maka jerked awake with a strangled scream, arching her back as tears fell down her cheeks.
"AHH! KID!"
Marie and Sid jerked awake but Kid remained asleep behind the curtain pulled around his bed. The two teachers stood up, Sid limping and Marie rushing over to Maka.
Maka hugged her knees to her chest as she sat up, sobbing uncontrollably.
"NO!"
Marie pulled Maka into her arms and Maka screamed into her shoulder, clutching onto her as if her life depended on it.
"Get me out of here, Marie! I'm going insane!" She sobbed.
Marie soothingly rubbed her back, stroking her hair.
"Shhshhshhshhshh... breathe..."
Maka did as she was told, sobbing and shuddering.
Sid watched with his hands in his pockets, feeling sympathy and disgust in himself. He wanted nothing else but to tell her that Kid was alive and that everything would be fine because he was close. But it wasn't the right thing to do... was it?
Maka shook violently, biting her lower lip.
"Kid..." She whimpered, closing her eyes.
Spirit and Stein ran out of the Death Room when they heard Maka's screams, running down the corridors to the infirmary. They burst through the door and Marie and Sid looked up at them over their shoulders as Maka got out of bed, with a small sorrow filled scream as she ran into her father's arms, digging her face into his chest. She felt too afraid to look at Stein, afraid that the screw wouldn't be there and that she'd be looking into cold, dead eyes...
...O.O That was dark, even for me. Hope this doesn't give you nightmares... ^^; Have a habit of doing that to people... kesesese~...?