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.
Chapter 12 – Revelations and Reconciliations: How Could We Have Been So Blind?
Julia smiled when she opened the door, the same cat-eating-the-canary grin she always gave Spirit.
You stupid bitch. This is the last time you're ever going to smile, at me or anyone else. I'm going to rip the lying tongue out of your head, as soon as I get what I came for.
"I'm sorry. Was the restraining order my husband put against you lifted without my knowledge?" Julia asked in mock surprise, standing in the doorway as if she didn't have a care in the world, carefully emphasizing the word husband the way she always did when she spoke to him, twisting the knife.
In just a few minutes I'll be the one twisting the knife. Only I'll be twisting it in your throat, when I sever your vocal cords, you lying bitch.
"Ex-husband. But you won't need a restraining order after tonight," Stein said truthfully.
"Oh? So you're finally admitting defeat and leaving? I'm disappointed, Franken. I thought you had more Spirit than that," she taunted, emphasizing the name she didn't have any right to speak.
Her face turned purple as her eyes bulged from their sockets, as her hands clawed frantically at his hands, leaving bloody trails from the skin shredded by her clawlike nails. The feel of her neck in his hands was exquisite, the cracking of her bones and cartilage as he crushed her trachea and esophagus. But what he really wanted to do was cut open her chest, to watch her bleed, to see whether it was really true, whether a human could truly survive without a beating heart.
The slap to his face was a welcome shock, snapping him out of his fantasy and revealing the true colors of the vicious bitch who stole Spirit from him. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, freak!"
"Why? Why did you take him from me? You didn't even want him. You threw him out of your bed, your house, your life. You divorced him. What did you gain? Maka? If you just wanted a child…" Stein goaded.
She laughed in his face. It wasn't the first time, but it would be the last.
"You poor, pathetic, stupid, naïve, gullible, bumbling ass! All this time, and you still don't understand? I wanted him because I couldn't have him. Because he was yours. Because he was pretty. Because Death wanted him, and I wanted something even a God couldn't possess. But you both made it so easy. Too easy. You took all the fun out of the game. A few carefully whispered lies to get people to doubt your sanity. A little drug in Spirit's coffee, and the next thing he knows, I'm 'rescuing' him from your evil clutches," she said, putting air quotes around the word rescuing. "A few strategically placed holes in a box of condoms, and I'm pregnant."
Stein fumed as she calmly and smugly recounted how she'd destroyed his life. But she'd told him exactly what he'd wanted, needed, to hear, she'd admitted to far more than he'd hoped.
"You're the poor pathetic moron, Julia. You never saw the value of what you stole. You never loved Spirit or Maka. When you got tired of Spirit, when your new toy wasn't fun to play with anymore, you fabricated a pack of lies about adultery, screeching about how he was cheating on you, how he was a terrible husband and father, turning his own daughter against him, thinking your lies would destroy him, the way you destroyed me. You were no better than the Witch Medusa. You used your own child as a weapon.
"But you underestimated everyone. You never realized how much Maka loved her father. You never realized how much Lord Death loved your husband. You never realized how much I loved both of them. You thought you destroyed me, when I'm the one who's destroyed you," Stein said confidently.
"Destroyed? I'm sorry, do I actually look destroyed to you, you delusional freak?" she scoffed.
"I've never hated anyone in my life more than you. The Witch Medusa reminded me so much of you, because of the way she used her own child, the way she used everyone. She was selfish and cruel and evil, rotten to her heartless core, just like you, and I hated her for that, but not nearly as much as I hate you.
"You're the reason I was able to overcome the Madness Medusa triggered inside me, because I hated her for the way she used Crona, the way you used Maka, the way Medusa used me like you did, the way she tricked Marie and turned her against me, like you tricked Spirit and Lord Death and turned them against me. But there is one thing I love Medusa for. She gave me access to the weapon I'm using to destroy you."
And there it was, finally, the doubt, the flash of fear, the knowledge that she'd gone too far, that animals are dangerous when they're cornered, that they'll turn and fight viciously, that caged instinctive need we all possess to tear our killers to shreds. And Julia had killed him, as surely as she'd signed her own death warrant.
"Even if you could wield a weapon a Witch gave you, you wouldn't dare hurt me," she scoffed, but she'd hesitated a moment too long. Her fear was delicious, intoxicating. The only sweeter scent would be her blood, bright and red, flowing out of her vicious mouth, as soon as he tore out that lying serpent's tongue.
"It's too late, Julia. Your mistake was coming back to gloat, to rub our faces in your machinations. You should have kept safely away on the other side of the world, stayed in the Middle East, sending Maka a postcard every few months from whatever country you were contaminating with your presence. Now all your careful plans are falling down around your ears, like a house of cards. You're already destroyed.
"That weapon I mentioned? Medusa didn't give it to me. She gave it to Marie, to use against me. A tiny little listening device, one she drank, tuned to a radio, so Medusa's minions could hear everything Marie heard. Like the one I drank, before coming here, tuned to the radio and the recorder in my lab, recording every confession you just made, for Spirit and Lord Death and Maka to hear. But don't worry. I'm not going to risk you getting away, hurting anyone else. You're going to be long dead before they come for you," Stein said, grinning gleefully.
And there it was, the sequence of expressions he'd been waiting for: shock, denial, outrage, panic, desperation and fear, not for her life, but of discovery, of Spirit and Lord Death learning who and what she really was. Even as she manifested her blades on her arms, he lunged for her with his scalpel with a speed she couldn't match, reminding her he was the strongest Meister ever to graduate from the Academy, a madman who liked to vivisect living creatures.
To his frustration and rage, he was stopped a few scant centimeters before stabbing her throat the way he'd fantasized, but not by her. He realized it was shadows that were binding him, and he heard Spirit's voice call out his ex-wife's name.
Hearing Spirit speak her name and not his own made both terror and rage flood him, even before Julia sheathed her blades back into her body, burst into tears and flung herself at Spirit, sobbing about how he'd tried to kill her.
Stein fought frantically to free himself. She was going to trick them again, use them, find the radio, the recorder in his lab, destroy it before they could hear! But the shadows were binding his mouth as well as his hands and feet.
She's lying! Don't listen! But his muffled screams of warning were unintelligible.
Then Death's shadows enveloped him fully, smothering him in warm darkness, and all thought ceased.
0 0 0
"Spirit! It was horrible! I just barely escaped from him, just before you arrived! He was the one who convinced me you were cheating on me. All those women, I never realized it was all a trick. He was gloating about it, laughing about how he had destroyed you. He was completely mad.
"He took me by surprise, attacked me without warning and held that scalpel at my throat! He forced me to say the most terrible things, but none of it's true! How could it be? You know how much I love you and Maka. He's too dangerous to leave free. You need to lock him away, where no one can hear his paranoid, mad rants, his lies!" Julia urged, clinging to Spirit.
"We need to get them both back to the Academy," Death said quietly, thankful they'd arrived in time, before Stein did something terrible, something neither he nor Spirit could ever forgive. He had hoped to never see Stein descend into Madness again.
"Lord Death, please! He's so dangerous, so strong! Surely you can't allow him to be so near your students! He might attack Maka next, or your own son!" Julia urged.
"He'd never hurt Maka or Kid," Spirit claimed, with rock hard certainty and conviction.
"He tried to kill me!" Julia shrilled.
Her voice had always grated on Death's nerves, though he wasn't sure why. His shadows wrapped more tightly around Stein, embracing him.
"We need to get him to the Infirmary," Death stated grimly.
"No! I mean, I heard all the injured Meisters and Weapons are there. Surely you wouldn't endanger them by allowing a vicious madman among them?" Julia reasoned.
The words "vicious" and "madman" made Death tighten his hold more protectively about the unconscious Meister.
"He needs to be locked up in an asylum, or a prison. Think of your son, Lord Death, and our daughter, Spirit. You can't risk Stein hurting them," Julia urged.
"She's right, sir," Spirit agreed, his voice gruff with emotion.
"You'd better come with us, Julia," Death reluctantly stated.
At first it looked like she was about to argue, but then she nodded with unaccustomed meekness.
Death stepped through the mirror with the three of them in tow. He wasn't surprised to see Kid and Marie when he re-entered the room they'd left from, but he was shocked by the matching expressions on their faces: cold, vindictive fury.
To his consternation, before he could ask them what was wrong, Marie lunged forward and punched Julia square in the jaw, knocking her into the wall. "That's for Stein, you conniving bitch!" Marie yelled, as she dove onto the dazed woman, her weapons out, and began pummeling her, even as Julia belatedly manifested her own weapons and frantically defended herself from the unhinged attack.
Kid stepped gingerly around the battle. "Did you make it in time? Julia's still alive, but did you save Stein?" Kid asked anxiously, seeing the limp form emerge from the shadows, in his arms.
"He's alive, but not in his right mind. He was about to kill her," Death admitted, as he glanced over in time to see a splatter of blood decorate the wall, before Spirit grabbed Marie from behind, moments too slow to save his ex-wife from a broken nose.
"Marie, that's enough! What's wrong with you? Why would you attack Julia?" Spirit demanded.
"Kid and I will tell you after Lord Death ties and gags her," Marie insisted, as she struggled in his grip. "Damn it! Stop her!" Marie yelled in frustration.
Death saw Julia lunging for what looked like a tape recorder and radio. His shadows wrapped around her, just before she reached them.
"He made me say it! None of it's true, none of it! You believe me, don't you, Spirit?" Julia begged.
Death enveloped her completely in his shadow, and felt her go limp, unconscious, like Stein. "Please explain, Marie, Son," Death said.
"All you need is to hear for yourself, sir, in that bitch's own words," Marie said, her voice venomous.
"Let Marie go and just listen," Kid urged. Then he turned on the tape recorder and pressed "play".
Death listened in surprise, then shock and horror at what the recording revealed, letting go of both Stein and Julia with his shadow, laying them on the floor and embracing Spirit instead, not smothering him, but supporting him, when his legs gave out, when he heard what Julia had done to Stein, to him.
They turned it off it the middle of Julia's tearful performance, when they'd arrived to stop Spirit.
"She used me. The whole time… She didn't feel… She didn't love… She drugged me and made me think it was Stein. She… she doctored the condoms, so she'd get pregnant. Maka. She used our daughter, my daughter, her own daughter, as a tool, a weapon… Stein… She made us… He almost…
Death's arms embraced him. Spirit's whole body was cold, shaking, all of Spirit's normal exuberance vanished. Death pulled Spirit over to Stein and sat down beside him on the floor.
He guided Spirit's hand to stroke Stein's cheek, his own fingertips stroking his face along with him. "He's still alive, Spirit. It's not too late. We can't erase what happened, but we can make it right. We can let him know that we know the truth now. We can ask him to forgive us, and make sure no one ever hurts him like that again, that no one ever takes him from us again."
"How will I tell Maka?" Spirit asked brokenly.
"You'll let Julia do it for you. We'll have Soul beside her and we'll have Maka listen to the recording. We can edit out the part about her conception," he offered.
"I… No. It's horrible, but she has to hear, in order to understand just how… how twisted her mother is. Maka's strong. I'll remind her how much I love her first and… But first, we need to make sure Stein is alright. I can't do that to Maka without him," Spirit insisted.
"Whatever you want, whatever you need, Spirit. Stein was right, you know. Julia was a stupid fool, for using you like this, for not wanting you for who you are. But Stein and I aren't stupid, or cruel. We both love you," Death assured him.
"Why? How can you, when I've been so blind, so stupid?" Spirit asked, anguished.
Death had never hated someone so much as he hated the woman who had hurt Spirit and Stein so cruelly, not even the Witch who killed the father he'd never known. "She fooled me too, Spirit. She fooled everyone. Only Stein knew the truth, and she made sure we'd never believe him, never even listen to him. I almost didn't let him back into the City," Death bemoaned, the memory a painful one. "I told him he was on probation, that one wrong move and he'd be exiled forever. I made it easy for him to succumb to the Madness, to fall to Medusa."
"You can't blame yourself for that. We're all to blame, but mostly Julia and Medusa herself," Spirit reminded him.
Death nodded, though he didn't really agree. He was the Lord of the City, responsible for the protection of every inhabitant, and he'd failed spectacularly in his most important duty. He'd failed the two men he loved most in all the world, save for his son.
0 0 0
Death called Nygus and Sid to tend to Julia's injuries and to transport her to one of the cells under Death City, to ensure she was locked safely away. They would move her later to a cell or psychiatric facility in the European branch. Death wanted at least an ocean and a few thousand kilometers separating her from Stein and Spirit.
"I've thought more about it," Spirit told him. "I need to talk to Maka first. I can't risk her finding out somehow that her mother has been arrested without explaining it. I know Stein is safe with you and he deserves my full attention when he wakes up. I need to resolve things with Maka first."
Death promised Spirit he would stay by Stein's side until he awoke, but that he'd keep him unconscious until Spirit returned from speaking with his daughter. They both needed to be with him when he came to.
"I'm coming with you to speak with Maka," Kid proclaimed, the strength of the assertion a relief to Death. The fractures in his son's somewhat fragile psyche were already healing, thanks to Mifune and Angela, to Soul. And physically, he was starting to look strong again.
Death had never been more grateful for the innate Reaper healing ability he'd passed onto his son. Although it was quite possible that the healing ward the Witch Angela had placed on his son's cast was helping speed the healing of more than just the bones of his arm. Even a Reaper took a while to recover from such extensive injury.
"Will you be alright alone with Stein sir?" Spirit asked, obviously concerned neither he nor Kid would be with him. Considering how unstable he'd been acting lately, he could hardly blame him for it.
"I could stay with you, sir," Marie volunteered.
Death knew Stein would hate for Marie to see him like this and he still wasn't sure exactly how close the two of them were.
"I'd rather you went with Spirit and Kid. Maka might need a woman to speak with about this, and she likes and trusts you. Don't worry. I won't succumb to the Madness when you're both gone. It takes something to trigger it, and Julia will be safely away, and I'll be with Stein, even if he is unconscious," Death assured them.
Marie's eyes widened at his admission, but Spirit nodded. "Alright. Come on, Marie, Kid. Let's get this over with," Spirit said with grim resolution.