Usual disclaimers once again~
but after seeing the new manga chapter~ i want Soul D:
oh well~ Enjoy~!
MAKA----
The feeling of the cool metal against her bare skin sent jolts of strange warmth into her. Her knees shook as the cold wind nipped at her unclothed skin – damn, she should have just listened to Soul before and wore a jacket or something.
There. Movement beside her, two souls, one that had zoomed in front of her and one behind, but the witch soul that she had felt from before wasn't there. One was familiar though.
"Maka!" Professor Stein roared out from the other side of the cemetery, running toward them from behind.
Looking to the object that blasted past them was a silhouette of a man. She could barely identify it as a weapon's soul – it was hard to distinguish the difference between a human and a weapon. The man had hands that look oversized in the shadows, his face unidentifiable from the distance they were in but the shadows showed that his hair was spiked. Connecting his hands and feet was what looked like a band, moving quickly in the moonlight, like a saw blade only thinner. All she knew was, if she touches that, she very likely would lose a limb.
"Maka," the professor whispered calmly beside her, "Up there."
Shifting her eyes to look above them, a shadow was floating in the distance, a figure silhouetted by the moon. But she need not see what the person looked like since she could feel it strongly.
The witch soul.
This was far more menacing than the witch soul that they had hunted once. The soul was large, surrounding the person, purple arrows jutting out of the circular soul that only her and Stein could see.
Why was she immobile? Why wasn't she attacking?
"What is she doing?" Soul's distorted voice managed to whisper.
"They stole something and we need to recover it. The guy still has it." Stein whispered back hoarsely, barely nodding towards the silhouette of the man. "Attack from both sides, Albarn," He commanded as he started to run in the opposite direction, his silhouette blending in with the trees and the hooks dangling from it.
Maka followed, heading towards the other side of the enemy, picking up the pace as she shifted her weight. "Professor doesn't have a weapon," she stated.
"He can handle it somehow," Soul replied, his image from inside the scythe watching the man's still and unmoving form. "Why is he just standing there? Why are the enemies not moving?" he observed loudly.
I have a bad feeling about this, she thought as she closed the distance between her and the man, Stein doing the same from the other side.
Closing in, Maka suddenly heard a loud buzz emanating from their target and his head swiftly turned to look at the girl with intimidating eyes that shone against the moonlight. She didn't falter against his glare but she did when she saw the guy slide – skate? – towards her direction, the bands he held giving him the speed he needed to swerve around her.
His hand came into contact with her back, roughly pushing her into the charging professor. Falling into Stein's grasp, both were rendered immobile and realized that the man was escaping.
He had stopped a few feet away from them, looking toward the floating figure in the sky. He braced an arm behind him, and with great force, he threw an object into the air, the small thing glinting in the moonlight. The witch made to catch the oncoming object when suddenly a gunshot was heard.
And another.
The sparkling object immediately changed course, as if something had it hit from one side.
"Shit!" the enemy on the ground cursed loudly, his rough voice grating against the silence of the night.
The immobile Maka became shocked as Soul was pulled out of her grasp, watching as the professor ran to the man with the scythe in his hands. Her gaze started to follow the glinting object that was still in the sky, slowly falling close to her area. She quickly concluded that she would catch whatever object this was.
Running to follow the small shining object, a swift blur of a shadow had beaten her to it. Damn it! Was it the witch?
No. It wasn't.
Decelerating and eventually stopping in her tracks, she watched as the silhouette landed in front of her, the glinting found in their hands.
Maka's breath suddenly hitched. This soul…felt so familiar.
The figure kicked up the skateboard they were riding and pointed a…gun towards the sky where the witch was and pulled the trigger.
A bang resounded loudly throughout the slumbering night sky.
In a second, the witch soul disappeared. Looking around, Maka didn't see the floating figure any longer. Was the witch dead? Or…?
"Maka." The surprised voice of the person in front of her provoked a feeling of regret. Wasn't she happy that he was back?
Death the Kid stood ahead of her, his distant features arranged in shock. He wore a dark attire, quite dark that she almost couldn't make him out as he blended with the darkness.
A lump stuck itself in her throat. She had missed him so much. She wanted to hug him. Tell him that she was sorry. Just cry on him. But...
But...not now.
"Did you kill the witch?" she uttered sternly, pushing back any emotions, looking to the distance where the witch's figure had been.
Standing beside her, Kid whispered gravely, "No, I missed."
Damn it!
Observing the surrounding area for any signs of the other enemy, her gaze landed on Stein and Soul who were still locked in combat with the man with the now frantic soul. Kid seemed to notice so he passed his skateboard to her - almost shoving it - and charged into the fight ahead of them.
"Kid! Wait!!" She screamed to no avail. Looking down into her hold, she noticed that it wasn't only the skateboard that he had shoved into her arms.
A black shiny thing – a diamond? – sparkled in her hand, the way it had been shoved into her grasp had cut the fragile skin and prickles of blood oozed from her hand, slowly covering the beautiful object.
What did Kid expect her to do? Protect the thing the witch was chasing after? Without a weapon? Did he become crazy? And what's with the board? Did he expect her to ride it? She didn't even know how to ride a bike, let alone one of these things!
Gunshots and metal clashing upon metal sounded in the distance. Maka standing a few feet away from them felt useless. And unprotected.
Damn. If only she knew how to tap into her Soul Wavelength like Black*Star and Stein could.
Why didn't Kid give her his weapons instead? Why did Stein have to take Soul with him?
She could only groan in frustration as she hugged the skateboard closer to her chest, the diamond in her right hand digging further into her palm. The only thing she could do would probably be to send out a wavelength signal so if there were any souls closing in on her, she would be able to feel them coming and escape to safety.
Closing her eyes, she focused, sending out her wavelength to blanket the area around her, all traces of movement identifiable—
A flicker. It was small, but it was there.
What? Where did it—
Another flicker…
Her eyebrows knitted in frustration. Could it just be something out of her range? Just an animal, she presumed.
And again. She felt it. Just now, it felt as if it was getting closer...but why couldn't she sense it properly?
What in the--? It was beside her just now.
Moving, moving behind...
Her eyes shot open and she decided to turn around to see whether there was anything there. Before she could turn any further, a hand had quickly found itself latched onto her mouth keeping her from moving her head any further back, Maka's eyes suddenly bugging out in fear. Hair tickled her right ear, warm breath caressing her cold skin.
"Dear little girl, where did your guardians go?" chuckled the cold voice that had sent shivers coursing through the little girl's body. Panic bubbled up in the meister's chest and she started to struggle against the hand holding her mouth, the grip almost crushing her jaw. In the frenzy she was experiencing, the skateboard fell out of her hands and onto the ground.
She looked to the fighting happening far away from her and to her dismay, the two meisters were too engrossed in battling the lone weapon that she had been forgotten in the darkness. With a surge of courage, she sent out a jolt of her wavelength to the professor and Kid, hoping and pleading that they get it.
The feminine voice of the witch tsked in disapproval. "Bad girl..." with that, the witch grabbed Maka's right hand where the diamond dug into her bloodied skin and pried it open, the liquid on the girl's palm cooling from the night air.
They're after the diamond! In a sudden reflex, Maka kicked behind her and hit what felt like the witch's shin, eliciting a cry of pain from the villain yet it wasn't enough to free her from the older woman's clutches.
Anxious eyes looked towards her comrades who were still in battle. Haven't they felt her yet!?
"Ah!" the witch exclaimed, the diamond transferred into her hands, Maka's own bloody ones empty. "Thank you very much, little girl. Now time to rescue the idiot," she whispered in a cold, bored voice as her head raised to look to the fight on the other side of the cemetery.
The hand the clamped around her mouth had let go and placed itself on the meister's back, pushing her forward. "Vector arrow," the witch whispered eerily.
Maka managed to pivot on her right foot – pain coursed through her here and she thought that it could probably be a sprain – in an attempt to charge back at the witch. She needed to get back this diamond. Whatever it was, it seemed to be important. She wasn't going to let her escape with it. Screeching, she pushed herself off of the ground with much force to aim a kick at the woman.
Unfortunately though, a ghostly purple light glowed beneath her and in a second, her eyes could only see blurred objects, too fast that it made her feel nauseous. Something hit her back – did the guys finally arrive to help her? – and she ended up falling to the floor on her back.
What...?
SOUL----
"Stein!" the professor and the Death god were alerted by Soul's call. Soul, from behind the red glaze of the scythe, saw a purple light forming underneath their enemy – an arrow shape to be precise. Looking to their enemy, he saw him wear a maniacal grin, one that seemed to say that he had won.
"Until next time weaklings," the exhausted, gruff voice said, making Soul snicker within the weapon shape he was currently in. And then, he was gone.
The guys looked awestruck at the enemy's immediate exit. "Teleportation magic?" Stein questioned to no one in particular.
A crash was heard beside them and it caused the professor to turn behind them, Soul regaining his human form in the process, looking to see what the commotion was himself. What met them was the sight of his meister lying on her back on top of Kid who had surprise written all over his features. When did she get there?
He left the question unanswered as he rushed to her side in haste, calling out her name. As soon as Kid helped raise the disoriented girl to a sitting position, she had suddenly thrown up on the ground, Soul's hands supporting one of her arms so she wouldn't fall. Her bare arms felt cold, he noticed in a quick panic.
"Soul!" Stein shouted from behind him, a sound of alarm. It caused the Death Scythe to look in the direction his voice was pointed at and saw the two figures from before, the witch and the weapon, suddenly disappear into thin air just like the guy did a few moments ago.
"Is it over?" whispered Kid from behind Maka, his hand travelling up and down her back to relieve the weak meister somehow.
"Seems like it." Stein walked closer to the three huddled forms and took a look at Maka. Soul also took this opportunity to let his worried eyes rove over his meister's form. Cold. Weak. A hand covered in blood. Her skin was frightfully pale, sweatbeads trailing her skin regardless of the cold weather they were in and her blank eyes stared at nothing beneath her.
Taking off his leather jacket, Soul covered up the girl's fragile form with it. He didn't even know if that was enough to take away the cold she was feeling at the moment.
She had been unprotected that's why she ended up like this. It was because he wasn't by her side.
Feeling awfully guilty, he bent down over her unresponsive form and embraced her, hoping the action would give her some of his warmth.
A/N: oh yeah~ the big two-oh~
haha~ i couldnt have got here without any of your support~
a big thank you to all you guys who read OAaC all the way up to now~
really really! i love you all~
well, we know who those two enemies are dont we xD;;
not very sure though if in the manga Giriko would follow...ahem...the witch...
but hey~ its AU~
OMG~ SE 63 is awesome~
for some reason i could sense some SoMa in there... strangely...also MakaKid...
but that just might be me xD;; since i love pairing SE chars with each other~ so dont mind me~
(to soul) just call maka an angel dammit! or else she'd replace you with ox...o__o?
lol...sorry~
oh and another thing...
some people might be thinking why the SoMa engagement seems to have been forgotten...
well, its not forgotten, its just slow...
im building up a few things as you mightve noticed here~
the title comprises of two concepts, and i had introduced this story with the first concept of "Arrangements"
now...im building up for a (hopefully) good "Conspiracy"
and again please dont forget to leave a review~