I DID IT.
IT IS COMPLETE.
READ AWAY.
DISCLAIMER: IF I OWNED SOUL EATER I WOULD KISS MYSELF. BUT I DON'T.
*Throws Soul Eater at Atsushi Ōkubo* TAKE IT, IT'S YOURS.
Chapter 6: At the end of the day
Where am I?
Like outer space, but no stars or planets. Like a dark and empty hole, like a room that was pitch-black and where eyes could not adjust to darkness such as this.
Kilik waded through what seemed like water, kicking at the airy space around him. He swiveled his eyes around, trying to focus on one spot in particular, a light shining in the darkness, a glint from a shiny corner-
There was no light source, but somehow he could see. Kilik looked down at himself, pinching his shoulder. The pain was far from real, and actually; he felt almost no pain at all. The meister frowned, and then slapped himself in the face.
There-
A flash, small, almost unnoticeable-
Like a small spark in an unlit fireplace, clash of stones – that one moment when he felt something. He nodded to himself. At least he could feel things.
Kilik looked around again, staring hard at the black that was in front of- and behind- him.
Strange. He wondered to himself. Where am I?
"Hello?" He said uncertainly. "Is anyone there?"
It was then when he realized that he could hear nothing at all. With a slight gasp of surprise he lifted a finger to his lips.
"Huh." He said again. Nothing came out, really, but he could feel himself mouthing the word, trying to say it.
No vibrations? He questioned himself. No nearby walls- No walls at all?
Not possible. He shook his head and suddenly a feeling in his gut told him to keep 'swimming'. With a mighty kick he sent himself hurling into the space-
But am I really going anywhere? How do I know I'm moving?
Kilik shook his head once more, this time uncertainly using a hand to wade through what seemed like invisible water.
Where am I? He asked himself again. Where am I?
His questions were left unanswered.
"Let me out." he tried to shout. "Let me out of here."
"Let me out." he screamed.
"Let me out, let me out."
Over and over again, silently screaming and suddenly his hands were trying to bang against invisible walls.
Because how was one supposed to keep calm in a place where darkness filled all, where no sounds could be heard, where nothing but himself could be seen?
"What the hell just hit me?" – quote Siesta Clandestine
"YOUR HERO HAS ARRIVED!" Siesta screamed in surprise as a blue-haired boy crashed into her and they both tumbled across the debris. Another scream came from the witch's mouth as he whipped out his sword, a beautiful black blade-
"ACK!" A look of intense pain flashed across her face for a second as Black*Star plunged the sword deep into her arm. Blood splattered the ground and the boy laughed.
"Great job Black*Star!" the enchanted blade said. Tsubaki's face came into view and she beamed at her meister. "We timed it just right!"
"Hey guys, look!" Black*Star waved to the group. "Check it out, I got her!"
"B-But- But how?" Death the Kid stared at them from afar, dumbfounded as the impossible-to-defeat opponent writhed beneath Black*Star's grip. The more she thrashed, the more blood seemed to spill from the gaping wound on her left arm. Tsubaki winced in her weapon form as a drop of blood splattered onto her soft hilt. Finally, Maka stepped forward, slamming her foot into the witch's skull. A shudder ran throughout Siesta's body before she went unconscious.
You deserve it. Maka thought.
"We've been looking at you guys from above." Tsubaki's voice brought her back to reality, and the scythe meister looked up, a little surprised. From above? Didn't that mean…
Oxford said, "Why didn't you help?"
"If we came down it would only raise her guard. We needed you as a distraction so we would find a perfect opening." Maka nodded, making sense of the situation. This was definitely Tsubaki's plan. The blue haired idiot couldn't have possibly planned something like this. Maka marveled at the thought of Tsubaki persuading Black*Star to wait patiently until the time was right.
The rest of the Spartoi slowly came forward, uncertain if the witch really was caught.
"Tsubaki and I just saved you!" Black*Star beamed. "From whoever this is! So you better thank m- I mean, us!"
Maka raised her weapon, ready for the witch to jump up and attack them. Black*Star was abnormally strong, but so was this woman. If she caught them off guard…
"We should really be more careful," she said. Black*Star scoffed in reply. "You just don't believe that I could get her that easily!"
"Is she dead?" Kim called out. She and Harvar decided to stay by Kilik's side. The pot meister still hadn't woken up, and the only sign that told them he was living was the telltale rise and fall of his chest.
"Guys, step back!" Maka ordered. The satisfaction that she was feeling just moments ago suddenly vanished. She felt something was off, and so she herself grabbed the nearest person next to her (Oxford) and pulled him away.
"EEK!" Jackie squeaked as she saw blurred movement come from the Sloth Bear witch.
"GET BACK!" Maka roared and stumbled backwards, scythe in front of her.
The witch snarled, and suddenly, with immense strength she grabbed Black*Star's shirt, flinging him into the crowd of meisters. Black*Star's head collided with Kid's own cranium and they crashed into the ground.
"WHY YOU?" Kid screamed as he pushed Black*Star off of him and scrambled to his feet. After the short fight with Siesta his head was still spinning and his eyesight still a little blurry. Sure he was a Shinigami, but this witch's power was abnormal to the extreme.
The blue haired boy simply looked at the witch in confusion.
Tsubaki and I really did time it right. The wound and the scrapes and the bashing should have rendered her unconscious.
The rest of the Spartoi quickly jumped back and circled the witch from afar. Liz turned back to human form whilst clutching Patty in her hands, and Oxford raised Jackie high in the air, ready to launch another flame ball into Siesta's mouth. They acted somewhat on instinct, as if the fight was never really over, but they were just waiting for the Sloth Bear witch to wake up. The synchronized shifting of feet and sudden reach for weapons made it seem almost like the surprised reactions were nothing but a bunch of faux astonishment.
Maka Albarn bit her lip as she clenched her famous death scythe.
"Hang in there, Soul." Maka said to him. "Just a little more to go." He nodded before disappearing from the scythe's dirty blade.
"We'll cover you for now." Ox said. His mind had cleared. There was only one witch that needed to die today. The lightning meister swung Jackie with all his might, roaring flames burning the witch's skin of. She didn't scream this time, but merely grinned, masking her pain with a look of malice. Unbeknownst to the lightning meister, she started to reach for Jackie. Her flames sizzled on the witch's bloody skin.
"SOUL RESONANCE!" Maka and Soul yelled, and what was left of their adrenaline increased. Maka's soul expanded, she felt as if she was soaring through the clouds, her heart beating so fast she almost thought it would burst. She looked to Kid and Black*Star and they nodded to her, arms raised incase the witch decided to escape.
With that, she ran towards the woman once again – teeth clenched, the pain in her arm numbed, with the strength and energy Soul seemed to emit from his weapon form. Anger, no longer wild but controlled, right along the edges of Soul's blade. Just thinking of the clean slicing sound made Maka satisfied. She yelled, one last war cry from an exhausted meister.
"WITCH HUNTER!" And as the death scythe came crashing down, Ox and Jackie leapt backwards, shielding themselves from the upcoming blast.
But the sounds that came next did not please her at all. The sound of a sword clashing against sword, the feeling of intense pain surging through her limbs, the sound of a heart-wrenching scream as Siesta Clandestine raised an arm to deflect her attack once again.
Maka looked up with a shocked expression on her face. Soul reappeared on the scythe blade as they both looked at what the witch had done.
"T-Tsu-" Black*Star stuttered. "Tsu-"
"Oh yes, you forgot your plaything." the witch smiled, slowly pulling the blade out of her bloody skin. The series of squelches that followed were so unpleasant that even Siesta herself grimaced, but nevertheless, she took the sword by the hilt and pulled it out. Blood was dripping from the open wound but she ignored it.
"I'll take care of her." Ox said again, swinging Jackie around. He was about to run towards the witch when Soul reached out a hand from his weapon form and stopped him.
"You'll close the wound if you do that Ox." the death scythe said. "Not like you want to but I mean, burning herself is the closest thing to healing that she's going to get. As soon as you get close, I'm betting she'll grab Jackie out of the blue and use her fire to seal her wound. Something like that might happen, y'know."
"Huh. I didn't think about that." Ox muttered. "I see I'm no use here without Harvar."
"You can still help." Maka mumbled. The witch was getting suspicious and began advancing towards them. "A distraction, I suppose."
Oxford nodded. "While you swing your scythe through her abdomen."
Kim and Harvar watched as the rest of the Spartoi fought the witch. Kilik was sound asleep beside them, completely unaware of the chaos occurring around him.
"I don't feel right." Harvar grunted. "We should help."
"We don't need to." Kim muttered. "They seem to already have maintained control of the situation." she watched Maka as she charged towards the witch again, trying to avoid her blade-friend. Elizabeth and her sister ran to and fro, looking for blind spots and trying to get good aim at the witch- but it seemed as if Siesta could dodge bullets too.
"Can you tell what kind of witch she is?" Harvar asked. "Her witch type? I mean, you're for recovery and the most of the witches seem to be for offense but there's bound to be more categories than that."
"Not really." Kim said. "But I can tell that her familiar is definitely something rare. A bear, by the looks of it."
Harvar stared at Kim in astonishment. That was very accurate. He thought to himself.
"How can you tell?" he asked.
"All witches have an aura– and only us witches can see it. It's something that appears around the area the witch uses most with her powers." she replied.
"For example?"
"Well if you remember Medusa, she used arrow magic, mostly through her tattoos. In that case her aura would revolve around her arms."
"And yours would be around your hands and fingers." Harvar added. "Am I right?" Kim nodded. A sudden crash to their left turn both their heads and they watched as Liz and Patty hit the ground, and Liz turned herself into a pistol as Kid picked up both of the guns. They turned away.
"And what about the aura itself?" Harvar asked.
"An aura looks like a white blurry mist. Oh, and the aura also circles symbols of a witch's familiar."
"How so?"
"Well as you saw, when I showed my witch form I grew out a tanuki's tail. The aura would surround that particular area."
Harvar nodded, and then turned his head to inspect the witch a bit more. It irked him to know that he needed to stay behind and guard his friend when he could be out on the battlefield with Ox.
The two kept their eyes on the battle-scene as they talked, but occasionally looked back to Kilik to check his condition. They watched as the witch flung meisters aside and tried to reach out for their weapons.
Kim felt her fingers twitch. Jackie didn't feel right in Ox's hands. The uncontrollable urge to wrap her fingers around her weapons hilt was getting stronger.
"Harvar," Kim said. "Don't you think we've done enough sitting around?"
"What are you suggesting?" Harvar said suspiciously. He watched as Kim slowly stood up.
"Let's get out there, Ox-and-Jackie style."
The pain Tsubaki felt was unbearable. Her soul felt as if it was being ripped apart by this monstrous woman, this woman who could somehow hold her, use her to block one of Maka's strongest attacks.
If only she could transform, maybe slip out of the witch's grasp and run back to Black*Star- no, the woman would probably be faster than her.
The witch examined the smoothness of Tsubaki's weapon form, and as she ran her fingers across the blade the weapon felt nails digging into her skin.
She tried to scream, tried to revert back to her human form but the more she tried the stronger the witch seemed to become. Inhumane strength, almost a sort of numbness to pain, no guilt in her brain, like a killing machine.
"You know." Siesta stared. "I could get used to this girl."
"Why-" Tsubaki almost couldn't get the words out of her mouth. "Why can you touch me?" The witch shrugged.
"Just a thing I do." she answered. Tsubaki used her last ounce of strength to close her eyes and concentrate on the sounds of their wavelengths.
It wasn't possible for the witch to just- hold her like that. Her wavelength was everywhere, wild and clumsy while the witch's was completely and utterly calm, collected and a nice, straight line.
And amidst all the pain and torture she was going through, Tsubaki opened her eyes, controlled her screams and thought.
"Hm." Tsubaki frowned. "A nice straight line."
"TSUBAKI!" Black*Star roared as he went straight for the witch. She grinned as he flung Oxford to the side, leaving the meister and his temporary weapon sailing across the air.
"Hey!" Ox cried out. "What was that for!?" the lightning meister looked behind him and his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the deadly glass shards form the broken chandelier below. Oxford desperately tried to twist out the way-
A blur of black clashed into him and he was thrown to the side, tumbling onto safe ground.
"Don't mention it." The Shinigami answered before Ox could thank him.
"YOU'RE IN THE WAY!" Black*Star picked up Maka by the collar of her shirt and tossed her into the air.
"HEY!" She yelled. As she hit the ground, Soul reverted back to human form and crumpled to the floor.
"Thank goodness Kim healed me." He grunted. "If she didn't…"
Maka watched as the young Shinigami ran towards the witch, do a flip in mid-air whilst firing bullet after bullet at the witch's back. But the thick fur coat covered that, and the coat seemed to be more than just patches of fur. She aimed a kick at the young Shinigami who twisted just out of reach, turned around to see Black*Star rampaging forward-
Who ran at the witch launching a series of pushes and kicks but every hit she took only made her resist the next one. Siesta could sense the furious meister's aura radiating an angry, angry red. She smiled at the thought of breaking his precious plaything-
"So." The witch smiled, leaping back to avoid Black*Star's wild kick. "Let's play a little game."
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR GAMES!" The boy roared, jumping into the air and launching a kick from above. He was fast, she granted, but perhaps not fast enough. The Sloth Bear witch sidestepped and grabbed him in mid air, her fingers brushing against his shirt. She grinned and quickly took hold of the cloth, bringing him to the ground and breaking the floor.
"AHHH!" Black*Star leapt to his feet, his eyes wild with anger and blood running down his forehead. The witch staggered away from him-
A roar sounded. A roar, wild and animal like, echoing throughout what was left of the DWMA celebration hall.
"What the hell?" she heard someone mutter.
Cannonball!
"Slumber, I really don't have time for you right now." Siesta Clandestine growled impatiently, her fingers twitching for a real fight. Nevertheless, the roar continued to echo throughout the hall, and for a moment the students of Shibusen were silent, looking around to find the source of the noise.
And in the dark, a pair of glowing bright blue eyes emerged.
"Slumber, go-" before the witch could finish her sentence Black*Star's fist smashed into her nose, and before she could even react to the pain and blood shooting from the broken bones he took her by the hair and punched her in the gut several times over. Siesta howled in pain, but still, she gripped the sword in her hand, not daring to let go. As he kicked her once more, she grabbed at him wildly, finding a fistful of clothing and flung him over her shoulder- but he only landed on his feet once more, yelling a war cry and charging towards her with his bare hands.
"Brats." Siesta growled, blood dripping down her left nostril. As she deflected one of his punches she heard a faint humming come from her neck. She gasped in shock, and for a moment she seemed to have lost her iron grip on the enchanted blade. Black*Star took his chance, reached out to grab Tsubaki by the blade, and finally-
"You're dead, witch." he growled. He took a step forward, the glass shards crunching beneath his feet. He pressed his arms near his chest and in one final moment pushed forward-
"SOUL WAVELENGTH!" she heard him roar, and after that the sound of crackling energy blasted in her ears. It was incredible, like a thousand souls ringing in her ear, the sound of chimes multiplied by the thousand, and kanji around her began to swell and rise from the ground. As she flew through the air, she turned and met the demonic eyes of the lone survivor from Star Clan.
Hm. And even through her bloody, beaten up face she found within herself a wicked smile.
It seems as though he could still sway from his own path…
And to the one of the demon.
My mother is hurt.
I can smell her blood on her skin.
I could taste it from a hundred miles away.
*Sniff* the weapons, so fragile and hurt-
So easy to reach out and grab and rip-
Rip rip rip rip-
Guts, guts for mother-
Blood, blood for mother-
But mother is hurt.
I must. I must protect.
I must protect her.
Who is the boy?
Stay away from mother.
Don't hurt her.
What have you done?
What have you done to my mother-
You will pay, you will pay you will pay-
You will die.
You will die.
Tsubaki?
Tsubaki the enchanted demon blade slipped from Siesta's sweaty fingers and felt Black*Star's fingers grab the edge of the blade. He tossed her aside and didn't stop to watch as she desperately reverted back to human form and hit the ground with a thud. As she scrambled to her feet she watched as her meister stepped forward to deliver another final blow to the witch-
And then something came between the two of them, heavy and loud and blasting them apart. Black*Star skidded across the marble floor and Tsubaki rushed to meet him, grabbing his hand to pull him to his feet-
The sound of a roar so wild and angry, the rising black shadow from the smoke.
"I thought," Tsubaki heard the witch say. "That the girl would be mine." She turned her head slowly to see the witch stand and hobble towards the great beast.
"I was this close-" She stood by the shadow's side. "This close to getting her on my side."
"Well you didn't!" Black*Star shot back. So beat it!"
"Oh, we won't 'beat it' just yet." even behind the smoke all of the Spartoi knew that she was smiling.
"I've still got one more surprise to show you before this party's over." The smoke cleared, and the first thing Tsubaki saw was its head. A bear, not massive in size but it definitely looked threatening. It wasn't a black bear, a little smaller than that.
The smoke finally parted and the bear moved forward.
"Wait a minute." Black*Star backed away slowly. Something came to mind, something about this picture looked familiar.
Déjà vu? He thought.
"Tsubaki…" he said slowly. "Get out of here."
"No!" his weapon said stubbornly. "I can't abandon my meister here- you know that that's DWMA's golden rule."
"Well I don't care!" Black*Star pushed her back. The bear suddenly grew in size, it's mouth forming an 'O' shape. It leaned forward, hackles raised. The witch put a hand across the bear's broad back and smiled.
"I can't believe you didn't notice sooner," she said to Black*Star. "Because it really was pretty obvious."
The beast roared another mighty roar, but this time it also began to glow a bright blue, and what happened next was something that no meister or weapon had expected.
"Is the thing…" Soul said slowly. "Transforming?"
"IT'S THE MEISTER!" Black*Star bellowed to the other Spartoi. "THIS WITCH IS THE MEISTER I SAW IN MY DREAM!" And all of a sudden, the memories of the disturbing dream surfaced.
"Meister!?" Maka said incredulously.
The glowing blue light rose like a floating liquid and gently circled the witch Siesta's arm, expanding into something two times her size. Spartoi after Spartoi watched slowly, unable to take their eyes off the majestic transformation happening before their eyes.
"Gotcha." Siesta wasn't over yet.
She was going to win, wasn't she?
"We'll be back before you know it, Killik." Harvar said to the sleeping Pot meister. His two weapons lay beside him in their weapon forms, presumably also asleep.
"It'll only take a few seconds." Kim whispered. She clenched the lightning spear tightly in her hand.
"We can't do that!" Harvar shouted over the gunshots and noise. "It only worked for Ox and Jackie because they believed in you!"
"And you're saying you don't believe in me?" Kim pouted. "A real shame, that is." She reached out to take Harvar's hand. She could feel his wavelength stirring deep inside.
"We could try it," she said. "It wouldn't hurt to try."
"Actually it would." Harvar pointed out.
"Please Harvar." Kim said. "Don't you want to get out there and fight?" The lightning spear hesitated. He did want to get out there. He wanted to strike the witch, send a bolt of lightning down her spine, maybe even land a killing blow.
"Couldn't we just switch partners quickly?" he asked, pointing to Ox and Jackie. They dodged a fist from the witch and Jackie lightly touched her legs, sending wisps of fire to catch onto her clothes. She was burning, but all she did to prevent herself from catching on fire was to snatch the flame and rip the burning cloth of her. It worked surprisingly well, and she managed to do this even while fighting two other meisters- Maka and Kid.
"Just look at them Harvar." she said. "They're too preoccupied to stop and switch. It's not a 'grab and go' sort of thing."
"You just want to know how it feels." Harvar said suddenly.
"What?"
"You saw Oxford. He tried to use Woolantern and it didn't work, but he could use your fireball trick and your sticky-flame trick."
"Sorry but… sticky-flame?" Kim wrinkled her nose. "What is that?"
"When you bring Jackie to the floor and close your eyes, then spin in a 360 degree circle. The flames shoot right up and stay where they are." Harvar explained. He pointed at Ox and Jackie once more. "He doesn't know it, but I've saw him do it twice already on the battlefield." Kim paused, looking at Harvar strangely before speaking.
"Alright then. I'll admit it: I do want to know how that feels." Kim replied. "I've used a spear before in training, so I roughly know how it works."
"I might hurt you though," he said softly. "What would Ox say to that?"
"Ox?" Kim laughed. "He knows what I'm like."
"Determined, strong-willed, sometimes arrogant, but very beautiful." Harvar sighed. "He says it in his sleep every single night."
"I'm not surprised." Kim scoffed, and desperately tried to hide the rising blush in her cheeks.
Suddenly bright light engulfed Harvar and Kim watched as he transformed into the lightning spear, dropping to the floor with a clatter. "Well?" he said to the astonished Kim. She looked at him for while, and then a smile spread slowly across her face. She bent down and slowly reached out to touch the spear-
ZZSTIKC- There, just then a spark went up Kim's arm and she jolted.
"Are you alright?" Harvar called from the spearhead.
"I'm fine." she retracted her hand and looked at it curiously. "It- it didn't hurt, it was more like something running up my arm or something." the spark was still there, but instead she felt it travel to her chest, then splitting off in different directions. It was strange, something she had never experienced in her life. The energy continued to travel inside her body, until she could feel her whole body tingling. Something told her that Harvar's wavelength wouldn't interfere with her own at all.
"Kim?" Harvar asked. "Hello?"
"I'll need to ask Ox something when we're done with this witch fight." she breathed, then stooped down to grab the spear.
"Wow." he said after a few seconds. "I think we're good to go."
"It's only been about 5 minutes." Kim said as she clenched the spear. "And look at the mess they're in now." The meister and weapon looked on at the scene before them- Black*Star standing in front of Tsubaki and the rest of the Spartoi while a smoke screen covered the witch and her pet. They seemed to completely ignore Kim and Harvar. It was quite weird, really.
"You were right about the bear," he said. "Though it doesn't look like how I imagined it to be."
Kim slowly crept towards the battle scene- avoiding the rest of her friends and the beast.
The tanuki witch continued to creep until the smoke screen started to fade. She crouched down and inched forward a little more, getting behind the witch. She slowly crawled forward. The noise the bear was making was quite loud, and the witch didn't seem to notice two other meisters behind her.
Kim raised the spear and prepared to launch-
Lock position.
Slumber is positioned. Slumber is ready.
Slumber will attack.
Jaw open, eyes on target.
Ready?
Mother, are you ready?
I am ready.
"Good children," the witch cooed. "Good children. Gaze into the light, gaze like you've never seen it before. Is it not beautiful?" Her hands were outstretched and shaking, drops of sweat sliding down her forehead. Her eyes were wide open, and she gritted her teeth. Her control over the DWMA students was very unstable- they were, after all some of the most extraordinary students she had ever encountered. Definitely much stronger than the children from 800 years ago.
"Come on, Slumber." she urged. "Hurry up."
Kim was stuck, confused, and nervous. After all, she may have had practice with a spear, but to use Ox's greatest weapon of all? At first it seemed plausible- she wasn't a really logical thinker- but as soon as she thought of launching the spear and missing- it made her stop.
It wasn't like her to be like this. Where did her attitude, her will and her need to fight- where did it go?
The tanuki witch looked up at the spear, and saw Harvar staring back at her.
"I don't think-" she started.
"What are you doing?" he interrupted. Kim's hand was raised; her legs were poised to jump into the air-
She clenched the spear so tightly her fingers started to turn white.
She was thinking. Thinking of what would happen if they failed, if they calculated wrong or if the witch could hear what they were saying or if they were too late-
Or if it didn't work.
A mental image of herself using the lightning attack and failing, not only in front of the witch but also in front of her peers.
And if she met her end like that,
"No." she snapped out of her thoughts. The word was crisp, fresh like a fallen star. It was a command, a firm strong one. "I know what you're thinking." it rang in her head.
"You will make it." she looked at Siesta.
Words were strange. Kim used them a lot, mostly because she could boss everyone around. But sometimes if she was lost in thought, words would bring her back to the surface.
Was that what was happening?
She took a step towards the witch. The ground was trembling beneath her feet, and the bear's power was overwhelming. She heard the witch mutter something to the bear, something unintelligible.
But did it matter?
"Say it again." she ordered.
"You will make it." Harvar said. The words sent a shiver up her arm.
She took a few steps back, and started to run.
It didn't take long for her to reach the witch. They were only a few steps away after all.
Jump.
Watch as your body sails in the air, above everybody.
Raise your weapon.
Raise the weapon that told you to fight, to win, to survive.
Shout.
Shout like you've never shouted before; let it echo around the room for all to hear.
And finally,
Attack.
Ox stared. Stared into the light, magical light, glorious and wonderful light-
And suddenly he did not.
"What?" he whispered to himself. He looked at the witch instead, her hands outstretched. The bear was still charging up power- it was.
He looked at the light again. It no longer mesmerized him, and only seemed to hurt his eyes, so he looked away.
She's controlling us. He thought. He poked Kid, who was on his right. The Shinigami didn't move. He was staring into the light like everyone else.
Everyone except him.
"Hm." he said to himself quietly. "According to the logic I currently posses, it might be possible that the only reason I managed to slip away from the witch's magic is because I am weaker, therefore even if I woke my weapon it would not aid me (she's probably also hypnotized). Thus, I being the weaker one, would not cause as much harm to the witch as the others would which is why she released me from her spell." A moment of silence for himself as he contemplated the words he had just spoken aloud.
"I'm the weakest one." he lowered his head in defeat. "How demotivational. And I don't think that's even a real word."
He nudged Kid again, and afterwards kicked him. The Shinigami didn't waver from his gaze. He looked forward, and tapped Black*Star on the shoulder.
"Wow." he said after a few seconds. He looked at the witch. She didn't seem to be noticing anything that was going on.
A wild cry suddenly sounded and he looked up.
"Oh look." he said. "There's Kim."
What the spear saw.
From Harvar's point of view, the world was spinning. It was spinning round, and round, and round- the only proper shape he could actually see was just the outline of himself as a weapon. A spear shaped window allowed him to see through to the human world, and apart from that the rest of the world around him was simply black. Of course due to his weapon element (which was electricity), every now and then sparks flew, from the darkness into his domain. Every few seconds he felt a tingling and jolting go through the system.
He looked outside again- no longer rotating, but this time stuck, the spearhead lodged into someone's chest.
"Hm." he thought to himself. "It seems as if we have won the battle." A few seconds later the spear was thrown away, only to be caught by someone else in midair.
He heard someone breathing. Someone far away, the panting echoing inside the spear as well as in the human world. Harvar stuck his head out of the spear-shaped window and heard a tearing sound as he stuck his head out of the spear.
There was Kim, her gown torn at the sides- after all, it was hard fighting in a dress. She almost resembled a warrior queen - apart from her face, which was more youthful and less mature.
"How did you do it?" he asked.
"I ran." she replied. "Then jumped. I realized that I had accidentally gone too far overhead, so I did a really desperate flip. By that time I was already really close to the witch, and so I rammed you into her chest. And then I fell." she paused. "And then scrambled back to my feet really quickly."
He gave her a thumbs-up. "Brownie points for trying hard." she smiled in response and dropped the spear; letting is clatter to the ground. Harvar immediately reverted back into human form; slightly alarmed by the fact he was let go of so quickly.
It was then when he realized that Kim was swaying slightly, like she was about to faint. Harvar stood up quickly and steadied her, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"Sorry… I feel exhausted for some reason…" her speech was beginning to slur, and her eyes were closed.
"Woah, hey!" he cried out indignantly but she was already unconscious. With great difficulty Harvar grabbed her and hefted her into his arms. He was now holding her bridal-style, which felt very awkward, as Harvar had never done something like this before. After a few moments he adjusted, and it was then when he realized that the Spartoi were staring at him weirdly.
"Hey." he greeted them. They stared back at him, their mouths agape.
He looked back- and to his surprise the witch wasn't there. The monstrous bear was also gone.
"Harvar!" he heard someone call his name and turned- just in time to see Ox leapt towards him hands outstretched. Harvar responded by kicking him away, and sending him flying off somewhere else.
"Can't you see I'm holding an unconscious person?" he walked over to the Spartoi, trudging over broken glass as he went, and shoved Kim into Jackie's hands (She was now in human form).
"Here," he grunted. "She's all yours." Jackie took Kim and almost collapsed under her weight- after all Jackie was thinner than Kim and not as strong. She was a weapon, not a meister, and so her build was much lighter.
"Harvar!" she squeaked. "I'm going to drop Kim!"
Luckily she didn't, because as soon as Ox heard the name of his beloved angel he regained his senses and rushed forward to catch the tanuki witch before she hit the ground.
"Kim!" he cried out joyfully, but she didn't respond. "Kim!?"
"For goodness sakes," Harvar snapped. "She's only unconscious." This only caused Oxford to wail ["ONLY unconscious?!" he replied]. Harvar sighed and turned away.
"Harvar." he turned to see Soul standing there. The death scythe raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You were awesome out there."
"Um… You mean Kim, right?" the lightning spear shrugged his shoulders in question.
"No, you." Soul said. "The minute you made contact with the witch some kind of energy came out from your spearhead and went into the witch."
"It was, pardon me here, a little shocking." Maka appeared from behind Soul. "But cool nonetheless."
"Maka, what was that?" Soul grumbled and nudged her with his elbow. Harvar shrugged again and thanked the two for the compliment before walking back to Ox, who was still wailing.
"Darling Kim!" he howled. "My angel has fallen!"
"Hey there Jackie." Harvar nodded his head in acknowledgement and she waved back. "Where's the witch?" Jackie furrowed her brow, and paused before speaking.
"Well I don't know." she said slowly. "All I remember was staring into a light, and then suddenly it disappeared."
"Sorry, but the light?" Harvar asked.
"Yeah." Jackie said. She began to describe the bear, the cannon-like weapon that Siesta used. As she talked Harvar began piecing information together. Of course he had seen the bear, but he wasn't really focusing on the beast as a target, and so his image of the familiar was blurred and unclear.
"And then it created this orb of energy that was really mesmerizing, but it only lasted for about one second and then it disappeared-"
"One second?" Harvar said incredulously. The energy orb the bear tried to create lasted probably around at least 30 seconds. And by the time Kim had attacked, the energy orb still wasn't ready.
"Yeah," Jacqueline continued. "So anyway, all of a sudden the light was gone and then we all saw you and Kim. I still felt really dizzy and confused, and I'm not sure why I didn't run to Kim or anything. But then you took care of that by helping her, and by that time we were all alright."
They must have been under a spell. Harvar narrowed his eyes. This information would prove to be quite useful for Professor Stein.
Suddenly he blinked and remembered that Kilik was still slumped in a corner sleeping. Without further ado he quickly ran to the meister's side-
Who are you?
He was floating, that was for sure. Floating in a black empty prison, with no one but himself to keep him company. Kilik was curled into a ball, trying to close his eyes. But closing his eyes was just the same as opening them, wasn't it?" Black on the inside, black on the outside, what did it matter if he closed his eyes?
But he closed them anyway (at least he thought he did), and decided to sleep.
It was strange, to sleep in an area that was completely black. But once he closed his eyes he could feel himself succumb to slumber.
"Are you lonely?" He jolted awake and swiveled around- just in time to meet the woman he was fighting. He instinctively fell into a boxer's stance, and attempted to circle around Siesta. He pushed at the air beneath his feet for a while until realizing that the air wouldn't let him move the way he wanted it to.
I don't want to swim around her, he grumbled. That wouldn't look intimidating at all.
"I get lonely too," she said. "All the time." Kilik turned to face her, an irritated look on his face.
"Yeah okay, but I don't need to know what you're all about." He said. And he thought for a while, wondering if there was any way of perhaps hitting the witch, overpowering her, maybe even knocking her unconscious. And after a while he decided not to. After all, the blackness around seemed to oppose him.
"Well if you'll just stay there, I'm going to get going." he swam away, kicking at the air. He went pretty quickly, and soon Siesta was only a dot in the distance.
"Still lonely." Or not.
"What are you doing here?" Kilik demanded.
"I'm here to wake you up." She smiled softly, something that felt weird to Kilik. Who could smile softly anyway?
She walked over to him, and the air obeyed her, creating little pathways where she walked. Kilik wished he could do that same, because floating around was getting really uncomfortable and weird. He watched curiously as she pat him on the head. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm setting you free," she answered. She leaned in to his face and placed a chaste kiss on the tip of his nose.
"What?" he blinked. He opened his mouth to say something more, but the witch place a finger to his lips and winked. Kilik resisted the temptation to bite off her finger-
And… awake.
"Harvar?" Kilik murmured sleepily. "What's going on?" A wave of relief washed over the lightning weapon and he felt to urge to give his good friend a hug. It was quite tempting really, but in the end he settled for a bro-fist.
"Welcome back." he said simply, patting Kilik on the back. A small cry brought his attention to the two Pots, who were wailing.
"Ugh, they're crying again." Kilik mumbled. "Earth must be feeling really horrible."
"KILIK!" there was a shout as a mass of blue hair shot through the two groups and headed straight for the Pot meister. Black*Star tried to give Kilik a clumsy headlock- which Kilik quickly averted by elbow jabbing Black*Star in the gut and ducking under the blue monkey's arms.
"Wait a minute." Kilik jumped up suddenly and spun around. "Where's the witch?"
"About that." Soul placed a hand on the Pot meister's shoulders. "That was taken care of."
"Oh." Kilik dropped his stance. "Are you sure?" Maka nodded, pointing at Harvar as she did so. "Kim and Harvar saved us back there, you should have seen it." An uncomfortable urge to scowl came up, but Kilik resisted. He may have missed the battle, but at least he didn't die. He was just unlucky to be caught in that spell she used. It could have been worse.
He shuddered as his mind came up with mental images of the other options.
"Where are you?" The sound of feet stomping along, and there was a hint of annoyance in the young silky voice.
"We'll find her Kid. Don't stress out." Liz walked beside him, with Patty on her shoulders. The younger weapon was more exhausted than either two combined- for no reason at all. It was strange, but she was Patty. And Patty was, well, considered very strange for her age.
Kid motioned for the girls to walk behind him, and they hurried down the stairs running over to Crona's jail, and opened it with a swing of a foot-
"Why hello there." a deep voice sounded in the corner and Liz gasped and backed away as Medusa stepped out into the dim light.
"You're face is… off putting." Kid grimaced. He took out his father's Shinigami mask and handed it to Liz. "Take this to shield your face." the girl politely declined, but took the mask anyway and held it to her chest.
"I'm surprised," the Shinigami said softly. "Why did you do this to yourself?"
"You take pity on me?" the man growled. The arrows lining his jacket started to twist and move. "I couldn't care less about my form."
"Shame." Kid replied. "You don't look as good as you did before."
"Shame," the man replied. "That you fools could walk into my trap so easily." He grinned. "Like a timid mouse into the cave of a snake's mouth-"
Kid leapt forward, Liz in hand and fired- He was gone.
In Medusa's place was nothing but swirling dust. Kid, who was expecting a solid figure to smash into, tripped and swung round. His arms flailed about wildly and he crashed to the ground. He groaned and stars sprung into his blurry eyesight, like little silver sparks. As he unconsciously waved them away Liz reverted back to her human form and helped him back up.
"You think this was planned?" she asked. He muttered a curse under his breath and nodded.
"Can't believe we fell for it," he stomped his foot in frustration. "A trap! A common, Medusa-like trap!"
"Let them do the dirty work, then get the benefits of not having to fight another enemy?"
"Don't remind me," he grumbled.
"On the bright side though, look at what you achieved today!" Liz said. Her meister raised an eyebrow and watched as Liz pointed to a particular lump on the floor.
"You grabbed me so suddenly…" Kid stared.
Was that Patty?
He closed his eyes, envisioning the events that had happened just a few moments ago. There was Liz AND Patty, the younger pistol on her sister's shoulders. He opened the door, conversation started, he ran at the witch-
"… And then you just yanked me and I had to turn into pistol form, but you left Patty because she was on my shoulders."
Kid let it all sink in.
"So you're telling me," he said quietly. There seemed to be a hint of fear, perhaps even hysteria in his voice. "That I was in an asymmetrical stance?"
"Er…" Liz bit her tongue. "Couldn't you consider it as an achievement?"
Kid fainted.
Witch awake.
Kim awoke with a jolt, realized that she was in Oxfords arms, and shrieked, slapping him in the face and getting back on the ground. It felt good for her feet to touch the cement, no matter how cracked and destroyed it was.
"Where's everyone?" she asked Ox. He motioned to somewhere behind her and she spun around. There, the Spartoi were in a small huddled group.
"Medusa is gone, we just destroyed a whole area, and the people to blame are gone!" she heard Maka scream. She allowed herself a small smirk as she walked up to the group- at least some things were still the same.
"Hey there." she laid a hand on the hysterical meister's shoulders. "What's the problem?"
"THIS WHOLE PARTY WAS A FAKE!" Maka yelled in the witch's ear. Kim winced and rubbed it tenderly.
"The whole thing, it just seems like a trap. We were all set up." Tsubaki said sadly. "The guests, the DWMA students, those faces of the people we recognized-" she choked on her words, and buried her face in her hands.
"Hey there." Soul patted her on the shoulder. "At least they were fake people, right?"
"That's not the point." Kilik said. "What matters is this: how was this broadcasted only to us? How were the tickets sold? There were so many people lining up for tickets- was that fake as well, or did our own people team up with Siesta?" He ran his fingers through his hair, frowning at the thought of the Sloth Bear witch's grand scheme.
"But I don't get it." Oxford frowned. He had decided to join the group. "There were DWMA students in the crowd as well. I even talked to one- She was from the NOT class I think… Eternal Feather?"
"MEDUSA!" Maka screamed into the air. She clutched her hair and her eyes bulged out of their sockets. Angry tears streamed down her face.
"Just calm down, alright?" Soul said. "We need to focus at the task at hand."
"AND WHAT WOULD THAT BE?" Maka bellowed.
"First of all, cleaning this place up." Soul said grimly.
"That would be my duty." Kid stood forward. He was holding a cold wet towel in his hands (That Liz had conveniently provided) and was very much awake. "This is my responsibility. I can get people to help me with rebuilding some of this."
"On the other hand," Liz said. "We're in the middle of a pile of huge rubble. We were really, really noisy. There is still fire everywhere." She paused. "Oh, and somehow no one seemed to notice a giant bear noise. I mean, yes, we're pretty high up, but that noise was really loud."
"Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't notice." Patty piped up. "There are so many weird things going on around here, they would have probably thought we were on another witch hunting mission or something."
"And there's one more thing-"
"There are hundreds more things we need to talk about." Maka hissed. "And when I find Medusa again, I am going to permanently kill her." She took Soul's hand and clenched it hard. Really hard.
Soul's hand started to throb.
Click Snap
Click Snap
Lindsey Garett slunk back into the shadows, camera in hand.
They were just photos of the group.
She zoomed in on one of the photos, zoomed in on one particular person.
"Hm." even from so far away the camera gave a decent quality photo. It was the boy again, the one that didn't model, the one that forgot to wear his shirt.
"Hm." she looked at the group. They had decided to leave, and she quickly walked into a corner. It was dark, that corner.
"…I'm going to KILL her." she heard one of them say. Maka, the one with the Last Death Scythe. She saw the girl stomp her foot in frustration.
"…Alright Kim?" she heard a boy say. He had funny looking glasses on, tall and lean. A weapon, she presumed.
The girl he was talking to nodded slightly. "Fine."
They all walked past.
None noticed her.
And when they left, she too decided to go back home.
Get the job done.
It was hard.
Of course it was hard.
First of all it required a large amount of energy and time, to constantly monitor movements for at least a week. That would give enough information to know who was coming to the ball and who was not. An energy sphere as large as the soul of the late Shinigami-sama needed to surround the city, monitor certain people, certain families, certain shops. DWMA students definitely had to be monitored, every aspect of them examined to look like real copies.
He would take care of that.
Next- one week later.
She would be informed of the people. Gather their information into her head, twist and turn and examine it until every last detail.
Make a few test copies.
Holograms, really. Very realistic, with enough personality so as not to be noticed as odd form the crowd.
Crowd of 9. The Spartoi and Medusa. Next- the holograms.
The money was real. It was easy to obtain- she had a quirky little machine that did it for her. Gave enough to each hologram, slowly formed a line of people in front of the reception where the old lady sat.
The hard part… Other people would notice. She threw them off with an illusionary construction site- harder part, Death the Kid always liked to check on the reception.
Her friends could manage that. They positioned themselves as beggars in front of the school, where every hologram was programmed to enter. Illusionists, the bunch of them all stationed in a corner. They knew who to trick and who to not, so that problem was solved.
She had obviously only sent the TV news cast about the ball to the Spartoi and all other people she knew were going to know about it.
Stein, Maka's father, Marie, they wouldn't go to the ball. They would look for Siesta Clandestine.
And she would not be at home. Why be there when she could play?
To make it suspicious, send Medusa to buy her a ticket.
Then go buy one herself. Just to confuse them a little.
The party. Nothing but a dream.
Of course, Kid was supposed to hold the party. Announce it and such and he did, 8 times in total across the whole city.
Or so he thought.
She cast the dreams into his sleep, like she did with Stein. Stein was… a test subject. The Professor could tell dreams from reality.
Death the Kid could not.
All the cakes and goods and lovely lights, decorations and such were all real, of course. The workers helping him were disposed of later. He would find them soon enough.
The Spartoi…
They wouldn't notice. She was informed of their capabilities and their weaknesses. It would be alright. None of them were extremely keen observers. Observers yes, not as sharp as Siesta Clandestine.
Not while she was sane.
Next-
Party time.
Enter holograms. Some would be copies of each other, but she directed routes to all of them so that they wouldn't bump into each other. The Spartoi would immediately notice if that happened.
Next-
Medusa. Easy, he was already on her side.
Next-
Maka Albarn and Soul Eater Evans. Maka would be pulled into the madness of the moon. It was obvious, really, just have to concentrate on it until it made her go a bit weird, then with a flick of your wrist disturb her conscience and allow it to fall to shambles. Shambles.
Maka fell, broke her arm, easier to fight. Soul distressed, Spartoi downstairs with Medusa, crowd disperse.
The fight was harder than what she'd expected. Of course she had prepared herself for the worst, but she had underestimated them in terms of stamina and endurance. The surprise attack they had planned went especially well, something she never considered herself. She just liked to get out there.
The lightning attack almost killed her; luckily Slumber was there to send her away.
What happened afterwards, Medusa's little plan of escape-
Siesta slammed a fist onto her desk.
Not part of her plan. Medusa was supposed to have captured Soul, given him to her.
She should not have trusted him. Not for a moment.
Siesta touched the golden bauble on her neck. It wasn't pulsing or radiating with warmth- a soul hadn't occupied it yet.
She would have to wait.
Spirit's expedition
And as Medusa disappeared, he reappeared outside the DWMA doors quickly before reverting to a snake form. He slithered to an open pipe, diving in and going back to his secret hideout.
It was a shabby old place, one of the village's abandoned houses. The exterior was just as worn down as the interior, and definitely wasn't an ideal place to slept. Nevertheless he refused to accept Siesta's lovely cottage home and instead stayed where he was. Secret houses were very important.
As she entered his house he flicked his tail to close the door and reverted back to her human form. Quickly she raced to the bathroom to check for any side effects- the teleportation spell wasn't advised, but he wanted to try it out.
Just a slight swelling on the eye, nothing more.
"Medusa."
She spun, releasing 3 arrows at her target- Missed, all three. They quivered, stuck to the dirt-encrusted wall.
She hissed in anger, and quickly walked out of the bathroom. She released her snake tattoo, and it slithered silently next to her. She braced herself and walked into the kitchen-
Empty-
"Medusa."
Again! There, just there she could here him speak. The snake struck, following the noise and pouncing on it- but he was too quick.
"Sit." He was there- Again- How?
Medusa sat, legs crossed. He stared across the table, and saw as Spirit emerged from around the corner. The other man took a seat, and Medusa observed him. No knives, daggers, guns. Just the scythe himself.
And he knew the scythe would be enough. Medusa wasn't as strong as before; he had yet to get back into shape.
"How many." he narrowed his eyes at the death scythe.
"One." Medusa grinned as he heard this.
"First question-" Spirit started.
"It was hard." Medusa already knew what he was going to ask. "I barely survived."
"Why are you a man now?" Spirit questioned.
"I'm bored of seducing men like you." the snake witch replied with a smirk. Spirit said nothing in reply, simply waited.
"It took patience, getting into a strong body. The women were weak. All of them were fleshy and fat." he growled, clenching his hand into a fist.
"You were impatient." Spirit spoke up. "So you took the strongest one you found."
"It was necessary." he replied. "And besides," he reached to touch his hair, stroking it. "I'm blonde again."
"You're siding with Clandestine." Spirit said. "Why?"
"Touchy, nosy, we don't want to go that way." Medusa sighed. "She's a very beautiful woman, I must admit. But not enough for me."
"You betrayed her." Spirit said. "And what now? Working alone again? You won't have Crona this time to help you."
"Oh?" Medusa looked up in faux surprise. "What do you mean about that?"
"Don't talk stupid with me, Medusa." Spirit replied. "Crona is stuck there because of you. Stuck with the Kishin."
"Ah." Medusa said with a smile.
"Yes." his smile widened. Spirit looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face. He didn't know, did he.
Medusa stood up abruptly, and the chair fell over. The witch ignored it.
"I must go." Medusa said. "I've got to check out some things."
"No." Spirit stood also, and he stepped in front of the door. "You're not leaving."
"My house, my rules." Medusa grinned wickedly and slammed his boot down onto the floorboards. Immediately a black arrow faded into vision, and Medusa was sent zooming away to another room. Spirit sprinted after it, dodging various arrows that Medusa sent after him. "Vector Arrow!" A burst of energy and the wooden door burst open, wood splinters flying everywhere.
Spirit leapt into the next room- too late. As he ran out of the house he heard a rumble, and turned just in time to see the house crumble to dust.
Overlord?
What do you have for me, Sloth?
"I failed. They almost killed me."
Idiot.
Your life depends on if I'm happy with you.
"I will not disappoint you next time."
What do you have for me, Snake?
"Successfully evaded DWMA imprisonment. Spirit came after me."
You better have.
What do you have for me, Six?
"Nothing so far."
"We've cast the IMAGE upon the desert lands."
"They will not find us as easily."
"Ready if we're needed."
"Our mission is complete."
"We have succeeded."
Good.
And
What do you have for me,
Crona?
Hey guys~ So sorry there hasn't been an update in such a long time!