Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater. The manga belongs to its rightful owner.
Notes below.
Chapter 8: In control.
Operation Eruka Frog – Night before.
"You see, Liz, think of symmetry-casual as something like business-casual. Except completely symmetrical."
"Kid, you do realize that a lot of business casual clothes are quite 'symmetrical' right? I mean a tie and a blazer looks pretty symmetrical to me-" Elizabeth suddenly stood up, her face a mixture of shock and slight disgust. "Oh. My god."
"What?" Kid said, irritated by her sudden change in composure. "You didn't finish."
"I just said something." She said abruptly. "That you would normally say."
"And?" he raised an eyebrow. Nothing strange there. She always said these things nowadays, just never noticed.
"I just said it looked 'pretty symmetrical'." She then looked at Kid, as if he had an answer to whatever problem she seemed to be having.
"Nothing wrong there." He shrugged.
"I'm starting to SPEAK like you!" she shrieked. "I can't have that!"
"Why not?" he said, slightly hurt.
"Because you're just so-" she paused. "So…" she sat back down.
"So…?" he was demanding an answer now. He would stay put and stare until she gave him one.
"Nothing." She grumbled. "Just go sleep. It's time. For you, anyway."
"Why is it time for me but not you?" he asked.
"Have you been looking at the clock!?" she said exasperatedly. "It's 8, go to sleep."
"I'm not going to sleep until you tell me what you want to say." He sniffed, although he winced as the clock struck 8:01.
"Well I don't want to say it anymore." She sighed, and her eyes drifted back to her phone-screen.
"What is it?" he pestered. There was no way he could sleep now. Only wait until 8AM. Which of course, was a bad idea, but the only way to maintain his schedule. There was no way he'd step into his bedroom at 8:01- no, it was 8:02 now. An even more horrendous group of digits.
"You'd just get mad at me if I told you." She rolled her eyes- typical of Liz. She really needed to restrain that eye-rolling habit of hers.
"Well then." He swallowed. "I'll do my best to listen." She eyed him suspiciously, and nodded slowly as he continued to stare persistently. She shifted into a comfortable position that faced him, and spoke.
"Obsessed." Was the first word she said.
"Obsessed." He repeated. Of course he was obsessed. Why shouldn't he be? Symmetry was order, and order meant being perfect, which was the best status to possibly achieve- to be perfect.
"With this number-" she typed an 8 into her digital note-pad and shoved it into his face. "And these words." It was written below the number- symmetry + perfection.
He stared at them both, still confused.
"Yes, I am obsessed with these. So is that such a bad thing?"
"IT IS." She sighed. "I mean for us, at first, it's weird. Then we get to know you, and it's not that weird. But after a while, well, I thought you'd lose that tic."
"Well- I'm getting better." He frowned, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "I mean, I don't eat symmetrical cereal for breakfast, since you and Patty keep buying the alphabet shaped cereal puffs that I hate but eat anyway." She groaned and placed a hand over her face.
"You know that's not what I meant." She sighs, and turned away.
"Then what do you mean?" Kid pestered, poking her rib.
"Let's leave this conversation for another time." She grumbled. "It's late for you." Liz stood and dragged Kid with her, and they went up the grand staircase together. As they passed the grand hallway to their rooms Liz ushered Kid into his room before slamming the door shut. Kid sighed as her footsteps faded away.
A sudden uncontrollable need to yawn entered his brain and he opened his mouth wide; feeling tired for the first time that evening.
"Elizabeth was righhhhhh…" he slurred, trudging forwards.
As he walked to bed he passed his desk and stopped, hovering over the neatly stacked papers and pens. After a moment's hesitation he thrust out a hand and watched slowly as a pen rolled out of place. Another minute ticked by and he reached across the desk, fingers holding down the white sheets of lined paper. He dragged. The paper slid forwards. It now tilted at a sixty-degree angle to the right and he gulped. Kid stared for what seemed like an entire 2 minutes before sitting down on his fluffy mattress and wondering what the hell he was doing.
"Mm." he grunted and shrugged his shoulders before rolling over and going to sleep.
Going upstairs.
"I'm going upstairs now," she said loudly to the empty space. A muffled voice sounded from the door across from her, saying, "I know Patty, you said that just now."
Patricia Thompson skipped up another flight of stairs, pausing right in front of her own bedroom. She liked where she lived. It was spacious and empty, with her plushies lined up on a shelf backed against a wall to her right. Across from there was a massive drawer that contained all of her other belongings, such as decapitated giraffes and piles of paper with meaningless drawings scribbled onto them.
Patty's name was written on each paper, on the top left corner just like her sister had told her to do, like a code she wasn't supposed to break. She had done this before Kid, too. Before they were rescued she would scavenge for bits of scrap paper and use her only unbroken crayon- the yellow one- and scribble for hours. Her sister could never really tell what she was drawing; she was in fact, not drawing anything at all. But she was 'imagining'. And that was good enough.
She absentmindedly looked through her pieces of art, and suddenly a crumply slip of paper fell out of the drawer. She stooped down to pick it up, only then realizing that it was a piece of leftover paper lunch bag. The yellow was hard to see, but as she glared at it in the light she could see traces of crayon trail make lines in the paper. A sudden memory of the past floated to her head, and a series of bloody aftermaths replayed above her eyes as she clutched the paper in a dreamlike state.
But that was enough reminiscing. She had work to do.
Patty entered her room quietly, drew the curtains and shut the door. She looked around- a hundred pairs of eyes stared back, but they were friendly. Jeffy never hurt anybody.
"Don't tell anyone." She hissed at her stuffed toys, and they nodded back vigorously- well that was what she thought they did; in reality they didn't even twitch. The demon-weapon reached inside her inner-jacket pocket and took out the small pamphlet on -blood. It was useless to everyone now, apart from her.
She was the only black one who could properly read it, after all.
With a deep breath, she drew back the curtains-
And of course, was stopped after hearing the cries of Kid telling them to change into afternoon clothing to visit Lindsey, the weapon girl. She was a weapon, wasn't she? She did say something about her meister joining them after all.
And now, she had to do it again.
Hey. You there? She wrote casually, hoping the other person would receive her note.
Sure enough, only a few seconds later a sentence faded into view, written in shaky lettering.
I'm outside. Your window. Let me in?
This felt dangerous. Granted, almost everything in this world was dangerous, but there were some particularly dangerous things that Patty had considered, for example getting a magical letter from a mysterious person she didn't know that could've actually stalked her- I mean, who knew where her window was anyways?
But well, she could take a risk. She liked risks.
Sure.
And with that, she drew back the curtains once more.
"Crona?"
He was there, clutching the window frame with white knuckles and thin fingers. He looked older, taller, leaner… different.
"Please don't kill me-" He started, a little desperate.
"Well this is annoying." Patty frowned. "And I was getting so riled up about saving you too."
"I-"
"How did you get from the moon to my window?" Patty's frowned deepened, and she stared at him with a pout on her lips. "That's just not fair. Now the game's ended and I haven't even started playing."
"But I-" Crona's mouth opened again but was soon interrupted by Patty.
"And you don't look alive or well either. Medusa lied again, didn't she? Speaking of Medusa, how in the world did you end up here? Aren't we supposed to save you? You look pretty saved to me-"
"Please stop talking." Crona whimpered, letting out a strange, strangled cry. Patty shrugged.
"Well I'm just a little curious and disappointed." She said, looking down at her feet. "I thought we were going to save you, but here you are. Looking pretty saved."
"Well I'm not!" Crona snapped, and his voice rose. "I'm not saved, I'll never-" suddenly his eyes widened and he stumbled off the window frame, crashing to the floor of Patty's bedroom. A strange, visible black aura surrounded him, and he started to gag, hands going to his neck where invisible fingers seemed to be squeezing his throat. Patty backed away in fright, hands reaching for the doorknob.
"N-no!" Crona gasped, reaching for her. "P-please, wait!" A spasm of pain contorted his face and he writhed in agony, nails digging into the floorboards. Patty watched in horror as the aura grew, surrounding him. Flickers of red light appeared and formed a ring of thorns around his chest. Patty could see them pierce through his left lung.
"aahAAAAHHH!" he screamed a blood-curdling scream that sent shivers down Patty's spine.
"Too loud!" Patty shrieked, but doubted that he could hear her. "You're too loud! Sis is gonna-"
The room exploded in red light, and Patty couldn't help it but scream as well. This was too strange, to unreal. Crona in her room, Crona in a bubble, Crona talking, Crona walking, thorns, thorns, thorns-
The red light faded but Patty's scream continued to echo inside her bedroom. The sound reverberated against the walls and the windowpanes trembled. The lights in her eyes made old memories resurface, the thorns that punctured his bleeding lung could only remind of that time, and that time, and those times too-
Back in the past where pain was a daily occurrence and blood was the second to none option. Back in the past where stabbing would reward and saving someone would be considered a taboo- at least in Liz's eyes, it was.
As she screamed Crona disappeared in a flash of white light, the scratch marks on the floorboards fading away.
The door burst open and Liz barged into the room, Kid following behind her.
"What's going on?" Liz said, but Patty continued to scream. "Patty, talk to me." She knelt beside her sister and spoke softly next to her. Kid stormed to the window and flung it open, the squeaking of old hinges sounding. There was no one in sight, neither above nor below; it was pitch black outside and no stars shone tonight. The moon was there, high up in the air, grey light streaming through cracks in the black blood sphere.
"Who did this?" The Shinigami said in a dangerously low voice. "Who would dare?"
"Kid-" Liz started.
"C-C-" Patty cried out, and her screaming ended abruptly. "I-"
"Shh…" Liz pressed her fingers against Patty's lips, using her free hand to stroke her hair in a motherly manner. "It's okay. You don't have to say anything." Patty sniffed and rested her head on the older weapon's shoulder. She rarely cried like this.
"Hah." She tried to smile but could get her face muscles to move. It was as if her mouth had gone almost numb. "I'm okay."
Kid crouched next to Elizabeth, his mouth set in a grimace.
"Patty." He said in a low voice. "Who did this to you?"
She opened her mouth-
And closed it.
Was it the thorns? She didn't dare say, she didn't dare retell the horrible things she saw.
The thorns, the red, the black.
The darkness.
"Patty." Her sister's voice broke into her thoughts, and Patty turned to stare into her sister's light blue eyes. She was smiling. Patty could see her shaking, her whole figure seemed as if it was going to collapse. Elizabeth Thompson was scared, and she knew.
Scared of what?
"I just want to know what you saw." Liz said. "Can you tell me?"
Patty stared into the eyes; they seemed almost hypnotizing. She saw tears streaking down Elizabeth's face. Why was she crying?
Did she do something wrong?
Maybe… if she told her she would stop crying.
"Thorns."
That took a long time.
"Okay, boys." the scientist stared at the two boys behind him. "Time to get cracking." Professor Stein, Ox Ford and Kilik Rung stood at the edge of the city, their shoes slowly filling up with sand.
"Why'd you wear sneakers, Ox?" Kilik sighed. "You knew we were going to be camping out in the desert."
"They fit my shirt." Ox sniffed, and flattened the creases on his clothes. "And so do my pants. Sandals just won't do." He looked at Kilik's own sandals with disgust.
"Way to be practical, Ox." Harvard said from the spear's hilt. "I told you not to wear them."
"Why is this sand so smoking hot?" Ox sighed. "If only it was a little cooler." he shuffled forward, the sand in his sneakers weighing him down. It was midday, and they still hadn't reached their destination- the Six's hideout. According to Free, the Six had been moving across the desert for several days now, and set up camp at night. In the morning they would leave and continue traveling. Their ginormous base, however, was located in an ancient pyramid in the middle of the desert, several meters underground.
What astonished Professor Stein the most was that the Six seemed to have incredible endurance and stamina. They had been walking in the desert for just around a week now and only had turnip and lettuce to live on. He, on the other hand, would be dying for dissected meat. And a sufficient water supply. Stein checked his back again, fingers stroking the small water bottles in his rucksack, then pushed them away and closed his eyes. Water later, only when needed.
"Why is their base in the middle of the desert!?" Ox groaned. "THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT!"
"Because of people like you." Havar replied bluntly. "You seem to dislike this heat. Therefore you wouldn't mind turning back and staying indoors with the air conditioning on."
"He's right, Ox." Stein grinned. "That way no one will want to find o- their base." suddenly his Incom [A/N: wiki/Incom Incase you don't know/forgotten what this is] sounded and Stein raised a hand to his right ear.
"Azusa? Find anything?"
"You're almost there. Keep walking-zzz" The sudden static made him jerk his head away from the ornate Demon Tool.
"What's wrong with this thing?" Stein grumbled. "It almost zapped my ear back there."
"Sorry. Somebody just- you know what, keep moving. A few more meters…" Stein strode forward, Kilik and Ox following closely behind. "There." Stein looked down expectantly, hoping to see some sort of underground tunnel. Instead there was only sand.
"Hey, I thought it was in an underground pyramid?" Ox wondered aloud. "This isn't a pyramid."
"Do you really think this is the middle of the desert?" Stein sighed, and pointed to Death City, which could still be seen over the sand dunes. "If we were in the middle of the desert, Death City wouldn't be visible."
"We discovered an alternate route- it's combined with some old tunnels that people never finished. But you'll still have to get to the pyramid. It'll just take less time."
"Alright, what now?" Stein poked at the sand beneath him, letting it sift through his toes.
"This is where Kilik will come in handy. And Marie, for the matter. Tell the boy to stand where you are." Stein did so and shuffled over slightly so Kilik could take his place.
"Uh… Professor Stein?" Kilik raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Be quiet." he said irritatingly. "I'm listening to the Incom."
"Well I've given you the spot, Stein. What do you do now?" Stein whined an incoherent response, to which she replied, "Don't be stupid; use your brain." The hammer at his side glowed a bright white and dissolved into Marie Mjolnir, who stooped down to examine the sand.
"She probably means we have to create our own path down there." She looked up at Kilik and stepped back, waiting for something to happen.
"So I punch a hole here, then?" she nodded unsurely, and looked at Stein for a confirmation.
"Why not." he said, and Kilik bobbed his head, letting Fire and Thunder shape themselves around his fists as they reverted into their weapon forms. He raised his arms and swung the pots hard into the ground, his feet flailing as he lost his grip on the sand, which seemed to have exploded outward and was now pelting the group with grit and dust.
"Tell him to keep going." Azusa's voice crackled in the Incom and Stein shouted to Kilik, who continued to smash his way down the sand.
"You've got to keep punching, Kilik!" Stein raised his voice, a hand placed before his eyes to shield himself from the rain of sand. Ox Ford leapt back and shielded himself behind Stein's great white lab coat, attempting to use it as a shield in hopes of deflecting the bits rock that came flying towards him.
It was only a matter of time before the pounding subsided, but it followed a great shriek ["Sounds like Kilik." Harvar mumbled]and an ungraceful landing by the Pot meister.
Kilik's fist hit the ground once, more, but this time it hit solid, concrete ground- that was blasted to bits as it made contact with his knuckles. His knees collided with the ground and a sharp pain wracked his bones; he rolled over in agony.
"Are you okay?" Ox's voice seemed so distant. Kilik stood- the base entrance was shallow and his head surfaced to the open air. He looked round- of course it was distant. He was more than a few meters away.
"It's fine." Kilik motioned for the rest of the group to come over, and Stein jumped into the entrance.
The hole Kilik had dug was quite large and spacious. In fact, even after the whole team had jumped into the pit there was room for more.
"There." Harvard spoke, and motioned towards a darker space further ahead. Stein walked forward and stuck a hand through the space- it was empty. He groped around for an edge.
"It seems to me," he turned and smiled. "That we've found a secret passageway."
"About time." Kilik grumbled. "Let me go first, I dug the hole." He gently pushed Ox aside, groping at the dark cavern beneath the sand. He lifted his arm and felt the space above him, soon making contact with a smooth, hard ceiling. There seemed to be some sort of metal structure above that was holding the sand in the position. It seemed almost impossible that the metal hadn't collapsed under all that sand piling over it- and the structure looked pretty flimsy too.
"Looks weird, but it's worth a go." Kilik said as he observed the tunnel. Stein nodded to him and entered the cave first, eyeing the sides of the tunnel warily. It was horribly dark in here, and he couldn't see a thing.
"Alright Azusa, we're in." Stein spoke into the Incom. A shaky, almost inaudible, crackling voice answered.
"Great. Now I'd just like to ask you a question." Stein raised his eyebrows at the comment but nodded slowly. "Shoot."
"Why the hell would people make tunnels under sand? For what purpose?"
"I don't know." Stein shrugged. "You tell me." A long sigh sounded on the other end of the receiver.
"They don't." Stein nodded. Sure they didn't. So why was there a tunnel underneath a sand dune?
"This is a trap, isn't it?" He said slowly.
"I'm afraid Professor Stein is already on his way to the underground base. Unfortunately he seems to think that the Spartoi will only be a distraction- a literal one." Stein looked up from the Incom, suddenly realizing that he was in the tunnel, all by himself.
"Well." He growled, the projection of Franken Stein flitting on and off. "Looks like it wasn't good enough." He turned just in time to see Kilik exit the tunnel.
"Of course, Stein using the restroom behind a particularly large sand dune was never part of the plan. But well, I figured as much would happen." Kess, Fifth of the Six scowled, fingers flying as he tried to keep the projected image of Stein upright.
"Seeing the sand fall through your face was enough, really. And also, you're wearing the Incom wrong. That's why everything sounds static."
Ox exited the cave, but the projection of Stein stayed put. There was no use, following them out. They already knew, after all. The image of Stein continued to flicker, growing rapidly unstable.
"I mean, who wears an earpiece upside down?" He watched as Kilik delivered two solid punches to the ground below the tunnel's entrance, watching in annoyance as the light from outside disappeared. Clumps of sand hit the ground, grits flying outwards. He glared at the meisters before switching off the hologram and fading into the darkness.
"He shouldn't be too far away." Ox told Azusa, his own Incom securely in place. "If the Six are illusionists like Free, they must use Spatial magic too."
"Yes, that's what I'm thinking too. But that's not important right now." Ox and Kilik broke into a run, starting the trek across the sand dunes.
"You'll reach your destination in a few minutes. I'll meet you there." They laughed as they started their journey towards the Runaway Train's deserted station.
Seconds?
"Stay away, Jamie!" A flustered Nico backed away from Jesamelia, Second of the Six. "Step back!" he tried to shout, but his voice was drowned out by the mini storm. First had gone out for a walk, or so it seemed. He had been acting a little strange lately, telling the Six to relax more, to spend the long nights around a warm bonfire, going so far as to sing Jamie and him to sleep.
You're so young. He recalled the older Illusionist mutter. You shouldn't be out here.
But Ms. C told us to. Nico replied stubbornly. We need to help her- she promised me… he remembered trailing off at that point, not wanted to say her promise. Of course it wasn't that big a deal, it was just… well. It didn't matter.
"It won't hurt, Nico." Jamie said, taking another two steps closer to the teen. "It won't hurt if I don't want it to."
"But it'll hurt later!" He cried out as she reached at the sandstorm, rolling out of the way. They were at their underground base, waiting for the rest of the Six to come back from their expeditions. The base was huge, and built so that Nico could properly reside in it. There was even a space, just for him.
No bed though… he thought as he tripped over a chair and hit the ground with a thud. Or pillow.
"I just want to touch you." Jamie pouted, her frown barely visible through the sandstorm. "Like, feel a hand or something. I mean I can barely even see you through this thing!"
Nico sighed. There was no use trying to ignore her. She was so stubborn.
"I can calm the storm down, but only for a few seconds." Her face lit up as he said that.
He closed his eyes, concentrating more strongly of the thought of the sand fading, the storm calming. He concentrated Jamie's face, framed by her dark brown hair and brown eyes behind the veil of sand that obscured her face.
The noise stopped. Wind died.
He opened his eyes, peering through the scarf tied around his head. After a moment's hesitation, he took it off.
The sand stirred in small piles around him, still restless as ever. As he looked up he could hear a gasp of surprise; meeting Jamie's face.
"That's amazing!" she almost squealed. "It's not an illusion?!"
"N… no it's not." He jerked back as she reached out a hand, like it was a poisonous snake closing in for the kill. "But… this has never happened before."
He felt her finger tracing the shadows on his face. It was awkward really, when they had other things to do like scan the outer area for intruders, or check on the food supply incase First had to teleport and get more food.
A sudden whoosh of air past his face made him open his eyes- where grains of sand pelted him in the face and struck his eyes.
"Aah!" he yelled in surprise as the sand shot upwards, and Jesamalia screamed suddenly and yanked her hand back right as the sand tore through her skin with unimaginable speed. The noise of the whirlwind rose as her screams became mute. He could only gaze in horror as she stumbled backwards in fright clutching her bleeding arm- and the jagged scratch that started at her elbow and ended at her wrist. The blood dripped down her jacket as she looked at the mixture of sand, blood and dust color the bottom of her white jacket in a dark, dark red.
He walked backwards and toppled over a chair. The sand immediately rushed from around him to his back, breaking his fall and lowering him gently to the ground, then created a semi-circular barrier around him.
"Are- Are you okay!?" Nico scrambled to his feet, the sand moving with his own pace as he hurried to Jamie's side. Her arm was still dripping in red as she tried to dab it in a wet cloth and wrap it up in silk cloth. She retreated as he came towards her, gesturing towards the wave of sand that circled him menacingly.
"I'm fine!" she shouted, a little louder so he could hear. "I'm perfectly fine." He could tell by the way her eyes darted back and forth that she was scared of being hurt again.
"Can I help you with anything? Do you need bandages?" He started walking towards the cupboard but she reached it before he did, standing in front of the cupboard as if she was protecting it.
"You…" she hesitated. "The sand might break it. I'll get it, don't worry." Her trembling fingers closed around the coil of cloth and she dashed to a corner to treat her wound. As Nico stepped back, he turned around-
The room was a mess.
The sand was everywhere, lying around the room scattered in heaps where he fell over the chair. It was getting less… clingy, which was more of a problem than a good thing. And as he looked through the thick film of sand, he wondered exactly how much he had brought in with him. Looking above at the ceiling he also noticed the deep scratch marks in the cement above, with even large flakes of paint peeled off leaving a clear trail of where he had been around the room.
As he opened his mouth there was a flash of light as the First appeared on the couch, tumbling off it in surprise as he landed on the sand covered ground.
Free stood up abruptly and shook off the remaining grit from his pants, looked up and observed. The large roll of bandages was unraveled, hanging on Jamie's arm, and Nico looked positively dreadful.
"I can explain!" Jamie burst out, hiding her hand behind her back.
"Let's get you cleaned up first." Free grimaced, running his hand through his hair. He trudged towards them, every step crunching the grains of sand underneath his thick boots. Nico started towards him too but Free motioned to step back. The sand followed his every footstep.
"I did tell you not to do anything weird, kiddo." He sighed as he asked Jamie for her hand.
"Have you washed it yet?" he asked her, and she shook her head. He motioned towards the bathroom and she hurried over.
"You're lucky it wasn't that deep." Free said to Nico. The dark haired boy gritted his teeth and stared at the ground in frustration. Nothing he ever did seemed right.
Nothing.
"Hey." Free motioned for Nico to look up. "At least your tornado isn't picking up anymore sand. Or else you really would have destroyed this place." The young boy still didn't speak, looking at him through a thinner film of grit and brown specks.
"Look, kid, it's not that important." Free sighed. "Just focus on the mission for now."
"… What exactly are we supposed to do?" Nico replied exasperatedly. "All we've done is… confuse a bunch of kids."
"Your mission isn't that simple, Nico." Free turned to him and placed his hands on Nico's shoulders, looking him directly in the eye. "As her followers you need to be precise and do your job."
"But what's our job?" Jamie walked back into the living room, and Free stood, holding out the bandages.
"On second thought, I'm not medic. You better take care of this yourself." She nodded and began to wrap the bandage around her arm. The pool of red blood was still evident on the floor, but her arm was free of it.
"You know what she wants." Free sat back down to continue the conversation.
"Souls." Nico answered. "That's what she says every single day."
"You don't understand what a delicacy they are." Jamie mimicked. Free chuckled at the imitation, cleared his throat and continued.
"And the stronger the soul?" Free waited for their answer.
"The more energy she can retain in her necklace," Nico followed.
"And therefore use as her power source to control her Gear mode." Jamie finished. She shrugged and said, "We know all this. Miss C told us all about her problem."
"It's not a problem." Free reminded with a smirk,
"It's just a 'condition'!" Nico chortled, and the two Illusionists laughed with him. When Jamie had further questioned 'Miss C' about her Gear mode, Siesta had calmly explained that it was a little hard to control, which then lead to Jamie complaining about her problem. This discussion then rose to an argument as Siesta protested against Jamie's remark ["If you can't control it then wouldn't that be a problem for us as your followers? What if you can't execute your plan if you get stuck in a certain 'Gear' mode or something!?"]. Finally, the infamous phrase rose as Siesta howled, "It's not a problem, damn it, it's JUST A CONDITION!".
"Right." Free said, getting back on track. "And you may not know this, but the bunch of kids you cast your Illusions on are pretty well known."
"Seriously?" Jamie's jaw dropped. "I thought they seemed pretty dumb, falling for such an amateur illusion and all."
"It's only a beginner's act to us, but they don't know about Illusionist witches." Free nodded. "Anyways, there are three souls within that group that are crucial to Siesta's plan."
"Who are they?" Nico said, leaning towards him in curiosity. "They're only just as old as us, how can they be so important?"
"Witch rumor has it that those three souls are so strong that they could grant a witch immense power, if they knew how to use it." Free said.
"But-" Jamie interrupted. "The ability to use a drain a soul's life energy as a power source… that magic was banned like, a few 300 years ago. I doubt any witch now could perform this." At the mention of 300 years, Nico's eyes widened and he stood abruptly, knocking over the badly placed table beside him.
"Miss C- Miss Clandestine." Nico frowned. "How old is she? Witch years, I mean."
Free paused before answering uncertainly, "Possibly over a thousand years old."
"A thousand!?" Jamie exclaimed, also jumping to her feet. "But I thought the Shinigami's Witch hunting experiment had killed them all!" Free simply shook his head.
"Lady Arachnid, the spider witch, was around 800 years old during the Witch hunting yet she survived as well, albeit not without wounds. Lady Clandestine simply went into hiding a lot earlier, though Luck may have played a fair part as well, since she seemed to have left unscathed."
"She did say her familiar was a sloth bear…" Nico trailed off. "She could have slept through the entire 500 years of the purging."
"Did she ever mention a motif to capturing those children you tricked?" Free asked.
"She only mentioned she wanted to… take a gander, or something." Jamie spoke.
"Said it was for observational purposes." Nico added. "Hey, First- Don't you already know her plan? Thought she was the one who told you about it." Free jumped at the sudden sharpness in his tone of voice.
"Uhm-" Free almost stammered, but bit his tongue before they could see through his flickering disguise. The illusion itself was already difficult to maintain, seeing as Jamie and Nico were adepts at their expertise and could identify a hologram if it flickered- even for a split second. The fact that he had to stay within the projection's range already had him sweating beads.
"Yeah, about that…" He trailed off, scratching his head. "Guy like me doesn't always remember uh, the right things, you know?"
"Yeah Nico," Jamie interrupted. "Cut him some slack. He's an old man." Free chuckled in relief. Thank Shinigami he didn't get caught. Probably would've died. Or something like that.
His wristwatch beeped as a small image of Lindsey Garett flashed on the tiny screen. "Sorry guys," he stood abruptly.
"Gotta scram. I'll see you in a few hours." They nodded their heads in unison before he added, "And don't forget to contact Max. You'll need him to locate the rest of us."
"We got it!" Jamie grinned and waved as Free disappeared from the room.
"Well." She turned to Nico and her smile faded, but it was still there. "I'm not really- that mad, anymore."
"It was kinda your fault anyways, wasn't it?" Nico tried to smile sheepishly. They were a lot farther apart now. It was better that way.
A sudden thump interrupted the silence between them and Jamie looked up in alarm. A flake of white paint drifted from the ceiling, floating it's way down to the floorboards.
"Max shouldn't be back yet." She looked at Nico, her eyebrows slanting in worry.
"Hold on." He said. "Don't- don't do anything rash, okay?" She nodded quickly. "At least, not here. This place is too small. For. Your-" His waved his hands in small circles and she giggled a little.
"I got it." She said, taking a few steps back from the noise. The thump sounded again. Sand filtered through a small crack in the ceiling.
"Shit!" Nico muttered. "I sleep here!"
"Nico!" Jamie said harshly. "Don't- swear!"
"Do you really think now's the appropriate time lecture me!?" Nico snapped. "My clean sheets are at stake here!"
"You don't even HAVE clean sheets!" Jamie squealed, her voice turning high pitched as a faster series of thumps came from the same spot. "Well not anymore!" This time she jumped back, her hands in position. As she did this her eyes started to glow a faint blue.
"No, no- no- Jes- I mean Jamie-" Nico's eyes widened in alarm. "Don't- don't do anything."
"I won't!" She scowled, looking up at the bigger cracks appearing. "I'm just- scared!"
"Exactly!" Nico almost shrieked. "Look- let me take care of this right now. We might not need to use much power."
"Oh so you're not scared of that thing up there anymore, are you?" Jamie's mood suddenly changed. "Are you scared of me?" She sneered at him, and he was taken aback.
"Wha- Shit!" He cried out again as something started to poke out of the ceiling. It looked intimidating. He gulped.
"Jess- Jamie, listen!" He shouted this time, because the sand had started to pour in. "Contain it for now!"
"Why should I?" She hissed, and for a moment he saw her face- he saw her face-
J-J-jitTer?
"J-jamIE?"
… Can I cuss now?
"JAmIE Can yOU hear ME?"
J-j-jitter. The room was heavy with dust. He could see her figure faintly- it was glowing in the sandy fog. She seemed to…
J-J-Jitter.
"J-j-Jamie?" his face felt numb. Sand was filtering in from all sides. He tried to reach for his alarm around his belt, but his hands were fi-fi-fidgeting.
And… this is why you don't talk to a psycho.
"Shut up." He mumbled.
I know, she's hot. Sweltering. But really, couldn't you go find someone else to hit on?
"Let- ME CONCENTRATE!" Nico shook his head frantically.
The ceiling exploded. A cloud of dust and heat billowed from the open crack above him, and a piece of flying brick caught him square in the chest, sending him flying into a wall.
Wow, damn. Impressive.
"Look." Nico said, struggling to move his fingers. At least his mouth was functioning, or else he'd have to keep listening to this PRICK. "Why don't you help me out instead?" Pieces of ceiling started crumbled down, and suddenly the desert sun shone brightly from above. The hot sand started to pile in, rocks and pebbles tumbling into the collapsed hideout. No more bed.
But sweetie, you hate me.
"Yeah but at least I'm not telling you to f-fu-" he bit his lip.
Ooh boy, you should keep that down! You know I don't like dirty mouthed boys.
"Frick you then." He glowered. The fog was dissipating.
But baby, you need my help!
"Then help me, geez!" He growled. The sand around him had dropped at an alarming rate, and right not that was not a good thing. Not at all.
Anything you want, I can do.
… wait. What did you want?
"SAND!" He roared. The figure in the smoke jumped in alarm, and suddenly something was thrown at him with incredible force. "NOW!"
Plates of sand shot up from the ground in front of him - each 5 inches thick - deflecting a small, black hammer. As the sand disintegrated just as quickly as it had appeared, a smaller pillar shot up from below the flying weapon, catching it by the edge and throwing it off to a side.
"Get Jamie!" He suddenly thought of her, still in a trance, eyes glowing and all that. Although he hadn't seen her in action before, he was warned not to let her use her potential power unless under unimaginable threat.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
"Oi." He glared at the shifting spike that circled him warily. "She's not angry or anything. It's just her thing."
It's a creepy 'thing' if you ask me. Got her covered like you asked, though.
He looked ahead and his eyes widened in shock- and anger as the sand had transported her to the opposite side of him and was currently piling above of her.
"You DOMED her?!" Nico shrieked.
You said emergency! I do what I have to do, cutie pie.
"Will you stop?!" He gritted his teeth as he rolled up his sleeves. The sand around him was still evident, though it was now almost invisible. His line of vision was now clear though, and he could see the figure approaching him.
Battered him up for you darling.
"Why do you even TALK to me?" Nico stepped forward, rolling his sleeves, eyes narrowed. There was a fine line between simple desert curse and talking torture.
Baby - I can read your mind, you know.
"ARGH!" He said. "I'm trying to concentrate right now!"
It's okay, I'll always be here if you still want to talk!
"You drive me crazy." He sighed as he punched the alarm button on his belt. It flashed a bright red before going dim. The rest of the Six had been notified. First would probably kill him later.
I AM Crazy, baby. Crazy with a capital C!
"That's what we were told." The voice in the fog spoke, and the dust cleared.
Dramatic entrance!
Nail through the head, stitches- ooh, I like that.
The hammer is a nice touch of colour, but I don't think it goes that well with the green, greyish look. What do you think, Nico? Nico?
"It's just you now." Stein looked down at the moving grits of sand. Their voices were unanimous. Maybe it was just one voice. Who knows, right?
Ahaha… Wait. Babe. Nico. Really?
I looked at Nico's face from the hovering spike. It was blank.
Ah f*ck. Well whatever.
"This one's unstable." A female voice sounded next to the mad scientist. The weapon. As light reflected of the metal surface of the hammer, I could see the face of a pretty, sexy woman. Eye-patches are my thing.
Did I say that out loud? Oh no, I'm sorry Nico. Are we still a thing?
"Obviously." Stein clenched the weapon tightly, a smile on his face. "Do you think this was the Sloth Witch's doing, or some other greater power?"
"She might've suggested, but I don't think this is within her power, to- to put something inside a little boy." The weapon frowned, her eyes staring at the boy who was still.
Well, not for long.
We all felt his power. Asura's power.
It came through a series of echoed vibrations. Again, and again, it reverberated around the city, the world.
What strength.
What dominance!
The Madness of Fear truly was as great as the legends told.
And- just like Arachne, we started to wake. Our wavelengths finally stirred, hummed in sync with his ancient, godlike tune. A Madness wavelength.
We live in a world of witches. Demons. Monsters.
Some creatures just need a bigger wake up call.
Stein looked across at the frozen figure as trails of sand crawled up and into his sleeves, pants and hair. The boy's soul had tripled in size, but the trails of white sand continued to float around the boy's orange soul. At the heart of this a strange series of lines and patterns twitched uncontrollably, surrounding the boy's head.
"This doesn't look good." He muttered. "Looks like we're dealing with some sort of Madness." Marie inhaled sharply.
"I didn't think-" she stammered. "I didn't think something like this was possible."
"Well, now we know it's been done." Stein said simply. "All we have to figure out is how, and how to reverse it."
Think it's gonna be that easy?
Stein jerked suddenly as a series of sand spikes shot towards him from the ground, pieces of grit hurled from floor up. As he dodged the series of sand attacks he swung Mjolnir towards a spike, watching as the sand that came in contact with the hammer dissolve, busting through a series of sand plates and whizzing past the boy's frozen body.
"Marie!" he signaled with both his hands and she nodded within the hammer's reflection, bouncing off a wall and hurtling towards him, a blinding light wrapping around both hands.
A tonfa? Impressive, Marie. It's Marie, right?
The sand vibrated with each syllable, and Stein stared at the ground curiously. How did they manage to infuse the desert sand with Madness? How was it done?
And if it was not the Sloth-bear witch that had done it, then who?
Concentrate, opponent!
A sand spike was thrust towards him and he dodged it with expertise, holding the tonfa in a defensive stance. As sand circled him he strengthened his grip on the weapon pair.
"Stein!" Marie shouted over the sound of shifting sand. "I don't think it's the sand that's infused with Madness. That would be impossible!"
"But the Madness- it has a mind of it's- OWN!" Stein was thrown into the air unexpectedly as a sand slab shot from under his feet and lifted him above the ground. Remaining sand formed a series of darts as they began to target him mid-air.
"MARIE!" He shouted.
"Got it!" He grinned as electricity crackled up his sleeves, under his skin and into his veins. He buzzed with static and energy, and his eyes bore an intense bright yellow light. It filled him with power and-
As he glimpsed another block of sand thrown towards him he twisted his body out of the way, slammed the block into the ground, landing on his own two feet.
"Stein, be careful with this." His weapon warned him. His grin only grew wider.
The boy's body had started to move, in a strange abrupt way. His eyes were covered with a patch of moving sand, and more of it seemed to pour from his sleeves and around his hands like fingerless gloves.
An upgrade! How convenient. The boy grinned back at him.
"We have one aim, Marie." She nodded nervously at Stein's statement. "Target the boy."
Is it just me, or did that sound evil?
The sand adjusted itself to suit the boy's position and slowly his body moved into a strange, awkward stance.
"He's the one." Stein could feel something twisting in his gut. It felt- good.
"He's the one infused with the Madness."
The boy ahead with the dusty hair and sand sleeves stretched another smile and slammed the ground in front of him with his foot. It jumped in response, swirling into a massive column that completely surrounded the two opponents. The sound of the sand whipping past Stein's ears was deafening, and ever so often a grit or two would fly past his face, stinging his cheek.
The hideout was ruined, now. The sand dunes above would have collapsed into it if not for the boy's strange power, controlling the sand at will. Or was he?
As the couch was torn into fluffy shreds and the table crushed into a pile of splinters, Stein could feel something raging inside himself. A beckoning, an urge to let it go-
To slip up, and give in.
The Madness inside him tugged at his sleeves, around his eyes, clawing at his brain.
But he wouldn't let go. Not yet.
He stood tall, across a sandy platform opposite to the other Madness infused stranger.
"We found your base." Stein called out over the noise. "And we're going to take you down. All of you."
Oh, really?
A string of sand shot towards Stein's foot, almost piercing through the bone if the mad scientist had not shifted his leg in time. It ripped his trousers and sped past him at an incredible speed, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, dissolving into the large sand ring around him.
The boy had been completely taken over. His eyes couldn't be seen, but his body was intact, at least. It was moving strangely now, swaying from one side to another. When Stein looked up to meet him, the boy stood straight, before performing a strange gesture. He could see a three tight strings of sand force him into a bow.
Madness- it comes in many different names and variations.
The sand hovered in the air for a while, before plunging towards the mad scientist at an alarming speed. Stein, taking the offensive route, took the hit and zoomed towards his opponent at an even faster rate, raising Mjolnir in his right hand. He leapt towards the boy-
"We know that." He said, before taking a swing. The sand holding the boy close collapsed, and he ducked under a single tonfa. It swept him under the sand, and brought him to the surface on the opposite side of the ring.
So do I.
Sand spikes shot out from the interior of the ring, nicking the collar of Stein's jacket. He swung at the spikes in response and they dispersed, fading into the ground.
This Madness I call- isolation.
Smaller columns of sand shot up from behind Stein, pushing him closer to his opponent. The ring started to close. It got darker and darker.
Welcome to my domain.
She's okay, right? Or, Tsubaki is no sleeping beauty.
"Yo." Why did he have blue hair?
"Hey," She replied tiredly, resting against the hospital wall. She still wasn't allowed to leave the ward- her blood pressure seemed to have elevated during the dream to abnormal levels. Maybe it was Black*Star's excruciating hug, but either way Nygus didn't really care; she just wanted to make sure all her students were well rested.
"Are you okay?" He asked in a rather abnormally quiet voice. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I'm… fine." She said, shifting under the white blanket sheets. "You don't have to be here, really.
"I was waiting for you to wake up." Tsubaki could feel Black*Star weight on the left side of the bed as he sat on its edge. She sat up as he said this, recent memories surfacing in her head. Just yesterday something strange had happened to her- what started off as some sort of heart-ache had become an intense feeling of pain and later, unconsciousness. When she woke, not only did she feel immensely tired, but also seemed to have wandered through her meister's (and her friend's) dreams.
Unfortunately she was too tired to continue talking, and as a result, was forced to sleep the rest of the day.
"Sleep well?" Black*Star's soft tone- although it felt nice- was starting to irritate Tsubaki. Was he spacing out? Did he ever space out?
"Yeah, alright- are you okay?" She looked up, but her meister's hair obscured his face, the blue spikes blocking her view. "You're… quiet."
"I can be quiet when I want!" He said with gusto. "I mean, no one can tell me what to do, right?" He looked at her and smiled. His eyes looked slightly puffy and red. She didn't want to question, but-
"Black*Star, are you really?" she said, leaning towards him to get a better look at his face. He backed away almost instinctively and nodded, straying from her touch.
"I'm great!" He grinned this time, giving her a thumbs up. "Can't wait for us to start training and doing missions!"
"Hey-" she started, but he ignored her, hopping off the bed and starting to do some stretching exercises. He really couldn't get out of his intense training regimen.
"Black*Star." she tried to snap, but it came out as a weak attempt.
"What!?" he glared back at her, arms tense and shoulders high. There was something wrong with him- his attitude, his tone. He was never this quiet.
"You're not okay." Tsubaki shook her head, and tried to get out of bed- only then realizing that her legs felt strange, like jelly. As she tried to get out, her hand knocked over a cup of empty water and it hit the floor, causing her to jump in surprise.
Black*Star was at her side almost instantly, gently helping her back up in no time.
"You can't leave." He said quietly. "Nygus said not to let you train with me."
"That's silly, I'm fine-" Tsubaki struggled against his grip, but his hand remained closed around her wrist. "Let go!"
He remained silent for a while and looked at it with such an intensity that Tsubaki felt almost reluctant to have said it. He finally released her wrist and let it fall onto the blankets below.
"Look, I can get out fine." She insisted.
"Okay." His voice trembled. It- trembled? She looked up in mild shock as he gazed down at her. Something was welling up in his eyes- and she didn't want to tell him what. "Try it."
Tsubaki attempted to swing her legs forward, but for some reason they refused to move. An immediate thought surfaced and she gasped, but held in her fear. She gently lifted the blankets off her legs and slowly, moved them off the bed. As they dangled off the edge, she realized something. It wasn't numb, it was pain. It was an overwhelming sore, aching pain that throbbed from head to toe, waist to calf. And as she realized it, the sensation came back.
"Ah!" she winced as she twitched her toes. Even that felt sore.
Still trying to follow Black*Star's lead, she attempted to hop of the bed. Bad mistake. Her legs collapsed forwards and she hit the floor with a thud. The pain was just as bad, and almost brought tears to her eyes.
"See?"
"See what?" Tsubaki said nervously. Black*Star was beside her again.
"Nygus told me." Black*Star said. "She said something about overexertion." Her confused expression made him continue.
"Apparently while I was…" he averted her gaze, "Training, when you collapsed it was because your heart and soul rate suddenly increased, and it was so intense that it knocked you out cold. And then your dream-" he hesitated.
"What about it?" she asked.
"You were unconscious for-" he bit his lip, not wanting to break the news to her.
"How long?" she insisted. It can't have been that bad.
"The whole day." He said. "That's why- it's noon right now." He lowered his head. "I waited for you, but I guess you really were tired."
"Well." She tried to push herself back up, but her arms gave way and she hit the ground for the second time. Black*Star propped her up against the side of the bed, and she felt- so helpless.
"That might not be too bad." She smiled weakly.
"Not too bad?" His voice started to strain. It was so different. Was he scared?
"Black*Star, it's only going to be one more day." She said in a soothing tone. "I'm going to be fine. In the meantime, I can talk to Maka about my dream and maybe she might be able to come up with some sort of solution."
"That's not the problem here." He scooted forward, looking at her with an anguished expression. "Tsubaki, I thought you were going to- " he struggled to say the word.
"But I didn't." She said reassuringly but it didn't seem to have any effect on him.
"… And, I'm not planning to either." She added.
Black*Star still ignored her.
"Because- it's not just that." he said angrily. His arms trembled. "First the battle. It's- I- I let you go." His face was full of guilt and pain. "Then this, this freak accident that I'm SURE links to that bitch-" He slammed his hand against the side of the cabinet, making it rattle against the wall.
"Black*Star!" Tsubaki scolded.
"She IS one, and I'm not afraid to admit it!" he exclaimed furiously. "How DARE that witch try to use you! You're my weapon." He turned to her.
"You're my responsibility." He said in a pleading voice. "Why couldn't I-"
His arms were twitching, face contorted into a mixture of emotions. Something about his expression made her feel- she didn't know what.
"And I need you." He blurted out. "You're my- right hand. I think that was how it went. That saying." He tried to laugh but it came out as a soft sigh. "I need you by my side, as my teammate, and- and as my weapon, and as- as-"
The door swung open and Nygus marched into the room.
"Am I seeing what I'm seeing?" she glared daggers at Black*Star, and wasn't surprised to be met with the exact same scorching look.
"Nygus, I need to-"
"Let Tsubaki rest, until she's ready." She interrupted. "I won't have my patients leave my ward without being fully recovered." Black*Star stayed where he was, rigid with anger.
"Black*Star, you need to get out." Nygus said in a commanding voice.
"I WON'T!" He persisted. "I- can't…" he slumped over with a defeated expression, knowing that his excuse alone wouldn't be enough. As much as he wanted Tsubaki by his side, she wasn't going to be with him. Every day that they weren't training together Black*Star didn't know what to do. Other than hang out with Soul and Kid, all he really did to pass time was all muscle training. No other weapon could beat his and Tsubaki's partnership. After all, …
"We're gods." he muttered before leaving the room.
"Black*Star!" she called out before he disappeared from view. He stopped, and turned his head ever-so slightly in her direction. She knew he was listening.
"Don't worry about me." She smiled. "Worry about yourself, alright?" there was silence between them, and Black*Star simply gave a short, abrupt nod before exiting the the ward.
"Probably shouldn't have told him that." Nygus said as she lifted Tsubaki back onto the soft pillows. "He probably didn't listen."
"Oh, I'm sure." Tsubaki sighed. "But I couldn't just let him go with that angry scowl on his face."
"You still can't leave." Nygus looked at her sternly. "You'll get better tomorrow as long as you don't try to escape."
"Believe me, I don't have the strength to." The younger weapon replied with a chuckle.
A light tap on the door interrupted the conversation and Tsubaki looked up in surprise as Maka came into the room.
"I'm glad you're still here." She said warmly, and Maka waved cheerily back in return.
"I'm not taking missions today." The meister said, then looked up at Nygus. "May I stay with her? I really won't cause any trouble, I promise." The nurse sighed.
"Alright, I'll give you guys twenty minutes." She replied. "But only because I know you two won't try to cause any trouble."
"Thank you Nygus." Tsubaki said. The nurse dipped her head in reply, the stretch of her bandaged mouth hiding her smile. She checked the heart-rate monitor again and filled another glad of water for her patient before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.
"It was the exact same dream that you had a few days back." Tsubaki recalled, remembering how she could see Maka drifting in black, open space.
"And the voices I heard, that was you?" Maka said, scribbling down each word Tsubaki had to say. The weapon nodded, remembering how she had stretched out her hand to reach for her friend, only to wake up in another dream.
"Then…" her eyes narrowed as Tsubaki told Maka about her appearance in Black*Star's dream. "It was exactly how Black*Star described it. The witch was a meister- the woman we fought like, almost yesterday."
"But how is that possible?" Maka wondered. "Is it something to do with your wavelength?"
"I think so." Tsubaki said, trailing off. "My soul wavelength is compatible with yours and Black*Star's surprisingly well. Is that why I experienced your deram as well?"
"It must be." Maka said, determined to find out. "This could be much bigger than I originally thought."
"What do you mean?" Tsubaki asked.
"I thought this would just be a different version of our dreams retold in your memory as your dream." Maka tapped her pencil against her notepad to silent rhythm. "But it's not. It's the exact same one. Now we've both dreamt of the same thing- but in different perspectives."
"Especially Black*Star's dream." Tsubaki continued her train of thought. "A bear was chasing me before I landed into Black*Star's dream. And then I experienced the same thing he did, except days after."
"Is it possible that your connection to us as a compatible soul wavelength caused this?" Maka stared at her in curiousity. "I need to know more about this. Maybe- maybe it could help."
"With what?"
"I don't know." She scratched her head thoughtfully. "But it's bound to have uncovered some mystery about human soul wavelengths." She bounced to her feet. "I have to tell Stein!"
"I'll see you later then." Tsubaki said.
"Yeah, later." Maka nodded as she sped out of the room. "Bye!"
Butterfly.
"Liz, Patty." Kid acknowledged them both equally as he stood between both of their rooms with Beelzebub propped up against his left leg. "Are you ready?"
"NO!" Liz shouted from her room. "I- MY HAIR!" she screamed in a hideous fashion, while Patty hooted with laughter.
"What seems to be the problem?" Kid raised an eyebrow. "It's just hair, isn't it?"
"What if I told you it was asymmetrical?" she snapped from inside her bedroom. Then she went quiet, realizing was she had done.
Perhaps possibly doomed them from arriving on time.
"Asymmetrical?" Kid spat. "Impossible." He stomped towards Liz's door and flung it open, the hinges squeaking as Liz screamed, "NOO! GET OUT!"
"Well this is going to take a while." He muttered and advanced towards a very uncomfortable Elizabeth as she tried to move her head away from his hands.
Patty giggled as shrieks erupted from the room next to hers, only muffled slightly from the walls that stood between them. She felt much better now, thanks to Kid and Liz. Much better since last night's incident.
Now she thought of it as a nightmare and nothing more. Something seemingly impossible, and just frightfully real that it caused some misshapen hallucination to form in front of her.
Crona was dead. The black blood booklet was just a hoax, to scare the Spartoi into agreeing to what Medusa said. With no prove to further support Crona's revival other than her own mother's word, how were they to believe that what Medusa said was the truth?
Things were getting really confusing now, as Patty thought to herself the events that had unfolded after just a simple, regular day. And then chaos erupted from just a single piece of paper.
"Suddenly, Crona appears." Patty mumbled to herself as she flung a notepad into her backpack. She would be carrying that around for the 'Rescue Operation' that some other meister had wanted Kid to help her with.
"And everybody's like- oh my gosh! They're alive!" she exclaimed as she flung a wind-breaker into her bag.
"And then for some reason Kiddo-kun wants to host a party for like, only us!" she sighs, as she recalled when she had stayed with her meister with Medusa in that strange room, and only went up to the ballroom to peek once or twice. There wasn't anyone there at all- it seemed as if no one bothered to show up. Strange though, since she thought she saw people buy tickets at the old granny's receptionist center. Whatever. At least they got all the food.
"But then, that funny lady came." She frowned as she slung her backpack over her shoulder. With her huge arms and scary hat, that woman really intrigued Patty, even though in her weapon form there was a limited amount of things she could see within her weapon's shape: the pistol.
"And now-" she sighed. Kid was running around, telling her and Liz to go meet this woman, then another person, then go on a trip to save another woman. And he kept blabbering on and on about people in the desert and how that was crucial, or something like that. Eh. She forgot.
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! IT'S GOOD!" Liz screeched for the final time as Kid nodded appreciatively at his masterpiece.
"I do believe it's one of the best haircuts I've ever given." The Shinigami nodded in agreement. Her hairline was now right in the middle of her head, her hair parting in equally curved locks and curls. As Liz stared into the mirror at her reflection, she couldn't help but think how… pretty it looked. Kid could tell she liked it too.
"Maybe I should be a barber." He wondered.
"Maybe we should go." Liz glared and Kid suddenly remembered his original purpose.
"Of course." He strode out of the room, swiftly checking the two wristwatches on both wrists. "We seem to be running… 10 minutes late."
"Patty!" Elizabeth called, and her sister came running out of her room.
"Now we can go." Kid said with satisfaction.
"You guys took a while." Lindsey remarked as the weapon/meister trio arrived at their destination. "What was the hold up?" Lindsey had asked the trio to meet Kid at the very edge of Death City, where the desert sand just spilt over cemented grounds.
"Hair." Kid replied smoothly, with no context whatsoever. Lindsey raised an eyebrow at Liz, who only shrugged.
"OCD struggles." she stated and the other girl nodded.
"Cora!" she called and suddenly a shadow appeared above Liz's own. Cora Devine jumped from a conveniently built roof and came crashing down, carrying a large bag behind her. As her feet hit the asphalt she stumbled into Lindsey.
"What's up?" Cora looked up at her and grinned.
"Where've you been?" Lindsey sighed. "We have work to do."
"You drone, but where's the fun in rescuing Eruka if it's going to be so easy?" Cora groaned. "And I'm being chased."
"Say what now?" Liz interrupted as she looked around frantically for any attackers.
"Oh, he's coming." Cora said smugly. "He's the 78th, isn't he, Lindsey?" She nudged the girl beside her and laughed as Lindsey responded with a sigh.
"For the last time, Cora, I don't even care." She replied haughtily.
"I know you like them fresh." Cora wiggled her fingers as a bellowing sound erupted from behind the tall, looming building Cora had leapt from.
"Cora," Lindsey growled. "I better not waste any of my energy on this bastard." Said girl held out her hands and gave her partner a cheery smile.
"Trust me." She replied. "It's going to be plenty fun." The Shinigami, on the other hand seemed to completely disagree with her statement, eyes narrowing as he stared at the trembling establishment in front of him, taking a few steps back. Thankfully the area was quite open and empty. If not things could get pretty… messy.
"There's an evil spirit headed our way." Kid said grimly, arms crossed. "I doubt this will be any fun."
"Don't be so morbid!" Cora lectured. "It's important to have fun sometimes, even in dire situations."
"Yeah, Kid!" Patty laughed, and raised her hand for a high five, which the other girl generously returned.
"Patty, please don't take her word seriously." Liz said weakly. "At least not when there's a monster this huge."
As she spoke the building in front of them started to shake, and a colossal hand emerged above the building's terrace. The creature seemed huge, but really it was only slightly larger than the construction in front of it. Nevertheless, it's glowing eyes and deadly aura made Liz quake in fear.
"Kid!" she hissed, and he jolted into action, extending a pale hand to her direction. She jumped towards it immediately, her weapon form landing neatly into his open palm. Patty followed in suit, letting out a whoop whoop! as she tumbled into his other hand, her demon weapon form glinting in the hot sun.
"A .38 caliber gun?" Cora said, eyebrows raised. "Wasn't he wielding a .42 caliber Death Eagle in the video?"
"What video?" Kid looked up at her but was ignored, as Lindsey cut in to speak.
"We're all reserving our energy, Cora." Lindsey muttered. "Now hurry up and finish him off." The building had started to crumble, and large chunks of concrete smashed onto open ground. The evil human laughed as he brought his leg up to obliterate the building.
"So, who is he?" Kid shouted over the shaking noises.
"Apparently," Cora shouted back, looking at the human, "A soldier from Ragnarök!"
As the evil human lifted its sword Liz, clenched tightly in Kid's hand, felt her teeth chattering.
"K-Kid, he looks pretty u-um…" she shivered.
"You'll be fine." Kid assured her as he dodged some flying debris from the collapsing building.
"Oi, OCD Prick." Cora yelled, and Kid looked up.
"Me?" he said, almost astounded.
"Yeah, you. Take care of the monster from here, alright?" The girl replied. "Lindsey and I can't reach him from here. We can only do short range shit." Said girl slapped Cora on the arm ["Language!" "Oi, you swear all the time, hypocrite."], though her attention was more focused on the incoming giant.
"Are you…" Patty's eyes glowed. "A meister?" Cora shrugged.
"Well yeah, that's what Eruka told us." She replied. "And-" she was interrupted by the giant who had stopped to glower at them.
"I AM GALATIUS, IRON GIANT OF RAGNAROK!" he roared. "AND YOU'RE JUST IGNORING ME?" With a bellow, the soldier kicked the building towards the group of five, and the building slid slowly across the ground, now separated from it's original area. Wires and pipes were torn away to reveal a messy array of construction work underneath, and cracks appeared on the empty road. If they didn't act now things could get worse.
"Come on, Lindsey." Cora licked her lips, eyes glinting as she walked calmly towards the threatening figure, unfazed by the building that was steadily making its way towards her small figure. "Let's show 'em what we can do."
"See you in a bit." Lindsey muttered to Kid, ignoring his startled cry as she ran after Cora. The other girl stretched out a hand and Lindsey jumped, her body glowing white, surrounded by green aura. A split-second later a pair of butterfly swords lay neatly in Cora's hands, and she clasped them tightly and picked up the pace, racing towards the falling building. As huge blocks of wreckage collapsed from the construction she dodged with speed and agility that rivaled even Death the Kid himself, rolling out of the way as a boulder crushed the area inches to her right. As she untucked herself from the roll, Cora spied a block that was seconds from hitting the ground.
"Lindsey!" She shouted, and the pair of daggers in her hand nodded, one of them concealing the face of her weapon partner. She leapt nimbly towards the chunk of debris and, using the momentum of the jump, kicked it away and sprang towards a rock higher that the previous. It was pretty quick, really, how she did it. As energy coursed through her veins Cora scrabbled up another rock. The impact was shocking, but if the feat was performed quickly she could easily push herself off and jump to the wall of the building, scaling the decrepit wall with the pair of daggers between her teeth.
"You're doing alright." Lindsey mumbled in approval as Cora reached the top of the building and swung her legs onto the flat platform.
"YOU LITTLE-" the evil human screamed but was cut off by a series of shots aimed at his eyes, Kid was running to and fro, dodging rocks and firing energy charges rapidly at the monstrous form.
"Keep your eyes on me!" the Shinigami shouted, as he continuously shot at the demon's eyes.
"Kid," Liz called. "Don't waste your strength here. We'll need to save our soul resonance for other enemies." He nodded, but kept firing.
The impact of the gun shots pushed 'Galatius' back until he was, in Cora's eyes, in a weak position.
"Ready?" Cora grinned, directing her words to her weapon. Lindsey nodded in reply, stating the obvious, "Ready." Before Cora sprinted across the building's rumbling platform and leaped. Her arms, though loose by her side still clenched her two weapons tightly and as the meister/weapon duo were still airborne, Cora let out a yell.
"SOUL RESONANCE!" she whooped, eyes wide with adrenaline and ecstasy, but Lindsey was devoid of the feeling.
"WHAT!?" the weapon shrieked back, "NO, NO, STOP! STOP! STOP!" As she screamed their souls connected and a spark ignited in both their souls, burning with excitement, with rhapsody and-
Rejection.
Their wavelengths clashed, fighting each other in powerful, electrostatic waves. Lindsey could feel her meister's overwhelming energy engulf her own rejection with so much force it was difficult not to obey, and the crackling disharmony of their wavelengths rattled against her ribcage. It was a sound she heard constantly, a shrill, piercing whine that pulsated all around her. The wavelength in control was Cora's: a huge inundate authority over her own refusal to resonate. It wasn't that she wasn't strong enough to decline… but the consequences of denial.
Lindsey, within her weapon form, dropped to her knees with hands pressed against her ears.
"Stop it, Cora, Cora, stop it." She cried into the darkness but she heard no reply. Only the excited holler of her meister as Cora slammed into the evil human, plunging the pair of butterfly swords into Galatius' neck and dragging the beautiful, burnished edges across his grotesque neck. Blood and ash spewed from his neck as the [A/N: self proclaimed] Iron Giant howled in agony, fingers disintegrating as he started to shrivel and turn to dust. Cora slid down his massive arm, skimming her weapons along his skin and watching in glee as the swords cut through his body like butter.
As the evil human dissolved into ash and gas the meister responsible for his death hit the ground.
"We did it!" Cora said excitedly. "Lindsey, this is like, our 8th big one right?" Her weapon made no reply as the meister pranced around the ruined area, a glowing Kishin egg floating towards them.
"Ugh…" her weapon finally replied, as she lay on the ground of her weapon form, eyes downcast. "Yeah, great." As Cora dropped the twin swords, they warped and spasmodically reverted back into human form, Lindsey lying on the ground groaning in agony.
Kid trudged over to the duo, slightly confused as to what exactly happened. First, he contemplated the sudden discord of the two wavelengths that happened while the duo was fighting the evil human. Secondly, the fact that they weren't anywhere close to Medusa's concealed location, somewhere he was dying to get to. And thirdly…
"Hey." Kid stooped down beside Lindsey. "Are you okay?"
"Uh, no." Lindsey replied grumpily, and composed herself, sitting upright.
"What's up with that?" Kid wondered, and motioned towards Lindsey's partner, who was at the moment running towards the Kishin egg.
"Oh, nothing." Lindsey replied absentmindedly. "She's just… like that."
"Are you sure?" Liz and Patty joined them, the sisters looking at Lindsey curiously. "She just dropped you."
"Yeah, I tell her not to but sometimes she just… forgets." Lindsey said grimly. "Pretty silly of her, since I can't reform if my weapon parts aren't within 2 meter's distance."
"Speaking of weapon…" Kid said, poking her arm, "You're human. How can you form two weapons with only one body?"
"Kiddo-kun, they're not separate weapons." Patty perked up. "That's why!"
"I guess I'm just not normal, am I?" Lindsey muttered, her face still downcast. A shout sounded from behind her as Cora leapt into her weapon's open arms.
"Check it!" she said and shoved the spirit into her weapon's face. "It's a really huge Kishin egg… you think it could serve for two evil human souls? You think we could reach our 80th today?!" Cora rambled, her eyes lighting up at the mention of their next target.
"Gimme that." Lindsey swiped the Kishin egg and opened her mouth, taking a chunk out of the soul. Faint wisps of the remains dripped down her chin, though she didn't notice. "Thanks." She grumbled.
"So, are we going or not?" Kid said impatiently after the weapon finished her meal.
"Yeah." Said weapon said, shuffling to her feet. Her backpack, and Cora's, were surprisingly intact. Luckily for them the space the battle occurred in was inhabited and there were no residents at the time.
Kid checked his watch. It was now 6pm.
"We should head out." Liz nodded. "Pretty much now."
"Yeah!" Patty shouted, excited to show off her own weapon capabilities to their new friends.
And finally, FINALLY they headed towards Medusa's base.
Pretty much unaware of the hybrid creature following them above the rooftops, their slithery form crawling across the houses they passed.
"Hey, kid." Ragnarok grinned, phlegm dripping from his grin. "How… excited are you, to meet your little pathetic friends again?"
"I-"
Fuchsia hair. Black, striped shirt.
Buttons and cufflinks.
Black eyes. Those black, black eyes.
"Yeah." Crona said dully. "I- g-guess I am."
Asura smiled.
Yes, master, yes.
So.
I'm thinking.
We should host a party after we're done.
What do you mean, sir?
I mean exactly what I mean, Snake. A party. Champagne and the sort.
Sir, by the time you're done fighting him there won't be any champagne.
Don't be stupid. I'll make sure people still exist, under my control.
Though of course, only after I kill him.
Master-
What?
Just- saying, you can't physically remove him from their body.
What, are you kidding me? That's the reason why I hired you.
Excuse me?
Sloth, you moron. Don't tell me you haven't thought of it yet.
What?
Your motive matches mine perfectly. I'll find you your little batteries, as long as you help me.
That was the deal, wasn't it?
But I'm still not sure-
Shut up. It'll come. In due time, everything will make sense.
Sir.
Sir!
S-sir.
SIR!
Yo, Sir- FU-!
Master.
What's your situation? Second?
Out of command.
…What?
Out- out of c-command.
Give me someone who can speak. Please.
First reporting.
Franken Stein and his weapon have destroyed our first base. Third is out of commission.
You mean she's unconscious, isn't she?
Fifth and Sixth reporting!
We're intercepting the attackers right now!
Fourth, reporting.
Joining first. Sloth told us to move under Medusa's orders.
And what does the snake demand?
We encounter them at her command central.
Fine by me.
Now, if you'll all excuse this old one,
I have people to kill.
Hey, guys.
So you may be wondering- wow solemn- and yeah, I guess it's been a while since I've updated. IN fact, it's been a year. I've changed quite a bit, as you can see. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN IM NOT ENERGETIC
JUST. Conserved. hehe.
And I apologize, because first of all I kind of started to get less involved in the Soul Eater fandom, and more into other stuff. But hey, I don't think I'm going to stop writing.
I don't know how long it'll take to write the next chapter, but there's no way I'll be able to write it in a month. So, sorry about that. I have, however, seemed to improve and I will be testing a lot of my skills as a (still amateur) writer. Hopefully stuff doesn't get too messy on the way.
If may seem like things are slowing down in the plot- that's actually me trying to create a proper plan for this story. When I first started, this was just supposed to be 2 chapters long. AHaha. Apparently I was wrong.
So if you're still into this, I'm glad you're still here. If you're not, that's totally fine.
R&R appreciated, so see ya!