Chapter 5: A Dreadful Mistake
A/N: I'm back! :3 Wow, thank you all for your lovely reviews; it made my day! :) I'm one of those people who get ecstatic when I get even one new follower or review! :D And, also, 8 favs and 8 follows! Death the Kid would be proud! So, anyway, thank you all; you are all amazing! :D In this chapter, we learn more about the Kishin's Shadow. Please enjoy, and continue to read, review, follow or fav! :3
Maka ran back to the Shibusen with Soul bleeding in her arms. She was greeted at the entrance by two familiar faces, a welcome sight for the overwhelmed girl. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was her father and the professor.
"Papa! Stein!" Maka called out. She ran up to them, panting; she had sprinted the whole way there.
"Maka!" Spirit called out. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" He gripped her shoulders and looked at her. "You're covered in blood!" He cried out. "What did that thing do to you, I'll go down there and hunt it myself if I have to-"
"But it's not mine!" Maka interrupted her dad, who glanced at her in confusion. "It's Soul's blood! You have to help him!"
Stein stepped in. "Give him to me." He said. Reluctantly, Maka gently handed the scythe to Stein. "I'll take care of this." Stein said, rushing off to find the doctor's office, so he could help Soul.
Maka was near tears. While Stein ran off, her dad pulled her in for a hug, and for once in her life she didn't pull away from him. She needed it.
Not too much later, Soul was sleeping soundly in a bed in the infirmary at school, still very much alive, just unconscious at the moment. Stein had managed to stitch him back up, so the bleeding had stopped. Maka sat in a chair by his bed, while Stein and Spirit were also standing nearby.
"Will Soul be okay?" Maka asked Stein nervously.
"He should be fully recovered in a few days, possibly a week or so." He answered.
Maka whispered a grateful, "Thank you…"
"So Maka," The professor began, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. "How is it that you came out of there unscathed, while Soul was barely clinging to his life?"
She sighed, "Kid actually asked me the same thing earlier. I don't know. You tell me." She looked at Stein in defiance. "What is that thing and why didn't it affect me? I swear that monster beat me up as much as Soul, though I'm barely even hurt."
"Interesting…" Stein muttered.
"I remember Kid called it a 'Kishin's Shadow'." She continued. "What is it exactly? Why did it only hurt Soul?" Maka crossed her arms and awaited her explanation.
Spirit decided to enter the conversation. "Here's the truth: no one knows. All we know is that Shinigami-sama briefly mentioned a possible aftermath of the Kishin being a monster known as the Kishin's Shadow. However, no one can remember anything about it. It's a form of madness that looks like black blood pretty much."
"So you sent Kid, Liz, and Patty out there because you think they can handle this?"
"Well, Kid is a Shinigami, so …" Spirit said with a nervous laugh. "Hey, Stein, where are you going?"
Stein had walked over to the door and was going to leave but Spirit had spotted him before he managed to slip away. "Just need to…dissect a few things…" He muttered, and then walked off.
Spirit shook his head in disgust. "That crazy guy. Thinking about dissecting things at a time like this! He really has a one-track mind…But, at least you and I can spend some quality time together now!" He glanced at his daughter. "Right, Maka?"
The girl turned away from him, saying, "I'd rather die."
Utterly depressed, Spirit exited the room to look for Stein.
Stein, however plausible it seemed for him to be dissecting things at this time, was actually headed to the library to search for more information regarding the Kishin's Shadow. He wasn't about to give up on this creature just yet.
There was a short and stocky librarian currently shelving books near the back of the enormous library. Stein walked over to him and asked, "Do you know if you happen to have any books about creatures such as the Kishin? Maybe there might be one written by the old Shinigami-sama?"
The librarian answered, "I will see what I can do for you, sir." He then went off to find something for Stein.
The professor briefly walked around the library, glancing at many shelves, but seeing nothing of any importance. Nothing looked like it would contain any information on the elusive Kishin's Shadow.
Only a short while had passed when the librarian ran back towards Stein, book in hand. "I'm sorry sir; this was all I could find. I'm sorry if it was not what you are looking for."
Stein glanced at the bulky book the man was carrying. It was entitled Creatures of Madness. Stein took the book from the man.
"This will do. Thanks."
"No problem, sir. I'm glad this is what you needed." The small librarian ran off to finish shelving the books he had been working on earlier.
Stein carefully flipped through the pages of the large and withered old book. All kinds of strange and horrendous looking creatures were depicted. Some were small and scaly, others were large and black. He noted that they were listed in alphabetical order. He quickly flipped to the K's. The first thing he saw was a page on the Kishin.
Stein gave a small laugh. "I think I know enough about that one." He flipped the page, and finally arrived at the page of the mysterious Kishin's Shadow. There was a crude sketch of the dark creature and a small chunk of writing.
"Ah, here it is." He leaned against the bookshelf behind him and began to read the page closely. At the top it simply said, 'Fear into pain and death into death'. Hmm, Stein wondered. He continued to read. It said:
'The Kishin's Shadow is an elusive creature; it usually appears after a Kishin has been defeated. It is the color of darkness and can take any form, though it usually takes one slightly resembling the Kishin. It is made up of the madness that had seeped out of a Kishin while it was alive. It is somewhat like an afterimage of the Kishin.'
I knew that much already, Stein thought.
'Kishin are actually meant to affect meisters more than weapons. It feels the need to strike the one attacking it directly, instead of aiming for the weapons, though it may attack them on occasion. However, the Kishin's Shadow tends to act in a manner almost opposite to that of the Kishin. It goes after the weapon opposing it. It feeds off the fear of the fear of the attacking meister, which doubles the power of its attacks, which in turn causes even more pain for the weapons of the meister.
Explains why Soul was hurt while Maka was not. Stein thought. I guess Kid will be even safer now, though this does make me slightly more concerned over the safety of Liz and Patty. This also explains the whole 'fear into pain' thing at the top of the page, though I haven't figured out the 'death into death' part yet.
Stein continued to read the last part of the page, until he had finished it. Wait, what? He thought. He reread the last paragraph.
"Oh god," He said aloud, finally processing what it meant. Folding over the top corner of the page to mark his spot, he slammed the book shut and ran out of the library, nearly knocking over Spirit in the process.
"Stein, I think-" Spirit began, but he was cut off.
"Spirit, we need to get them out of there! Fast! Kid and the girls are in serious trouble!"
"What…?" Spirit was very confused and it showed plainly on his face.
Stein reopened the old book to the page on the Kishin's Shadow and shoved the book at Spirit. Spirit grabbed it.
"Read the last paragraph." Stein demanded. Spirit began to read.
'The Kishin's Shadow tends to feed off not only fear but death itself. Any form of death, including Shinigamis and things like them, are drained until they fade away completely. If the attacking meister happens to be a Shinigami themselves, then it will not only decimate the meister, but be an extreme hindrance to their weapons too. The Kishin's Shadow feeds off the Shinigami, the personification of Death itself, and transforms it into death for the otherwise undefeatable Shinigami attacking it, and for their weapon as well. That is why the phrase most commonly associated with this creature is 'Fear into Pain and Death into Death'. This creature is best defeated by a direct attack with a soul wavelength and it is not advisable to fight this creature if you are linked to death in any way, for example a Shinigami or a death scythe.'
The page ended there. "We really screwed up." Spirit said.
"So, let's fix our mistake." Stein and Spirit went off to inform Maka and save Kid and the girls. Hopefully it wasn't already too late.
A/N: So now you know more about the Kishin's Shadow. Hope it made sense, feel free to ask me any questions you have on the matter. :3 Ahh, sorry about that wall of text at the end there...didn't really intend on doing that...*sweatdrop*. Hopefully I'll update it again soon! Hope you enjoyed. Please read and review! And I love anyone who favorites or follows as well! :D Thanks guys, see you next chapter! :3 (I hope! XD)