Chapter Twenty: Awakening the Beast; These Two Are Cell Neighbors?
Maka didn't know how long she had been in the dark, but she could sense some bad souls nearby. Just yesterday there had been a new soul lurking nearby, but it seemed that this one – a kishin – wasn't lock in a cell so much as a cavernous room. Something about it felt familiar, despite the dark nature of the soul, and Maka spent hours trying to figure out what it was. Something about the wavelength was similar to one of her teammates…
A few times the soul would get so close it seemed like it was pressing against the other side of the wall from Maka, other times the soul would just wander aimlessly. Whoever it was, it seemed to be alone. Maka pitied it though she didn't know why. It was a kishin after all, and a powerful one at that! Kishin chose to be the way they were: bloodthirsty and power-hungry demons.
Maka settled onto the ground, her back up against the wall, and thought about Soul and the others. She really hoped that they had gotten out alright, especially Soul. The meister was extremely worried for her scythe. They had never been apart from each other for very long since they had become partners and it was no secret that she had feelings for him (for most people, anyway). Somewhere in between bickering with him and her efforts to turn him into a death scythe she had completely and irrevocably fallen in love with Soul Eater Evans, and she didn't exactly want to change that. Though she knew that he was in good hands, she didn't trust Black*Star to keep him from doing anything rash or stupid, and who knows what Kid would do while Patty was missing? The Shinigami's son was extremely attached to his weapons.
Black*Star….
Sitting up with a start, Maka used her soul perception again to gaze at the soul. Sure enough, her instincts had been right. The kishin's wavelength was a perfect copy of Black*Star's. Given his family history, Maka highly doubted that the assassin had gone kishin, but his weapon… Kai had been taking those anti-madness pills, hadn't she? Maka remembered that Black*Star had mentioned something about her getting oddly shaky without them. A sick feeling settled in the meister's stomach as she considered the evidence.
Poor Kai, all alone in the room by herself.
Just to make sure, Maka pressed her hand near the stones where the kishin's back would be and, feeling slightly stupid, put her face close. "Kai?"
The reaction was instant: the kishin began scratching on the stone and producing a low keening sound. There was no doubt that the trapped kishin was indeed the weapon Black*Star had been so enamored with at the ball. Maka's heart broke for her two friends and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying. After all, there was no point in crying right now. First and foremost she had to find a way out! The only problem being: she had already searched the entire cell and there was nowhere to escape with.
Sighing heavily, Maka leaned her head back against the stone wall. "Guess we're stuck, huh, Kai? I don't know how I'm going to get out of this one. I'll have to think of something. I can't expect Soul to do all the work for me, right? Relationships are all about give and take."
The kishin's soul stilled, seeming to listen. The ash blonde frowned, watching the small red glow through the wall. She could still make out the outline of Kai's soul imprint: the toothy grin and the asymmetrical bangs. At the very center, though Maka could have only been hoping, there was the small flash of the pinkish blue that it had once been.
"What happened to you?" Maka asked sadly, worrying for her own weapon. "What happened to the rest of them? I… Soul…" With that, Maka could hold back the sobs anymore. She buried her head in her arms and tried to cry as quietly as she could. The meister absolutely hated crying. If there was one thing that she was thankful for, it was that it was dark enough that even if someone had been in here with her they wouldn't be able to see the tears that wet her cheeks.
A scraping sound reached the sniffling meister's cheeks and she quickly wiped her face to get rid of the evidence. One of the walls was sliding aside. Bright light shone through, silhouetting a figure. Though Maka couldn't make out her face, she knew without looking who the female was: Eliza. In her hand was the electrified whip that was Maka's ex-partner from the Exchange Program.
"Maka, long time no see." Eliza purred, flicking her wrist and cracking her whip.
Maka gathered what was left of her dignity and got to her feet, knowing exactly what was going to happen. As Eliza began to advance on the ash-blond, Maka waited until she had come close enough to cock her arm back to use her weapon. Eliza swung her whip, aiming for her adversary as Maka leapt out of the way, sprinting around Eliza and heading for the entrance.
She could have touched the door if she had stretched, but something wrapped around her ankle and the world went dark.
On the other side of the stone wall, a creature that was not quite a human tried to remember why its heart had such a reaction to the cries of the inmate next door. A voice whispered in its mind weakly, trying to explain.
"We know her!"
"Knew her," the kishin responded boredly, "You knew her. I'm in charge now. And I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry," replied the voice tiredly, growing slightly quieter at the mention of the kishin's insatiable appetite for pure human souls. "Is that all kishin think about? Souls?"
The kishin's stomach rumbled in response and she giggled childishly when she felt the voice's irritation. It was as if the two of them couldn't quite get rid of each other. Kai was too strong-willed to give herself over completely, which did limit the kishin's power considerably. The kishin was too strong, to full of insanity to fully let go of Kai either. They were stuck in a kind of stasis and both knew that anything could tip the scale as the kishin's hold over the body they shared was precarious. It seemed that their constant bickering had weakened their combined soul as well, which was worrying for both.
"I don't think you're a normal kishin," Kai remarked after a few moments of the two listening to the cries of pain through the stone. "I think we share more than a body and a soul. Rather, our sharing of a soul means more than anyone had previously thought."
"You talk like an adult!" The kishin growled, standing up and prowling through the darkness. The cavern they were trapped in was a kind of maze, with many tunnels leading nowhere. Means of an escape had been searched for but she had too short an attention span to keep up the search for long.
Kai ignored the frustration of the kishin she shared her soul with. "I was always a little more insane but I took pills to treat it. What does a kishin do to treat the presence of sanity?"
"How should I know?" It snarled, twisting their face up into a grimace. "You kept me cooped up for so long I barely understand how to go to the bathroom!" Both of them shuddered at the memory, pushing it far from their collective minds as the kishin settled back down onto the ground and leaned against the wall. "You're really annoying, you know that? Why by human when you can have all this power? Don't you feel foolish, pining after someone so weak?"
"Black*Star is not weak! You've seen my memories, you know how strong he really is. And he didn't have to cheat like you did."
"Technically," after a moment of thought, the kishin snickered, "You cheated."
"It was an accident!" she defended, growing uneasy. "I was young. I didn't know any better. I've accepted the consequences, you know."
"You have? So why do you still hate your own insanity, huh?" The kishin cackled, knowing she had the human stumped.
Then, suddenly distracted, she raised her hose and sniffed the air. Every so often someone would drop a defenseless human into the maze and then she could have a little fun. Kai always got really quiet when that happened. Kishin figured it was worth it to shut her up and eat at the same time, so she rose to her feet. Though the intangible girl protested, she soon saw that there was no reasoning with the being of insanity.
That is, after all, what kishins are meant to do: kill.
"Professor Stein?" Soul, along with the rest of the bedraggled Team Maka, gaped at the sudden appearance of their teacher. It had been a long time since any of them besides Kid had seen the professor and Soul couldn't say that he was particularly excited about seeing him again. All of those comments about dissecting students were totally uncool.
And a little freaky.
Black*Star, on the other hand, felt a spark of his old hope and determination flare up at the man's presence. Something about Professor Stein had always made the assassin want to work even harder, to be more powerful than he was. Though the assassin didn't know it, Stein was quite amused by the bluenette's tendencies and had thought of him for a very long time as a sort of son… well, not quite. But at the very least an annoying nephew.
"What is there we can do?" Black*Star challenged (much to the surprise of his teacher). "Kid barely has two weapons, Tsubaki and Patty aren't responding, Brie and Soul don't even know what they're doing! Not to mention it took a lot more than just Team Maka to defeat the last witch that threatened the DWMA, and she had a kishin too!"
"Not to mention this one has a kishin we all knew," Brie added sadly, glancing at Black*Star. His shoulders sagged almost imperceptibly as she uttered the words but the whole room knew them to be true.
"What about Maka?" Stein finally said, turning his strangely piercing eyes on Soul and Brie. "Doesn't she deserve to be saved? She would do it for you."
Soul, if it had been possible, turned whiter. Brie turned her eyes on him before, both filled with a sudden burst of energy, nodded in affirmation. Maka deserved better than to be let down like this!
The three-star meister turned towards the Shinigami next, "Kid, don't you think Patty would travel to the end of the world for you?"
Kid stared evenly at the man for a long moment, processing. There was no doubt in his mind that, barring Liz's fear of spirits (and bugs, and the dark, and… well, everything!), his two weapons would follow him anywhere. The question was, could Patty be saved? Warren had said that the silent weapons only had a matter of time before their lives were completely gone forever, leaving behind only a soulless transmitter for meisters to concentrate their soul wavelengths.
Still, he realized that he had to go, for Patty. Because without her, the Thompson sisters would be incomplete. Their trio would be incomplete. He fisted his hands and nodded curtly, strengthening his resolve.
"And you, I didn't think you of all people would give up so easily," he said, referring to Black*Star with a raised eyebrow. "Don't you still want to surpass god?"
For once in his life, the meister hesitated. Surpassing god would always be his goal, but right now… "I just want to save Kai."
"Even if that means taking her life?" Stein wondered, rotating his screw thoughtfully.
The determination in Black*Star's eyes didn't falter. "Even if it means killing her."
Stein knew that the assassin was going to have more struggles concerning his feelings and actions regarding his weapon, but for the time being he left it alone. Without a word he moved back towards the door and opened it wide, allowing several figures to step inside the room. Sid the zombie and his weapon, Nygas nodded as the moved to allow the rest in. Death Scythe walked in, immediately zeroing in on Soul and stomping over to him.
"You let my baby girl get taken!" The father seethed, glaring down at the albino.
"Spirit, I don't think this is the time." Stein remarked dryly as the man attempted to intimidate the boy. Fortunately the death scythe turned away, pouting, and Stein knew he was done for the moment.
Next, much to the young people's surprise, walked in some friends they hadn't seen in a long time: Kim, Jaqueline, Ox, Harvar, Kirikou and the twins: Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder. All of them walked in wearily, as if they had gone through quite the journey to get there. Kim had her arm around Jaqueline's shoulders comfortingly and Ox and Harvar seemed nervous if they got more than five inches apart. IT was obvious, looking at how the twins clung to either of Kirikou's legs, that all of them had been through as much of a hell as the rest had.
"We know where Calypso is, so the only thing to do is to plan our attack." Stein said after he had shut the door. He surveyed the group coolly, trying to ignore the own desperation and anxiety he was feeling.
"Professor, if I may ask," Kid said suddenly, his voice seeming almost too loud. "Where is Professor Marie?"
Suddenly Jaqueline began sobbing uncontrollably, Kim's face crumpled silently as she too succumbed to tears with her weapon. The twins began sniffling, their lower lips wavering as they buried their faces in the pant leg's of their meister who was barely holding it together himself. Ox's normally stony expression strained as a frown flickered at the edge of his mouth, Harvar turning away from the group silently to his own expression.
"The DWMA was attacked, there was nothing we could do." Sid was the only one able to answer, Professor Stein's face transmitting every emotion flitting through him at that second. "Not only did we lose almost all of the students, but many of the teachers as well. These seven were lucky enough to be in an extra class with Nygus and I when it happened, but we… lost Marie trying to escape."
It was then that those left of Team Maka realized the true gravity of the situation. It wasn't just the ball that had gotten hit, but the DWMA branches. There was no doubt in Kid's mind that the witch's plan had gone off nearly perfectly.
"We have to stop this." Kid stepped forward, gold eyes flashing with emotion, "She needs to be stopped! What of my father? Where is he?"
All three teachers shared a look, something mixed between grief and reluctance.
It was Sid, again, who had the courage to speak up. "Kid, we believe your father is under the influence of one of the witch's spells. You know, they were seeing each other for quite some time before she unveiled her plan. We don't quite know-"
"Then we're doomed."
"We can't afford to think like that, Kid!" Soul argued, glaring at the young Shinigami. "People are depending on us! We have to use what we have here, so think, God dammit!"
Backing up, surprised by his outburst, Kid stopped for a moment and considered their options. It seemed everyone in the room, including the senior meisters and weapon, was waiting for his words. After all, even at his age he did technically outrank them all, being Lord Death's son and all. Still, it took him a long moment to gather himself before he had thought everything through enough to actually speak. Then, as he was opening his mouth, something occurred to him. Something that hadn't before.
"I apologize for my actions," he began, quickly cutting off any replies, "But now I have an idea. And, excuse my cliché, but… it's crazy enough that it just might work."
Soul grinned, giving him a thumbs up. "That's what I'm talking about!"
"Let's do this!" Black*Star jumped up, fist pumping a few times to show his excitement.
Liz parted from Nikolai, whooping and hollering along with them. Their moment of joy was infectious and soon the whole younger part of the room was embracing and hollering and getting ready for the oncoming fight.
Black*Star paused slightly, curling his hand into a fist and staring at it. Even amongst the shouting of his friends he couldn't help but feel a sense of darkness about the oncoming fight. Something told him that this was going to be the hardest thing that they had ever faced before, and not just physically. Never before had any of them gone into a battle knowing that their allies might be used against them. The weapons that they would be competing against would hold the trapped and silent soul of a weapon, cursed by a witch.
Where was the line between demons and swordsman in this madness?
Quietly, to himself, the assassin whispers the words that are on his chest: "I will save you Kai. I won't let you die, no matter what. You're my weapon. You're my friend. Plus, I owe you a few hundred pizzas. And a new coffee table."
Back at the cave, alone inside a dark corner from her own mind, Kai dreams of being rescued by her meister…
And the kishin prepares for it.
(Author's Note: Agh! Building tension! I feel as if I'm nearly as anxious as you all, my readers - who may or may not exist - , to see what happens next chapter. And that's a little awkward, considering I KNOW... but still. I hope you all had fun reading! Goodbye, ducklings!)