Rated M for blood, gore and violence in the later chapters
Chapter 8: New things, Good Change
"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind."
― Friedrich Nietzsche
"Escaped? What do you mean by escape?" The man hissed, his eyes filled with anger directed at Arachne.
"T-They ran away of course." The purple-eyed woman said steadily, hoping her body didn't show the enormous fear that was quaking in her insides.
"Ran away? They were locked in CAGES Arachne, and they can escape when we barely feed them?" He growled, pulling Arachne forward, wanting so badly to kill her that instant.
"The Death City Association was involved, sir. They weren't alone." Arachne choked out.
"I expected better from you Gorgons and what did you do? You let me down! You swore never to make the mistakes Medusa made and yet here you are, in my damn office, telling me mere slaves escaped. I should kill you." He sneered, stroking her fragile neck that he would love to snap.
Arachne flinched slightly when the man talked about her sister that betrayed the Madness Association. Medusa was a traitor – one that separated herself from this association to work alone in some parts of world and gave secrets away to Death City. She was to be killed immediately the moment sighted and will not be spared because the President of the Association was merciless – there was no such thing as captives, only death can boot you.
"And what's more you had our bargaining chip to not let the Death City infiltrate our base! You lost the SHINIGAMI that is next in line! And a precious daughter of a well-known meister and death scythe pair. If she changes….. Our days will be numbered." The man growled, throwing Arachne onto one of the walls.
"But they don't know where our base is." Arachne smirked, composing herself slightly. The gap between the man and her was comforting; at least she would have a chance to escape his iron grip if he ever lunged.
"They will soon. They have a lethal tracking weapon with them….." The man murmured.
"It will be rendered useless against us. You see, my research had been successful." The black-haired woman said, taking out a purple liquid from her pocket and tossing it at the man. "I call this Soul Protect. One drop is enough to hide your soul wavelength and it can be released at will. Take a drop per day."
"Another interesting specimen you have created once again. You are full of ideas when it comes to countering Death City's tactic. I'll let you off for now, but make sure you get another bargaining chip for us and set up another circus. We don't need out business to fall when we are at its peak."
"Yes sir." Arachne bowed dutifully, hurrying out of the room.
"That screw-head is out to kill us all." Liz moaned as she leaned against the tree, trying to regain her breath.
Running five miles was insanity and let's not forget that she once a smoker. She had quit smoking (more like she was forced to, you can't expect to have cigarettes at a slave circus, can you?) and she was proud of it. Allow any smoker or alcoholic to go there and they will surely appreciate life and want to live longer.
"Well it's for our own good isn't it? If we want to survive the change." Soul said between his pants.
"Yea. I certainly don't want to die so early when I just gotten out from hell itself." Liz nodded.
"We're the only ones lacking behind you know? Maka and Black*Star actually trained like crazy. They are determined to get through it." Soul murmured, taking off in a jog.
"Well may god bless me and allow me to become a weapon." Liz muttered, keeping up with Soul's pace.
"Touché."
Chatter could be heard everywhere in the classroom about the new arrivals. The other students looked accusingly at the seven new people, whereas a few look unfazed. Maka held in her temptation to throw her book at the many people who looked at her group like a freak show.
Couldn't they just accept the fact that they were different and move on? Couldn't they just put aside the fact that did not have such a pleasant upbringing like them? Her friends looked at her in assurance that she did not have to do any rash moves to prove her worth.
The class finally fell silent as Stein swerved into the classroom on his signature roller chair, glancing at everyone with his cold stare. Well that silenced them at last. Maka thought in annoyance.
"Class, as you know, we have new additions to our class. I expect you to treat them like equals, nothing less. Let's get on with class shall we?" They grey-haired scientist said casually, but his cool voice spoke in volumes.
He pushed himself back and tapped the black board. "In our previous lesson, we talked about how to get ready for the change. You must be healthy, no serious medical condition and your body must have the capability to endure something that alters your genes slightly."
The class murmured in agreement. Stein continued. "What are the possible outcomes of the change?"
Hands shot up immediately.
Stein's eyes looked around the room, not surprised to see Ox's hand up along with a few other smart people in class. "It's nice to see a new face being able to answer such questions. Miss Albarn?"
"There are three outcomes." Her voice rang clearly through the class. "One is that you become a meister. Your genes are only altered slightly; you will have faster reflexes and speed. The second is when you become a weapon, it gives you the capability to change forms at your will. The third is when it backfires at you and you die a slow death. However, granted you succeed, you might have an extra ability like Soul Perception or a special wavelength."
"Well explained, Miss Albarn. You've clearly gotten the smart gene from your mother. She was an exceptional meister, a prodigy."
"Well at least it wasn't the moron gene from her father." Soul muttered, making the people around him snicker.
"Wait. You're the missing child of Spirit Albarn and Kami Albarn?" Someone in the room asked in awe.
"Well it took the person long enough to know when Maka's surname was announced four minutes ago." Liz snorted.
"Turns out the missing child was a slave, huh." Ox sneered, looking at the ash-blonde girl with jealousy.
Ox froze as he turned his head slightly to look at the small dart throw at him. A little more left and it would have ended him, piercing his windpipe and ensuring his death. Maka looked around, wondering who threw that.
"You know Ox….." A black-haired girl murmured, twirling a knife in her hand. "If you dare to refer to any of us lesser than humans…. It wouldn't be Professor Stein carrying out the punishment, it would be me. Do you need someone to pull out your hair again?"
Ox paled at the threat, nodding quickly towards the girl; focusing on Stein instead of the stare he was given.
"Katakana, let's not use weapons in class shall we and stow away your sadistic tendencies." Stein mused, pushing up his glasses.
"But Professor, you would have done much worse than I would have." Katakana protested, frowning.
Liz and Patty seemed to stare at Katakana, trying to ease their breathing. Maka wondered if it was from relief or fear. But such things aside, she was grateful to have a fellow classmate siding them. It made school more tolerable – not that it was worse than the circus itself.
She did miss the sets of weaponry that the circus provided her though.
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Maka snapped out of her constant thoughts, slightly happy that class had ended so she could explore Death City. She had been bed-bound or aching for the past few days and barely got to explore, but as Soul told her, the view was breathtaking from above.
Liz and Patty immediately got out of their seats and yanked Katakana's hand, pulling her into a group hug, leaving a few students bewildered at their affection. The black-haired girl struggled to comprehend what was going on, finally relaxing herself and returning the hug to the Brooklyn sisters.
"How have you been? It's been years since I've seen you, Himura." Liz grinned, punching her shoulder mockingly.
"Nothing much really. How did you go from the Devils of Brooklyn to slaves?" Katakana asked.
"Got kidnapped, sold to the circus of torturing slaves. Next time I see them, I'm slicing their heads off." Liz replied with ease. "How have you been?"
"My parents were murdered in front of my eyes; I was kidnapped, sold as a slave. I killed my masters soon after when I got my hands on a butcher's knife." She answered without a single hint of hesitation, as if her kills were a trophy she showed with pride.
The group exchanged glances, as if it was a mutual understanding on why she stood up against Ox. As bad as it sounded, slaves stick together have never sounded more appropriate.
Yay an update! This chapter is slightly monotonous…. That's one way to say it. It's a weird way to write a story, but I don't think there's another mood that is more befitting for this chapter. Katakana is my OC, and she will have quite a few appearances in this story. Did you know that Katakana means sadistic in Japanese?
Remember to favorite and follow this story or Katakana will come and kill you in your sleep ;D