Spirit's eyes widened as his beloved daughter continued to weep into his shirt; dampening it with her warm tears.
"I'm a horrible, horrible person!" She shrieked. "I'm a terrible excuse for a dependable weapon partner! I!" Her body wracked with sobs again and she clutched onto the back of her father's shirt. "I let him die! I let Kiddo-kun die! I should've been protecting him! I should've been watching how Valencia's power was reacting with his soul so he wouldn't die! It's all my damn fault!" She wailed.
Spirit frowned, furrowing his eyebrows in sympathy for the pain his daughter was experiencing, and wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her closer.
"Papa's here, sweetheart..." He whispered, massaging her back in small soothing circles with his thumbs. "Calm down..."
The four adults stood and stared at Maka in worry; all feeling heart wrenching guilt in their hearts. They all continued to stand, allowing the teenage girl to cry and yell at herself until the only sounds she made were shudders and sniffles.
Stein sighed slightly and rested his hand on top of her head to comfort her but she yelped and jumped away, slamming against the medical cabinets, her tear filled eyes wide in fear while his were wide in confusion. Bottles of medicine and glass fell everywhere from where her back slammed and the other adults flinched.
"Monster!" She screamed in his face, covering her own as she wept, falling to her knees.
Stein stared at her in both surprise and slight hurt, raising an eyebrow.
"Maka..."
Spirit looked at Stein and sighed, pulling his broken daughter into his arms.
Maka stared at the front of her father's shirt with wide, quivering eyes.
"Are you... Are you hurt, papa?"
Spirit's eyes filled with confusion.
"What? I'm fine, sweetheart. Nothing is wrong..."
Sid and Marie exchanged glances.
"Spirit, Stein... Should we go fetch Patty?" Marie asked.
Maka shook her head quickly, screwing her eyes shut.
"No! Don't! I don't want to see her like that!"
Sid flinched and Marie held a hand to her chest.
"I'm going to go tell Lord Death she's awake and breathing then. Marie, you can tell Patty that she's alright." Sid muttered.
Stein looked over at Sid over his shoulder, putting his hands in his pants pockets.
"Are you certain you won't need help walking down the hall?"
Sid nodded and walked around the room with a slight limp to prove it. Spirit sighed.
"You can go then."
Sid looked down at Maka for a moment and then he limped out the door.
Marie kissed Maka's forehead gently, caressing her hair lightly.
"Cheer up soon, Miss Albarn. That's an order." She smiled a bit and turned from them, walking out the door after Sid.
After a moment of silence, Stein rested a hand on Spirit's shoulder and the red-head looked up at him.
"Senpai, She needs medicine to calm down, seeing as nothing else works. Perhaps a stress relief pill?"
Spirit blinked and sighed, resting his head on top of Maka's.
"As long as it helps her feel better. That's all I care about."
Stein made his way up to a cupboard that was beside Kid's bed and stopped beside it, figuring that he may as well check on Kid while he got the pill. He quietly peaked in around the curtain and saw the gentle rise and fall of Kid's chest as he slept. Smiling a bit, he closed the curtain a bit more and opened the cupboard, retrieving the bottle that held the pills. While he was at it, he grabbed a glass off the counter and filled it with water. Stein walked back to the Albarn duo and bent down in front of them, handing the glass and a single pill to Spirit.
Spirit thanked him and placed the pill up to Maka's lips. Maka allowed it into her mouth and Spirit pressed the glass to her lips and she drank the pill down. She grasped the glass on her own in time and greedily drank the rest of the water. Once the glass was empty, she handed it back to her father, still refusing to look up at Stein.
"Papa..." She breathed.
"Yes, sweetheart?" Spirit asked gently.
"Is it possible that I can go back home now?"
Spirit looked up at Stein, raising an eyebrow.
"Can she?"
Stein blinked but nodded, straightening his glasses.
"She may, but she must stay for a few minutes longer so that the pill may take effect."
…:oOo:...
Patty sat in Stein's empty classroom on the table of one of the many rows of desks, her legs dangling back and forth. Her heart was still beating fast and her adrenaline levels were still pretty high. She blinked her tears away, holding the hot chocolate Death had given her to her stomach in an attempt to calm herself. She was scared. She didn't want to lose anyone else in her life. Maka was the only friend she had left. Patty whimpered and lowered her head, her hairs wet from where the snowflakes had melted. She heard the door creak open and looked up to see Marie step in. Patty got up from where she sat and wrapped her arms around her favorite teacher, breathing heavily. Marie's eyes shot open, wide in surprise, but she didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around Patty in return.
"Please tell me she's okay!" Patty breathed, closing her eyes.
Marie let out a low breath and stroked Patty's wet hair, smiling down at her reassuringly.
"Yes. She's just fine Patty."
Patty smiled and began to cry again in relief, hugging Marie all the tighter, causing Marie to hug her tighter as well.
Meanwhile, Death stood in the Death Room patiently, speaking to Justin from his mirror.
"So, Kid isn't really dead?" Justin asked so he knew for sure, his crossed firmly in front of him. He was walking outside, apparently in a forest, with Yumi walking beside him.
"No." Death re-established, clad in his usual gear again.
"And there is a ancient still in existence?"
"Yes."
Yumi gently took the hand-held mirror away from her lover and looked at Death, her glasses gleaming.
"Do you have any leads as to where the ancient is in hiding?" She asked.
"No, that's where you two come in. It's alive; we know that much." Death shrugged.
Justin was about to put his skull ear plugs back in until Yumi slapped them out his hands and shook her head at him with a small smile.
"No, Justin. Now isn't really a good time to be listening to music."
Justin pouted slightly and Yumi sighed, looking back at Death, straightening her glasses.
"This search would probably take up to months if it were regular searchers. We're glad you decided to call us, we were running out of things to do."
"Oh?" Death asked, amusement in his tone.
Yumi instantly turned a dark shade of red and quickly shook her head. Justin just smiled knowingly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Lord Death!" Yumi exclaimed.
Death just chuckled, waving a large hand at them.
"I know, I know. I was just messing with you Yumi." He lowered his hand and his voice took to a serious tone. "Anyway, back to business. Please get here as soon as possible, or Kid will turn."
"Yes sir. That's a promise." Justin spoke, tapping the surface of the mirror Yumi was currently holding, and their images zapped off of Lord Death's mirror, which was fixed thanks to it's ability to heal. It was a shinigami mirror, after all.
He let out a sigh and turned just in time to see Sid limp inside, closing the wide doors behind him.
"Sid! I trust that Maka is in a good condition now, correct?"
Sid took in a deep breath despite the fact that he no longer needed to breathe and shrugged.
"Yes and no, sir. She woke up healthy but she also woke up from a nightmare. Her stress levels are rocketing."
Lord Death raised an eyebrow underneath his mask and waddled his way to Sid, now standing in front of him.
"How so?"
"Well, she awoke screaming and she freaked out at everything. I'm also guessing that she no longer trusts Stein."
Lord Death sighed and pulled off his mask carefully, looking down at Sid.
"I wouldn't either if I were in her place. After all, she did catch Stein digging in Kid's empty grave."
"True."
A moment of silence passed through the both of them.
"Anything from Kid?" Death asked to break the silence and to settle down the worry he also had for his son.
Sid blinked and turned his attention back to Death for he had been staring into space.
"He's still unconscious. That blood must've taken a big effect on him."
"Also true. Judging from his appearance, the blood is already slowly taking it's effect on his system. It's too late for treatment. So, all we can really do now is sit and wait for his sanity to disappear." Death's voice cracked at the end of his sentence and his bit back whimpers.
Sid's eyes widened and he felt his limbs freeze.
"Wait, so there's nothing we can do?"
"Besides killing this ancient bastard, yes, there is nothing we can really do to save him."
Back in Stein's empty classroom, Patty and Marie sat at Patty's original place before Marie had entered.
"...What kind of nightmares had Maka been having since Kid died?" Marie asked her curiously.
Patty stayed silence for a while before she spoke.
"She never told me. Whenever I asked, she'd lock herself up and refuse to speak about any of it. But what I do know is that she had dreams about Kid dying over and over again in front of her and that she couldn't do anything about it."
Marie blinked, the two of them going silent for a while. It appeared that Valencia had changed everyone after the battle. But the one she had really effected the most had been Maka. She wrapped her arms around Patty and closed her eyes.
"You're a wonderful person, Patricia. You must be a super hero in Maka's eyes."
Patty giggled a bit, wiping at her eyes.
"You really think so...?"
Marie smiled and lightly poked Patty's nose.
"I know so." She whispered.
In the infirmary, Spirit was helping Maka stand back up since the weapon - meister hybrid was calming down.
Stein glanced over his shoulder at the curtained bed when Maka wasn't looking to see if there were any disruptions coming from Kid. None so far.
Spirit took off his coat and wrapped it around his daughter.
"You'll probably need this. It's cold out."
Maka tried to give it back but Spirit kept putting it back upon her shoulders.
"Papa, I'll be fine."
"I insist." Spirit spoke firmly, staring her in the eyes. She furrowed her eyebrows stubbornly but after a while, her emerald eyes softened and she nodded, allowing her father to put it back on her.
Stein watched the father and daughter, deep in thought. For the first time, he wondered what it could've been like to be a father. He was surprised he hadn't considered the idea before. A small smile formed on his face and he lowered his gaze to the ground.
"It probably won't be so bad... Having a child with the same features as I... Having a child with the same personality as their mother..." He thought to himself, looking back up at them once he heard footsteps. Spirit looked over at Stein but Maka still didn't dare look at him.
"Stein, I'm going to take Maka to Patty and Marie and have Patty take her back home. I'll come back soon, alright?"
Stein simply nodded and the Albarns left the infirmary. He used this moment alone to check on Kid. He walked up to the side of Kid's bed and withdrew the curtains halfway, in case someone walked in.
Kid was still breathing normally, but he looked weakened. Stein sighed and gently pressed his fingertips against Kid's forehead, feeling that the boy's body had grown quite cold. He closed his eyes to check the soul only to see complete darkness. His eyes shot open and he flinched back when he felt the overwhelming madness stir within Kid.
"I... I must wake him up..." He muttered to himself and gently put his hands on Kid's shoulders, shaking him a bit. "Kid!" He yelled as quietly as he could so the Albarns down the hall couldn't hear. Kid stirred a bit but didn't wake up. Stein sighed desperately and tried again. "Kid! Wake up!"
Kid jerked awake, his eyes going wide, and nearly punched Stein across the jaw with his sudden surprise.
Stein jumped back from Kid's swinging fist and Kid sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"The hell, Stein?" the young reaper growled under his breath.
Stein sighed in relief and attempted to feel Kid's forehead again, only to get shoved across the room.
"Don't you touch me! Answer my question! What the hell happened?"
The professor closed his eyes as his back slammed up against the wall, a small grunt escaping his lips.
The world wasn't kind to him today.
"Kid... If you had kept sleeping, you'd be in a world of pain right now." He took off his glasses and dusted them off on his shirt. Kid stared suspiciously at the stitched labcoat wrapped around him as Stein took a deep breath. "Back in the cemetery, where those kishins were attacking- you don't remember, do you?"
Kid blinked and thought for a moment. After a while, he slowly shook his head.
"Hakase... All I remember is that we went to the cemetery to stop them and that the main kishin dropped something... Everything else is hazy..." He muttered and looked back up at him as he spoke again.
"Well, Kid, after that happened, you stood there, as if you were nothing more than a mere statue, as Ancient blood flowed throughout your system, drowning every inch of black blood inside you. If Medusa were still alive, she would kill to have you to replace Crona as her son. You'd be the perfect weapon."
Kid furrowed his eyebrows and parted his pale lips to speak until Stein interrupted him.
"But. We have yet to find this Ancient and to make its sinful line as extinct as we had originally thought before. After its death, your father expects you to be safe from becoming something you aren't."
Kid stared at the Professor for a while before looking back down at the labcoat.
"Ancient... hm?" He whispered, closing his eyes as he ran his fingers along the stitches. "Well... At least my appearances are prepared for it."
Stein slowly shook his head.
Maka held onto her father's arm as her system began to calm, closing her eyes to allow Spirit to lead her throughout the Dwma to Stein's classroom, where Patty and Marie had been sitting.
"Papa...?"
Spirit flinched when the silence between them was broken, but was a bit overjoyed that Maka had been calling her Papa the way she used to when she was just a little girl.
"Yes, Maka?"
Silence once more.
"... Do you think its my fault? For Kid-kun's death?"
Now it was Spirit's turn to be silent for a moment.
"Of course not!" He looked at her, seeing her head bowed. "You didn't know! You tried! I saw you try! Stop blaming yourself!"
Maka sniffled.
"Papa, I killed him!"
"No! You didn't!" Spirit took a hold of Maka's shoulders. "Don't you dare think for a second, Maka. He loved you!"
"And I betrayed him!" Maka screamed suddenly, tears running freely from her eyes.
Marie and Patty rushed out of the classroom and Marie looked at the two with worried eyes.
"Is everyone alright? What's wrong?"
Patty had never seen Maka act this way since Kid died and she took a step forward to hold Maka's arm, but Maka slapped it away, causing Patty to step back in surprise, holding her now stinging hand to her chest.
Maka bit her lower lip, shaking her head.
"I'm wrong. That's what."
Spirit furrowed his eyebrows.
"Maka!"
She took off running down the hall as fast as she could, leaving everyone else behind. This was a perfect time... to do what she had been wanting since Kid died.
Kid felt as if something wrong was about to occur... Maka. He got out of bed and Stein's labcoat fluttered to the ground around his feet.
Stein raised an eyebrow, taking a step forward.
"Kid? I'd recommend that you get back in bed right now. You need to rest so that the Ancient blood's effect would slow."
Kid shook his head, looking up at Stein. Stein's eyes widened in surprise when he saw a flicker of gold within them.
"Screw Ancient blood." He ran out of the infirmary and Stein tore off after him.
"Kid! Stop!"
As Maka continued to run, she heard running footsteps behind her as Spirit, Marie, and Patty tore off after her.
"Maka! What are you doing?" Marie called out while Spirit's face was twisted in worry. Patty bit her trembling lower lip.
Maka ignored them and ran out onto the highest balcony the school had outside, stopping at the railing.
"Please forgive me, everyone... Please forgive me... Kid..."
Kid kept running, ignoring the pain of his legs screaming up at him to slow. He felt his blood pumping rapidly through his system. He breathed heavily, his raven colored bangs mixing with the white stripes in his hair.
Stein, too, was panting as he continued to run after him. He knew he had no choice but to keep going.
Sid looked up at Lord Death.
"How much time do you think we have left, Death? Until he turns...?" He whispered.
Lord Death closed his eyes under his mask.
"I don't know, Sid. But all I know is that it won't be long."
Maka saw that the three who had been chasing after her were far down the hall and knew she had time. She hoisted herself up onto the balcony railing, standing on it.
"MAKA! NO!" Spirit screamed, his eyes filling with tears.
"NO!" Patty screamed as well, stretching an arm out towards her despite the distance.
"Sid... All I hope for... Is that he may be happy again. That's all I've wanted from the start. But now... as I look more into it... It seems as if we'd made his pain worse. By keeping him away from his last link to this world. Keeping him away from his world." Lord Death removed the mask and the two began to walk together out of the Death Room silently.
"Lord Death, tell me exactly what you are planning." Sid demanded.
There was a moment of silence.
"Well... Since he doesn't have long... He deserves to be with her with the time he has left. He'd want nothing more than that."
Kid heard screams up ahead and willed himself wot go fast, his limbs hurting. His feet were burning with pain and his chest ached.
"MAKA! NO!"
When Kid heard those words yelled out, he found the strength in him to go onward.
Stein heard as well and his eyes went wide.
Lord Death and Sid stepped out of the room just in time to see Kid and Stein run past.
Lord Death suddenly had a dull feeling in his chest that something wrong was about to occur as well. Sid chased after them without a thought. Just instinct that Kid could be seen by anybody at any moment.
Maka kicked off her boots and watched as they fell from the balcony to their sudden stop. It was a long way down. She slowly turned and so she can see how far Spirit and the others were. They watched in fear and charged.
Maka smiled and closed her eyes.
"I'm tired of running..."
Kid pressed forward and was catching up with Spirit, Marie, and Patty.
"I'm tired of waking up every night wanting to die..."
Lord Death slipped off his cloak and mask and began to run as well.
"I'm sorry, Kid. I'm coming..." She whispered and leaned back, beginning to fall from the railing.
Kid ran past the others and they all stared in surprise. Patty was shocked.
Kid made it to the door that lead out and when Maka fell, he launched himself forward over the railing after her.
All of them stopped, including Stein and Sid. They stood at the railing, looking over it to see Kid falling towards Maka. Lord Death caught up with them and stared down in surprise as well.
Everything seemed to be in slow motion.
Kid reached out towards her, wrapping his arms around her body. Maka's emerald eyes shot open in surprise but widened when she saw that it was Kid holding her. He smiled slightly.
"I'm here, Maka. Please don't cry anymore."
Maka let out a small gasp and tears welled in her eyes.
As they neared the ground, Maka screwed her eyes shut and Kid held her even tighter to his chest, making it so that he was the one to hit the ground instead of her.
Before his body can make contact, everything went white and Maka's body went limp as she lost consciousness for the second time that night.