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 23 – One Witch, Two Witches, Three Witches, Four: How Many More Witches Will Slip through Death's Door?
"So, Crona told me we're going to declare a truce with the Witches. What's up with that?" Kim asked Kid cautiously and skeptically. There's was no way that can be true, can it? Are they really that stupid? That naïve? That gullible? Witches are monsters, they're evil. They can't be trusted. They lie and trick and deceive; they steal your souls even when you think you're on your guard against them.
Kim surreptitiously watched the little girl blatantly dressed like a Witch, who was lying in one of the beds, in case she tried to attack. She listened intently as Kid explained about the Witch Angela, with the occasional interjection by the sandy blond haired man who was sitting beside her bed. This was apparently the Witch who'd saved Kid's life – which was just nuts, because she couldn't be more than five, maybe seven years old, at a stretch.
She can't really be that powerful at that young an age, can she? Not and still be as innocent as she looks. Kim knew firsthand that Witches were expert at looking innocent, right up until they killed you. They could even fool other Witches. She fought a shudder and forced the memories away, with the skill of long practice.
Kim was surprised to learn that the guy with the long hair, Mifune, was Angela's bodyguard, even though he was just a regular human. She wondered what kind of spell the little Witch girl was using to keep him in her thrall. It was obvious why she needed him. He was more than just a bodyguard: he'd be the one helping her catch and kill her victims, the human sacrifices she needed to give her all that extra power.
So why did she help Kid? What's her angle? Pretend to be good, get into the DWMA, and destroy it from the inside, the way Medusa could have, if she'd been stronger and smarter?
"Stop being so cynical, Kim. It's obvious he's protecting her because she's small and young and sweet. I'd protect her too," Jackie commented softly, apparently seeing the direction of her gaze and sensing the direction of her thoughts, completely fooled by the little monster.
That's because you try to see the good in everyone, even when it's not there, even in me, and you're a sucker for Witches, Kim wanted to say, but of course, she didn't dare risk it. She wanted to get Jackie away from the dangerous Witch, but she couldn't leave her other friends in here alone and unprotected, either, not while Kid was still injured, and he wouldn't be lying in a bed here if he wasn't. Not that she knew much protection magic, other than the few spells she learned before… Don't think about that! Stop it!
Kim forced her attention away from the Witch and back to her friends. She was relieved everyone looked so healthy. She'd been really conflicted, when she'd heard how badly Kid and Liz were hurt, but not just them: Soul, Maka, Black*Star and Tsubaki too. Soul was hovering over Kid growling like a dog protecting his favorite bone, but other than that, he looked fine, and so did Maka. Black*Star and Tsubaki weren't here, so they must be alright, because the others weren't grieving either. Even Liz was on her feet. Kid was the only one still in a bed, but he didn't look impaired or in pain. Which meant she didn't need to risk discovery after all, by subtly trying to heal anyone's injuries. Not that she would have dared do that in front of the other Witch.
Kim wanted to scream when Kid finished explaining about Angela, and told him there was a second Witch here, one Lord Death had actually invited in: he'd welcomed, the Witch Michiko, Angela's bodyguard Mifune's friend.
It was clear Kid was completely smitten by the Witch Angela. But how can Lord Death be fooled again, after Medusa? Didn't he learn anything?
Then Kid scowled and looked at Soul. "What happened on your mission? Where's Justin? I want to see him. I… I might be able to help him, a little. I know what he…" he paled and looked ill. "Mostly. I can…" His eyes widened as he looked around, and he looked increasingly agitated. "He's not in here. But he can't be in the smaller Infirmary, because Stein or Dr. Bryant would be with him, but Stein's with my father and Dr. Bryant is here and… Where's Justin?"
The look of helpless fury on Soul's face would have been frightening, if Kim scared easily.
"Why don't you ask your friend Crona about that, if they're done necking Maka in the hallway?" Soul snapped acidly.
Kim carefully hid her surprise. She never expected to hear such vitriol from him talking about Maka . Whoa. Soul looks and sounds jealous, which is nuts, because Maka is like a sister to him. She frowned. Which meant he objected to Crona being the one with Maka for another reason. "You got a problem with Crona?" Kim inquired, a dangerously silky edge to her voice that Jackie clearly immediately recognized and had her standing extra close.
"Why? Going to charge them protection money for keeping me away from them?" Soul sniped.
"You got a problem with me too, asshole?" Kim demanded, fisting her hands.
"What, with someone who charges her friends for every tiny little favor she deigns to do for them? Clothes for Liz, nail polish for Kid. They both almost died, you mercenary, opportunistic bitch," Soul snarled.
Kid's hand darted off the bed and wrapped around Soul's wrist, even as Jackie's did the same for her, restraining them from lunging at one another.
"Soul! I want you to apologize to Kimial right now. She has her own way of expressing her concern for and assisting her friends," Kid chastised and explained.
"I don't need you to fight my battles for me, Pretty Boy. I've been doing that since I was nine," Kim snapped. Unexpectedly, without warning, those memories she'd been battling down so successfully flared – the hidden basement chamber her mother had never allowed her to enter until minutes before midnight on her ninth birthday, and then had shown her so proudly – the ceremony, the blood, the terrified sobbing and begging of the sacrifice, a girl that looked her age, the screaming, the girl's and hers mingled together. "Help me! She's going to kill me! Mommy! Mommmmyyyyy! Dadddyyyy! Save me!" "Stop it! Stop! Mother, what are you doing? No, don't, you can't!" Even as the knife sliced deeper, the killing cut.
A silver athame, stained red, the raw healing magic flowing out of her like water as she tried to save the dying girl, the ward beneath her glowing with power, siphoned into her mother, as the sacrifice's life drained into it, her life drained into it, through the girl she was desperately trying to save. The panic and horror in her mother's eyes, the magical backlash as her mother broke the spell, in an attempt to save her, flinging her against the stone wall. Her mother reaching for her weakly, as she grabbed the strange girl by the wrist and yanked her along, stumbling up the stairs. Running, the girl breaking away, running, running, running.
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One minute Soul and Kim were exchanging insults, and the next there was a flare of silver light coming from Michiko, who had just entered the infirmary, and an answering explosion of gold light radiating from Kim, who'd suddenly gone rigid.
Kid tensed as he felt a torrent of magic wash over him, his shadow instantly defensively surrounding him, to protect him, enveloping Soul as well, as an unfamiliar Witch's soul pulsed bright and strong directly in front of him.
A Witch! Somehow a Witch had entered the DWMA and impersonated Kim, an enemy, like Medusa. Soul! Liz! Patty! Mifune! Angela! Michiko! Jackie! I have to save them, protect everyone!
But then the doppelganger Witch collapsed, ghostly pale, crumpling at Jackie's feet.
"Jackie, kill her! That's not Kim, it's a Witch! Liz! Patty!" Kid ordered, as the shadow dropped and Liz and Patty flew into his outstretched hands.
"No! Don't hurt her!" Jackie yelled, panicked, dropping at the Witch's side, enveloping her in her arms, covering her with her body, making it impossible for Kid to get a clear shot.
"No! Wait! Stop! Don't hurt her!" Crona yelled, running into the room, Maka at their heels. "Ragnarok, protect Kim!" Crona yelled, and Ragnarok emerged, not a sword this time, but a shield, a dome of black blood protectively cupping over the Witch and Jackie.
"Crona, no! That's a Witch!" Kid yelled in frustration.
"I know Kim's a Witch! But she's a good Witch, like me, like Angela, like Michiko! How did you find out? Why did you attack her, when your father is making a treaty? I told her we'd all be safe now, I didn't want her to have to hide anymore, to lie to her friends. Why are you ruining everything?" Crona demanded, yelling shrilly.
Kid stared at Crona in confusion. "What are you…? You mean that really is Kim? Kim's a Witch?" Kid asked, stunned.
"Oh no! You mean you didn't know? But you… and she… I can't deal with this! How can you not know, but attack her and call her a Witch and… What's going on?" Crona pleaded.
"I think I can explain. I'm afraid this is all my fault, but it's wasn't intentional, I assure you," Michiko said, her voice thick with regret and compassion, looking from Kim's concealed form and then warily at Kid, from where she was now standing protectively beside Mifune and Angela.
Kid was relieved to see his new friends looked unharmed by the wave of magic Kim had unleashed. In fact, Mifune looked surprisingly strong, his color far better than before, the lines of pain around his eyes gone.
"Mifune, is Angela strong enough to help her? Did that blast of healing energy restore her enough? I don't know healing magic, and from what I felt, the Witch Kim has drained herself dangerously," Michiko said in concern.
"Angela's still asleep, and I'm sorry, but I can't risk it. You know Angela: she'll try even if she's not strong enough. She'll kill herself trying to save her," Mifune argued.
"I can do it, if I can touch her," Crona proposed. "But Kid, Soul, everyone, you have to promise not to attack Kim. I'll explain everything to you, and if you want to exile me and Jackie for knowing Kim was a Witch, from hiding it from you, and exile Kim too, we'll all go quietly, but you have to promise you won't hurt Kim," Crona bargained.
Kid stared at Crona levelly. "That really is Kimial? She's a Witch? And you and Jacqueline knew?" He tried to keep the pain of their betrayal out of his voice, but he could hear it clearly.
Crona nodded mutely, their face creased with guilt, but also fierce with determination.
"She attacked us," Kid accused, enraged by the knowledge that someone he thought he knew so well would betray them.
"No, she didn't. That was healing magic you felt. Witch Crona, you need to see to her immediately", Michiko argued and urged.
"Fine. As long as she doesn't try to harm anyone, we won't attack her," Kid reluctantly agreed. "But what can you do, Crona? You're not a Witch."
"Yes, I am. I'm my mother's child, only different. Like Kim. Ragnarok!" Crona called, and the shell drew back into their body, revealing Kim and Jackie.
Jackie was staring wild eyed and shaking, clinging protectively to Kim, who was distressingly pale, and either unconscious or… Kid breathed a sigh of relief as he felt her soul weakly pulse with energy. He could sense it, now that he was calmer – the familiar signature of Kim's soul within the Witch's soul, part of it.
Crona bit their lip and held their hands to Kim's head and chest, and healing magic flowed from Crona into Kim's still form.
Kid watched, stunned and confused. Since when does Crona use magic? How do they know how to heal?
Kim's color immediately improved, even as Crona grew paler than usual.
"Crona, that's enough!" Maka ordered, as Crona swayed, alarm in her voice. "You're going to kill yourself! After saving Giriko and healing Justin, you can't do more!"
Kid froze, shocked and horrified. Giriko? Crona saved Giriko? Healed him with her magic? Why?
"Don't worry, I won't. I only returned what she gave me, and added some of my own," Crona claimed calmly, as if they'd been using magic their entire life.
Kim stiffened in Jackie's arms, and her eyes flew open. She looked around wildly when she saw everyone standing around her and struggled to her feet, looking like she was ready to run, but Jackie clamped her arms around her and wouldn't let her budge. "It's alright, Kim. Kid promised no one will hurt you unless you attack them, so you need to calm down. We have to explain. Kid's our friend. He'll listen. Give him a chance."
"It broke. How did it break?" Kim asked, sounding shell-shocked, dazed, horrified.
"I'm afraid that was my fault. When our souls resonated so unexpectedly and completely, and the defensive wards in my kimono detected such a powerful Soul Protect ward, they mistook the deception, the concealment, for an attack and nullified all your active wards. Well, your single ward. I only sensed the Soul Protect ward failing. However, I don't know what caused that near lethal magical flare of healing magic, unless it was whatever memories were triggered when we resonated.
Kim shivered. "That was why…" she whispered, paling again, shrinking in on herself, looking small and lost and broken.
"Stop that!" Kid demanded, unable to bear seeing Kim sink into herself that way, as if she were him, when she was always so strong, so unaffected by the chaos all around them.
To his horror, Kim actually flinched, and soft-spoken, gentle Jackie glared murderously at him.
"I just meant, you don't need to be afraid of us, Kim," Kid said gently. "We're not going to hurt you. You've never harmed any of us. Have you?" he asked, suddenly unsure.
"Of course not!" Jackie snapped indignantly.
"You need to stop looking at Kid like that," Soul threatened menacingly.
"Honestly, Soul, I can take care of myself. I am a Reaper, you know," Kid scolded.
"It's not Jackie's and Crona's faults they didn't tell you I was a Witch. I put a spell on them to keep them from telling you and in case it ever broke, threatened to kill them if they did," Kim suddenly claimed, her voice nearly as cool and calculating as always, but Kid could hear the underlying desperation in it.
"Kim! Why would you… She's lying! She never threatened anyone! She's just trying to protect us. I chose not to tell anyone, when I discovered her secret, and so did Crona. Because she can't help who her mother was. She didn't ask to be born a Witch, no more than Crona did. And she's never hurt anyone. She's even risked her own life, healing people secretly – Meisters and Weapons.
"And I thought there was supposed to be a truce. How can you expect to make peace with Witches you don't even know, if you're so ready to turn on someone who's been a friend, who's fought for the DWMA for years?" Jackie accused passionately.
"Why did you join the DWMA?" Kid questioned. He needed to learn her motives.
"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, right?" Kim stated in a flip voice.
"Stop that! Why are you trying to sound guilty? You're not protecting us that way, you're only hurting yourself, you selfless idiot!" Jackie screeched.
Kim blinked. "Selfless? Me?" Then she laughed bitterly. "I've never done a selfless thing in my life. Soul's right. I'm scum. I tried to warn you years ago. Why can't you see that?"
"Because you're not. I know you better than that," Jackie insisted. "You didn't gain anything by healing Anya, and it was because of that I actually first started truly suspecting you were a Witch. You healed Ox and me and others, during the War, too. The very fact that you're a Meister, that you're doing what you can to protect everyone from Kishin Eggs proves you're good. So stop believing you're a horrible human being, just because of your mother. We can't choose our parents, but we can choose who we become."
"Forgive me for assuming the worst, Kimial. Obviously old habits are going to be hard to break, but we need to have a different perception, a different outlook, if we're going to achieve a lasting peace. No one is going to punish you for being a Witch's child, or from hiding that fact, not with all the help you've been over the years. We'd be fools to force away someone who has been such an asset to us, who has been nothing but loyal at heart. I'll make certain my father understands. Perhaps you would even be willing to aid us in our diplomatic efforts? You as well, Crona," Kid proposed.
Kim looked at him wide-eyed. "Me? A diplomat? Could you pick a less appropriate person?"
Kid smirked. "Yes. I could have picked Soul."
Soul eyed him. "I'll have you know I'm already a skilled diplomat. I can't tell you how many times I talked Maka down from killing her father."
"I'm certain my father appreciates that," Kid replied, and then he frowned. "Where is my father? Why isn't he here? And why was Giriko healed, instead of being killed? And you mentioned healing Justin. What happened to him? Where is he?"
Maka and Crona both looked guilty, and Soul looked even angrier than before.
"It's complicated. But I'll explain, as well as I can," Crona volunteered, to Kid's surprise.
Kid was certain from their expressions he wasn't going to like what he heard, but whatever had happened had apparently improved Crona's confidence by leaps and bounds. Considering the size of that silver lining, Kid was all the more leery of the size of the associated dark cloud. He braced himself to hear the news that had Soul fuming.