CHAPTER 13

A/N – Hey everyone! What do you know – 13 turns out to be a lucky number after all. You'll see why… ;)

The raw stone wall was rough and damp under her fingers, but the air grew staler as she advanced blindly further and further into the depths of the cave labyrinth. The meister recalled the protruding, heavy smell of incense of that large ceremony hall where their wedding had taken place. It all seemed so distant, as if it had happened ages ago. But now she could not feel any of that, no particular smell, so that it could only mean that she was nowhere near it yet. Maka knew it had been somewhat of a rash decision, if not a down straight reckless decision. But the blonde had spotted the Older One walking down their corridor, towards the bowels of the mountain and she'd instantly made up her mind to follow him. She'd simply abandoned the food tray for dinner on the ground, in front of their door and had set in pursuit of the head Brother, keeping her steps as light as possible and maintaining a safe distance between them. Of course, the 'safe distance' was relative, for she didn't know how fast the man was, or how strong, in fact she knew almost nothing about him past the inherent fear she had felt towards all Brothers and Sisters ever since she'd found herself at the Temple. And Maka needed to know.

She had no choice but to grope forward, keeping close to the wall and her ears alert to the sound of the Older One's even, unhurried footsteps as he walked, careless and unsuspecting – or at least she hoped so. She couldn't tell rationally how she'd guessed where he was going, it was no more than a gut feeling, but it must have been him, the Older One, the one The Three talked to, out of all their servants. He must have been the Kishins' favorite, he alone stood before them while others kept their distance and he alone had walked with her into the hall – which was nothing but a sinister, enormous tomb – where the Kishins dwelled.

Maka fleetingly thought about enabling her soul perception again, but most likely it was a bad idea. The first and the last time she'd tried it within the Temple premises, a while ago, the pain from the devoured souls' imprint was unbearable and besides, she could feel the abomination, the absolute horror which were the Kishins even without that. And she needed to keep a clear mind through this, not go mad with fear and pain.

The blonde took a deep breath silently, trying to relax a bit and steady the frantic beating of her heart. The thick darkness in which she could see absolutely nothing was maddening, having only the bare stone under her fingers while guided by a faint sound, but it didn't last long. Just as she had managed to recall, it wasn't a very long walk from their room to the Kishins' hall. A vague scent of smoke wafted towards her nostrils from somewhere ahead and the meister felt a sudden pang of fear. What if the Kishins could perceive her presence and know that she had followed their servant?

There was no door on that side of the hall, thus Maka was suddenly able to spot the flicker of the strange, blue flamed torches which were illuminating the Kishins' hall and gradually, as she drew closer, the Older One's massive figure standing out against the light as he walked inside. His footsteps came to a halt and the meister stopped too, very close to the doorframe and her body pressed flat against the wall which was shielded from the light, very nearly holding her breath. She could feel it again – that infinite wickedness, a very old but almost palpable evil, something so foul and suffocating that it almost made her physically sick. I felt nothing like this with Asura! How could I possibly stand against them?! This is just too much, too much! She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to focus, to think past the panic and realised that The Three were now speaking, in that shriek of a voice which seemed to belong to one and to many in the same time.

"… not enough, not enough! Why have we bothered to make you this gift if you are unworthy?" the voice was saying, followed by something like a loud, pathetic wail which nearly made Maka jump from her spot. Gathering all her courage, she peeked around the doorframe, into the hall, trying to see what was going on. The pale blue light was brighter now and she could clearly see the Brother's ragged black clothes lying onto the tiled floor in a heap behind his body. Or at least she assumed that thing was his body. His whole frame had taken a hunchbacked shape, his spine with much enlarged vertebrae protruding through the skin, which had darkened and now looked more like made of small, gleaming scales. The blonde muffled a gasp of horror at the sight, even if she wasn't able to see very much of him she didn't dare imagine how the rest of his body must have looked like. The Brothers weren't human, Kid had said, the one they'd killed hadn't been human either. And they're very hard to kill…

"I have been keeping a close eye on the young one, as much as I could, but I have discovered nothing. He may have outsmarted me and I was unable to… Forgive me!" the creature which had been the Older One lamented weakly.

"Fool! How dared you and to what purpose? A Death God is no match for you! Leave him to us, Key… we have enjoyed him so much before. Perhaps his new pet will die soon and he will be in need of another," the Kishins said, "then he would have to pay the price for it again…"

Then the voice laughed, a terrible, nerve-wracking laughter, and Maka shuddered. "We can't think you have changed your mind, not after the price you have already paid for this pretty little virgin…" she remembered. What price had that been and what had they done to him? And he's telling me nothing, nothing! Tears of sheer fury stung her eyes, but she couldn't allow herself to cry, to be weak, not now.

"…but no, it's not him we want. Ever since Brother Elgar died, we have been feeling it, Key… the presence of a soul which rebels against us, which fails to accept us as their master… If you want to prove yourself and have your own faults forgiven, Key, you will find this soul and bring it to us to devour it!"

"A soul? But I am so wretched, how could I find a simple soul for you?" the Older One, whom the Kishins had called 'Key', asked fearful.

"It is close…" the voice hissed in reply. "It is very close… It is here, now! Bring it to us!"

Maka hardly had any time to react before the gruesome body which had been crouched in the middle of the hall twisted into an awkward crawl and lunged towards the exit. Barely managing to suppress the paralyzing panic, she willed her own feet to move, desperate to put more distance between her and the creature now set in pursuit. Running in the dark was much harder than walking in the dark, tracing the wall, and much noisier, but she did it anyway. She ran, as fast as she could, even if completely blindly this time. The blonde meister was aware that she was gasping for air and panting, quite audibly, but there was no hiding now, only running. She could clearly pick up a sort of growl behind her as the Older One advanced, faster than she'd imagined and still in that morphed, inhuman form.

Just run faster! Faster! I can make it back to the room before he catches up with me, I can- But then she stumbled onto something - probably a piece of stone fallen from the ceiling – and dropped face down, unable to catch herself on her hands and slamming her forehead onto the hard ground. It hurt and the darkness spun around her for a moment, before she lost consciousness.

"…find this soul and bring it to them to devour it… no, no!" Maka muttered, slowly coming back to her senses. "What? What happened to me?" She sat up brusquely, then stood from the bed, only to bump into her new meister, who stood with his arms crossed and a dark expression. Oh hell, he's pissed… she knew, instinctively taking a step back.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! What the hell were you trying to do, Maka?" Kid shouted. "It was almost upon you, that thing! What the hell was that anyway?!"

"I just… wanted to know more about them, about the Kishins…" Since you're not telling me half of it… Maka stared down at her boots as she talked, knowing he had all the right to be angry with her. She didn't know how she'd managed to escape being caught by the Older One in the first place, but she suspected that the young shinigami must have had something to do with it. So once more he'd had to come and save her, how embarrassing! The blonde took a deep breath and straightened her back.

"Kid," she said determinedly. "When I caught you drinking Black Water, that was quite stupid of you and I slapped you. And now, what I've done tonight… this was stupid of me. So I want you to slap me this time, as hard as you can"

The reaper raised an eyebrow and snorted. "That's just ridiculous! I'm not Black Star, I don't hit girls!"

"I'm not a girl, I'm your fellow meister and… your weapon!" Maka snapped back angrily. "You should treat me as such!"

Kid sighed. "Maka, I do acknowledge you as my weapon and my fellow meister, but still," he said conciliatorily, "my hand is much heavier than yours. And I could never hit you." But the blonde's face remained impassible and the young shinigami rolled his eyes. "Fine, suit yourself…"

She inwardly braced herself and instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, but the blow never came. The reaper's fingers only patted her cheek lightly, before he pressed her flush against his chest, burying his nose in her hair. "Maka, just don't do that again, please… I was so worried! What if I hadn't made it in time?" he murmured, gently caressing the honey colored strands. "Now, tell me what you heard"

"I saw the Older One and I followed-" Maka began, but the shinigami pressed a finger onto her lips. "No, not like that," he said, sitting down on the bed, pulling the other meister down into his lap and resting his forehead against hers. "Relax… and let me see everything."

The blonde obeyed, despite the initial confusion, followed by the confirmation that yes, her new meister could read minds if he wanted to. A rather disturbing thought, Maka concluded frowning, yet she made the effort to focus on the memory of what she'd seen and heard back in the Kishins' lair while Kid continued to stroke her hair soothingly, ever so gently.

"Well, I guess this is bad," he concluded after a while, "but we'll think of something. Don't be afraid"

The blonde sighed. "I know, I just… I just wish you didn't keep things from me, Kid. Not when I even let you read my mind. It's as if you're saying I can't handle the truth"

"I see…" the young shinigami said, in such a way that she could make nothing of the tone of his voice. "What is that you wish to know?" He pulled away and leaned against the headboard, looking expectant. Maka's gaze involuntarily slipped from his shaded golden eyes to his pale lips and suddenly a single thought took over everything else, although it really wasn't important, but she knew it had been subconsciously pestering her since their wedding day.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" she blurted out before she could help herself. "The whole... kissing stuff, I mean. You must have, you're too good at it…" she added, instantly blushing and feeling beyond stupid for asking him such a thing. Of course it wasn't any of her business, but who had it been anyway? Liz? Patty? Both? That half-shinigami girl? Okay, Maka inwardly admitted, however reluctantly, she was jealous.

And Kid frowned, but it was only to mask his obvious amusement. Gah! By Death, how stupid! Stupid! Maka fidgeted awkwardly, glancing down at her hands, beyond embarrassed. How the hell had she managed to screw things between them so royally?

"Actually I can't say that I have, no," the reaper said at last, thoughtfully."I think that I am indeed 'good at it' as you put it, but that's not due to experience. There is an explanation for it, but I'm afraid it's a bit sinister. I don't think you want to hear it"

I totally had that one coming, now he's teasing me again! "You're my meister now, you can tell me anything," the blonde challenged, raising her eyebrow expectantly.

Kid cleared his throat. "I don't think you've ever heard about this, but a very, very long time ago reapers had a slightly different job than they have today. They…um… well actually there wasn't any 'list' and they weren't only supposed to reap the souls of evil humans and kishin eggs and so forth. Their job was to reap all the souls. As soon as there was someone's time to die, a reaper would come after them and collect their soul. Of course, this didn't go exactly smooth, because people feared the reapers and would run from them and stuff, therefore the reapers were given this gift and they all became very… I don't know if 'seductive' is the word, but… well… skilled if you will. That's why I instinctively know what feels good to you"

Maka blinked. "And... it worked? That made things 'go smoothly'?" she asked baffled.

"So I've heard"

A cold shudder ran down the blonde's spine and for a brief moment her old fears seized her again. "But that is… that is evil!" she pointed and Kid simply shrugged, nodding lightly. "Do you mean to say that if we were back then and it was my time to die… you would seduce me and then you would-" she paused, making a slicing motion across her throat, "reap my soul?"

Her meister grinned and sat up, catching the blonde in his arms just as she tried to pull away. "Are you afraid, Miss Albarn?" he purred. Yes, Maka told herself, there was something very dark within her friend, but it was also soothing, and thrilling, and addictive, and she would end up giving herself to it completely.

"Kid," she whispered softly, flinching as she felt his nimble fingers tracing every bump of her spine, "we might not be alive tomorrow…" Saying that, the blonde firmly grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head in a single motion.

"I love you, Maka Albarn," the young shinigami murmured against her lips, pushing her down onto the bed.

To be continued