AN: Bam badadaaaa! Okay, so this one part is probably gonna span over a bunch of chapters (Haha, remember the maze days? ), so hold tight, keep your hands and feet in the desk chair at all times, and have fun! I suggest you grab a blanket, pillow and bowl of popcorn, cuz shits about to go DOWN!
Chapter 11: Never Would I Ever...
...Think that the day I return home would be the day the world will hang by a string. A string so fragile, a single blow could send it falling, falling into madness and chaos along with the everything left. A string that is tied to many. But the knots will come undone. And the string will snap in half.
That string would be me.
Ginger thinks to herself. She was always one for dramatic commentary. She stares out her window, wondering what will happen when she begins the battle that will start a war that will decide the fate of the world. One slip up, and the world will be plunged into madness. That's a lot of pressure for a fifteen-year-old girl.
Sarith stares at her. Her long red hair gleams in the light if the irish sun. Her purple eyes shine with sadness. He can tell she's afraid. Afraid to hurt her friends. Afraid to hurt all the people she holds dear. He can't help but admire her. Anyone else would break down, cry until they ran out of tears, give up before it even started. But her, she's strong. She keeps her fears and worries to herself, and isn't afraid to be sarcastic in a life-or-death situation.
They sit like that for a long time. But then Ginger turns to Sarith, and she smiles at him.
"Thank you. If it weren't for you, my boyfriend would die, and the DWMA would probably fall. I owe you." She says. That's right. That Soul Eater boy is her lover. He had forgotten about that until now. Sarith envies him. Ever since the Uprising had assigned him to the job of watching over Ginger, he had fallen in love. He couldn't help it, she was just so amazing.
"It's nothing. You have more important things to worry about." He tells her. She nods and turns back to the window. He wonders what would have happened if the Soul boy had died. If she hadn't known about it. He could have had her all to himself.
No! How can you think such cruel thoughts? You're sick! He shunned himself. He shook the thought off and folded his hands in his lap.
Soul stares at the white van. He longs to climb aboard it, to go save his beloved, but he can't. Not yet. Tonight, the Academy troops will invade the Uprising headquarters. They will find Ginger, and they will take the witches down. And Soul will be there, protecting Ginger with his life.
But not yet. Not now. Tonight. They leave at seven o' clock sharp. That means he will have to sneak on by six fifty.
He walks down the academy steps, past the vans, past all the men to be sent off that night. He heads for home, where Maka will be waiting for him with a tapping foot and a scolding just for him.
Mem watches Soul make his way home. She thinks of jumping out at him, of asking him just what he knows about what's going on. She knows he's hiding something. Something about Ginger. And she needs to know what it is.
"Hey! Sharky!" She shouts after him, emerging from the bush she was hiding in. Soul turns around. Mem marches up to him. She looks around, and drags him into an alleyway.
"What do you know?" She says to him. He doesn't respond. "Tell me what you know about my partner." She continues. He looks at her and pries her hand off of his sweatshirt. "I don't know anything you don't. Can I go now?" He says. She clenches her fists.
"I'm not stupid. I know you're hiding something." She says. With that, she places one hand on his chest, the other on his forehead. She closes her eyes. Soul stares at her and squirms to get out of her grasp. "Umm, what are you-" He starts, but she silences him with a finger.
"Shut up." She snaps. She sorts through all his memories, searching for one about Ginger. He stops squirming and waits. And waits, and waits, until she finally opens her eyes and slams him against a wall.
"I knew it! Why didn't you tell us you got to talk to her?" She exclaims. He doesn't reply. He simply stares at her and waits for her to figure it out herself.
"We're here!" Jane's voice shouts, her head popping into Sarith and Ginger's cabin. Sarith stands up, dusts himself off, and walks over to Ginger. He holds out his hand. She takes it reluctantly and stands up as well.
"Good luck out there. I know you can do this." he says to her. She smiles at him half-heartedly. He smiles back.
Alex runs up to his partner, Tommi. She smiles and waves at him. "Hey Alex! What's up?" she says cheerily. He rests his hands on his knees and tries to slow his breathing.
"I... Can't... Find... Mem or... Soul... Anywhere!" he says between gulps of air. Tommi tucks her stripe behind her ear.
"Why do you need them?" she asks her breathles partner. He stand up straight and swallows loudly.
"I don't. I just think it's weird that both of them are MIA, don't you?" he says, finally slowing his breathing. She bites her tumbnail thoughtfully.
"Yeah I guess you're right." she says finally. "Should we look for them? School starts in five minutes..." she glances at the academy's front doors. Alex looks at his watch.
"Well then we have five minutes to find them, don't we?" he says when she turns back to him. She smiles at him and they sprint down the long staircase leading up to the DWMA building.
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Sarith watches as Ginger stands outside Death City, her hair blowing in the breeze. Ginger stares at her home town. This is it. I'm really going through with this. Alright, herey goes, She thinks. She takes a deep breath and her right fox ear twitches.
"Watashi wa watashi no yubisaki de sore o mageru koto ga dekiru node, kono honÅ o toru." She says under her breath. Her hands light with flame and she dashes off to the city.
Sarith watches her flaming hair become more and more distant until she is nothing but a bright light in the distance. He closes his eyes and thinks, good luck, to her.
And she ran. She ran as fast as she's ever run. Towards the city, until she had arrived at the outer edge. Now she stands, silently sending apologies to all she holds dear.
XXXXXXX MOAR LINES XXXXXXXXX
The flames engulfed the building, spreading quickly and slowly devouring the DWMA headquarters. Students ran and screamed, teachers rushed to get everyone to saftey.
In the Death Room, Shinigami-sama let out all the people he had gathered for a review of the plan to go rescue the very being causing the fire. By before he himself could escape, one of the red arches fell, trapping him underneath.
Death the Kid stared at the flames eating the school his father had worked so hard to bring into this world. He watched as limb after limb of the structure came crashing down. He searched frantically for a familiar masked figure to emerge from the flames.
But he never came.
Soul and Mem's heads whipped towards the academy as a loud crash emitted from that direction. They dropped their conversation before it was finished and sprinted towards the fire.
Alex and Tommi were at the steps, watching the DWMA fall, when Soul and Mem arrived. They watched in utter disbelief as people fled from the crumbling walls set ablaze by an unknown source.
After most of the Academy members had found shelter from the flames, the four of them ran up the steps in search of anyone still up there. But there was only two. And one was trapped inside.
The other crumpled to the ground. He banged his fists on the pavement, screaming in agony. His golden eyes shined with tears as he screamed for his father. He felt eight pairs of eyes watching him. Eight. A perfect number. But symmetry hardly mattered then. Nothing mattered to him more than the only person who had not made it out of the building.
He felt a hand on his back. He looked up and saw none other than Melody Hale, smiling at him in an understanding and sympathetic way. But he neither wanted nor cared for her sympathy.
He stood and wiped his eyes. He turned to his friends, which now consisted of Melody, James, Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Liz, Patty, Tommi, Alex, and Mem. He opened his mouth, and from it came a single, devastating, hope-crushing sentence.
"My father... has fallen."