CHAPTER 14

A/N – Hello my dear readers! It seems we have reached (and exceeded) 100 reviews, fact for which I am so grateful to you guys! Every single review makes my day and brings me reassurance that I'm not writing a total crap here (as I am often inclined to suspect LOL). Therefore, in order to celebrate the 'over 100 reviews' achievement, the one and only Lord Death will make an appearance in this chapter. But since people seem to be of the opinion that he can't shinigami-chop anyone through the mirror, he won't get to do anything spectacular. LOL. Bah, enough spoilers! So enjoy today's chapter!

"The magic tool is right behind this door. Once we have it, we'll be free to leave Death City and go far, far away where no one will ever bother us. Where we can be together Maka, forever, just you and I! But we need the tool and only you can get it for me"

"But why, Kid?"

"Because only you have a Grigori soul"

…

She had done it, she would have done anything for him, for he was her friend, her lover, her everything. And now the scorching desert sun glared mercilessly over her helpless, disheveled form tied with thick ropes at the top of two high poles, drying her bitter tears even before they could slide down her face.

"Maka Albarn, you have revealed your true nature as a witch and you are hereby sentenced to death for your actions against Shibusen!" Lord Death's voice thundered from below and the blonde could see that he was no longer his usual carefree self but a terrible, vengeful deity set to bring destruction upon those who dared disobey him. But then he seemed to hesitate, half turning towards his son, who stood nearby. "Kid, do you have something to tell me?"

There, for a fleeting, fragile second, Maka hoped.

"No, father." The young shinigami's voice was calm and soft as he looked up at the blonde, his golden eyes cold and mouth twisting into a wicked, cruel grin which was meant for her eyes only. And it was too much, her heart broke into a million pieces and they were all sharp.

"Why?" her pale, dry lips mouthed lifelessly, only to turn into a terrible scream, rising like a storm from her torn chest, so powerful that the ground trembled, the bright sky cracked and shattered and the scorching white light turned to darkness as she fell into an abyss of despair.

The blonde's eyes blinked, but she could not see anything. Her mouth was dry and her throat a tad sore, and she realised she'd been screaming at the top of her lungs only a moment ago.

"Shhhh, Maka, it's okay! You're okay, it was just a bad dream," she heard her meister's voice whispering soothingly as his arms held her tightly, but his embrace brought her no comfort, on the contrary. She froze, almost forgetting how to breathe, as she felt nothing but pure horror.

"I'm not a witch," the blonde breathed against his bare shoulder, her hand raising and nails digging desperately into his flesh. His skin was velvet soft, but she could feel iron hard muscles underneath. "I'm not a witch, it was your fault! I did it for you, I did everything for you and you betrayed me!" Maka wanted to shout, but she had no strength left, she could only whisper. The reaper's body tensed, but he still held her close.

"Maka, you are still dreaming," he said softly. "Your soul is in a very dark place, please come back to me"

Her eyelids, heavy with tears, fell shut and her whole body simply slumped, feeling boneless. Come back? "I can't come back… I am dead, Kid. You let them kill me. But I still love you, even like this, dead…."

Her meister tsked and pulled away, letting her bare body drop limply onto the mattress as he stood up from the bed. A moment later an ice cold jet hit her face, causing the blonde to sit up abruptly, gasping and looking utterly bewildered. Her eyes rapidly took in the familiar small room, now illuminated by a few flickering candle buds, the rough blanket she'd protectively gathered around her own body and Kid's light scowl as he sat down next to her, now wrapped defensively in one of his black cloaks.

"What-… What the hell, Kid?" she demanded, scrubbing a hand over her wet face and further into the now wet strands hanging around her face.

"I'm sorry about the cold water, but I just couldn't wake you up. You were having a nightmare and saying something creepy about being dead and stuff," he murmured apologetically. "Are you okay?"

Maka sighed and buried her face in her hands. Yes, it had been just a dream, she realised, but it had been so… incredibly vivid!"Yes, now I am… What…what did I say?"

"Would you care to tell me about it?"

The blonde shook her head. "No, I don't… think I can put that into words… I can only let you see it, what I remember of it." She knew she probably shouldn't have, that it would only upset him, but hell, she wasn't going to keep anything from Kid, even if it was about her own fear. And she remained silent in turn, not daring to look up at her friend, when he pulled away after seeing it all, without a word.

"I see," the young shinigami said after a while, thoughtful. "That explains a lot"

Maka flinched, her stomach cringing painfully. "What?"

"This is the Kishins' madness, their poison. You had this dream with a very clear purpose, I believe." He reached out and brushed a few damp strands away from her face. "Maka, you were right. It definitely seems that they do find our marriage suspicious, maybe they didn't at first, but the longer it lasts, the more suspicious they become… They already suspect there's someone here opposing them and this dream you had was meant to turn us against one another, just like those stupid berries"

Maka scowled. "What do you mean? I thought the berries amused you greatly!"

"The berries were an insult," Kid explained gently, pulling her closer."They are supposed to cure impotence. At first I thought the Older One, Key, had sent them to pick a fight with me, but now that I think of it, they were probably meant to make me believe you'd somehow complained about my performance and make me angry with you. But they don't give a vitamin boost…"

The other meister hid her face in her hands again, blushing like mad this time. "No, I don't have any complaints about that," she grumbled under her breath.

"Come again?"

Gah!" I said I don't have any complaints about that!" Maka hissed, burying her nose into his shoulder for a change. Mad. I must have been mad last night. Mad with lust, mad with passion. And with love, so much love. It was almost frightening how well they seemed to fit together - his rings on her fingers, her small breast in the cup of his palm, their bodies into one another. And Maka felt a pleasant shudder at the memory of the sensory overload she'd experienced the previous night.

"Good," Kid chuckled softly, taking hold of her hand and kissing the inside of her wrist.

"I don't think this is a good idea…"

Maka was tense, so much that her muscles were getting sore. She had spent her whole day trying to act as if nothing had happened, careful to conceal the bump on her forehead under the black veil, but feeling constantly on the edge every time a Brother or even worse, the Older One would come close to her, even if the latter too behaved like the previous night had never happened. Or perhaps he had not realised it had been her following him to the Kishins' lair? There was no way of knowing, after all they were already suspecting her and Kid. The young shinigami had now confirmed her own fears that they were slowly but surely running out of time. He wanted to speak with his father again, but he'd somehow managed to break the bucket they'd used the last time and they needed a mirror. Maka had remembered the large mirror the Sisters had used when preparing her for the wedding ceremony, but it was dangerous, so dangerous to slip back to that room and use it, especially since it was so close to the habitations area. Her heart pounded like mad inside her chest, her hand gripping Kid's tightly as they slipped soundlessly into the darkness of the corridors. Fortunately, at least she remembered the way and no one seemed to be lurking around at that late hour. All that, and the accursed dream continued to linger in the back of her mind.

"There it is," the young shinigami whispered, rapidly locating the large, silver framed mirror despite the obscurity and hurrying to pull off the dark, dusty cloth covering it.

"So… do you think my dream was just that, a nightmare caused by the Kishins' madness?" she asked. "I just can't shake off this feeling that there's more to it…"

"There might be more to it, yes," Kid agreed, waving his hand to clear off the dust he'd stirred. "For example the reference to your Grigori soul - it could mean they know you have a Grigori soul and they want it for themselves"

"Yes, to devour it! At least that's what they told Key… And what about the magic tool? Do you really think there could be a magic tool which can only work with a Grigori soul? Or something like that?"

Kid turned around to look at her, not entirely surprised but clearly displeased by the idea, because a scowl crept onto his face and his mouth twisted into a grimace. "Well I really hope with all my heart that there is no magic tool involved, because frankly I have had it with this kind of bullshit." Sighing, he then turned back to the mirror and proceeded to dial Lord Death's number on its surface. "And I don't think we should mention any of that to my father, we wouldn't want him to get excited over unnecessary things…"

"Hello, Kid, Maka! We were beginning to worry about you two, it's been a while," Lord Death said in his usual carefree way. With relief, Maka noticed that her father did not seem to be around this time. "Sadly, I'm afraid I wasn't able to find out too much about the three Kishins there," he went on, "other than that the Kishins cannot be fundamentally different from the other Kishins we have fought before. So if you manage to get yourselves combat ready, I don't think there should be any problems. How's your training coming along?"

"Well that was very helpful…" Kid muttered under his breath. "The training is going really well, even surprisingly so," he added a bit louder, "I never thought Maka would adapt so quickly to weapon mode. So we're doing well, yes. But the Kishins already have their eye on us - they probably had from the beginning – so time is running out. And it's not only the Kishins we will have to face, it's also their non-human servants, the nature of which we were yet unable to identify. I killed one of them a while ago and that didn't go smoothly at all…"

The older shinigami nodded thoughtfully. "I see, well, nobody assumed this would be easy…" he said. "But on a happier note, we managed to find Miss Nakatsukasa and your pistols and bring them back to Death City. They too have experienced complete memory loss and reversing the effects of the spell was a bit tricky, I'll say… And we've also got some information on the possible location of Black Star. Excalibur has offered to help on that matter, so I'm sure everything will be fine. No news of Mr. Evans so far, but we're working on it"

Maka's heart jumped and then sank back in a matter of seconds. So their friends were fine, they were alive! But no news of Soul… "That's great news, Lord Death!" she said though.

"Indeed," Kid agreed, "At least the girls are okay. I don't know what to say about Excalibur though…"

Lord Death suddenly stooped forward, his white skull mask almost touching the mirror on his side, the dark hollow eye sockets trained intently on Maka's face. The blonde blinked, in complete confusion, fighting the urge to take a step backwards as it almost felt like her personal space was being invaded. But it only lasted one moment before the older shinigami straightened his back, an unreadable expression on his mask.

"Kid, do you have something to tell me?" he asked in a completely neutral tone, yet looking somewhat expectant.

"No, father," the young shinigami replied, "I've already told you everything we have discovered so far"

Lord Death remained motionless and equally mysterious, seeming to ponder inwardly. "Please take a close look at Maka's eyes," he said.

Kid frowned and turned abruptly to inspect the blonde's eyes in the dim candle light, as instructed, getting a light hold of her shoulders. And an equally puzzled Maka witnessed as his mildly confused expression gradually morphed into one of complete horror, his face dropping visibly and he mouthed a silent 'fuck'.

"What about now, Kiddo?" his father asked calmly from the mirror, waiting patiently for an answer.

Still facing his fellow meister, Kid squeezed his eyes shut and looked like the sky had literally collapsed on his head. He silently whispered another swear before taking a deep breath and turning to face his father, his hand rising up to give a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder of a pretty much terrified Maka.

"I can explain this…" Kid cleared his throat. "Father, Maka and I are married," he said in his usual dry, somewhat professional and completely emotionless tone.

Lord Death remained completely motionless in turn and seemingly unimpressed, but to Maka the whole thing looked terribly ominous. She gulped, unable to look at him, instead taking a sudden interest in her old worn boots. And then things got worse.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE MARRIED?" an all too familiar voice yelled (so he was there after all), but the blonde did not dare look up and face her father. "Maka Albarn, look at me! What is the meaning of this?! You're only sixteen!" Right, I must have turned sixteen a few days ago, I'd completely forgotten about it… "And what am I supposed to tell your mother?! That my sweet little girl- no! This is unthinkable, I demand an explanation right now!"

I love him, Papa…Maka thought, but didn't say it out loud. She doubted that her father could be reasoned with at the moment, he needed to cool off and get past the initial shock. Although… she had never seen him so pissed before.

"Oky doky!" Lord Death concluded, shoving his scythe aside from the mirror. "Well, I have all the confidence in both your capabilities and I know you can totally pull this off!" he said cheerfully. "Oh and Kiddo? You should really pray that the Kishins finish you off, because if I ever get my hands on you, it will be bad…"

Kid hurried and pulled the cloth back over the mirror, his eyes wide with horror and chewing absently onto his lower lip.

"Shit!" Maka whispered, only then realising she'd begun to tremble at some point. "Papa seemed superpissed…" she added, both her hands flying up to cover her mouth. "But how did he know… I mean…? Kid, what's wrong with my eyes?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"Huh?"

"I said –what's wrong with my eyes?" the blonde almost shouted, gripping his shoulders to shake him from his daze.

Her meister blinked, meeting her gaze and drew a deep breath. "Um… it's n-nothing… nothing serious, just the color changed a bit…" he stuttered. "Now t-there's a bit of… um… gold in it too…. But it's fine, it's not a bad thing, just… just don't freak out"

"Don't freak out?! DON'T FREAK OUT?!" Maka shouted, terrified. "What's going on with me, Kid? Am I… pregnant? Is that what Lord Death saw?"

"Wha-? No, of course not!" Kid tsked, scowling. "I wasn't born yesterday, Maka, I know a thing or two!" Her ran a hand through her hair, pushing a strand behind her ear and sighed. "Look, because, like I said, we are validly married and because now… well… we have consummated our marriage, you've become a half-shinigami."

The blonde gulped. "A… half-shinigami?"

To be continued