Soul's Afterlife: Chapter 8:
A/N: This chapter will be mostly conversation then anything else. I hope you don't lose interest in the story because of this chapter. So enjoy reading this one! (Do I sound über cheesy right now? I feel like I do...)
-JLyn
"Soul, you're lying. Steins to nice to be an afreet!" Maka exclaimed. She was pale. She stood there, pointing a shaky finger at Soul.
"Maka, anyone can be overwhelmed by the madness... He just didn't control it fast enough." He stood up, and walked slowly to Maka.
"No! Soul, quit your joking! I know you're just trying to scare me!" Maka's voice continued to get louder.
"I'm not...this isn't a joke, Maka! Steins really an afreet! Why can't you believe me? Do you honesty think I would lie to you at a time like this?" Soul seemed hurt.
"But you can't tell me Stein is an afreet! I need proof!" Soul nodded his head and picked up the handheld mirror. He wrote 42-42-564 on the surface. After a few rings, Lord Death answered.
"Hello, hello?" Soul waved in response. "Oh, hi Soul! What is it now?" He said simply and quite frankly, cold-hearted.
"Well, first off, before I go into the whole situation, can you please explain to Maka, that Stein really is an afreet now?" Soul handed the mirror to Maka and Lord Death explained to her Soul was not lying to her. She couldn't help but feel bad for accusing him of it... She looked up at Soul.
"Well, I'm sorry I doubted you.." She said, handing the mirror back to Soul.
"Thank You. Anyways, we found a barrier. But it was invisible. Why didn't you tell us the barrier would be invisible?"
"Because any other barrier which you may have found, wouldn't have been invisible. An invisible barrier hasn't existed in over a hundred years. Yes, there was this one witch...But she's long gone."
"Was this witch's name Serkit?"
"Yes! How did you know?" Lord Death sounded surprised.
"According to Maka, we encountered her. I don't have any memory of this, but she apparently failed at erasing Maka's memory of her. Instead, she erased the detail of Stein being an afreet."
"Did she remember her at first?"
"No. She fell asleep when I was carrying her home, and she had a dream about it." Even though this wasn't the time fire it, he couldn't help but blush at the thought of her being in his arms for such a long time.
"Yes. I see. This is definitely the work of Serkit... Maka, what happened in the dream?" Maka took the mirror from Soul and explained to Lord Death what had happened.
"So she's gained a few new trick up her sleeve. I guess after a century of hiding, she's had time to better her abilities.."
"Well, maybe she isn't hiding. Clearly, she's had other encounters. Don't you think her fighting would be seriously crappy if she hasn't been fighting for a century?" Maka pointed out.
"But in your dream, which is now a reality, apparently, she basically gave up fighting me, and sent us on our way. If she won't fight me, then she's probably hiding something." Soul piped up.
"Or, since you are already dead, she knows she can't finish you off, just mildly hurt you for a small amount of time." Lord Death said.
"So she's a coward?" Maka said.
"Basically. I used to fight her, almost on a daily bases. She was such a nuisance. She could never fight. But then one day, she met Arachne. Arachne had told her that she was given a blessing. The power of Spiders and Scorpions. She also told her she was her sister, along with Medusa. She said she was told to give up one of the powers to her third self. She took that as her sister. So she tracked down all of her siblings using a spell she made. She came across Serkit and gave her the power of Scorpions. Her theory was terribly wrong, though I understand where she got the idea. Who wouldn't think that? But the wrong power in the wrong hands, as you very well know, is very dangerous. Serkit was not meant to have the power of Scorpions. And to this day, we do not know who is supposed to have that power... Anyways, Serkit learned how to use it, but she was such a rookie with it. Yes, she knew the basics but she didn't know the depths of her new power. The last time I got into a fight with her, she killed most of my family and friends." Lord Death explained.
"Was she meant to have a power at all?" Soul asked.
"Probably. But it would've came by her instincts. A power for which she was meant to have and knew how to use."
"So you're saying she's found a new way to abuse her power's, and it's affected mainly ones memory?" Maka tried to clear up the situation.
"Precisely."
"What all her power's? You know.. the ones you know of?" Soul asked.
"Well let's see... camouflage, her dress she wears, the black and sloppily placed red dress, it can change her skin color, and it's fabrics color, to match the colors around her, making her seem invisible. She can melt anything in her way, just by looking at it. And, this actually relating to a scorpion, she can sting people from a certain amount of distance, with the scorpion bracelets, as described in Maka's dream." He motioned to Maka. "The green, acidic liquid, you mentioned, that's her new power. When she's aiming to sting someone, it will be an orange color." Maka nodded her head.
"But other than that, is she a normal witch?" She asked.
"Yes. A lot of her powers are much like Medusa's and Arachne's."
"But what about the barrier? We don't even know where to begin trying to break it!" Soul asked.
"What is the most powerful move you know?"
"Genie Hunter. Why?" Lord Death didn't answer.
"Oh. I get it." Maka said. Soul looked at them confused.
"Come on! I'm too tired to be smart right now!" Soul whined. Maka laughed. She reached over and ruffled his hair.
"Oh, you'll be fine." Soul blushed. Luckily, Maka didn't seem to notice.
"Ook!" Lord Death clapped his hands together, yet again in his homosexual way. "Is that all cleared up?" He picked up a tea cup out of nowhere, much like he always seemed to do. Where did he get the tea cup?
"Yes! Thank you, Mr. Lord Death!" Maka said, putting the mirror down. She then walked towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Soul asked. Maka turned around looking kinda irritated.
"To go beat the third wicked witch of the west. The faster we get this witch out of the way, and you eat her soul, the faster we get to move on." She smiled. But Soul just felt hurt.
"Why are you so determined to move on , Maka?" Soul asked, nervously knocking on the counter.
"Well... like you said... it's not healthy to stay behind like this..."
"Well, that was before... nevermind." He looked around, purposely avoiding eye contact. Maka stepped a few feet towards Soul.
"Soul? What is it?" Maka pushed gently for the answer. Soul looked at her nervously.
"It's nothing. Just.. just forget it.. Come on. Let's go." Soul walked towards the door, but Maka blocked his way. She chewed her lip while looking deep into Soul's eyes. It was almost as if she could read his mind. But he just stared right back into her eyes.
"Soul, you can tell me. It's probably not even that bad." She stepped closer to Soul. He looked down.
"No. It's nothing bad." He said meekly.
"Then why can't you tell me?" Maka asked
"Because... It's just not the right time, but absolutely the perfect time." He looked up at her, and put his hand on her shoulder. "Now let's go." He gently pushed past her.
"Soul.." She said, while watching him walk through the door. She let her head fall to the ground while she followed him out.
A/N: I know, I know. I said I'd have this chapter up by last night, but I felt like complete crap on Saturday, so I didn't even start writing until later that night. Then Sunday, I was feeling a little better, but I totally forgot I had like three essays to do for my Social Studies class. So I wrote those up really quick. (I'll probably get a bad grade on them..) I'm trying my best to keep the story posting schedule fairly regular, so stick with me here! But fair warning: My birthday's on Wednesday, so this is probably the only chapter which will be posted this week. But after that, be expecting chapters! But how about for my birthday, I get a ton of favorites for this story? Yes? No? Anyways, Pm me or post a review on the chapter if you have any ideas how this can be better!
-JLyn