21So sorry for the delay! October is a busy month for me. Actually, the last few months of the year are busy for me. Holiday season and all that, so updates might be slow for a while.
HAGHHHGUG now that THAT is out of the way, have another chapter!
.•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•.
Red, red, red! Everything is red! Such a pretty color. Except for those black blurry figures. Who are they? Kid thought, as he slung one of the blurry figures across the room. He vaguely heard a "WUAAAAGH!" but it was hard to tell. There was a lot of static. It was getting annoying. He felt the weapon form of Tsubaki move slightly in his hand as she laughed. Such a nice laugh. It was the only sound that could get through the static.
"Heeeeey~!" she sang, "They went pretty far!"
Kid nodded in agreement.
.•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•.
Maka watched, through the smoke and fire, which was slowly creeping to the ground, as Chrona went flying, landing in front of her, after she had heard a loud, strangled yell followed by a malicious laugh.
She saw a blurry figure start to walk towards her. She held the katana in a, what she assumed, fighting stance. The figure's form became clear, and she straightened up.
"Kid!" she yelled. He didn't seem to hear her, only focused on Chrona. The chain of the kusarigama, half of which was being dragged on the ground, vibrated, a faint giggle being heard.
"Tsubaki!" Masamune shouted, reflection appearing in the blade.
Kid dropped the blade that was in his hand, Tsubaki changing a split second before it hit the ground. She stood.
To say she looked crazy would be an understatement. Her pony tail was messy and half falling out, her eyes had black circles beneath them, and her hand kept twitching.
"Yes brother?" she asked sweetly. Masamune glowed, giving Maka the silent signal to let him go, before returning to human form and ran over to his sister.
Kid watched with mild interest, glancing towards the terrified form of Chrona. Chrona got up and made a move to run away, but Maka grabbed their arm.
"Oh no you don't. You're staying right here until–" a burned piece of wood fell from the ceiling, making her yelp, using Chrona as a human shield.
"Masamune! Grab Kid and Tsubaki and let's go!" she yelled, already moivkbg further down the corridor.
"But what about the fire?! The place is gonna burn to nothing!" Masamune yelled back.
Kid made a sharp laughing sound, seeming to like the idea. Masamune flicked him on the back of his head.
"Shut up! You're the reason we're in this mess!"
"But you agreed didn't you!" Kid retorted, grinning. The five lines over his mouth grew slightly darker and more jagged.
"I said shut up!"
Kid rolled his eyes.
The flames grew larger, and Masamune grabbed the two resident psychopaths' hands, dragging them towards Maka, who forcefully yanked Chrona's shoulder. They ran down the corridor, until they reached a sudden incline, which deserved into an inky black abyss.
Maka wasn't sure, but she couldn't sworn she heard Kid mutter "The ultimate order..." as he gazed into the pit, corners of his mouth twitching upwards, in excitement or purely out of his insane state of mind she wasn't sure. She heard a grinding noise that sounded like stone against stone, and looked over to see Tsubaki looking perplexed while hunched over a lever. A platform rose out of the abyss, and Kid mumbled something unintelligible, though it didn't sound very happy.
Masamune took a cautious step onto the platform, and, after seeing it would hold, put all of his weight on it. Tsubaki jumped on, Kid walking on slowly, and Maka joined them, Chrona hesitantly shuffling on. Maka inspected the lever. She put a hand on the knob and pushed.
"Hmm...I wonder what will happen if I–OH FUUUUUU–" the platform suddenly dropped out from under their feet.
No...that wasn't it. The platform was racing down at extreme speeds.
It landed with a loud THUD that echoed off the walls. The second the five stepped off, the platform shot away into a wall.
"Well that was strange," Kid remarked. The black lines had disappeared.
"Fucking scary was what it was," Maka grumbled, "C'mon. Let's find a way outta here."
Kid didn't respond, the distant look still in his eye. Masamune tightened his grip on the golden-eyed boy's wrist, to which Kid simply blinked.
Tsubaki on the other hand, was perpetually stuck shaking slightly. Her irises flicked back and forth a bit, as though she was scanning the area.
Both were emitting one uniform wavelength, if a bit stronger coming from Kid.
Maka glanced behind her as they walked, taking in the unchanging stature of her friends. Tsubaki swaying, loopy figure, Kid's tense body, and Masamune's slouched, irritated form.
.•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•.
Kid's mind was foggy, to say the least. He vaguely remembered fire, some smoke, and a lot of red. And a bit of black. His mind had cleared mostly shortly after the sudden drop. At least he could think straight. He felt his wrist gripped by Masamune's hand, nails digging into his skin. It wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't comfortable either. Besides, he was close to bleeding.
"Excuse me," Kid cleared his throat, "but you're hurting me."
"Shut up," Masamune growled.
Kid raised an eyebrow in confusion, wondering what he had done to piss of the tall 17 year old so badly.
Next to him, Tsubaki stopped swaying and giggling, and attempted to pull her arm away from her brother.
"Masamune, let me go!" she said as forcefully as she could.
Masamune looked back at her, studied her face for a moment, and released her. Tsubaki rubbed her wrist, rotating and flexing it.
Kid managed to wrench his arm free, and took a few steps back. The taller boy whipped his head around and glared before turning away.
There was still slight static playing in the back of Kid's mind, but he ignored it for now.
The group kept walking, footsteps echoing off the dirty brown walls, emphasizing the size of the hall.
Suddenly, the echoing abruptly stopped.
But they were still walking.
Chrona was the first to notice.
.•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•.
Hey, what happened to the sound? It's all gone. Ragnarok spoke in Chrona's mind.
I don't know. It just stopped.
Dammit Chrona! Figure it out! Or I'm coming out!
No! Please don't! They'll all start screaming! I don't know how to deal with that!
Just kill 'em then!
Chrona shook their head minutely.
The pig tailed girl spoke up, "Hey, do you guys here that?"
The others' heads snapped up.
"Hear what?" the golden eyed one, whom Chrona knew as Kid from class, asked.
"Exactly."
Chrona was confused.
Tsubaki's head whipped around.
"The walls are completely dirt. We must be really far underground," she said.
Whatever madness that had been was gone. The black blood was gone from Tsubaki, Chrona could tell, and was partially under control within Kid.
"We're getting close. I know it," said Kid.
"H-how can you t-tell?" Chrona stuttered, surprising everyone.
"There's literally a large steel door fifty feet away," Kid deadpanned.
Everyone looked over.
"So there is," Maka snorted.
As they approached, a shimmering red shield faintly surrounded it. Masamune reached to grabbed the large handle and immediately pulled his hand back with a yelp.
"That's HOOOT!" he yelled.
Dumbass...Ragnarok groaned.
Be quiet.
What did you say?
Nothing!
Dammit Chrona!
"Maybe Kid could open it. He's immune to fire," Maka said.
"What?!"
"Maka, I'm not immune to fire. It just doesn't bother me. Also, that's not fire incase you couldn't tell," Kid rolled his eyes, "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try."
.•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•.
Kid reached for the handle and grasped it. The metal was very, very hot, and he would've pulled his hand away if not for one thing.
The door began to slide open.
The red shield shattered, dissolving into energy which fizzled away, leaving a faint electrical smell in the air.
"I loosened it," Masamune scoffed.
"How the hell do you loosen a three hundred pound steel door?"
"..."
The door opened completely. At first, there was pitch black nothingness, and a hint of a deranged smile crept onto Kid's face, but it quickly vanished.
Slowly, the room grew lighter, a purple light emitting from a torch. In the center of the room was a golden orb wrapped in chains. There were four chains that reached to the walls, one in each corner. They were rusted, and had faded paper noted strung on them.
"So...what do we do now?" asked Maka.
"I think...I think we need to break the chains," Kid said, finally.
"How?"
That stumped them all.
"Maybe we could pull the chains down somehow," Tsubaki offered.
Kid nodded, and held out his hand.
"Wha—"
"The chains are too high up. I could use you as a grappling hook, and pull them down from here," Kid explained.
Tsubaki began to glow, but her brother put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him. He spoke something too her in rapid Japanese, apparently not wanting the others to overhear. Tsubaki responded, Masamune groaned, and Tsubaki transformed.
Kid threw one end of the kusarigama in the air, and it hooked on the first chain, right on a rusted, rotting set of links.
"Well, here goes nothing," he said, yanking the chain as hard as he could. The sound of metal grinding on metal filled the air. Maka tapped his shoulder. He looked at her as he pulled the chain, spitting out some of his shirt fabric at the same time.
"Kid, look," she pointed at the opposite wall.
He looked.
The chain on the opposite wall was moving in the same fashion as the one Kid was pulling.
Kid grew a look on his face the others (minus Chrona) knew all too well. His eyes were shining, and a happy grin appeared.
"It's—"
"Oh good god–"
"PERFECTLY SYMMETRICAL!"
The chains broke simultaneously, sending the orb to the ground.
It shattered, sending bits of gold glass and debris all over the room.
And where it once hung, was a small glowing sphere with an all too familiar waving tail. Kid had released hold of Tsubaki the moment the chain broke, and was standing up, and facepalmed, pulling his bangs.
"Of course," he shouted, "OF course, of COURSE. How could I have been so stupid! How could I have expected Eibon to still be alive after eight centuries! He's not a god like Shinigami, he was a WIZARD! A FUCKING WIZARD!" Kid ran alrund the room, yelling.
Maka made a growling noise, growing a red tick mark on her forehead (the ones you see in anime a lot) and yelled, "PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!" she screamed, throwing a book, seemingly out of nowhere, at Kid's head, socking him square in the face. He fell face first into the dirt, then scrambled to his feet, showing off his new shiner*, before shouting something unintelligible at Maka, though something about "asymmetry" was understood. Maka yelled something equally-jumbled back.
.•*^*•..•*^*•..•*Location Change*•..•*^*•..•*^*•.
The adults were worried, to say the least. It was nearing midnight now, and Kid and Maka hadn't returned. Spirit was running around the house yelling things like "MAKA!" "BABY BLOOMERS!" and "KISHIN BASTARD!" while Marie frantically tried to calm him down. About an hour earlier, there had been a sudden increase in Madness. It was slight, but it was noticeable. But it wasn't like the Terror or Power the madness that surrounded the city felt like. It was...different. It was...
Order.
Order. A word hard to use in this place. Rare to say. Difficult to understand.
But here Azusa was. The Madness level that had fluctuated into three kinds rather than too was definitely Terror, Power, and...Order.
An Order that strangely reminded her of Kid.
.•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•..•*^*•.
*shiner-black eye
I hope no one is too OOC. The symmetry thing for Kid is hard for me too write without ruining the atmosphere.
Unrelated to the story but...
I have a prompt for anyone that wants to take it up:
Originally, I was going to write this myself. However, it was making feel uncomfortable, since I can't write romance and I just couldn't do it.
ONE SHOT SERIES WITH PAIRINGS SO OFF KILTER ITS NOT FUNNY! KID X MEDUSA MAKA X JACKIE KIM X BLACKSTAR POT OF THUNDER X OX ANY WEIRD SHIT LIKE THAT! They don't necessarily have to all be het.
PM ME IF YOU DO IT