These characters are under copyright by Atsushi Ōkubo, Squar Enix, Yen Press, Shōnen,
Akatsuki Yamatoya. Madman Entertainment, Manga Entertainment, Funimation, and/or others. This is a work of fanfiction, for no monetary gain.
A/N:
If you like this story, my Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) stories, and my D. Gray-Man/Karneval stories, you might also enjoy my published original four book high fantasy series, Descent of Kings, which includes strong female, multi-ethnic, bisexual and gay characters, and is available on Amazon and through the publisher, Dreamspinner. It's a tale of lost kingdoms, valiant and desperate heroes, and epic battles and quests, in a medieval world populated by humans, Elves, Dwarves, Ogres and mythical beasts, battling a god-like insane necromancer and his army of the dead.
Chapter 6 – War of the Witches: Who Will Prevail?
Where in the name of Lord Death is he? Soul was growing more frustrated and worried by the minute. They'd been ordered to keep away from the ransom meeting site, for Kid's safety. Stein and Spirit were Justin's back-up, but were keeping their distance, for fear Giriko would retaliate violently and either kill or maim Kid, if they were spotted. Assuming Kid was even there. Everyone expected it to simply be a trap for Justin, that Kid was being used as the bait. As Soul feared, the ransom meeting time had come and gone and they hadn't received word that Kid was safe.
When they finally contacted Spirit, he'd told them tersely that the meeting hadn't been successful, that they didn't have Kid back, or know where he was, and that everyone needed to keep looking. That had been over 24 hours ago. Kid had been missing for more than a day, the Sun was nearly setting again, the Moon had already begun to rise, and they still hadn't found any further trace of him.
Kid has to be here somewhere, right? Why hasn't anybody been able to detect his Soul Wavelength? Lord Death insists he's still alive, and if anyone would know, he would.
"Soul? Do you think…? What if we can't…?" Maka asked, her voice sounding timid and quiet and small, things he'd normally never associate with Maka, but she looked completely exhausted, though she'd been keeping up with them without complaint, in spite of the crutches.
"Don't you dare say it!" Black*Star demanded loudly. "There's no way Kid's gone for good. He's a Reaper! Sure, if he was a Meister or Weapon, maybe, well, anyone but me, 'cause I'm a God, and Soul, 'cause he's way too cool, but some of the others, yeah, maybe. But this is Kid we're talking about. With everything he's faced and beaten, you think some psycho chainsaw Weapon Meister is good enough to beat him? No freaking way!"
Patty nodded in agreement, still clenching Kid's tangled, cut hair tightly. "That's right. Kid wouldn't do that to Liz. She'd blame herself if something bad happened to him. So he's still OK."
Soul wished he had Black*Star's and Patty's blind faith. Thinking Kid might already be dead made Soul feel like a fist was squeezing his heart, made it hard to breathe, but if Kid was still alive, they should have found him by now. It had been a mistake to send Justin Law to the cathedral, even if Stein and Spirit had been sent in as back-up. It had obviously been more than the three could handle.
Soul shivered, as the sky unexpectedly blackened all around them, and the temperature suddenly plummeted. He was certain he'd be able to see his breath, if there had been any light to see by, but it was suddenly as black as the inside of a tomb, as if a demon had eaten the Laughing Sun and Bleeding Moon.
"Maka!" Soul transformed to Weapon mode, not waiting for the attack he knew would strike at any time.
"Tsubaki, Enchanted Sword mode!" Black*Star commanded.
"By the Bleeding Moon, who are you cursed brats? Are you watching, Reaper spawn? You think you can escape my wrath forever? You saw what I did to those cats, yet still you sacrifice Meisters and Weapons to me, so you might escape? You truly are Lord Death's son. I swear as a Daughter of Hecate I will have my revenge for all my murdered sistren. If I cannot consume your soul, I will dine upon theirs!" a vicious woman's voice shrilled from the darkness.
0 0 0
Maka let her crutches fall as she snatched up Soul, using her injured right foot only for balance, her weight on her left. She was confused when she didn't feel another Soul Wavelength, and then stunned. She couldn't feel anyone! Not Black*Star or Tsubaki, who she could no longer see as the air around her somehow turned to ink, or even Soul, though she could feel his reassuring weight in her hands.
The air was rapidly becoming strangely thick and heavy to breathe, the disturbing shadow all around them smothering, like molasses, like tar. Maka fought to move, to breathe, to think as she held Soul at the ready. And then there was a scream of rage, and a split second later a tremendous explosion terrifyingly close by, and Maka was pelted by dust and shrapnel, as the darkness vanished.
Maka almost fell over as the weight of the oppressive shadow suddenly and unexpectedly disappeared. She stared in shock. Only feet from her was a woman, in the distinctive hat and robe of a Witch. But instead of attacking, she was clawing at a hissing, spitting, furry mask of feline fury which was clinging to her face, raking bloody furrows in her cheeks and scalp.
She stared in shock. That cat saved us! The blast had clearly been aimed at the four of them, but had hit the building behind them instead, and taken out at least two floors.
As Maka sprang forwards to attack, before she could reach her with Soul, the Witch pried the night black cat off her face and threw it into the building beside her. There was no time for the cat to twist in midair, to land on its feet. It hit the brick wall with horrifying speed and a sickening crunch, and slid down, leaving a bloody streak on the rough brick. She heard a mournful yowl as a striped orange furry shape darted over to the crumpled and lifeless cat.
With a scream of rage and anguish for the brave fallen cat, Maka attacked, but the Witch somehow parried the scythe blow with her robed arm, knocking Maka back. Caught off balance by the unexpected parry, Maka stumbled, wincing in pain as fire shot up from her injured ankle, as it unexpectedly bore her full weight, as the Witch raised a hand coruscating with emerald green light, to finish her.
But then Black*Star attacked, giving Maka the crucial moment she needed to regain her balance for her next attack. Her eyes widened in shock as with a flash of light, Black*Star was flung back into the nearest building, Tsubaki falling to the pavement with a loud clang.
"Black*Star!" Soul yelled.
"Tsubaki!" Maka cried simultaneously, as she lunged forward to defend Black*Star and Tsubaki, as they'd protected her, even as the Witch's hand flared again with light. But then the orange cat launched at the Witch, latching onto her forearm, its unexpected weight dragging down her arm and making the shot go wild, slamming into the street instead of Maka and Soul.
The Witch ripped the orange cat from her arm and flung it away, as Maka attacked. She was certain this time she'd hit the Witch. But somehow the shadows all around them rose up and ensnared Soul, as she tried to bring her Death Scythe down, to kill the Witch. Shadows wrapped around her arms and legs, and then her chest, crushing her, and then her throat, strangling her.
"Let Maka go!" Black*Star demanded, to her relief.
He's still alive! Through fading eyes Maka saw Black*Star snatch up Tsubaki, and rise to his feet, but he was leaning against the wall for support. Then he lurched forward, in a distorted parody of his usual powerful attacks.
"Pitiful children! You cannot defeat me!" the Witch cackled, as Maka's vision sparked, her hands desperately trying to pry the suffocating shadow from about her throat.
0 0 0
There was an explosion ahead and off to the left, not immediately nearby, but far too close for comfort. Mifune turned towards the sound, his hand immediately going to his concealed sword hilt, under the long, thick cloak he was wearing. They were all wearing them.
Kid had already felt completely exposed on the road with Mifune and Angela, even though he was as cloaked by cloth and magic as they were. He expected at any moment for them to be discovered, but so far they'd traveled effortlessly.
He froze when a black cat with four white paws ran up to Angela, and leapt onto her shoulder, thinking it was one of the ones with his Lines of Sanzu tucked into its collar, that they were betrayed, when Angela paled. Kid didn't understand why Mifune wasn't protecting her from it, but when he moved to pull it off of her, Mifune restrained him.
"She speaks to cats. They're sort of like familiars to her. Because she hasn't bonded to a single cat, she has a weaker bond with all cats everywhere. That's why she can't help feeding all those strays, why they know to come to us for food.
"What did he tell you?" Mifune asked Angela, not speaking her name. She'd warned them before they left the house not to speak any of their names aloud, because it would weaken the ward and draw attention to them.
"He said… the others… the one's I sent out as decoys… she…" tears welled in her eyes, as she hugged the black cat.
That Witch Esmeralda killed the cats? She truly is a monster, to take out her anger on helpless animals, Kid fumed.
They continued walking, but altering their course to detour around the sounds of trouble.
A second cat approached, a dirty and bloody striped orange tabby, staggering, coming from the direction of the blast. It collapsed half a block from them. Angela set the black and white cat down and head for the other one at a run, kneeling by it, reaching for it.
"No, don't! You'll betray us to her if you use your magic to help him," Mifune cautioned, intercepting her.
"I can't let him die," Angela argued tearfully.
"Everyone will die if we're caught. We'll bring him with us," Mifune compromised, and reached for the limp cat slowly, talking soothingly to him, and then gently lifting him. The cat lay panting in silent pain.
"You need your hands free for your swords. Give him to me. I'll carry him," Kid offered.
Mifune looked at him doubtfully. "He's pretty messy."
"We're all going to look a lot worse, if we get caught. I can stand it for a little while," Kid assured Mifune.
Mifune cautiously held the cat out to him, but before Kid touched him, he began struggling, while meowing frantically.
Angela's eyes widened. "He says you smell like the littermate of the human girl the Witch that smells of his own littermate's blood and fur is fighting. He says your littermate smells like blood and fear and your fur."
Kid frowned. "We need to help whoever it is, but I have no idea what he's talking about. I don't have a littermate, a brother or sist… Patty! It has to be! Where is she? Can he show us, or can we track him?" Kid asked frantically.
Angela touched her hand to the cat's head, closing her eyes, and then they snapped open again. "This way!"
"Wait! This is probably a trap! It's probably the Witch trying to find us," Mifune argued, not risking mentioning Esmeralda by name.
"Patty's my friend! I won't let her die!" Kid yelled.
"I'm not saying we don't help. Just that we can't just run in. We need to be careful," Mifune urged.
Then they heard a scream, echoing across the buildings, coming from the left. The cat yowled. "Turn left at the fire hydrant, and run until you see the fish store!" Angela commanded.
Kid took off, even as Mifune scooped up Angela. Kid couldn't hear Mifune's footsteps, they were as silent as his own, but suddenly he was running beside him.
0 0 0
Black*Star stood panting and swaying, even with the lamppost at his back, without the strength to even brush his blood-matted bangs from his eyes. He'd be on his knees without the metal pole at his back, or more likely, flat on his back. But he was the only thing standing between that vicious Witch and Tsubaki, who'd been forcefully turned back to human form after that horrible snapping sound, when she screamed.
He couldn't tell if Maka was still fighting, still conscious, or if Soul was – the air had become opaque with shadow again, and the Witch kept ambushing them out of the darkness. The Witch had knocked Patty into the wall. Last he'd seen, before the blackness engulfed everything, Patty hadn't been moving, and Maka had been trying to get behind the Witch.
"Stop hiding in the shadows, Witch! You're going to face me and fight me, and you're going to tell us where Death the Kid is," Black*Star challenged.
There was an amused laugh, not a shrill, cackling one, but a happy, joyous one, as if he'd just told her a good joke.
"I don't know why you'd even want him. There wasn't much of him left, after that traitorous bastard Giriko got through with him. I told him we needed him alive and relatively unharmed, but he apparently thinks that means breathing with most of his limbs still attached and functioning. Like foolish little girls who get in my way: the one who likes cats more than her own life, that broken Weapon of yours, and this bloody little thing under my foot."
Maka, Tsubaki, Patty!
"Enlighten!" a painfully young, high pitched voice cried, and there was a brilliant flash of orange light that flared out from a little over a meter above the ground, bathing the entire street in a warm orange glow. The shadows didn't disappear, but they weakened, making it easier to move, to breathe, even as the air flashed with silver as a cloaked swordsman unleashed a flurry of attacks against the Witch.
Shadows grabbed the swordsman by the throat, yanking him away from her, and the hood fell from his head.
"Mifune! Angela!" Black*Star cried, in stunned recognition of the little Witch and her protector, as Mifune slashed vainly at the shadows choking him.
Black*Star staggered towards them.
"Patty!" an impossible, anguished voice cried, and Black*Star froze in shock, spinning, as a second cloaked figure ran towards the bloody and lifeless looking girl revealed by the faint orange light.
Patty's eyes fluttered open. "Kid?" she cried in stunned disbelief, as she struggled to sit.
"Kid!" Black*Star echoed in relief. How could I believe what that lying Witch said about Kid? There's no way that chainsaw freak could take out Kid!
"Soul! Maka!" Kid cried, and Black*Star turned, his stomach clenching as he followed Kid's gaze. Both Meister and Weapon were crumpled on the ground, their arms protectively around one another, but they were both bloody and beaten, pale and still as death.
"Lookout!" Black*Star yelled in panic, as a bright emerald glow flared to life in his peripheral vision. He lunged to protect Kid, knowing he couldn't possibly reach him in time, and he didn't. One of the deadly coruscating green projectiles slammed into Kid's weaponless left arm, which he'd instinctively raised to block the blow, to try to protect his face, smashing into the glaring white cast that covered it.
0 0 0
Kid stared in shock at his arm as the deadly blast harmlessly dissipated around him, and then in wonder at the glowing orange ward on the cast, pulsing like a heartbeat. "It wasn't supposed to be charged," he whispered numbly.
"What good is a Ward of Protection, if it isn't charged?" Angela asked, as she pulled something out from under her dress at her throat, something on a thick platinum chain, and clutched it in her hand.
"Light of our Mother!" Angela called out, in a voice not her own. It wasn't a single voice at all, but a chorus of voices, far older than her own.
Silvery beams of light burst out from between her tiny clenched fingers, haloing her in light, which burnt out and upwards, through the blackness, piercing it everywhere, growing and spreading, eradicating the viscous shadow that had been smothering them. Angela was glowing like her namesake, as if she truly were an angel, an ethereal being, the light highlighting the beauty of her face so that it brought tears to Kid's eyes.
"You little thief! How dare you use that pendant against me!" the older Witch shrilled, shrinking back towards the buildings, holding her arms over her head, as if to fend off the light, as her clothes and hair began to smoke.
Kid's eyes widened as the older Witch's beautiful face melted as if wax beneath a flame, revealing crags and crevasses, wrinkles and age spots.
"You cannot hide from the Mother of all Witches, Blessed Hecate. She sees your many sins and judges you, displaying your cankerous soul upon your face for all the world to see," Angela intoned, different voices speaking each word. But then Angela crumpled.
Kid was too far away to reach her, but Mifune lurched forwards, crying her name as he caught her, his voice broken and hoarse, but his throat not fully crushed. "Angela!" he croaked, hunched over her, shielding her with his body.
"Now you pay for using magicks beyond your years! And that collared watchdog dies with you!" the vile hag shrieked in glee as she lurched forward, hands raised, fingers glowing green clawed talons.
Kid reached out from where he lay, straining vainly for Patty, who lay dazed and too far away. Only his shadow, cast by the restored light of the Bleeding Moon, touched his Weapon. To his astonishment and hope, his shadow's fingers wrapped around her and she transformed, he could feel the shadow clutching the pistol grip as an extension of his hand, as it should be. My Reaper power!
"Patty, fire!" Kid yelled. The moment his flesh and blood hand closed around the pistol grip, Patty snapped out of her daze and obeyed. Shot after shot tore through the unprepared and unguarded Witch, from her ankles to her knees and hips and back, as he lifted his Weapon higher, ripping through her before she could reach Angela. She turned with a horrific scream and then exploded, leaving only her dark soul floating in front of them.
Kid's arm fell, but he still held his Weapon tightly. He slowly dragged himself over to Angela and Mifune, not caring he was scraping his borrowed cloak and jeans on the filthy ground, to his relief seeing the beautiful glow of the little Witch's pure soul in orbit about Mifune's, in an intricate dance of balance like binary stars, though thankfully yet confined by their bodies.
He dipped his fingertip into the bloody wound on his thigh, and wrote on the dirty window above his head the numbers 42-42-564 and muttered, just to be sure his call for help got through, "42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's door."
He forced himself to remain conscious as the portal opened. The sky darkened again, in shadow he expected to feel soothing, and a Reaper emerged, but someone terrifying and monstrous, nothing like the father he loved, a deadly Scythe pulsing with power in his hands.
Kid raised Patty in a hand that shook wildly from pain and exhaustion. "Who are you? Where's my father? Stay back! These Meisters and Weapons are my friends, and the Witch Angela and Swordmaster Mifune are innocent. Everyone here is under the protection of Death the Kid!"
The terrifying specter hesitated, instead of lunging to attack, as he'd feared.
"Stay away from Angela and Mifune and Kid. If you want to fight a God, fight me," Black*Star croaked, as he stumbled to Kid's side, his chin raised defiantly, though he was weaponless and could obviously barely stand.
"Kid?" a familiar voice cried in disbelief, and then he yelled "Maka!", and suddenly the Scythe transformed into the familiar figure of Spirit, as he rushed over to his fallen daughter.
"Son?" the strange Reaper asked in an almost familiar voice, even as the image wavered and changed softening to the figure of the father he loved.
"Father?" Kid asked tentatively, reaching out with his shadow cautiously, keeping his guard up, in case it was some sort of trick, someone in league with Esmeralda, or another Witch, taking advantage of their weakness. But then he felt his father's familiar shadow coiling around his own.
"You're here? You're alright?" Lord Death asked, and then he was embracing him. "Stein was right. I should have listened."
"Dad?" Maka asked, her voice full of pain, but not nearly as weak as it could have been.
Thank Father she's alive! "Soul and Tsubaki, are they alive?" Kid asked.
"Like I'd let some Witch take me out when you needed me," Soul claimed weakly.
Kid felt weak with relief, even though he still feared for Tsubaki.
"Tsubaki's unconscious, but alive," Black*Star reported.
Thank Father. "Father, is Liz alright?" Kid asked, fearing the answer, but needing to know.
"She's alive and recovering, thanks to you," his father replied. "But you could have died, sending both your Weapons and Beelzebub away. It's their duty to protect you. What were you thinking?" Death demanded.
"I couldn't let them die because of me. As a Reaper, I knew I stood a better chance of surviving against a Witch that powerful. Not Angela. Esmeralda. That's her soul," he asserted, as he pointed to it. "She was the one who killed all those innocent people and framed the Witch Angela and her protector Mifune for it. Father, I promised I'd bring both Angela and Mifune to the DWMA, that they'll be under our protection. They rescued me and tended my injuries. They saved my life and… and my sanity," Kid admitted, looking his father in the eye.
"It's true that Angela is a Witch, but she's not evil. I don't care if a Witch killed Grandfather. That doesn't give you the right to decree all Witches targets. That would be like us hunting humans just because they might turn into Kishin Eggs," he challenged, repeating his earlier words to Mifune.
"Angela's mother Umbra died keeping her grimoire out of Esmeralda's hands. Angela risked death protecting it, because she knew Esmeralda would misuse it. Angela's magic is all healing magic and protection wards, good magic. We need to give them sanctuary at the DWMA. There's so much we don't understand about magic. Angela can teach us. The more we know, the better we'll understand, and we can finally end this pointless war with the Witches."
"You want me to open the doors of the DWMA to a Witch, not only as a student, but as a teacher?" Death asked incredulously.
"Yes. And Mifune would make a wonderful teacher as well. And if you'll allow it, I want them both to stay at our house, at least until Mifune recovers. I want them where I can protect them, and speak with them, and… They're my friends."
Death looked astonished and then he smiled. "Your friends? There was a time, long ago, when Reapers and Witches were friends, before we were betrayed. But you're right: I shouldn't have allowed the actions of a few to taint my view of all Witches. I'm so proud of you, son."
Kid exhaled in relief. His father was listening, he wasn't trying to attack them, and he sounded willing to change his draconian views.
"Let's get everyone back to the Infirmary. There's a certain young lady who will be very relieved to see all of you, when she wakes up," Death claimed.
Kid nodded, and then his eyes widened. "Giriko! He was working with Esmeralda. He's the one who abducted me. We need to find him."
"Now, now, son. You leave that to us. You and the others have done enough for one day," Death assured him, but in that way Kid now recognized meant his father was hiding something from him.
"What aren't you telling me? What are you keeping from me? What's happened?" Kid demanded.
"Nothing," Death assured him, waving his hands, but not sounding at all convincing.
"You might as well tell him, sir. Stein likely will, if you don't, or he'll hear some of the others talking about it," Spirit urged, sounding unusually subdued.
"What is it, Father?" Kid demanded.
Death sighed. "There was a ransom note, with some of your hair and blood, demanding we send Justin Law to negotiate the terms of your release, threatening they'd dismember you if we didn't. Justin left to meet with Giriko. Stein and Spirit followed but somehow Giriko outmaneuvered them. Justin has vanished. Just like with you, there's no sign of his Soul Wavelength anywhere. He's completely disappeared, and we have no idea where to look," his father reluctantly admitted.
Kid felt the blood drain from his face. "That sadistic maniac has Justin?" he whispered, remembering Giriko's sick taunts.
"You let us worry about that. You and the others need to rest, to heal. Justin's a lot stronger than any of you realize, than Giriko realizes. He'll be fine. We'll make sure of it," his father promised.
Kid knew he wasn't in any condition to help search for Justin, with the new injury on his leg, and his ribs and hand still healing, that Patty and Liz were in even worse shape. He'd have to trust his father and some of the other Meisters and Weapons to rescue Justin.
"Come on, son," his father urged, but Kid insisted Soul , Maka, Black*Star, Tsubaki, Mifune and Angela enter the portal first, before he'd step through with Patty. Angela gently picked up the wounded orange tabby cat who'd fought with them, cradling him against her, and Mifune carried them both.
One by one, each of them disappeared through the portal, and then it was finally Kid's turn. When he saw the familiar Guillotine Arches he exhaled in relief. For a while he'd never thought he'd see home again.