Chapter Twenty-One: Preparing for the Ultimate Battle; Why Do We Always Split Up?
Soul, Black*Star, Kid, and Liz had been on a lot of missions together. The pre-fight jitters were nothing new to any of them. It wasn't strange for them to be seen sparring for a warm-up or, in Black*Star's case, doing a set of three hundred push-ups while holding a heavy object like an anvil or concrete blocks on his back, loudly yelling out the number of reps he was doing. This time, however, was completely different. It was a silent, grim affair, where all of the involved youngsters were simply sitting around the fire, watching the waves against the beach, staring at the castle that rested a few miles from shore.
To any normal passerby they might have looked as if they were having some sort of bonfire, except it was as if they had just come from a funeral. Even the 'Great Black*Star' was silent and still in the face of the oncoming battle, worried for the outcome.
The plan was to storm the castle in the coming night, under the cover of the moon. Three groups, with three different tasks, would go in together. Kid with Patty's silent pistol and Liz, Nikolai, Ox and Harvar, and Kirikou and the twins would all enter the castle as a distraction, waiting for the signal from the second group to head to the witch's location. Professor Stein, Soul and Brie, and Jaqueline and Kim would all search for the locations of the inanimate weapons and, after they had found them, meet up with Kid's team to storm the witch's hall.
While this was happening, Sid and Nygas, Black*Star, and Snow with the silent Tsubaki would search for the trapped meisters. When they had found them, Black*Star and Snow would help them all escape while Sid and Nygas tracked down the kishin and… eliminate her.
Surprisingly enough it had been Black*Star's own idea to send someone else to find Kai and put her down. Stein had approved after seeing the broken look in the young meisters eyes. If it was unavoidable the patchwork teacher had no doubt that the assassin could complete that portion of the task on his own, but he would have rather not send him down that path.
Now, all watching the sun set behind the purple coral castle, they all anxiously awaited what lay before them. Liz and Nikolai were slightly parted from the group, the quiet murmur of her apprehensive voice only interrupted by the low baritone of the Demon Weapon's. On one side of the fire, Soul and Brie worked on their resonance. Though Brie had never had any formal training with being a meister, it turned out she was quite proficient with a scythe in her hand. Already the two had, through determination, worked enough that Soul no longer burned her hands or weighed her down. It wasn't as perfect a resonance as his and Maka's, but it worked. They only wished to save Maka.
Black*Star, on the other hand, sat alone. Silently, he fiddled slightly with a handful of sand, sifting it through his fingers without a thought. His eyes were directed out towards the sea yet his mind was far away, in the past. Back towards a time where his weapon was at his fingertips and success was infinite. How many souls had they collected together? He had lost count somewhere after fifty. Somehow it had never really mattered, because after a few weeks with Kai he suddenly began growing stronger in ways he hadn't known were weak before.
Footsteps alerted him to Stein's approach and he turned to face the professor. The stitch-covered man sat beside the bluenette, absentmindedly twisting his screw while following the assassin's gaze towards the castle that rose from the sea. His silence aggravated the younger male who quickly halted his movement and tried not to punch him. He had more important battles to fight.
"What did you say your weapon's name was?" Stein finally asked, not moving his eyes from the point on which they were fixed.
Black*Star's heart clenched, "Kai Blair."
"And she was Scottish?"
"Yes," he answered, growing suspicious. "Why, d'you know her or something?"
The elder meister hummed lowly, either in affirmation or denial it was unclear. It was a long moment before he spoke again. "Three-star meisters from nearly every branch know of her, actually. She was one of Medusa's experiments."
Eager to hear of his weapon's past, Black*Star could barely contain himself from interrogating the Professor, but something about the look in his eyes made him wait, for once, and listen. It hadn't been until that night in the village, when Kai's kishin side had awoken, that Black*Star had realized that he barely knew anything of her past. Sure, he knew that she preferred dressing in boyish clothing, and that pizza was her favorite food. He knew that diet soda made her burp and that when she smiled this one little dimple appeared in her cheek. Black*Star knew how to tell when she was hiding her feelings or just being quiet, but what he didn't know was where she came from. Kai had talked as if she hadn't lived before coming to the DWMA, though it had never bothered her meister as much as it did now, when trying to understand her curse.
"There was a spell that allowed her to share the corruption of her soul with another. This led to her being able to push the corruption at least mostly away, into the body of the other host. That was the boy you saw, Medusa's son."
"Crona's brother?" Black*Star asked, a little shocked. "Where does that witch get off, messing with her own kids?"
Stein glanced at the blue-haired assassin who, at the mention of Medusa, was already showing signs of completely losing focus due to his anger. "Kai used anti-madness pills to sedate her madness until her corruption was pushed back into her and it overwhelmed her. It's likely that she won't ever be the same again."
The younger meister's face darkened, thinking of her fate. "She's not going to be alive much longer anyways."
"That's not necessarily true, Black*Star."
Black*Star turned sharply towards Stein, his eyes wide. A spark of hope, which had been lost to him, ignited again. Still his doubt made him pause, made him think – even though thinking was a chore he didn't enjoy doing often (he figured Kai was worth it at this point). "What do you mean?"
"It all comes down to you."
"Me?"
Stein nodded, mildly amused by Black*Star's naivety. "Kai was able to push the corruption from her soul because she had something to fight for: her sanity. If the kishin has her now it's only because she's given up, not because she's gone. And if anyone were to bring her back it would be her meister, the one who has the closest connection to her, would it not?"
Swallowing, Black*Star tried to process what Stein was saying. Kai could live? She could come back?
"It is a long shot," Stein finally added after a moment of silence. "But if you get the chance, it wouldn't hurt to try." With that, he stood and walked away to leave the bluenette in silence.
Black*Star nodded seriously, deep in thought again. His mind was racing faster than it ever had before, faster than he had ever wanted it to. Kai. Kai could live. She could be his weapon again. He could apologize for all that he'd done and maybe someday she might forgive him.
He looked out towards the castle and a triumphant, determined grin split his face. Jumping up, he pumped his fist and grit his teeth, letting out a loud, unintelligible yell at the top of his lungs and startling his companions.
"You better be ready, you damned witch!" The dangerous glint in his eyes was almost frightnening, " 'Cause I'm going to kill you myself, and with my weapon!"
Calypso wasn't like her sisters. Like the squid, she wasn't easily caught. She was slippery and hid in the shadows. Where Arachne and Medusa had failed, Calypso never had. Though she had Medusa's taste for experiments and Arachne's mind for domination, Calypso had been content with living in the shadows for quite some time. There was simply nothing to motivate her to act in the world of humans because she wasn't interested in them. Far more interesting things were in the oceans.
Then, something happened. Perhaps it was a madness that had lingered with her without her knowledge, or perhaps her witch magic finally completely corrupted her soul. Whatever it was, after reading the history of Demon Weapons, Calypso felt an intense urge to destroy what Arachne had created. Demon Weapons were, after all, used against witches! Why they would allow something so detrimental to witch society to live for so long didn't make sense to her, so she did something about it. Studying spellbooks and grimoires, ancient texts by witches long since dead, Calypso created a spell that would revert weapons back to their inanimate form if not reversed by the next full moon. The night before the end of her plan, the completion of her goal to outshine both of her infamous sisters, Calypso was feeling restless.
Absentmindedly stroking Lord Death's head, his three white stripes connected and shining in the low light let in from the windows, Calypso admired the black tattooed suction-cup marks circling his neck. Mind-control magic was so easy to use on those who were unsuspecting. If it hadn't been for that Death Scythe, Marie, she might have gotten that stitched-up professor too. Having both of them at her disposal would have been delightful reassurance.
Still, why would she need reassurance? Though there was indeed anxiety pooling in her stomach, Calypso was always anxious before a large battle. Then again, the presence of the kishin downstairs might have had something major to do with it. As a witch, Calypso knew that kishin were meant to be used for evil such as this, but since hearing of Arachne's murder Calypso had felt uneasy about the creatures. Monsters were only as strong as their master's leash, after all.
Just then, the doors to her throne room crashed open, her personal group of Demon Weapons and meisters quickly walking in to respond to their mistress's summons. She admired her followers, fondly thinking of them as the children she had never felt led to conceive: Bastian and Nanuk, Rosario and Eliza, Hollin and Rex, and, finally, Warren. Warren was special, having trained with the Kishin Blade himself, and was to help Calypso finish the destruction Medusa had begun. Kai's kishin was going to bow to another meister, and Warren would be that meister. He would share her corruption and become Calypso's right hand, her prodigy. The strength Kai possessed, Calypso knew that few knew of it. As one of the few entities in the entire world to have madness and logic inside her, the power she could attain was massive. Through wielding her madness wavelength and directing her meister's own wavelength, Kai could easily become one of the most powerful weapons known to history, Excalibur included.
But, she was a kishin, and unpredictable.
"What are your reports?" Calypso asked, raising a trimmed eyebrow at her guard.
Eliza stepped forward proudly, grinning sharply. "Maka Alburn is subdued, mistress. There is no chance of her joining the upcoming battle."
"Good," Calypso gave the girl a small smile, then cast her gaze around the circle. "As for the rest of you?"
"Sustenance has been withheld from the kishin as you asked, mistress, and the spell is prepared to commence." Warren bowed slightly, showing no nervousness about sharing madness with a monster. Perhaps he too, just like Medusa's son, only wished to please his witch mistress. Calypso didn't mind this at all.
Tilting her head in an affirmation, her smile grew. "You follow orders well, Warren. I cannot wait to make you my general."
The boy blushed with pride, but the glares that were sent his way were hard not to notice. Dissension was crawling through this group, each of them more hungry for power and recognition than the last. Though all had been promised a piece of the world to rule none were happy with what they had acquired, which was just fine with Calypso. She was planning on killing off one or two eventually, after all.
"Preparations for the final battle are complete, mistress, and the wards are placed. The renegades will have a hard time succeeding against our defenses." Nanuk grinned, his teeth looking nearly as sharp as a shark's. Even though he was dressed in a pink polo and black skinny jeans he still managed to look like one of the most menacing in the room."
Considering her minions, Calypso could find no reason not to be pleased with the results. It was likely that after tomorrow there would be no opposition to her dominance, other than perhaps the witches themselves. That, she would deal with when she came to it, but by then her armies would be armed with weapons that were unbreakable. Meisters could still use the inanimate objects to direct their soul wavelength, making the whole meister/weapon relationship null.
"Tomorrow, we will crush those clownfish within our grasp!" Calypso cackled, throwing her head back. Lord Death, having been compliant this entire time, jerked slightly at the sudden movement. "Yes, tomorrow will be the day that I do what no witch has ever done!"
And, with the look in her eyes, it was obvious that she had no doubts about that.
(Author's Note: It just struck me that we're nearly at the conclusion. I seriously feel like I've barely written anything at all, but then I go look and it has nearly sixty thousand words on the doc... crazy! Anyways, review, fave... love? Tell me what you think!)