AN: Haha! I see most of y'all were frustrated with my depressing ending last chappy? *Troll Face* YOU MAD? HUH? THAT IT? U MAD?!
Well, you're just going to have to deal with it. Lord Death has fallen, and he can't get up. He needs Life Alert!
Chapter 12: Risen From the Ashes
I lay still for the first few seconds of my consciousness. My eyes flutter open and all I see is ash. Smoke emits from the ground, as if it were still burning. Ambers are lit up all around me, allowing me to see at least a little. I cough through the smog hanging low to the ground and try to find my way out. I have no idea how I got here, but I know it can't be good.
After a minute or so, I trip over something and fall flat on my face. I sit up and wipe the crud off of it, and pat my hands on the ground in search of whatever made me fall. My hand wraps around what feels like... a handle. I dust the ash away and see a metal hatch. I try to open it, but it's jammed shut from the inside. I bang on it and yell, hoping that if there's someone in there that they can hear me. I can feel the smoke working it's way into my lungs. Eventually, it will cause me to stop breathing.
"Hello? Is anyone down there? Please help, I can't breath out here!" I shout. Eventually my hands hurt and my voice grows hoarse. I stop and cough. I need to get out of this. Quick.
"Ginger? Is that you?" A familiar voice calls. I rub my eyes and stand up. "Sarith!" I shout, hugging him tight. I release him and he laughs.
"Finally found someone! I tried looking in this hatch thing over there, but it wouldn't open." I tell him. He coughs. "I saw. Come on, let's get out of here before we suffocate." He says.
We're about to walk away, when I hear a creaking sound come from behind me. I turn around and see a figure, holding a lantern and emerging from the hatch.
"Oh, thank Death!" I say, running back towards the figure and dragging Sarith with me. I don't recognize it, though. It's a woman, I believe.
"Here, come inside! Quick! Hurry children, you need medical attention!" She says. I get closer and finally see who it is.
"Miss Marie!" I shout. She smiles at me. "Yes, now come inside!" She says. I drop down into the hatch and Sarith follows me. Marie climbs down the ladder and shuts the hatch, locking it tight. She leads us to a room with various hospital beds and sick students occupying them.
Nygus walks over to us. "More students?" She asks Marie. She nods as Nygus leads Sarith and I to two empty beds near the middle. She lays us down and starts to wipe the ash off our faces.
"Yes, I found these two wandering around outside." Marie responds. Nygus cleans off my face, and I see her smile through the bandage around her mouth.
"Ah, Ginger. How's that scar doing?" She asks. I cough and smile back. "It's great, thank you for patching it up." I reply. She cleans off Sarith's face next.
"Who's this?" She asks.
"This is Sarith, he's with me." I tell her. She can't know he's from the Uprising, he may be kicked out. Nygus nods. "Nice to meet you, Sarith. I'm Nygus. If you have any medical problems, just come to me and I'll help." She tells him. He nods and coughs.
After Nygus has us somewhat fixed up, we're left to explore the underground fortress. They call it Furthem, I believe.
I see a black outline with a white triple-spike mask up ahead. I turn to Sarith. "Hey! Why don't we go introduce you to Shinigami-sama? I'm sure he'd be happy to have a witch on our side, don't you?" I tell him. I drag him over to Lord Death and clear my throat. He's a lot shorter than I remember.
"Umm, Shinigami-sama? I'm back!" I tell him. He turns around. But instead of the funny, bouncy voice he usually talks in, it's much more serious.
"Nice to have you back, Ginger. Sorry to disapoint you," He says. He pulls off the mask.
"But my father isn't here at the moment." He finishes.
"Kid? Is that you? Why are you wearing that? And where's Lord Death?" I ask him. He looks down.
"My father... he's gone. He perished in the fire." He says. I inhale sharply. "He... oh, Kid, I'm so sorry..." I say, forgetting about Sarith. What the heck even caused the fire? And I thought Shinigami's were supposed to be immortal?
"It's not your fault. You have no reason to be sorry." He says. "Since my father can no longer do the job, I have taken over the position." He looks up at me. I smile. "Well, that's a bright side, right?" I say. He nods. "I suppose so." He replies.
"Are the others here?" I ask him. He nods. "Yes, they're in Room D if you would like to see them. Just go down this hall, turn right twice, and it should be the third on your left." He says.
"Alright, thanks! I hope you feel better about, you know..." I say, He puts mask back on and walks away. I follow Kids instructions and lead Sarith to the room that contains all my friends. I stop at the door and take a deep breath.
"Nervous?" Sarith asks. I nod. "What will they think?" I wonder aloud. He puts his hand on my shoulder. I look at him and see he's smiling. "I know they'll be happy to see you." He says. I smile and grip the doorknob. I close my eyes and twist the handle.
The first thing I see is those familiar red eyes I missed so much staring at me. I smile at Soul, my hand still on the doorknob and Sarith's hand still on my shoulder.
"Ginger!" Five voices yell at once. I wrapped in hugs and I laugh as I get pushed back a few feet. "Glad you're happy to see me!" I say. Mem is the first one to pull away. "How did you get back here? What did they do to you? Why do you have fox ears?" She asks all at once. Melody releases me next.
"Goodness, do you know how worried was about you? James was starting to get annoyed with how much I rambled about how scared I was! I'm so happy you're back!" She says. Next is Tommi. "Jesus Christ, girly! I thought you were long gone!" She says. I smile. There's still a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, and I look down to see Black Star, hugging me tightly and bawling. I push him off awkwardly.
"Umm, okay..." I mutter. Soul stands and puts his hands in his pockets. I smirk at him.
"Quit tryin' to act cool and come give me a hug!" I say, holding my arms out. He smiles and wraps me in a hug. I smile into his shoulder and hug back. I kiss him softly. He pulls away and smiles.
"Awww!" Liz and Maka coo. I roll my eyes. "So what did I miss?" I ask, plopping down on a nearby bunk and sitting cross-legged. Soul sits next to me and swings his arm around me. I lean my head on his shoulder and hold his hand.
"Well, for starters this huge fire went and burnt down the academy." Maka starts. So that's why everyone's down here.
"And Shinigami-sama died in the fire." Alex adds. I nod. "Yeah. I heard that already. I ran into Kid in the hallway earlier." I say. Sarith sits down on the floor in front of me. Liz eyes him suspiciously.
"Who's that?" She says, pointing to him. He folds his hands in his lap. Since he obviously isn't going to introduce himself, I do it for him.
"This is Sarith. He helped me escape." I say. Soul looks at him. "He saved you? How come he found you before we did?" He asks. I open my mouth to reply, but Sarith beats me to it.
"I was working for the Uprising, but I-" He starts, but that's enough to tick off half the room.
"What?! You're with... them? Ginger, he needs to go!" Alex says, standing up and pointing to the door. I stand up with him. "Listen! If it weren't for him, I never would have gotten out of there!" I say. Soul stands as well. "So?! He could be a spy! What if he's only here to take us down from the inside? They're smart, they probably planned it out!" He says. I shake my head. Sarith curls up into a ball.
"No! It's not like that, I swear!" I say. Mem looks at me. "I'm sorry Ginger, but we can't trust him. Can you honestly say that you know he won't turn on us?" She says. I bite my lip. "No, but-"
"Then that's enough arguing about it! He needs to go! Now!" Soul says. I ball up my fists. "No! Shut up, Soul! You of all people should want him here!" I yell at him. He looks at me funny. "What do you mean? Why the hell would I want a witch here?" He says. My face turns red with fury.
"BECAUSE IF IT WASN'T FOR HIM, YOU WOULD BE DEAD, SOUL!" I scream. The room falls silent. Sarith stands up and starts toward the door. I grab his hand to stop him, but he breaks free. "I'm sorry, Ginger. I know when I'm not wanted. Don't worry though, I'm used to it." He says solemnly. He walks out of the room. I turn back to Soul.
"He saved your life. And you just kicked him out! If he goes, I'm going too!" I say to him. I turn around and storm out the door and down the hallway in search of Sarith. Soul follows, but I'm too fast. I run towards the hatch leading outside, but it closes right as I get there. I open it quickly and look around in the smoke.
"Sarith! Sarith, come back! Please!" I shout. No reply. I can't see anything. I cough and start to cry. Someone grabs my waist and pulls me back down while another closes the hatch.
"Ginger! You're going to kill yourself! You can't go out there!" Soul says, holding me by the shoulders. I cry and try to wiggle free, but I can't and Soul wraps his arms around me, holding me tight. He sits down cross-legged and rests me in his lap. I lean my forehead on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. But it's too late now. He's already gone." Soul says softly once I've calmed down. I look up at him and sniffle. "It's fine." I say. I tuck my hair behind my ear and lean my forehead on his. "You are so lucky you're cute." I say to him. He chuckles and plants a small kiss on my mouth.
"Come on, it's late. Their assigning cabins tonight." He says. I nod and stand up. I dust myself off and he stands up after me. He leads me to the cafeteria and I sit next to him as people start to get up and get their food. After everyone is done eating, Stein wheels up on the stage up front and grabs a microphone.
"Attention. We will be assigning students to their cabins now. First, Liz and Patty Thompson, you may leave the cafeteria now to go speak with Shinigami-sama." He says. Liz and Patty stand up and bring their stuff out of the cafeteria. Stein clears his throat and continues.
"Before I start to call names, I'm going to update everyone on the situation." He says. The room quiets down and Stein clears his throat.
"As you all know, the Uprising has burned down the DWMA. During the fire, everyone got out safely except one person. Sadly, that person was Lord Death. A moment of silence, please?" He says. He waits about thirty seconds before starting again.
"Since Lord Death is no longer with us, his son, Death the Kid, will be taking over the position as Shinigami. I want all of you to treat him with respect and call him only by either Lord Death or Shinigami-sama, you hear me?" He says. "Now, here are the rules; There will be no going outside. The air has grown poisonous and will suffocate you in less than seven minutes. Second, no going outside your cabins after ten o' clock. There are boys and girls shower rooms on each level that you can use to freshen up until then. Third, we want you treating everything and everyone here with respect. No funny business. We are here under apocalyptic circumstances, and any conflict would be hazardous to our stable condition here." He says. He whips a list out of his pocket and reads the first couple lines of it to himself.
"Before I start to send you off, I want you to know that we don't have enough rooms to seperate you by gender, so girls and boys will be sleeping in the same rooms." He says. A few people whisper, but he ignores it and continues.
"First, in Bunker A, we will have..." he start calling out names. Students stand up by pairs and walk out into the hall with all their stuff to go set up their bunks.
"In Bunker X will be the following pairs; Maka Albarn and Soul Eater Evans, Alex Drew and Tommi Aomori, Melody Hale and James Burke, and Ginger McAllister and Memory Rise." He says. Our table stands up. I'm the only one who doesn't have anything to bring with me. We make our way down the hallway to the elevator. After going down two levels, we step out and go two doors down. Alex opens the door and holds it while everyone steps inside. I examine my new surroundings.
It's all gray, with four bunk beds, two on each side of the room. Mem and Tommi take the one closest to the door, James and Alex take the one next to them, and Maka and Soul the one across from them. That means Melody and I are left with the one in the far corner from the door. The bunk beds are made out of metal, with a white mattress on each and light blue blankets and pillows cases.
I take the top bunk and Melody the bottom. I look around as everyone sets up their areas with objects they savaged from the remains of the Academy, then split evenly with everyone else here. I wasn't here during the splitting, so I don't have anything.
"Hey, are you feeling well, Ginger?" Melody asks after she's all set up. I nod. "Yeah. I'm fine." I say. She smiles at me and grabs a towel. "I'm going to go take a shower, okay? I'll be back in a bit." She says. I nod and she walks out of the room with Mem and Tommi, who are also holding towels. I would shower too, but I'm not in the mood. And I really don't feel like having to wait in line. I went to a sleepaway camp a few summers ago, and everyone was always pushing and shoving to get a shower before the warm water ran out. I'll just take one tomorrow morning.
"Yo, Ginge!" Alex yells to me from his bunk. I turn to him and rest my elbows on the railing outlining my bed so I don't fall off when I sleep. "Yeah?" I ask him. He walks over to me and leans on the ladder.
"What's with those ears? They've been there since you got here." He says. I tilt my head. "What do you mean?" I ask him. He reaches up, grabs my hand, and places it on a soft, fuzzy lump on the top of my head. Wait, no, not a lump... the fox ears!
"Shit! Seriously?!" I say, covering my head with my hands. He nods and sticks his hands in his back pockets. "Yup. So what're they?" He asks. I flip the hood of my sweatshirt up and over them.
"It's none of your damn business!" I say, holding my hood down so it covers almost all of my hair, leaving only my bangs exposed. He flips the hood back and pokes one of my ears. It twitches.
"Cut it out!" I say, swatting his hand away. He laughs. "They're so... weird! They make you look like a fox!" He says, laughing. I cross my arms over my chest grumpily. "Shut up..." I mumble. He laughs and walks away, waving over his shoulder. "I'll get it out of you eventually." He says. I glare at the back of his dark brown hair as he walks out of the room.
I flip the hood back over my head and lay down, curled up in a ball. I close my eyes. Why the hell are my ears out? I haven't used my powers since the day before I left the Uprising HQ, and they usually only stay for six hours. I know, I timed it.
I feel a hand on my back. "Hey, you okay?" Soul's voice says. I mentally sigh. I just want to go to bed right now.
But I turn over anyway and face him. "Yeah. Just tired." I say, my eyes drooping half closed sleepily. He smiles at me and kisses the top of my head. "Well, I don't wanna keep you up, but I need you to tell me something." He says. I nod slowly. "Sure. What is it?" I ask.
"What did you mean when you said that if it wasn't for that guy, I would be dead?" He says. I blink, my eyelids feeling heavy. I sit up and rub my eyes. I yawn and look at him.
"Alright. When I was still at the Uprising HQ, I found Jimmi's cell in a pile of laundry and used it to text you guys, which you probably already figured out, but I'm really sooper tired so I might ramble... anyway, so Sarith told me that by doing that, I made Lord Death send out a buncha guys to come get me." I say. He looks at his feet. I open my eyes wider, trying to look a little less tired and a little more serious. I don't think it works, though.
"Were you gonna try and sneak on the van?" I ask him. He looks up at me. "Yeah, how did you know that?" He asks.
"Well, see Srith is half witch. Remember Crystal? Well, he's her brother. He doesn't dream, but when he does dream, it means it's a vision. He had a vision of you, Soul." I say. Soul takes his hands out of his pockets and leans against the railing.
"He told me... that when you got here, you would come get me, but when we got outside you'd be stabbed in the heart and killed." I say. He rests his forehead on my hand. "So... I would have died?" He says. I feel his breath on my wrist.
"Yeah. But Sarith told me that if I tried to show Mirielle, their leader, that I was ready, then I could save you. Thanks to him, I was able to get back here." I say. He breathes out heavily.
"Are you okay, Soul?" I ask him, crossing my legs. He looks up at me. "I'm sorry, I should have listened to you..." he says. I smile at him. "It's fine. I'm just glad that I'm back." I say. I'll bet Kana would like to meet Soul. I would always ramble about him back at the lab. Wait a second...
Where the hell is Kana?!