Chapter 18: Recovery And Research
Maka ran through the hallways of the DWMA. Soul was struggling to keep up with her, but he understood. He remembered how upset Maka was when she got the call from the infirmary at the academy over Kai being stabbed and his lapse into madness. AS Maka got closer and closer with Soul in hot pursuit, the infirmary came into view. It seemed like everyone was here, the death scythes, Kid and the gang, Mifune and Angela, Sid and Stein, Bella, and two girls she hadn't seen before. Kid was busy conversing with the death scythes so she made her way to Bella.
"Bella what's going on?" Maka said trying to fight the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
"Kai sensed a very powerful source of madness and made his way to where it was coming from." Bella began, she turned toward her two guests.
"He saved us from a very powerful enemy, we wouldn't have held out much longer." The meister replied, "Oh and I'm Petra, and this is my partner Lyra." She added.
"We are very grateful he showed up, otherwise we would've died." Lyra said, hoping that Kai's bravery would cheer her up to an extent.
"So..." Soul began, "If he saved you how did this happen?" he asked, curious as to how Kai was injured if he saved them.
"Well you see, after Gaia was thrown by Kai into a building and we thought he had fled, but it turns out he was waiting for Kai to turn his back so he could defeat him." Petra explained.
"If Justin hadn't of shown up Kai would've been kidnapped, or killed us when he turned into Malus." Lyra finished her partners explanation.
"Who's Gaia?" Maka asked, never hearing the name before in her life.
"And who's Malus?" Soul answered. All of their attentions quickly turned toward Kid and Justin who had joined into their circle discussing the events.
"Gaia Vesania, Kai's older and more ruthless brother." Kid begun to explain, "If he's involved it's no wonder why he was so relentless to defeat Kai, he was gonna take him with him." He finished.
"Kai has a brother?" Maka asked, everyone all looked at each other in shock except Justin, Kid, and Petra and Lyra.
"Yes, like Kai he is very skilled, and although he doesn't do it, based on his blood line he is a weapon,but he doesn't have the knowledge of the soul to be a blood meister like Kai." Kid finished explaining, "Petra is a two star meister Maka, and not even her attacks where enough to defeat Gaia on his own, he is very dangerous." Kid finished his explaination.
"And Malus is the persona of the madness afflicted Kai when he goes berserk. I'm assuming do to his brother's madness affecting him, it became so strong that it developed it's own personality." Justin began his turn to explain, "Although rare that is possible to happen, but in this state he attacked us in a fit of rage, and through me trying to talk him down, I ended up making him lose faith in the structure of how situations are dealt with by the DWMA." Justin finished.
"So your telling us he doesn't trust any of us?" Soul asked this final question.
"Unfortunately yes." Kid answered. "I tried asking him about the confrontation but he didn't speak a word, probably because of my standing as Lord Death's son." Kid explained. Maka looked down to the ground. A tear rolled down her face, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. It took him so long to finally open up and trust them, now they were back to square one.
"WAAAAAA!" Black*Star yelled as he was thrown out of the infirmary, followed closely by Tsubaki. Black*Star was furious and Tsubaki was disappointed.
"Well how did it go?" Azusa asked the angry Black*Star. All eyes fell on Black*Star.
"That asshole..." Black*Star said, and it was all he could get out. Tsubaki stepped forward.
"See Black*Star told Kai that nobody was gonna hurt him ever again because he was so great. But Kai wasn't really in the right mood to deal with that right now." Tsubaki half smiled trying to act as if it wasn't a big deal.
"Hmm just as I thought." Azusa said as she turned towards a mirror that she had brought. She put Lord Death's number on the mirror and his image appeared within the mirror.
"Hiya, what's up Azusa?" Lord Death asked, still in a cheerful mood despite the situation.
"Lord Death, the Blood Meister is still refusing to give any information to anyone with the events that had transpired. We fear that since the discovery of our being here, he has lost trust in each and every single one of us." Azusa explained, Lord Death cocked his head to the side.
"I see...and none of his friends have been able to get him to talk?" Lord Death asked.
"No father, he simply sent me, Liz, and Patty away, just like the death scythes," Kid explained as he walked beside Azusa to join the report to his father. "Then when we sent Lyra and Petra in, he refused them as well. We tried Bella, but that still showed no success. Finally we resorted to using Black*Star, who after five minutes got thrown out of the room." Kid finished his explanation.
"I see well perhaps Maka and Soul might be able to help." Lord Death said the cheeriness in his voice less apparent.
"We'll see, they just got here. That is all Lord Death." Azusa finished and Lord Death's image disappeared.
"Maka, Soul, your turn." Azusa began, "And your our only remaining chance." She finished. Soul and Maka nodded and proceeded into the infirmary. Not a single student or doctor besides Kai. They walked toward his bed. His back towards them both. Soul leaned against a shelf that was lined with different medical supplies, while Maka sat beside the bed.
"Hey..." Maka began, Kai turned his head slightly to the sound of her voice but kept his back to them both.
"...hey..." Kai responded as he let his head fall back onto the pillow.
"You know Kai," Soul began,"shutting everybody out won't help you, plus it's very uncool." Sol finished. He shifted his wait on the shelf to get more comfortable, but Kai didn't respond.
"Please Kai, don't shut us out...at least not me..." Maka pleaded as a tear rolled down her cheek. Kai relented and turned around, he wiped Maka's tear away and got a smile out of her. But he still wasn't talking.
"I'm sorry, but they only want to know what happened..." Maka began to explain, only to be cut off by Kai.
"No, they want knowledge and to make sure that I don't go crazy. The questions they asked, who's the Kishin, do you know where they are, why do they want you..." Kai's voice began to trail off, "I'm nothing more than a tool, something they need to to gain knowledge..." Kai finished, he turned away from them both once again.
"That's not true, they only want to help stop the Kishin, and who the kishin is." Maka responded.
"No I'm a tool, a device. That's all I've ever been to people," Kai began, "My parents had me when they turned into Kishin eggs, after Gaia was born and became a Kishin egg. They built me to become the next Kishin. During my childhood, them and my brother used me. My brother used me as bait, my parents wanted to make me into a Kishin to help them bring chaos. Now the academy is using me to hunt a kishin while not trusting me enough to keep my madness in check." Kai finished, Maka and Soul couldn't see it but a tear rolled down his face, as he remembered the brutal things his parents put him through.
"Look Kai, your not the only person the academy is watching, Stein's under surveillance as well. All they want is to end this so you can go back to being a student." Soul explained, Kai once again shifted his head but still kept his back to them.
"Please Kai, we are only trying to help you. Even just the name of the Kishin would help..." Maka said, she tried to fight the sadness that crept it's way into her voice after hearing how he was always used for something and never treated properly. Kai once again let his head fall back onto his pillow. After a few moments of silence Soul and Maka got up and began to leave.
"Where leaving now, I'll see you later ok..." Maka said as she leaned over and kissed Kai on the cheek. Soul was reaching for the door handle with Maka in tow, he stopped when he heard Kai shifting in his bed.
"Ruina..." Kai said, Maka and Soul turned with a puzzled look on their face. Kai had turned over onto his back and was looking up at the ceiling, "The Kishin's name is Ruina Magnitas, an old childhood friend..." Kai finished. Maka smiled and a grin on Soul. They turned and left the infirmary. Everyone's eyes fell upon them as they stepped into the hallway.
"Well..." Azusa asked as she looked at them. Maka and Soul glanced around at everyone and saw their worried and hopeful expressions on their faces.
"The kishin's name is Ruina Magnitas!" Maka yelled in happiness. Everyone cheered as they got an answer.
"Excellent, so he's feeling cooperative then." Azusa said, even a small smile made it's way onto her face. "Alright we'll go in and question him." Azusa began for the door followed by Marie and Justin.
"Don't push your luck ok." Soul said as they entered the room, and the door shut behind them.
"So how'd you do it?" Liz questioned, since her attempt with Kid and Patty failed. Everyone came close to here Maka and Soul explain.
"Well, we told him that once the DWMA stopped the kishin then he would be able to return to his regular life with us, after Soul explained that he shouldn't feel used and betrayed since he's not the only one under surveillance." Maka explained. Everyone looked at each other in shock, that was all it took.
"Well either way you got my partner to speak, thanks guys, especially you Soul." Bella said with happiness as she leaned in and gave Soul a kiss on the cheek. He trie his best to stop his face from turning red, but was failing horribly.
"Let's go celebrate and get Kai a present then, to start to rebuild his trust." Tsubaki stated.
"He'll receive to gifts, the one you guys give him, and the gift of being in my presence once again!" Black*Star yelled.
"Um, Black*Star that's a good idea and all, but I think he would want something that he would actually like." Liz said, Black*Star turned to her and looked offended much to everyone's amusement.
"We'll come too if it's ok with you guys..." Lyra spoke up, "We want to get him something to since he saved us." Petra finished. Everyone looked at them and smiled.
"Sure you can come, you guys are alright." Liz answered for the group.
"Come on guys let's go eat, and then we'll shop for a bit ok." Maka stated, everyone nodded in agreement and left together.
At Ruina's Castle
Gaia walked into the throne room, as usual he eyed all the clowns under Ruina's command as he walked towards her sitting on her thrown. Ruina looked down onto him as he approached, a sinister smile made it's way onto her face.
"Welcome home Gaia, how was the reunion?" Ruina laughed, knowing that Gaia had finally fought Kai.
"It went well, he's stronger than I thought however." Gaia explained as he continued his approach.
"Awww, did big brother Gaia be bested by his little brother." Ruina mocked. Gaia paid no attention to her laughing at his failure to bring Kai home.
"No but I did found out little brothers special gift has a draw back, and I stabbed him through the back to discover it, so you tell me who was bested." Gaia responded. Ruina scoffed at his comment as if it was nothing.
"Well next time it's my turn isn't it." Ruina teased as she began playing with her necklace. Gaia looked at her puzzled as to what she had meant. She stood up from her throne and began to descend the staircase that led up to it.
"What do you mean, you can't leave here, if you step outside they'll sense your wavelength." Gaia told her, hoping that she would stop.
"That's were your wrong." Ruina said as she passed Gaia down the stairs, "You see our friend you captured, has been tirelessly working to create something for me to conceal my wavelength." Ruina smiled at the thought.
"Ok then, so then what are you going to do?" Gaia questioned. Ruina stopped and turned around, an evil smile on her grin.
"Well you see I have tickets to a masquerade ball the DWMA is holding for celebrities, dignitaries, military leaders, and civilians who have purchased tickets." Ruina hinted as she waved a rectangular piece of paper in front of her face to tease him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go get my new accessory, and pick out a nice dress." Ruina finished, as she continued walking out of the throne room.
"Well for Ruina's sake, Lamia better have done a good job..." Gaia thought to himself as he made his way to the entrance of the throne room.
Authors Note: Hey guys, sorry this update took so long to come out, I've just been really busy lately. Anyway I hope your enjoying the story so far, cause it's starting to get good. As much as I want to hint to you what's gonna happen, I know it'll be worth it. Any way once again, let me know what you think via review or PM since I'm always open for criticism. Thanks again :)