Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Salt-filled air greeted Maka’s nostrils. She sniffed.

She was laying on something hard and moving. Her arms were limply dangling from her sides, swaying back and forth in a steady rhythm.

Groggily, Maka opened her eyes. She was greeted by a pervasive darkness, one that stretched forever and in all directions. She could make out shapes on her right-hand side. On the other, there were only sounds of lapping water.

“Gah…” With weakened hands, Maka propped herself up, realizing she had been lying on some sort of thin beam. She sat up with one leg on each side and rubbed the burning salt from her eyes. Slowly, as her mind returned to working order, her training took over and she stopped relying on pure instinct.

Questions about where she was and how she ended up here took a backseat. Instead, she gave herself a quick-check up.

A strange exhaustion and a curious feeling of nostalgia clouded her mind, her entire body was covered in dry salt, but otherwise she was uninjured. Good.

Now she had to get her bearings. Questions flooded her mind. Where was she? What sort of environment was she in? Was anyone else with her, or was she alone?

Maka blinked and rubbed her eyes again. The all-encompassing darkness was as impenetrable as before. Maka felt it seep into her bones and taste her soul… She shook her head and frowned at those intrusive thoughts. Madness? But with her Grigori soul…

No, she had to focus on the task she had assigned herself. Even if she couldn’t see a thing in this strange blackness, she had another ace up her sleeve.

Closing her eyes and letting out a small breath, Maka activated her Soul Perception and almost fell off the beam she was holding on. Her inner sight lit up with so many different souls that all their different Wavelengths hit her like a spray of water from a water gun. They were detectable but not strong enough to physically shake her, so what had...?

With a gulp, Maka looked up at a familiar large yellow soul whose energy flowed erratically through it, as if it had been hit with the Soul Wavelength equivalent the size of the Eiffel Tower. The epicentre of the assaulting Wavelength came from somewhere to Maka’s right, where incidentally, all the other souls were.

The Grim Reaper’s soul pulsed again and his Wavelength washed over Maka’s soul like a tidal wave. As Maka regained her balance and realised that it was this Wavelength that had thrown her off balance before. She braced herself when the next one came, followed by another, as they travelled from the centre of the soul to its far edges. In it, Maka felt the darkness subside and the cold feeling that had almost grasped her heart fading, leaving her with the familiar feeling of being within the Grim Reaper’s soul.

Finally, there was one last pulse of energy, slower than the others but thick with heat like a warm blanket, and peace was restored. The place became just a little brighter and Maka was able to make out the outline of a ship on her right and a dark sea on her left.

Maka blinked. What had just happened?

She looked at her right where all the other souls were. Apart from Kid’s towering soul, she could see… Soul, Black*Star, Tsubaki, Liz, Patty, Ox, Harvar, Kim, Jackie, Kilik, Fire, and Thunder. So all of Spartoi had been transported- the last thing Maka remembered was taking an afternoon nap in her room because of Blair’s antics- on some sort of…

Maka squinted her eyes. Were they on a boat? An honest-to-Death ship in the middle of nowhere?

Well, that would explain the salt air, though not how Maka had ended up being covered in salt. She wasn’t wet and neither were any of her clothes, so she couldn’t have been in the sea… Unless she had fallen and someone had dragged her out a while ago. Was that what happened to the others? Yet she couldn’t see another person on the ship…

Maka realized she had been sitting on the rails of the ship overlooking the sea. Carefully, she climbed down on the right-hand side of the beam, her boots hitting against a creaking metal floor.

Using her Soul Perception to guide her, Maka blindly stumbled around the ship. Once or twice she bumped into a wall or some other obstruction, which only increased her dislike of the blinding darkness. If only she had a light source at hand…

The tip of Maka’s boot collided with something solid and heavy, which sent the girl tumbling down with an undignified squeak. Clutching her ribs, Maka grabbed at what had caused her fall. The object was a metal box roughly the size of a small dog and had a protruding handle on one side. Maka sat cross-legged and lifted the box onto her lap. She ran her fingers around it and eventually stumbled upon a switch, which she flipped on.

And promptly blinded herself as the contraption turned on and a bright white light was emitted from the end pointing at Maka’s face. Rapidly blinking, she instinctively pushed it away and rubbed the stars out of her eyes.

“At least I got a flashlight…” Maka muttered to herself as she picked up the strange contraption again, this time making sure the bright end was pointing away from her. It was unlike any flashlight she had seen- it looked like something pulled straight out of a retro fantasy novel. It was big, bulky and bore a greater resemblance to a lantern than the modern flashlights Maka was used to.

Oh well, it would do.

She used the flashlight to illuminate the ship’s deck and approach the soul closest to hers -Soul’s. On the way, she found out that the ship had rust that was gathering on some of the metal railings, and the deck was covered with grime and worn away by time. There was a set of stairs leading to the upper and lower decks, with narrow winding steps and paper-thin railings.

“Hello?” A familiar voice came from around a dark corner.

Maka’s eyes widened and she dashed around it, a smile on her face. “Soul!”

“Maka-? Augh!” About a meter away from her, the albino boy raised his arm to shield his eyes from the bright light. Maka grimaced and turned the light away from him.

After some excessive blinking, Soul finally got a look at Maka and his posture relaxed. “It’s you. Phew.” His eyebrows steepled as he looked at the strange contraption and at the areas illuminated by it. “Where… are we?”

“I’m not sure.” Even if she still had little idea of what was going on, Maka couldn’t help but smile. Soul’s presence made her feel a little safer, a little less alone. “We’re on some kind of ship, but other than that…”

“Just the two of us?”

Maka shook her head. “I can sense other souls as well. The entire Spartoi team is here-”

“Maka? Soul?” A new set of voices called.

The Meister and Weapon turned around towards the voices, Maka careful not to blind anyone this time. Ox, Harvar, and Kilik appeared, with Kilik holding Fire and Thunder on his shoulders, and made their way to the ground floor from the upper decks.

Harvar frowned. “You’re here too?”

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” Kilik said with a grin. “The more of us, the faster we can figure this out-”

“Have you seen Kim?!” A desperate Ox yelled, practically jumping over the last set of stairs to land on his knees in front of Maka. “What if she’s here with us and lost-!?

Maka made a pacifying gesture since she could sense Kim’s soul somewhere below deck along with a few others. “She’s-”

“Oi, is anyone here?!” came a booming voice somewhere on the upper layers of the ships.

“And that’s Black Star…” Maka murmured. “I can sense Tsubaki’s soul next to him.”

“Oi, we’re down here!” Soul called out. Before he could say anything else, a dark shape landed on the deck. Maka turned her flashlights towards it to reveal Black Star wielding Tsubaki’s katana form.

“Hey, I can’t see!” Black Star protested, covering his face from the light.

“Sorry,” Maka sheepishly said and turned the flashlight away.

“So we’re not the only ones on this ship,” came Tsubaki’s voice from her Weapon form. “That’s a relief.”

“There are more people below deck,” Maka said. “Kid, Liz and Patty are there, along with Jackie and Kim-”

“Kim!” Before Maka could even finish her sentence, Ox was off, barreling down the flight of stairs like a madman, Harvar going after him with an expression somewhere between concern and exasperation.

“...Let’s be a little more careful,” Maka said and began descending the stairs like a sane person, everyone else following after her.

Below deck, the air remained salty but with an extra layer of musk. The hull groaned as the sea lapped against it and each noise was amplified tenfold, making its inside sound like the stomach of a very hungry whale. It was dark, with the exception of a small light, which, upon closer inspection, came from the hand of a human figure, surrounded by other human silhouettes.

“Jackie?” Maka asked.

“Kim!” Ox excitedly stepped into the orange light and hugged Kim, who physically cringed at the gesture,

“Ox?!” As Maka’s group came closer, Ox’s, Harvar’s, Kim’s and Jackie’s faces became visible. “Oh, and the rest of our merry little group is here. Joy.”

Maka frowned at Kim’s tone. Even if the Witch wasn’t among the friendliest, she usually tried to hide the more sour parts of her personality. “What’s wrong?”

Wordlessly, Kim pointed at her side, where a kneeling Liz and Patty congregated around an unconscious Kid.

“What’s wrong?”

“Kid isn’t waking up,” Liz said, not bothering to look at the rest.

That was strange, Maka thought. Normally she’d thought the opposite would be true. Kid, being a Grim Reaper, usually recovered faster from injuries than the rest of them, so Maka expected him to be among the first to wake up. Though… when Maka woke up she had sensed his soul act strange and send out repeated bursts of his Wavelength… Maybe those bursts, whatever they were, had drained him?

“Leave it to Black Star!” He walked towards Kid, placing one foot on one side and one on the other. He took a deep breath, puffed his chest and leant down.

Maka blinked in confusion. “What-?”

“Oi Kid!” The yell was loud enough to make the ship groan from the inside. When Kid didn’t respond, Black Star yelled again, this time louder, and Maka had to cover her ears.

“I don’t think that’ll work-”

“I’ll help!” Patty yelled and grabbed Kid by the collar and began shaking him as if making frappe coffee.

“Ki-!”

Kid’s hand shot up and covered Blackstar’s mouth like a Band-Aid. The rest of Kid stirred and let out a soft groan. Patty let go of his collar and gently lowered him to the floor.

“Loud,” the Grim Reaper groggily said, opening one eye. Upon seeing Maka and everyone else’s worried faces, he opened the other one and sat upright. “What’s going on? Where…?” he trailed off.

“Join the club," Liz said and crossed her arms. "Anyone know how we ended up here?”

No one spoke. A metaphorical cricket cried.

Liz cursed under her breath. “I swear this better be the hangover of a rocking party we just had or so help me…”

“Where are we?” Jackie asked.

“Not on Earth,” a breathless Kid spoke up. “This place is...”

“Let’s get above deck first…” Liz said as another groan reverberated through the metal hull like the cry of a famished orca.

They did so, going up the stairs in single-fire, in fear the battered steps would give out considering the abuse they had endured earlier.

“Hey, I see light!” Soul called and pointed to where a faint light illuminated a row of neat shapes and sizes, probably some sort of city, in the distance. “We must be near a shore.”

“If we can dock to a port, we can talk to the locals and figure out our location,” Harvar said.

“But how are we going to get the ship moving?” Tsubaki asked.

“Can’t we turn on the engine?” Soul suggested.

“Do you know where the engine is? Or how to work it?” Kim scowled. “Hell, does anyone know how to steer this hunk of junk in the first place?”

“Oi, calm down,” Liz said with a dismissive gesture. “Worst case scenario we swim.” She frowned and considered and her words. “In an unknown sea. At night. Where there may be sharks…” Liz’s face paled. “You know what, you’re right, let’s panic-”

“Let’s not,” Kid said and narrowed his eyes at the faint light. “The light does not look very far away. Perhaps those of us that can fly can carry the others with-”

“Hey, there’s a ship!” Ox called out and ran to the other side of the deck where a dark shape approached them. He held out his hands and waved at the faintly-illuminated shape. “Oi!”

Soon enough, they all leant against the ship’s railing and shouted, Jackie at one point transforming her hand into a lantern and sending a pillar of flames high into the sky. Slowly but steadily, the large ship veered off its course and headed towards them. From what they could see, the ship was much bigger than theirs. A large dark pillar extended from the centre of the ship, like a lighthouse that had run out of fuel.

Eventually, the old ship approached them carefully and Maka could make out a crowd of people working on the deck, shouting commands in thick accents. A wide and thick plank was extended from the unknown ship to theirs and a lone man approached them.

“You lads having some trouble?” the approaching man said in a thick rural English accent. He was wide as he was tall, with a scraggly beard hiding a small collection of scars and burns.

“That’s a weird ship you have,” Soul commented off-handedly.

The man looked fondly back at the ship. “Aye, a real beauty ain’t she? We’re an old lightship stationed South near the coast of the Elder Continent, returning for maintenance." He looked over at their ship, his eyes scanning the dark deck. “You look like you’ve run out of fuel, you poor souls.”

“Uh, yeah,” Maka agreed, not quite sure how to explain that they’d ended up in this boat with no explanation without sounding crazy. “Can you haul us with you or something…?”

The man scratched his beard. “I reckon we got enough fuel. The Wolfstack dock is straight ahead,” he said and gestured to the faint light in the distance. “But, times are hard, and we were hoping we could save up on costs...”

“We can pay you,” Kid offered.

A wide grin, showing off missing and rotten teeth. “Now we’re talking!” He patted Kid on the back and Maka could tell Kid exercised what willpower he had not to flinch from the gesture and smooth his jacket. “Look, since for us this is a standard return trip, we know how much fuel we ought to be spending. How about we settle on an agreed amount of Echoes for each extra unit of fuel spent-?”

“Echoes?” Maka asked. She wasn’t sure if she’d heard correctly, but echoes did not sound like a type of currency.

The man paused and frowned. “Yes? Something I said, miss?”

“We can offer American dollars,” Kid said with a frown.

The man paused again. He looked at each one of them carefully.

Then, he let out a bellowing laugh. “Pahahaha, you almost had me there! Didn’t peg you for a jokester!” He wiped a fake tear from his eye. “Oi, you got to listen to this,” he turned around and called out, waving the other sailors with his arm. “American dollars, hah!”

“It’s not a joke,” Kid said and crossed his arms. “Are echoes your currency? Surely, we can work out an exchange rate.”

The man laughed again. “There ya go with yer jokes again. Echoes are the only currency down ‘ere.” His grin faltered. “You lot sound like Surfacers-”

“Maybe we are...?” Maka hesitantly said. Even if what Kid had said before was true and they weren’t on Earth, well, their Earth, the fact that the man had recognized what American dollars were meant there were some similarities with their world.  “Um, we’re all from Nevada in the States. We don’t know how we ended up…” she looked around her, “here.”

The Captain gave them a long look. “You pulling my leg?”

“Not in the slightest,” Harvar replied.

The sailor looked around everyone else to see serious faces. “Oh dear,” he muttered. “Did you lot end up getting zee mad?”

“We’re being perfectly reasonable! You’re the one making demands for a currency that doesn’t exist-”

“Yup, zee mad. Salt’s curse or something,” he muttered to himself and looked them over once again as if seeing them for the first time. “Say, this ship’s supposed to have a max crew of 20, but I can see only…” his eyes darted between them, his mouth silently moving as he counted each face, “fourteen of ya, most of you kids. Where are yer parents?”

“That’s all of us,” Maka said. “There’s no one else on this ship.” Liz’s protests of ‘hey, I’m an adult’ went unheard.

The sailor stared at them with mute horror. “Salt’s curse alright,” he muttered to himself again. With a fallen expression, he shouted an order back at his ship and gave them a sorrowful look. “Come, let’s get you back to land. These waters ain’t safe enough for kids.”

“And the cost of fuel?” Maka asked.

The man waved his hand. “Don’t matter. You can make it up to me later with whatever extra supplies you have,” he said nonchalantly. “Or maybe give me a discount on the ship. Always wanted one meself even if it’s a lowly tramp streamer,” he said, though is tone was more jovial than serious. He turned around. “Oi, get your hooks ready! We’re hauling this ship with us,” he hollered.

“Where will you be taken up? What’s the closest port?”

“I thought I made that obvious by saying the Wolfstack docks -oh never mind,” the sailor muttered. He gestured at the light, where a few buildings could be made out in the darkness.

“Welcome back kids,” the man said with a smile, “to Fallen London.”

Chapter Text

London.

It was crowded, dark, and the parts that were close to the sea smelled like rotting fish. Unlike the modern capital Maka had seen once or twice during missions, this one seemed to be stuck in the 19^th century, with Victorian buildings of varying quality being the norm, tall brick chimneys letting out thick columns of black smoke and a sense that the random puddle you had accidentally stepped in was not made of rainwater but of something much less hygienic. Apparently, it was also the closest piece of civilization from where they had been stranded so Maka wasn’t about to complain.

After they were hauled to shore, the man responsible for their ‘rescue’, who had simply asked to be called Captain, gave them a few pointers about where to buy fuel and supplies, as well as a general run-down of how to dock and undock a ship, which Spartoi had achieved with moderate success. The Captain looked at their efforts, muttered a silent ‘Hail Mary’ and left them with a friendly wave.

“We made it to port, finally,” Kilik said and stretched, Fire and Thunder copying his gesture. “What do we do now?”

“We have to find out what sort of place this London is...” Maka said in thought, “and how we can get home.”

“Duh,” Liz said, hands akimbo. She looked at the winding alleyways and dark streets, her eyebrows settling into a scowl. “But where would we do that?”

“Perhaps a library?” Ox offered.

“Maybe we can ask the locals,” Tsubaki added.

“We can do both,” Soul said. “Let’s try to find a library for her royal geekiness,” he playfully said at Maka who gave him a light punch on the shoulder, “and we can ask the locals for information and directions.”

Plan in mind, the Spartoi gave each other confident looks as they ventured into the labyrinths of streets and alleyways, determined to make sense of this strange world and find a way back home.

Their determination did not last long.

“Fallen?” Maka repeated in confusion. “The city fell here from the surface?”

“Aye lassie!” the local loudly responded, an elderly woman with frayed clothes who smelled strongly of honey. “Been this way since it was abducted by bats!”

“Abducted? By bats?” Kid repeated.

“Storm taken your hearing boy?!” the woman said with her outdoor voice. “What are parents teaching their children these days, honestly when I was your age...!”

When Kid looked like he was about to say something rather impolite at the woman, Liz pulled him away with a pained grin. “You know what, you’re right, he’s deaf in one ear,” an ignored protest of ‘am not’, “thankyouforyourtimebye!”

The woman muttering something about ‘rude whippersnappers’ and the like but didn’t stop them from leaving. Instead, she adjusted the hem of her long skirt and made a beeline for the closest pub.

“The more I learn about this world the less I want to stay in it,” Maka said despairingly, using a discarded plinth as a makeshift chair.

“I can tell this isn’t the London we’re used to…” Ox said with his hand on his chin.

“No shit,” Liz said.  “Abducted by bats? Is everyone here high or something?”

“It’s not just that… So many things are missing or are different.” Ox crossed his hand and looked over the area they were in, a small run-down square with a pathetic lantern providing a faint light that barely illuminated the fungal-infested cobblestones. “This is like looking at a version of London from an alternate history book.”

Maka couldn’t bring herself to disagree no matter how outlandish Ox’s claim sounded.

“Ok, so we know that this place is under the Earth, not our Earth but some other alternate one, and it’s called Neath,” Maka began, summarizing the confusing information they had gleaned from the locals thus far. “And that the sea we were in is called the ‘Unterzee’,” The hard z’s sounded foreign in English, but it didn’t feel right for Maka to change the name of something. Also that everything else related to the black sea carried hard ‘z’s in its pronunciations, like zee, zailors and so on. “And that London ended up in the Neath a while ago... by being abducted by bats.”

“Pretty much,” Kim said with a nod.

“This place is giving me a headache,” Kid commented after a small period of silence and Maka empathized.

“Guys!” Kilik called after them, having wandered off and looking through the street signs and shops. “Look!” He pointed at a small collection of street signs, giving directions to and from London.

Going to where Kilik was, Maka walked in front of the sign and started reading off the places it listed. “Department of Menace Eradication, Wolfstack Docks, the Echo Bazaar and…” Maka narrowed her eyes to read the oldest and a tad worn part of the sign, “Summerset University?” Her eyes lit up. “Guys, we should go there!”

 “Maka you are such a nerd,” Soul said.

“Well, where else can we go?” Maka complained, at which Soul raised his hands in a pacifying gesture.

“Kidding, kidding,” Soul said with a grin, looking to where the sign directed them at. “Summerset University it is then.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The guard’s expression was anything but bright. He was standing in front of impressive iron gates, which overlooked a building half-way between a castle and cathedral.

“Who are you?” He asked, in a tone so sour it could curdle cheese.

“We are travellers, sir,” Maka spoke confidently, back straightened. “We’re hoping if we can look up a few things in your library-”

“These grounds are for students only,” the guard cut her off boredly.

“Then let me in,” Kim said with gusto, pushing her way in front. “I’m a student. No idea who these jokesters are.”

The guard stared at Kim. Maka would claim she saw the ghost of a smile on his lips, but she wasn’t sure if the man was even physically capable of expressing joy. “Normally, I would ask for your identification,” he said blankly, “but that is not needed in your case. You are not a student.”

“What?” Kim gave him a mock scandalized look. “How do you know that? I demand to see the Dean-”

“We do not admit women,” the guard said matter-of-factly. His upper lip curled. “Heavens forbid we become like the Benthics.”

There was a pause.

“You don’t do what?” Maka asked in a pointed tone.

“This is a fine establishment and we are selective about who we admit.” He looked over their group and if his expression could become sourer, it did. “Rabble are not accepted.”

“Oh come on!” Maka protested. “What century is this, the 1800's?!”

The guard gave Maka a strange look. “The year is 1889, of the reign of her Enduring Majesty.”

That gave the group pause again.

“1889?” Liz quietly hissed. “Fucking hell, were there working toilets in 1889-?”

“That's totally not cool man,” Soul said with crossed hands.

“Yeah,” Black Star added, “Tsubaki’s like one of the smartest people I know!”

“Aw, thanks-”

“I’m sure she is to you,” the guard blankly said, “which is why you’re not a student.” He gave a closer look at Black Star and scowled. “Not to mention that we also have a policy in accepting those from the Khanate…”

Black Star blinked as if trying to process what the guard had just said to him. He straightened his back and made a show of cracking his knuckles. “Did you just insult me, or Tsubaki?”

“I think both-”

Before anyone could blink, Black Star’s arm was well on its way to connecting with the guard’s jaw. “You bas-!”

Tsubaki held his arm, probably one of the few people among the group that had the physical strength to do that. The guard hadn’t even blinked. “Black Star, no-”

“But he called us stupid!”

Tsubaki let out a tired sigh. “Just let it go…”

“I ask that you leave the premises or I will alert the authorities.” Any hint of emotion was gone from the guard’s voice, making the threat loud and clear. Black Star grit his teeth, ready to lunge at the guard while everyone else’s poses had shifted to various degrees of hostility and alertness.

“Let’s just go guys,” Maka said, trying her best to hide her disappointment.

“Yeah, I bet their library has all the boring stuff anyways!” Soul yelled as their group walked away. The guard did not stir from his post.

“I’m sure if need be we can break in,” Kid offered in a low voice. “Though we’ll have to be subtle-”

“Hey, guard!” Black Star called out to everyone’s surprise. “Alert this!”

In one swift motion, Black Star had leaned down, his back facing the guard, gotten hold of the hem of his trousers and underpants, and lowered it to his upper thighs.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

An hour later, an exhausted group of teens rested in a dark alley, away from light and particularly the bulky flashlights carried by the Constabularies.

“Not that I disagreed, but,” an out-of-breath Kid said as he turned to Black Star, “did you really have to moon him?”

“No one insults Tsubaki and gets away with it.” Blackstar paused and frowned in thought. “I wanted to punch him but Sid keeps saying that I always resort to violence to solve my problems and that's not ‘proper behaviour’ or whatever.”

Kid shook his head. “Because showing your buttocks to someone is extremely proper behaviour…”

“It was funny as hell!” Patty said with a giggle, a remnant of a more frantic and loud laughter. That laughter had been the cause of the Constabularies homing into their location more than once, so Patty had done her best to restrain it, resulting in her shoulders moving up and down like well-oiled pistons.

“Look, dude,” an equally breathless Liz said, “Personally, all I’m asking is that next time you want to flash someone, give us a heads up so I can join too.”

“Liz,” Kid said in a deadpan tone.

“Hell yeah, me too.”

“Soul,” Maka said in an equally deadpan tone.

“At least we're lucky enough we ended up in the later part of the 19th century,” a relieved Kilik said, brushing the sweat from his brow.

“Why's that?” Ox asked.

Kilik gave Ox his driest look and gestured to himself and the twins resting next to him, making a show of pinching his black skin. “Dude.”

Ox blushed in embarrassment. “Fair point.”

“Crying out loud,” Kim groaned as she clutched her side. “As if travelling to a wonky city looking like Victorian England wasn’t bad enough, did they have to have the same stupid morals as well? Thought I’d never have to deal with that admission shit ever since the DWMA-”

“The DWMA has never discriminated against its students,” Kid spoke up. “We never barred admissions because of gender, ethnic origin or any such characteristics.”

“No just witch-ness,” Kim shot back in a pointed tone. “Side’s the Academy is run by the Grim Reaper.” She gave Kid a look. “You’re stupid, but not human-stupid.”

“…I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“So uh,” Soul began, “new plan?”

“The guard mentioned something about Benthics,” Jackie said.

“Another University?”  Harvar asked.

Kilik shrugged. “Can’t hurt to ask around.”

So they did until a wiry woman pointed them to another part of London, one where the cookie-cutter middle-class Victorian houses gave way to colourful shops, buildings that cheerfully defied engineering laws and architecture that was anything but English.

“Benthic University,” Maka read out a large placard with a huge arrow pointing to a fenced building in the distance.

“Women, soulless and demons permitted?” Kid asked, reading the words beneath the University’s title.

“At least we won’t have to deal with another Mr Patriarchy,” Kim grumbled and moved where the giant arrow pointed, the rest of the Spartoi following behind her.

When they reached the University, they saw another guard outside of it, similar to the other one though this one’s frame was feminine. She stood in front of a decorated set of iron gates. The building behind her was a patchwork of materials, bigger than the other University but looking as if it was held together by the Victorian equivalent of duct tape and the hopes and dreams of the scholars scuttling around it.

“You cannot enter,” the guard said as soon as they approached.

“Why not?” Maka scowled. “The sign says that you admit women-”

“Though we are an egalitarian place of learning, we do require you make the proper offering to gain access to our facilities,” the guard said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

“What do we need to give you to gain access?” Maka asked.

“A secret.” She gave them a toothy smile. “The source of all good.”

Maka frowned. “A secret? How do you know what’s a secret and what’s not?”

The guard gave Maka a knowing smirk. “There are ways.”

“We are not of this world,” Kim tiredly said, earning her a few wide-eyes looks which she disregarded, “and we appeared stranded on a boat. That enough of a secret for ya?”

“A boat you say…” the guard muttered, disregarding everything else as if it was as boring as claiming that the sky is blue. “So you have travelled to the Unterzee?”

“…Yes?” Maka hesitantly asked.

“Well then. If you are zailors I suppose this changes things.” She stepped aside, pulled out a keychain with a seemingly endless row of keys and unlocked the door, the iron gates making a horrifying sound as they moved, like a starved cat. “Follow me.”

Reluctantly, they all did so.

Chapter Text

“Hello, hello!” A shadowed figure greeted them as the guard left the room and closed the door behind her.

The entirety of Spartoi had been cramped into what looked like a tiny office space, complete with a wide desk, a decorative plant and too few chairs for any of them to sit without appearing rude and accidentally elbowing someone in the ribs.

None of that seemed to bother the initial sole occupant of the room who stepped out of the dark corner of the office, a person of ambiguous gender with wide gleaming eyes, and an unhinged smirk. They had shoulder-length blonde hair and wore a dark cap and beige clothes which blended in with the beige nondescript walls.

“Who are you?” Maka asked, suppressing the urge to take a step back from that unhinged smirk and those hungry eyes that looked at her as if she as a tasty morsel.

“I’m a Scholar!” the person cheerfully exclaimed. “In charge of Acquisitions.” They tipped their hat, their smile never leaving their face. “I’ve been informed you’re zailors,” they said, pronouncing the world sailor in the same peculiar way the guard had done. “What can I do to help?”

“We need information,” Maka said. “We don’t know where we are, and how we ended up here and we wish to return home,” she explained, being tactful enough to leave out the ‘and we’re pretty sure we got transported into a different Earth altogether’. She had to ease the Scholar into this.

“Home? Where is that?” Their head jerked to the side as if they were a robot in desperate need of oiled hinges. “Some of you look like you could be from the Khanate. Others from the Elder Continent…” Their fingers tapped rapidly on the desk. “Maybe your dwellings are among the many moving islands of the Neath? Or perhaps…” They leaned right into Maka’s personal space causing her to actually take a step back in this time and accidentally step on Soul’s foot. “Are you from the East?”

“We’re… not sure…?” Maka hesitantly said, thinking of how to best express their situation without sounding like an asylum inmate.

“This isn’t our world.” Kid solved that thought exercise the same way Alexander the Great untied the Gordian knot; by not bothering to solve it at all.

The Scholar pouted like a child being shown a difficult math problem. “Not your world? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“I’m being very literal,” Kid said in a deadpan voice. “We are from a different Earth. One where London has not fallen and, as far as we are aware, there is no such thing as the Neath.”

“Oh. Oh.” They gave the group a smile that showed off each individual tooth. “Well, just for that I’m more than happy to help! Not of this Earth, oh I haven’t met anyone like you, how exciting!”

“Will you help us then?” Tsubaki asked with a hopeful smile.

“Of course I want to help, and I can do so by providing fuel, supplies and funding, rumours, and even old charts…” their voice trailed off meaningfully.

“But?” Kid asked with crossed hands.

“A simple favour,” the Scholar giddily said. “Share with me your knowledge and curiosities.”

Maka blinked. “Huh?”

The Scholar gave them a toothy grin. “Memories of Distant Shores, Tales of terror, Intriguing Snippets,” they said with wild gestures. “I wish to know of your world… and of your stories.”

So they did. They began by saying the basics, that they lived in the United States -the Scholar scribbled incessantly at that part- but were all from different parts of the world -at which point the Scholar asked where each member was from and took careful notes. They had barely gotten over explaining the basic concepts of their world when the Scholar put up a hand, removed their hat and picked up a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from their brow.

“Weapons? Witches? Gods?” They muttered to themselves. “Oh my, oh my!”

“We can show you our Weapon forms!” Patty exclaimed.

The Scholar looked at them with wide eyes. “You are…? Yes! Please do so! I will reward you greatly!”

Maka and Soul eyes each other. In a second, Maka held out her hand and Soul transformed into his Weapon form, careful that he didn’t accidentally hit anyone. After Soul, Tsubaki transformed into her katana form, followed by Liz and Patty’s simultaneous transformations. Fire and Thunder followed after them, with Harvar and Jacqueline adopting their Weapon forms shortly after.

The Scholar clapped at each performance like an overly-excited child. “Magnificent! Otherworldly!”

The Meisters were considerably less enthusiastic, with some, like Kim and Kid eyeing the scholar with unreadable expressions.

The Scholar took a delicate step towards Maka, their eyes fixated on Soul’s Weapon form. “Can I touch you?”

“Uh,” The Scholar jumped when Soul’s reluctant face appeared on the blade, “sure I guess.”

The Scholar removed their chewed white glove and tenderly ran a finger along the metal, their mouth forming a perfect ‘o’. “Such smooth metal. More perfect than any metalsmith can craft!” Their eyes darted between Maka and Soul. “Can I hold you?”

“Eh, it’s safer for you if you don’t,” Soul said, while giving Maka a look that said ‘don’t you dare hand me over to that maniac’.

“Safer?” They blinked. “What dangers are there in wielding you?”

“It applies to all Weapons actually,” Maka said, carefully manoeuvring Soul away from the Scholar’s reach. “Weapons can be wielded by Meisters. In our group, the Meisters are me, Black Star, Kid, Kilik, Ox and Kim,” she continued, pointing at each individual. “However, there has to be a connection between the two, and it has to be balanced to be safe. For a safe connection, the Soul Wavelengths between a Meister and a Weapon must match.”

“Soul Wavelengths?” The Scholars asked, already having retreated to their desk and scribbling like a mad person.

“It’s the energy emitted by a soul,” Kid quickly said.

“I see…” More frantic scribbling. “What happens if there isn’t a match?”

“Best case scenario you wouldn’t be able to lift the Weapon,” Liz said nonchalantly.

“And worst case scenario?” When Maka didn’t respond, their grin widened. “Oh, I sense a Tale of Terror coming…”

“Your hands may burn,” Soul said in a low voice. “If sharp, the Weapon may cut you, or backfire in some other way. Your energy keeps getting drained.”

“Oh my, how frightful!” the Scholar said, completely oblivious to the colder atmosphere in the room. “Well, I may thirst for knowledge but I’m not such a daredevil, not yet!” A laugh that lasted just a second too long. “And there are so many more things I want to ask! In your stories, you mentioned Witches-!

“I’m a Witch,” Kim immediately said, easing up some of the discomfort caused by the Scholar’s earlier questions. She strutted forwards with an air of nonchalance. “Trust me, it ain’t that impressive.”

“Fascinating,” the Scholar locked eyes with Kim, and then looked at her again as if seeing her for the first time. Jackie, who was grasped in Kim’s right hand, had her scowling face appear on the upper-side of her form and the edges of her lantern grew warm. “You can perform magic then? What kinds? Does your kind practice certain rituals-?”

“As I was saying,” Kim rudely cut the scholar off, but they didn’t seem to mind, “I got magic. Specifically, Regeneration magic.” Kim eyes a vase on a decorative table in the room and gave them a sly grin. “A demonstration.”

She knocked the vase off the table, which shattered into countless fine pieces upon hitting the floor.

The Scholar made a sound as if they’d been shot. “No! That was made of the finest Khanate porcelain-!”

The Scholar paused when the pieces glowed a faint turquoise. Their eyes widened further when the pieces came together, formed a vase, and then the cracks disappeared, leaving it as it was seconds ago. They looked up at Kim who had a triumphant smirk, a faint turquoise glow slowly disappearing from her fingers.

“Ta-da.”

The Scholar clapped enthusiastically at the display. Maka swore she saw tears in their eyes. “Marvellous, absolutely marvellous! I’m utterly without words!”

“Oh this ain’t nothing,” Kim said, nudging Kid. “Kid here is-”

“Kim,” Kid cut her off in a tone suggesting she’d better stop talking.

Kim frowned. “Why not? I gave away my secret-”

“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Maka heard Kid whisper to Kim. “I’ve been checking them with my Soul Perception while you talked. Their mind is… delicate.”

Maka frowned and activated her Soul Perception. Surely enough, she saw the Scholar’s soul, an excited and exuberant orb, perhaps a bit too enthusiastic-

“What is it?” the Scholar said, looking between the Witch and Grim Reaper. “What is the secret? Or is an enigma, a searing one-?”

“I’m afraid it’ll remain a secret for now,” Kid good-naturedly said, giving the Scholar a polite smile.

The Scholar gave Kid a pout. “Such a shame. But I suppose I’ve grown greedy. after all, I’m already brimming with tales...” They clutched their heart as if in pain. “Oh, so much knowledge! Such extraordinary implications! Such a searing enigma! Yet still not enough…” They deflated like a popped balloon. “Ah and your payment of course.”

The Scholar dug into his cabinets. He withdrew a small pile of mall rectangular papers of different size and shapes. “Coupons for supplies and fuel,” they explained. “I’ve been gathering them from the Unexpurgated Gazette but never found much use for them. And here,” they took out a pouch which they filled to the brim with gold coins glowing a soft green hue. “Echoes for your trouble and to cover your expenses.”

“Thanks,” Maka said, taking the coupons and pouch, the latter of which she found was surprisingly heavy. “But what we’re really after is finding a way to return home. Do you know anyone or any place that we could go to?”

“Hm, let me think...” The Scholar put a hand on their chin, deep in thought. “I suppose I do know a few things that may help guide you, though they’re not much, I’m afraid.”

He dug into his cabinets again, this time taking out an oversized notebook, with paper, bookmarks and a thousand other types of paper stationery poking out of it.

“Fret not for my lack of knowledge!” the Scholar announced, leafing through the notebook as so fast Maka couldn’t read a single word. “Here are places that may have the answers you seek!”

They held up one hand and out up one finger. “Irem! A land of riddles, said to be the getaway to the land of dreams. Payment is in coffee and secrets.”

They put up a second finger. “The Avid Horizon, the only way North. More feeble minds are glad the gate remains unopened,” the Scholar said and rolled their eyes, “but perhaps that place is where your world lies. They say a High Wilderness is behind those frozen pillars…”

The Scholar lifted a third finger. “Frostfound.” Their eyes gleamed like a well-polished dagger. “All manner of secrets can be unearthed there. Perhaps, one day when I have enough…” Their voice trailed off and they looked somewhere far away, and for a second Maka was glad they were looking away. “Ah but I am daydreaming. Perhaps there you can uncover the secrets you seek...”

The fourth finger was put up with some hesitation. “Perhaps… you should also visit Adam’s way in the South. From there you can travel into the Elder Continent... if that is the way to your world. They say one of the Gods of the zee lived there! Perhaps you can even petition it! Be sure to come back and tell me all about it if you do! And then there is…”

The fifth finger was put up and the Scholar lowered their hand.

“Kingeater’s Castle. The end of the world.” Any expression they had was gone, replaced by a blank mask. “If one was to believe the port reports of half-mad zee captains that is,” the Scholar continued and even if their grin looked as the man ones they had given the Spartoi before, Maka swore she felt something missing from it.

“Any dangers?” Maka asked, eager to change the subject.

“Oh, plenty! I’ve been told stories of swarms of dreadfully ordinary bats, giant anglercrabs, Jillyfish, the Blue Prophets, Lorn flukes…” The Scholar went through many different names, so many that Maka felt her head hurt. From the corner of her eye, she saw Liz’s expression change from a frown, to a crestfallen expression to one of outright denial.

“And then there are the ships and monsters shining with Light…” the Scholar said mystified. “I do not know why but I’ve heard it's best to stay away from them.” They gave the Spartoi a casual shrug. “Who knows if that’s the correct course of action.”

“Thank you for the information,” Kid spoke up and gave the Scholar a curt bow. “We’ll be sure to make use of it.”

“Farewell,” the Scholar said as they left the room. “You have certainly put a dent in my budget!” They said with a wide grin just before they disappeared from Maka’s line of sight. “Come back with your stories and with your Curiosities!”

“What an alarming person,” Kid muttered as they left Benthic University and Maka couldn’t help but agree.

Chapter Text

“We’ll need a captain,” Kim spoke up. Upon seeing everyone else’s lost looks, she gave them a frown, hands akimbo. “If we’re gonna actually do the sailing thing we’ll need a captain. Basic stuff. Preferably, someone with good teamwork and leadership skills.”

All eyes turned to Maka.

The girl turned a bright red. “Me? But I don’t know how to sail a ship…”

Kim scoffed. “As if anyone else here does. What you have to do is coordinate us all. You’re good at that.”

“Um actually,” Ox spoke up. “I may have some experience sailing…”

Kim gave him a calculating look. “Do you?”

“My family owns a yacht,” Ox said. “At summer, we use it to take trips around the Mediterranean-”

“Yeah, but your leadership skills suck,” Kim said matter-of-factly.

Ox clutched his heart in pain. “Hearing this from you is extra painful…”

“Well, I have been studying the Handbook for Captains the Scholar gave us…” Maka muttered. A metaphorical light bulb turned on in her head and she turned to the almost bald boy. “Ox, you can be First Officer!”

“Yes!” Ox said with a fist pump. “First Officer sounds neat.”

“Now, what we need are a cook, a gunnery officer, a doctor, an engineer and a navigator,” Maka recited off the top of her head.

“I can be the cook,” Tsubaki offered and no one dared raise an objection. Among them, Tsubaki’s meals were the best and, in Maka’s opinion, unparalleled to the cooking disaster that was Soul.

“We then need a gunnery officer.”

“Oh, me, me, pick me!” Patty jumped up and down, her hand up.

“Patty,” Maka decided, causing the younger Thompson to whoop with joy. “And Liz,” Maka added, wanting to make sure the ship would stay in one piece.

“Yay, we’ll work together sis!”

“Aye, aye captain,” Liz said with a mock salute.

“Then we need a doctor,” Maka continued.

“That should be obvious enough,” Kim said gesturing to herself. “My Regeneration magic can do the trick.” A mocking smirk. “Besides, who here can fix up a broken leg in seconds?” Kid hesitantly raised his hand. “In humans.” Kid promptly lowered his hand.

Maka couldn't argue against Kim’s logic. “Then we also need a chief engineer.”

Soul scratched his neck. “Uh, I know how to fix a motorcycle. Does that count?”

Maka nodded. “Yes, we can work it out.”  She looked at the group.  “All that’s left is a navigator.”

“If I may,” Kid spoke up, “I do have a rough idea of how to work navigational instruments. And, I do not get easily lost.”

“And with our combined Soul Perception, we should be able to locate inhabited islands within a certain range, as well as avoid any dangers,” Maka added in thought and gave Kid a confident smile. “Sure.”

“What will the great Black Star do?!” Black Star said as he began to do warm-up exercise to release pent-up energy. “I can’t sit around doing nothing!”

“Well,” Maka said, a bit lost. “I guess we’ll need someone to shovel coal,” she hesitantly suggested. “It-”

“Shovel coal?!” Black star protested. “Are you serious?!”

“If I remember correctly,” Maka diplomatically continued, “shovelling coal is one of the hardest jobs there are on a ship. You have to be strong to pick up lots of coal, have great endurance so you can do this for long stretches of time, as well as withstand the heat.” She paused, her expression serious. “It’s a job left only to the strongest-”

“Where’s the engine and my shovel?!” Black Star asked and marched below deck, barely sparing a glance at anyone. “I’ll shovel so much coal, I’ll turn this ship into a speedboat, yahoo!”

“I’ll go load supplies,” Kilik said and Tsubaki followed him after a concerned glance at the stairs where Black Star disappeared under.

“So, where will we set sail for, Captain Maka?” Ox said, causing Maka to blush. “That Scholar mentioned a few locations, all of them intriguing…”

“We need to get a map first,” Maka said.

“I’m on it,” Kid said and left the ship while Ox went back to instructing Harvar and Jacqueline how to prepare the ship.

 “I’ll go read the Captain’s Handbook again.” With a content smile, Maka retreated to the Captain’s quarters, a spacious room with an actual bed, picked up a small green book and immersed herself in its mildly helpful guidance.

A few minutes later, a piercing yell caused Maka to yelp and almost drop her book. She looked out the cabin window, towards the sound of Kid’s alarmingly loud voice.

“What do you mean, the islands change positions?!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“Kid?” Maka asked.

She got a grumble as a response.

“Kid?” Maka pushed.

“This is ridiculous,” Kid muttered, looking away from a blank map they had been given in and told to fill for themselves. “The ‘Alteration,’ London being abducted by bats, an underground sea!” His voice steadily rose, to the point of shouting. “We ended up in a crazy world and the sooner we get back to ours, the better.”

From the corner of her eye, Maka spied Liz making her way towards the Captain’s cabin. When Liz saw Kid was in there as well, she didn’t even bother knocking, opening the door and casually walking in.

“Islands aren't supposed to change positions, this arrangement is nonsense!” Kid continued his rant unconcerned at Liz’s presence. “If I find the one responsible for this, I will have words-!”

“Okay, Mr Precise and Perfect, we get it, this place is chaotic,” Liz said as she leaned in the cabin. Kid gave an indignant huff and folded his arms but did not respond. Looking back at the Unterzee, Liz clicked her tongue and looked around in annoyance. “By the way, Maka, can’t this ship go any faster? I think I saw an ant pass us by on land.”

“The captain’s handbook mentioned something about Full Power,” Maka said and gestured at the part of her cabin that had a giant window overlooking the sea, which contained a single wooden stand with only one button it. Said button was large, round, and painted a bright red, clearly claiming it was not to be used lightly. “It said it can be used to make the ship go faster but-”

“Alright!” With renewed spirit, Liz did exactly that and pressed the button.

The entire ship groaned like a man on their deathbed. Hinges creaked and chimneys heaved. There was a barely perceptible increase of their speed and a greatly perceptible decrease in trust that the ship wouldn’t break in two.

The three exited the cabin and looked at the sides of the ship. They were barely pacified when they found out there were no raging fires as the ship let out another groan and Maka swore she heard the sound of bolts coming off from their places.

“Liz,” Kid said in a flat tone. “What did you do-?”

“Is everything alright?” Tsubaki called out from below deck.

“Maka said it’d go faster,” Liz protested.

“At the risk of our engines exploding!”

“Engines exploding...?” Tsubaki looked at the stairs wide-eyed. “Black Star!” And with that, she was gone.

“Oi, can we keep this hunk of junk in one piece while on the zee ya idiots?!” Kim yelled, her flustered face appearing from one of the cabin windows. “My magic can’t fix an entire ship ya know!”

“It’s her fault-”

“Hey, you didn’t tell me the risks-!”

“I tried-!”

“Stop it the both of ya, you’re giving your doctor a headache-!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“Hey, it’s that lightship again!” Kilik said and waved where the Captain’s cabin was. “Oi, Maka!”

“We’re heading there,” Kid called out from a lower deck. His expression fell. “Hopefully we won’t crash into them.”

Fortunately, they did not, though they had to be given a few pointers by the zailors on the lightship on how to position themselves properly.

“Oi, it’s you lads again!” a familiar man greeted them once they boarded the lightship. He looked much better than before. A gash on his arm had been sutured and parts of his palm and fingers were bandaged. His was hair well-trimmed and his beard freshly-shaved. He didn’t even smell of fish yet. “Didn’t expect to see you out at the zee so soon!”

“We’re full of surprises,” Maka sheepishly said. “Is this where you stay?”

“Aye,” the Captain said with a smile. “Figured after having us all the way down between Port Carnelian and Adam’s Way, it was due time for us to get our next assignment right next to London.” His face fell. “I feel sorry for the poor souls that have to take our place though, I really do. The zee there was barren and occasionally you’d get wax all over ya-”

The man didn’t appear to be stopping any time and Maka didn’t particularly want him to. Wax? At sea? Also, wasn’t Adam’s Way one of the location the Scholar had advised them to visit?

“We’d like to thank you for before,” Kid spoke up. “We have coupons, and echoes to repay you for your help.”

The man gave them a sincerely surprised look. “Mighty kind of ya. We probably have more use of the Echoes when we get to port though, and these coupons have an expiration date even if it’s years after.” His face became rueful. “We’re staying here a while and even if we have light, it ain’t easy being so long at the zee… Ah, I’m rambling. What can I do for ya? Ah but first,” he interrupted himself again and looked them over. “Who is the captain of that fine ship?”

“I am,” Maka said with some embarrassment, which only magnified when she realized the man didn’t even know her name -even if she didn’t know his either. “My name is Maka Albarn.”

“Ah, a fellow captain I see,” the man said with a grin.

“You’re a captain too?” Maka asked in surprise.

“‘Course I am! What, did you think I was boasting before? Or is it that I don’t look the part?” the man said good-naturedly and let out a bellowing laugh. “Well then, Capt’n Albarn, where have you set sail for? There was an Alteration the other day, so I’m lost the moment you ask me of what’s further East but can give you a few pointers if you’re headed at the Elder Continent or follow the West coast.”

“Thank you. We’re looking for a few places actually.”

“List ‘em off then!”

Maka looked back at the Spartoi who gave her varying looks of encouragement. Kid even handed her the blank map and a pencil, which Maka then passed to the Captain. “To begin with, we’re looking for Adam’s Way.”

“Ah, that old place,” the Captain remarked and marked a general area on the bottom corner of the map. “If you go down South and follow the Elder Continent’s shoreline you can’t miss it. But make sure you bring news, either of London, of Hell or others, because they won’t let you in otherwise.”

Maka nodded, repeating the information in her head so she wouldn’t forget it. They had news of London. Sort of. “The next place we’re looking for is Irem.”

“Ah, the City of Pillars,” the Captain said with a sour expression and circled the top-right hand corner of the map. “Always lies -or has lain, or will lay, I’m not sure, went there only once yet that place still gives me a headache just thinking about it… anyways, it’s North East.” He tapped the circled area with the pencil. “You’ll recognise it from the Pillars.”

“Frostfound,” Maka said next.

“Why on Stone’s name…” With a mutter, the Captain drew a wide circle of the upper part of the map. “It’s somewhere North. It’s one of the islands that move so I can’t help much there. But, if you don’t stray past the icebergs, you’re bound to see it. The place is… noticeable.”

“The next place on our list is the Avid Horizon …”

The Captain paled. “Why in Salt’s name are you going at that place?”

“Just tell us where it is,” Liz spoke up and pinched her nose.

The Captain didn’t even pick the pencil. “North. It’s always North.”

“And finally,” Maka said, “Kingeater’s Castle.”

At this, any color that was left on the Captain’s face drained completely. He looked up at Maka, his face a blank mask. “What exactly are you searching for?”

“Um,” ‘a way home’ was her instinctive response, but Maka squashed it. The Scholar’s overly enthusiastic reaction to them and their story was still vivid in her memories. “I’m not sure we should tell you.”

“I see.” The Captain let out a sigh. “Well, let it never be said that I don’t warn you. These are some strange and downright nasty places you’re headed to.” He took the pencil and very carefully circled the bottom-right corner of the map as if his life depended on it. “Kingeater’s castle is South East, opposite of Irem. I don’t want to think what any person would do there, or why you’d even want to go, so let’s keep it at that.” He gave Maka a humorless smile. “Any other deadly locations you’d like to venture to?”

“For a Captain, you don’t seem very fond of the sea,” Soul said.

The Captain gave them a barked laughter. “Well, what can I say. The zee is vast and sunless but that’s what draws me to it. Ya never know what to expect-”

A glimmer of light. A terrible, hate-filled mechanical growl.

“Dawn Machine waking!”

Everyone fell down and covered their eyes. Maka noted her friends do the same so she did. The light turned her eyelids red and warmed her skin. The feeling lasted forever yet it couldn’t have been more than a second later when the light faded and the infernal noise gave way to the gentle lapping of the sea.

Maka opened her eyes to groans and whispers. Everyone was disoriented. She could swear the lightship was missing a few sailors.

Stomach lurching, Maka did a quick headcount of the Spartoi. No one was missing, she noted with relief and everyone seemed to be safe and sound-

“That was…”

Among the sea of confused people, there was one figure that was unnaturally immobile, standing against the light-ship’s railing.

“Kid?” Maka carefully approached him. When she got close enough she noticed that the Grim Reaper was wide-eyed, staring at where that strange light came.

“…no mistaking it,” Kid kept muttering to himself. “But how…?”

“Kid!” Maka shook him, and he finally seemed to take note of her. “What was that?”

The Grim Reaper gulped and looked away.

“The Madness of Order.”

Chapter Text

The ship was quiet.

They had left the lightship soon after that strange event. The Captain’s face had been drawn when he took a headcount of his sailors which turned up short. He had shaken his head and had muttered some sort of prayer and then had mechanically ordered his men and women to check up on the light-ship’s integrity.

“It’s gotten more frequent,” the Captain had muttered. After Maka had taken a hesitant step forward to ask what he knew, the Captain had given them a wide-look as if he’s forgotten their existence and sent them off. The Spartoi hadn’t objected.

“Where are we headed to now?” Soul asked, breaking the grim silence that had befallen their ship.

“Mutton Island,” Maka said, looking over the chart the Captain had scribbled on. Before they had left he had also noted some other unmoving islands and ports on the map along with some basic intel on them, of which Mutton island was included as just Southeast of London. He had also given them a brief word about port reports which they could turn to the Admiralty in London for extra cash. Harvar had paid attention to most of that though, so Maka couldn’t exactly recall the finer details. “Apparently, it used to be a London suburb before the city fell.”

“I see it in the distance,” Kilik said, narrowing his eyes.

The area was foggy, but if Maka concentrated she saw a small island in the distance. Huts and chimneys crossed one are, and on the side, away from the village, stood a lonely hill.

“Looks creepy,” Liz said with a shiver.

“Looks like an ordinary English village,” Ox protested.

“Ordinary English villages are creepy then,” Liz shot back.

As they two continued debating the inherent creepiness of English villages, Maka politely excused herself and wandered the ship. She eventually came across a particular thin figure, whose gaze had been fixed South ever since they left the lightship.

“Kid?”

“Yes?” the Grim reaper distractedly said. Ever since they had left the ship he had been in a state of minor disorientation. Though he had given them proper instruction on how to reach Mutton island, his gaze was empty and Maka couldn’t help but worry.

Maka leaned towards him conspiratorially. “What you said before,” she whispered, “when the light came…” Maka had been the only one to hear Kid’s words. She hadn’t told anyone else for fear of creating panic.

Kid shook his head. “I must have been imagining things.”

Maka frowned. If they had to deal with some sort of Madness again, the others had to know. Surely Kid was aware of that. “But you said-”

“It wasn’t it,” the Grim Reaper quickly said, as if reassuring himself. “I know it wasn’t it.”

“How?”

Kid placed a hand on his heart. “Because I can feel it coiling in frustration.” He tapped his finger against the railing. Maka didn’t count; she knew there were eight taps. “It must have been something similar that reminded me of it.” He tilted his head. “Which is still worrying but I don’t have to worry about this world having a Great Old One of Order with differing views on Order.”

Maka suppressed a shiver. Kid’s words brought to mind their fight with Asura. If they had to do something like that again… Would there be another Crona to-?

“We’re in docking position!” Ox’s voice came from the deck and Maka stopped her grim line of thought. They had a port to dock to.

Mutton Island’s dock was empty and eerily quiet when they arrived. The air was still as if the presence of wind was forbidden.

“We’re off to a great start…” Liz murmured, keeping close to Kid and Patty as the Spartoi left the dock and walked towards the village. There, half the windows were dark and all the houses quiet. A few faint columns of smoke rose from a few old brick chimneys. “Is a normal village supposed to be this quiet?” she hissed to Ox.

“Like I’d know! I grew up in the city,” Ox protested. “But something unusual is definitely going on.”

“Just ‘something unusual’ he says,” Liz grumbled under her breath. She eyed the bushes and empty windows as if something was about to lunge at her at a moment’s notice.

“I can sense a group of souls,” Maka said. She gestured in a small building near the hillside, surrounded by houses and near an empty park.

“Uh huh,” Liz drily said. “Well, I’m not going any further in that direction,” she hissed in protest.

Maka closed her eyes and concentrated. A rustic jingle greeted her ears.

Frowning, Maka headed towards the source of the sound, a confused Soul and reluctant Liz following after her along with everyone else. Eventually, they saw a lonely pub on the edge of a village. An old worn sign proclaimed it to be the ‘Cock and Magpie’, perhaps one of the most stereotypical names for a rural English pub.

Thick coils of smoke rose from the pub’s well-maintained chimney. The exterior was spotless, yet worn with age. The windows shone with bright light and a loud, raucous singing came from within it, accompanied by a jangling piano in desperate need of a tune-up.

“Are they celebrating something?” Tsubaki asked. “Maybe we shouldn’t disturb them…”

“Nonsense!” Blackstar yelled, causing everyone else to shush at him. “If they’re celebrating, us being here should only make it better!” Blackstar whispered in the loudest way possible. “I say we go!”

And with that he as off.

“Black Star, wait…” And Tsubaki was off too.

With a sigh, Maka followed after them, Soul behind her.

“You’re not coming?”

Maka turned around to see Ox talking to Kim and Jackie, who had not budged from their positions.

“Nah,” Kim said casually. “You go play explorers all you want. I’m going back to guard the ship in case someone tries to steal our fuel or supplies.”

“Hey Kid, can we go back too~?” Liz begged, making her tone as sweet as possible which sounded uncharacteristic and plain wrong in Maka’s ears.

“We’ll be fine, Liz,” Kid said with a sigh and headed towards the pub.

“Fine my ass…” Liz grumbled but followed Kid nonetheless.

“Let’s go too,” Soul said, and Maka gave him a sound of agreement. The two turned and walked towards the pub.

The wind screamed unexpectedly, like a god cut in half, urging them to reach the pub. As they went closer, Maka noticed the windows were a fiery red from numerous candle-flames. The singing within it was exuberant, joyful, if not off-key, perhaps to match the piano.

Black Star slammed the door open and froze in place, his joyful expression replaced by a vacant one. Tsubaki next to him had a similar reaction, the only difference was her expression being one of horrified shock.

“Wait!” Maka called, finally catching up to the two and looking over their shoulders to see what had caused such an unusual reaction.

Maka felt the floor drop from under her feet.

The singing had long stopped. The villagers, all various stereotypes of what Maka imagined English villagers looked like, all turned and stared at the intruders. Judging from their numbers, it was as if the entire village had been crammed into the tiny taproom of the pub.

Yet Maka didn’t care about that. She didn’t have time to think about the logistics of the room, nor their beady unreadable faces. She ignored the presence of the others behind her, freezing as they registered the same sight she did. Maka’s attention had been taken hostage by an old wooden table, looking ready to collapse by the sheer weight it was holding. Plates were filled with giant beans, peas the size of bullets, and potatoes that were as golden as the sun.

And in the center of it all was a massive roasting dish in which a cooked human carcass sizzled and dribbled with juices, parts of it already cut off.

 “Ah.” The simple comment came from an oversized man holding a butcher’s knife who was cutting the cooked human’s arm into thin ham-like slices. He lifted the knife, dripping with blood and fat. “Regrettable timing. Capture them, brothers and sisters. We'll string them in the well, in anticipation of less fortunate times-”

“Maka!” Soul yelled and before Maka’s being could process what was happening, she was clutching Soul’s Weapon form, its blade pointed at the villagers. The other Weapons followed suit, with scared whines mixed with curses in Liz’s case or mute horror in Tsubaki’s.

Evidently, the villagers did not expect that transformation. Their eyes went wide at the light, and even wider when they saw scythes, chains, spears and guns pointed their way.

The Chef pointed his knife at them. “Get them!”

Things became a bit chaotic after that. Maka swung Soul and sent a villager crashing into a group of her compatriots, all of them falling down like a twisted version of dominos. One of Kid’s bullets went astray- or maybe not since, it hit one of the table’s legs, causing it to collapse and drip its piping hot human juices into the Chef’s leg, burning through trousers and flesh.

“Run!” A voice rung out, whose origins Maka couldn’t tell. They bolted into the street and made a beeline for the ship, accompanied by a small horde of red-faced and cutlery-wielding villagers.

“For the record,” Kid yelled amongst the cacophony, “There is no need to kill them-”

“Have you gone mad?!” Liz shouted, echoing the sentiment of their group, “these people are fucking cannibals-”

“Their souls are not corrupted!” Kid shot back. “Look, when we escape, we can report them to the authorities-!”

“Watch out!” Ox yelled just in time to see more villagers show up from the hill, wielding torches, pitchforks and all other sorts of farming equipment.

Maka used Soul’s blunt end to send the nearest local into a crowd of others. The maneuver took more time than simply swing Soul’s blade and cut him in half, but Maka didn’t mind.

“We have more skill than any of them!” Maka reassured the others. “Kilik! Go and get the ship ready! We’ll cover you!”

Kilik nodded and ran towards the dock as the rest of them stood side by side forming a semicircle. Locals appeared from every bush, eyeing them hungrily like tasty little morsels.

“Still look like a goddamn ordinary village to you, Ox?!” Liz yelled.

“Let that go already!”

“If anyone’s interested,” Harvar spoke up. “I think I have enough material for a port report-”

“Who the fuck cares about goddamned port reports at a time like this?!” Liz yelled just as the villagers lunged at them.

The fighting was surreal.

Three times the locals made concerted and carefully planned attacks. This was their village so they appeared from every nook and cranny and Maka had made exhaustive use of her Soul Perception to prevent an ambush. At each attack the Spartoi repulsed them, giving away worse than they got. Eventually, they reached the dock, where a raging inferno scattered the villagers, courtesy of a panicked Kim and Jackie.

As their ship left the dock, the Spartoi sat down exhausted and nursed their wounds. Maka had a light gash from a stray knife and Ox’s glasses had been broken when a villager trampled them. Overall, none had any grievous wounds and, to everyone’s relief, Kim didn’t have to use her restoration magic.

“We need to get to London,” Ox said. “Tell them what’s going on-”

“No need,” Soul said breathlessly as he pointed to a faraway ship. “Look.”

A frigate was making its way to Mutton Island. The Union Jack flew proudly at its mast.

“I guess they figured it out,” Kilik muttered.

Liz scoffed. “We need to leave this crazy world ASAP.”

Maka couldn’t help but agree.

Chapter Text

Maka headed below deck, where the crew’s quarters were supposed to be. The place was littered with hammocks, Patty currently using one as a swing and giggling as it swayed back and forth. Liz, Kilik, and Jackie seemed to be absorbed in some kind of card game.

“We’re approaching port,” Maka said. The others already knew since they were working on deck. Maka felt it was her responsibility that everyone was up to date on the ship’s destination.

Her announcement was greeted with a stony silence. Maka cleared her throat. “Uhm…”

“Forgive us for not whooping with joy,” Liz eventually said in a deadpan tone.

“Where are we docking?” Jackie asked, neatly placing her cards in her lap.

“The Cumaean Canal Staging Area,” Maka quickly said. “It’s a place that connects to the surface and apparently one of the safest places in the Neath.”

“Neat,” Liz said in a tone that implied anything but. “So, what horrible thing will we come across now? My bet is on vampires.”

“We won’t stay there long,” Maka reassured them. “The plan so far is to stop, maybe resupply, and ask for further directions.”

Liz let out a wry grin. “Because all our plans so far have gone swimmingly well.”

“We’re doing our best,” Maka said and crossed her arms. “Anyways, if you guys want to come with us to the harbor, your first priority is to ask for directions. After we pass the Iron Republic we’re venturing into unknown waters.” And if they kept going South, they’d reach the source of that strange light…

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“We’ve reached port!” Ox called out. This time they docked much more efficiently, with only one instance of almost crashing the ship into the concrete walls of the harbor. Once the ship was not in any danger of sinking, Maka let herself relax and look around the area.

Where Mutton island was small, homey and rural, the Cumaean Canal was large, impersonal, and modern. Machinery blended into the rocks, forming a neat series of locks, gates and pumps that could bring a ship to the Surface and vice versa. To the South, there was a massive arch where Maka could faintly see parts of the Canal’s machinery. This place was made of stone, darkness and technology.

Upon disembarking, Maka saw a small booth, positively puny compared to the colossal pipes and pistons that towered over it as the Canal ascended to places unseen. It was next to an inning of the harbor that connected the zee to the Canal, yet was currently separated by two large metal bars. Maka’s Soul Perception revealed that a single person was held up in there. Perhaps it was some sort of information booth?

Slowly Maka walked there. Soul followed after, craning his neck every now and then to take in the sheer size of the Canal.

“What can I do for you?” A plain feminine voice said. The person there was a middle-aged woman with neatly trimmed hair and looking absolutely miserable.

“What’s that thing supposed to be?” Soul asked, pointing towards the giant metal bars.

“Gates. Further than that is the way to the surface,” the guard boredly grumbled as she leaned down and fetched a pair of big round glasses. She gave them a quick rub, put them on and squinted at the group. “You Neathers?”

“What?” Maka asked in confusion.

“Are you from the Surface or from the Neath?” She repeated. She looked over to Soul and then the others that were gathered outside the ship and frowned. “You got an adult I can speak to-?”

“Neath,” Maka lied, figuring it didn’t matter much. “And I’m the Captain of the ship.” The more times she said it, the easier it became.

The guard raised her eyebrows. “Right.” She fetched a pile of papers with practiced ease. “Well, seeing as this is probably your first time here, let me offer some advice. If you want to go up, make sure you got enough fuel to get down,” she said in a grim tone. “I’ve seen more than enough Neath ships that went it up but never came back down.” She looked up at a monumental stone arch, where the Canal lead to the surface. “Folk like us can’t survive long in the Sun’s presence.”

Maka frowned at the information. “That’s strange…”

“Light does weird things to your head,” the woman said with a shrug.

“Ok…” Maka said before turning to Soul. “Do you think we should we go to the surface?”

Soul shrugged. “To do what?”

“Point,” Maka said with a frown before turning to the woman. “Actually, we were hoping for directions-”

“Directions? You know an Alteration just happened, right?” The guard huffed. “I suppose you can ask some of the zee captains about their recent journeys. The Iron Republic remains to the South,” the woman grumbled. “As always.”

With a nod that was less-than-curt, Maka and Soul joined the others as they explored the area around the Canal. There was nary a shop in sight, despite the multitude of docked ships, each one stranger than the other- Maka saw a trireme at one point and wondered if time itself worked properly in the Neath.

Eventually, they met a Captain at one of the corners of the harbor. He was spry, his face riddled with freckles and his eyes a bright green colour.

“Where are you lads headin’?” the Young Captain asked after the two crews had more-or-less introduced themselves. His boat was called a Cutter, a fast ship that apparently couldn’t fit more than five people.

“Adam’s Way,” Maka said. “Have you traveled there recently?”

The Young Captain whistled. “Tough break,” he said apologetically. “If you’d ask me a couple of days ago, I could get you there blind and with both hands tied behind my back-”

One of the zailors nudged the Young Captain. “Look at the eyes on that one,” she whispered and pointed at Kid, who was currently looking after Patty. Apparently, the young Thompson had made it her life’s purpose to climb one of the stalagmites where the harbor blended with a cave and had already made significant progress.

The Young Captain frowned at the intrusion but looked where the zailor pointed anyways. His eyes narrowed. His youthful face became lined, as if it had been cursed by the concept of time itself.

Maka frowned. “What’s wrong with Kid?”

“Oh no,” one of the zailors said with genuine sorrow.

The Young Captain’s face fell. “He’s one of yours?”

“Yes,” Maka replied, “what-”

“They’re glowing, Captain,” a zailor said with a terrified squeak when Kid ventured into the cave to retrieve Patty. True enough, his eyes did glow but as far as Maka was aware, Kid’s eyes always had a faint glow to them.

“Hey, what’s wro-?”

Maka’s protests went unheard as the Young Captain stood up and marched to where Kid was. His fists were clenched into tight balls and his lip curled with hostility.

“You!”

Kid turned his head to regard the man. Upon seeing the Young Captain’s obvious hostility, he frowned.

The Young Captain stood just a few feet away from Kid, his crew behind him. Kid stood on the other side with his arms crossed, soon joined by Patty who had had enough cave-excursions and regarded the newcomers with a wild grin. “Hiya!”

“Um, hello?” A confused Kid said. “Can I help you-?”

“You’re with that damned Machine!”

Kid’s frown turned into a scowl. “Excuse you?”

“Hey!” Maka called out, attracting their attention. “What’s your problem? Kid’s with us!”

“Don’t make us fight you too ma’am,” one of the zailors said.

“We don’t want to fight anyone!” Maka shot back, placing herself between Kid and the Young Captain. Her cheeks were flushed red. “And why’d you call me ma’am, I’m sixt-!”

Maka did not get the chance to state her age as one of the Young Captain’s crew, a young stout man with haunted eyes lunged at Kid, the blade of a knife gleaming in his hands.

There was a flash of movement and the zailor fell to his knees, clutching his nether region. Patty stood over him, cracking her knuckles, an unreadable expression on her face. “Anyone else?”

Before Maka could say anything, all five crew were on the floor, groaning and clutching their privates. The male zailors had gotten an extra-strong kick at the genitals, while the female zailors had gotten a combo kick-punch at the genitals and chest respectively. The Young Captain, in addition to clutching his groin now also sported a black eye.

“Anyone else wanna have a go, you bastards?” Patty growled.

A deafening silence fell between them.

“I’ve seen your kind,” the Young Captain began with a cough as he sat up. Patty craned her neck and was about to step towards him when Kid held her hand to keep her in place, “One of those poor souls that damned contraption has under its control…” he said, sounding more delirious by the moment. He turned back to his crew who were still nursing their injuries. “When’d you reckon it got him?”

“The Dawn Machine woke up yesterday, didn’t it?” a zailor said with a groan.

That name again. The one Maka had heard when that bright glow appeared, where Kid had claimed that… “Is that what it’s called? The Dawn Machine?” She stood over the Captain, her expression a hard mask. She had to get to the bottom of this mystery. “It’s located South, isn’t it?”

“I’m not gonna guess why you’d wanna head there. Maybe you have hope…” The Young Captain spat blood and looked up at her, his jaw clenched. “I’ll give you advice on how to get to the Dawn Machine; don’t.” His gaze fell to Kid. “And throw that one overboard.”

“Hey, everything alright…?” Maka turned around to see the entirety of their group arriving at where they were, probably alerted by the shouts and yells.

“Oh, a fight,” Liz casually said. “At least it wasn’t vampires.”

Maka wanted to explain what had happened, but the Young Captain’s words bothered her too much to not respond. “We’re not throwing Kid overboard, he’s our friend-”

The Young Captain huffed. “Aye. Ain’t that the biggest tragedy.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Kilik said. “No one’s throwing anyone overboard.” He looked between Kid, Maka, and Patty. “What happened?”

“They attacked me out of nowhere…” Kid’s voice trailed off when the Young Captain and his crew gingerly stood up. Patty tensed, followed by Liz and soon enough everyone on Maka’s team.

“Let’s just leave,” Maka diplomatically said, not wanting to have another showdown. “We’ve got nothing else to do here anyway.”

“Thanks for nothing assholes!” Liz yelled and flipped the bird at the crew as they headed back towards their ship.

Later on, while they were preparing to leave, Maka saw the Young Captain and his crew come her way. She strategically placed herself behind a large crate so that she was out of their line of sight when they passed her by.

“Are you sure it was one, captain?” Maka heard one of the crew ask.

“Positive,” she heard the Young Captain’s grim voice. “Bright-eyes, with flecks of gold.” The Young Captain spat at the ground. “That damned thing entraps more people by the day.”

“Maka!” Ox called from the ship. “Come on, we don’t have all day.”

She did not need to be told twice.

Chapter Text

“No,” Kid said as soon as the Iron Republic came into view.

Maka raised an eyebrow and looked up from her chart. “Kid?”

“No.” He pointed at the horizon, where red smoke rose and twisted as if it had a mind of its own. “That place is wrong,” he said with utter conviction. “I suggest we pretend it doesn’t exist and continue on our journey.”

Maka frowned. Surely Kid was overreacting. Sure, if she narrowed her eyes she could see a few peculiar things, like people walking backwards, a ship moving on land and the sound of jaunty Irish music in the background, but this was no stranger than what else they had-

Then Maka sensed it.

Time dilated, slowed and moved sideways. She tasted electricity.  Everything was wrong. A prime example was this paragraph referencing itself.

“No,” Maka repeated.

‘Thank you’ Kid mouthed and began plotting a course so that they wouldn’t venture into the Iron Republic. In a few minutes, the ship changed its course and headed purely South.

“Hey what’s the deal?” Ox called from below deck. “Why’d we veer off course?”

“We’re not touching down,” Maka stated. “We’re skipping that place.”

“But the guide says they got cheap fuel.”

Maka pointed at the Republic. This time the smoke was going into the chimneys. There was a pink cloud above a pit in the ground and rain fell backwards.

“We are not stopping there,” Maka insisted. Ox didn’t object any further.

This was their trip to the Iron Republic, or more specifically, its lack thereof.

Chapter Text

They headed South. They passed by the infertile lands of the West Coast. The land curved.

Then, it turned red. Coral-like. Or were the red structures meant to be spikes? They looked sharp enough.

In the distance a faint light.

T

Maka was hesitant about going South.

H

But she had to know.

E

When she told Kid, he didn’t object.

S

He should have.

U

She should have thought better.

N

The light became brighter.

T

Below deck, a yell.

H

Maybe it was Jackie’s.

E

Or was it Kilik’s?

S

Maka’s mind became muddled.

U

Someone touched her shoulder.

N

Another yell.

T

Maka turned her head.

H

Kid was nowhere in sight.

E

The ship kept heading South.

S

The light became brighter and brighter.

U

For a moment Maka thought she had gone blind.

N

Her vision cleared.

T

The air was still.

H

The zee calm.

E

And ahead of them…

S

It stood.

U

A glowing Machine.

N

A furious Machine.

T

The DAWN MACHINE.

H

Its sigils burned bright red.

E

Its disks spun ceaselessly like clockwork.

S

In the center, a circle, the Light.

U

It was as if Maka was on the Surface.

N

Bright light.

T

It shone like a false star.

H

Warm light.

E

It was a false star.

S

Glorious light.

U

An artificial star.

N

Hateful light.

T

A furious star.

H

Maka looked at it.

E

It looked at her.

S

It looked down at her.

U

It took her in. It took all of them in.

N

Rising Light.

T

Gleaming Light.

H

Radiant Light.

E

Burning Light.

S

BLAZING LIGHT.

U

RESPLENDENT LIGHT.

N

TRIUMPHANT LIGHT- No. Not yet. But soon.

THE SUN.

Chapter Text

Kid woke up with his chest quite literally open.

It spoke volumes about his existence that this wasn’t the strangest set of circumstances the Grim Reaper had woken up in.

He was laid neatly on a smooth metal surface that was cold to the touch. He felt a number of cables attached to various parts of his body, causing him mild discomfort. His eyes were closed yet his eyelids were a bright red color; some sort of strong light must have been aimed his way. There was also the small matter of his insides feeling breezy.

“Fascinating,” a nasally high-pitched masculine voice came from Kid’s right-hand side. “Its anatomy is remarkably similar to a human’s.”

“Truly,” a second voice, soothing, cold and feminine, added. “For a star to look like this...” a pause. “Perhaps it’s a youngling, recently hatched.”

“If that was the case ma’am, shouldn’t we have found a core where its heart is?” the first voice remarked. “Or any other light-emitting structure of that kind? Instead…”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. There is much we do not know about Judgements.”

“It can’t be dead, can it?”

“No. The Machine told us that it is active-”

There was more back-and-forth between the two vices. Kid’s Soul Perception confirmed that there were only two souls -blue, human yet something was off- in his vicinity, with more souls a distance away from him.

Kid suppressed an urge to frown. If he kept playing dead and let the two talk he could get an inkling of the situation he was in. His body was strangely numb, which meant that any damage inflicted on him so far was either minuscule or very grave. Comforting.

He remembered… the Spartoi had ended up in an abandoned boat in a strange, lawless, and chaotic underground sea. From there they had visited an alternate Victorian version of London where they had set off for a number of locations. Last thing Kid remembered was that they were sailing South.

“Yes, but what’s it doing here?” the nasal voice asked with exasperation. “In the Neath?”

“Perhaps it fell? Maybe at Aestival?”

“Is the hole there even big enough for a human to fall through, much less a-?”

“Perhaps it hatched here,” the female voice murmured.

“But the Eggs need light. That’s how we know it’s safe to keep them around in the Neath,” the high-pitched voice said with increasing alarm. “If that’s not true…”

“It does not matter. The Machine will protect us,” the feminine voice said with conviction. Kid sensed the smaller soul, the one belonging to the high-pitched voice, cease its erratic quivers. “Now, is there anything we can harvest from it for the Machine?”

“I am not sure.” Something poked at Kid and he had to gather all his willpower not to flinch. “Any parts we remove for extended periods of time decomposes into an unknown black liquid.”

Ah, so that newfound feeling of lightness Kid sensed had a reason behind it. Grave damage it was. Great; healing was going to be a pain. He already wanted to reach out and scratch his entire torso.

“Give me any samples you have nonetheless. I will present it to the Machine and it will guide us.”

“May its light burn bright-”

Kid stopped listening after that.

The light. He remembered it. Burning bright and angry.

They had sailed South. Very, very south. There was light and Kid felt it again, and it took him a few moments together himself and when he had everyone was gone and something had gone straight for his eyes and Kid’s mind had gone hazy-

The others. Liz, Patty, Maka, Black Star, Soul, Tsubaki, Kim, Jackie, Kilik, Ox, Harvar, Fire, Thunder.

Where had everyone else gone to?  He had to get to them-!

Kid extended the reach of his Soul Wavelength as far as it went and silently cursed. He didn't have Maka’s clarity, the ability to specifically search for a soul and pinpoint its location unless it was dyi-

“Its mouth moved,” the high-pitched breathed.

“Your ears!”

Their voices were followed by sounds of frantic movement, as if scrambling for something.

Deciding that any sort of cover he had was blown, Kid opened his eyes, slightly narrowing them until they adjusted to the bright light.

He made out two forms, both of them facing away from him and putting on what looked like… oversized earmuffs?

What?

Kid tore his gaze away from them and looked down on his chest, wanting to confirm his suspicions. Surely enough, his chest looked like something straight out of an 80’s slasher horror flick, bloody, torn and all that jazz. Overall, it was not very pleasant to look at. It would be even less pleasant when it would eventually heal. The part where the nerves reconstructed themselves was always the most annoying. Hold on, this wasn’t important right now. He had to-

“Ah,” the man said, straightening his back as if attempting to regain some amount of composure. “Awake I see.”

He and the woman stood over Kid, hands behind their back, completely serious despite the ridiculous oversized accessory they wore. The man had a hunch and wore a bloody lab coat, while the woman was clad in a deep red gown, her blonde hair caught up in some elaborate hairstyle. Both their eyes were yellow. Well, parts of them to be more precise. Flecks of gold danced around their pupils, moving as if they had a mind of their own. The woman’s flecks were the most prominent, having overtaken most of her eye’s native blue colour.

Kid was getting distracted again. He had to-

He tried to get up the table but encountered some resistance. He looked down at his body again, disregarding the gory chest and focusing on his limbs.

Hs hands and feet were bound by… something. Something writhing, made up of hollow and fluorescent metal disks that harshly brushed against Kid’s skin, like a clockwork mechanism reimagined by H. P. Lovecraft.

“I suggest you do not struggle,” the unnamed man said with a hint of arrogance in his voice. “These restraints have been designed by the Machine itself to contain Judgements-”

Kid didn't know or care what a Judgement was and why these people thought he was one. What Kid did know what that he was a Great Old One and that he could cut through these restraints as if they were tissue paper.

Which he promptly did.

Much chaos ensued. There were a lot of shouts and running and Kid might have punched and kicked several people on his way to leave the building he had woken up in. Cables and parts of the restraints were trailing behind him while doing so, having embedded themselves in him like the needles of a vengeful cactus.

Outside was even brighter than the building. The area seemed to be built inside some sort of compound. The crystal-covered ceiling glimmered with false-light, and every street and alley was filled to the brim with lampposts. The people there looked ordinary enough for this Universe’s standards, save for their gold-flecked eyes and the way they ran after Kid the moment the Grim Reaper entered their line of sight.

Kid quickly amassed a large following and his mind was racing. He was still using his Soul Perception to comb the area for familiar souls as well as avoid the horde behind him, not to mention that some of these cables still attached to him were itchy-

Kid was still pulling things off him when he stumbled upon a familiar face.

“Liz!” He felt a smile come to his lips when he recognized her face and she looked safe and sound, with no wounds on her person, and wasn’t that just great?

Had he unconsciously headed her direction? No matter, they had to find the others and leave-!

Kid pulled her hand to run but she didn’t budge. Frowning Kid looked back and his stomach -or whatever parts of it had regenerated by now- lurched painfully.

Liz didn't respond to him. She hadn’t responded to him at all as if she didn’t recognize…

Kid looked back again. Liz looked at him as if Kid was a stranger. Her eyes were flecked with gold.

This was bad. This was very, very bad, this was catastrophic and he had to do something-

The crowds that ran after Kid were catching up to him. He was running out of time-

At that point Liz punched him, and Kid didn’t let go of her wrist even when she landed on him, as if trying to immobilize him.

“Liz!” Kid yelled as she used her free hand to wrap it around his throat, “snap out of it!”

This, of course, did nothing because yelling at people to not do something was rather ineffective, especially when they weren’t acting like themselves and why was Liz like this?

Did that light they had encountered done this to her? To everyone else? Why had Kid not suffered the same fate? Did he have immunity? The two humans standing over Kid when he had woken had talked about stars and Judgements and a Machine…

“Dawn Machine Waking!” Kid recalled a voice from a few days ago. It if was the same Machine, then what Kid had sensed…

Maybe this was like the Madness and Liz had fallen prey to it. Whatever control she was under, if she resonated with Kid then maybe his Wavelength could undo the damage, but he had to make sure not to use too much because he was a full-fledged Grim Reaper now and Liz was a human-

The teen collapsed and Kid held her close. She would wake up any minute, she had to-

Blue eyes blearily opened. There was not a trace of gold left in them. “Kid?”

Kid let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. There was moisture in his eyes which were definitely not tears because Liz was alright and what reason would he have to cry?

“Wait, why are you naked?!” Liz yelled and got off him, a furious blush on her face and Kid couldn’t help but laugh.

It was possible, in all that excitement that was Kid rushing out and dragging all sorts of cables and wires along with cries of 'impossible' that he may have forgotten the fact that he wasn't wearing any clothes. Clothes were a concept of human society and while Kid managed to fit right in with little trouble, emotional times like these did make him forget the finer details.

He hastily summoned his cloak and deftly wrapped it around his frame. “Long story.”

Liz seemed to accept that with a frown since she had gone wide-eyed when gave a closer look at Kid’s torso. “Wait, are you bleeding-?!”

“There it is!” A voice called and the two turned their heads towards it.

A crowd roughly in size of one in the concert of a moderately-successful rock band was standing a few meters away from them. Everyone had their gold-flaked eyes fixed on Kid as if eyeing a predator ready to attack.

“Kid,” Liz said in a dangerously even tone. “What the fuck-?”

“Run!” Kid yelled and got to his feet. From the corner of his eye, he saw Liz transform and grabbed her Weapon form as he ran through the alley, not even bothering to look back. He had to find the others-

“How the fuck did we end up here -I remember being on that goddamned boat-!”

Liz’s rant was cut short when Kid exited the alley. Both cursed when they exited to face another large crowd, this one armed with guns and swords and whatever else could pass as weaponry if one squinted hard enough.

Of course, a large armed crowd wasn’t the actual reason why kid and Liz had stopped dead in their tracts. They had faced worse, much worse. The actual reason was a sole person, her yellow-infested eyes narrowed as she held an array of cutlery between her fingers in a rather intimidating manner.

“Patty!”

Kid looked back. More people approached from the alley.

They were surrounded.

“I can’t shoot Patty,” Liz growled, to which Kid agreed.

“You won’t have to,” Kid said, and ran straight into the armed crowd, who were momentarily stunned by the unorthodox tactic. This gave Kid enough time to approach a particular member and call her name in a desperate voice. “Patty!”

The girl seemed to come alive and ran at Kid, cutlery ready. Their battle was short-lived.

A spoon did get embedded deep in Kid’s thigh, somehow, but then he used his free arm to grab Patty and hold her tight, drawing an anxious breath as he summoned his Soul Wavelength once again.

“Huh?” A groggy Patty said moments later. “Sis! Kid!” She said with a cheerful yell and transformed. “Sup guys?”

“Patty, thank goodness,” Liz said with heartfelt relief. Her reflection sobered when she regarded the rest of the people gathered around them. “One down, a bazillion to go.”

“Not quite,” Kid said in a low tone, his jaw clenched. He had mostly healed. The haze that clouded his mind was gone. Kid was feeling very clear-headed and upon the sight of a brainwashed friend, rather angry.

The area darkened, the false-lights fading from the roof as if its crystals had gone hazy. The air became still. Dark shadows danced around Kid’s frame, some merging back into his cloak while others snapped at the crowd with dark cackles.

“Don’t take another step,” Kid warned them, coating his voice with a hint of existential dread like Father did in his rare moments of fury.  “Return my friends or I will raze this place to the ground,” the Grim Reaper finished with complete sincerity.

Kid could do it. The only reason he hadn’t done so yet was because the rest of their group was somewhere in here. No to mention that he had to know why and how these people had gotten to them so he could ensure it wouldn’t happen ever again. It was a desperate gamble, a sort of mutually assured destruction. Kid hoped these people, no matter how brainwashed, had enough self-perseverance to not do something incredibly idiotic, i.e. attack the Grim Reaper.

“Enough!” A voice called from the crowd. After a few moments a woman in a red gown, the same one that had been present when kid woke up, stepped in front of the crowd. “We did not mean any harm-”

“Bullshit,” Liz cut her off. “You assholes brainwashed us!”

To her credit, the woman didn’t even flinch at Liz’s acidic tone. “The Machine… apologizes,” the bright-eyed woman hesitantly said. “It did not know you were already under a Law.” She gave Kid a curt nod. “I am a Sequencer of the Machine-”

“I don’t care,” Kid cut her off coldly. “Where are the rest of our group?”

“They will be here shortly,” the Bright-Eyed Sequencer said with a grim expression.

“How ‘shortly’?” Liz said, mocking the woman’s posh accent.

“They are already on their way. The Machine will relinquish its control,” the Bright-Eyed Sequencer said, and her expression became morose. “Unfortunately, it saw how you undid its influence.”

That word again. “You are referring to the Dawn Machine,” Kid stated. “What is it?”

“A Star,” the Bright-Eyed Sequencer immediately said, as if in a haze. “A Judgement,” she continued in a low voice. She took a step towards Kid and the sisters, who tensed but did not attack. Yet. “Why are you here?” the woman asked. “Why is a Judgement in the Neath-?”

There was that other term again, Kid noted with a frown. Judgement. Faint recollections reached him-

“Hey, we didn’t ask to be brought here in your freakish Universe.” As always, Liz expressed their shared frustration better than Kid ever could, if not in the most eloquent way.

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer narrowed her eyes. “Then you were brought here against your will? By whom?” She looked away in thought. “The Bazaar is not on good terms and the Masters are too low on the Great Chain of Beings… I suppose it could be one of the so-called Gods of the zee, always interfering-”

Kid rolled his eyes. “I don't care what politics you have going on,” he wasn’t sure how appropriate it was to call Godly power-struggles politics but at that point in time, the Grim Reaper simply could not care less.

“We can guide you home if you so wish,” the Bright-Eyed Sequencer said without pause and Kid stopped. Going home was what they wanted to do since they arrived in this law-forsaken place.

“Oh sure, because you are so trustworthy,” Liz drawled. “Hey Kid, I can’t wait to follow the advice of these bozos that brainwashed me and my sis-”

“You do not want to be here. The Machine does not wish for you to be here,” the Bright-Eyed Sequencer stated. “Our interests are the same. Why not cooperate?” She looked behind Kid and the Grim Reaper followed her gaze. Using his Soul Perception, he detected the souls of his compatriots approach them. “We already are.”

A long silence starched among them. Kid still had Liz and Patty trained at the Bright-Eyed Sequencer and wasn’t about to stop doing so anytime soon. But, he had to admit, he followed her logic. They were cooperating so far…

“You will leave us alone,” the Grim Reaper demanded. “If any of your people attack us again, there will be consequences.”

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer nodded. “Of course. Our forces have already been notified to leave your ship undisturbed.”

Kid paused. His expression was still hostile, though he slowly lowered Liz and Patty. “How do we leave the Neath?”

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer let out a small smile. “You must go North, to Avid Horizon. It is the gateway, after all.” She gave Kid a respectful bow. “With the Incantation and your power, you can enter the High Wilderness and join your kin.”

Kid frowned. “What Incantation?”

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer frowned. “Shouldn’t you already know?”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Kid stared at the Grand Geode as their ship left port. A few residents were gathered there as well, staring back at their ship, the Bright-Eyed Sequencer being most prominent among them.

True to their promises, the rest of their group had been brought to Kid and the sisters safe and sound, if not a bit disoriented. After stopping Black Star from ‘kicking everyone’s ass’, their group had quickly made it back to their ship and undocked in record time. Maka had retreated to the Captain’s quarters and the air was sober among them. No one wanted to talk to anyone.

Kid had been standing at the back of the retreating ship and watched the Geode, like a guard dog sizing up potential intruders. He would do so until the island was out of sight and then he may stay a bit longer, just to make sure. He would make sure the Dawn Machine and its people never dared to lift a hand against them ever again-

Around him, the wind picked up. A particularly strong gust came right under the ship, and its hull deflected it right to where Kid was standing.

The gust picked at Kid's cloak which at the time did obey the laws of physics, meant to appear billowing for dramatic effect. A considerably big part of it was lifted, like a skirt. Kid felt the air pass between his legs. All parts of them.

The next seconds passed by very, very slowly.

Chapter Text

An inconsolable Grim Reaper sat on the upper deck of the ship. His knees were drawn close to his body and his face was buried in his hands. The area was silent, save form a strange sound coming from the Engine room of the ship.

Liz placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Her face was red and her eyes were puffy. “Come now,” she said in a trembling voice, “it was an accident-”

“I flashed them.”

Liz suppressed a laugh, which came out as a snort and made her eyes puffier. “Technically yes, but-”

“I flashed the entirety of an island.”

A bigger snort this time. “Come on, it’s not like you did it on purpose,” Liz said, barely holding it together. Maka couldn’t blame her. She found it funny too. “Who hasn't accidentally flashed someone?”

“I haven't,” Kim said which earned her a glare from Liz.

“Didn’t Kid see you naked-?” Soul asked.

“He stormed into the girl’s shower!”

“Kim, maybe now is not the time,” Tsubaki whispered.

“He brought it up!” Kim replied and crossed her hands.

Maka turned her attention to Kid, who was still moping on the floor. Liz was still patting Kid, her expression strained from trying her damnedest not to laugh, and sort of failing at it. “Hey, come on. Penny for your thoughts?”

“I’m considering the logistics of killing myself,” Kid said in a perfectly blank voice.

At least Liz was managing to keep a straight face through this experience. Patty had been reduced to hysterics so the group had not-so-tactfully dragged the younger Thompson to the Engine room, where the sound would hopefully cover her mad cackles.

No such luck. Even now, Maka could still hear her, if faintly.

“Hey it's not that bad,” Liz said in a tone that was utterly unconvincing. “If it makes you feel any better we can all go and flash them too-”

“Why?” Kim spoke up. “So they’ll think we're all perverts?”

“Hey, I don't see you coming up with any ideas-”

“At least I’m not coming up with stupid ideas!”

“My Kim isn’t flashing anyone!”

“Your Kim?” Jackie asked with a furious blush on her face. “She’s my Meister-!”

“Whatever,” Kim said with a shrug. “Anyways, since no one’s got any broken bones or anything I’ll go rest. Wake me up if one of you starts dying or something.” She gave the group a nonchalant wave and headed off.

“I’ll come by later,” Jackie called out at the retreating Kim.

Harvar cleared his throat. Everyone sans Kid looked at him. “Lord Death,” he began. “It was an accident,” he said in an even tone. “I am sure the people of Grand Geode understood that too.”

There was a small pause. Kid moved his head to his side as if considering Harvar’s words.

Shortly after, his shoulders sagged. “That just makes it worse…” the Grim Reaper lamented and let himself collapse fully onto the deck, like a very depressed yoga instructor.

“Hey, you were naked when I found you,” Liz said. “You technically flashed people then but you weren’t bothered about it.”

“Yes, because I had just escaped a dissection,” Kid said as if his line of thinking was obvious. “When I was on the ship, I was very purposefully looking at them and let down my guard, again, and then that stupid wind came and augh!” Kid said in frustration, letting himself fall to his side. “I’m terrible, just put me by the trash -on second thought don’t bother, I’ll just see myself there...”

“Oh no, not this again,” Liz muttered to herself.

Maka couldn’t help but smirk at the scene.

She looked around to see a sympathetic Tsubaki, a puzzled Black Star and a tired Liz, all acting in painfully familiar ways. It was... good. Maka wasn’t sure if she would seem like that anytime soon.

After they were freed from the Dawn Machine’s control… Maka felt blank. Her feelings were a whirling of fear -just what sort of thing had the power to take over their minds instantly?- and disappointment -Maka was supposed to be stronger than this, it was her responsibility as the group’s leader- and guilt -she was the one whose curiosity got the best of her and sailed South.

The others weren’t any better, all being haunted by various degrees. Black Star had been furious, muttering about how he had allowed himself to be controlled when he had already surpassed God, Kim had become more distant than usual and Soul wouldn’t look her in the eye.

The atmosphere had been heavy and silent, until it was broken by Patty’s hysteric laughter mixed with speech fragments of ‘Kid’, ‘naked’, ‘holy shit guys’.

What followed next, Maka supposed, was good, not that she’d admit that point-blank at Kid anytime soon. No matter how embarrassing it was, it brought people back to their old selves. Sort of. Maka still had questions about the Machine’s nature, her fear of being controlled again lingered but…

They had broken free. They brokered a deal with its people. And, judging from the familiar scene, they had not let the experience break them.

What more could a Captain want from her crew?

“I don’t see what the big deal is!” Black Star said dismissively, crossing his hands. “Kid just copied the way I dealt with an annoying University guy.”

Kid buried his face further in his hands again and let out a sound like a wounded animal.

Maka couldn’t help but laugh.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Other than the makeshift therapy session for Kid, their journey and visit to Port Carnelian was uneventful.

Ox and Harvar travelled around, eventually returning with a port report. Tsubaki browsed the markets for spices and herbs to add to their food. Kilik also visited the markets, searching for souvenirs and a toy for Fire and Thunder. Kid had retreated into a cabin and didn’t visit the port at all. Soul sat by the ship, gazing at the Unterzee. Kim ventured out into the jungle, joined by Jackie, Black Star, Liz and Patty. They all came out carrying glittering Sapphires, with an excited Patty riding on the back of a particularly large tiger which Black Star claiming he had defeated in hand-to-claw combat, sporting a few scratches that confirmed his words. Maka sat by the ship looking over past Port Carnelian and further into the Elder Continent. The jungle surrounding Port Carnelian was large and thick, and the only scenery Maka could make out past it was a faint mountain in the distance, illuminated by an ethereal glow.

When they left the port, Tsubaki had prepared a tasty curry to enjoy, while the twins played with a small ball with strange markings on it. Even Kid joined them for lunch -or was it dinner? Maka had difficulty telling the time in the Neath- though he didn’t talk much. Black Star showed off his scratches and told the tale how he had tackled the giant tiger, while Patty cheered. After dinner, Liz had gushed about making a fancy pair of earrings for her and a necklace for Patty. When Maka asked Kim what she would do with her Sapphires, Kim had given her a hide an insincere smile.

“I’ll keep them with me. Just in case,” the Witch had whispered and looked at her pocket.

Chapter Text

Maka found Kid halfway between the ship’s railing, one hand extending into the sea, submerged under the dark water. He appeared to be in deep sleep, his eyes closed and his body sprawled on the deck unmoving.

Maka ran and kneeled next to him. For a moment she was worried that something had happened, that the Machine or the Neath, or some other unknown force had done something…

Then Kid breathed.

It was a silent breath, but a breath nonetheless. Then he had done so again and again, and even slightly shifted, and Maka realized with relief that he was sleeping. Though that did bring up the question of why had Kid thought of the deck as a particularly comfortable or proper corner of the ship to sleep. Maybe he had dozed off, but Maka wasn’t sure if Grim Reapers could doze off -if anyone did, that would be Liz and Patty.

Maka carefully approached Kid, debating whether she should wake him up or not. She couldn’t think of any reason why Kid or anyone else would sleep on the deck with one hand in the zee. Yet again, maybe this was a Grim Reaper thing Maka had no clue about.

Undecided, Maka examined Kid once again, her eyes catching a detail that she had missed before. Next to Kid were a pile of shining pearls, lustrous yet covered with a thin trail of slime. Maka picked one up and held it between her fingers. It was the size of her thumb and glowed a faint pink hue… It looked pretty and innocuous at first glance.

A splash. Something lurking under the wave.

Maka watched in mute horror as a hand, human yet rotting, with clams and seashells feasting on the dead flesh, emerged from the sea and clutched onto Kid’s hand like a lifeline. It held on tight on Kid’s wrist like an anchor and Kid’s form shifted, his shoulder blades caught between the railings and stopping him from moving any further towards the zee. Another hand, equally human and dead, emerged and dropped a handful of pearls onto the deck next to Kid. After that, both hands let go and collapsed lifeless, being dragged off by the zee’s current moments later.

Ok, something was definitely going on.

Maka nudged the Grim Reaper. “Kid,” she said in a soft and urgent tone. When he didn’t respond, Maka shook him again, this time harder, and called his name a bit louder.

Just as she was about to do so a third time, Kid slowly opened one eye then the next, like a rudely-awakened sleep-deprived person. He looked at Maka and then at himself, his frown deepening by the second. He looked just as confused about his position, as Maka was, blinking rapidly and looking around him like a man lost.

“Did you sleepwalk?” Maka had asked.

Kid had given her a strange look and gazed at the zee. “I don’t sleepwalk.”

“But how did you end up here?” Maka gave him a reassuring grin. “It doesn’t look like a comfortable place to sleep.”

If Kid understood her attempt at a joke, he didn’t acknowledge it.

“I had to be there,” the Grim Reaper cryptically said. “They were calling to me-”

“I think I see a port!” came Ox’s voice. Maka and Kid exchanged looks and headed to the front of the ship, their conversation left unfinished.

A huge coral extended from the dark waves, spiralling and fluorescent. A small structure extended from the part where it emerged from the zee, jutting out as if sculpted, and resembling a small port.

They docked with hesitation. A cloaked woman awaited them, her skin as rough as a shark and her eyes glazed. Kid raised a hand towards her but the woman flinched away from it as if it was on fire.

“The Fathomking awaits your presence,” she rasped, her voice as sharp as the coral itself.

“The Fathomking? Who's he?” Maka asked.

“He awaits your presence,” the woman repeated, gesturing to a part of the coral where a massive pearl-studded gate stood. It looked as if it was part of the coral itself and the pearls around it were of the same kind that she had found on Kid, only these ones were the size of Maka’s head.

The woman walked towards them and the gates opened smoothly and in a spiral fashion. The area after that was illuminated with light from the fluorescent coral and descended below zee level.

Hesitant yet curious, Maka took a step forward, only to be stopped by the outreached hand of the cloaked woman, getting goosebumps where the woman’s sickly green skin touched hers.

The woman gestured at Kid. “Only them.”

Maka narrowed her eyes. “I’m Captain of this ship.” In front of her, the woman tensed. “Soul.”

Her Weapon Partner didn’t have to be called twice. Recognizing Maka’s tone as ‘this is serious business, I need you on my side ASAP’ the boy transformed

The woman didn’t even bother to look at her. “The Fathomking holds no interest in you-”

“Tough luck. If Kid’s going in, so am I.”

Breaking away from the woman’s hold Maka strutted forward, going into the Gate of Pearls before she could be stopped. She took confident steps and puffed her chest. As if she was going to be afraid of a moving corpse.

“Maka, wait!” Kid called and went after her.

“I’m going in no matter what,” Maka said as soon as Kid caught up with them.

“I wasn’t going to object to that,” Kid said with a sigh. “Just… Be careful. We don’t know with that sort of individuals we are dealing with here.”

“Ditto.” Maka eyes the luminescent passage with suspicion. Her Soul Perception showed that there were no souls in their vicinity, but that didn’t mean she could let her guard down. “What if this is a trap?”

Kid gave her a smile. “Then I’m glad you’re with me.”

Soul’s reflection appeared on the scythe’s blade and let out a whistle. “Smooth.”

“I meant that for you too, Death Scythe.”

“Even smoother,” Soul said nonchalantly.

Kid rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached a wide area where a figure floated above a gem-studded bowl the size of a banqueting table which served as some sort of throne. A purple salt-covered cloth hung from his humanoid frame, the skin a faint green with seaweed like extensions and clam-like irregularities.

“Welcome.” His voice was as smooth as the zee on a windless starry night. He placed a hand on his sharp chin, regarding them with blank eyes. “Were you the ones who made a dent in my numbers?”

“Who are you?” Maka asked back.

The creature raised an eyebrow. “I am the Lord of the Drownies,” he said. “I am also known as the Fathomking.”

“Drownies?” Maka asked.

“Those that were lost at sea,” the Fathomking languidly explained.

“That explains it,” Kid muttered before looking up to the Fathomking. “The Drownies. Do they retain their souls?”

“Some of them do. Incidentally, the ones that did go missing were all soul-bearers…” The Fathomking let his words hang. The coral’s light dimmed.

“As I thought,” Kid said and looked away. “That’s who was calling to me.”

“You mean when I found you sleeping on the deck?” Maka asked.

Kid nodded. “The exhaustion must have been because of their large numbers.” He looked to the Fathomking again. “I put their souls to rest.”

The Fathomking shifted and his frame became a bit hunched. The coral gave out an irregular pulse. “You did kill my subjects then-”

“With all due respect, they were already dead,” the Grim Reaper said in an even tone. “I made sure their souls moved on to where they were supposed to be, not stuck in a rotting body.”

The Fathomking did not answer immediately. His pupil-less gaze met Kid’s and the two stared at each other for a few seconds, unmoving.

After a few long moments, the Fathomking reverted to the position he had been when they had first entered his chambers. “You are not a Judgement.”

“Fathomking,” Maka spoke up, holding her own when his gaze fell on her. “We seek a way home.”

“How fortunate. We are in agreement about that.”

“We’ve been informed that we should travel to Avid Horizon,” Maka said.

“At the Gate? Strange.” He placed a hand on his chin and watched them for a few seconds. “I do not know from where you came. My authority is at the sea, not the Wilderness. Perhaps you will find what you seek there. Perhaps you will not.”

“Helpful,” Kid muttered under his breath. The Fathomking didn’t give any indication that he heard him.

“Out of curiosity,” the Fathomking called as they were leaving. “Who gave you that location?”

“We were recently advised to go there from the followers of the Dawn Machine,” Maka responded. She had no reason to lie. Perhaps she may even learn a thing or two.

“The Machine wants you gone. Unsurprising.”

“What is it?” Maka asked. Even if it promised to leave them alone, Maka had to know what could so effortlessly control people’s minds.

The Fathomking went still. His lips twitched. “An abomination.” He clicked his hands. “As you search for your world, I ask that you do not visit these waters again.” No threats were said. None were needed.

Kid narrowed his eyes, utterly unconvinced. “We’ll keep it in mind.”

And with that, they were politely escorted outside and left port, with pearl-clutching Drownies circling their ship.

Chapter Text

“Cursed by the Gods of the Zee I tell ya, that’s what ye are. Now, now, ma’am captain, just hold on a sec. I’m not trying to con ya. I used to be a zailor I’ll let you know. I know how the zee works, and let me tell ya, it ain’t a well-oiled machine. More like a rust-eaten, heaving machine. With lots of teeth. No, I don’t know where I was going with that metaphor.”

“How did end up here if I was one? Well, I guess I always liked the shepherding life. Of course, there are very little shepherds in the Shepherd Isles. Plenty of folks that can spin a story that’d make a sorrow spider weep in embarrassment though. You don’t know what Sorrow-spiders are? Good for ya.”

“There are powers. Stone, Salt and Storm.”

“The Gods of the Zee.”

“Storm’s the nasty one, but you’ll never hear me say that while in the zee. His curse can make you stranded, lost in choking fogs until the end of time… or until the nearest anglercrab gets a hold of ya!”

“You said you visited port Carnelian so you might have seen Stone. An old wound that one has. Don’t be fooled by how much life she gives the Elder Continent. No one can sail in her river without paying tribute…”

“And then there’s Salt… Truth be told, I don’t know what it is. Reckon there’s no one here that does know and if anyone says otherwise they’re playing ya for a fool. Has to do with travellers. I think. Or maybe it doesn’t even exist and we’re all mad here, but what else is new?”

“Oh, where to find them? Did I turn you into believers? Don’t give me that look, I’m just joking-”

“Well, Storm can be found in fogs. And the fake-snow of the North. And the Wax. Any sort of unpleasant weather really. I’ve already told you about Stone, just head South and look at the Horizon. But only look, for your own sake. As for Salt…”

“East. Go East.”

“Or better yet, don’t. Let’s have another pint, eh? I can tell you all about the best sight in our little island, the Standing Stones-”

Chapter Text

Station III was empty. Despite the faint hum of machinery and the presence of red-lighted lamps, the port was empty and the area silent. Despite the visible outlines of a spiral building surrounded by warehouses, a solid and spiked fence prevented any further approach into the island.

After their visit to Shepherd Isles, everyone’s head was brimming with false-tales and in some cases, a hangover.  So, it was with little enthusiasm or purpose that they wandered on the dock as if waiting for someone to show up.

It was also the reason why Jackie was walking aimlessly around the edges of the port, where the tall metal wall stood, unaffected by time or wear. A few ways from her was a door, triple-locked and heavily reinforced with metal.

The young Weapon kicked at a pebble, making it clang against the metal fence.  Her gaze was fixed on the ground.

Kim had remained on the ship, saying something about ‘having had enough adventure for a week’ and ‘I need my beauty rest’. Jackie had asked if Kim wanted her to keep company, but her Meister had refused. Jackie didn’t let it bother her though; she knew Kim had never been the most social person, or the most pleasant. Jackie understood that, and it didn’t bother her. Not one bit. No siree.

Jackie kicked another pebble.

Oh, who was Jackie trying to kid? It did bother her, incessantly so. Even if Jackie knew more about Kim than anyone else, even if Kim knew that Jackie was safe, to be turned away with nary a thought like that…

It must have been this weird sea, with its lack of sunlight and nasty islands with nastier people… When they had arrived, Kim and Jackie had been worried but Kim had been fearless, even going so far as to out herself as a Witch to that scholar with little hesitation. Jackie had stood by her then, ready to transform at a moment’s notice, but that hadn’t been necessary. And then…

The Cannibals. Travelling South. Waking up disoriented and learning she and Kim had been brainwashed… Again. And then Kim had become closed off. Again.

Jackie hated the Neath. She also hated herself because maybe if she had been careful enough, supportive enough if she could sort out her own damned feelings-

The Gate opened, but barely. Something reflected in the darkness.

Jackie stood up and tensed, ready to flee if need be.

The door opened a bit more. Jackie made out the gaunt face of a dark-spectacled woman, with short black hair, clad in dark grey clothing.

She gestured Jackie over. Her face was expressionless.

Jackie looked back. No one had noted the door opening. No one was looking over at her. This was dangerous. She did not know that woman. She could be anything, another cannibal, or an agent of the Machine, or not even human to begin with.

Then the woman gave her a sad smile and Jackie felt a tug in her heart and followed her. The metal door closed silently, and Jackie found herself in a long barely-lit corridor.

“Young lady,” The woman gave Jackie a curt bow and walked further into the hallway. After a few moments of hesitation, Jackie followed her.

“Who are you?” Jackie asked, nervously eyeing the corridor.

“I am an Acolyte. For now.”

Jackie regarded the woman, hands akimbo. “Why did you call me over?”

“Oh, I’m always curious.”

Jackie frowned. “About what?”

“About those that drink the tonic of course,” the Acolyte said in a barely-audible voice. Her tone carried the hint of a sad smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t divulge your little secret.”

Jackie’s frown deepened. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t? But…” The Acolyte looked back at Jackie. Her face was drawn. “Nevermind. You are rather young. Perhaps in a few years…”

“In a few years what? What tonic are you talking about?”

“The Soothe and Cooper's Heartsease Tonic. Surely you’ve heard of it.”

“No, I haven’t,” Jackie said in a dry tone.

The Acolyte’s thin eyebrows rose. “Strange. I thought everyone in Fallen London… Ah, but it does not matter.”

Jackie gave Acolyte a look. The woman’s muttered ramblings had caught her attention. “What’s the tonic for?”

“It soothes.”

“Soothes what?”

“Anything.”

The Acolyte led her further down the corridor until they reached an expansive room, lined with corpses. Jackie hesitated, ready to run back, but the Acolyte simply pulled up a chair and rested on her.

The Acolyte pointed to a middle-aged man dressed in fine clothes, with a heavy pendant around his neck. “A broken heart.”

The Acolyte gestured to a nun, her hands folded neatly over her heart. “A burning hatred.”

The next corpse was that of a professor, old and decrepit with a deep-lined forehead. “A searing enigma.”

The final corpse was covered with a soft-looking white cloth. The Acolyte gestured to the corpse and then looked at Jackie. “Unrequited love.”

Jackie shivered as the Acolyte pointed at each corpse. “And it kills them.”

“Oh, no,” the Acolyte quickly said. “No, no, no. These people all died of natural causes. As natural as you can get in the Neath.” The Acolyte looked back at the corpses, her face unreadable.  “Would you like to try one, dear?”

Jackie grimaced. “Me? Why-?”

“I know people that want to hide things.” The Acolyte tapped at her glasses. “Their eyes betray the truth. Yours do so too.”

Jackie crossed her hands and gave the woman a glare, being very deliberate about making eye contact. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The Acolyte gave her a knowing smile. “Of course you don’t.”

Jackie felt her cheeks flare with frustration. “I don’t and I’m leaving-”

“One second,” the Acolyte said and rose from her chair. She reached into a nearby cabinet and pulled out a small bottle with a mysterious liquid inside. The bottle’s label read ‘Soothe and Cooper's Heartsease Tonic’ in cursive. “Here.” She offered the bottle to Jackie.

Jackie made no motion to take it. “I said I don’t want one.”

The Acolyte gave her a smile. “Have one anyway. It can’t hurt, can it?”

With a huff, Jackie took the bottle and stashed it in the inner reaches of her jacket with little care. “I’ll take it just so you stop bothering me.”

The Acolyte nodded. “Of course. When you want more, you need only ask.”

“I won’t need any,” Jackie said with a glare.

The Acolyte nodded again. “Of course.”

The Acolyte escorted Jackie outside, where the young girl caught up with her group.

Soon. their ship soon was leaving Station III. The Acolyte gave a sad smile at the sight.

Chapter Text

“Well, our first voyage was a big failure,” Kim announced once their ship docked at Wolfstack docks.

Maka gave the girl a frown. “That’s not true.”

“It isn’t? Let’s do a recap…” Kim raised up both hands and began listing their ports, taking down a finger for each port. “First, we spooked the Captain of the Lightship. Then we had to fight off cannibals, then we got into a fist-fight with a bunch of random sailors, then we didn’t visit a port for some inane reason, then we got brainwashed by who-knows-what, then some of us almost got our heads bitten off by tigers, then we ended up surrounded by swimming corpses, then some guy told us a bunch of nonsense about Gods of the Zee and what-have-you, then we ended up in an empty port and finally we reached London with no progress on why we ended up here or how we’re getting home.” She took down both hands and gave Maka her driest look. “What level of reality do you have to be operating on to call that a success?”

“We made it through all that in one piece though,” Maka protested.

Kim scoffed. “Ah, plain good old survival. The achievement you cling to when you managed to do nothing else.”

“And we gathered information. We have a better understanding of how the Unterzee works. We have a better pinpoint at the locations we wish to head to. And, the more rumours we know about this place the better. All myths have an inkling of truth in them.”

Kim looked utterly unconvinced by these arguments. “Sure, I guess. Whatever makes you sleep better at night.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Maka was glad that she was good with math, she thought as she looked at a few advertisement leaflets from a few companies in Wolfstack docks that sold naval equipment.

They hadn’t encountered any terrifying zee creature yet -and Maka suspected it had something to do with Kid’s ‘all-sane-animals-avoid-me-because-I’m-literally-Death’ presence at their ship. Still, there was the possibility that they’d encounter pirates or some other hostile presence in the zee. It never hurt to be prepared. Not to mention that they would have some extra funds and fuel soon, courtesy of Harvar planning on turning their port reports at the Admiralty as they had been advised to do so earlier. They also planned to visit the Scholar, in case they could get any extra funding by retelling their adventures, both in Neath and back in their world.

Even then though, they were operating on a budget. Despite the Scholar’s generous funding, their costs were significant. Fuel and Supplies were prohibitively expensive out in the zee, and their lacklustre stockpiling had put a dent in their budget. Maka also had to allocate a portion of funds for extra costs and maintenance, and in case they had to do some urgent purchases. Not to mention that the best guns were also the most expensive, and Maka felt as if she was a newly-hatched fish trying to swim against a strong current.

Just as she was debating if calculus that needed to calculate the rate of the ship’s costs over time, with the others gathered on deck, each doing their own thing, Black Star showed up and slapped the railing with urgency, with Soul following after in a much calmer manner.

“We need to find a name for our ship!”

Maka ignored Black Star, looking back again at the leaflets and debating whether buying a faster engine with a higher fuel consumption rate would be economically sensible in the long-term.

“We agreed on a name,” Soul said.

“The Unsinkable 3!” Black Star continued.

“What happened to 1 to 2?” Ox asked.

Kid looked up from his chart. “If we’re going to stamp a random number on this ship, can it be 8?”

“But then what happened at the Unsinkables 1 through 7?” Maka asked dispassionately.

Black Star gave her a bright grin. “That’s part of the mystery Maka!”

“What mystery? You’re talking nonsense,” Maka muttered and looked back at the leaflets. Would they need a bigger light for their ship? The one they had wasn’t very bright, and Soul Perception only detected souls, not reefs or rocks or other potential hazards.

“Oi Kilik! Pass me some paint, I’m gonna write the name of our ship on the side-”

Wait no, they were taking this a step too far. “Hold on, I’m the Captain of this ship and I didn’t say you can name it!”

“Come on Maka, don’t be a buzzkill,” Soul whined.

“Have a vote with your officers then!” Before Maka could object, Black Star clung to his Weapon partner, like a kid begging for a cookie. “Tsubaki, please?!”

“Um,” Tsubaki said in discomfort “I… vote to name the ship… Unsinkable 3…?”

“I don’t,” Maka said still not looking up from her leaflets. This vote would get them nowhere.

“I agree with Maka,” Ox said and crossed his arms. “The fates of the other Unsinkables are a giant plot hole.”

“Told you so,” Maka said with a self-satisfied smirk.

“If we’re going to name the ship it has to be a proper name! Victoria, or Kim or Thunder Commando-!”

“What, no!” Maka protested. “That’s even more ridiculous!”

“I vote yes on the Unsinkable,” Liz said with a shrug. “I mean why not?”

“Me too!” Patty agreed.

“You’re both gunnery officers so you get one vote,” Ox said. “So far, the vote is a tie.”

Maka turned to Kim as if she was the only sane person on this ship. “Kim?”

Kim huffed, playing with a strand of her hair. “I abstain. Whole thing’s stupid.”

“Uh…” Soul looked between Maka and Black Star. “I abstain too!”

“Soul!” Maka and Black Star said with betrayed looks.

Soul put his hands up in defence. “Hey, that’s why I abstained.”

Ox placed his hand on his chin. “So that means the only one left to vote is…”

They all turned to the Grim Reaper, who was still agonizing over a mostly empty chart.

“Kid,” Black Star said in a serious voice.

“The tiebreaker,” Soul added.

Maka let out a triumphant smirk. “Hah! Kid will side with me! He won’t agree to name this ship a stupid name-”

“Come on Kid, you can’t not support giving this ship a beautiful name!”

Kid paused in thought. He gave Black Star a serious look. “Only if we name it Unsinkable 8.”

Maka looked at Kid. “What.”

Black Star flashed him a grin. “Deal.”

Maka looked at Black Star. “What?”

“Then yes.”

Maka’s hand itched for a book. A particularly heavy one, with iron-studded edges. Maybe with spikes on the side. “What?!”

Black Star put his hands in the air and let out a triumphant laugh. “We have the majority!”

“The Unsinkable 8 rises!” Soul whooped. On his side, Tsubaki clapped timidly.

“Long live the Unsinkable 8!” Patty yelled.

“Let’s get the paint-!”

“You traitors!” Maka said with a huff, her cheeks flushed a bright red. “This is mutiny!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

When they left port, their ship’s side read as ‘THE UNSINKABLE VIII’ with big, red letters.

Chapter Text

Maka was startled to attention by a solid thump coming from the other side of the table. She looked up to see Kid’s head connect to the table.

“Ugh.”

Maka put down her pencil and nudged Kid, who slowly lifted his head. “You ok?”

“I think,” Kid said and rubbed his eyes. “I’m exhausted.”

Maka gave him a sympathetic look. “Well, we have been looking over the charts for a pretty long time I guess.” They’d been in Maka’s cabin ever since their ship left the dock, making plans about the possible locations of Avid Horizon –and Frostfound if they stumbled upon it- on what courses they should set to return, how to ration food and supplies and such. Even Maka felt a bit light-headed and in need of a good nap.

Kid shook his head. “I’ve been exhausted since we arrived in this world.” He rubbed his forehead.  “It’s like I can’t get a moment’s rest in this place…”

Maka thought back to the waves emitting from Kid’s soul when they first arrived, then back again when he’d fallen asleep on -or had he been dragged to- the ship’s deck. “Maybe you’re still adjusting to this world. It’s probably temporary,” she reassured him.

“Hopefully…” Kid said with a sigh, and eyed Maka. “You’re not still mad for voting in favour of naming the ship Unsinkable 8, are you?”

“No. But I still think it’s a silly name.”

Maka looked down at their charts. Despite all their plans, there was a question that ate away at her line of thought. “Do you think we should go to the Avid Horizon? I mean,” she added when Kid gave her a confused look, “is it safe? What if it’s a trap set up by the Dawn Machine’s people?”

Kid shook his head. “They’re not the only ones who told us to visit the place. The Scholar was the first one who mentioned it.” He frowned in recollection. “And then the Fathomking didn’t raise any objections towards heading there as well. Though I’m fairly certain he did not truly care about our well-being, he did want to leave the Neath.” His frown deepened. “But…”

“But?” Maka asked.

“They said we have to know the ‘incantation’. I’m thinking this means the Avid Horizon must be some sort of gateway. Hopefully, a gateway to our world, but I can’t know for sure until we arrive there.”

“An incantation…” Maka repeated. “You mean we’d have to say something like ‘open sesame’?”

Kid snorted. “I hope it’s just words and not… whatever else an incantation could mean. Words would be easy.”

“Not really. What if it’s in another language? We’d have to find out what language it is, and then have to learn what the words mean and what sounds they make…” Maka paused when Kid gave her a weird look. “What?”

“Right I forget,” Kid said to himself before clearing his throat. “If we do find that incantation written down anywhere, no matter the language or its form, I should be able to speak it.”

“How?”

“I can speak any language,” Kid stated dispassionately before giving Maka a small smile. “I wouldn’t be much of a Grim Reaper if I couldn’t communicate with the dead indiscriminately now, would I?”

...Huh. Maka looked at Kid. He stared back. Was he waiting for a reaction?

Maka returned to her charts. “Oh. In that case, we just have to figure out the words,” Maka said, her mind reworking some of her newly-formed plans. “If we’re lucky, maybe the words are written on Avid Horizon and we won’t have to search for them.”

Kid’s frame lost some of its tension. “Hopefully.”

Maka suppressed a frown at Kid’s unexpected relaxation. “You look relieved.”

“Not a lot of people know that about me,” Kid admitted and placed his hand on his chin in recollection. “When I told Liz and Patty about it, they didn’t believe me. Liz even searched a few dictionaries and started spouting random non-English words at me.” He grimaced. “Some of them were quite vulgar, though I’m not sure if Liz did that on purpose or not.”

Maka couldn’t help but snort at that. “Sounds funny.”

“To an outsider, it must have been hilarious,” Kid said in good humour. “Then again, the times where she started a sentence in one language and ended it in the other were a headache.”

Maka let out a small laugh, which Kid reciprocated with a smile. “I hope we can return to that,” Maka said and looked out her cabin window to the dark zee. “Calmer times.”

A hesitation. “…Me too.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“I think I see a port,” came Ox’s voice and Maka and Kid stood up from their chairs.

“Already?” Maka asked as the two went out on deck.

“It’s just a hill with a house on it,” Kilik said when they exited. A few of their group were gathered there already, staring at a dark figure in the distance. It was small but tall, with a solitary rectangular shape on top of it. A house on a hill.

Tsubaki frowned as she looked at the house. “It looks lonely.”

“Maybe it’s owned by a hermit,” Kilik suggested.

“Or an exile,” Liz suggested. “Or a prisoner or some other spooky thing. Or maybe something not even human to begin with…”

“That’s Hunter’s Keep,” came Harvar’s voice as the boy reached the part of the ship where they were all gathered. “I heard about it while in the Admiralty’s office. Three sisters live there, along with their maid. The fee for turning in a port report is nominal.”

“So we’d just be wasting fuel if we veer off to head there,” Kim said nonchalantly.  She turned to Maka. “What’s the plan?”

Maka looked at her chart which she had brought with it. “...Venderbight should be directly North of us.” She frowned, running through the plans she had already made. Changing course would throw some of them off-balance.

“We’re not changing course,” she eventually said. “We’re heading North.”

Tsubaki’s face fell as the crew dispersed. She stood alone in the railing and looked at the house.

“It would be nice to at least say hello.”

Chapter Text

They were swarmed by people the moment they reached the dock.

Even before reaching Venderbight, a Tomb-Colony made up of decrepit houses, ancient mysterious temples, all illuminated in varying shades of grey, Ox had said that there was a large gathering of Tomb-Colonists on the edges of the grey-hued land, their bandaged gazes fixed on the Unsinkable 8. That had given almost everyone a good spook and for a moment, and Maka had been hesitant about docking. However, Kid had walked to her cabin and had asked personally to stop at the Tomb Colony. The Grim Reaper hadn’t fully explained to Maka why he wanted to dock, though the girl strongly suspected it had something to do with its undead residents.

Not that Maka had found out what Kid wanted to do. After docking, Kid had rushed out as politely as one could do, with Liz and Patty following behind him. Curious, Maka had told the others that they were free to do as they please so long as they didn’t sink the ship and had followed after the trio.

She had walked past abandoned houses with boarded up windows and old alleyways that had been reduced to pebbles. Occasionally she bumped into one of the Tomb-Colonists, most of them bandaged and occasionally missing a limb or two. Once or twice she had stumbled into large processions of them, all heading in the same direction she was. Eventually, Maka reached one of the corners of Venderbight, the outskirts of an old half-crumbing temple that connected with the Neath walls, its architecture looking like a ziggurat gone horribly wrong.

On its entrance was a large queue of Tomb-Colonists, their bandaged bodies unmoving, unless they had to move along the queue. Maka followed the queue at its source, the ziggurat’s entrance being a gaping half-collapsed entrance drenched in darkness.

Maka pushed through the Tomb-Colonists until she reached the entrance. Just when she was about to take a step into the darkness, a bandaged hand reached out to her and clasped her shoulder, preventing her from moving.

‘Hey,” Maka protested. “I want to go in-”

“You do not, silk-skin,” a rasping feminine voice claimed. “Not yet. Not for many years…” it trailed off wistfully.

Maka turned around to regard the voice’s owner, a hunched bandaged figure, with an impossibly thin waist. “My friends are in there. A boy and two girls, and I have to find them-”

“The girls did not enter.” The Tomb-Colonist gestured to a corner.

Maka walked around it to see Liz and Patty leaning against the Ziggurat’s wall, faces grim and serious. Kid was nowhere in sight.

“Maka?” Liz asked in surprise. “How’d you-?”

“What’s Kid doing?” Maka cut her off, marching toward the sisters until she came within grabbing distance of Liz.

“How should I-”

Maka scowled. “You do know.”

“Right,” Liz drawled, hands crossed. “And you know that how...?”

“Whatever is going on has to do with the fact that Kid is the Grim Reaper, and you two know the most about it than anyone else,” Maka said in an even tone. “You and Patty have been Kid’s weapons for about half a decade now and have remained even after Kid became a mature Grim Reaper even though you are not Death Scythes. You’ve been living with him all those years, and you are his confidants the same way Papa was to Lord Death,” she added when Liz was about to protest. “So, if anyone knows what’s going on besides Kid, it’s you two.”

Liz opened her mouth to protest but no sounds came out. Instead, she closed it looked away and scoffed. “Smart.”

“I’ve been told,” Maka shot back, still scowling at Liz.

Liz sighed. “Look. If I told you it’s Grim Reaper business, will you leave it alone?”

“Why would I leave it alone? I want to know what’s going on-”

“Do you?”

Maka paused. Liz’s tone had lost any sense of casualness it had.

With a huff, Maka gave Liz a determined look. “Of course I want to know. Kid is my friend too.”

Liz sighed again. “It’s because you’re his friend that he doesn’t want you to know-”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re his friend, yet you know-”

“Do I know everything there is to know about you Maka? Do I know you as well as Soul does?” Liz smoothly replied. “Do I know you as well as Tsubaki knows Black Star?”

“…No,” Maka eventually admitted.

“Exactly. There are things you know about him. There are things you don’t know about him. There are things Kid doesn’t want you knowing about him, the same way there are things you don’t want me to know yet you’d talk about with Soul at a moment’s notice.” Liz shrugged. “It’s how people work. From my experience, Grim Reapers ain’t any different in that respect.”

“But why?”

“Look, I’ll give you an example.” Liz leaned in. Her next words were barely louder than a whisper. “The Madness of Order.” She tilted her head to the side. “Ox, Harvar, Kilik, Fire, Thunder, Kim and Jackie don’t know about that, do they?”

“No.”

“Should they?”

Maka took some time to answer. “…I don’t know.” Her frame deflated. Any bravado she had from before was gone. “You’re not going to tell me what Kid’s doing in here, are you?”

Liz leaned back against the wall with a small triumphant smirk. “It ain’t my secret to tell. You’ll have to ask him.” She frowned and looked to the side. The queue of Tomb-Colonists was gone. The area was as silent as it could be. “Speaking of which, this is taking too long…” She looked back at the Meister. “Hey Maka. Think you can do me a favour and use your Soul Perception to see what’s going on?”

“Sure,” Maka obliged and turned on her Soul Perception. She frowned when she did so. “Strange.”

“What?”

“There are no souls around us besides Kid’s.” And since souls couldn’t just disappear and the Tomb-Colonists didn’t look like particularly fast runners that meant that the only explanation for their apparent disappearance was that the souls had been…

Liz gulped. “What about Kid himself?”

Maka craned her neck and looked up, closing her eyes so the darkness of the Neath wouldn’t distract her.

Getting to pinpoint Kid’s body using his soul had been difficult ever since it had expanded to the size of Death City. The first time Maka had tried doing so, she had tried to locate the centre of Kid’s soul since that where his body was, which was something much easier said than done. However, if Maka focused enough, she could use a different method to locate its centre. Kid’s soul was made up of different hues of yellow, with the outer reaches of the Grim Reaper’s soul being lighter and vice versa. From where she stood, the darkest hue was…

Maka opened her eyes. “Kid’s not in there either.”

“What? Where?

Maka looked at the ground. “He’s lower.”

With a growl, Liz extended her hand. “Patty.”

As Liz grabbed patty’s Weapon form and ran towards the Ziggurat’s entrance, Maka followed her. “I’m coming in too.”

“Your Weapon?” Liz asked, eyeing her weaponless state with concern.

“As you said, this is private. But, you need me and my Soul Perception if you are to find Kid.” Maka gave Liz a smirk. “Don’t worry, I have the Captain's handbook with me.” She patted her jacket. “I’ve been carrying it around since we left London.”

“Crazy little…” Liz grumbled but flashed her a grin anyway. “Alright Patty, let’s kick some ass.”

“Let’s go, sis!”

They ran past the dark entryway of the Ziggurat to come across a massive rectangular room. The inside was barely illuminated by a few sparse torches and was covered in an ethereal fog. The floor gave way to steps that converged in the centre of the room, where a pool of water of considerable size lay, its surface as smooth as glass.

As Maka had predicted the area was empty. They walked along the side of the wall, around the water. As they neared a torch, Maka noticed that the water’s surface wasn’t completely smooth, but was interrupted by a variety of floating shapes. Floating shapes that looked suspiciously humanoid…

“Not now,” Liz said, gently grabbing Maka’s shoulder and turning her away. “Where’s Kid?”

“He should be right beneath us,” Maka said and placed her hand on her chin. “But there aren’t any stairs...”

“We’ll make some then!” Patty whooped as Liz pointed her to the ground and fired. It took multiple shots, but eventually one of the plinths gave way and the girls not-so-gracefully found themselves falling into the lower levels of the temple, landing in a shallow pool of water. At first Maka thought the pool was formed by water that had dripped down from above. However, upon closer inspection, this water was glowing a colour that… Maka couldn’t quite remember…

“Fuck, that’s gonna leave a bruise.” Liz’s whine broke Maka from her line of thought and caused the girl to look at their surroundings.

The area they were in was less lit than before, yet illuminated by the water. The darkness seemed to expand forever and a vast silence accompanied the abyss, the two so tightly interwoven it would be disruptive to even whisper…

There was a small gathering of Tomb-Colonists a few meters away from them. They had all formed a hasty circle, and in its centre was…

Kid lay like a puppet with its strings cut, head lolled to the side, eyes closed. A faint trickle of the strange-hued water ran from his mouth.

Liz’s mouth became a thin line and she pointed Patty at the Tomb-Colonists.

“Alright, assholes, hands where I can see them.”

No one moved.

“Hey,” came Patty’s voice, “do as sis said and put your hands up before we bust a cap on your ass.”

“That sounds unpleasant,” one Tomb Colonist said, only to be shushed into silence by the others.

Maka took a step forward. The Tomb Colonists coped her gesture and stood up, converging like an army about to descend on its enemies.

They stood in front of her, fists raised. Maka spied Kid’s body shielded behind their and took out the book from her jacket and held it tight.

“Alright,” Maka heard Liz growl from behind her. “We’ll do this the hard way.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Their victory had been swift. Ensuring the full cooperation of the Tomb-Colonists had been… less swift. That was until Liz had lost her patience -which did not take more than a few minutes- and had cracked her knuckles, accompanied by Patty’s dark chuckles from her Weapon form.

“What did you give him?” Liz growled and pointed Patty to one of the less fortunate Tomb-Colonists.

The sisters’ interrogation tactics had been…unorthodox.

“Arni’s water, our most honourable guests,” the Captive Tomb-Colonist explained without hesitation.

But they were highly effective.

“The fuck is that?” Patty drawled.

“It’s commonly known as Denial’s Water, most polite visitors,” another small-framed Tomb-Colonist squeaked. “It’s water tainted with Irrigo…”

“Why?” Maka asked, still clutching her book. The spine had broken but the hardback cover had held strong.

“Denial's water makes you forget, exalted travellers,” the Captive Tomb-Colonist explained.

“Those that have to leave must shed their memories first,” the tiny Tomb-Colonist added.

“Our plan was to make them forget, delightful explorers,” the Captive Tomb-Colonist concluded. He looked back at the Grim Reaper who had been carefully propped up so that his head was above water. “To make them stay forever. To make them dissolve forever.”

“Greedy little fuckers,” Liz growled. “How long’s that water last?” When the Captive Tomb-Colonist didn’t reply, Liz pointed Patty at a particular part of his anatomy. “Answer me, or I’ll shoot the other testicle-!”

“On us, the effects are permanent, oh most merciful of adventurers!” the Captive Tomb-Colonist screeched.

“…Crap,” Maka muttered after a few long moments. Next to her, Liz let out a quick laugh. Maka threw Liz a scandalized look. “Why are you laughing, they said the memory loss is permanent-!”

“It’s permanent on these little sacks of shit,” Liz said with a sardonic smile.  “But Kid’s a tougher nut. He’s probably gonna wake up feeling like shit though…”

When Liz finished her sentence, Kid groaned and shifted, slowly coming into consciousness.

Liz let out a smile, equal parts wry and… relieved. “Speak of the Devil.”

“Kid!” Maka called out and rushed to his side.

Liz gestured pointed Patty at each of the Tomb-Colonists. “Anyone of you moves and I’ll shoot both your kneecaps. Again.”

“We shall not take a step, prudent peoples!”

Maka stood by Kid’s side, Liz joining her shortly after, as Kid let out another soft groan and slowly opened his eyes.

“Who…?” For a long painful moment, his eyes were blank, unfocused. “…Liz?” He asked in recognition, looking between the two. “…Maka?”

“Yay, Kid remembers!”

“Patty?”

Maka let out a relieved sigh. “Oh thank goodness.” Next to her, she saw Liz’s frame ease as well.

Kid clutched his head as he propped himself up. “I’m still very tired. What-?”

“No shit, we all are…”  Liz said, her words coated with relief. She kneeled down and helped bring Kid up. “Now let’s get our asses back to the ship.”

“What about our fates?” one of the Tomb-Colonists asked. Upon encountering Liz’s death glare, the decomposing woman made a mock bow towards her. “Oh, most gracious invitees!”

Liz scoffed. “Invitees? You’re really struggling there, ain’t you?” She said with a semi-amused smirk which was gone moments later. “You poor bastards get to spend the rest of your lives stuck in this dreadful place.” They all gave Liz despaired looks. “Hey don’t look at me like that. You did this to yourselves.”

Liz wrapped Kid’s arm around her neck, faced away from the Tomb Colonists and walked away from the place, with Patty and Maka by her side.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Kid faced Liz with an unreadable expression. “So what you’re basically saying is that I was kidnapped.”

“More or less. Don’t worry, only me, Patty and Maka know that a bunch of skeleton-thin folks managed to get the drop on you, mighty Death-”

“Ha, ha, hilarious as always,” Kid’s tone could have dried up the Unterzee. “The others..?”

“They think you’ve had a few too many drinks,” Maka said with a reassuring smile.

Kid nodded but did not speak. No one did.

Liz cleared her throat attracting everyone’s attention. She tilted her head at Maka. “Um… you know... she saw…”

Kid shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. She’s seen me do it anyways.”

“What?!”

Maka frowned. “I did? When?”

“When we travelled to the Fathomking’s hold, with the Drownies…”

“So that’s…” Maka muttered to herself before looking up at Kid. “I had my suspicions but I wasn’t sure.”

Kid inclined his head. “Now you are.”

A long uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

“Does it make you sleepy?” Maka spoke up hesitantly. “When you…?”

“Normally, no. However, it takes its toll. When there is a vast amount of neglected souls, which is the case in the Neath with the Fathomking’s hold and Venderbight being a prime example…” Kid folded his hands neatly in his lap. “It’s like a thousand pricks from a needle.” He looked away, avoiding everyone’s gaze. “I suppose it’s also the reason for my prolonged feeling of exhaustion ever since we arrived here. At least, one of many.”

Maka nodded at the information but did not comment.

The Grim Reaper’s eyes had a faraway look to them. “There are so many,” he said in a barely-audible voice. “Stuck at their bodies long-lost under the zee, accidentally devoured by monsters or roaming aimlessly, old, young men, women, everything in between…” The lights in the cabin dimmed. “They’re all calling out.” Kid’s hands clenched into fists. Maka’s breathing hitched. “Clinking, yearning, pleading-”

Liz coughed, loudly and awkwardly. The lights returned to their former glory. A weight was lifted off Maka’s shoulder.

Kid was broken from his reverie, looking decidedly embarrassed. “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you-”

“It’s fine,” Maka said with a smile. “You have a lot of your plate.”

Kid scoffed. “As if I’m the only one.” He looked at Maka. “And, um, about my actions at Venderbight and the Fathomking’s Hold-”

“That’s fine too,” Maka quickly said, the smile never leaving her face.

“Are you sure?” Kid asked with concern and a hint of embarrassment. “I suppose it must seem macabre…”

“Well… duh? I mean, you are the Grim Reaper, Kid,” Maka casually said. “What else should I expect? And uh, you don’t have to worry about me telling anyone, even if I think you should.” She looked to Liz. “It’s not my secret to tell.” From the corner of her eye, Maka saw Liz give her a quick thumbs up.

Kid gave her a genuine smile. “That’s… nice to hear.”

Chapter Text

Maka felt like banging her head against a wall. Or a salt crystal. Both of those were in abundance at Whither, apparently located at the very North-West corner of her chart, as North as one could get before going to the ‘true north’ or some nonsense like that.

To be honest, Maka had encountered a lot of nonsense since docking at Whither. The shops didn’t accept echoes, but stories. Everything was covered with varying layers of salt.

Most annoyingly of all, everyone spoke in questions. The simple question of “where can we find Avid Horizon?” earned her only confusing and smug questions.

“Which way North?”

“Where do you reach the zee’s end?”

“Where is the place that is too cold for Gods?”

At least these were the ones that bothered to answer. Others simply didn’t respond, giving her strange looks and then avoiding her like the plague.

Maka was going to punch someone. Or even better, hit them with her Captain’s Handbook.

“Answer me with a question one more damn time-!”

Next to her, Liz wasn’t faring better. Maka didn’t even want to think about what sort of trouble Black Star had found himself in. Or the headache Harvar would have gotten when trying to compile a port report.

In summary, their visit to Whither was short, frustrating and unfruitful.

Chapter Text

If their visit to Whither was frustrating, their even shorter visit to Codex was disheartening. There the locals didn’t speak with questions. They had taken the much more straightforward approach by not speaking at all.

Kid had sensed Codex lay directly East of Whither and had taken a brief glimpse at the island while passing a narrow strait to reach Whither. Maka had decided to travel there, in case they could find the information that had been so frustrating to gather in Whither.

No such luck. The only thing they had learned, was that this island was called Codex -by a helpful sign at the port of course- and that everyone was either mute or refused to speak with them -and everyone else for that matter.

Just when Maka was about to throw in the towel, call this trip a failure as well and leave this place, she heard Black Star’s voice come from somewhere above her. Maka craned her neck to see Black Star descend upon them with a whoop, his shadow retracting into its proper shape as Tsubaki transformed into her human form.

“Hey, guys! I think I found something much more interesting than those bozos!” He pointed to the giant complexes of rocks that surrounded Codex, all having a flat top as if someone had cut out the jaggy bits. “Come check it out!”

Reluctantly, their group made their way up one of the closest pillars, with a lot of risky manoeuvring and more than one occasion where someone was volley-balled between people in order to reach the top.

Upon arrival, Maka was amazed at the smoothness of the flat surface. There was barely a pebble amiss. The entire structure was perfectly flat as if it had been a bar of butter cut in half by a scorching hot knife.

However, this wasn’t the strangest feature of the area. Roughly in its centre was a structure that glowed a faint dark red. Upon closer inspection, there was a giant symbol etched on its centre, easily as big as the Unsinkable 8. It was etched on the ground like a tattoo, and it seemed to be… pulsating.

Maka’s eyes watered and she had to look away.

“A symbol?” Ox said when he regarded the glowing sigil. “But what does it mean?”

“There are more all over the area,” Black Star informed them and pointed at the other rock complexes. “This place is littered with them.”

“The same one?” Maka asked.

“No, there are different ones,” Tsubaki’s voice came from her katana form. “Some of them are repeated though…”

“Huh.” Maka placed her chin in thought. “Could they be a language?” the girl said to herself, before turning to Kid. “Can you understand what they mean?”

“Yes, it’s not difficult.” Kid put his hands around his waist and looked at the glowing sigil. “This symbol means ‘mute’ and that one,” he pointed to a sigil on a lower layer of rock, “stands for ‘exile’.”

“…Strange,” Ox muttered. “They’re describing Codex…”

“What about the original language they’re from?” Maka suggested and Kid cleared his throat. The sigils looked mysterious enough. Perhaps saying them out loud would clear a few things…

“M-” Kid began.

Time moved in slow motion.

 “-U-”

The air stretched and twisted in ways it never should have.

 “-T-”

Maka’s eardrums felt like they were about to bust.

“-E-”

It really hurt!

“-Everyone?” Kid continued in a panicked voice and the pain subsided. Any pressure the air had was gone. The zee stood still. Maka found herself on the floor, head between her knees. “Are you alright- what happened-?!”

“Ow, fuck,” Liz grunted and gingerly clutched her forehead. “Everyone else feel like they were hit with a sledgehammer or is it just me?”

“My head hurts too!” Patty replied.

“The great Black Star is fine!” Maka spotted a faint trickle of blood coming from his ears and nose, but Black Star didn’t seem to notice. “I’m a-ok!”

Maka flinched when her temples throbbed and she gently massaged them. “What happened?”

Kid looked at them and then at the sigil, utterly confused. “I just... said the word…”

“Maybe it activated some sort of counter-measures?”

“Why would anyone not want us to say a word?” Kim asked and groaned. “Ah, even my magic takes some time to heal this headache.”

“Could it be the language itself?” Tsubaki timidly suggested.

That gave everyone pause.

“What sort of language does that?” Soul asked in surprise.

“We can try,” Maka suggested. “Kid can you say another word?”

“Are you sure?” Kid asked them with concern.

“I’m covering my ears,” Kim said and did so, with Jackie and the twins following suit.

“We’ll be fine. Say another word,” Maka said to Kid. “A different one.”

“If you say so…” Kid gulped. He cleared his throat opened his mouth to speak-

“Who did this?!”

A scraggy woman emerged from the edge of the area, probably one of the exiles. Her face was drawn making her look much older than she was. Her arms and legs were filled with bruises and cuts from climbing up the pillar and she heaved with deep shuddering breaths. “Who spoke the Correspondence?!” she demanded.

“Correspondence?” Maka asked back. “Is that what that language is called?”

“Who spoke the Correspondence?!” The nameless exile screeched and took a few unsteady steps towards them.

Soul put up a hand in a pacifying gesture. “Ma’am, please calm down-”

“They’re not supposed to be spoken. They can’t be spoken,” the Nameless Exile muttered, her frame swaying in the wind. Her face twisted behind her and she looked over the Unterzee with wide-eyed. “Was it Mt. Nomad? So close to the shore…?”

The Nameless Exile continued her mad ramblings, walking aimlessly around the area.

“I think we should leave,” Maka diplomatically suggested.

Chapter Text

Mt Palmerston was hot. It probably had to do with the active volcano that stood at its centre, filling the air with the smell of lava and brimstone. This was a neat cause-effect phenomenon which Maka had learned to appreciate ever since venturing out to the Unterzee.

Then they had learned that this island housed demons exiled from their homeland because of some kind of revolution and that neatness had been tossed away like crinkled paper.

After the initial shock of finding out that Devils did exist in the Neath, abundantly so judging by the existence of the Iron Republic, some sort of Colony of Hell which, in retrospect, Maka had been doubly glad they hadn’t visited.

It was an unquenchable thirst for knowledge that led Maka to suggest the group they go all the way up the mountain, where the exiled devils lived. On their way there, they had encountered a modest house, with a modest woman staring at them from the doorway.

Her dress was modest and elegant, like something straight out of a contemporary picture book. Her expression was that of enduring wistfulness, of a life long-lost and of a nostalgia for familiar waters. Her pupils were red, and the sclera orange.

Maka activated her Soul Perception.

The woman’s soul was an orange colour in addition to being remarkably small. Maka thought its size was more akin to that of a bee than a full-grown woman.

Maka eyed Kid, who gave the woman a narrow-eyed look. He must have sensed her inhuman soul as well.

“Hello,” she greeted them with a formal bow.

“What are you?” Kid asked.

The woman raised a delicate eyebrow. “Oh my. Rather direct, aren’t you? Well, this is Mt Palmerston, dear. I’m a Devil.” She gave them a polite smile which showed off a row of perfect white teeth. “Or Deviless, as some humans find more comfortable to call me.”

There were gasps behind Maka, who barely managed to keep her face neutral.

“Ah, but where are my manners?” The Wistful Deviless tutted as she opened the door wide open, revealing a modest and ordinary sitting room inside. “Would you like to join me for a cup of tea?

Soul looked back at their rather sizable group. “All of us?”

“Why of course,” the Wistful Deviless said with no hesitation. “I do have plenty of tea. Not a lot of visitors you see.”

So they did, after moving around enough furniture to bring in enough chairs so everyone could sit. A plethora of teacups of various size, constructions and colours were brought out, each piping hot and, in Maka’s case, filled with delicious tea.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“I do get terribly lonely to tell the truth,” the Wistful Deviless said sometime after she had served them tea. During that time, the Spartoi made polite conversation, while the Wistful Deviless recalled old, happier memories, which she was more than eager to retell. “And nostalgic.” She sighed and stirred her tea forlornly. “If only I had something to remind me of home…”

“Can we get you something?” Maka offered. “We’re not sure if we’ll return to Fallen London, to be honest,” she quickly said when the Deviless regained some of her lost cheerfulness. “But if we do and we do sail North again, we’d be happy to drop by and bring you a gift or a souvenir to remind you of home,” Maka concluded with a smile. She was reminded of her own self, the postcards her mother sent her frequently. It was nice to have reminders of familiar faces or places.

“I would love it more than anything! But,” she twiddled her fingers in embarrassment. “Because you made it abundantly clear that you may not return, and though you left your fate open-ended, you are zailors…”

“We’re not dying anytime soon, lady,” Soul said with a frown.

“I suppose not here, in the Neath… Even still…” The Wistful Deviless bit her lip in embarrassment. “You could give me your souls as a gift.”

A cold silence fell in the room. Maka gulped. “What?” she asked to make sure she had heard correctly.

“Your souls,” the Wistful Deviless repeated. “Oh, I know how this proposal sounds. You humans have such nasty opinions on us. But it will not harm you,” she continued, oblivious to everyone’s drawn faces and their furtive looks to one particular golden-eyed individual. “And besides, all souls belong to us you know-”

“No.”

Maka felt her heart clench. Putting her tea aside, she threw a quick glance at Kid.

The Grim Reaper’s face had gone utterly blank. Not the usual blankness meant as a response to a perceived unfunny joke or typical business formality. This blankness was distinctly inhuman, casting dark shadows on kid’s face, the skin lax in a way that suggested it moved independently from muscles and sinew and there was something much more sinister pulling the strings behind the thin layer of skin. His gaze was fixed on the floor and that was probably a good thing. For now.

Maka was reminded of the times when the late Lord Death’s voice dropped, revealing a small glimpse of the raw power that coursed underneath the friendly and seemingly-human exterior. Lord Death had his voice that served as an indication of the cracks. Kid had his face.

“They do not.” The Grim Reaper’s words hang in the air, like a guillotine ready to drop.

The Wistful Deviless blinked, unaware of the chilly atmosphere that had pervaded the room. “I beg your pardon?”

“The souls do not belong to you.” There were no emotions in Kid’s voice.

“You must be confused, dear.” The Wistful Deviless gave Kid a sad look. “From what I can see, you don’t have a soul. Perhaps you harbour a grudge against the devil or monkey that took it-”

“What are you on about?” Liz spoke up. Her face was drawn as well, and she appeared ready to transform at a moment’s notice. She would probably have to do so soon.

“You can see souls,” Maka stated. Was her vision like Soul Perception?

“I am a Devil, dear,” the Wistful Deviless nodded with a small smile and gave Kid a sympathetic look. “And there is no shame in being soulless. Not that some devils can’t be rude about it but personally-”

“I’m not soulless,” Kid said with a hint of annoyance. Traces of emotion were beginning to return to his face.

The Wistful Deviless paused and pursed her lips. “But I can’t see a soul. Where…?”

Kid gestured to the ceiling. “Look up.”

The Wistful Deviless gave him a good-humoured grin but obliged anyway. “Up? What would I…” Her voice trailed off. Her eyes widened. “That’s…”

“My soul,” Kid concluded. He had not looked up from the ground.

The Wistful Deviless looked above her for a few more long moments. Slowly she lowered her head, her expression blank. The hold on her cup was firm. “Well… I have not seen such a thing before.” She gave Kid a tight-lipped smile. “Might I enquire about your nature?”

“My nature concerns the poor souls you’ve been hoarding.”

The Wistful Deviless’ lips became a thin line. “You will not take them away. These souls are mine.”

“They are not-”

“I keep them safe-”

The lights in the room flickered. “You kidnap them!”

“From what?” the Wistful Deviless hissed back. Her pupils had shrunk to two thin slits. Lava threatened to escape her lips. “From whom?” A smile that was caught between joy and despair. “This is the Neath! The Light has no jurisdiction here. Death is cheap and impermanent. Lost souls litter the zee, one more unfortunate than the other. It is how things are here.”

“Are they now? Perhaps it’s time things change.” Kid coolly said. “I suggest you do not resist. It will not be pleasant if you do.”

“Coming into my own house, drinking my tea, and demanding to take my souls away! Just what gives you the right-”

This time, Kid did look up at her, giving the Wistful Deviless pause. “I have every right.” Maka wondered if someone could die from hearing words alone. “They were never your souls. Liz, Patty.”

Not needed to be told anything else, the two sisters transformed and landed neatly in Kid’s hands. The Wistful Deviless stared at the display, momentarily confused.

“Lord Death,” Ox hesitantly spoke up. Harvar’s weapon form was gripped securely by his hands. “As members of the DWMA, allow us to assist you.”

Next to him, Soul transformed and Maka caught him, giving him a small spin before adopting a battle position. The others followed their example wordlessly. Ox’s words did not need to be repeated.

Kid looked back. His face was unreadable, but not that terrifying blankness it had been before.

“Very well,” the Grim Reaper said and turned his head to regard the Wistful Deviless who had been backed into a corner, her fists clenched. “But keep her alive.”

Maka nodded at the orders. She had figured this was how things would end up ever since the Deviless made her proposal.

There were just some things you did not say in front of a Grim Reaper.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The fight was short-lived. They were many and she was one. Though she did give them the runaround at first, spouting fire and brimstone -literally in a situation or two-, she had been quickly overpowered.

The Deviless laid broken, her house trashed.  There was a scythe against her neck, her hands and legs bound in thick metal chains. A golden sear pressed against her back, a gaping lantern faced her and Kilik’s pot-enclosed arms held her down.

Kid exited the back room. His eyes were heavy and his shoulders hunched, but his expression as peaceful. “I’ve secured the souls. It is done.” He gave the house a long look. Small embers ate away at a broken table, with fine broken china scattered all around it.”

The Grim Reaper sighed and turned to his group. “Let us go-”

“Wait,” the Wistful Deviless rasped. “You never answered my question.” A drop of blood fell from her mouth and onto the wooden floor, where it burned through it. leaving a small hole behind. “What are you?”

Kid stared at the Deviless, who reciprocated the gesture with a steady gaze.

“Death,” Kid said and turned his back on her. “Not yours though.” The Grim Reaper spared her one final look before he went out of sight. “Not yet.”

Chapter Text

When everyone had gathered on deck to marvel at the two enormous ice towers that dominated the Horizon, Black Star had stayed on the top of the ship, unimpressed.

As they approached and it became obvious that the island was not simply made up of the two pristine towers but of ramps, galleries and stairs made of the same white ice, in a manner that surpassed an architect’s wildest dream, unconcerned about such pedestrian concepts such as structural integrity or internal logic, Black Star had remained unimpressed.

The dock was the only place with a human touch, a small but sturdy-looking encampment of people next to it. There, a few squatters welcomed them with friendly smiles and jovial small-talk, but Black Star ignored most of them. He wasn’t trying to be unfriendly or cold, and he was sure Tsubaki understood that because she was smart like that. Black Star was just… frustrated.

Frustrated that their best plan of leaving this place was sail out on a small boat to unknown lands. Frustrated that all they could do was sail and hope they stumbled upon a solution or a way back.

Sure, he appreciated the sense of adventure but he couldn’t let go of the nagging part in his brain that urged him to act. Not to just stand around and shovel coal -which was still a very important job, Maka had told him so and she was also very smart and good at that sort of stuff- when he could be out there doing… something. Maybe finding out about these so-called Gods of the Zee and punching them so hard they returned him and his friends home.

When Black Star had suggested Maka they do just that, the girl had sighed and deconstructed his plan like an experienced hitman with a gun. One issue was whether these Gods existed at all. The second issue was that, assuming they existed, they would have to find them. Thirdly, again assuming there was such a thing as the Gods of the Zee and they did find them and could fight them, they would have to make sure they all stayed in one piece. Though Black Star could very well kick ass with one hand tied behind his back, there was the issue of the members of their team with less experience with Godly ass-kickings, such as Harvar, Kilik, Kim and their Weapons. Fourthly, assuming they did all that with no one suffering severe injuries, maybe the Gods of the Zee wouldn’t be able to transport them back into their world, which would mean all their efforts were for nothing.

It had been a very effective deconstruction. Maka had explained that this wasn’t a problem they could punch their way out of and Black Star understood that, he truly did. It didn’t frustrate him any less though.

Still, there must have been something Black Star could do, something he should do to get everyone out of here. He had already surpassed god in his opinion so a bit of dimension-hopping should have been no big deal.

It was with these feelings of frustration that Black Star absent-mindedly listened to the squatters talk about competitions between Wither and Irem, lost captains finding their way here and a complete avoidance at talking about the Avid Horizon or its whereabouts.

Then Maka had asked about the towers. About Frostfound. The squatters had gone silent. Black Star had picked his nose.

“No human could venture there.”

That had piqued Black Star’s attention.

The squatter went on to say that maybe Frostfound could be entered, that maybe it had something of value and that maybe one could return after entering the icy gate. He had also talked about risks and costs and nonsense like that, but Black Star had ignored most of it. His eyes had been fixed some ways above the encampment, at the tower closest to them with a massive gate located on its base.

As a closing note, the squatter had said that even if one could, one definitely shouldn’t enter Frostfound, and at that moment Black Star had made up his mind.

With a grin and a hop, Black Star bolted up and ran straight at the icy gate. He was a fan of challenges after all.

“Black Star!”

"You probably shouldn't do that, young man-!”

Their cries of concern went unheard of. Black Star would be fine. He would make it alright. He always did.

Didn’t he?

Oh well. It was too late for regrets. Back Star had run straight at the white gate, his shoulders braced in order to knock the door down. No violence was needed though, as Black Star passed straight through the ice structure, and the last thing he saw before plunging into Frostfound was his own determined reflection.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Black Star was inside Frostfound.

The first thing Black Star noticed when he entered Frostfound was that it was cold. Bone-chilling cold. His breath came out foggy and he got Goosebumps all over his skin.

He rubbed his hands together and walked towards the only corridor in sight, which simmered with a blue glow, the same blue he had been used to on the clear skies of Death City.

A howling wind filled his ears, yet the air was still as it did so. Because at that point Black Star couldn’t punch the wind for being weird, he focused on his surroundings, the chamber he had found himself in.

It was blue. Very blue in fact. Any other person may have been rather terrified by the blue glow that came from every facet of the ice-crystal wall, depthless and seemingly eternal, but Black Star was rather fond of the colour. It reminded him of his hair.

He took a step further in. The blue intensified, if colours could do so. For a moment he lost his balance. A voice, devoid of inflexion, gender and emotion intoned, “THIS WAS THE SKY”.

Black Star looked around, fist raised, ready to punch the source of that voice. Yet he found nothing, only an endless blue.

He punched the air out of frustration.

There was a shattering and the blue gave away to blackness, yet persisted, and Black Star’s vision swam.

Black Star blinked and a memory came to mind. This was like when he had found himself in the Book of Eibon. Only then, there was an eternal darkness instead of an eternal sky. In fact, there had been no sky at that place, the only familial presence of normal space being the directions.

Whatever. Black Star had made it out of that entrenching blackness with Kid in tow. This shattered blue would be a piece of cake. His hunched back was only a result of his excitement. Nothing else.

Black Star took another step forward. The blue disappeared. He found himself in a corridor drenched in a deep violet colour, brighter than any coral or picture thereof he had seen. A gallery stood at the end of the corridor, occasionally shadowed by colossal predatory shapes.

Black Star walked into the Amethyst Gallery.

Like the Sapphire Chamber before it, the perspective was off. The place stretched in every direction, clouded by a purple haze and Black Star felt as if he was floating among the clouds.

He wasn't the only one there. Shapes vaster than him, more massive than Frostfound itself cast their monstrous silhouettes in the dusty haze. Fluids stained their hides and parts of them were distorted and torn, with sharp bone-edges poking out of their whale-like forms.

Once again there was a voice, and Black Star was reminded of Lord Death -or more recently Kid- when they were in a very, very bad mood. “THERE WERE CASUALTIES.”

Black Star huffed. Sure these things were big, but size wasn't the sole deciding factor in determining your enemy's strength. For example, Black Star himself wasn't… very tall. Or simply tall.

Ok, Black Star was rather short. However, no one paid any notice to that when Black Star punched them straight through a series of walls.

But to get back to his point. These things were big, certainly so. Their size reminded them of the sky-whale they had once hunted down.

However, that sky-whale was nothing compared to fighting Arachnophobia. To the Clowns. To Asura himself. All these enemies were human-sized yet an old familiar fear lingered at Black Star’s mind every time he recalled them.

That fear persisted.

“I’ve fought bigger,” Black Star said and crossed his arms. He looked at the hulking beasts with disinterest and took a step forward. “What’s next?”

The corridor glowed with the red hue of sunset and freshly-spilt blood. A cave-like room was at its end, dripping red.

As Black Star walked towards it, his soles felt heavy even if the floor was smooth and solid.

The Cavity was bathed in red, thick as congealed blood. Black Star coughed out the liquid yet it kept washing over him, leaving him tasting iron.

“THIS IS ONLY A MEMORY.” There was an old anger in the voice. “THE CRIME IS FORGOTTEN. ITS SHADOW REMAINS.”

“This place sucks,” Black Star coughed as he struggled against the thick red. He blinked and an eye watched him.

Black Star batted his hands against it and it disappeared, as it should have. Its source had been sealed a year ago. That Madness had subsided. Black Star was amongst the ones that had made it so. Asura slept.

Until he awoke again.

Black Star threw a wide punch and found himself surrounded by a soft green light. The scent of pine hit his nose and a chilly breeze ruffled his hair.

The Emerald Vista was as wide and endless at the other rooms. There was a floor but little else. Everything was a soft green, and Black Star swore he heard whispers and eyes, all brimming with secrets.

“SOMETHING SOUGHT,” the voice softly intoned. “SOMETHING LOST.”

Black Star really didn't like this place. He wandered seemingly forever. He recalled faint events from their adventures in the Neath. Little details, like pieces if a puzzle Black Star had never bothered to assemble.

There were gone as soon as Black Star remembered them and so was his memory of leaving the confounding Emerald Vista.

Only to be greeted by blinding white light.

Black Star closed his eyes yet the light penetrated his eyelids like a stick through the mud. Despite that, his skin remained cold.

Mustering a part of his willpower Black Star squinted and looked ahead, to see a Diamond Bridge stretched out with no end in sight.

When he stepped on the bridge the light became even brighter. It bore down on him like an insect in the desert, like a fresh carcass on the operating table, like a jewel in the sun.

“YOU BETTER GET A GOOD LOOK AT ALL THIS,” Black Star yelled with a wild grin. “After all, I'm the one who has surpassed God!’

With a booming laugh, Black Star marched across the bridge, eyes narrowed but chest puffed out. Only when he reached the middle point of it, did he use his hands to shield his eyes, feeling like he’d go blind any second.

“As if I’m gonna be afraid of some fancy light,” Black Star said with gritted teeth.

The light stretched around him, inquiring. Black Star batted it away.

“UNDER A LAW,” the voice stated.

“I am my own law!” Black Star yelled at the voice. He ran the rest of the distance, his shallow breaths clearly being the result of his sudden exercise and absolutely, positively, nothing else.

The light was gone, replaced by a reflecting fog that coiled from the next corridor, pulsating like a weakened heart.

The light in the Iridescence was very different. It didn't burn or blind. It reflected.

“KNOW YOURSELF,” a voice intoned.

Black Star looked at the fog, where his shadow stretched. It rose as if it had a mind of its own, reaching Black Star’s height.

Then, it cleared, and Black Star was looking at himself. Not a mere reflection of his body.

Black Star took a long, long look at his reflection. Something was off about it. He narrowed his eyes. His mind thought of specific events, or series thereof.

The reflection faded into the fog. At the last second, a star-shaped demon stalked over Black Star. His own eyes had stars in them, bright and deadly and filled with senseless killer intent.

Black Star took a step back. The reflection disappeared for good.

“Stupid fog,” he mumbled to himself but kept his eyes on the floor. As he walked, the fog faded away.

From there on out, there was only darkness. Nothing was visible. A Dark Room-

-Almost silence. Soft breath. The crushing pressure of once-lived experience, as at the core of a star-corpse. Frostfound's lightless heart-

“Hey!” Black Star called out. “Anyone out here?!”

The room remained silent. Black Star took a step forward, fumbling in the dark. His hand closed on a memory.

Long ago, a traveller went East, seeking something that could not be found in the black and starry kingdoms of the High Wilderness, nor in the irrigo temptations of the Nadir. Not in the glow of the Forge nor the crushing silence of the Unterzee deeps. Not in the shapeling citadels, not in the light of the South, not of the Sundered Sea. The traveller went East, and others may follow .

Black Star let out a grin at the familiarity of the feeling. “Hey, I get that,” he said at no one. “You’re not happy until you reach the top huh?”

Frostfound paused. Black Star looked around, disappointed.

“is that all?”

The Dark Room shifted. Something moved and it wasn't Black Star.

“Oi, don’t run away-!”

The air moved. Chill met his skin. The all-consuming blackness gave way to the all-encompassing darkness of the Neath.

Black Star blinked. “What-?”

“Black Star!” came Tsubaki’s voice.

“Thank goodness you’re alive.” That was Kid.

“You idiot!” That was Maka, a fact made even more obvious by the book that connected with Black Star’s face and sent him sprawling through the ice. “What did you think you were doing-? We were so worried!”

“Yeah man,” Soul added, “storming out like that was definitely not cool,” he said with a frown, but he helped Black Star get up regardless.

“Good thing you changed your mind and went out as soon as you entered,” Maka said with a huff.

“As soon as I entered?” Black star repeated. Truth be told, he had no idea how much time had passed ever since he entered Frostfound, but it was certainly longer than a few seconds. “How long was I gone?”

Maka’s scowl turned into a frown. “Huh? You went out as soon as you exited. It couldn’t have been more than a second.”

Kid gave Black Star a long look. “Your soul was jumping all over the place though…”

“Black Star,” came Tsubaki’s soft voice as she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Is everything alright?”

Was everything alright? Black Star was fine physically but… his throat felt parched. And his heart beat too fast.

And that reflection...

Black Star let out a triumphant laugh. “Don’t worry about it guys! I tried to punch my way around but I didn't get anywhere.” he sheepishly rubbed his neck. “I should have given you a heads up, shouldn't I? It is hard to keep up with my awesomeness after all.”

What followed were groans and relieved smiles. ‘As was expected of Black Star’, was the general sentiment among them as they slowly they began to make their way back to the ship.

Black Star looked back at Frostfound. The towers remained pristine, the same as they had been before. Though, some of their glimmer was gone. As if they had a core and it had subsided in size.

Nah. Black Star was probably imagining things.

“It’s just a bunch of nonsense anyway,” he said and headed to the ship.

Chapter Text

The water was starry, the air dead. The ceiling of the Neath was dark yet the zee reflected countless stars and constellations, the ones one could find on a clear summer night sky.

“The Avid Horizon.” Even coming from her throat, Maka’s words felt empty. The place had an unnatural stillness to it.

It was surrounded by tall pillars made of stone and ice, which formed a strait and whose flat tops glowed a faint red hue. In the strait stood two vast winged shapes, made of a strange blue compound. The statues were riddled with icicles, and despite what any sane person would expect, the icicles were...

“Perfectly symmetrical,” Kid remarked with a hint of giddiness.

Maka ignored him and took another look at the place.

Between the statues stood a gate unlike all others. It was made of an unknown resin-like compound of a colour that… Maka couldn’t see. It was as if the Gate had eaten all other colours, including the absence of colour itself, leaving behind a gaping maw.

A modest stone port stood at the base of the gate, devoid of ships or any other sign of life. The only activity was a rushing wind, blowing from everywhere to everywhere.

Soul walked up next to Maka. He leant on the railing and gave the place a wary look. “You think this is it? The way home?”

“Could be,” Maka said with uncertainty. “Only one way to find out.”

“Hey, guys!” called Black Star, having used his shadow to elevate himself above the strait-forming pillars. “This place has the same weird symbols on it, just like back at Codex!”

Maka frowned. “The Correspondence… If that's carved here maybe it has some relation that place. Perhaps the gate…” Maka remarked to herself before turning to Kid. “Do you think that can open the gate if you talk in Correspondence?”

Kid looked between Maka and the Gate hesitantly. “Normally I'd say it wouldn't hurt to try, but considering what happened the last time I tried to speak the language…” His words trailed off and Maka recalled a faint pain, a throbbing in her head. Merely recalling the memory brought her discomfort.

“We’ll be fine!” Maka said assuredly and gave Kid a confident grin. “We’ll cover our ears and eyes if we have to.” She couldn’t back down now, not when there had a chance of returning to their world. Kid had given her a strange look but didn’t protest.

Upon disembarking they slowly gathered in front of the gate. Soul stood with Maka, and the boy let out a small shiver at the wind, which blew hard and could seemingly pass right through their very bodies. Liz paled upon looking at the statues, said something about “this better be worth it,” and stood at the very edge of the port, as far away from the Gate as possible. Patty followed her sister while making funny gestures at the statues. Black Star let out a laugh and marched right in front of the Gate, proclaiming he’d punch it open if Maka’s plan didn't work. Harvar approached the Gate and reached out with his hand, but withdrew it moments before he touched the structure. As always, his face was unreadable.

Maka looked up at the Gate, her frame positively puny when compared to the colossal statues or giant-sized Gate.

Kid walked up next to her, face hesitant. His eyes scanned over the Gate. If he noticed something Maka hadn’t, he didn’t say so.

“Here goes nothing,” the Grim Reaper exhaled. “Everyone, cover your ears. And eyes,” he added as an afterthought and looked back.

Upon making sure everyone had done so, Kid turned to Maka. The girl had covered her ears but hadn’t closed her eyes. Maka gave him a determined nod, with Kid reciprocated, if hesitantly.

Kid opened his mouth and Maka closed her eyes.

“OPEN.”

Even with her eyes closed, Maka’s vision blurred and her eardrums thrummed with suffocating pressure. When Kid finished speaking, Maka cracked one eye open.

She immediately regretted doing so. The gate had been opened, the two giant winged statues looming around it.

What was on the other side wasn't their world. Not at all.

There was a vast blackness, mixed with the imposing light of burning stars, and some of the stars stirred with interest and looked through the Gate and Maka felt her skin burn-

“CLOSE!”

Kid’s voice came without a warning and this time Maka did feel as if her eyes would pop from their sockets. The light vanished from the gate, the space-like darkness with it, leaving behind smooth resin. The air died then restarted, like a lamp in a brief power outage.

The Avid Horizon was silent again. A few seconds passed.

“What,” came Soul’s shaky voice, “was that?”

“Not our world,” a breathless Kid said.

“Yeah, I think that was obvious,” Liz said in a nervous airy voice, eyes wide. “Still, what was that?”

“All that light,” Tsubaki timidly spoke up. “I feel like I was staring at a thousand suns…”

Maka, who up at this point was rubbing her eyes, looked at their group and around the area. There was another light coming from the South, but it was faint and disappeared soon after. There was no indication that anything had happened. That the Gate had been opened. This place was still, save the howling wind.

Maka gulped, pushed down her fears and looked Kid in the eye. A thought crossed her mind. “Maybe it was another world then?”

“I…” Kid began with uncertainty, “I don't know.”

“What kind of world would look like that?” Tsubaki asked with wide eyes.

“Maybe it’s a different part of this one?” Maka thought out loud.

Ox raised his shoulders. “Whatever it was, we still can’t return to our world.”

“So, this lead’s a dead end as well.” Kim let out a frustrated sigh. “Great, and we’re down to what places now?”

“Adam’s Way, Irem and Kingeater’s Castle,” Maka listed off the top of her head.

“Irem is East from here, right?” Kilik asked with urgency. “Maybe if we head out now, we can hit two birds with one stone-”

“Yes, but I don’t know if we’ll have enough supplies and fuel to make the return trip,” Maka said, ignoring Kilik’s immediate disappointment. “For now, we should head back to London, resupply and plot a new course.”

Disappointed but alive, they left Avid Horizon their statues still and unmoving, and the Gate closed.

For now.

Chapter Text

After the chillness of the Avid Horizon, the Unsinkable 8 headed South, in hopes of finding a friendlier place to dock. After travelling South for a few hours, they came across an island illuminated by gentle candlelight. Buildings were sparse, the most prominent one being a modest Anglican-structured church.

Upon docking, they were greeted with warm smiles and a humble smiling priest invited them to dinner, his teeth white and gleaming. After a small internal discussion, their group decided to accept the invitation, and they made their way further into the island, which they were informed it was called ‘Chapel of Lights’. Despite its few inhabitants, the island was teeming with voices. They came from every nook and canny, some in languages Maka could understand but most in foreign ones she couldn’t recognise.

They reached a moderately-sized building a few ways off the church. The Smiling Priest unlocked the door of the store-house, revealing a large dining table. Food had already been served. “Here,” he said. “Eat. But take nothing away with you.”

Maka eyes the table. A variety of dishes were on it, from plain potatoes and peas to shark meat and tuna. At the table’s centre was a big roast, the meat cut up and bunched together as if it’d been taken straight out of a donner shop. Maka found the table strangely familiar.

Tsubaki raised her hands in a pacifying gesture. “We don’t wish to impose ourselves on-”

Black Star’s stomach gave a loud growl and every objection they had become redundant.

The Smiling Priest’s smile widened. “No such thing. Please eat as much as you can.” He gestured to the food. “We always carry enough food for guests.”

Black Star and Patty seated themselves immediately, drool threatening to drip from their mouths. Maka couldn’t blame them. The food smelled delicious and it looked so too.

As the rest seated themselves with less zeal Tsubaki sniffed and picked at the meat at the centre of a table. She brought it close and rotated her fork.

“I don’t recognise this meat,” Tsubaki said and looked at the Smiling Priest. “What animal is it from?”

“A local one. Harmless for the most part. Do not worry, they are not in any short supply.”

“Who cares where this is from, I’m hungry!” Black Star and piled his plate with all sorts of food, including meat from the central roast. Maka followed his example and placed a few roasted potatoes on her plate, the rest doing so as well.

As they all crowded around the table, its wooden legs creaking under the weight of the food, a memory came back to Maka. One of a different table, heavy with ripe vegetables and legumes and all other kinds of food. At that table’s centre, there had been...

Maka eyed the meat at the centre of the table with a horrified look.

She looked around. No one had that meat placed on their plate, with one exception…

“Black Star, stop!” Maka grabbed Black Star’s fork and threw it away, the metal clattering on the floor. “Everyone, don’t eat this!”

“Hey, I was about to eat that-!”

“Maka, what’s wrong-?”

Maka stood up abruptly, throwing her chair to the floor. She pointed at the roast accusingly. “That’s human meat!”

A grim silence fell among the table. They all looked at each other, then the roast.

“Human…?” This could have been anyone's voice. Maka’s mind was too unfocused to discern the speaker.

They all turned their gaze to the Priest, whose smile had never left his face. He inclined his head at Maka. “I see you have the taint-”

“Maka, how did you-?”

“What taint?” Maka slammed her hands on the table. “This table’s been set up exactly like the one in Mutton Island!”

“Shit,” Liz said with terrified realisation and dropped her fork. “You're right.”

“Ah, so the Drowned Man’s lessons reached far and wide…” the Smiling Priest said nonchalantly. “Unfortunately, it appears they were reckless with their dinners.”

“You're sick,” Soul began.

“Why the fuck are you eating people?” What Soul’s voice lacked in volume, Liz’s more than made up for it. “Why the fuck is anyone here eating people, it's not like you're running out of food-”

“Liz,” Kid cut her off, his voice low. “I don't think he's listening.”

The Smiling Priest had craned his neck back. His eyes weren't visible, and his Adam’s apple bobbed erratically.

The elder Thompson scowled. “The hell is he doing now?”

“All is well,” the Smiling Priest said without provocation. “And all manner of things shall be well.”

Maka’s jaw clenched. The words made no sense to her. “What-?”

“The Drowned Man was betrayed,” the Smiling Priest said in an emotionless voice. “We honour his sacrifice, and pay tribute to him. This,” he gestured at the human meat, “is but one of many rites. And this,” he gestured to the rest of the table where rich pickings lay, “is our reward. But not always. The Drowned Man does not make promises.”

No one spoke back. They had all gotten up from the table and gathered towards the exit of the store-house. Their frames were tensed.

“...Ok,” came Kim’s stressed voice from Maka’s side. “So the cause is cult-ness.”

Maka took a step back. The exit was only a few steps away. From there it was a straight lime.to the harbour where the Unsinkable was docked. “We’re leaving.”

Slowly, the Smiling Priest lowered his head and looked at them with dead eyes and a gaunt face.

“If you’re thinking of reporting our operation to the Traitor Empress’ authorities, know this; The London Admiralty will do nothing.” The Smiling Priest gave them a long look. “But your report will cause trouble if it leaks to the wider public…” His smile faltered. “So I am afraid I cannot let you go.”

No words needing to be exchanged, the Weapons transformed and their Meisters got hold of them.

Maka tensed her shoulders, steadied her footing and brought Soul around her shoulder. “I’d like to see you try.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

They had run and the Smiling Priest had followed them, yelling nonsense about the Drowned Man and Fallen City and betrayals and of feathered priests feasting on Gods.

When he had gotten too close, Maka had swung her scythe and caught him in the leg, incapacitating but not mortally wounding him.

The Smiling Priest had continued his pursuit unfettered, his injured leg leaving thick trails of blood.

Right until they reached an ancient but well-maintained well.

The Smiling Priest had let out a maniacal laugh and hobbled towards the well. He pressed his thin frame against it and he had fallen into it, his mad laughter echoing among the stone walls as they ran away from the church.

After that, their path had been straightforward; they had boarded the Unsinkable 8 and left the Chapel of lights as fast as the ship’s old beaten age allowed.

On deck along with most else, Liz let out a shiver. “Cannibals. Again.”

Tsubaki let out a sigh. “I can't believe we were about to become cannibals ourselves…”

“Technically, not all of us,” the Grim Reaper spoke up. Liz gave Kid a warning look and he cleared his throat. “But this is a bad time to be making such an argument.”

Liz’s look went from murderous to pleased. Kid let out another small cough.

“At least they're human,” Maka said, thinking back on some of the other islands they had visited. Compared to the time they were brainwashed, or when the Tomb Colonists had abducted Kid... “It could be worse.”

Liz gave Maka a humourless laugh. “Ain't that the scariest thing.”

Chapter Text

Kilik let out a sigh. The sounds of intense battle came from behind him, a mix of blows, curses and the occasional excited yell.

They were in an area called Godfall, which wasn’t an ordinary island. That much was obvious from the way the mountain-island was shaped, with its top wider than its base, sharp stretches of rock jutting downwards in a manner that couldn’t have been made from usual water corrosion. To add to the area’s mystery, it housed a large monastery, carved from rock and blending with the sharp black stone that made up the island.

Upon docking, they had been met with an excitable and slightly drunk band of locals, men dressed in long cotton robes with shaved heads and long beards. Though they dressed like monks, their mannerisms, loud and rude and itching to fight, were anything but. The locals had regaled them with tales of how they and Godfall came to be along with drinking invitations.

Kilik had listened to some of their tales. Apparently, the creation of Godfall occurred when a stalactite fell from the Neath roof. The monks claimed to be descendants of the surviving roof-dwellers, who created the monastery and continued the time-honoured traditions of their ancestors. The question of how exactly so-called monks who had supposedly sworn vows of celibacy could maintain a population was met with vague chatter and a changing of the subject.

With sagging shoulders, Kilik looked back to see Black Star plough his way through a small battalion of warrior-monks.

It all started the moment Black Star had heard that the monks specialized in fighting. He had wasted no time challenging each and every single one of the warrior-monks to a duel. Black Star had asked if anyone else from the Spartoi wanted to join, but most of them were sane and denied the invitation. One exception had been Patty, who had cracked her knuckles and let out a dark chuckle.

One of the monks had sneered at the gesture. “We don’t fight women. If ya wanna do so, go to Abbey Rock!”

At which point Patty had kicked a guy in the groin and a fight did break out.

Kilik had spent little time watching the fight. The winner had been obvious from the start. One side was the entirety of Godfall, warrior-monks whose ‘praying to St Stalactite’ probably involved daily suplexing and a training regiment that would have given Sid Barrett pause.  The other side was made up of Patty and Black Star.

The last monk fell to his knees, his nose broken and his mouth bloody. Patty and Black Star loomed above the fallen warrior, bruised but victorious.

As the two locked elbows and cheered in victory, a jovial monk walked up to Kilik, nursing a split lip and a black eye. “Kids these days.” He coughed blood and his smile widened. “What have they been feeding you, zee monster bones?”

Kilik gave the Cheerful monk a half-hearted smile as he looked to the whooping duo. “Those are strong. You should have picked your battles better.”

The Cheerful Monk gave Kilik a blank look. “Picked our battles better? Not knowing is part of the fun!” He laughed and slapped his knee. “What about you young man?” The Cheerful Monk’s eyes glinted. Clearly, he still had energy to spare. “Any fire in your belly?”

“Plenty,” Kilik responded but held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “But this isn’t going to do any good.” He glanced at the two victors. Black Star had climbed up on a protruding rock, with Patty cheering him along. He had no desire to follow their lead just yet.

Because Kilik probably wouldn't be able to defeat the entirety of a monastery made up of warrior-monks. Because Kilik wasn’t Black Star. Kilik didn’t have the limitless well of physical strength Black Star carried. He didn’t have the raw power that caused others to regard the assassin as a Warrior God than the human he was -no matter how much Black Star denied the last part. Kilik wasn’t Maka, with a Grigori soul and enough bravery to go against Madness incarnate with little hesitation. Kilik wasn’t skilled enough to wield a Demon Scythe and elevate them to the title of Deathscythe. Kilik wasn’t a Grim Reaper, plain and simple.

Kilik was just… himself. A good Meister, one of the stronger in the DWMA in fact, but not in the leagues of the aforementioned three, which were the envy of the DWMA to anyone with a functional brain. The three were an exemplary team of Meisters.

Of course, their Weapons were no slackers, quite the opposite. That much had been made obvious by Patty, who flexed her biceps and shouted at any fallen monks to “come at me again bros, I can go all day!” Patty’s physical strength was nothing compared to the devastation her bullets could cause. And all the other Weapons of the trio as well… Tsubaki came from a long, old line of Demon Weapons, with a genealogy spanning back to Arachne’s original test subjects. She was as deadly in her human form as she was in her Weapon one. Soul was a Deathscythe. Even before that, his Weapon form was a scythe; one difficult to master but absolutely deadly in the right hands, a fact demonstrated each time he was wielded by Maka with deadly grace and absolute precision. Going back to Patty and her sister… They grew up on the streets and they were as tough as they came and it showed. From the brief time that Kilik had wielded them, he was surprised by Liz’s restrained but deadly power and Patty’s sheer destructive force.

To compare, Kilik’s Weapon partners were Fire and Thunder. Two shamans that were respectable in their own ways, and would grow up to become even more powerful, but for the time being, they were kids. Very young kids. Kilik had to be careful around them and for them.

Then again, where had all that power led them? To put it mildly, Black Star was not the most stable of people. Losing made him lose his temper and he had a worrying obsession with obtaining power for power’s sake. Though Black Star had somewhat matured after the Battle of the moon, hints of such behaviour resurfaced frequently enough. As for Kid -which Kilik supposed he should be used to calling Lord Death sooner or later… There were rumours in the DWMA. That the late Lord Death’s end came the moment Kid became a fully-fledged Grim Reaper couldn’t be a coincidence. That the Battle in the Moon had revealed a terrible secret that was still being kept under wraps, for now. As for Maka… Kilik wasn’t sure what her demons were. But he knew she did have demons, having heard of Soul complain about nightmares and being woken at night by screaming. Not to mention Maka made worryingly frequent use of self-deprecating humour.

To add to that, Ox, Harvar, Kim and Jackie didn’t seem to mind the ever-increasing rift between their abilities. Alright, perhaps Kim was an outlier, being a Witch and all, but Jackie was a normal Weapon and she hadn’t shown any disappointment in reaching a plateau of power. Ox seemed fine playing second-fiddle to Maka in terms of Academics and being of moderate power in the field. Harvar appeared to be alright with that as well. Kilik had no idea how Harvar’s mind worked and probably wouldn’t find out anytime soon.

Maybe Kilik should borrow a page from their book.

The Cheerful Monk gave Kilik a nudge, breaking his line of thought. “You sure, boy? Reckon I can still run laps around you.”

Kilik examined the monk. Most of his body was covered by a woollen dark grey coat, parts of it recently covered his blood. His frame was bent, indicating he was favouring one leg. His face was disfigured with scars. A lifetime of battles fought and lost.

Kilik saw his face reflected in the monk's brown eyes and looked away.

Maybe it was fine if he wasn’t the strongest.

Kilik shook his head. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Maybe he was strong enough.

Chapter Text

In Polythreme, everything was screaming. The waves, the rocks, whatever pitiful and unfortunate plant life grew among the grimacing gravel. A wounded temple let out hollow moans like a dying whale.

The moment Liz had heard of a wave complain about pollution in a slow and rumbling voice, she had locked herself in a random cabin and refused to come out. Maka thought that had been a silly overreaction.

Now that Maka was ashore, she wished she had followed after Liz’s example.

Planks with dead faces stared at them from wooden huts. The individual stones at old masonry houses complained of boredom. Occasionally, Maka saw a shoe move on its own, calling after its lost pair.

Maka looked back on the minority of their group that came with her. It was made up of Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kim, Jackie, Ox and Harvar. Kilik had stayed on the ship, saying he was looking after Fire and Thunder. Kid and Patty had stayed with Liz out of companionship, with Kid incessantly sneezing.

“Um…” Tsubaki’s voice was barely audible at the cacophony of voices. “Should we talk to someone?” She eyed a carriage that moved on its own and complained about being underappreciated. “Or something?”

Kim flinched as a high-pitched gravel asked about the weather, her hands over her ears. “I’m gonna go deaf,” she growled. Putting her foot down, Kim took a deep breath. “Everyone shut up!”

For a few moments, there was a blessed silence. Then an even bigger cacophony occurred, this one with added cries of indignation.

With a murderous glare, Kim stomped on a patch loud gravel with vengeance. This of course, only made the tiny rocks yell as loud as their nonexistent lungs allowed.

“Augh!” Kim own frustrated yell was added to the pandemonium and Maka felt a headache form. As she rubbed her temples, she noticed a group make their way towards them.

Maka frowned. The ones that approached them were golem-like creatures that were everywhere on Polythreme, to the point Maka suspected they were the closest thing this island had to a native population that wasn’t made up of purely inanimate objects.

The six giants stopped right in front of Maka and stared down at her, their eyes blank and pupil-less.  Maka gulped and looked up at the closest creature, who was roughly the height of the late Lord Death.

"WE ARE CLAY MEN. WE ARE FOR LONDON," one of the Clay Men explained to Maka in a booming monotonous voice. “CAN YOU OFFER PASSAGE? YOU WILL BE COMPENSATED.”

 Maka saw no reason not to accept their offer. They had enough space on their ship and they were heading for London anyway. Also, the extra Echoes would be more than welcome.

With a nod, Maka had led the Clay Men to the ship. They boarded neatly and quietly, were as discreet as any clay giant could be, headed for the cargo compartment and snugly nested in an empty corner.

Just as he was about to leave, Maka looked back at the Clay Men. It felt like a waste of fuel, docking at Polythreme and leaving so soon.

Maka cleared her throat, hoping to catch one of the Clay Men’s attention. No such luck. They all remained completely motionless. A louder fake cough reaped the same results.

With resignation and increasing embarrassment, Maka waved a hand in front of the Clay Men. When they didn’t react again, Maka sighed and decided to go ahead and talk. “Um. Is there any place I should visit? In Polythreme?”

Once again, Maka was greeted by silence. She was about to turn back, head to her cabin and leave Polythreme when a booming voice came with no warning and almost caused her to jump.

“CAPTAINS FREQUENT THE PUB,” one of the Clay Man said. Which one, Maka couldn’t tell. “IT IS BY THE DOCK.”

“A pub…” Maka repeated. “Ah, thanks!”

The Clay Men did not respond, but that was fine. Maka could deal with that. And with the creaming… hopefully. Maybe she would come across something new. Maybe visiting the pub would help relieve her headache.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The pub was not an improvement.

The bottles sobbed. The tables complained of misuse. The chairs criticized the buttocks of anyone that dared sit on them.

The pub was mostly filled with Clay Men. There were a smattering of humans on the pub, and the majority appeared to be zailors. It made sense to Maka; who would willingly live here permanently?

Maka stood up and leaned against the wall - “honey, I know you’re one of those hardened zailors but that’s no excuse for this wild hair,”- hands crossed. She had thought about ordering something to drink but had decided against it when she saw that both cups and the liquid they contained were alive and miserable.

Maka rubbed her forehead. Her headache had only gotten worse. “Too much life…”

“It’s Stone’s fault you know,” a smooth voice said.

Maka looked at the speaker. He was leaning against the wall as well, a few steps adjacent to Maka. The man had a patch and wore some sort of official uniform, unlike any Maka had seen in London.

The unknown man tipped his sighing cup filled with snoring beer at Maka’s direction and took a small sip. “I’m assuming you’re not used to this.”

 Maka scoffed. “Who is?” she said unconsciously before releasing she hadn’t introduced herself. “I’m Maka Albarn.” She politely offered her hand, which the man elegantly shook. “I’m a Captain of...” there was a clump on her throat, “the Unsinkable…” the clump became bigger, “Eight.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Eight? What happened to the other-”

“Don’t,” Maka cut him off quickly, barely able to keep herself from grimacing. How had she been conned into accepting that ridiculous name? “Long story.”

The man gave her a pleasant smile. “Long stories are straight up my alley, Captain. I’m a Presbyterian from the Elder Continent after all.” His gaze fell. “Or, rather, was…” His smile became thin-lipped. “I am a traveller now.”

“A Presbyterian?” From the sounds of it, it sounded like a toponym… “That’s… a country in the Elder Continent, right?” Maka guessed. “The continent makes up the southern shores of the Unterzee.”

“Correct. Adam’s Way is the only area you’ll be allowed to visit in the Presbyterate though.” The Presbyterate Traveler’s smile faded. “Despite their claims to the contrary, the Presbyterate does not welcome foreigners. You are from London I assume?” He squinted his eyes at Maka. “Or the Khanate?”

“London,” Maka lied, filing the information about the Presbyterate away for later use. Her thoughts travelled to the first words the man had spoken to her. “What you said before about Stone… It’s one of the Gods of the Unterzee right?” Maka eyes the Presbyterate Traveller’s mumbling water. “What does Stone have to do with this place?”

“In the Elder Continent, Stone is known as the Mountain of Life.”

“The Mountain of…” Maka’s eyes widened. “I’ve seen it! In Port Carnelian!”

The Presbyterate Traveller nodded his head politely. “Then I suppose I don’t need to explain much. Only that the Mountain of Light oozes life.” Judging from the weirdness of the Neath, Maka was half-convinced the Presbyterate Traveller’s last claim was very literal.

Maka frowned. Even if Stone could give life to inanimate objects, there was a glaring flaw in the Presbyterate Traveller’s explanation. “But that’s in the Elder Continent. We’re in the middle of the Unterzee and no other island nearby is like Polythreme.”

The Presbyterate Traveller’s face fell. “Ah yes…” His eyes darkened. With one swift gesture, he finished his now-wailing beer and placed the cup on a nearby chattering table. His eyes darted around the room, on the brooding patrons, the chattering tables, the gossiping walls and the overly-critical chairs.

Gently, he escorted Maka to an empty part of the pub, where the wall was mouldy, half-eaten and silent. It had been long dead.

“You might as well know,” the Presbyterate Traveler whispered. “The more do the better. I doubt I have much time left anyway.” Before Maka could ask about that worrying last statement, he had already continued his explanation. “They say this is the fault of the King with a Hundred Hearts.” He glanced at the Clay Men that littered the pub, surrounded by talking furniture. “But don’t let his subjects hear you talk about him out loud.”

“Is he the ruler of Polythreme?”

The Presbyterate Traveler nodded. “The King with a Hundred Hearts is the reason this place is brimming with Life.”

“What did he do?”

The Presbyterate Traveler ran a hand through his neatly trimmed hair. “I’ve been searching about this for a long time. About Neath, about Stone, about her lineage…” He let out a long and tired sigh. “Apparently, the King used to be a human, a ruler from the Surface, though one of ill health. The King made an arrangement with the Bazaar, in which he desired to be in good health. He was given a fragment of the Mountain of Light to replace his failing heart.”

“And his new heart exudes so much life it infects the area around him,” Maka finished the Presbyterate Traveller’s explanation. She wasn’t following the explanation completely. How old was the King? What was the Bazaar? Was it the so-called Echo Bazaar that was in London? The Presbyterate Traveller talked about it as if it was a living entity. And most importantly… “What did the King give in return?”

The Presbyterate Traveler shrugged and let out a bitter sigh. “I’m not sure. It might as well have been one of the Fallen Cities-”

“One of them?” Maka cut him off. The way he had phrased it… “London isn’t the only city that has fallen in the Neath?”

“Only one? London?” The Presbyterate Traveler gave her a perplexed look. “No, no, no, how do you not…?” He paused and shook his head in agitation. “London is the fifth city to fall.”

Maka felt her stomach drop as well. Were cities falling in the Neath a common phenomenon? But she hadn’t heard talk of any city or place that she recognized, and no one had mentioned them… “What happened to the other four cities? Are they somewhere in the Neath, do they fall in other places-?”

“The Cities fall on top of one another.”

Maka paused. She felt her stomach drop as well. If London was above four other cities… where had their citizens gone? Their buildings? And why…? “Why do they fall?”

The Presbyterate Adventurer placed a hand on his chin. “I do not know for sure. But, I suspect the Bazaar arranged deals with the rulers of each city, one probable example being the King with a Hundred Hearts.” He gave Maka a side-glance. “I believe this is why some of the older compatriots refer to your ruler as the Traitor Empress rather than Her Enduring Majesty.”

“What about the people?” Maka asked with growing horror. “Where are all the people from all the previous cities?”

The Presbyterate Adventurer gave her a sympathetic look. “I believe some settlers left the Fourth City and founded the Khanate. Perhaps some Tomb-Colonists from Venderbight hail from previous cities as well. There’s also talk of a few people in London who hail from the third or even the second city, but I haven’t managed to confirm such rumours.”

Maka clenched her fists. One or two groups weren’t enough. If all the other cities had been as big as London… And what if another city was to fall on top of London a week from now… The few people she knew there, such as the Scholar, the University Guards, the various families and people that made a living… And all of it being organized by a vague entity known as the Bazaar, which at this point Maka was sure it was the Echo Bazaar that had prominently featured on the signs of Fallen London. “How can such a thing be allowed to happen?”

The Presbyterate Traveler gave her a sad smile. “It’s the Neath. The Light and its Laws do not reach us.” His features hardened. “Yet.”

When Maka didn’t respond, the Presbyterate Traveler gave Maka a smile meant to be reassuring but which came out as sad. “Don’t worry Captain. I believe London has a few good years left on her.”

Maka didn’t feel like smiling.

Chapter Text

Maka woke up with teary eyes. An unexplained feeling of melancholy weighed her down.

Groggily, Maka went out to the deck and was amazed by the sight.

Two cathedral-sized basalt lions faced to each other. Their features were frozen in an eternal frown, staring at each other across the black waves of the Unterzee. The Northern lion was riddled with irregularities. Human figures walked on its back, haphazardly going in and out of tents and encampments. A constant sound of picketing came of its back, and there were sizable piles of stone on the supply dock at the statue’s base.

“Why are you destroying it?!” was the first thing Maka asked when they docked at the Northern Lion. She was among the first to leave the ship, followed by the rest of Spartoi who were rather confused with her outburst. She addressed a human in loose construction clothing who was barking orders at a bunch of underlings. A pile of stone, probably extracted by the statue, was close to him.

The person glanced at Maka and gave her a mock bow. “Bazaar business ma’am,” the Overseer said in a smooth and oily voice. “The Masters have always taken an interest in this place.”

“But why destroy them?” Maka insisted.

The Unctuous Overseer gestured to the pile of bone-shaped rocks in a theatrical gesture. “The Bazaar wants Sphinxstone. London wants Sphinxstone.”

“You’re destroying a monument!”

The Unctuous Overseer gave Maka an uncomprehending look. “Miss, we are here from orders from the Masters of the Bazaar. I’m afraid if you have any objections you’ll have to take it up with the chain of command. We’re all humble Unmakers here.”

Just when Maka was about to protest again, Soul placed a calming hand on her shoulder. “Are you ok?” he asked with a concerned expression.

“They’re destroying this place,” Maka hissed at her Weapon Partner.

Soul shrugged. “I mean, I guess that’s uncool. But maybe they need that stone for important reasons or something.”

Maka scowled but had to admit Soul had a point. She cleared her throat and addressed the Overseer once again, in the most pleasant voice she could muster. “Why would the people of the Bazaar want that stone?”

“Plenty of reasons ma’am. Garden statuary is the most common use, along with occult basalt. Some of them go in the places under the Bazaar.” The Unctuous Overseer gave her a smile that was supposed to be warm but came out as empty. “If you don’t have any business here, may I interest you in some teacakes?” She looked at their ship nodded appreciatively and seemed to reconsider. “Unless you want to earn some Echoes. We do need people to carry Sphinxstone to London. You’ll need to lay down a deposit, but you’ll definitely make a profit-”

“No!” Maka cut the Unctuous Overseer off. Her shoulders were tense and her fists clenched.

Next to her, Soul’s frown deepened. “Maka-?”

“We’re leaving!”

Maka stomped her way onto the ship, an even more confused crew following behind her. Maka headed straight to the Captain’s cabin and set course for London, communicating with Kid on the basest terms and most hollow words.

As the Unsinkable 8 left the Salt Lions behind it, Fallen London’s light became visible on the dark horizon.

Maka gave one last look on the Salt Lions. The Southern stood tall and proud, a marvel of construction. The Northern one was being eaten away by creeping figures.

A fair of emotion well up inside Maka. “They make cities fall, they destroy monuments…” Maka grit her teeth.  “Just what the hell is the Bazaar’s deal?”

Chapter Text

London had not changed. The Wolfstack docks were as busy as ever, crowded with zailors and merchants.

Maka dropped off the Clay Men by the dock, where a pair of official-looking Londoners paid her a hefty sum of echoes. Harvar left to the Admiralty deliver his Port reports. Tsubaki went to visit the markets with a list of supplies and fuel decided by her and Maka.

When they regrouped they headed for Benthic University, to see the Alarming Scholar once more and trade their stories and whatever useless objects they’d pick up for Echoes.

The Alarming Scholar was as excitable as ever to see them. They shook Maka’s hand excitedly and sat in their chair giddily like a small child. A small pouch full of Echoes sat by their desk.

“A most curious thing happened while you were gone! There are happenings in Hell…” The Scholar leaned in conspiratorially, their voice low but giddy. “They say their exile community was attacked. No major casualties but their guard was gravely wounded.” Maka felt her face pale. Was the Wistful Deviless that important? “There’s talk of raiding Mt Palmerston now that the Brimstone Convention is weak, to exterminate the last remnants of the old nobility.” The Alarming Scholar must have mistaken Maka’s pale face for shock, for their smile widened. “Yes, isn’t it exciting?! Oh my, my mind can’t help but wonder! What attacked the guard? A most terrifying zee monster? Another fearsome devil? Extremely skilled Monster Hunters, perhaps from the Chelonate?” They chewed a nail, their teeth incessantly cackling. “Or was that a cover operation from Hell itself-!”

“Um,” Maka cut off the Alarming Scholar’s excited ramblings. “That was us.”

The Alarming Scholar paused. “Excuse me?”

“We got into a fight with the Deviless that guarded the gate…”

The Alarming Scholar blinked. They repeated the gesture multiple times. “No offence, but even with the tales you’ve told me I did not expect you to possess such strength.”

Maka gave the Alarming Scholar a nervous smile. The stories they had told them were the milder ones, one where they fought simple Kishin Eggs and the occasional ordinary Witch. They hadn’t mentioned the Gorgon Sisters or Asura. Those battles were not easy to discuss. “Oh, none taken. We’re stronger than we look.”

The Alarming Scholar did not look satisfied with her reply. “One thing though, an enigma that sears my mind…” They gave the group an impatient pout. “Why?”

“She was hoarding dead souls,” Kid spoke up, his voice even.

The Alarming Scholar looked at Kid in expectation. “And?”

Kid grimaced. “And? There is no and-!”

The Alarming Scholar raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I do remember what you told me about collecting souls and them ‘passing on’ and trading being strictly forbidden! Well, I do not know about your world but soul trade is a big part of Neath’s economy-!”

You could hear a pin drop.

“What.” That was Kid’s normal voice.

“In fact, I believe there are parts of the Bazaar and the Neath that are dedicated to soul trade-”

“What?” That was Kid’s strained voice.

“In fact, if memory serves correctly, even Wolfstack docks has its own soul trading division in Wolfstack Exchange-”

“What?!” That was Kid’s Grim Reaper voice.

“But this is for, like, living souls only, right?” Liz quickly said, trying to mitigate part of the disaster.

The Alarming Scholar gave her a confused look. “My, no! Otherwise you would have so many souls disappear into nothing and wouldn’t that be strange-?”

A chair creaked against the stone floor. In one fluid movement, Kid had stood up, his face blank. “Excuse me.” His voice was deadly calm.

“Kid!” Maka protested. Whatever the Grim Reaper was thinking it couldn’t be good. Disregarding Maka’s feeling on the soul trade that was apparently ubiquitous in the Neath, rushing blindly would only make things worse.

The Alarming Scholar cluelessly tilted his head at Kid. “Where are you going, my friend?”

“To raze a few places to the ground,” the Grim Reaper said nonchalantly. The Alarming Scholar’s face fell.

“Woah there, hold your horses.” Kim, apparently sharing Maka’s sentiments, grabbed hold of Kid’s sleeve and stopped him from leaving the room. “Think before you leap, or in your case, go burn a couple of shops in the ground-”

“No,” Kid cut her off. “That this has been even allowed is an outrage-!”

“Hey, just hear me out!” Kim insisted, holding tighter at Kid’s sleeve, despite the cold look Kid gave her. Maka supposed Kim’s insistence stemmed from the fact that the girl was used to being in perilous situations, the prime example being her days in the DWMA as an undercover Witch. “Maybe in this world, souls work differently-”

“Death does not.”

No one raised an objection.

Kim let go of Kid’s sleeve. Kid’s face remained unchanged as he ironed the sleeve and walked out the room.

“Well,” Liz spoke up after a small period of silence. “Guess we got to go too, Patty.”

With a stretch, the two Thompson sisters stood up and let the room as well.

 “Um,” came the Alarming Scholar’s voice, jittery as always but timider. “May I say, that might be the ill-advised. Just the tiniest bit.” They added upon attracting everyone’s attention. “After all, apart from unlicensed spirifage, the Bazaar itself deals with souls…”

Their words went ignored. The rest of the Spartoi left their office with varying degrees of reluctance.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“Kid!” Maka called, causing Kid and the sisters to pause. “Wait up!”

The rest of the Spartoi caught up with them. Kid appeared to be calm, but that not necessarily a good sign.

Maka stopped and looked up. A great shadow fell upon her and a large chunk of London. “Is that…?”

Kid nodded. “The Echo Bazaar.”

Maka craned her neck. “It’s massive,” she muttered, looking at the towering spires that shot up from a domed building. The spires were so tall they could give a skyscraper a run for its money, and the central domed building was multiple times the size of the Colosseum.

“And alive,” Kid added.

“What?!”

“Use your Soul Perception.”

Maka did so and took a step back.

It was unlike any soul Maka had ever seen. The soul was as large as the Bazaar itself, spanning from the ground to its tallest pillar. It was colourless, but bright red sigils -the Correspondence- covered every inch of its soul.

“What is that?” Maka gasped. “What sort of creature…” She turned to Kid. “Could it be a Great Old One?”

Kid let out a bitter huff. “Definitely not. I think…” His expression faltered. “Ugh, not this again,” he muttered to himself before turning to Maka. “I’m not sure what it is.”

Maka frowned. Kid must have thought Maka hadn’t heard his whispered words. Maka had no idea what the words meant, but they did bring into question the sincerity of Kid’s last statement. More secrets. But, she couldn’t have a fight about it now.

“About the souls,” Maka carefully said, gauging Kid’s reaction. The Grim Reaper narrowed his eyes but said nothing. A good sign. Maybe. “What’s your plan?”

Kid looked hesitant but eventually sighed. “Ideally we won’t need to fight,” he explained. “I just need to place myself within range and then… There probably will be bright lights. And chaos. And countless souls rushing in my direction.” He frowned. “Which will mean it will be quite noticeable-”

“Guys!” Kim spoke up, giving everyone a reluctant look. “Do you realize what you’re about to do?!” She pointed at the nearest spire of the Bazaar. “This ain’t your local farmer’s market! It’s a commercial hub and you’re essentially planning grand theft! The entire London Constabulary will be on our ass faster than you can say ‘hey maybe we shouldn’t have done that’!”

“This is Grim Reaper business,” Kid said in an even tone. “If you do not want to be involved, I suggest you head back to the Unsinkable and prepare it for departure. After all, when we return, we will be pursued.”

Not needing to be told anything more, Kim turned her back and headed opposite of them. “No need to tell me twice. See you guys soon. Try not to kill anyone too important.” Jackie followed after her.

Ox looked at Kim and Kid conflicted. “Kim wait!” His gaze fell to Maka. “Uh, as First Officer, I should…”

“It’s ok, Ox,” Maka reassured him. “We’ll need to keep the ship ready as well.”

Ox’s face brightened. “Aye, aye, Captain.” He was gone immediately, a reluctant Harvar following after him. “Kim, wait for me!”

Kilik scratched his neck and looked at the two split groups. “I guess I’ll go too. Don’t want to scare the twins with this stuff.” He paled and gave Kid a nervous look. “Um, no offence, Kid- I mean Lord Death.”

Kid sighed. “It’s alright.” As Kilik and the twins left, Kid regarded those that were still left. “Black Star, Tsubaki?”

“Hey, we’re staying!”

Tsubaki nodded. “Black Star and I can keep any unwanted parties at bay.”

“Soul?” Maka asked. “Are you sure about this?”

Soul shrugged. “I am a Deathscythe.”

Kid regarded Maka. “How about you, Maka?”

Maka didn’t respond immediately. Her Soul Perception activated, Maka focused on a part of the Bazaar that teemed with souls.

Many of them didn’t move. They stood still, more often than not packed with other souls nearby, in such crowded ways that would be impossible if they still belonged to a human body. Some of them even had faces, faint recollections of their long-lost physical bodies.

Maka wouldn’t be surprised if the Bazaar itself was responsible for those lost souls. Some of them may have been the souls of those crushed when a new city fell in the Neath.

Maka imagined her soul in one of those crates, trapped there for eternity, perhaps even lost in the sunless sea…

Her features hardened. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter Text

The zee was calm, deceptively so. Any waves that formed were timid and small. The Neath was quiet.

Maka steadied her breath. Her throat was sore from yelling. Her hands trembled with built-up adrenaline.

Soul stood next to her, eyes trained on the tranquil zee. “Did we lose them?”

Maka took another steadying breath. “I think so.”

Soul sighed. “Man, I thought we’d go down with this slow thing.” He wiped the sweat from his brow. “You realize this means we can’t go back to London, right? At least not until after things have quieted down.”

“We don’t need to,” Maka replied. “We have enough supplies and fuel to last us a good while and enough echoes to resupply out of London if we have to.” Maka looked around the ship. The two were on the top deck. Barely illuminated figures, due to them having turned off the lights to blend in with the darkness, walked on the lower decks.

“Is Black Star on deck?”

“Right here!” A voice called. “We shouldn’t have left, I wanted to see if I could cut one of their ships in half-”

Maka tuned Black Star off and activated her Soul Perception. Everyone was on deck. Patty and Liz emerged from the ship’s ground decks, smelling strongly of gunpowder. Kilik sat there as well, his frame slumped over from exhaustion. Fire and Thunder lay on his lap, snoring. They deserved their rest. More than one ships had been turned away from the fire and thunder that rushed at them, their ferocity only reinforced by Jackie and Harvar’s Weapon abilities.

Still, despite their victory, Maka felt a twinge of disappointment. While the others were useful in battle, either driving ships away with fire and thunder, haphazardly leaping from ship to ship, operating the meagre but stable guns, or in Soul’s case making sure everyone was organized and well-coordinated Maka stood on top of it and tried to steer the ship in a proper direction.

She hoped she had been good enough. Her training was effective on actual opponents, and not the entirety of the London authorities followed by the fleet of the British Empire.

Soul looked down at the deck and grimaced. “We’ll need to get the ship fixed.”

Maka followed his gaze and had to hold back a grimace as well. The ship’s hull was battered. Parts of the hull were falling off, others were dented. Some of the railings were gone, and parts of the deck had collapsed, leading into the floors below.

Soul leaned down and narrowed his eyes, focusing on one particular silhouette. “Hey, Kim! Think you can keep this thing in one piece?”

“No, need to shout, I’ll do what I can.” With a groan, the Witch stood up and stretched her back. “Won’t be pretty but at least we won’t risk sinking.”

Soul let out a sigh. “That’s a relief.” He looked at Maka. “So, where are we headed now?”

Maka hesitated. To be honest, she did not have a solid course planned.

She placed a hand on her chin. “Let’s see… “

Of the locations they had been given, only Irem, Kingeater’s Castle and Adam’s Way remained. From what little information Maka had gathered, Adam’s Way was closest to them, with Irem and Kingeater’s Castle being in the far of East of the Unterzee. Everyone had warned them against visiting Kingeater’s Castle. She had also been informed that Adam’s Way was not the friendliest place. Irem still remained a complete mystery to Maka though….

The girl looked down at the ship’s crumbling hull. Even with Kim’s regeneration magic, they wouldn’t last against another assault. If Kingeater’s Castle and Adam’s Way were as dangerous as they’d been told… then again, Maka didn’t know how dangerous Irem was as well...

“Irem,” Maka eventually said. The fact that they hadn’t received as many warnings for that place meant that it was safer…

Right? She wasn’t making a mistake, right?

Soul gave her a mock salute and a grin. “As you say, Captain.”

Hopefully not.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Their visit to Demeaux Island was short. The island was riddled with fungi, as tall as overgrown cypress tree, and covering the island like a rainforest. The air was thick with spores and a constant fog lingered over the area.

Upon docking, Tsubaki had left to gather a few of the least-poisonous looking fungi as extra supplies. Harvar looked around and gathered enough information to compile a port report. Maka didn’t see any point in Harvar’s actions, but then again maybe the boy had gotten used to the motions. It wasn’t like he had anything to do anyway.

After their short stop, they set sail once again.

East.

Chapter Text

Gaider’s Mourn looked precarious, for lack of a better word.

The ‘island’ was in actuality a massive stalagmite, much like the stalactite that had collapsed and created Godfall. There were no safe harbours in its base, only sharp rocks with the occasional unfortunate shipwreck. Halfway up the stalagmite, wooden and stone buildings jutted outwards, perilously suspended above the zee. Occasionally, a board from the citadel creaked and fell.

An intricate system of levers and pulleys slowly pulled the Unsinkable 8 from the zee and onto the lower reaches of the citadel. The ship creaked as it was pulled up, and Maka worried that it had sustained too much damage and would snap in two any moment. Fortunately, their makeshift repairs held strong and the Unsinkable 8 was soon nestled next to a smaller and equally battered ship.

“This is crazy,” Liz hissed, committing the fatal error of looking down. The zee simmered like glass and Liz propelled herself backwards, face pale. “Who thought this place was a good idea?”

“Pirates!” Patty exclaimed as a group of eyepatches and grizzled zailors passed by. Similar groups of people walked to and from their ships, one looking more illegal than the other. “An island of pirates! How cool is that sis?!”

“Very,” Liz reluctantly replied and side-eyed a scruffy-looking man that glanced at their boat. “As long as they don’t try to raid us.”

“Should we stay here?” Ox hesitantly asked Maka. “I realize we’re technically not law-abiding citizens, but still… a pirate Haven?”

Maka looked around at the dock. Hidden in the shadows, glowing pairs of eyes regarded the harbour’s ships, theirs included.

“You guys look after the ship,” Maka said to Ox. “I’ll have a look around, see if I can learn more about the waters around here.”

The area around the docks was as friendly as it looked, meaning one got the impression they were about to be stabbed in the back.  A cheery sea shanty, made up of obscene lyrics and lacking musical accompaniment, came from a nearby pub and caught Maka’s attention.

Maka eyed the place with hesitation. If there was one place where she could listen to zee gossip was the pub. However, she was in a pirate haven, and as likely as it was to find useful information about the zee, it was just as likely that she’d walk in and accidentally join a brawl.

Maka’s hand hovered to one of her coat’s pockets where the Handbook for Captains, the small but sturdy book about sailing the Unterzee, was. It would do in a pinch.

Mind made up, Maka braced herself and entered the pub. Inside, the place smelled strongly of alcohol and its patrons’ bad hygiene.

“Look what we have here!” one of the patrons of the bar yelled, swinging her beer at another patron. Her hair was wild and unwashed, and her clothes consisted of scaly and rubbery pelts. She also smelled like she had crawled out of a sewer.

The other patron, elegant woman, raised a sharp eyebrow. “That’s an intriguing array of skulls you have there.” Despite her pleasant tone, her nose was curled and her eyes were narrowed in displeasure. “A Hunter?”

The scraggy woman nodded and lifted part of her cape, revealing a disfigured face with a row of sharp teeth. “Aye. I can say the same about your silks.” The Scarred Hunter raised a muscular and discoloured hand toward the multitude of cloths covering the elegant woman. “You some sort of Khanate Bureaucrat?”

The elegant woman smiled and lifted her neck ever so slightly. “Indeed. I am an envoy of the Taimen themselves.”

“Hah!” The Scarred Hunter barked at the Extravagant Bureaucrat. “Taimen? What are the Khanate’s lapdogs doing in a pirate haven?”

The Extravagant Bureaucrat straightened her back, nowhere close to reaching the Scarred Hunter’s impressive stature. “The Khanate has many interests-”

The Scarred Hunter let out a raucous laughter. “Spare me your lecture! I don’t need advice from those who can’t even hold their kingdom together-!”

“And your awful smell makes it obvious you’re from the Chelonate,” the Extravagant Bureaucrat sneered and wrinkled her nose. “As if I’ll listen to the words of a savage ghoul that lives on a dead turtle-!”

As the volley-balling of insults continued, Maka took a step back. Maybe she should leave…

“Now if you were from Khan’s Shadow...” the Scarred Hunter continued. “These folks still got the spine you lost-”

“Oh, this is rich, coming from a Chelonate Hunter, the biggest collection of cowards since the denizens of the Uttershroom.” The Scarred Hunter gave her a scandalized look. “I’ve heard the rumours.” The Extravagant Bureaucrat gave the Scarred Hunter a cold look. “You seize boats and deliver them to have their memories sucked dry-”

The Scarred Hunter smashed her cup against the countertop, shattering it into a thousand pieces. The pub went silent. “Slander! My people aren’t the ones who abduct people in hope of one-upping London! That’s why you’re here, Ms Fancy Pants, isn’t it?”

“We don’t abduct people-!” The Extravagant Bureaucrat cut herself off and rubbed her temple. “Ah, there is no use to discuss with someone like you.”

The Scarred Hunter gave her a dirty glance and gestured to the barkeep who passed her a glass filled to the brim with moonshine.

The Extravagant Bureaucrat walked in the middle of the pub and cleared her throat. “Attention everyone!” Though loud in volume, her voice caught no one’s attention. She did not seem to mind though. “A few days ago, the Echo Bazaar was attacked. Is there anyone here with information about the incident?” Her eyes narrowed as she regarded the silent pub. “There will be a reward if you do.”

Maka’s stomach dropped. She should definitely leave, not just this pub, but Gaider’s Mourn entirely. She took another step back and her foot pressed on something soft…

Someone behind Maka yelled.

“Oi! Watch where you’re going!” A plump and heavily-tattooed man yelled. He looked down at Maka, then at her clothes, and his frown narrowed. “Oi, Khanagian!” he called, earning the Extravagant Bureaucrat and Scarred Hunter’s attention. “This girl one of yours? She looks like it, and she was listening in the whole time-”

“An eavesdropper?” The Scarred Hunter cracked her knuckles. “Do you know what we do to eavesdroppers at the Chelonate-?”

“I wasn’t -You were yelling!” Maka protested.

“That’s how I normally talk, lassie!” With a furious look, the Scarred Hunter reached out with her and grimy hand and wrapped tightly around Maka’s wrist, holding her in place.

“Let me go!”

The Handbook of Captains was taken out and instantly collided with the Scarred Hunter’s unwashed head. She collapsed like a pile of bricks. Maka grimaced at her now dirty book spine.

The pub went silent again, and this time their attention was focused on Maka. Eventually, the barman shrugged and continued wiping his glasses. “Bit off more than you could chew, eh?”

Maka clenched her fists and looked around the pub. The crowds took a step back. There was a clear path to the exit.

“A question… ma’am,” Maka heard the Extravagant Bureaucrat call just when she was about to leave. “By any chance, would you have any information about the recent attack at London?” the Extravagant Bureaucrat asked in an abnormally nonchalant way.

“No,” Maka quickly said.

“Hm,” the Extravagant Bureaucrat said with little conviction. “It was such a strange event. I’m sure the Traitor Empress,” the Extravagant Bureaucrat locked eyes with Maka and gave her a smug smile, “must be besides herself trying to figure this mess out.”

Maka shrugged. She eyed the exit, figuring out the optimal way of making a run for it, but hoping she wouldn’t have to do so.

“I see…” The Extravert Bureaucrat’s hands retreated into her silken clothing and Maka tensed. “I would like to extend an invitation nonetheless.” She took out a small round emblem, with a horse-shaped coat of arms engraved on it. “From the Khanate.”

Maka narrowed her eyes at the woman. “We’re heading East.”

“Splendid! The Khanate is East as well.” The Extravagant Bureaucrat gave Maka an elaborate bow, her silk costume billowing behind her. “The Court shall await your arrival. All you have to do is present my token at Khan’s Glory.”

Maka didn’t respond but took the emblem nonetheless. The Extravagant Bureaucrat stayed silent as well and watched the girl leave with a barely concealed smile.

Maka left the pub with frayed nerves, eager to get back to the ship and depart. Gaider’s Mourn wasn’t a safe place to be.

…Maybe Khan’s heart would be different?

Chapter Text

Tsubaki let out a depressed sigh.

Close to her, Liz scratched her nose. “Say…” Her voice echoed in the stone walls, the only indication that Tsubaki was not alone in her small allotted space. “Past me wouldn’t be surprised I ended up in prison.” Her voice was casual. It was all Tsubaki had to go on. Their cells were adjacent and there were no openings in between.  “But I would have never expected you would be the who got me in there.”

“I’m sorry,” was all Tsubaki could bring herself to say. “I’m really sorry-”

“Hey don’t sweat it.” Though Tsubaki couldn’t see Liz’s face, the latter’s casual tone could only be accompanied by a grin. “You were really badass out there.”

Tsubaki sighed again. “I was impulsive.” She looked at her surroundings. Her cell was bathed in darkness. There was a tiny token window on the wall that faced the Unterzee, yet there was no light to be found there. Tsubaki’s frown turned bitter. “And look where that got us. Have you seen the guards they station outside? The frogs with eyes on every single part of their-”

“I am deliberately choosing to ignore their existence,” Liz quickly said.

Tsubaki paused. She was somewhat familiar with Liz’s aversion towards anything that could potentially send shivers up someone’s spine. “…Oh.”

“Still,” Liz continued, “We’ll figure something out. Worst case scenario we’ll have to wait for Kid and Black Star to bail us out.” Tsubaki may have imagined it, but there was a very slight hint of annoyance in Liz’s voice.

Whatever. Tsubaki couldn’t blame Liz for being annoyed. Waking up in a damp and dark cell had that effect on people.

...Could Tsubaki have prevented the events that lead them to this place? Could she have done so by following a different course of action? What about a course of inaction?

Tsubaki buried her head in her hands, blocking out the world and focusing on her thoughts.

It had all started when they had reached a complex of floating houses and artificial canals of a nation that called itself the New Khanate.

From a distance, it had been an oasis of light among the black salt water. The city was made up of canals, or more accurately, the canals were formed by huge complexes of manmade patches of land. Metal street lamps shed light on the decorated domed buildings, adorned with a variety of patterns, some of them horse-based. Merchant tents littered the canals, with horse statues and elaborate fountains riddled in between. The consistent use of horse imagery and style of architecture had reminded Tsubaki of Mongolia. The name of the place, or nation, the Khanate only strengthened the likeness. Did these people’s ancestors hail from Mongolia or were the similarities incidental? Seeing as London had been brought down in the Neath, Tsubaki had thought the former was true.

Tsubaki sighed again. At the time, the place had all looked so peaceful, despite the watchful shadows and hostile looks. Yet when she had slowly realised the web they were being woven into, she had reacted, she had gone against her passiveness, and that had created another pile of troubles...

Tsubaki cut off her train of thought. It felt inappropriate to daydream when there was the more pressing concern of being imprisoned.

...Then again what else could she do? Talk to Liz? Come up with a way to leave this place?

...Could the two escape? They could certainly devise a plan but when it came to its execution… What if something went wrong?

Tsubaki could take care of herself; her training allowed her to do so. But Liz… Tsubaki couldn’t wield her, and Liz wasn’t a strong physical fighter. If something, anything went wrong…

If only the others were here as well… Even if Tsubaki only had Black Star, the two could carve a path easily. Black Star could probably do so without even needing to use a Weapon. Tsubaki though…

She felt useless. Again.

Any plans of escape they could come up were too risky. They didn’t have their Meisters to back them up, so their skills were limited.  All in all...

Tsubaki was going to have to stay right where she was. It was the safest option for her and Liz.

She didn’t want to create any more trouble.

Chapter Text

Suspicious eyes were everywhere.

They recorded their every movement, their every word, their every breath.

Tsubaki couldn’t help but feel paranoid. She did not have Soul perception, but she could sense they were being tracked. Spies were at every corner. Occasionally, she glanced gleams of sharp metal objects tucked under silk robes and ornate clothing. Tsubaki’s hand stayed close to her side by instinct, ready to grab one of the many sharp objects, including an impressive collection of daggers and shurikens, hidden in the layers of her clothing.

They were being escorted from Khan’s Heart, the merchant capital of the Khanate, to Khan’s Glory, where “they would be welcomed with all the honours guests such as them deserve”, according to Khanate officials. So, they had been split into groups of two and boarded into small but agile ships that waded their way through narrow canals and straits on the outskirts of the Khanate.

From what little Tsubaki could spy through the paper-think coverings, Khan’s Glory was even more extravagant than its merchant counterpart. The area was littered with palaces, as tall and wide as fortresses found in her homeland. Well-kept parks were squashed between the bloated dwellings, where peacocks, camels and even antelopes roamed freely. Occasionally, Tsubaki spied sleek robed men and women sip milk tea or eat fried meat pastries from high-rise balconies. Most concerning, however, were the cannon-shaped guns rotating on motorised gimbals, watching their every move.

The local’s explanation was that the guns were installed because of an increase in pirate raids, but Tsubaki felt that this was more of an excuse than the truth. The guns were most often trained on merchant and private non-Khanate vessels rather than scanning the horizon for any pirate ships.

“Aw yeah,” came Liz’s voice, as she stretched on a chair close to Tsubaki. “This is what travelling in style feels like. Nothing like our crummy ship, huh?”

“It is comfortable,” Tsubaki hesitantly agreed, “but I wish we didn’t have to be separated.”

Liz gave her a sly look. “Am I that bad of a shipmate?”

Tsubaki blushed and held her hands up frantically. “That’s not what I meant-!”

“Chill, I was pulling your leg,” Liz laughed. Tsubaki followed along, though reluctantly. “Black Star ended up going with Soul, right?”

“He did,” Tsubaki said with a sigh. “I thought you’d go with Maka or Lo- I mean Kid.”

Liz shrugged. “Kid had to go with Maka to sort out where we’ll go afterwards or something like that. I was planning on going with Patty but then the whole cock-up with Kim, Jackie and Ox happened and I realised you’d have to go with Harvar.”

Tsubaki held back a groan upon remembering their tumultuous split up. Jackie and Ox had argued about who’ll ride with Kim which escalated to the point where Kim had boarded a ship by herself, loudly proclaiming she’d get double the space compared to everyone else. Funnily enough, Jackie and Ox had ended up boarding with each other. Since Kilik had gone with the twins, and  Maka with Kid, Tsubaki had assumed Liz and Patty would board with each other and she’d have to go with Harvar. The boy wasn’t rude or bad but he wasn’t what Tsubaki would call ideal company.

“Me and Patty didn’t want you to be stuck with Mr ‘What are Emotions’, and Patty agreed to take the hit,” Liz continued. “And besides, you and I deserve some girl time, the others will be fine. I say we take this chance to relax and unwind.”

Tsubaki couldn't help but agree.  She and Liz were among the eldest of the group, and Tsubaki did have a tendency to worry too much about things. Ever since they had arrived in this strange world, Tsubaki had tried to distract herself with cooking and making sure Black Star remained reasonably out of harm’s way and the latter did not help her nerves.

Liz held up her hand at one of the Khanagians aboard their ship -there were quite a few on it, which only made Tsubaki’s paranoia more prominent- a robed and bulky man. “Hey, can we get something to eat?”

The man gave them a short bow and procured two porcelain teacup filled with a steaming milky brown liquid. “We have some excellent tea from the palace.”

“Thank you,” Tsubaki said and reciprocated the bow. Immediately, she imperceptibly sniffed the cup for poisons and found none. It was a way to appease her paranoia, and checking couldn’t hurt, right?

Liz watched the departing man with a raised eyebrow. “Is the hospitality here great, or what?” She raised the cup, pinky extended, and took a sip.

In an instant, Liz’s face scrunched up and she coughed. “Ew, what’s in this thing, expired butter?”

“I can go ask for something else,” Tsubaki offered, standing up and placing her teacup on a nearby coffee table.

“You’re the best, Tsubaki,” Liz called out as Tsubaki left their room.

Though small in size, the ship had its fair share of rooms and surprisingly long hallways. Tsubaki avoided the areas with people, feeling too paranoid to trust anyone on the ship with even seeing her presence. She probably looked silly, but it made her mind feel at ease.

“Are you sure these are the ones?”

A muffled voice caught Tsubaki’s attention. It was followed by another one. Two voices in total, one masculine, the other feminine, talking in hushed and hurried tones.

Tsubaki followed the voices which lead her to an even more isolated area of the ship, separated by a deep red divider richly decorated with exquisite horse patterns.

Frowning, Tsubaki put her ear on the divider and listened.

“The Diplomat is certain,” the masculine voice replied. “She said their group can put up a fight and heard reports of their ship being pursued by the London admiralty after the Bazaar was attacked.”

“They’re kids,” the feminine voice protested.

“One of the girls knocked out a Chelonate Hunter. With a book.”

That was definitely a description of Maka. When had she gotten into a fight though? Everyone else would have noticed. And if it as a recent fight, and Maka was alone, that meant...

“Oh great. And we’re bringing them to the palace? What could possibly go wrong?”

Tsubaki had to refocus. Maka’s secrecy was not important right now.

“Relax. Strong or not, they’re human. We have the Whites and Golds, not the pathetic remnants of the British Admiralty.”

“And what if they still decide to be difficult?”

There was a small period of silence, where all Tsubaki heard was her own heartbeat thumping against her ears.

“If need be...” the masculine voice began, “we’ll make them talk. Just like we did with those London spies.”

Tsubaki silently recoiled at the words, covering her mouth with her hand. They were headed for a trap. The Khanate wanted to capture them after all. That was why they’d been greeted with unusual hospitality, why they’d been escorted in the heavily guarded capital, why they’d been split up on their way there…

Tsubaki wasn’t paranoid after all.

 ...She couldn’t stay silent. She had to do something!  She had to get Liz out of here, as well as everyone else, and leave this place as soon as possible!

Tsubaki ran to where Liz was. Her steps remained silent even as her entire body tensed for a fight. “Liz, we have to leave!”

Ignoring her protests, Tsubaki grabbed Liz by the wrist and guided Liz out of their room and towards the deck, hoping they’d be close enough to swim to shore and then reach out at the ships where the others where,

No such luck; their way was blocked by the robed man from before. He gave them a suspicious look and pointedly blocked the exit. “Hey, where do you think you’re- augh!”

Tsubaki body-slammed the guard onto another and they both fell into the water, disappearing into the zee’s sunless depths.

“Tsubaki?!” Liz asked, frowning at her distressed expression. “What’s-?”

“We have to get out of here! The Khanate wants to use us -this whole thing’s a trap!”

“What-?! Ok, sure, not the craziest thing that’s happened,” Liz said to herself. “Uh, small problem though… I’m used to fighting with Patty or Kid,” she mumbled. “Not that I can’t throw a mean right hook, but it’s not really my thing…”

“Stand behind me then,” Tsubaki instructed her. “Oh and have some of these,” she handed Liz a handful of sharp daggers and a shuriken. “Just in case.”

“Where did you…? Nevermind, ninja stuff.” Liz cursed under her breath. “Let’s do this.”

With efficiency and skill on Tsubaki’s side, as well as a variety of threatening language thanks to Liz, the two had managed to throw overboard or neutralise everyone on the ship. One of them had managed to fire some sort of red flair, but Tsubaki and Liz had ignored it since no other ship came to aid their compatriots.

A few moments later, when Liz and Tsubaki were trying to figure out how to steer the ship, the Khanate’s motorised guns took aim at them and started firing.

The next half hour was very stressful and Tsubaki swore she lost a year of her life due to stress.

After haphazard attempts in steering the ship which ended up with it doing manoeuvres no ship should ever do, they had managed to evade most of the guns and make it out of their reach in one piece.

However, they still had problems, one of the major one being that they were completely lost. In their frantic evasions, they had ended in the dark heart of the Unterzee. A thick fog had settled on the area and the Khanate’s lights were faint and indistinguishable from the white mist that clouded their vision.

“Ok…” Liz spoke up. “Now to make it back there again in one piece-”

Liz’s words were cut off by the ship violently rocking and throwing them off balance. Wood was smashed. Porcelain crashed and cutlery clattered on the floor.

“Hell was that?!” Liz shouted.

Tsubaki looked out at the zee and paled.

There was a ship approaching them. A worn jolly roger flew proudly. Like its owner, it had seen better times. Yet its weapons gleamed and smoked, all of them pointed in their direction.

“Pirates!”

After some more manoeuvring that would have made Blackbeard break out in a cold sweat, the zee was calm once again. There was no pirate ship in sight, but their ship was heavily damaged and if they didn't make it back to shore soon...

“...Did we lose them?” Liz asked.

Tsubaki blocked Liz’s voice and concentrated on a particular sound. Pit-pattering on the deck. Footsteps?

She looked around. Her eye caught a shadow by the blinds. A figure. Running towards them. Towards...

“Liz watch out!”

Tsubaki pushed Liz away and took the brunt of the attack. It hit her hard on the head and Tsubaki fell.

With a vision blurry and her limbs unresponsive and heavy, Tsubaki heard the sounds of fighting and a second body hitting the floor.

Chapter Text

The Unlucky Pirate was having a very fortunate day, in her humble opinion. She had made a good haul on that salvaged Khanagian ship, with plenty of unconscious people inside. It had been a quick, clean job and those Wisdom hawks had paid good money for fresh prisoners.

Now, loot stashed safely in pocket and belly full, the Unlucky Pirate was resting in Khan’s Shadow, a private haven that rivalled Gaider’s Mourn. Here, on an artificial islet made up of wrecked, grounded or decommissioned ships, she was among peers, exiled Khanates too proud of their warrior ways, travelling nomads and all sorts of people of ambiguous legality.

The Unlucky Pirate took a sip of her drink and savoured its bitter and rich taste. According to the barman, this was wine had been smuggled from the Surface, from bountiful Mediterranean vineyards with deep red plump grapes, not the cheap ales made from the fetid fungi of Demeaux Island.

Just when she was starting to get a good buzz, one only rivalled by the tamer versions of prisoner’s honey, the pub’s rickety door groaned and broke off its hinges, falling to reveal a pair of armed silhouettes. Young-looking silhouettes. All with angry expressions on them. Were some of their glares pointed in her direction?

The Unlucky Pirate looked at her wine accusingly.

“It’s you,” the blonde girl spat at the Unlucky Pirate. It definitely wasn’t the wine then.

Before the Unlucky Pirate’s brain could even process whether she knew these people or not, one of the youths, short and with wild blue hair, lunged at her, effectively choking her and coming alarmingly close to ripping her head off.

“Tell me where you took Tsubaki!”

In accordance with her nickname, the Unlucky Pirate had no idea who that Tsubaki person was or why these people thought she knew of anyone like that. She used any brainpower that wasn’t currently freaking out at the close proximity of death to recall any instance of interacting with anyone that might have looked like a Tsubaki, but her mind came up blank. “My dear sir, I’m not quite I ever met a person called Tsubaki-”

Something smooth and cold was pressed against her temple. The Unlucky Pirate’s eyes travelled up to see a shiny and angry-looking gun, unlike any other she had witnessed so far.

“That a new model?” she blurted out.

“Yes,” the gun’s owner replied, a boy that didn’t look any older than the streets-rats that infested even Khan’s Shadow. His voice was smooth and the Unlucky Pirate couldn’t help but recall that one time she had given herself a near-death experience by getting tangled up with a pillowcase. “One that hurts.”

“Now, now, lads and lassies.” She feigned one of the many native accents of London in hopes of getting into their good graces. No such luck. “I’m sure if you point and the pointy and shooty things down, we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement-”

A blonde girl stepped forward, looking menacing despite her thin frame and blonde pigtails. “The only agreement we’ll be having is you telling us where Tsubaki and Liz were sent off to.”

There was a scythe around her neck now and it gleamed in the pub’s faint light. The area itself had gotten quiet, with people silently leaving or pointedly minding their own business. The Unlucky Pirate had done either such things before, when she was not the target. There was no help to be found here.

Also, from where that scythe had appeared and how a gangly girl was able to wield it as if it was made of feathers, the Unlucky Pirate was not sure she even wanted to know.

“Oi, you’d better speak before I blow your brains out!” Did the Unlucky Pirate have too much wine or had the gun just talked?

...What forces had she gotten herself involved with?

“W-well, that sounds like a most excellent deal!” she stuttered. “One teeny-tiny problem though.” She tried to make herself as tiny as possible, with moderate success. “I still don’t know any persons named Liz or Tsubaki.”

“They were on one of the Khanate ships you sank,” the blonde scythe-wielding girl explained.

Aha, a clue. Something she could latch on. But first...

By falling into a hurried bow, the Unlucky Pirate managed to stand up straighter and take a better look at her assailants. If only she could find something on them, something about their agenda…

Their clothes were unfamiliar, unlike those found in London, Khanate, or the Presbyterate territories, as well as other areas of the Unterzee. The Unlucky Pirate would have guessed they were from the surface, but any Surface adventurers sported clothing that was unlike this groups. They also seemed to be a diverse bunch. If the Unlucky Pirate had to guess, they would say that they may have family connections with the Khanate, Presbyterate, or Fallen London, though one could never truly be sure. So far, she was getting nowhere.

Out of desperation, she looked at their eyes, the so-called ‘windows to the soul’. Green, brown, blue and... gold?

Oh dear. Why did she have to get involved with those people?

“If you require prisoners for the Dawn Machine, I’ll be more than happy to provide-”

Their group took pause. Were they taken aback by her impressive -she gave herself a mental pat on the back- deductive skills? Most importantly, how would they react to her proposition?

The blonde girl gave her a wary and confused look. “What gave you that idea?”

 Ah, the good old false denial. The Unlucky Pirate had done that song-and-dance many times before.

“O-oh, no need to play coy ma’am!” The Unlucky Pirate stuttered. She raised a trembling hand and tapped on the side of her eyes. “Your marks aren’t that well-hidden you know…”

She meant to trail off her voice for dramatic effect but instead was forced to do so because of the sheer hostility she was now faced with. It became difficult to breathe, and the Unlucky Pirate found her heart racing upon witnessing not simple glares, but ones that wished her a very slow and unfortunate end.

She had definitely stepped on some toes. If they didn’t want to kill her before, they certainly did now.

“The Machine is taking prisoners?” The blonde girl asked, her hostile look failing, replaced by a distraught one.

Abort, abort. Deny everything, pretend this conversation never happened. The thought ‘abandon ship’ replayed in her mind like a mantra. “Ah, my business transactions are private-“

Once again, she was staring at death in the eyes, and every version of them looked pissed.

“I meant 100% transparent, thanks to my never-ending gratitude for not slicing my neck, ma’am!” the Unlucky Pirate squeaked. “Yes, the Grand Geode has sent out a general bounty for any able-bodied person to be brought into their base… A most mysterious business that is…” The scythe’s blade pressed a bit too intensely at her neck. “But of course, I never meddled with them, no siree! I was only being subcontracted you see, or as we say in pirate-speak-”

“Who cares about that?!” the short boy yelled in frustration. “What did you do to the people on the ship you raided?”

“W-well, assuming your companions was taken in one of my raids, my last transaction was with emissaries from Wisdom, so they should be well on their way there-”

“What’s Wisdom?” one of the boys asked, almost bald and holding a strange type of spear.

“A prison, lads, and lassies, among the most feared location in the Unterzee.” She gulped. “Unfortunately, that is all the information I can provide -as well as a map for Wisdom location if you wish to retrieve your shipmates!” She hoped that would be enough to disincline them from any shooting or decapitating.

“Why did you take them to Wisdom?” the blonde girl asked.

The Unlucky Pirate made a motion to shrug but the blade and gun made such a gesture foolhardy. “B-best price you see.” Upon receiving increasingly hostile looks again, she cleared her throat and said the first thing that came to mind. “I don’t ask questions. People who get too curious tend to live short lives you see.” Her gaze was firmly fixed on the scythe and gun pointed at her, that had gradually begun to edge away from her skin, allowing some room to breathe.

Upon making sure she wasn’t going to be cut in half, the Unlucky Pirate took a deep breath and tried to recall any other intel she had about Wisdom, hoping it’d be enough for them to let her go. “You can pay them to return your friends. It’s not bribery if the Warden is on it too. Though, I am afraid it is going to cost you a pretty penny.”

There was a small amount of silence between their group. After a few seconds, they whispered hastily among themselves, exchanging looks and other nonverbal cues the Unlucky Pirate couldn’t be bothered to decode.

“What are we standing around here for, let’s go already!” the wild-haired boy said with frustration, tapping his foot with the same manner a bee flaps its wings.

“Black Star we can’t just barge in a prison, we have to-”

With their group fully absorbed in their inane conversation, the Unlucky Pirate made a motion to leave, politely bowing and slightly placing herself closer to the now-defunct doorway. The exit was so tantalizingly close...

“Oh no you don’t,” the almost-bald boy caught her by the scruff of her collar. “You’re helping us get them out.”

“And you pay for my door,” the barkeeper nonchalantly spoke up as he held his hand out at the Unlucky Pirate. “Your business brought them here.”

The Unlucky Pirate didn’t dare object. She squeaked in agreement, paid the barkeeper, and cursed her perpetually bad luck.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

An eye-patched woman gave them a flat look. “You want to do what at Wisdom?”

“Stage a breakout,” Maka repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time.

They were at another pub of ambiguous legality, one of the many established in this strange artificial isle. The previous one had been nearly empty and the barkeeper was giving them the stink eye, and they had broken the door.

Their plan had initially been to storm Wisdom, courtesy of Black Star. However, eventually everyone had agreed that doing so would be idiotic and they had to find more information and recruit people so they don’t go rushing into things, yes Maka you are right and Black Star was wrong can we please get going the barkeeper looks like he wants to slam-dunk us in the zee-?

So, they had agreed to scout the various pubs that littered Khan’s Shadow for information about Wisdom and recruits to help their aid. The more people they had to serve as distractions, the higher the chances their planned break out would be successful. They didn’t know what defensive measures Wisdom had, so having more people on their side would be an advantage. Besides, Maka had inferred that most Wisdom prisoners were actually innocents, so the more people they broke out, the better.

“We heard you first time ma’am,” a bulky man sporting an impressive handlebar moustache and various pirate paraphernalia spoke up. “My Quartermaster was just asking out of politeness, to let you realise what crazy nonsense you’re spouting.”

Maka’s cheeks puffed with indignation. “Our friends are there!”

“Then you’d better make new friends,” the Pirate Captain nonchalantly said and scratched his moustache.

“What sort of answer is that? You’re a pirate for crying out loud,” Soul shot back. “Where’s your warrior pride or whatever?”

“It’s not as big than my desire to live, thank you very much,” the Pirate Captain replied, focusing on his playing cards. Steadily the other patrons turned their heads away from them and returned to what they were previously doing, mostly drinking and gambling.

Maka’s hands trembled and she took a deep breath. She had to calm down. Kicking everyone’s ass wouldn’t be of any use now, would it?

“All right, losers!” Black Star yelled and banged his hand on the nearby table “Let’s have a fight, our group versus anyone who wants to go against us.” He gave the people a cocky smirk. “If you lose, you come with us!”

“And if we win?” The Pirate Captain asked, playing with a dirty knife that Maka had no idea where it came from.

“All your drinks, on the house,” Kim spoke up with a shrug while Black Star looked at the Pirate Captain confused as to the meaning of his question. “Next week’s too.”

 Her offer was met up with roars of excitement and rapid mobilisation, as the patrons took up guns, swords, spear, and anything else that could be used to inflict bodily harm.

“You truly are lunatics,” the Unlucky Pirate muttered and scampered to one of the least populated corners of the pub.

Chapter Text

“You’re not doing yourself any favours here, miss-”

“Don’t care.”

The Muttering Warden clicked their tongue in indecisiveness. Despite their deep voice, they were a small person, their diminutive frame straining under the weight of a metal-studded military-style uniform.

Liz glared at the Warden but held back a biting remark. She was standing near the rocky wall, her hands tied behind her back with heavy chains that threatened to pull her arms off their sockets. Her stomach growled, her eyelids were heavy and she lost her footing every now and then, her balance thrown off by the chains.

The room was cold, dark and damp -like everything else in this damned place- with sparse but elegant furniture. The only ways out of the room, arguably the characteristics most pertinent to Liz’s situation, were a bulky metal door that looked like something out of a bank’s safe, and a stained window which overlooked the Unterzee hundreds of meters above its surface.

The Muttering Warden shuffled a stack of papers, paying little attention to Liz’s presence. “Normally, I tend to discipline the most unruly of my prisoners,” they began with an air of false eloquence and gave a side-glance at Liz. “But, I do not think this would work with your… attitude.”

Liz rolled her eyes but stayed silent. Something told her the Warden wouldn’t take too kindly to her retorting ‘how about you eat my entire ass?’ and she wasn’t willing to push them to their breaking point yet. Liz was crass, not suicidal.

“In fact, considering what we do know, this approach would likely be the least productive,” the Muttering Warden continued, mostly talking to themselves rather than Liz.

“Did you now?” was the only civil response Liz could come up with.

“Yes. The Governor and I have learnt of the little scuffle that you and your friends got in with the Khanate.” The Muttering Warden gestured to the stained window, where a giant reddish figure swam by. “The Knot Oracles have many eyes, you see.”

Liz grimaced at the name. Knot Oracles. Apparently, that was the name of the multi-eyes frog-things that surrounded Wisdom, resting on giant lily pads and stared hungrily at Liz whenever their gazes met. It was at this time that Liz was glad she was in a cell. That meant she was separated from these things by a mercilessly steep wall that overlooked jagged rocks and the remnants of daring but ultimately doomed sailors.

“Now, I’m no ally to the Khanate, but a man can’t help but wonder...” The Muttering Warden let his voice trail off, and Liz supposed he did it as a dramatic effect. “What did you do to attract the Khanate’s attention?”

Liz shrugged. “Things.” Even she wasn’t sure if she could be more accurate than that.

The Muttering Warden snorted. “Things indeed.” They adjusted their shagging uniform and stepped in front of Liz. Funnily enough, they were short enough that Liz looked down on them. “Let’s make a deal. You give me the information and I’ll make your life here a little easier.”

“How about letting me go?”

“Then you’d have to give me some quality information,” the Muttering Warden said with a dry laugh.  They pointed to the only window of the room, a dirty glass where another small lumpy and multi-eyed shape floated away on a lily pad. “You’ll have to give me, and the Governor by extent, what the Knot-Oracles can’t. Normally, we would skip this step entirely, but the Knot Oracles are not known for their accuracy, and in such sensitive manners, a mistake can mean oblivion.”

Liz had no idea how the Knot Oracles were involved in acquiring information from people and she was pretty sure she never wanted to find out. Ignorance was bliss.

Still, the Warden had not explicitly denied Liz’s bargain for freedom. If she could find out what they wanted, then maybe Liz could work something out.

Truth be told, she didn't trust this person as far as she could throw them, so she’d have to be careful about giving away all her information. What the Warden would do with this information, Liz couldn’t care less. She held no sympathy for any of the powers of the Unterzee.

“What sort of info are you looking for?”

The Muttering warden tilted his head and looked Liz straight in the eyes. “It has to do with the Bazaar.” There was a hunger in their gaze. “Specifically, the grand heist committed against it.”

Liz scoffed. “What’s gotten all of you so uppity about that thing in the first place? It’s just a bunch of souls, anyway.”

The Muttering Warden gave Liz a wide-eyed look. “Now that makes me doubt whether you can fully comprehend the fine balance of the Unterzee,” they said with a raised eyebrow. “Souls abducted from the Bazaar, from the Devils themselves in Palmerston, people dying in Venderbight, the faintest hints of whispers in Codex, mad ravings about a bright light come from the North… not to mentions those pesky gold-eyed ‘glorious’ dreadnoughts and Lorn-Flukes that have been plaguing the zee lately.” They shook their head in exasperation. “The Powers are unravelling, and I think you may know the answer.” They glanced at Liz and shook their head. “Or at least, part of it.”

Liz’s mouth turned into a thin line at the Muttering Warden’s words.  The Spartoi had been responsible for most of the anomalies they listed…

“So? Is there anything you’d like to say?”

Liz bit her lip. If she said that they had committed the heist… Liz doubted she’d be let go. No doubt she and Tsubaki would be used as hostages to get the others imprisoned and then…

Maybe she could turn this around. If she didn't mention her involvement, if she presented herself as a sort of passerby, then-No she still would paint the target on someone’s back. Most likely Kid’s.

But she would be freed….

Liz’s gaze flitted to the window. A Knot Oracle the size of a small boat floated by. Some of its eyes followed Liz like a haunted painting.

No, Liz was not that person. Had not been so for a long time, and wouldn't be so if she had any say in it. She wouldn't throw anyone under that bus. Not anymore.

“Here’s what I want you to do with your offer,” Liz began. The Muttering Warden leaned in with anticipation. “I want you to go to the broom store and buy a very long and very wide broom.” The Muttering Warden frowned. “And then you will use that broomstick to stick that offer so far up your ass it reaches your small intestine.”

Liz was sure the last part was anatomically impossible, but the metaphor had sounded better in her head, and it did help convey the message of how much she wanted them to fuck right off.

The ingenuity of her words aside, her attitude earned her a punch. She of course reciprocated by more caustic and vulgar remarks. These, in turn, earned her more punches.

 Of course they’d pull through. They always did. And they always would. Liz could trust. She should trust. Otherwise…

 \*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Back at her cell, Liz nursed her torn lip with a grimace.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Tsubaki spoke up, timidly, looking over Liz’s frame.

They were in a different part of the prison, apparently one lacking in stone reserves causing the cells to be made entirely out of metal bars and the external stone wall that made up the tower.

“I’ll be fine. Is nothing serious,” Liz slurred, careful to move her lips as little as possible to avoid reopening any wounds.

“You shouldn't have antagonised them.”

“Why’d you figure I did that?” Liz playfully said.

Tsubaki sighed. “Because you’re you.”

Liz faked a grimace. “Tsubaki, ouch. Tell me how you really feel-”

“That’s not funny,” Tsubaki cut her off, and her expression turned to one of concern. “We’re prisoners here. Antagonising the wardens won’t help us.”

Begrudgingly, Liz had to agree. Nothing good could come out of snarking the people in charge here, except frustrate them or waste their time. Even then, when Liz did that all she got was a split lip and bruises.

But, what else should Liz do? What else could she do? Stand quietly and endure? Her hand-to-hand combat skills were subpar, she had no Meister to work with… all she had was her wit and she sure as hell wanted to use it. Liz wasn’t the passive type, she had always thought herself active. Not only that, but self-sufficient, able to look out for her own and this place showed that this notion was nothing but an illusion-

“We have to get out of here,” Liz spoke up. “I can’t spend another minute in this fucking place -How long has it been?- I can’t tell because this fucking place has no day, no night, no fucking meals-!”

“Liz please calm down,” Tsubaki implored her. “I’m sure the others will-”

“What if they’re not? What if they got distracted or lost or…” Her voice trailed off and Liz ran a clenched hand through her hair. “What if they don’t?”

“Don’t say that, you know that’s not true!” Tsubaki protested. “The others will come!”

 “When-?”

“Eventually!” Tsubaki looked out the window to avoid Liz’s eyes and frowned. “Is that...?” Her eyes widened. “That’s our ship, isn't it?”

Liz scrambled to her tiny window and frowned. She did make out the Unsinkable 8’s dinky frame. However, that was not the end of her confusion. From what little she could make out, their ship was full with all sorts of people -many of them sporting black eyes strangely enough- and accompanied by a few smaller ships that looked more like death traps than proper means of transportation. So, any feeling of relief that Liz felt was accompanied by increasing confusion.

“What the hell are they planning?” Liz muttered.

“Liz,” came Tsubaki’s hesitant voice. “I have an idea on how to escape.”

“Might as well try out.” Liz gave Tsubaki an expectant look. “Well?”

Tsubaki looked at her jail’s window and gulped.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“Ok guys, we’re close to Wisdom,” Maka called out to the gathered crowd. “Anyone have anything they want to say?”

They were on the highest deck of the ship, on account of every other area being too crowded to properly gather with the Spartoi. Even now, they were surrounded by plenty of unknown faces that simply had no other corner of the ship to cram themselves in.

“You sure the Knot Oracles won’t get to us?” one of the sailors from Khan’s Shadow called out.

“The frogs are keeping their distance,” Kim replied. “Whatever Kid’s doing, it’s working,” she muttered so only Maka and the other Spartoi could hear her. “So don’t worry your pretty head about those things, alright?” she said to the crowd.

“We need a distraction.” Kilik spoke up. “Something to draw the guard’s attention while we locate Liz and Tsubaki and get them out.”

“Done.” Kim shaped her hands like a megaphone. “Oi, anyone here good at jumping up and down and making loud distracting noises when we disembark?”

“SAY NO MORE!” Black Star yelled back puffed his chest. “My time has come.”

The crowds parted to reveal Kid trying to navigate his way through the much taller, bulkier and also rather smellier sailors and hating every second of it.

“Do we have a plan?” He asked Maka.

“Sort of. We disembark and attack,” Maka began. “Black Star agreed to be the… distraction, while you and I can use our Soul Perception to locate Liz and Tsubaki.”

Now that Maka said it out loud, it did not sound like much of a plan to be honest.

“We’re doomed,” someone from the crowd muttered.

“We’ve hit shore!”

Oh well, too late now. Their plan -even if it was a half-assed one- would have to do.

As the others navigated the crown in an attempt to properly dock the ship, Maka activated her Soul Perception and squinted her eyes. The towers melded with the Neath’s darkness, and if she was to find the tower which they were in.

Her attention however, was caught by a strange sight. With her plain vision, Maka saw two objects glinted as they exited two tiny barred windows and began falling towards the rocky ground. Two glinting objects with souls that Maka recognised. “That’s-!”

Kid’s expression switched to one of horror. “Have they gone mad?!”

“Tsubaki and Liz!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“Oh dear oh dear oh dear-!”

Tsubaki wasn’t a religious person, but at that moment she was praying to every deity she knew, including the one frantically getting into position below her, that their plan wouldn’t end up with the Weapons squashed into a bloody pulp once they hit the rocky surface.

Her katana form was suitable enough right? Tsubaki had transformed into one of her smaller forms so that she could pass the metal bars; her shuriken form was too bulky, her chain-scythe may have had the chain tangled with the bars, and she couldn’t use her uncanny sword or Dummy*Star mode without Black Star.

...Perhaps the smoke bomb mode was the best option? Should she change? Did she have enough time to change?

Close to her, Liz was screaming obscenities, an action Tsubaki thought was as useful as her persisting indecisiveness.

“Oh dear oh dear oh dear-!”

The ground was approaching alarmingly fast. It was too late now. Her katana form would have to do.

...Was that little jumping dot Black Star? Was he jumping towards her?!

“Ohdeadohdearohdear-!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Liz wanted to puke. She was about to puke. It was sheer adrenaline that prevented her from doing so.

Her hands and knees trembled from excess excitement. She couldn’t bring herself up or she would risk falling to the rocks below.

But, she was safe. Unharmed -or as unharmed as she had been when she had jumped off the prison’s tower.

There were sirens in the distance, but that was nothing compared to the thrum of her overexcited heart. Her vision swam and blurred and a sense of vertigo came and went in waves.

Two sets of hands grabbed hold of her, one warm, one cold. There were more sounds, voices familiar and not, frantic croaks, the familiar groaning of a ship’s weathered engine, the dulled electric thrum of ship lights, as Liz was escorted from a rocky surface to a metal one.

Slowly but surely, the voices and shapes became more solid, to the point where Liz could make out faces and pinpoint each voice’s owner. Patty was on her right, Kid on her left, Soul in front and Tsubaki behind her. Liz noted with a hint of jealousy that Tsubaki was walking on her own just fine, if a little bit wobbly with an excited Black Star by her side.

“That was amazing, sis!” Patty gushed. “We were all ready to storm the base but you jumped off like a superhero!”

“Yeah,” Soul added as he made way through an endless crowd of burly sailors -what were all these people doing on their ship? “That was one of the coolest escape attempts I’ve seen.”

Liz slowly brought her head up off and gave them a small smirk. Her hands were still shaking and her knees felt like jelly. “Thank you, thank you, you’re being too-”

“That was reckless!” Kid protested among the sea of praise. He was supporting Liz’s left side and his grip was tight but not painful. “What if you’d panicked and transformed back-?”

“Kid, can you not right now?” Liz grumbled. “‘Sides, we had anything under control and kept our cool-”

“Um, Liz, weren’t you screaming on the way down-?”

“Tsubaki,” Liz hissed through gritted teeth and looked back at the girl. Tsubaki gave her a sheepish smile. “As I said,” Liz said a tad too forcefully, “we had everything under control.”

 Kid did not look convinced one bit, and let out a sigh. “If you say so.”

“I do say so,” Liz slurred and made an attempt to stand on her own. It was mildly successful, and Liz managed to stand up straight without help, even if she couldn't bring herself to take a step forward. “Hell, it’ll take more than the most secure prison on the Unterzee to keep us in one place, ain’t that right, Tsubaki?”

“Eh?” a flustered Tsubaki blurted out. “I suppose…”

“Exactly. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Liz took a wobbly step forward, and Patty and Kid were by her side in an instant. “I need to puke.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

An hour later, a less green but just as exhausted Liz watched Wisdom’s tower disappear in the horizon.

She needn’t have worried. The others did come for her eventually. Even if Tsubaki hadn’t come up with the idea of jumping off the tower, the others would have stormed Wisdom, come hell or high water. They were a team. They had looked after each other and would continue to do so.

They had to.

All Liz wanted was the ability to reciprocate the favour.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

A few decks below Liz, Tsubaki rested on a hammock, along with mostly snoring bulky people who she still had no idea who exactly they were -she had heard it had something to do with Black Star and a bet and frankly, that had been enough of an explanation at that point.

“That was a hell of a stunt you pulled miss,” one of the non-sleeping strangers surrounded by his peer called out to her. “We gots people betting how you didn’t end up flatter than pancakes!” the man let out a laugh that was more like a strained exhale and went back gossiping with his fellows.

Tsubaki let out an uneasy laugh at the… she supposed it was a compliment. It was her idea after all, and it had gotten them out quickly and unharmed, right? Liz had been a bit out of it for some time, but that more likely due to stress, not because she had been physically hurt by the fall… she hoped.

But her plan had been good, right? Her actions had had a positive impact. Yet, the whole reason they had ended up in Wisdom… perhaps if she hadn’t acted rashly, they wouldn't have been abducted but fought the Khanate with the others and that’d have been the end of that story.

Tsubaki sighed and rubbed her temples in indecision.

Chapter Text

Light.

It was the one word that could perfectly describe Aestival. Everything else was redundant.

…Well, if one was to use more words to describe the island, Maka supposed she’d compare it to a typical Pacific island. Aestival was a bit on the small side, but such a sight was extraordinary in the Neath, where everything was dark and foreign. The island was a presence of normalcy that went against anything one would expect. Its beaches were made up of thin white and gold sand. Its trees, actual trees and nothing like the fungal forests found elsewhere, were heavy with brightly-coloured ripe fruit.

The waters around Aestival were calm. There was a half-collapsed dock on one side of an island, made up of creaking timber and moss-riddled rope. The waves lapped gently against the ship’s hull as Maka disembarked on the isolated but bright island.

As they disembarked, Maka shielded her eyes from the light, unused to this much brightness. Others did the same.

Liz exited the ship with a whoop, running towards the beach with a large towel in her lap. Where Liz could have found a person-sized towel, Maka did not know.

With quick movements, Liz spread the towel on the golden sun of Aestival, then spread herself over said towel and let out a satisfied sigh.

“This is the life…” the elder Thompson muttered to herself. She rolled up her top and pants as far as they’d go. “I’m staying here until we’re leaving!”

Patty let out a giggle and ran after her sister. She removed her shoes and then proceeded to play with the sand, probably building some sort of sandcastle to destroy later.

Maka looked around and smiled at the people were hanging about. Soul and Black Star were shaking a nearby palm-like tree to get at its fruit. Tsubaki rested in the shade of a fig tree. Ox, Kim, Jackie and Harvar laid on the beach and talked -with Kim and Ox doing most of the actual talking. Kilik looked after Fire and Thunder who chased each other near the shore.

Kid exited the ship a folder on one hand and a pack of stationery on the other. He walked up to Maka. “What are you planning to do?”

“Explore a bit,” Maka replied. “Who knows, maybe I’ll stumble upon treasure!” She half-heartedly said, her spirits moderately lifted by the sunshine and normalcy of the place. “You?”

“Something more boring,” Kid said light-heartedly. “I’ll be having a look at some of our charts… some of the notes there are terribly disorganized…”

Leaving Kid and the others to their own devices, Maka ventured into the part of the island thick with foliage. Insects and birds went out of their way, crowing or buzzing at her intrusion. The air was thick with pollen, and dank by the moisture retained by leaves and greenery.

After a few minutes of exploring Maka made out a solid rectangular shape among the jungle-like foliage.

She pushed a few thick branches out of her way and squinted at the sight.

It was a house, although one Maka could not see very well because of the obstructing foliage. Did that mean there were other people this island?

As Maka pushed through towards the house, she activated her soul perception. Strangely enough, her inner eye’s vision was foggier than normal but she found no soul anywhere near the house. The only souls she did see were of the Spartoi. The island was deserted.

Cautiously, Maka approached the house. It was styled after a picturesque English townhouse, though one that had fallen into disrepair.  Overgrown berry bushes surrounded it. The roof had been made of glass and its shards littered the inside of the house and crunched under her shoes. As Maka passed by a collapsed front door, she was greeted by sun-bleached tapestry, cosy furniture and a family table with chairs strewn with…

Maka froze at the sight.

Half a dozen skeletons. Human ones. All slumped but seated around a dining table.

Maka had no idea how long she stood frozen at the sight, only that her trance was broken by an approaching sound of footsteps.

“Maka?” came Kid’s voice. “Sorry if I’m intruding but I wanted to ask you something about our…” His face appeared through the entryway as he walked next to Maka, “journey…” His voice went silent.

Maka’s gaze did not stray from the skeletons. They were fully-dressed, even if their clothes had been partially eaten by moths. One of the adult skeletons still had a fancy bonnet strapped to its skull.

A red-plumed bird landed on the cranium of the taller skeletons, made up of thinning hair and leathery skin. It burst into a melodious song and Maka felt a shot of adrenaline course through her body. Her hand reached for the book in the inner reaches of her jacket.

Kid passed by Maka, his face neutral. He approached the closest skeleton, one that couldn’t have been taller than him. The bird let out an alarmed cry and flew away, through the broken glass roof.

Their next few moments were spent in silence. Kid was looking over the skeletons with detached interest.

Maka looked away and chastised herself for her behaviour. She shouldn’t be disturbed by this. She had seen her fair share of death. She had faced soul-eating abomination, witnessed the monstrosities that lurked inside the Book of Eibon, withstood Asura’s madness… a family of corpses should not be an unnerving sight to her.

Yet their presence… their casual posture around the dinner table, as if they had gathered peacefully to the dinner table like any other day while the surface sunlight spilt over them…

What had done this?

“They did not die violently,” Kid spoke up after a few minutes. “The flesh is not burnt, torn, or otherwise disfigured.” The Grim Reaper sighed and crossed his hands. “It’s as if they went to sleep and never woke.”

Kid’s explanation didn’t add up. None of this added up. “Their souls?” Maka managed to say in order to get a conversation going. Anything but to hear the distant sound of songbirds.

Kid shook his head. “Long gone. Though I’m not sure if they were taken by devils or if they passed… on… or…”

Confused by the silence, Maka looked at Kid. His face was unreadable, and he seemed lost in thought.

Deciding not to disturb him while he thought, Maka looked around the dining room, careful not to let her sight stray towards the doomed family.

She looked over the cabinet where a faded black-and-white photo was proudly displayed. The glass frame was cracked, and the photo’s occupants were indistinguishable. Other knick-knacks littered the room. Some had fallen to the floor and broken. Some were engulfed by a thick vine tree that had made it its life purpose to reclaim the house. A few fortunate ones stood unharmed if dusty.

Maka stepped into the main area of the dining room, the only part of the house which sunlight could reach for now. A shiver ran up her spine.

Ok, this was getting ridiculous. There was no reason for her to have that reaction! She had barely even looked at the remains.

…Could it be something else? Could her reaction have been caused by something she had not yet realized affected her? But what?

Maka looked around but found nothing new. The skeletons remained unmoving. Kid had retreated into a corner, still lost in thought.

She looked around the room once more. Nothing moved.

Maybe it was her imagination?

She retreated to one of the sturdier looking walls of the house, in the darker reaches of the dining room. The feeling disappeared, and she could breathe easy once again.

Ok, Maka had definitely not imagined that. There was something here. And, if her normal eyes couldn’t detect the presence… maybe her inner ones could.

Maka activated her Soul Perception. Besides Kid’s soul, which enveloped the whole island, there was no other soul around her. Once again though there was a fogginess in her vision. Maka inadvertently rubbed her eyes in frustration. Unsurprisingly, this action did nothing to decrease the blurriness.

Maybe she was thinking the wrong way? Maybe if she walked around, if she observed the changes in action…

Careful not to bump into anything, Maka navigated herself into the shade.

The fogginess faded and her Soul Perception returned to its usual sharpness. However, when she focused on some faraway souls, like Soul’s, the fogginess reappeared, like a shimmer caused by a heatwave.

So Maka wasn’t imagining things! There was something going on in this place. Although… the two effects she had noticed made no sense in relation… Why would a sense of restlessness be accompanied by a blurry Soul Perception? And where was it all coming from?

Maka had to take a step back. What did these two phenomena have in common? They both occurred in Aestival… but only parts of it. And what did Aestival had that other islands lacked, yet it was a thing that did not span every inch of the island?

Maka opened her eyes and dashed to the centre of the dining room, Soul Perception still active. Her breath hitched and she craned her neck to look up, past the collapsed glass roof and the foliage around it, to the one common factor between the strange occurrences; the light.

Both her eyes and soul perception became saturated to an intense degree. Maka looked away and she had blind spots in both sights.

The light… it was different from the one she was used to. Different from the one of her world. This light was more similar to…

A memory of a frozen wasteland with a gate watched over by two guardians jumped to mind. Where she had taken a peak and witnessed a thousand inquisitive lights…

The familiarity was unmistakable. Maka hadn’t used her Soul Perception at the Avid Horizon but…

Her throat constricted as she realized what the unsettling presence was.

The light. The light was a soul wavelength.

And it wasn’t friendly. Maka’s skin was warm, too warm, as if she had been sunburnt yet worse-

“Kid?” She looked around frantically until she pinpointed the Grim Reaper’s location. She ran to him, but Kid hadn’t heard her, he was still staring blankly yet his mouth moved in unfamiliar ways. “Kid!”

“Maka? Is everything-?”

“It’s the light!” Maka was aware she sounded like an asylum inmate but did not care one bit. “It’s the light! Use your Soul Perception, look at the light!”

Strangely enough, Kid did as instructed with no protest.

“You’re right,” he said after a few moments. “Something is staring down at us.”

Kid stepped into the light, gaze still skywards. Maka thought about warning him, but if anyone knew what this strange wavelength was, that’d be the Grim Reaper.

Maka gulped. “Is this what killed these people?” She looked at the dining table. Had they noticed the light was killing them? If yes, why hadn’t they left? “Why?” Her words sounded hollow to her ears. “Why is the sunlight-? How is sunlight doing this?”

“We have to get out of here,” Kid cut her off with urgency. “It’s not safe. The longer we stay…”

Maka and Kid ran to the ship as fast as they could. Maka used her nominal position of authority as the ship’s Captain to gather everyone and tell them they were leaving. The others had protested at the orders to leave, until Maka and Kid explained their findings in the abandoned house and the malevolent nature of sunlight.

Some panic had ensued, with Liz being the most prominent example, covering as much of herself with the towel and freaking out at her slightly reddened skin. Black Star had challenged the sunlight to a duel, but was dissuaded by an alarmed but composed Tsubaki. Kim had looked down at her hands in mute horrified realization and told everyone else she was confused why her magic was activated while they were on this island. Kid had been clutching their head when they boarded, muttering in languages Maka didn’t recognize.

They watched Aestival fade into the blackness of the Neath with disappointment.

Chapter Text

Harvar was not a complicated person. At least he thought so. Irem was doing its best to counter that.

Irem was an oasis of red in the dark blue of the Unterzee. Petal-covered pillars rose and intertwined like vines, overlooking humble settlements of silk-covered and sleep-deprived inhabitants. The most notable feature of the island was a massive seven-headed serpent statue at its highest pillar, mouths open and fangs extended. It only stood present at this point in time though. At others...

Harvar rubbed the bridge of his nose. This place was confusing, Linear time seemed like a luxury here. His thoughts travelled backwards and sideways, in all ways but the usual, rational, linear way he was used to, and would do -oh no, it was happening again.

Harvar leaned against a pillar and closed his eyes. He tried to empty his mind to catch a moment of reprise, a moment where he could gather his thoughts and not have them jump all over the place.

When Harvar opened his eyes, he wasn’t in Irem anymore. Or at least, he wasn’t in a place he recognised.

Damn this island.

Taking a deep breath, Harvar looked around. He couldn’t see a floor or ceiling. His surroundings were dotted with balls of light of varying size and intensity. It was like the sky back home-

Harvar squinted his eyes.

The lights bubbled and flickered, they grew and shrunk, they extended tendrils of burning light and retracted them, as if they were living organisms. They were constantly mobile, and the air hummed with barely-perceptible muttering that hurt Harvar’s eardrums.

Harvar flinched and covered his eyes. So, these things were definitely not the stars that existed back home.

Something hissed. Harvar whipped his head at the origin of the sound but found nothing.

‘Not a native,’ the hissing continued.

Harvar frowned. So, whatever was making the sounds could talk.

“Where am I?” Harvar asked the void. Above and below him, the stars continued to move incessantly, oblivious to his presence. Their light must have been dimmed, otherwise Harvar would have gone blind long ago.

‘This is only an image. An image of reality, but an image.’

“An image of what?”

The hissing circled around him, and Harvar’s shoulders tensed. Though he didn’t have his Meister, he could still summon lightning in his Weapon form. Perhaps if he tried it...

‘No point. These laws are not obeyed here.’

“What laws?” Harvar asked. Laws of life? Physics? Civic laws? He had no idea what was going on, and it was maddening.

‘Yet you a non-native still obey laws.’

“We all do,” Harvar replied, though he was doubtful his words were of any use. “You must do so to some extent.”

It might have been Harvar’s imagination, but the ensuing hissing sounded an awful lot like a chuckle.

‘Whose ?’ the hissing challenged.

Harvar frowned. Truth be told, he was becoming increasingly convinced that trying to apply the laws of physics or biology in this place was a vain affair. Civic laws were even laughable to bring up. But... there was one thing that had always been a constant in living beings -and in more abstract terms, non-living constructs as well.

“Death.”

The hissing quieted down to a hum. The stars still shone.

‘Why ?’

Harvar’s frown deepened. Why did Death apply to everyone?

‘Why do you obey?’

Well, Harvar did not have many options. To rephrase that, Harvar did have a choice per se of rebelling, but doing so would be idiotic and counterproductive to what he stood for, more or less.

It was like what he had said before to people; Blind obedience would not do good and Death's judgments were not infallible, but their decisions were the laws of an absolute being. The cycle of life and death ruled all beings, that was just how the system worked.

That did not mean they had to resign to their fate, but it also did not mean they had to follow the path of Witches like Medusa, which advocated for a dubious notion of pure freedom. An approach based on equal parts trust and critical thought was, in Harvar’s opinion, the optimal way to work with the Grim Reaper.

Still, not everyone understood that. Some people familiar with the DWMA and Death’s presence but unfamiliar with how the Academy worked, made wild claims about the aim of the organization, or how it worked. One of the most outrageous rumours was that the Academy was a straight-up death cult -and there were times where Harvar had to politely explain to people that no, the DWMA was a secular organisation and there was no mandatory death worshipping in class. The tamer and more believable rumors were that the Academy was somehow pro-death, which also wasn’t true and could be debunked by the mere fact that the Academy had a hospital wing. He had spoken little with Death or their son, but as far as Harvar knew, they had little issue with people prolonging their lives and generally doing their best to live as long as possible -in fact, with the way Harvar had seen Kid interact with his Weapons, it was quite the opposite; he was the one pushing them to make healthier choices, ironically enough.

In general, Harvar had no issue with how the Academy was run, or with the laws. There were hiccups occasionally, but they were not made of malice, just misunderstandings and unclear communication.

...Harvar was starting to doubt his words.

The fight with Asura was the source of all of it. Or perhaps a culmination of his doubts. When it came to the actual fight on the moon, information was sparse.  In fact, among those that did take part, very few had been there till the end, and among those who did, they all remained tight-lipped. Even Black Star, who Harvar had thought would boast his accomplishments and give extensive -if not accurate- retellings of his achievement of beating a god was vague enough that his words could be applied to any fight in general. Harvar had also heard that Crona had been involved somehow, but that was all that had escaped anyone’s lips.

The official statement was even vaguer, it being that Asura had been sealed and that Medusa’s child had been one of the casualties.

There were so many more things that went unexplained as well. Lord Death’s shocking demise. Kid becoming a mature Grim Reaper. Why the Kishin had only been sealed away.

… Speaking of which, why had the late Lord Death not been to kill the Kishin in the first place? Why had they only sealed Asura away? Why had Death’s son followed the same course? Was Asura unkillable? That wouldn't be possible. That shouldn’t be possible.

The worst thing was that all this vagueness made people’s minds wander. Even Harvar, who could justify some of the vagueness as potentially dangerous information, couldn't help but form his own theories and suspicions.

Frustratingly enough, Harvar did not know if he wanted his suspicions to be true. If they weren’t, then Harvar was simply misguided or had used faulty logic on one point. It sounded harmless but… Harvar did not want to end up like Justin Law. And if his suspicions were true… well. That was a bridge he hoped he didn’t have to cross.

While Harvar was absorbed in his thoughts, he paid little attention to something climbing up his leg and wrapping itself around his torso, eventually reaching his hand. This changed when the coiling thing bit his palm.

Harvar hissed and retracted his arm, flailing to get whatever bit him off him. A few drops of blood fell from the small but open wound.

“If you want to fight-!”

‘No fight. Only recall. Memories hidden. Long forgotten.’

Harvar looked around. The scenery flickered and changed, and in between the changes, Harvar’s eyes caught a gleam of a fetid landscape, of red light and of endless coiling snakes at his feet.

The new scenery still had stars. They were rearranged, but they still had that unnatural quality of life and motion. Any blood that had fallen off his palm was long gone.

He wanted to get out of this place.

‘Similar?’ The hissing was barely audible and as surprised as any sound of its kind could be.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Electricity crackled at his hand and Harvar was tempted to unleash an attack, just so he could see what would happen. “Let me out of here.”

‘Patience. Your story. Long ago.’

With a grunt of annoyance, Harvar folded his hands impatiently.

‘Remember. There are no lies here. Only memories. Only dreams.’

The hissing faded away, and he was alone, standing on nothing and with the vastness of the milky way above and below him.

Just when Harvar was starting to get bored, a small anomaly caught his attention.

A darkness. At first, Harvar thought it was nothing but the empty space between the light of the stars. Upon closer inspection however, it appeared to have a mind of its own, carefully navigating the edges of the stars and the empty space between their incessant movements.

Then it expanded. One of the stars was engulfed. More followed. The suns blared, they expanded their light filling the scenery and being so bright Harvar had to shield his eyes. When he opened them, he was greeted with a familiar sight.

The sky. The one back home, not the false-sky of the Neath, or the living stars he had seen before. Just a normal night sky, with distant suns, their only movement being their endless spiral against the centre of the milky way.

Yet stll in the corner of his vision, the engulfing darkness from before coalesced-

“Harvar?”

It was years of training and meditation that stopped Harvar from jumping on the spot and accidentally punching someone.

He was in back in Irem -or had he never left?- leaning against the same pillar as before. The place was just as he had remembered it, as if no time had passed at all. And, standing before him...

“Lord Death,” Harvar greeted. He had to stifle a bow, since this meeting was not formal in nature. “Apologies, I was distracted.”

The Grim Reaper’s expression changed from one of brief concern to relief. “It’s alright. Ox is looking for you. We’re also about to board the ship.”

Harvar nodded at the information. “Did we find anything useful?”

The Grim Reaper’s face fell. “Well...” He gestured towards the dock, where Black Star and Soul were having a rather loud conversation.

“Dude, you still didn’t have to punch him!” Soul said.

“But he was being annoying!” Black Star protested. “I just wanted to know where I can get something to eat and he said things like ‘what is the nature of food’ or ‘why do we hunger’ and nonsense like that! What was I supposed to do?!”

“Not punch him for starters-”

To his credit, Harvar kept his face neutral. “Ah. So this is Wither all over again.”

Later on, when everyone was boarded and ready to go, Maka announced that their plan was to go East. Why exactly she decided that, or what she was hoping to accomplish, Harvar was not sure. But...

Maka knew what she was doing, the same way the Grim Reaper knew what he was doing. They must. Harvar had to have faith. A very irrational thing to do so, but he wasn’t doing it blindly. He followed his judgement.

The true question was how much he trusted the latter.

Chapter Text

How long ago had they set sail for the East? A few hours? Days? Years?

The zee remained. The islands fell behind. Greater waves rocked their ship, and the false-stars paled until the Neath roof faded into complete darkness. The water’s colour changed from dark and inscrutable to a rich green the hue of emeralds. The ship’s engine toiled without sound. The air smelled of spice and pine. There was a faint echo of bells.

Maka watched a piece of driftwood lazily float by. She was on the highest deck, facing forwards. The ship was silent. Some were sleeping, others were tending to their duties with minimum enthusiasm.

“Maka.”

Speaking of which.

Maka turned to see Ox come up the stairs, followed by Kid. Judging by their sombre expressions, they weren’t the harbingers of good news.

“We keep heading East,” Ox informed her. “If we keep heading out like this, we won’t have enough supplies to make the trip back.”

“I’ve scanned the area multiple times. There are no lands or souls nearby,” Kid added. “I fear this… place is a dead-end like the rest.”

Maka listened to them with grim disappointment. They had already visited over half the places the Scholar had advised them to, yet they weren’t any closer to finding a way home. What if they visited them all and they still came up with nothing? They had already visited over half the major locations in the Unterzee, and all they had to show for it were tales of terror and plenty of confusion. What if none of the places of the Unterzee held the key to returning home? Would they have to explore Neath’s landmasses? They already knew North always lead to the thankfully sealed Avid Horizon, and now they had sailed the endless zee of the East. Would they have to explore the corroded cliffs of the West, and the Dark Continent of the South as well? What if they still found nothing? Would they have to travel to the surface, where the light was a soul wavelength with a grudge? How long would that take? What dangers lurked out there?

With a heavy heart, Maka had to admit that she didn’t have any way to answer these questions. All she had to go on was hope, and trust that they would all make it out together. Still, that did not mean she could afford herself to grow complacent. She had to exhaust any option, any possibility, examine every nook and cranny of the places they visited.

Once again, Maka activated her Soul Perception, more out of a sense of closure than any actual hope of sensing something, anything. Still, she couldn't help but sigh when her Soul Perception came up with nothing. Besides them, there was nothing ahead.

That was fine. Even if this place was a dead-end, she couldn't lose hope. They wouldn’t stop seeking their home. They would always return home.

A gentle salt-filled wind blew against her face.

With her Soul Perception still active, Maka sensed it. A distortion in the air. The horizon pulsed and faded, like a mirage in a heatwave. Maka had sensed something like this, before they set sail for where the world never ended.

It was a sliver of a wavelength. Bright but far away.

“That’s...” Maka’s words came out like vapour.

“Maka?” Ox asked.

Kid followed her gaze. “Did you sense something?”

Maka’s eyes were fixed on the horizon, on the distortion. It was barely perceptible now, unseen unless one had experienced it before. “Something is hiding.”

The salty air died down.

Kid’s frown turned into a scowl and narrowed his eyes. After a few moments, he closed them completely.

Ox blinked and looked questioningly between the two.

“It’s like Aestival,” Maka told Kid, her gaze still fixed on the horizon. “It’s different though… somehow.”

The three stayed in silence for a few moments, Maka and Kid focused on their Soul Perception while Ox watched them with mounting confusion.

Nothing changed. The zee kept gently lapping against the ship. The distortion vanished from Maka’s gaze completely, like the mirage she was starting to believe it was.

Maka sighed. “It’s probably nothing.” She turned to Ox. “Let’s turn around-”

“You!” Kid yelled, causing Ox and Maka to jump in place. “You're the one that got us here!”

 Maka and Ox looked between the horizon and Kid.

“Uh,” Ox began, “all due respect Lord Death, but who are you talking to?”

Kid kept his glare solely focused on the horizon. “They know very well who they are.” The Grim Reaper crossed his arms like an angry mother. “And they know it's in their best interest not to stay silent!”

While Kid was yelling, his Soul Wavelength flared to the point of manifesting cackling shadows around his form. Ox took a step back. Maka clenched her fists. Whatever Kid was sensing, it couldn’t be good.

“Hey!” Soul called out as he, Liz, Kilik and Harvar appeared at the stairs. “Is everything alright? We heard screaming-”

L-

A burning sound that overtook everything else, that created ripples in the fabric of space and time, that glowed red and everlasting and ate away at Maka’s hearing like moths to fabric-

E-

“Enough-! You’re hurting them!” Kid’s voice. Burning sound subsided, and disappeared. Maka could gather her thoughts again, now if the ringing in her ears could stop- “Are all of your kind that inconsiderate or are you a particularly disappointing specimen?!”

Maka found herself on the floor, her hands against her ears. Around her, the others had done the same, with one now-pissed-off exception.

“Fuck me that hurt.” That was Liz concisely summarizing everyone’s sentiment.

“I think I’ve gone deaf in one ear!” Kilik yelled.

The wind picked up, brushing up against Maka and strangely enough irritating her already sensitive ears.

“Don't try to deceive me, I know it was you,” Kid said. He was braced against the railing and still staring daggers at the horizon.

“Nevermind, it popped- I’m ok!” Kilik continued.

“What the hell was that?” Soul asked, rubbing his ears. He looked at Maka and let out a relieved sigh when he saw her already getting up.

“Guys!” Tsubaki ran up the stairs and joined them, followed by Black Star, Patty, Kim, Jackie. “Are you alright- What was that?!”

“Your Wavelength was the one that washed over us when we woke,” Kid continued, still staring at the horizon. “What I was trying to fight off at the time.”

Tsubaki looked at Kid, then to Liz. “Um, who is he talking to?”

Liz gave her a shrug. Unbothered by the shadows gathering at his frame, she poked Kid on the shoulder. “Oi, what’s going on? Who the fuck are you talking to?”

“The reason we’re here,” Kid responded, keeping his gaze on the horizon.

Silence fell among them. Maka, her bearing mostly gathered, perked up at the statement. At least the East didn't prove to be a dead-end like everything else. Now, if she could only get her ears to stop feeling like they’d been right next to a jet engine...

“...You’re gonna have to be more specific than that,” Liz eventually said.

“They’re called Salt,” Kid informed her.

“One of the Gods of the Unterzee?” Kilik asked, paling. “These things are real?”

“Apparently,” Kid said through gritted teeth. “Oh no, don’t you dare go hiding again!” He chided seemingly nothing. “You’d better start talking or else-”

The wind picked up, carrying salt and winding through metal creating a subtle whispering sound. Kid went silent, and as the wind changed velocity or direction, so did Kid’s expression change in understanding.

Maka frowned. Was this how Salt was communicating? It certainly was a better alternative than the Correspondence.

“Uh Kid, we can’t speak wind,” Liz spoke up. “Mind telling us what’s going on?”

“The admit to bringing us here. They're the reason our clothes are covered in salt, their namesake.” Kid placed his hands on his hips and glared at the horizon. “Which is all well and good, considering they're about to send us back!”

Kid went quiet as the wind picked up once more. Was it Maka’s imagination or was the wind now slower? As if it was hesitant...

“What?!” Kid hissed, glaring at the horizon as if it’d tried to sell him a Jackson Pollock painting.

“Again, translation needed,” Liz said.

“They refused.”

Black Star threw themselves against the railing to the point of almost being horizontal. “Oi get us back to our world asshole, before I kick your ass!”

“Trying to bully a God,” Soul muttered, “really smart Black Star.”

“Yes, Black Star can actually do that,” Kid informed the wind. “No, I’m not being facetious. Which is why you will send us back without making any excuses.”

A gentle breeze blew past them, seemingly unnoticeable.

“What do you mean you can't?” As soon as Kid spoke, the breeze died down. “You-”

The wind came back in full force and Kid paused. “Shit,” he eventually said.

“That sounds ominous,” Liz muttered.

“It's the Machine.” Kid glanced at them then back at the horizon. “Apparently, the Dawn Machine is gaining power and is aware enough to enforce some order into the Neath. Part of said order includes not allowing the spontaneous movement from one world to the next.”

Maka gulped. The Dawn Machine could change the fabric of reality? She knew it had the power to brainwash, but they had fought it off. If it truly was that powerful...

“That bright thing?” Liz shivered. “It’s alive?”

“Yes, in a sense.” The wind picked up and Kid’s frown deepened. “An ‘artificial Judgement’ I’m informed.”

Judgement. Maka had heard that term before. The Fathomking had said that Kid was not a Judgement. It had been a weird thing to hear at the time, but Maka had chalked it up to usual Neath weirdness. However, if Judgements had the power to rewrite reality itself...

“What’s a Judgement?” Maka asked.

Kid shrugged, a bit jerkily. “Bad news.”

This was not a straight answer. This was the opposite of a straight answer. Why would Kid-?

Not now, Maka told herself. He probably has his reasons. Or is too distracted. Or genuinely doesn’t know. Or a million other things.

“So, uh,” Soul spoke up. “What do we do?”

Kid huffed. “The oldest trick in the book. Beat it into submission. The Neath will return to its semi-chaotic state, allowing Salt to transport us back to our world.”

“So, if we weaken it enough we can go back?” Maka summarised. Was the answer to their problem so straightforward? Was this all there was?

“Yes, isn't that a pleasant coincidence?!” Kid yelled at the wind. “Oh you know very well what I’m implying! You knew the Dawn Machine was waking so you brought us here at the last moment in the hopes we'd be able to kill it!”

The wind downgraded to a small breeze.

“Of course you should be embarrassed. Dragging us here was rude and ill-thought-out.”

The wind surrounded them inquisitively. Tsubaki shivered.

“So you just assume we’d go after the Dawn Machine only and leave you and your kin alone?” Kid crossed his hands.

The wind intensified, making small waves across the zee.

The Grim Reaper raised an eyebrow. “Can’t? You really have no idea what you brought into your ‘little corner of the world’, do you?”

The wind picked up, harsh and combative. The waves rose higher, rocking their ship.

“You couldn't.” Kid’s words could shave ice. The waves subsided. “So, next time something like this happens, I heavily suggest you reconsider and ask politely, or I will be forced to take drastic action. Understood?”

The wind died down and they stood in silence. Just when Maka was about to tell everyone to head back West, the wind blew again. Only this time, it was cold against Maka’s skin, hissed like snakes, and carried the scent of rotting flesh.

Kid tilted his head. “‘The red-petalled dreams were true’?” The Grim Reaper repeated with a frown. “What's that supposed to mean?”

The air died, and so did the faint shimmer on the horizon. The Unterzee became turbulent, and the waves steered them West, away from the East and its looming and lost presence.

They were returning to port…

Chapter Text

Patty pouted.

Their journey so far was just long periods of boredom with random bursts of excitement.

Case in point; after they had this super-exciting chat with some sort of apparently salty god that revealed all sorts of exciting info like the fact that if they wanted to return home they’d have to kill another being -murder, yay!- they spent the next few hours -or days? There was no sun here and Patty never had a good track of time to begin with- sailing back, with the zee being silent and generally boring as hell.

Something landed on her cheek. It was a faint and seemingly weightless object, yet one that clung stubbornly to her skin.

Patty grabbed the object and held it close. It fluttered despite the lack of wind.

“A spider web?” Patty thought out loud. She played with it for a few minutes, waving and twirling it like one would a ribbon, until she eventually grew bored and let it continue its pointless journey into the dark reaches of the Unterzee. Patty returned to the railing, bored.

Another spider web landed on her, this time on her cheek. Another one landed on her arm. Patty picked them out, but more landed on her.

The air was thick with cobwebs.

Frowning, Patty ran to the room she shared with her sister. Liz, who was resting her eyes on one of the beds, perked up when Patty entered.

Wordlessly, Patty took the pair of rusted binoculars that they were supposed to use to aim the weapons, and went out on the deck. She went to the side of the ship where the spider webs were coming from, leaned against the railing and used the binoculars.

It was hard to see because of the lack of light, but Patty did notice a small anomaly on the horizon. Upon closer inspection, she made out a small collection of islands, all of them connected by a thin thread with many dark shapes moving back and forth between the islands. The same substance seemed to cover the entirety of the islands as well, and upon closer inspection, the substance and dark crawling shapes turned out to be...

Patty gasped. Her mouth formed a perfect circle.

“Patty?” Liz mumbled as she approached her. “Everything ok?”

“Sis look!” Patty handed Liz the binoculars and pointed towards the direction of the cobwebs. “I found an island!”

Liz raised an eyebrow but took the binoculars nonetheless. She placed them on her eyes and looked at the direction Patty was eagerly gesturing at.

All the blood drained from Liz’s face. “That’s…”

“Spiders!” Patty jumped in excitement, a wide grin on her face. “An island full of spiders! How cool is that sis?”

Liz slowly took the binoculars off. Her expression was a stony mask of pure horror. “No…”

Patty couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Her sister always was a scaredy-cat, but even a spooky place was better than a boring place!

Patty puffed her chest, proud of her discovery, and headed for the stairs. “I’m gonna tell Maka to visit!”

“No, don’t-!” Liz called out after her, like a cat about to be given a bath.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Maka knocked on the sister’s door. Soul stood on one side, Patty on the other, and the entirety of the ship’s population behind the three. “Liz...”

“Nope!” A voice called out. The door opened so slightly to reveal Liz’s pale face. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Soul sighed and leaned against the wall. “It’ll be fine, you’re not gonna get eaten by spiders.”

“Says you- Nothing about this is fine!” Liz shot back. “I’m not going to the spider island and that’s final!”

Patty grabbed onto the door’s handle and rocked back and forth. The door stood immobile, held in place by Liz’s sheer determination. “Come on sis, it’ll be fun!”

“Nooo, big sis is staying right here, where it’s nice and warm and spider-free,” Liz said in a sing-song tone. “See you guys later, try not to get eaten.” Liz closed the door and everyone let out a collective sigh.

Patty pouted. Adventuring was no fun if people didn’t join along. She was excited about this island because everything was better than the boring trek that was sailing, and seeing her bigger sister get spooked was always entertaining.

“We can still go visit,” Kid said to Patty and gave her a conspiratorial smile. “Maybe we can bring Liz something back as a souvenir...”

“Don’t you dare-!” came Liz’s muffled voice.

Patty laughed at the thought of scaring her sister with a spider egg, or a big ball of cobwebs. Even if she didn’t manage to get any however, it would still be fun to explore with Kid and the others. “What are we waiting for, let’s go!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Unfortunately, the spider islands -which were apparently known as Savior’s Rocks- turned out to be much less exciting than Patty had imagined.

Instead of facing huge hairy spiders, they were greeted by a gentle-voiced man with a cloth over his eyes who introduced himself as the Emissary of Spiders. He guided them around the port, called the Nativity, showing off some fancy silk Patty couldn't bring herself to care about. He also yammered on about a so-called Festival of Silk, but Patty’s mind went blank the second he uttered ‘old tradition with a complex history behind it’.

As they went about each stall, the locals appeared clueless about the spiders. Even though they clung to their feet, crawled over their heads or in and out of their clothes, they acted as if there were no spiders around. It was strange, but Patty guessed they had simply gotten so used to the spiders their presence was seen as normal.

Patty wanted to leave the port area, to go to the island and even meet some of the bigger spiders she had seen while on the way here. However, the moment she brought that up with the Emissary, he gulped, cleared his throat and said that visitors should stay within the Nativity.

What a buzzkill. Patty had poked Kid to convince him to sneak into the spider territory anyways, but he seemed against it as well.

As they milled about what felt the umpteenth stall, Patty grew so bored she could fall asleep standing.

She looked around. Her group was busy talking to the natives or looking at the silk displays. The Emissary of Spiders was talking to Maka. No one paid attention to Patty.

There was a small empty path behind her that led out of the Nativity and into the sea of cobwebs that featured all over Saviour’s Rocks.

Maybe if she just took a peek… Only for curiosity's sake. Maybe she’d get a ball of cobweb for her sis and Kid as well.

With a discreteness even Patty was aware she had, she made her way up the path. She didn’t encounter anyone on her way. In fact, the path had no people or spiders on it. It was as if the Nativity and the rest of Saviour’s Rocks were worlds apart.

…That just meant that Patty’s souvenir would be all the more special!

With a hop to her step, Patty continued up the path until she hit the first major landmark.

The area in front of her was fully covered by an intricate web that closed over the path, forming a dark cave. There were things moving in the shadows, and a few loose threads fluttered under a small breeze.

Something scuttled in the webs. Patty took a step forward.

“Patty!

The younger Thompson whipped her head around. She didn’t expect anyone familiar to call out of her, let alone this specific person. “Sis!” Her face broke into a smile as she saw Liz ran after her. She looked tired, but maybe she was just spooked by all the spiders. “You’re here?”

“As if I’d let you go alone into an island full of huge-ass spiders- good thing I didn’t!” Liz ranted and grabbed Patty’s hand. “Why are you here -why’d you leave the others?!”

Patty resisted Liz’s grip as it pushed her away from the spider webs’ entrance. She puffed her cheeks like a child caught stealing from the cooking jar. “It was boring-!”

“That’s no excuse!” Liz cut her off and pushed harder. Patty didn’t budge. “What if one of the spiders got you, what if they took you in their nest to eat you?!”

“I’m too big for them to eat me silly!” Patty said. “Besides, all the locals here get along with the spiders well.”

“Well? They’re missing their eyes!”

Patty frowned. “What do the spiders have to do with that?” Patty brightened up and gave Liz a big smile. “You worry too much sis! Good ol’ Patty can take care of herself just fine!”

Liz’s grip on her hand slackened. Patty took that as a positive sign and beamed at her sister.

Then she realised Liz wasn’t looking at her. Liz was looking behind Patty.

“Sis-?”

“Watch out-!”

Before Patty realised what was happening, she was grabbed by the waist and thrown away from the cobwebs, onto the rough stone path. Liz was in front of her, half of her already inside the spider web cave.

“Sis!”

Patty hurriedly got up, grabbed Liz’s hand and refused to let go. Even when her hands felt like it was about to pop of their sockets or when her shoes ground against the floor, being slowly pushed towards the silk cave, Patty did not let go. She would never let go of her sister.

The cobwebs moved as spiders poured out from it. Some were as small as ants, other as big as birds. Most stood on the reaches of the web and watched, like vultures circling over a dying animal. Others scuttled towards the sisters.

“Patty.” Liz’s voice was trembling, but her tone was even. “Let me go.”

“No!”

“Let me go, and get to the others.” Liz closed her eyes and gulped.  “I’m not taking you with me!”

Patty stubbornly shook her head. “I’m not leaving you!”

The cobwebs silver threads became black as more dark shapes poured out of them. Countless small spiders climbed Liz’s frame, and just as many moved towards Patty in the ground.

Liz looked at the encroaching spiders with wide eyes. She closed her eyes, brow furrowed and lips tight. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Liz’s form was enveloped by light. Patty lost her grip on her sister’s hand and she stumbled backwards. A gleaming gun lay on the ground by the cobweb.

Her sister’s face appeared on the side, pale but determined. “Run!”

Patty extended her hand at the weapon, as if by instinct. “Sis!”

A dark shape shot out the web, the size of a small bear, its exoskeleton covered in hairs. One of its legs wrapped itself around the trigger. The shape vanished into the web forest as soon as it appeared, dragging a screaming Liz with it.

For a few seconds Patty stayed there, her hand extended towards the dark reaches of the cobwebs.

“Sis?”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Maka opened her eyes. “I found her.”

Everyone turned to face Maka sans Patty. She had been staring at the window of the Captain’s room ever since she had entered. Part of the Nativity was visible.

“She’s southwest,” Maka continued. She went to the big glass window that faced the front of their ship and gestured at a specific point on Saviour’s Rocks. Patty’s gaze followed Maka’s index finger like a hawk. “Over the range. She may be underground.”

The room was rife with movement as their group prepared. People put on backpacks, Weapons transformed. Plans were made and strategies were discussed.

Wordlessly, Patty transformed. She felt Kid’s wavelength -weird but familiar, a feeling that only intensified after the Battle on the Moon- course through her, but something was missing. There was no third connection. Only her and Kid. Perhaps Patty got an inkling of why Kid wanted to wield them simultaneously, even if he could bring himself to make do with one of them now. The whole connection felt… wrong. Unbalanced.

“We’ll find her,” came Kid’s voice. “Liz will be alright.”

Though Patty appreciated the gesture, Kid’s words offered little reassurance. Patty trusted her sister; she knew she was made out of the toughest stuff out there. Her sister would persevere.

Something else gnawed at Patty.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

When Patty found Liz, her older sister was wrapped in a thick web, her face bleeding and a thick cloth placed over her eyes.

When Patty brought her sister to ground level and called out her name, Liz grabbed onto her wrists weakly.  “Patty… I blacked out, I had to transform back,” she mumbled, her words faint and slurred. “Patty, I can’t see...”

Patty’s mouth became a very thin line. "Witch!" Her yell echoed across the cave, and was so clear amongst the cacophony of battle, that Kim -who was at the time setting part of the spider webs on fire- yelped and turned to face Patty.

“Come, now!” At moments like these, Patty became frightfully monosyllabic.

Thankfully, Kim was not a complete idiot and ran straight at Patty ignoring any and all opposition. Maka, Black Star, Kilik and Harvar must have caught on as well, as they formed a circle around the sisters, taking out any spider that dared get too close. A small distance away, Kid took down a massive spider that lunged at them by ripping out its legs as if they were toothpicks. The act would have brought a smile to Patty’s face had her sister not been in pain.

Patty turned to Kim. The Witch had put Liz’s head on her lap. Kim’s hands glowed green with magic, and she placed them over Liz’s eyes.  Slowly Liz's moans subsided. The grip on Patty’s hands became stronger.

“It’s done,” Kim said and wiped the sweat from her brow. She wobbled when she got on her feet, and Jackie had to support her. She threw a disapproving look at Patty, but the younger Thompson had more important things to worry about. Slowly, she removed the cloth from Liz’s face.

Never before had Patty been so glad to see her sister’s eyes.

A massive spider carcass landed a few meters away from them. Kid, covered in spider organs and fluid but otherwise immaculate, approached them. “We’re leaving,” he stated at Kim and Jackie. He looked over at Patty and kneeled, his voice gentle when he spoke to Liz. “Can you transform?”

“Just don’t use me to shoot,” Liz mumbled before she was enveloped in light. Patty copied her, and she found herself wielded by Kid. Liz’s presence was with them this time, but it was faint.

“Let’s get you out of here sis,” Patty whispered as she was pointed at a spider with its fangs extended towards them.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“They called it the Spider Tree,” Patty said. She looked past the spider corpses, past the ruined webs, and into the darkest reaches of the cobweb cave. “That’s the place where they were taking her. Where all their eggs are hatched.” Her face became blank. “Their ‘HQ’.”

“They did,” Kid spoke up, standing between Patty and the inner reaches of the cave. “But it still does not answer why you tried to leave the group. Again.” He emphasized the last word and gave Patty a look that could have withered flowers. Ouch.

Patty looked away. “Is sis safe?”

“She’s in Maka’s care.” Kid glanced at his side, briefly adopting a faraway look. “They are almost on the ship.”

“That’s good.”

“We should head there as well.”

Patty let out a non-committal sound.

Kid raised an eyebrow. “Excuse you?”

"I said I’m killing these fuckers,” Patty growled. “Every single one of them.”

If Kid had any thoughts about Patty’s sentiments, he did not show them. “How?”

“I’ll tear them limb from limb-”

"You can’t do that for every one of them,” Kid cut her off. "Miss a few and they'll repopulate."

"I don't care-"

"But you care about being effective and efficient,” Kid swiftly responded, and Patty paused. “Which is why you’ll have to target the eggs as well, and use fire instead of brute force.”

Patty looked at Kid. It slowly dawned on her that she  was dealing with a Grim Reaper. One that apparently was as pissed off about this situation as she was.

Good.

“How do we get fire?”

“Stones.” Kid gestured around them, at the jagged-ended rocks that were all over the ground. “And a bit of brute force.”

“And spreading it?” Patty asked.

The Grim Reaper grimaced as he looked at an old spider web at his feet. “They should have kept their place cleaner,” he said with a shrug. “Dust can be very flammable.”

Patty gave him a terrifying smirk. If she could have this… it wouldn't ease her sister’s pain but it’d make sure it never happened again. "Let’s do this."

Or at least that’s what Patty told herself.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The area was brighter than usual, this small space in the Neath bathed in a faint orange light. It was a welcome change from the constant darkness, and a change Patty couldn’t help but smile, even as the gnawing feeling from before returned.

The ship sailed forwards, away from the light.

Behind them, Saviour’s Rocks burned.

Chapter Text

Kim picked up a wooden mask with sharp edges, placed one of her fingers through its eyehole, and gave it a spin.

“So we all get frog masks then?” came Maka’s voice as she looked over the counter, where masks resembling the faces of frogs, locusts and bats were on display. “We’re not merchants and we don’t want the bat mask since it’s a bad omen so…”

“Speak for yourselves,” Kim spoke up. She stopped spinning her mask and gave it a careful look, appreciating the elaborate locust design on it. “I’m taking the one that’s gonna make that money flow~”

They had found themselves on an island called Visage. It looked ordinary enough from a distance, a modest rocky island with a few tropical fauna scattered throughout it, and a lone hill that dominated the landscape.

Any sense of the ordinary came in an abrupt halt when, upon closer inspection, the mountain turned out to be a carved stone face that looked up at the Neath’s roof and every single occupant of Visage was masked.

Kim wasn't sure why Maka decided to stop here; maybe she was looking for supplies or fuel, since their stores were running low. Maybe she was mapping out the still unknown areas of the Unterzee out of Prudence. Maybe she deliberately avoided making a beeline for the Dawn Machine on the South West in fear of what awaited them or until they had come up with a good plan to take that Dawn Machine down. Kim wasn’t bothered by the dilly-dallying. She would adapt, like she always did.

Maka gave Kim a sigh. “Some things never change I guess.” She frowned and crossed her hands. “We are running low on Echoes though… Just make sure you come back to the ship in time ok?”

Kim gave Maka a half-hearted nod. The jab at her money-collecting nature, no matter how good-natured or not it was intended to be, didn’t bother her. She’d been called worse.

The mask felt comfortable on her face, as was the cloth that covered the sides and back of her face. The mask obscured all of Kim’s features sans her eyes, and was a perfect fit, as if it’d been carved specifically for her. Maybe there was some sort of spell on the masks to give them that effect?

Kim turned around about to ask the others if their masks were as comfortable as hers, only to see a group of with frog masks being led into Visage by a person with a moth mask. A lone frog-masked person stayed behind the group and looked at Kim.

 Jackie. Despite any lack of distinguishing characteristics, Kim was sure it was her.

Kim gave Jackie a small wave before heading out to the direction of the markets. Jackie lingered, looking back and forth between Kim and the rest of their group, until she eventually ran towards the Witch.

Kim wanted to give Jackie a frown, but she realised that’d be impossible. Instead, she placed her hands on her hips, and tilted her head. “Aren’t you supposed to go with them? Isn’t it your role and such-?”

“I don’t care,” Jackie cut her off. “If anyone asks, I’ll just tell them I thought you were the guide.” She tapped on her mask. “Frogs are clueless, after all.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The market was busy and chaotic. The crowds were thick, and suffocating. The occasional unfortunate and lost frog-masked person was pushed around by locust-masked people fawning over the products on the stalls -mostly trinkets that didn’t look like they’d make a profit elsewhere. Bat masks lurked in the corners of the market.

Kim and Jackie were holding hands as they waded through the crowds, as in Kim’s mind that was the only way not to get separated. Jackie’s hand was clammy, and Kim supposed that was because of the overwhelming amount of people they were surrounded by in this unknown island.

All it would take was one push; Kim would lose Jackie and vice versa, and it’d be impossible for them to find one another again.

A thought popped into Kim’s mind; if she let go of Jackie’s hand, if she ventured deep into Visage and never took off her mask… She wouldn’t have to fight any Dawn Machine, she wouldn’t have to deal with the complications of being a Witch and a Meister at the same time. If Kim cut herself off, she wouldn’t have to deal with the implications of her magic...

Jackie’s hold on Kim’s hand tightened.

“Kim.” Jackie’s voice was soft, softer than what Kim was used to. Kim almost didn’t hear it over the cacophony of the crowd. “Is everything okay?”

Kim held back a scoff. “We’re stuck in a crazy world, Jackie. Nothing’s ok.”

Jackie’s hold on Kim remained firm. “We need to talk.”

Eventually, they retreated from the market crowds and found themselves in a narrow and empty alleyway. The occasional bat-masked person walked by the entrance of the alleyway, but otherwise the area they were in was deserted.

Jackie gave the place one final look before taking off her mask.

“You’re not supposed to do that,” Kim half-heartedly said.

“It’s fine as long as no one sees me.”

“No one sees you, huh,” Kim repeated.  She reached up and traced the edges of her own locust mask. “So, what do you want to talk about? I told you that I’m fine, it’s just that this whole thing has thrown me off balance.”

Jackie pouted. “I know that’s not the whole story.” Her pout turned into a worried frown. “Lately, you’ve been acting… distant.”

Kim crossed her hands, making sure to avoid eye contact. “Must be stress.”

“Kim,” Jackie insisted. “Please don’t do this. You trust me. I trust you.” Her frown deepened. “You trusted me to keep your secret identity as a witch.”

“A secret which you stumbled upon,” Kim cut her off. Something tugged at her heart when she saw Jackie’s expression fall, but Kim only clenched her fists and looked anywhere but Jackie’s eyes. “It wasn’t my choice to tell you.”

The same way Kim’s magic wasn’t her choice. The same way, despite what she did and what she had planned, she had no choice but to...

“But it was your choice to trust me.” Jackie reached out to Kim’s hand and held it tight, the same way she had done at the market. “And let me live.”

Kim snorted and pulled her hand away. “Come on, Jackie, get real. My magic isn’t that good at killing people.”

“But Witches have Rituals. Spells. Curses. I’ve done my research.” Kim might have imagined it but there as a ghost of a smirk in Jackie’s expression, the same one she got upon finishing a particularly hard piece of homework, or when nudging Kim to do so as well. “You never pulled something like that on me.”

… That had been Kim’s choice. As had been her choice to stay with Jackie. But...

“So please,” Jackie continued. “In the same way it was your choice to trust me before, I want you to trust me now, with what’s troubling you-”

“It’s not the Neath,” Kim cut her off, blurting out the words before she could stop herself. “I mean it’s got some seriously messed up stuff, but I’m not scared of that. It’s just… It’s just gotten me thinking.”

Slowly, Kim removed her mask and grimaced. She felt exposed without it.

Jackie silently reached out for Kim's hand again, and Kim didn’t stop her. Her grip on Kim’s hand was a bit tight, as if she was afraid of letting go. Kim was thankful for that.

“I’m a Witch, Jackie.”

“I think I’ve figured that out by now,” Jackie said with a small smile. “You know I don’t care-”

“I don’t think you understand the full implications of this,” Kim quickly said, not caring if her words sounded harsh. She had a hard time even saying them out loud in the first place. “It’s not just that I can do magic.” Kim still refused to make eye contact. “Witches live a long time. Typical humans do not.”

 They spent a few moments in silence.

“Are you afraid I’ll die?” Jackie spoke up, her voice sombre. “That everyone will die?”

Kim snorted. “There’s no point of being afraid of something if I know it’s true,” she said with a bitter expression. “I know it’ll happen.“

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding us lately?” Jackie frowned. “But, you always knew you were a Witch. Why now-?”

“Because most of the major threats of my life are gone,” Kim cut her off, glaring at the wall opposite to her. After a few moments, her glare softened, and she rubbed her temple. “It’s just… I never thought I’d live long enough…” She tugged at a strand of her hair that had fallen out of the head covering she had yet to remove.  “When I was younger… I thought either the DWMA would get me, or another Witch with a grudge,” Kim continued. “But I was determined to make it work, even for a little while.” She rolled her eyes. “But then I got revealed anyways, and all my plans went to hell.”

“But you weren’t killed,” Jackie said. “You helped the DWMA make peace with the Witches Council.”

“Yeah, which is why they went to hell,” Kim said with a bittersweet expression. “Because I realised I’d get to live as long as my body would allow, which is probably gonna be a long-ass time with my type of magic...” She crossed her hand and let out a long-suffering sigh. “Which on one hand, yay, I get to live with feeling like a guillotine is hanging over my neck every waking moment, but on the other hand...”

“You realized you would outlive us,” Jackie concluded. Her tone was blank.

Kim nodded, her shoulders tense. “And then I got Ox,” she grumbled, and felt Jackie’s grip tighten at the mention of his name. “He’s a sucker but he ain’t stupid, he should have realised that long ago, but he keeps insisting to date and I just...” She threw her hands in the air in frustration.  “I don’t want to start anything because if something clicks and if it lasts, Ox will get old and I…”

“Y-you l-like Ox?” Jackie stuttered. It was unexpected, but Jackie did that sometimes.

“I don’t know, I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole, especially not with someone who’d die before it’s even customary for me to get into a serious relationship in the first place.” Kim pouted. “This whole thing’s stupid anyway.”

 “Not with someone who’d die…” Jackie repeated and scowled, deep in thought. She spent a few seconds like that, until her face became a bright pink.

Kim gave her a concerned look. “Everything ok-?

“Does that mean you’d date Kid?!”

“What-?! No-! Ew!” Kim’s face shifted from confusion, to shock, to distance within milliseconds.  “I’m not gonna date the Grim Reaper, are you out of your mind?” Even if Kim’s current opinion of Kid was that he wasn’t as bad as she once thought he was, the thought of her actually dating Death… Ew. There were some parts of her Witch heritage Kim wouldn’t let go.

Jackie’s face was one of absolute relief.

“What was that question for anyway?” Kim continued. “Are you trying to find me a date?”

“Absolutely not-!” Jackie cut herself off and let out a cough. “But still, when it comes to dating…” She gave Kim a pout. “Some of the other Witches I saw at the Mass didn’t seem to have a problem with it…”

Kim scoffed. “Yeah, and they view typical people like disposables. ‘Oh, my human died, I guess I should find another one’,” she said in her best impression of a stereotypical Witch voice, gruff and on the verge of cackling.  “And that’s if they choose to stay or keep them alive…” She muttered to herself, recalling some of the tales she’d heard during the masses, gossip that was more akin to a horror story. “I’m not like them. My toying has its limits.” Kim sighed. “Maybe I should just find another Witch to get hitched with…”

Jackie choked. “You like girls?!”

Kim shrugged. “Eh. No preference.” Worryingly enough, Jackie’s expression became blank, as if she’d just resolved a paradox. “Are you sure you’re not sick of something?

“Ah, right!” Jackie exclaimed and let out a cough. “I must have caught a cold, you know...”

“Sure…”

“Still,” Jackie continued. “Kim, I don’t have any answers for your struggle.” That was fine. Kim didn’t expect her too. “But...”

Jackie bit her lip and grabbed hold of Kim’s other hand as well, so that they were facing each other.

“I want you to stay. I want you to be my friend and maybe even my um… very close friend, yes, that.” Jackie choked. “Please do?”

Kim finally looked Jackie in the eyes.  Something tugged at her heart.

“I promise.”

Besides, how could Kim say no to those wide eyes and that flushed face?

Jackie gave her a tight hug, and Kim reciprocated the gesture. Tears welled in her eyes, but she rapidly blinked to make sure they never fell.

She was Kim Diehl. A Witch. A Meister. A friend. One who had made a promise that she’d stay.

What kind of a friend would she be if she broke a promise?

“Let’s go see the others, ok?”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Their visit to Visage was short-lived. After their trip was concluded, Kim boarded the ship, made way to her quarters and plonked on the bed, sighing happily at the familiar feel of it. Soon, Jackie would come to pester her for dinner and even Ox would show up with his ridiculous attempts at flirting. Kim would run out of these moments eventually, but until then, she had to cherish them.

Despite all the assurances to herself, all those pleasant thoughts, the locust mask lay neatly within the inner reaches of her jacket along with precious sapphires.

Chapter Text

Soul coughed and covered his face.

The fungal fog was irritating, and the spores clung to his clothes, face, every available surface in general, making the air literally heavy as well as suffocating.

They were on a giant purple mushroom, which the locals called The Uttershroom. Soul had no idea how a mushroom grew to the size where it could support a small village on its top, but it was a thing that had happened, apparently.

Soul coughed again. He couldn’t understand why anyone stayed here for longer than a day, much less built a village on the top of this thing. The place was isolated, their ship was the only one on the dock. One couldn’t breathe properly because of all the spores clogging the air. It was dark as well since they couldn’t light any fires, for fear of the spore cloud catching fire and burning down the mushroom.

“Monsters,” a local had responded when Soul had asked why he stayed. He was dressed in rags, and a small porous mushroom grew out of his left ear, but he didn’t seem to mind. “Zee is scary. It’s safe here.”

“And awful,” Soul said under his breath before coughing once again.

The Rag-Clothed Local gave Soul a small smirk. “That’s what we have the Honey for,” he murmured before leaning into Soul conspiratorially. “If you want stronger we have Red Honey, straight from the Isle of Cats,” he said with a low chuckle, revealing a row of fungal-infested teeth.

Soul had no idea what any of these substances were, so he didn’t comment.

“But in the end, it matters not,” the Rag-Clothed Local muttered. “Most important is that we stay safe.” He looked at Soul. “Are you safe?”

Soul held back a scoff. Sure, he wasn’t in any danger in the moment, but knowing his luck, this was only a temporary state of affairs.

Not to mention the only way they could return to their world that they knew of would involve killing an actual God, artificial or not. After their encounter with the strange being called Salt, the crew had been ambivalent about whether to follow through with Salt’s proposal, i.e. kill the Dawn Machine. Their plan so far was to collect more information, not only about the Dawn Machine but about Salt and the other Gods of the Unterzee by extension. Not only did they have to find a way to counter the Dawn Machine’s brainwashing, but also none of them recalled exactly what the Dawn Machine was, except that it was bright, so they didn’t know how they could kill it in the first place. Kid had said to them that killing the Dawn Machine was doable, but had also said that they’d have to find the safest way to do so and remained tight-lipped after that.

But, despite how much information they gathered, how many plans they made, if anything went wrong, like it had at the Battle of the Moon…

“It’s safe here,” the Rag-Clothed Local repeated like a mantra. “No monsters.”

“Safe,” Soul repeated.

“Yes,” the Rag-Clothed Local frantically nodded. “No worries. No troubles. No insistence on strength-”

“That’d be no fun now, would it?” A disembodied voice called out, one Soul had not heard of in a long time. One that belonged to a familiar stout red-skinned horned figure, its smile filled with sharp teeth.

Soul froze. He looked at the Little Ogre, it’s frame almost transparent on the spore cloud. The Rag-Clothed Local was gone. “How-?”

“I like this little corner of the world.” The Little Ogre put its oversized hands into its pockets. “Chaotic. Lawless. Merciless. Tell me, have you lost anyone yet?”

“You are not safe,” the Rag-Clothed Local’s voice echoed.

Soul took a step back.

“He’s right you know,” the Little Ogre continued. “You are not safe. Not you, not your friends… You’ll never be safe.”

No matter how much Soul hated the little foul creature, it was right. Soul wasn’t safe. The ones he cared about weren’t safe. None of them were, but damn him if that caused him to give in to that little menace.

“Oh, you will. In time.” The Little Ogre tilted his head. “For example, what will you do when one of your flimsy plans inevitably fails, and you risk losing everything? If you refuse me… well last time, you had that Crona person do what you couldn’t. Who do you think will take their place this time?”

Just when Soul was debating whether kicking the Little Ogre’s head as if it was a football was a good idea, a voice called out to him and broke whatever illusion he was under. Though the thick spore fog remained, the Little Ogre had disappeared and a much friendlier face had taken its place

“Soul?” Maka repeated. “We’re leaving.”

Soul took a deep steadying breath, rubbed his eyes and followed after Maka, as they descended the fungal-fiber ladders and headed to their ship.

A thought kept running through Soul’s head.

They weren’t safe. Soul would try his damndest to keep them safe, but he may fail to do so at one point. And if that time came…

Soul had no idea what to do.

Chapter Text

Just harmless play-fighting, Kilik had called it.

Fire and Thunder had been having one of their rare but explosive arguments, as any siblings are wont to do. Their arguments were less verbal, since the two did not talk much, and more ‘tug at hair until one admits defeat’ kind of fighting.

Kilik had split them apart, but didn't do much to placate them afterwards. He never had to. Their arguments had never been a big deal; the two would always make up later and continue as if no fight had happened.

Soon after Kilik had separated Fire and Thunder to let them mull over what had happened, they had docked on a new island. It was tiny, and initially, their plans were to stay on their ship, to decide which island they should visit as they prepared their assault on the Dawn Machine; the Chelonate had been the most promising island they’d heard of, as it was apparently filled to the brim with hunters of anything that moved, and some things that didn't.

The new island had thrown a curveball at them by being populated with talking rats and guinea pigs, the latter known as cavies, who seemed to be locked on some sort of fluffy civil war. Kilik and the others had ignored the latter part since, well, they were dealing with rats and guinea pigs; any sort of struggle they had would probably relate to who got first access to the cheese deposits.

While everyone stayed on the ship to chart a course for the Chelonate, Kilik had let the twins wander around the island. At the time he had thought the twins would enjoy playing with the talking animals to the point where they’d forget their fight.

Kilik had been very, very wrong.

He and Maka surveyed the ruins of Pigmote Isle with rising dread. What were once tiny houses built of straw and pebbles lay in ruins, as if someone had stepped on them. Tiny war machines, including cannons, trebuchets and catapults, lay broken. Then there were...

“For a harmless fight,” Maka had said, eyeing a young cavie crying over the corpse of a bigger one with matching fur, “this looks very real.”

Kilik ran through Pigmote Isle, careful not to step on any of its remaining tiny inhabitants. He finally found Fire and Thunder in the centre of a battlefield where the fight had ended long ago, locked onto each other in a tight angry ball. Fire was pulling Thunder’s hair, while Thunder was biting Fire’s hand.

“Stop!” Kilik pulled them apart and held them at a distance. The twins struggled against his grip and tried to reach out to each other to continue their fight. “We’re leaving.”

This time, Kilik kept a watch on them at all times, making sure the two never got too close to each other until they cooled off. However, even after they had disembarked, and Pigmote Isle was a distance away, Fire and Thunder still refused to communicate with each other.

Kilik frequently back at the island, corpse-filled, and with columns of smoke rising from the ruins. Even when most of the island disappeared from sight, he could still see the smoke.

Chapter Text

Ox grimaced and covered his nose. It did nothing to stop the stench of decaying ancient flesh that invaded his nostrils with the force of a battering ram.

If he had to use one word to describe the Chelonate, it would be putrid and even that felt like an understatement. Ox doubted there was a word in the English language that could describe the foul odor that emanated from the Chelonate’s own home, the still decaying mountain-sized turtle-shell, and mixed with the various corpses splayed on merchant stalls, not to mention all the remnants that found their way around the turtle shell, congregating into the world’s grossest and stinkiest organic mass.

Still, apparently the Chelonate was the home of the Unterzee’s most ferocious hunters. If anyone knew how to put a stop to the Dawn Machine and avoid its brainwashing, it would be them.

Ox held his nose as he weaved through the markets with some interest. Most were stacked to the top with blackened bones that were anything but human, Caskets of Sapphires, and, hidden from sight and covered in rough hides and wrapped in chains, a golden egg with a faint gleam…

“Not for sale,” the stall’s owner grunted. The glowing egg was hastily covered up completely by the hides, as the Gruff Merchant picked up the whole pack and stashed it away.

Ox looked up at the owner, an intimidating mountain-like figure with an expansive beard and beady eyes and frowned. “What was that?” He sounded ridiculous because of his plugged nose, but an obnoxious voice was much more preferable than suffering the full force of the Chelonate’s stench.

“None of your business, boy.” The Gruff Merchant returned to their wares, reshuffling them to make a multi-eyed cranium stand on top of a pile of jade-coloured bones.

Ox’s frown turned into a scowl. He had no idea what that egg was, but maybe it held a clue about the Dawn Machine. After all, they were both gold-coloured; it was a weak connection, but a connection nonetheless.

Still, Maka had warned them all about being subtle when gathering information about the Dawn Machine. They still had some notoriety from the Bazaar incident, which was why they’d avoided heading to any major or interconnected ports so far, instead choosing more distant islands to resupply, even if that quickly reduced their Echoes dramatically...

Ox had some disagreements with Maka in that regard. He understood why Maka was being cautious but he saw little need for why they needed to do so when they were so far away from London or any of their affiliates. He thought it quite illogical.

Still, she was the Captain of the ship and leader of their group. She hadn’t failed them before. Which was a good thing. Definitely. Ox wasn’t disputing Maka’s effectiveness or skills as a leader in any way.

Still… if Ox could get one chance to show that his plans were as valid…

He sighed as he looked back at the stall. Caution would have him dropping the matter about the egg entirely. But, if he didn’t...

“I beg to differ.” Ox leaned onto the stall, resting on his elbow. “I’ve faced greater dangers that you’ll ever get to know.”

The Gruff Merchant paused from rearranging their wares and their small eyes narrowed as they gave Ox a once over. “Do you? I’ll trade.”

“Trade what?”

“Stories.” The Gruff Merchant eyed the pile of hides that hid the glowing egg. “And maybe more depending on what you tell me.”

Ox frowned and recalled their trip thus far. They had gone through a lot honestly, but since he wanted to know about a single pale -or being- in particular... “We saw the Dawn Machine-”

The Gruff Merchant rolled their eyes, a barely perceptible gesture. “Sure, you saw it. Let me guess, you faced the Glorious Fleet and made a daring escape before you were taken in?” they asked with the nonchalance of a person who had heard that tale many times before.

“Even better. We broke free of its control.”

“Tall tales,” the Gruff merchant grunted. “Nothing escapes the Dawn Machine’s hold.”

“We did,” Ox insisted. “Horrible contraption. Bright as a star and surrounded by... red...” He paused and rubbed his temple and rapidly blanked. Flashes of blinding light replayed in his mind, and his eyes gained temporary blind spots as if he’s stared at the sun too long, even if there was no such thing here-

The Gruff Merchant paused. “Say I believe you. How did you break free?”

“Ah well…” Ox hesitated, not quite sure how to explain without mentioning Grim Reapers, Soul Wavelengths, and a few other things that may land him in this place’s equivalent of a mental asylu,m which in Chelonate’s case might as well be a pit of starved piranha. “It has to be worth my time.”

“Of course,” the Gruff Merchant slipped back into their mildly sarcastic tone. Still, their gaze lingered at Ox. “And what would be worth your time? Don’t bother,” they said when Ox eyed the pile of hides. “You’re not the first one to tell me tall tales.”

Ox frowned. “Have you had any people go there?” It wasn’t the subtlest of attempts to learn more about the Dawn Machine; Ox hoped the Gruff Merchant was too distracted or invested to notice.

The Gruff Merchant let out an affirmative nod. “Plenty. None returned. No one ever returns…” Their gaze turned distant for a moment before they focused on Ox with a small glare. “Which is why I’m so interested in learning how you got away from it.”

“What is the Dawn Machine?” Ox asked again. Even if it was as basic info as this… the Grim Reaper had referred to it as a ‘Judgement’ but Ox had no clue what that term meant. Not to mention that the Dawn Machine had also been described as artificial, which raised even more questions…

“London’s greatest invention… and their greatest mistake,” the Gruff Merchant said nonchalantly.

Ox did a double-take. “London made it?!”

The Dawn Machine was created by humans? If so, then humans should be able to destroy it… right? In addition, there should be blueprints, information about its construction, which would reveal what it was made from, how it was created, potential weaknesses…

“Don’t ask me how. I don’t even want to know.” The Gruff Merchant grunted and Ox wanted to groan in disappointment. “Bloody thing might doom us all… Sunlight doesn’t belong in the Neath.”

Ox, still holding back a groan, raised an eyebrow at the Gruff Merchant’s last remark. “Why not?”

“Shouldn’t you have figured that out already since you escaped the Machine’s clutches?” the Gruff Merchant grumbled. “You gonna tell me your story, or what?”

Ox cursed under his breath. What was it with people in this world being vague and mildly threatening?

Oh well, Ox supposed he owed the Gruff Merchant his side of the story. Besides, they didn’t look like they’d continue speaking anytime soon.

At least Ox had learned that the Dawn Machine was created by the British. This gave them a plan, go to Fallen London and retrieve the Dawn Machine’s schematics. Worst case scenario, if the Dawn Machine’s blueprints no longer existed, they could search after people that had worked on its construction.

With a plan in mind and increased confidence, Ox’s lip turned up into a small triumphant smile. He might have been as subtle as a rampaging rhinoceros in acquiring this information but his approach worked.

Ox knew what he was doing.

“The Machine’s control is not absolute. There is a weakness to it.” The Gruff Merchant perked up and Ox crossed his hands in satisfaction. “One of us broke free and he managed to snap everyone else as well.” He couldn’t mention that the Machine’s weakness came in the form of a Grim Reaper’s Wavelength, so Ox said no more.

The Gruff Merchant looked at Ox as if he’s grown a second head, or perhaps something more grotesque, judging by the state of some of the people around them. “But its control is…” The Gruff Merchant muttered. “What Law did you break?” They leaned over the stall, right into Ox’s personal space, and the boy took a step back. “How? Did you use the Red Science? Are you from the Iron Republic? Codex? Have you been to Frostfound?” They leant in closer, their big frame pushing against the stall and threatening to overturn it. “Did you conspire with the Finger-Kings in Irem-?”

“Huh?” Ox took another step back. He briefly thought of bolting into the crowds and disappear, but if the Gruff Merchant happened to let out another valuable piece of information…

“Ox!” Someone called out.

“Lor- Kid?” Ox cut himself off. He had gotten used to the Grim Reaper’s official title out of respect, but using it now would be a dead giveaway.

“We’re leaving,” Kid said.

“Why?”

“We haven’t found anything so far and…” Kid tilted his head up and to the side, where a thin column of smoke was. A maelstrom of voices came from that direction and one of them was distinctly familiar in its loudness and bravado.

“ONLY THIRTY?! I CAN TAKE ON JUST AS MANY MORE YOU BASTARDS!”

Black Star.

Ox gulped. “How?”

“Black Star has been complaining about the smell since we arrived here. A couple of locals took exception to that.”

Ox felt the blood drain from his face as the yelling was overtaken by the sound of something crashing. The column of smoke grew thicker. “Is that a fire?”

“Maybe, there wasn’t one when I last saw,” the Grim Reaper said with a shrug. “Now, let’s go-”

“But-” Ox glanced to the Gruff Merchant. They had composed themselves, but now their beady eyes darted between Ox and Kid, eyeing them like a whaler does a great blue whale.

Kid paused and turned to face Ox. “If it’s about you-know-what, we’ll figure something out.” The Grim Reaper wasn’t meeting Ox’s gaze. “We still haven’t visited the Scholar’s last location, Adam’s Way.” When Ox raised no objection, Kid looked towards the rest of the market, and his gaze turned distant. “Now, to find the others…”

A glow caught Ox’s eye. The pile of hides where the golden egg was hidden were illuminated from within, but the light faded as quickly as it had appeared.

The Gruff Merchant snapped out of his reverie and looked at his hides, frown deepening by the second.

Kid let out a sigh and focused on Ox. “Good, almost everyone’s already heading towards the ship. We just have to get Black Star-”

“Hold on!” The Gruff Merchant called out to them the moment they took a step away from the stall. Ox and Kid paused, and the Gruff Merchant ducked on a dangerously unstable pile of belongings and pulled out a small wooden box from it, making the pile’s structural integrity an even greater cause for concern.

“A souvenir,” The Merchant’s voice was low but hasty, as they opened the box to reveal a small cache of pale but glowing blue shards. “For your tale, lads.” His gloved hands picked up two shards the size of an egg, and offered them to Ox and Kid. “One for each.”

Ox frowned. He didn’t think his story was worthy of a gemstone. Then again, maybe it was useful in some way Ox wasn’t aware of. Whatever, the reason, it would be rude to turn down a gift, especially one that looked valuable.

The shard felt warn against Ox’s palm, and a newfound energy coursed through his body…

Kid grimaced and pushed the Gruff Merchant’s hand away. “No thank you-”

“Now, now, don’t be rude, lad.” The Gruff Merchant’s voice was seemingly jovial, but it sent a chill down Ox’s spine. “Not to your fancy?” They thrust the shard closer to Kid.

The Grim Reaper took a step back. “No -please put that thing away-”

The Gruff Merchant flung the shard at Kid’s direction The Grim Reaper caught it, hissed, and dropped it immediately. As the shard fell on the dirt, Ox could have sworn it had lost some of its shine.

Kid glared at the Gruff Merchant, whose gaze was fixed on the fallen shard. “What is the meaning of this?!”

A crowd of Chelonates had started to gather around them and none of them looked particularly friendly. Some were whispering but most were staring.

“Thank you, but we’re in a hurry!” Ox loudly said, as pushed Kid away from the stall and in the direction of the port, hoping this wouldn’t be seen as some sort of offence by the distraught Grim Reaper. Thankfully, no one, Chelonates and Grim Reaper included, said anything when Ox cut through them

Their return to their ship went by without incident. Black Star’s fight had been long finished when they arrived, the boy boasting about how he hadn’t even broken a sweat. No Chelonates from the stall before followed them. Ox had no reason to worry.

But still…

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“You should tell Maka,” Harvar said.

“I can’t,” Ox replied.

“Why not?”

“Because nothing really happened. Nothing came of it,” Ox groaned. “I don’t want to give Maka more things to worry about, especially something so inconsequential as that.” He eased against the wall, Harvar's Weapin form resting on his shoulder. “Besides, if it was important, I’m sure Lord Death would have told her by now.”

“If you’re so confident in your reasoning,” Harvar’s face appeared from the spear with a frown,“why did you ask me to transform?” Harvar’s reflection folded his hands as he followed Ox’s gaze. “And why are we outside, facing the Chelonate?”

“Just in case,” Ox quickly said, gripping Harvar’s form.

“You’re nervous.”

“I’m fine,” Ox shot back, his gaze still fixed on the colossal decaying turtle shell. “Ugh, I think I can still smell that place. I don’t think my nostrils will ever recover.”

“Unless the smell was so putrid it caused permanent damage to the nerves of your olfactory centre, your sense of smell will not be permanently altered.”

Ox let out a short laugh. It was subtle, but this was as close as Harvar came to when trying to crack a joke. “That’s a relief.”

The two sat in silence for what felt like hours. The Chelonate was becoming smaller by the second, and the zee was as smooth as glass.

All was quiet.

“Ox.” Harvar’s voice was quiet, to the point where Ox almost didn’t hear him.

“Hm?”

“If anything is troubling you-”

“I’m fine,” Ox brushed him off, but felt guilty for it immediately. Here he was, not wanting to worry people, yet he had already done so with Harvar. No good leader would do that. “I’m just a bit paranoid-”

There was an impact that shook the whole ship. It lurched to the side as its frame groaned in protest.

Ox slipped, fell, and involuntarily rolled as the ship rocked back and forth. For a few moments, he couldn’t tell which way was up.

 Shouts came across all decks. Doors slammed open and shut, footsteps echoed around him, and everything was chaos.

“What was that?!” Ox let out, groaning as brought himself up to sitting position. Harvar was clutched firmly in his hand, like a lifeline.

“We were hit.”

“By what?!” Ox regained his footing, using Harvar as a temporary crutch. The Weapon’s tight-lipped reflection was pointing a finger at the direction of the Chelonate.

“Look.”

Ox did so and froze.

Their attacker emerged from the Neath’s darkness like a demon from the deepest pit of hell, its frame barely visible. It was the type of ship that the Flying Dutchman had nightmares about. Its hull was made up of arrays of white, black and jade bones, held together by tendons and sinew and insulated by blubber and fat. Two giant horns extended from its side, serving as barriers against ramming ships, and a vast and dishevelled layer of leather served as the ship’s spare roof. A giant monstrous skull served as its figurehead, as disturbing and macabre as its crew, skeleton-like, covered in heavy rags and beady glowing eyes.

“The hell is that thing?!” a voice asked, and Ox turned around to see Maka, Soul, Kid, Liz and Patty joined them in looking at their attacker in mute horror.

“A b-b-bone ship,” Liz stuttered, her face paler than a corpse. “O-of course t-that’s a thing that e-exists here.”

“Pirates?” Soul asked.

“We have to turn this ship around!” Maka yelled and ran back from where she came from, presumably towards the Captain’s room so she could steer the ship, Soul following after her.

“K-Kid, what do we do?” Liz asked. “Please say w-we just run away.”

“It’s fast,” Kid said with a frown. Ox stepped in front of the Grim Reaper, leaning at the railing to get a closer look at the skeletal ship. “I don’t think we have enough time to turn around-”

There was a flash of light from the attacking ship, a faint blue glow that appeared, disappeared, and then reappeared, the size of a small star in the sky…

“Duck!” Harvar yelled, and Ox did so out of reflex. Something bright went over his head, and his body was filled with warmth like it had been at the Chelonate market, only this time the warmness was like being wrapped in blankets in the desert at noon.

Ox coughed, all the air leaving his lungs the moment he painfully fell to the floor. He had rolled back on the deck, against the wall, and his back was sore from the impact. At least he had dodged whatever that glowing attack was.

A dark red substance dripped on Ox’s cranium.

“N-no,” came Liz’s voice.

Ox looked above him and felt his stomach drop. The spear had missed him, but it had found a target.

“Lord Death!”

The Grim Reaper’s eyes were wide and unfocused, either from shock at finding himself impaled, or from what followed after. Kid trashed, limbs twitching as he grabbed the end of the stone spear. It glowed, the same glow Ox had seen at the shard given to him in the Chelonate market. Shadows appeared and disappeared out of his frame, like dead air on a tv screen. Smoke came out where flesh touched the stone, with white lines cracking against the Grim Reaper’s skin while black lines sapped the spear’s light away like a black hole.

A thousand frantic thoughts and questions went through Ox’s mind, but he kept refocusing on the spear’s familiar glow. At the Chelonate, with the Gruff Merchant… had that gift been…?

Ox’s thoughts were interrupted by Liz reaching out towards the spear. “Kid!”

“Don’t, you’ll hurt yourself!”

Liz yelped in pain and pulled back, smoke rising from where her skin touched the spear. The floorboards under Kid and the spear moved, letting out moans similar to the ones at Polythreme…

“Another one!” Harvar yelled.

Ox brought himself and Liz down as another glowing spear was launched at them. Ox flinched when he heard the Grim Reaper short-lived yell. When he looked up, Kid lay unmoving, his limbs and head limp as a second spear had penetrated his torso.

Next to Ox, Liz glared at the skeletal ship with the fury of a berserker Valkyrie. “They’re aiming at him, the bastards-!”

“Stop it!” Ox yelled. “Go man the weapons, or we won’t make it out of here in one piece! I’ll figure out a way to get these things off.”

Liz hesitated, giving Ox a look that made him deeply thankful her murderous rage wasn’t aimed at him. Eventually, she grabbed Patty’s hand and ran down the stairs.

With the sisters gone, Ox let out a trembling sigh and looked at the Grim Reaper with a gulp. Lord Death’s chest still moved, which meant that he could still breathe… perhaps the spear’s power was in incapacitating rather than dealing damage. No matter the case, Ox had to figure out a way to pull the spear out without touching it. Perhaps he could use something akin to a giant tweezer-?

The ship was rocked by another blast. The hull groaned as their ship lurched one way, knocking Ox off his feet again. The crash was followed by the sound of breaking glass. When Ox got up with a groan, a thin smoke spread across the deck. Ox got a mouthful of it and coughed like a man on his deathbed.

“Ox!”

Someone propped Ox up and placed a cloth over his mouth and nose. Ox kept coughing, his footing unstable and his vision blurry. He was being taken somewhere -Harvar must be carrying him…

Ox’s feet caught multiple times on the stairs, until they reached the highest deck of the ship. The smoke was almost non-existent there, and Ox took a lungful of fresh air in what felt like centuries. There was a thump next to him and his support was gone.

As Ox slowly got his bearings back, he saw Harvar lay prone next to him.

Ox nudged him. “Harvar?” He nudged him again, this time harder. “Harvar!”

Taking quick shallow breaths, Ox placed Harvar on his back, fearing the worst. He stopped shaking his friends, waiting for what felt like an eternity…

Harvar’s chest moved and Ox felt like crying.

Harvar was breathing. Oh, thank every deity out there, non-existent or not, Harvar was breathing.

After taking a few moments to calm himself, Ox tried to gather his thoughts. They were attacked, Lord Death was down, Harvar was unconscious…

It must have been the gas that caused this. Their attacker must have launched the Neath’s equivalent of anaesthesia gas on them. But why make them sleep? Did they not have poison gas? Or did they want them alive?

Thoughts somewhat gathered, Ox looked down on the deck.

Liz and Patty were coughing, slowly succumbing to the effects of the gas. He couldn’t locate Black Star or Tsubaki, but considering the gas grew thicker the lower the deck, and that Black Star had been on shovelling duty, as always… On the deck below Ox, Maka and Soul were slumped against each other. If it hadn’t been for Harvar’s quick thinking, then Ox too…

His shoulders felt heavy. Maka, the Captain, was down. That meant that the next one in command was… him.

He kept surveying the ship, his spirit growing weaker by the second. A thought kept repeating in his head.

‘ What would Maka do? ’

“Ox!” Kim’s voice broke Ox out of his reverie. He scrambled to his feet to see Kim go up the stairs, a limp Jackie on her back. “The goddamn ship’s sinking!” She yelled between coughs. She had a green glow around her but looked ready to collapse at a moment’s notice. “The hell is our plan?”

‘What would Maka do?’

If Ox could just focus, he could use his Soul Perception, but even then everything was fucked-

A thin knife penetrated Kim’s shoulder and she fell to the side. She pulled out the blade, cutting her palm in the process, and threw it away. Green magic engulfed the open wounds, but they refused to close.

Ox’s mind at this point was working on autopilot, ripping out part of his shirt and reaching out to Kim’s wounds.

Kim slapped his hands away. “I can heal it, dammit!”

“Ox!” Kilik appeared from the stairs. Parts of his shirt was ripped and tied around his mouth and nose. Fire and Thunder were pressed against his shirt, weakly shaking. Kilik coughed, pale and sweaty, as if he was struggling to stand up. “What do we do, damn it?”

‘What would Maka do?’

Their ship lurched again, and this time the metal groaning followed by shouts and yells. Through the smog, Ox made out the monstrous figurehead of the attacking ship. It was at eye level, and extremely close…

They were being boarded. The skeletal ship had incapacitated most of them, approached and then boarded them. Was most of Ox’s mind not screaming, part of him would be impressed by the planning and finesse of this operation.

…Could they still put up a fight? Most of them were down, or in bad shape. Could Ox somehow turn it around…?

No. There was no point in fighting a lost battle. It wasn’t rational. Maka might have but...

Ox was not Maka. He wouldn’t -couldn’t- risk any of his friend’s lives in hopes of a miracle.

With a heavy heart, Ox used the ripped white fabric of his shirt and waved it, hoping the cloth was clear enough to get the message across.

A white flag. Surrender.

Ox refused to meet Kilik's or Kim's gaze as he kept waving the cloth, even when more intruders boarded the sinking ship, dragging Ox’s friends into their skeletal abomination of a boat.

A couple of the attackers reached the upper deck. Kim let her head fall and was carried away, refusing to let go of Jackie. Kilik was also dragged along, holding Fire and Thunder in his lap and whispering soft assurances to them.

Ox put his free hand up, using the other to bring up and support Harvar. Even if he couldn’t stop their capture, he would have to make sure the mishandling was minimum.

There was a blow to his head and any such aspirations Harvar had disappeared the same way his world went black. On the last strands of his consciousness, one thought echoed in his head;

He was no leader.

Chapter Text

Maka woke up in a cage, her arms and legs riddled with painful bee stings.

She let out a soft groan and decided against moving. Even if the surface she was on wasn't hard and cold, moving would entail effort on her part and Maka was, for all intents and purposes, exhausted. Not to mention every single part of her stung, head included.

“You’ve already bitten them-”

“I cannot control the bees; I only guide them. Besides, I did not expect a rowdy group of fragile urchins-”

“Not all of them! We didn’t use the shards ‘cause we had them in abundance you know! Did you know how long we’ve been scouting-”

Maka’s throbbing head was not helped by the two voices, one baritone, smooth and masculine and the other breathy, high-pitched and feminine.

“That’s one out of fourteen!” the high-pitched voice said. “What am I going to do with the other thirteen brats?”

“Come on Sister, I’m sure you can think of something. Couple of them can transform, I saw it with my own two eyes. Find a way to turn that transformation permanent, and you’d have weapons only Polythreme could claim to forge!”

“Yes, a screaming weapon. How appealing.” Maka couldn’t tell if the voice was sarcastic or serious. “I suppose I can make do and treat them as additions to our garden. The bees are always hungry for new memories.”

“Go nuts, Sister. I mean, in the most respectful way, of course.” The deep voice cleared their throat. “Now, about the payment.”

“Of course. For thirteen ordinary prisoners-“

“Ordinary?! All due respect Sister, but as I said before, some of them can transform! Plus, if rumours are to be believed, none of them are from the Neath-!”

“Very well.” The feminine voice was terse but acquiesced. “For thirteen good-quality prisoners -don’t grimace my dear, this is the term we use for those that have seen the Surface. This is a premium rate.” There was a grunt of agreement. “I’m glad we can see eye to eye. Now, as I was saying, the rate for the thirteen prisoners, plus a specimen of high-”

“One-of-a-kind-”

“Excellent quality,” the breathy voice concluded. “That comes at about…”

Maka’s mind focused away from the voices and onto lifting her head up. She opened her eyes, straining even to perform such an easy action, looked around and gasped.

She was in a garden washed with blood, a sea of petalled crimson. Small winding paths cut through the uniform red of the roses, similar to the ones at home. Yet… there was a smell brimstone underneath all the rose scent that she couldn't quite ignore.

As for herself, Maka looked to be in some sort of cage. A very compressed one, since she could only sit up without bumping the ceiling. Her cage looked like a crate that had one side replaced with worn but sturdy iron bars.

Where was she?

“…Echoes,” the breathy voice concluded. Maka looked at its owner, a woman with long black and silky hair and a slender frame. The upper half of her face was obstructed by a golden-threaded veil and she was clothed in long loose robes.

“And the price of the shards,” the other voice added. Its owner was a short and stout man his small frame at odds with his voice. His beard reached his belly whose hole-filled shirt strained to keep contained. His lips were twisted in a perpetual faint smile, like a starved hyena.

“I suppose.”

The man gave her a mock bow. “Congratulations Sister Zaira, you’re the proud owner of a creature that goes through Mountain-sherds like a shark does to zailors.”

Zaira sighed and touched her temples. Her eyes were hidden by the veil. “Please, do not remind me. Dealing with the Presbyterate is enough of a headache already, even when we don’t have to trade. And the bees will have to work overtime to make enough Honey.” She looked over the Smiling Captain, at a metallic box that gave off a light blue glow and whose form resembled a safe. “As a reminder my dear Captain, if there are any discrepancies between what is promised and what is delivered-”

“Then my figurehead will adorn the Leopard’s Halls. I know.” The Smiling Captain gave the Sister a wry smirk. “Now, about that Red Honey you now owe me-”

Last she remembered, Maka was trying to steer the Unsinkable VIII away from an attacking ship, until a fog descended on her deck and then…

With renewed vigour Maka sat up, and banged against the bars, ignoring any stinging pain she felt on her hands -how had she gotten so many bee stings? Had they stored her next to a beehive?

“Let me out!” Maka had no witty-one liner or threats. She just said the first thing that came to her mind. If she was abducted, if she was separated from the others…

Sister Zaira placed a pale hand over her chapped and bitten lips. “Oh my, one of them’s already awake. Do they build them sturdier now?”

No, Maka had to focus. Just because she was caged didn’t mean that she was powerless. She could still find out if she was… alone.

Maka took in a deep breath and activated her Soul Perception, only to let it all out.

Soul was above her! And the others were around her, stacked on top and next to one another. Kid was somewhere in the region as well, though pinpointing his soul now always required a bit of extra effort.

That was good. That meant that they weren’t separated, they weren’t flung into the four corners of the Unterzee.

“Shouldn’t you take your leave?” Zaira turned to the Smiling Captain as if Maka didn’t exist. “The other Sisters will see that your payment is delivered.”

“Hey!” Maka yelled and banged at the bars again. Zaira ignored her completely, while the Smiling Captain kept glancing at her.

“Ah, you see, sister…” The Smiling Captain gave her a sheepish smirk. “I don’t suppose I can have a taste of the new arrivals? The others have become rather familiar.”

Maka frowned. What was the man talking about? A taste of the new arrivals? But wasn’t Maka and the others the new arrivals?

…Oh no, had they been abducted by cannibals?!

“One of the new vials for four from your payment,” Zaira offered.

“Two-”

“Three.”

“You have a deal, Sister.”

Vials?! Were they going to make a soup out of them?!

“Hey!” Maka shouted again. She had no idea what to say, or what to do. She just hoped that by attracting enough attention, that woman in charge would at least acknowledge her existence. “What’s going on?! Where are we?!”

“Maka… trying to sleep…”

Maka froze and looked up. “Soul?” That was his voice, no mistake. “Soul, wake up!”

“Oh dear me. It seems you will get your meal sooner than expected, my Captain.”

“Five… more… minutes…”

Maka banged on the top of her crate. “Soul, wake up, they’re gonna eat us!”

“Maka? Soul? Is that you?” That was Tsubaki’s voice.

“What was that about eating us?!” That was Kim.

“I’m hungry, sis.”

“Patty, now’s not the time! Also, don’t eat me I taste bad, I’m all skin and bones-!”

“Eat me first!” This was Ox. “Don’t worry Kim, I’ll buy you time, it’s a perfect strategy-!”

“No, that’s a stupid strategy!” That was Harvar.

“How do you know they’re gonna eat us?” Despite his calm tone, Kilik’s voice was more high-pitched than usual.

“HA! NONE OF YOU LOWLY MORTALS ARE EVEN WORTHY OF A TASTE OF MY FLESH-”

“Bad mental image-!” Jackie yelled.

“I see why you had them sedated,” Zaira drily said. “Oh well, they will go quiet, eventually. Everyone here does.” She slightly tilted her head to the side. Maka looked to where she was pointing to see…

Cages. Along the winding path, covered by thorns and shrubbery… cages littered the garden, with each one having a dead-eyed emancipated prisoner, staring forlornly into nothing…

“Hey…” Liz’s voice had a hint of relief, “does that mean you’re not going to eat us?”

The Smiling Captain folded his hands. “Eat you? What do we look like, those nutters up North?”

“We won’t eat your flesh dear. And even then, I wouldn’t call it eating,” Zaira muttered the last part to herself. “More like… sharing. Forcefully so, but nothing can be truly removed.”

“Pst,” Soul’s whispered voice drew Maka’s attention away from Zaira. “Maka.” His palm appeared on the upper side of Maka’s cage and tapped on the wood for attention.

Maka inched herself towards the barred side of her crate-cage. “Yes?”

“Do you think if I transform you can use me to break through the cages?”

Maka frowned and placed her hands on the bars. She could squeeze her forearm through, and she could definitely grab hold of Soul if he transformed. However…

“I don’t know if I can get a momentum going,” Maka whispered. “But, if we perform Soul Resonance, I should be able to cut through anything with minimum effort.”

Soul’s hand formed an ‘ok’ sign before retracting it inside his cage. “Let me get into position-”

“I can hear you whispering, children,” Zaira said with amusement. “Now, you wouldn’t want to do anything that’d put you or anyone in your group at risk, would you?”

“I won’t let you hurt sis, you crazy lady!” Patty spoke up.

Zaira frowned. “Crazy? What a simplistic and highly inaccurate insult-!”

“But you’re crazy!” Patty insisted.

While the two continued talking loudly over each other, Soul’s hand appeared once again. Maka gave it a squeeze to indicate she was listening. His palm was bumpy; he must be covered the same mysterious stings Maka had.

“So… are we still doing this?” he whispered.

“We have to be quick,” Maka whispered back. “And I have to find out where Kid is. Pass the plan along while I search for him, ok?”

Soul gave her another ‘ok’ sign before retracting his hand, followed the sound of him whispering.

Maka closed her eyes. She had to focus for this. Activating her Soul Perception, Maka searched for the outer reaches of Kid’s soul and worked inwards… and the centre was…

When Maka opened her eyes to see the safe-like box by Zaira and the Smiling Captain, the one that glowed faintly, like a blue-coloured firefly on a dark winter night and frowned. She supposed the unusual appearance of the box somehow helped contain Kid. The biggest issue was how Maka and Soul could open the box without accidentally tearing a limb off.

Maka’s attention was drawn from the box to a newcomer, a woman in a nun outfit, similar to the one Zaira was wearing. The Unnamed Nun handed Zaira a small box with clinking red-filled containers inside. She handed the box to Zaira, bowed and left without a word.

The Smiling Captain raised his eyebrows. “Finished already?”

“The hardest part is the bite. Most put up a fight, especially the first time.” Zaira held up one of the objects contained in the box, a small glass vial with red liquid inside and let out a small smile. “But you can’t put up a fight when you’re sleeping.”

The Smiling Captain frowned. “We hadn’t made a deal.”

“I like to be efficient.” Zaira popped the lid off and waved it in front of the Smiling Captain’s face. “You wanted a taste of the new batch, did you not?”

The Smiling Captain licked his lips. “Whose is it?”

“The pale boy, with the white hair.” Zaira lifted her hand to point at Soul.

Maka’s stomach lurched at the mention of her Weapon partner. “Hey, what is that thing?! What are you going to do?!”

The Smiling Captain and Zaira ignored her, with Zaira pouring half of the thick honey-like red liquid into an empty container. They both brought the tiny glasses to their lips.

“Bottoms up,” Zaira said with a dreamy smile and the both tipped the thick red liquid into their mouths. At the same time, Soul let out a grunt.

Maka frowned. “Soul?”

The screaming began shortly after.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Zaira let out a small laugh, the same type of laugh Maka had only heard come from a certain white-haired boy. “Oh, this is…”

The Smiling Captain let out the exact same type of laughter. “Like a good ale…”

 “No!” Yet the one whose smile the two were copying was thrashing in his cage, screaming his lungs out. “Get out of my head!”

“Soul?!” Maka screamed, her throat starting to become raw. She couldn’t see into his cage, and all she could sense was his trashing, his screaming and his soul twisting in pain. “What’s going on-? Talk to me!” She tried to grab hold of Soul’s hand, to reassure him, to ease his pain in any way but…

It hadn’t worked. Ever since Zaira and the Smiling Captain drank the liquid, they had laid down on the pathway in a daze, while Soul was thrashing like a chicken with its head caught off. Some of the others were shouting too, while others had remained silent. Black Star had been yelling at Soul to tell him what’s going on, until he went silent. Liz let out strings of curses that would cause even zailors to blush, most of them were aimed at the Red Honey-drunk pair.

 “Sister…” the Smiling Captain moaned, “already starting to fade… this is not cool at all…”

“Not long. Not… much material to work with…”

“What are you doing to him?!”

 “I’m feeling cheated, Sister…”

“No, this is,” Zaira slurred. “So many new things…” She put her hands up, grasping at the non-existent sky. “The Sun! It so strange, isn’t it?”

“Doesn’t burn like the Surface one,” the Smiling Captain said.

“And from a desert… Their clothes are so different.”

“The food too.”

“And the countries have changed.” Zaira let out a wry smirk, the exact same smile Soul gave to Maka, and the girl felt like throwing up. “Oh my, London is going to be sorely disappointed if it meets its counterpart.”

“It’s not Fallen though. No cities are. The Neath is not even a concept…”

“Of course. There is no need. No need.” Zaira’s head lolled back and forth. “The Sun is laughing.”

“They still have pianos though.” The Smiling Captain tilted his head. “Goodness gracious, I’ve never experienced playing the piano before.” His eyes were glassy and he sniffed. “So… beautiful…” The Smiling Captain wiped tears from his eyes. “This is truly…”

“Oh, look,” Zaira’s finger was unstable and wobble, but it pointed at Maka. “A friend…”

Soul moaned. Maka felt sick to her stomach.

Zaira and the Smiling Captain helped each other up and wobbled their way towards the row of crate-cages. As they approached, it became clear that they were heading for Maka’s cage.

Stopping just outside Maka’s grabbing range, Zaira knelt and murmured in a soft voice. “You’re a wonderful young lady, you know that?”

Soul moaned again.

With a yell, Maka launched herself against the bars, both her fists connecting with their faces. Her knuckled hurt, her torso hurt, but all Maka was focused on was hurting them.

“Stop it!” She yelled, even though she knew it was in vain. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

Zaira and the Smiling Captain didn’t. They stayed on the floor, murmuring in a daze, their expressions shifting from one of relaxation to shock, horror, delight, embarrassment. All the while, Soul was crying in pain.

This charade lasted for what felt like an infinity. An endless repeat of Soul screaming, Maka and the others yelling, Zaira and the smiling Captain muttering, their gestures eerily like…

Eventually, Soul let out a loud gasp and stopped his thrashing. There were no more screams too. Zaira and the Smiling Captain became clear-eyed.

“Aw. It is over already? There was so much more…” With a grunt, Zaira brought herself up and rubbed her temple. “At least there will always be future batches…”

“Zaira,” the Smiling Captain said with a breathy voice and a wide smile. “I want more. This is...”

“Yes… me too…” Zaira let out an airy laugh, and this one didn’t resemble Soul in any way. “I’ve never had a home this exciting!”

Maka was clutching the iron bars so tightly that the parts of her knuckles that weren’t covered in dried blood had turned white.

“Maka…” A weak voice called out for her.

“Soul!” Maka passed her forearm over the bars and reached up to Soul’s cage. Her hand moved blindly until she found a limp hand to hold on to. She clasped it firmly but not tightly, careful not to hurt him more. “What happened? Are you…?”

“These bastards… I don’t know how they did it…”

 “It’s ok... I’m here…” Maka’s voice was shaky and she hated it. She wasn’t the one that needed reassurance now.

“They saw through it all,” Soul continued. “Couldn’t stop them…”

“Through what?”

“Memories…” Soul grunted with some difficulty. “All of them…”

Others were talking too, but Maka ignored them. She kept waiting to hear Soul’s voice but it never came.

She tightened her hold on his hand slightly. Soul’s hand reciprocated the gesture and a wave of relief washed over her. He was regaining his strength even if slowly.

“Who do you think we should do next?”

The sentence filled Maka with dread, and she looked at the two to see the Smiling Captain’s finger pointing at her.

Zaira clapped and took out another container filled with that infernal substance. “Ah, the companion piece! An excellent choice.”

“Leave her alone!” Soul slurred, his voice weak and raspy.

With this new turn of events, Maka wanted nothing more than to scurry to the back of her cage, but she persisted, holding on to Soul’s hand and the bars of her cage.

She bared her teeth at the two. “Come get me you bastards!”

“Maka no-”

But Maka, despite being grateful for Soul’s concern, didn’t change her mind and kept glaring at the pair. She wasn’t going to let them get to her. She wasn’t going to scream, even if it hurt. She wasn’t going to let those two hurt anyone else.

Soul held her hand tight. Her own hand was trembling and weak, and she was thankful for the gesture.

They brought the Red Honey to their lips. Maka braced herself against the iron bars.

They swallowed and she screamed.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“I can still hear the music.”

“And the colours,” Zaira said. “I always thought souls were boring blue balls of nothing…”

“The hardship too,” the Smiling Captain added. “I feel like a man twenty years younger, ready to take on the world!”

“….and the heartbreak of losing a friend for the very first time,” Zaira wiped a stray tear from her eyes. “Every time I see that it always gets me.”

Her hand -was that even her hand, or an illusion of it- was moved slightly. She grunted at the slight movement.

“Maka.”

She gasped for breath. Her heart beat loudly against her eardrum. Every movement hurt, even breathing.

“Maka.” Her hand was held tighter.

“Soul,” she blurted out his name and immediately regretted it. Her throat felt like it’d gone through a meat processor, and there was blood on her lips.

“It’s ok,” Soul rubbed circles on her palm. She couldn’t even tell if it was helping. “I know.”

She wanted to cry. She wanted to punch the wood until her knuckles were bloodied and beyond repair. She wanted to scream at the sky.

It was as if Maka had experienced her whole life for the same time again, and all within the span of seconds, yet lasted forever. Yet every emotion lingered, compounding on one another until her heart and head felt like they were about to burst.

A gruesome death couldn’t hurt as much as this.

At least… at least she hadn’t moved from her position. She didn’t trash -or he didn’t recall she did.

Zaira opened the wooden box once more. The glass vials glinted like the edge of a knife covered in blood. “There’s more.”

They were met with protests, curses and cries.

“No…” Maka slurred, her voice low and raspy. “Leave ‘em alone…”

“Huh.” Zaira looked at Maka and frowned. “They’re usually more sedated.”

“One hell of a fighting spirit, Sister.” The Smiling Captain said with a laugh. “I’ll be returning for that. Now, who’s next…”

Fire and Thunder were crying. Kilik was muttering, probably trying to calm the twins down. Soul was whispering words of assurances to Maka and she held his hands.

“Do me,” a calm voice said.

“Tsubaki, no!”

“Enough!” Tsubaki cut them off, and everyone went silent. “I can take it. If it has to be one of us… It’s better than any of you guys.”

Zaira’s mouth opened in delight. “Oh a volunteer! These are always interesting-”

There was the sound of bars rattling.  “OI, DON’T YOU BASTARDS DARE-”

 “Oh, he’s got a fighting spirit as well...” the Smiling Captain whistled. “I want him.”

“No!” Tsubaki shouted.

“I must insist on the girl.”

“Why not both?” the Smiling Captain said with a shrug.

Accompanied by shouting, Zaira and the Smiling Captain took out two vials and held one each.

“Bon Appetit,” they said to each other and gulped down the Red Honey.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“Whew, this was… stronger than I expected.” The Smiling Captain burped. “I think… I’m gonna hurl…”

“Same. I’m… This was…” Zaira rubbed circles on her forehead. “I thought there’d be less.”

Maka’s strength had slowly returned to her, though she still felt like she’d been thrown headfirst into a brick wall. Her sense of time was still wrapped, but she was certain that this instance lasted longer than hers or Soul’s.

“Tsubaki?” Maka asked. She still couldn’t yell, but she could speak at a reasonable volume. “Black Star?”

“They’re… as fine as anyone can be. I think,” Soul said. “Oi, Black Star? Come on dude, talk to me.”

“Shut up.” Black Star’s voice was low, gruff, and devoid of the manic energy Maka had grown to associate with it.

Soul didn’t reply, and Maka didn’t speak either.

“Tsubaki?” Liz called out in a soft voice.

There was no response.

Maka’s head hung low. She was too weak to stand properly, and she doubted she could even wield Soul with the exhausted state their souls were in. She didn’t even know if she could ever recover from this lingering sense of exhaustion.

…Was this is?

“One more?” Zaira’s voice barely registered with Maka this time.

“One more. The rest are for the trip back home.” The Smiling Captain paused. “Or maybe to Whither? I’ve got so many new stories to sell…”

Zaira looked at the cage-crates and frowned. “But who to choose now?”

“I know!” The Smiling Captain pointed at the centre of their cages. “Eeny…”

“Leave them alone, they’re kids!” Kilik yelled.

“meeny…”

“Not Kim, use me instead!” Jackie and Ox shouted simultaneously.

“miny…”

“Hurt my sis and I’ll fucking kill you!” Liz yelled.

“moe…”

Fire and Thunder’s cries became louder.

There was a thump from the safe-like box. Maka had stopped paying attention to it; she knew Kid was held in there, but she couldn’t see him and the box was solid on all sides. Yet, now that Maka looked at it again, its edges had turned black and bulbous, like an encroaching cancer.

“Oh dear,” Zaira muttered. “You weren’t pulling my leg when you said it nullified the shards.…”

“Aye. Never seen anything like that before. Imagine the secrets it hides.” The Smiling Captain walked to the side of the crate-cages and took out an elongated object covered in a leather hide. “It’s not big, but it should buy us a couple of more hours.”

“And the leather keeps the shard’s effects contained?”

“Aye,” the Smiling Merchant said as he undid the leather bindings, letting them fall to the ground to reveal a blue spear with a brilliant glow. Around it, the roses began moving as if they had a mind of their own. The cobblestones squirmed, and its glow eased Maka’s pain. “Imported from Port Cecil and crafted into the finest of leathers. It’s not a permanent measure, and you may still get things turning alive within its vicinity but it does its job well enough.”

The smiling Merchant grabbed one a layer of the leather, another layer wrapped around the hand that was holdingg the spear, and dragged it with him to the safe-like crate. He knelt in front of it, did a couple of gestures Maka couldn’t see clearly and muttered in a foreign tongue. He stepped back while one side of the box came off with a hiss and fell to the ground, revealing its contents.

Saying that Kid looked like a mess would be charitable.

His clothes were torn, but Maka couldn’t describe at which parts since his body was covered in red and black, blood and… she wasn’t sure what the black was. The same material that was used to make his crate -the rough glowing blue crystal- run through him as well, his body held in place with sizeable spears. His limbs were pinned with smaller chunks of the crystal as well, but most of them had lost their blue shine, engulfed by the same black that covered Kid’s body.

Zaira took a step towards Kid with a hungry expression. “What if we do it?”

At this point, Maka briefly focused on everyone else’s yells.

“No!” Liz’s shout was the most distinct among their group. “Oi, do me you rotten bastards!”

Zaira gave Liz a pout. “Your turn will come. Don’t be impatient.”

“Don’t you need to sting the target first?” the Smiling Captain asked.

“A sting is not always necessary,” Zaira said as she took out two vials containing a paler version of Red Honey. “It’s the blood that’s important. Keeps all the memories. Plus when dealing with non-humans it’s important to account for differences in perception, which is why we’ll have to add a drop of our blood first into the mixture.” Zaira took out an empty vial and handed it to the Smiling Captain. “If you would be so kind?”

The Smiling Captain took the empty vial and carefully approached Kid, who remained immobile.

When the Smiling Captain kneeled by the Grim Reaper and the black substance around Kid’s chest rose and lashed at him. The Smiling Captain jumped out of its range and the substance fell to the floor, melting the cobblestone and vaporizing into a thin black smoke before disappearing completely.

The Smiling Captain clicked his tongue. “Waking up, ain’t you?” He walked towards Kid again, only this time, he held the spear high.

“Night, night.” The Smiling Captain plunged the spear. Kid didn’t move.

Zaira handed him another two vials. “Add the blood to these two.”

Maka wanted to protest. She wanted to shout, yell, rattle her cage. But it hadn’t worked before and it wouldn’t work now.

At least Kid wasn’t conscious.

The Smiling Captain flashed Zaira a wide smile. “Bottom’s up.”

“To better ventures,” Zaira added before they both gulped down the Red Honey.

Maka looked away. Any time now, they would collapse on the floor, and giggle like children, while their victim…

Her thoughts were taken aback when she heard no body hitting the floor, no mad laughter about stolen memories.

Maka lifted her head and looked at Zaira and the Smiling Captain.

They were both standing up, backs straight. Their gaze wasn’t glazed over; it was as sharp as it had ever been. Their lips did not twist into lazy, dreamy smiles; they became a thin line, signifying nothing. They looked frightfully sober.

Then, movement; it was sharp, precise and jerky. Exactly like…

They knelt in unison by the crystal crate, backs slightly bent. For a few seconds they stood there motionless, like strung-up puppets. Kid wasn’t moving or trashing or yelling either. He lay completely still.

With the preciseness of a machine, Zaira and the Smiling Captain banged their heads against the edges of the crate again and again and again, until their faces were a bloody pulp indistinguishable from a slab of meat. Their brains oozed out of their craniums yet they kept moving, as if they were a doll in the hands of some unseen force. Their hands reached out mechanically, and pulled at the spears, small and big, dislodging them from Kid’s fragments like pulling out splinters.

It was also the time when there was movement around Kid.

The ground around the crate cracked. A black liquid spilt from him, flowing across the garden in rivulets, wilting every plant it came in contact with and turning each bee that dared approach it into a lifeless husk. The liquid pooled around Maka’s cage and slowly crept up the edge. She instinctively scurried back, hoping it wouldn’t flow into her cage, it wouldn’t touch her-

The black liquid stopped at the entrance of her cage while all its other streams continued in their quest to cover everything. After a few seconds, it retracted, leaving her cage entirely.

Zaira and the Smiling Captain kept banging their heads against the crate, the edges of it coated in red and joining Kid’s own blood. Most of the shards had been removed from Kid’s body and the ones that remained had been engulfed completely by the black liquid.

The Grim Reaper’s soul became visible without the need for Soul Perception. The Lines of Sanzu rose around it and shone brilliantly, like false-suns.

Kid opened his mouth. The sound that came out of it wasn’t in any language of their Earth or this. It wasn’t Correspondence. It wasn’t the airy language Salt had used to communicate.

This wasn’t a sound meant for living beings to hear, and Maka’s world went black.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

When Maka awoke from a dreamless sleep, a calming abyss, part of her wanted to return to the moment she still hadn’t gained her bearings.

The garden was gone, the once-vibrant red replaced by a lifeless black. The flowers were beyond withered; it was if they had never existed. The soil had turned dark, dry and cracked, unsuitable to sustain even the tiniest of flowers. Their crate-cages all the other metal cages in the garden, the palace-like structure at one end of the island, any other building that dared to exist… all of them had been demolished reduces to piles of rubble.

Time moved in a haze. After sluggishly making sure everyone from their group was accounted for, they walked aimlessly throughout the Island. Bodies of bees, cattle, pets, humans littered the now empty and crumbling streets. Maka’s Soul Perception confirmed that they were the only living beings left on the island.

They decided to go to the port. There, no ship remained. Just like the buildings, the plants, the people, all of the ships were damaged beyond repair. Most had sunk, parts of them still protruding where the Zee was at its shallowest.

Suddenly, bright lights.

“This is the Royal Navy of Her Enduring Majesty's Naval Service,” a man, hidden from view by the multitude of lights aimed at their direction, announced in a posh English accent.

Maka’s eyes adjusted to the light and she made out a dozen of massive dreadnoughts, all of them surrounding the island.

“By the order of Her Enduring Majesty, you are under arrest for crimes against the Empire.”

Chapter Text

“Forgery, multiple counts of assault, multiple counts of smuggling, resisting arrest, conspiring with the Khanate, housing dangerous beings, tampering with souls, stealing souls -oh that’s corroborated by the Iron Republic as well, oh my!- leading to massive disruption in the Bazaar's soul trade…” Beneath their owl-themed mask, the Alarming Scholar gave Maka a sharp-toothed smile. “That’s quite a situation you’ve found yourself in, my friend!”

Maka gathered all her will not to bang her head against the rocky wall of her cells. “Tell me about it.”

She fiddled with her own mask, a shapeless and featureless mass of clay. All prisoners, guards and visitor were required to wear masks. Why, Maka did not know, though her Soul Perception revealed that most of the guards, and a few prisoners, weren’t human.

“ There is talk about applying the death penalty! Or even worse, letting the Devils have their way with you! ” the Alarming Scholar continued, acting as if they were sharing the latest gossip with a close friend.

“ Neat, ” Maka replied with the enthusiasm of a minimum-wage employee.

“ I ’ ve heard that even the Masters of the Bazaar are interested about your group, ” the Alarming Scholar muttered as they paced back and forth in Maka ’ s prison cell.

Maka held back a groan. Though she was glad for the company -their cells were separate and the thick stone walls and lack of windows made it impossible for any type of communication sans standing at the prison bars and yelling- the Alarming Scholar so far had only talked about how much they were screwed in excruciating detail.

“But fret not my friend! Not all hope is lost!” the Alarming Scholar continued. “In fact, the reason I’m here is because I have a proposal that is, hopefully, in our best interests.”

Maka perked up at those words. “What do you mean?”

The Alarming Scholar let out a giggle. “Oh my friend, I know you have been keeping secrets.” They approached Maka slowly, and Maka found herself clutching a brick, just in case they tried to pull anything. “Raucous, forbidden secrets, Searing Enigmas and Extraordinary Implications which you wish to keep hidden. ” Hunger coated the Alarming Scholar ’ s every word. “ I want them. ”

Maka gave the forbidden Scholar a careful look. So far they hadn’t guided them wrong; the locations the Alarming Scholar had given them was helpful in some way, and they had been warned about dangers. “And in return?”

“There are many things I can trade with you!” the Alarming Scholar said with a giggle. “There are things I have not told you as well. Old knowledge. Forbidden knowledge. I have been gathering them just for this instance. Oh, I am close, so close to a Surmise filled with Dread…” they muttered to themselves with a mad glee. “And, of course, an escape from New Newgate Prison, as long as you promise to put my knowledge to good use…”

A way out…  “Deal. What do you want to know?”

“First, a few personal questions,” the Scholar began. “I know your goal is to return to our homeworld. Perhaps one day I could pay a visit, after I explore the High Wilderness… ah but I’m rambling. As I was saying, have you uncovered any method of returning to your world?”

“Yes,” Maka responded. She figured she had little reason to lie. “Kill the Dawn Machine.”

“Kill the…?” The Alarming Scholar muttered. “Oh. Oh my…” Maka saw their face stretch beneath the owl mask. “Isn’t that ambitious-?”

“What’s the deal with the Dawn Machine?” Maka asked the Alarming Scholar. Any information on it, anything, could be vital when they regrouped. If they…

“An Admiralty project gone haywire,” the Alarming Scholar replied immediately. “A man-made sun that subjugated its makers and has been hidden from public knowledge thus far… I only found out about its existence recently, after a report from the Elder Continent about an assault on one of their outposts…” They placed a hand on their chin. “But how is the Dawn Machine connected to your world?”

“The same force that brought us here cannot bring us back to our world because of the Machine’s increasing power. It had something to do with installing new Laws for the Neath…” Maka said, recalling their encounter with Salt. So much had happened since then… “The Dawn Machine was described as an Artificial Judgement.”

The Alarming Scholar straightened their back at the mention of the last two words. “A… Judgement?” Their words were hesitant and subdued in tone. “Oh dear…”

“What’s a Judgement?” Maka asked. “I’ve heard that term before, but I don’t know what it means.”

“Neither do I truly! But I will share my clues.” The Alarming Scholar cleared their throat. “They say they make their Laws, but can only apply them on their Surface, -this is why the Neath is the way it is. That they burn bright… They say there is a countless number of them as numerous as...”

Burn, Surface, Laws… The words all come together like a puzzle. The burning sunlight at Aestival, the Light of the Dawn Machine, law enforced by the light emitted from the Dawn Machine, a Judgement, and the general lack of laws on the Neath, where a Sunless Sea lay…

“The stars in the sky,” Maka muttered.

“I was going to say ‘the spiders manning the Tree of Ages’ but I suppose that is also a correct metaphor-”

“No, the stars! They’re…” she sputtered like a madwoman, “they’re the Judgements. At Aestival… The sunlight was a Wavelength, meaning the Sun must have a soul.” She grabbed the Alarming Scholar by the shoulder and shook him. “The stars are alive! They’re the Judgements!”

The Alarming Scholar remained mute as Maka let him go and paced around her cell.

“But… can we kill a star?” Maka muttered while the Alarming Scholar listened carefully. “Kid probably can… Did he know? Does this have to do with the Great Old Ones?”

“That’s your friend that’s gone missing, right?” the Alarming Scholar spoke up. Their voice was airy like the calm before a storm. “Kill a Judgement… But to do that, one would have to… Have you been housing a Judgement all along-?”

“Judge-? No, Kid’s not a Judgement!”

“I suppose since your friend did not look a ray of sunshine, to be honest,” the Alarming Scholar muttered, yet lost none of their enthusiasm. “But you said they can kill one. So, what are they?”

“I… He’s…” Maka muttered. Even if Kid wasn’t here, even if this was the only way they could get out… This wasn’t Maka’s secret to tell.

“Tell me and I will orchestrate you and your companion’s escape.”

Maka gulped. What other choice did she have? She couldn’t pull off a miracle…The only thing she could do now was…

“He’s a Grim Reaper.”

“A what now?”

“A Grim… You must know what that means, right?” Maka spoke quickly, hoping her focus on speaking would temporarily hinder any form of self-reflection. “Skeleton-like, dressed in all black, carrying a scythe.”

“Ah so it isn’t farmer with a sour attitude as I had assumed-”

“It’s Death,” Maka continued. “The Grim Reaper is the God of Death.”

“Death?” The Alarming Scholar’s eyes had a faraway look to them. “Tell me… what about the stars in your world? Are they Judgements?”

“Our world? They’re…” Maka thought back at her world’s Sun. It had a face and it always laughed, but the motions were mechanical, lifeless… “They don’t have any souls. They move but I’m pretty sure they’re not alive…”

“Not alive… Your group dragged here and forced to kill a Judgement to return… The lack of Judgements in your world…” The Alarming Scholar muttered. “That’s it! The Judgements, the Bazaar and its unseen Masters, the Mountain of Light with an eternal wound, Polythreme, the Fallen Cities, London’s Fate, a Dread Surmise!” they screamed, a voice doomed with the burden of knowledge. “The awful daring of a moment's supposition which an age of ignorance can never deny!”

Maka slowly backed away from the Alarming Scholar. “Are you… ok?”

“Ok? Nothing will ever be ok!” the Doomed Scholar yelled while they pulled at their hair. “Oh the questions, the answers, the Old Unhappy Far-Off Things!” They grabbed Maka’s hand and shook it so hard it felt like it would come off. “Thank you! Thank you!”

There was movement outside their cell.

The Doomed Scholar tore their mask off, and dug into their pockets, revealing a row of sheets with bright red symbol on them.

“It has been staring me in the face so long!”

“Hey!” A gruff voice came from outside their cells.

The Doomed Scholar slapped the note on the barred door. There was a bright flash of light accompanied by a mad cackling and the bars flew in all direction, impaling the guard as they collapsed lifeless onto the floor.

“I have to leave!” the Doomed Scholar stepped over the Dead Guard’s corpse with little regard. “You are free now, as am I! Here!” They handed Maka a bunch of barely legible notes. “I have the answer. Take it. Take it all! I have all the answers I will ever need. I'll follow them to Frostfound. You can't come. Don't come. Can't come. Don't come. CAN'T COME! DON'T COME! - "

The Doomed Scholar ran across the corridors, screaming and raising hell, literally in some cases.

Maka watched them depart, her mind fuddled and her steps uncertain. She pocketed the notes and stepped out of her cage. She approached the Dead Guard, took his large keyring with a wide collection of keys and made her way through New Newgate Prison.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The door felt down with a satisfying crash. The person on the other end, built like a bodybuilder matched with a monster truck, paled the moment they saw them. “How did you-?!”

“Hands up before I shoot them off you, jackass,” Liz announced and fired a warning shot.

The others spilt into the room after her, wielding their Weapons. Maka was among the first to enter, holding Soul as if he was an extension of her arm.

They had made it into the Warden’s room, located on the very base of the stalactite that formed New Newgate prison. Beating up the guards hadn’t been a difficult task, and with the keys Maka had obtained from the Dead Guard, it was only a matter of time until she got everyone out.

Yet despite her success, Maka had felt… nothing. No sense of achievement, or pride, or relief.

“Please, don’t shoot!” the Wailing Warden cried as they put their hands up. “I’ll give you anything you need, I swear!”

“We want supplies,” Ox started.

“And money,” Kim continued.

“And a ship!” Patty shouted from her Weapon form.

“The Unsinkable will rise again!” Black Star announced. “Introducing the Unsinkable 9!”

The Wailing Warden paled. “Nine?! How many ships have you gone through-?” Their protest was cut short by a scythe touching their neck.

Maka barely held back a sigh. “Just shut up and give us a ship.”

Chapter Text

There was darkness first. Actually not even darkness, because the concept of darkness itself necessitates light. This was a time before either of them, when the world was small, immobile, and ordered. Comfortable.

Then there was an explosion and it all went downhill from there.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Kid was having a bit of an identity crisis.

Memories replayed in his head, memories Kid had not experienced himself when applying them with the strictest use of the term self. But they were his own memories, own experiences, the same way his soul was his and it was all so disorienting-

Kid had been getting a glimpse of these memories as if they were visions throughout their journey, on places like the Sealed Gate and the Sunlight-drenched island. They were brief and muddled, like an oil painting covered with bleach. Kid had been struggling with them, trying to understand them, uncover them fully and not get a glimpse, or in some cases disregard them completely. He had not been successful in that regard.

And then…

There was calmness, then pain, then the sharp sting of life, so much life, followed by more stings until he had found himself in a catatonic state, and then…

Two connections. Faint and one-sided, but all it took was an inch, but Kid had been awoken and his soul felt blistered…

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

So many new arrivals. So many new things. Other beings too.

All of them chaotic and disorganised and horribly disorienting-

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

For a few moments after he awoke, Kid hadn’t been himself in the same way the faint and muddled memories weren’t his own. He had been fuelled by pure instinct…

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

There were more now. Others, that had not existed before. Newcomers.

(They weren’t a newcomer. They had existed long before and would exist. Lurking. Ever-present.)

The newcomers called themselves Judgements. They burned bright, washing away darkness and so-called disorder.

The newcomers made an Order. A Chain of Beings, reinforced by the newcomers’ new Laws.

They were not part of the newcomer’s Chains. Not a part of the newcomers' Order. They were an outsider, along with many other Old Ones, an unaccounted force.

This could not end well.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

But he hadn’t hurt them. He had almost done so, had been frightfully close to it, but he hadn’t, by some miracle of faint awareness. An awareness that ceased to exist when anything but them was involved and whose loss ended up with Kid… unsure what he’d done or where he’d been, on a flourishing swamp forest isle somewhere in the Neath.

He could sense a few humans on a few regions within his soul, but Kid dared not approach. Nothing good would come out of it. Instead, he stayed still in the now-weathered and straw-like grass. For how long he didn’t know. It could have been seconds. It could have been years. Kid had no metric of time besides his own perception of it and now…

“You should stop ignoring me.”

Well, Kid could not trust any of his senses at this point in time.

Kid opened his eyes to regard the owner of the voice. His eyes fell upon an alien but familiar figure, covered in ornamental clothing that included a steel mask, various full-length robes, a thick woolly scarf and an array of shard blades where the hands of typical human would be.

Kid grimaced but held back a curse.

Dammit, if he was going to hallucinate people into existence, why did it have to be Eibon? At this point, Kid would prefer even Excalibur’s obnoxiousness than deal with Eibon’s cryptic remarks.

“Ouch.” Eibon walked closer to Kid, coming to a stop near his head and casting a long shadow. “Is that what you think of an old friend?”

“We’re not friends.” Kid couldn’t focus enough to understand what language he was speaking in, what language Eibon was speaking in. It didn’t cause the ground to tremble, and that was good enough by Kid’s standards. “So with all due respect, can you not call me that?”

Eibon tilted their head. “Ah. Of course. I apologize for the slip-up.”

Eibon walked around, the grass crunching under their feet and the metal extensions at their hands clinking against each other. “An underground sea. How quaint.” They looked up at the Neath’s roof, where false-stars glinted. “Do you believe a place like that existed in our world as well? Hidden away from the stars?”

“There's no point asking that question now, is it?”

“True.” Eibon’s clothing rustled as they lowered their head to regard Kid. Or not. Kid wasn’t even sure if Eibon had eyes behind that mask. “So, do you have a plan?”

“It’s a work in progress.”

“I see,” Eibon said nonchalantly. “What does your work in progress plan entail thus far?”

“Killing the Dawn Machine. There is an… agreement of sorts.”

“Oh, I’ve heard.” Kid didn’t bother asking Eibon how they’d done that. He doubted he’d get a clear answer anyways. “And if this so-called ‘Salt’ refuses to fulfil their part of the deal, the same fates awaits them, I assume?”

Kid didn’t answer.

“But if they perish, then you will be trapped in this world,” Eibon continued. “Not permanently mind you, but long enough that the others…”

“Which is why this plan is a work in progress,” Kid cut him off.

“Fair enough,” Eibon concluded. “But I can’t help but wonder…” They looked at the Neath ceiling once more. “After you’ve killed the Dawn Machine, will history repeat itself?”

Kid didn’t know why he kept talking to Eib- the hallucination. What was the point-?

“I’m quite real, thank you,” Eibon interjected. “And I do hope you understand what I’m referring to.”

“Yes, yes,” Kid quickly said. “I’m not lying here because I felt like taking a break.” He flinched when another now-familiar memory flashed in his head.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The newcomers overreached.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“This is frustrating.”

“Long memories are.”

Kid held back another flinch as another memory he had seen before-

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

…

The newcomers were gone, yet parts of them remained as stubborn reminders.

…

They had a new name now.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

-came and went like lightning.

“We have to stay in the Neath,” Kid said. “We almost went to their place once.”

“Dare I ask how?”

“Apparently there’s a gate. Not guarded well enough. Rotting...”

“That’s… interesting,” Eibon trailed off.

“We have to get out of this place,” Kid continued. He had had a bad feeling about this world ever since they arrived. Later run-ins with the Dawn Machine, Venderbight, the Avid Horizon, Aestival and so many more places… they all brought up piecemeals of information, recollections that when Kid finally put them together during his encounter with Salt…

“Have you thought of telling them?” Eibon spoke up.

Kid snorted. “Oh no, the thought didn’t even cross my mind.” His voice turned pleasant and casual. “Hey guys, the reason Judgements don’t exist in our world is because the Great Old One of Order at the time, along with some other Great Old Ones, proceeded to kill each and every one of them, forever reshaping the fabric and Order of our world, and earning my predecessor the name ‘Death’ and all titles related to it. That is because souls were used as fuel for the Judgements, but after they all died, the souls that were left now go through an eternal cycle of death and rebirth, overseen by, surprise, surprise, Death.”

Eibon didn’t interrupt him, so Kid continued his monologue unfettered.

“It is also the reason why our Sun has a giant face that can’t stop laughing, since its lifeless husk is doomed to repeat its last motions until it burns out, which will happen sooner than later. It is also the reason the Moon has a giant grin on its face, as it never liked the Sun but unfortunately for it, it was also subjected to the Great Old One of Order’s fury. Oh, by the way, the fact that I have been leading souls down the path of recycling rather than Judgement fuel has definitely been noticed, and has probably caused the Judgements to be very cross with me and by extension, anyone I associate with,” Kid concluded.

He was met with silence for the next few seconds.

“…I was used to less sarcasm,” Eibon eventually said.

Kid let out a groan and rubbed his temples.

How could one explain that the reason they were brought here by a mysterious entity was to kill an artificial god, because the stars of their world were dead, and that the souls were simply byproducts of...

No, he couldn't tell them. What’s more, what if Kid did tell them and they...

Kid scoffed.

Fear of abandonment. Hell of a Grim Reaper he was.

“My first priority is to get everyone back to our world,” Kid eventually said.

“I see.”

“Besides,” Kid continued. “I shouldn’t bother with the Judgements of this world. From what I saw at the Avid Horizon…”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

-a whirling of colour and power – a whirling they had seen before when the newcomers were failing and grasping for-

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“…A lot of them don’t have much time left in the first place-”

A glint caught Kid’s eye and he paused. It was a light flecked with gold and with the hint of a powerful Soul Wavelength.

The Dawn Machine’s Wavelength.

Kid slowly brought himself up. His body was sore and numb. He looked past the withering fauna, to the Zee where a brilliant glow became brighter by the second.

A fleet of dreadnoughts was approaching the small island he was in, sailing in strict order and engulfed by glorious blue and gold light. Their hulls were shining like molten gold, while their decks were covered with blue, a blue that caused the ropes to moan and the cannons to shriek.

Gingerly, Kid stood up. His footing was unstable, but he could fly. His vision was blurry and his hearing obstructed, but he could see their souls -tiny and fragile and under Its Order- as clear as day.

“They seem to be prepared,” Eibon looked at the fleet and then to Kid. “Perhaps you should find back up?”

Kid ignored the hallucination brought himself up. Already bugs and animals scurried away from him, shadows manifesting against his form.

Kid couldn’t run away. He couldn’t avoid this. If he left and… What if the others were weak from his outburst? What if they were in no state to fight? How could they fight if the Machine’s light, no matter how faint it was in these ships, could take complete control of them? Kid couldn’t risk…

Eibon let out a sigh and gave Kid a slight bow. “Do as you wish…”

Eibon’s form disappeared into thin air, but their last words echoed in the slowly perishing forest.

“Death.”

Chapter Text

“Are we sure we’re headed in the right direction?” Ox asked.

Everyone sans the ones with essential roles -aka Black Star- were gathered on the Captain’s deck, where Maka was in charge of steering their new ship, the Unsinkable IX.

“Yes,” Maka said for what felt like the umpteenth time. “Going back to where we came from is our best bet. Perhaps there…”

“This is bullshit, we’ve done nothing,” Liz grumbled, and Maka empathised with the sentiment.

They had escaped New Newgate prison, they had gotten a ship and left Fallen London under candlelight and from an abandoned port in the North, but…

They were missing one person from their group. Kid. Frustratingly enough, Maka could locate Kid’s soul no matter how hard she tried. She wasn’t sure if Kid was deliberately hiding from her sight in some way or if a worse fate had befallen him. Normally, Maka would have nothing on her mind that getting to him and making sure he was safe as well but…

What had happened on the Isle of Cats? Why had Kid left? Why had he not come back? Had he been captured on some other island? If not…

The time was due for answers, and Maka wasn’t sure if she wanted them.

Soul gave her a light poke. “Look.” He pointed South at the horizon, where a region of the Elder Continent’s shores shone with bright golden light. “Is that…?”

“The Dawn Machine’s forces,” Maka confirmed with narrowed eyes.

“We should stay away,” Kilik suggested. He was met with agreeing nods from Soul and Ox.

 “They’re sailing away from somewhere…” Maka noted and pointed at a faintly glowing part on the Elder Continent. “Is there a port there?

Harvar, who had temporarily taken up the duty of Navigator, gave her a nod. “Adam’s Way is directly South of us…” he paused. “I think. From what I’ve gathered, it is an outpost of the Presbyterate, a coalition of kingdoms that reside deep within the Elder Continent.” He took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. “I’m… not sure what we should do.”

Kim scoffed. “I don’t care what you do. Just try not to kill us, k?”

Jackie glanced at Kim but said nothing. Her gaze was fairway, her frame was lumped and she kept scratching her chest.

There was a shout as Fire and Thunder rolled on their floor, grabbing each other’s hair and tangling themselves into a ball.

“Fire, Thunder, come on,” Kilik called out with a sigh as he separated the two twins. “Don’t fight again…”

“Oi, watch it,” Patty grumbled as one of the twins accidentally bumped into her.

“Please don’t…” Tsubaki began but stopped halfway with a sigh.

Ignoring the ensuing conversations, Maka steered the ship South with no objections. They then sailed in relative silence, until Adam’s Way came into view.

Maka hadn’t seen Adam’s Way before but she had imagined it was supposed to be more than a flaming wreck. The collapsed towers, broken statues and melted embroidery suggested a past glory, one that had faded violently and before its time. Smoke still rose from the rubble, scented like pine and brimstone. Part of the outpost was flooded with red water that spilt from a river whose origin lay deep within the Elder Continent, strewn with half-dissolved limbs.

Strugglers hobbled around the ruins like lost children. A few were salvaging items from the wreck. Were these items personal belongings, or was it an aimless search to see what had become of their home?

No one stopped from docking on half-crumbling wooden rafts. Their ship was the only one there; all others were on fire, sinking, or a combination of the two. Black Star joined them on the upper deck, looked at the ruined scenery, scoffed and went back down to the lower deck.

Only Maka, Soul, Kim and Ox disembarked from the ship. Soul stuck close to Maka, Kim wandered the area, while Ox, looked around, lost.

With Soul on her side, Maka walked towards the centre of the demolished port city where a man with half-melted skin had fallen to his knees, his hands pointed upwards towards a wrecked tower whose height could once rival a New York skyscraper.

“LAMENT!” the man shouted, waving his burned hands at the ruins. “LAMENT FOR WE HAVE BEEN SACKED! OUR GIFTS THAT THE MOUNTAIN SO GRACIOUSLY GAVE TO US WERE TAKEN!”

Ox eventually joined Maka and Soul, watching the man scream in confusion.

“THEY HAVE DESECRATED THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT!” One of his hands gestured to the area of the city that was flooded with the red water. “HER WOUNDS ONLY GROW BIGGER.”

“They really did a number to this place,” Soul muttered. “How the hell are we going to fight them?”

“We’ll…” Maka hesitated. “We’ll find a way.”

The screaming man turned southwards onwards a faint glimmer from deep within the Elder Continent and prostrated himself. “OH, WE ASK FOR FORGIVENESS! YOU GAVE US YOURSELF, BATHED US IN YOUR LIGHT, AND WE FORSAKE YOUR TREASURE!”

“The mountain’s gift…” Ox murmured. “Could they be referring to…?”

“To what?” Maka asked, and Ox let out a small yelp in surprise.

“Ah… no, wait. It’s nothing. I must be imagining things.”

“Tell me,” Maka insisted. “Even if it turns out to be nothing.”

“I believe he is referring to the Mountain shards...” Ox hesitantly began. “They’re… the faint blue gemstones that…”

Maka blinked in recollection. The cage made of the blue crystals. They had acted as some sort of temporary nullifier for Kid. So, if the Dawn Machine was gathering these so-called Mountain shards, that meant…

 “They’re going after Kid as well.” Maka realised. “Maybe they know of his location or if he’s already captured… We have to follow them!” Grabbing Soul and Ox by the hand, Maka dragged them back to port. “To the ship!”

“Wait,” Ox protested, “where’s Kim-?”

“Augh, right!” Maka shouted to herself before running back towards the ruined city. It took her a couple of minutes, but she eventually found Kim, who for some reason had decided to venture to the outer reaches of the city.

Kim jumped when Maka appeared in her view, but didn’t resist when Maka grabbed her arm and guided her back to the ship. “Come on, we’re leaving!”

“We’re changing course!” Maka announced to the group once they had all boarded and prepped the ship to disembark. She looked Southeast, at the faint glow of the Dawn Machine’s fleet. “They’re not getting away.”

Chapter Text

The Dawn Machine’s fleet was breaking up. Ships moved away from the main force, some sailing west, some north, while the majority continued sailing east.

Maka’s attention was focused on that particular ship that had a heavy blue glow mixed with the usual golden radiance of the ships. Once it detached from the main fleet and headed North, Maka decided to follow after it. The intense blue glow made Maka think the ship must have had the biggest reserve of Mountain shards and that it was the most likely one to guide them to Kid. In addition, Maka felt like she had seen that ship before, though the golden light obfuscated most of the ship’s characteristics.

The enemy ship stopped by a cluster of islands covered in smooth and bulbous coral-like material with a sourceless silver shine. It slowed down on the biggest island of the cluster, where a small crystal-made town lay on one side, and disembarked on the opposite side of the island. Its crew left the ship and scoured the shore, picking up big lumps of crystals from the shore.

Maka’s ship quickly docked on the island as well, out of the enemy ship’s sight.

Maka tackled the Captain to the floor. Around her, the rest of the Dawn Machine’s crew was attacked as well, and they soon had everyone tied up and subdued.

Maka gave the Captain a closer look and paused. She had seen the man before, as the Young Captain they had met at the Cumaean Canal, when their journey had just begun. His face and frame had stayed the same, but there was a scar on his cheek and…

His eyes were flecked with gold.

“You’re too late,” the Brainwashed Captain said. If he remembered Maka and the others from before, he didn’t say it. “The forces are already in motion… Soon the Machine will be the only force left on the Neath.” He gave Maka a bloody smile. “And in time, the High Wilderness will bow before the Machine’s strength as well.”

“Not if we stop it.”

“You can’t. Just give up already. I did.” He looked at the crystal riddled shore. “The creature that made these islands has done so as well.”

Maka frowned at the Brainwashed Captain. “You know we can’t.”

“Ah yes, home… The Machine has told us,” the Brainwashed Captain said in a low tone, before locking eyes with Maka. “If you’re desperate for home, the Machine can return you to your world.”

Their silence lasted way longer than it should have.

“Maybe,” Harvar spoke up. “Maybe we should…”

“No!” Maka spoke up. “We’re not leaving anyone behind!”

“Why not?” the Brainwashed Captain interjected.

“He’s our friend!”

“Must be a new type of friendship. One riddled with lies…” The Brainwashed Captain let out a small laugh. “Oh, so many things you don’t know, so many secrets kept close to one’s chest…”

“The fuck are you on about pal?” Liz growled.

Maka’s frown deepened at the Brainwashed Captain’s words. Lies…

At this point in time Maka was certain that, even if Kid hadn’t directly lied to her face, he had omitted important information from them. But…

“Even if Kid lied…” Maka began. “I’m sure he had a reason.” And even if he hadn’t, Maka couldn’t abandon him, could she now?

“Is any reason acceptable?”

Maka didn’t respond.

“Shut the fuck up,” Liz pushed Maka to the side and aimed Patty between the Brainwashed Captain’s eyes. “The fuck are you clowns planning?”

“Stop them from hurting the Machine.”

“The hell’s that supposed to mean?”

The Brainwashed Captain shrugged. Liz growled, and her finger slightly squeezed the trigger.

 “Where is Kid?” Maka asked, placing herself in front of the Brainwashed Captain. She didn’t trust Liz not to make her shots non-lethal.

“Nothing you can do…” the Brainwashed Captain coughed. “It will all end at Despair’s fastness… The end of the world.”

His voice was airy but carried the weight of a thousand stars.

“Kingeater’s Castle.”

Chapter Text

“Oh my, all does not seem to be well with you.”

The voice that greeted Kid was suave, whispering and fleeting.

Kid let out a strangled breath and immediately regretted it. His body burned as if he was on fire. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t speak, his heart had stopped, and he felt like he’d fought a one-to-one match against Asura while nursing a hangover.

He let out a cough, which only irritated his lungs and stung his torso, rolled his head to the side and blearily opened his eyes.

He was laid spread-eagled on some sort of altar in the middle of an… amphitheatre? It was hard to make out any detail of his surroundings. Everything beyond the altar was blurred and grey as if he was looking through fogged glass.

Most importantly though, Kid couldn’t move. There were no restraints on his hands and legs, nothing that stopped him from moving, yet Kid just… couldn’t.

“No, no, no, all is not well with you at all,” the voice continued. Kid followed the sound and caught a glimpse of its owner.

The figure was roughly humanoid, but everything else about it wasn’t. Its frame was thin and slumped, covered in heavy but faded robes. Through the robes, Kid made out leather wings awkwardly folded on its back. Its legs were as thin as sticks, and there was a tuft of black fur around the area where its neckline should be.

Kid had many questions, but he opted for one of the more obvious and pertinent one. "And you are?"

“Ah, you can hear me? That’s…” The figure took a step back, shuffled awkwardly like a caged animal. Eventually, it extended a taloned hand, its forearm mauled and bloody as if a hungry wolf had bitten it and refused to let go. “I was eaten here. One of my current titles is Mister Eaten, but others have included the Drowned Man, Master of the Bazar Mister Candles… I had a long and lustrous career before I got stuck in this Judgement-forsaken place.”

“Drowned… Man…?” Kid had heard this combination of words before, coming out the mouth of a starved priest on a chapel surrounded by lights… “You are the one who forces people into cannibalism-!"

The figure tilted its head in a sharp and jerky manner. "Forces? That's a bit of a misinterpretation of my followers I believe,” it tittered. “They choose to follow me of their own free will and they learned my lessons because they choose to attend.” It paced around Kid, and placed another hand, this one missing a few talons and joints, on where its chin should be. “Unless of course, your objection is with the eating aspect, but consider that it is unpleasant only for the victim. Everyone else benefits. Meat is very nutritious you know,” it said with the attitude of a preschool teacher. "And it also teaches you not to trust…”

The figure stopped on the side of the altar where Kid’s head was. It leaned down, and Kid made out two round sclera-less black eyes staring down at him. "Besides you are not one to talk about forcing beings onto a fate most unpleasant, Death."

Kid glared at the figure but didn’t protest. He wasn’t in the mood to have a conversation about the morality of his existence.

“Where am I?” Kid asked, looking around. The fog persisted and his Soul Perception came up even more muddled, like looking at a vortex made up of watercolours. “What's going on here?”

"Nothing pleasant I assume. Especially for you, since you are the one tied up.”

"Are you purposefully being unhelpful?'

"I am? Pardon. I haven't had a proper conversation in ages. Always had to whisper and talk in human languages. Ugh, I think my throat is still sore from that."

“…Sure,” Kid eventually said. “You still haven’t answered my other question. Where am I?”

“A nasty place. Well, this part of you is within an aspect of the nasty place, and this specific aspect is… I suspect this is the one area of the Parabola that the Finger-Kings will never dare enter,” the figure said. “But places like this stretch beyond dimensions, Irem being another example… Oh, how I miss its Pillars…” The figure let out a sigh. “And, I expect you are also at the physical location of the nasty place, or else you wouldn’t be here, in the version.”

Kid slowly nodded his head, pretending he understood all that. In actuality, all he got was that he was in some sort of dream-scape, which explained his foggy vision and nonsense Soul Perception, and that the physical side of him was in the equivalent physical aspect of this… area. “Does this place have a name?”

The figure flexed its talons. “Kingeater’s Castle.”

“Sounds pleasant,” Kid muttered. The name was familiar. It was one of the places the Alarming Scholar had urged them to visit. Something about the ‘End of the World’. “You mentioned you were eaten here?”

Kid wanted to keep the figure talking, in hopes it would let out more information about this place, even if said information was horribly disjointed.

The figure shuddered and its wings batted against the heavy robes. “If it only was that… No, I was tricked. Betrayed. By those I considered kin no less.” The figure looked down at Kid. “Have you also been betrayed? Or…” it straightened its frame and its wings twitched, “were you the one that did the betrayal? If it’s the latter, I’m afraid we can’t be friends anymore, but I will always be available for business-”

Kid let the figure ramble while he recalled his last memories before he woke.

He was… distracted, and on an island, alone -the others were away but he hadn’t hurt them, this had been one thing he was absolutely sure of- and then…

The Dawn Machine’s fleet appeared. He remembered deciding to go against them, facing them as they appeared on the swamp island, but then…

“Well? No answer?” The figure’s voice was now grating.

“I wasn’t betrayed.”

“So you did the betrayal?”

Kid frowned. “No, I didn’t. I… ugh.” He shook his head and tried moving his limbs again, to no result. He had to find a way out of this situation, not entertain a deranged cannibalistic ghost.

“Eating human meat makes me as much of a cannibal as it would you.”

Dammit it all, did that thing read minds too?

“I can tell from your expression. Yes, I am pretty good with such… subtleties-”

“I can’t stay here,” Kid cut him off. “I have to leave, I have to…” Put an end to the Dawn Machine. Find the others. But in what order?

“By the way, the group that you travelled with appear to be quite the troublemakers… or at least that’s what’s been whispered to me,” the figure nonchalantly said. “But alas, they won’t last…”

Kid’s fingers twitched. “If you hurt them-!”

“Oh my, calm down my… I suppose I can’t call you delicious friend. Unappetizing friend? Yes, that would work,” the figure muttered to itself. “No, my unappetizing friend, this isn’t any of my own makings. I am trapped and you are trapped and your delicious friends will be trapped and all will not be well… but it’s easier to say otherwise, don’t you think?”

Kid gave the figure his nastiest death glare. It took a step back.

“Now, now, about your little group… I will not do anything they will not do to themselves. After all, this place was nasty long before I was betrayed here. I suppose this was why it was picked for…” The figure shuddered.

A painful prickly feeling rose at Kid’s chest until he gasped for breath. The pain renewed, he could now move, he could breathe but it all hurt…

“Ah, waking up already…” The figure gave him a jaunty wave and disappeared, just as Kid’s surroundings came into a sharp focus. “See you soon!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

There were few decisions Kid had taken which he had immediately regretted.

This instance of waking up was one of them.

Kid could barely feel anything, which was a good thing because everything burned. Not like fire, not like being bathed in boiling water, not like being engulfed in acid…

It burned like the fire of a thousand suns, like the epicentre of the world’s most powerful atomic bomb, like every molecule of his being was torn apart with such fierceness that the pain transplanted itself into his very soul.

Kid couldn’t move his head. He couldn’t see the state his body was in, but judging from the agony…

“Why is it awake?”

“Need more shards, ma’am,” a second voice said. “Or another dose of Correspondence I reckon.”

Maybe not being able to see his body was a good thing.

“Have the Lorn-Flukes ready in case it tries to escape.”

Kid’s face was moved. The corner of his eye picked up a long and sharp tool, a stick. They wouldn’t even dare touch him.

With her red gown, cold expression and golden eyes, the Bright-Eyed Sequencer’s face came into view. She stood in front of him, a figure of bright colour against the greys of her surroundings, cracked marble and stone hearts that cast no shadow.

“I suppose an explanation is in order, out of respect,” she said. “Even if such respect can apply to a being outside the Chain…”

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer cleared her throat and straightened her back, as if she was about to give a report. The tiny part of Kid’s brain that wasn’t screaming in pain found her gesture more mocking than respectful.

“You broke our agreement,” the Bright-Eyed Sequencer began in a crisp voice. “In addition, the Machine was informed about your… peculiarities.” She gave Kid a false smile. “I admit, scaring a God of the Zee was quite an achievement, but it was ultimately your downfall. It appears they prefer the Machine’s rule than outright extinction.” The Bright-Eyed Sequencer scoffed. “How foolish of them to cause this mess in the first place. To add to our misfortunes, the Mountain refused to cooperate, so we had to get our hands dirty… a horrible inefficiency, which will be gone the moment the Dawn Machines rules the Neath, as it ought to do.”

Kid didn’t even know if he could still talk. He didn’t want to try.

On account of his failing vision, Kid switched his focus to his Soul Perception. There were other beings there as well. Humans, devils, prickly souls lurking below… all of them intertwined with a throbbing and blinding light.

There was a red glow around him, independent of the blue glow of the shards, like the red at Codex. Was Correspondence carved around him? Was it a form of restraint? The air stunk of pomegranates, Irem’s roses and pine… What were they planning to do?

“Another batch depleted. You truly are…” the Bright-Eyed Sequencer muttered. “But no matter. The shards are not what is important. They are a flimsy bandage and we are dealing with major lacerations. Bring me another.”

Something was hammered into Kid, the red glow intensified, and…

He didn’t feel any more pain. He doubted he could.

Instead, he faded, ever so slightly.

For a moment, Kid’s pain was forgotten in favour of sheer horror. He tried to move, react, anything, but he could only blink and sputter. The world went out of focus, the smells were vanishing and his hearing was starting to fail too.

The still conscious part of Kid’s mind came to a horrible realisation. Their plan was…

“This is difficult for us as well. But we have to be cautious.” The Bright-Eyed Sequencer gave Kid with a reserved but respectful expression. “The Machine cannot trust.”

No…

"We may never be able to truly stop you…"

A Grim Reaper can’t be killed, but there were ways of taking them down, one of them being…

“But we can delay you. Perhaps indefinitely."

What Crona forced on Asura…

"After all, that is not dead which can eternal lie…"

A deep sleep…

“But with strange aeons, even death may die.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Maka’s heart felt like it had stopped.

Her limbs were heavy and exhausted. Her heart beat fast. Her whole body was immobile yet tensed.

Groggily, Maka lifted her head to look around and gasped.

The area she was in looked as if an ancient Greek amphitheatre had been uprooted and chucked into the Unterzee. Parts of it were collapsed, and the rest looked ready to do so at any moment. Its centre had sunken into the zee, save the east-most part of its base where a weathered and candlelit altar lay. Five stone hearts stood witness, at the highest ends of the amphitheatre, connected to each other via tangled cable-like veins. There was no wind, no smells, no sounds but her own ragged breathing.

Standing up, Maka noted the cracked marble seemingly reflected the darkness surrounding it, to the point where it was hard to distinguish the floor from the zee and false-sky. She was near the base of the amphitheatre, a small distance away from the altar. Nothing moved, not even the small pools of water where parts of the floor had collapsed into the sunken depths.

Gulping down her dread, Maka moved away from the altar and towards the collapsed edge of the amphitheatre, where something glinted in the pale Neath light.

As Maka approached the glinting mass, she realised it was a shipwreck. The unfortunate ship was missing parts of its hull, the metal cleanly ripped apart, its gaping holes leading into its hull and lower decks. Water silently lapped around it, as its hull had dug into the marble.

Biting her lip, Maka circled the ship in hopes of finding out more about this place and her situation in general. Where was she? How had she ended up here? Where the others here as well?

Her last question was partially answered by an enormous bloodstain that spanned a portion of a hole in the lower deck. It was spread on the very edges of the hole, and concentrated on the floor and lower side.

Parts of it still dripped.

Looking away, Maka activated her Soul Perception. Her vision came up dark.

There was no other soul on the island.

“Damn it,” Maka whispered and took a step back from the ship and the water. What could have possibly ripped this ship apart? A human couldn’t do that. One of those so-called zee monsters? Maka’s group hadn’t encountered any in their journey, but the overwhelming amount of stories they had heard and the very nature of the Neath itself left little doubt in Maka’s mind about their existence.

If a zee monster had done this, were they still around? Her Soul Perception hadn’t picked up any souls in general, though animal souls were harder to detect and identify...

As she looked at the ship again, she noticed a small detail on its side. Part of the hall was painted red, and the paint resembled writing. Could it be the ship’s name?

Hesitantly, Maka slowly approached the side and squinted to get a better look at the writing. Though the paint was faint and scratched, its letters were as clear as day.

‘THE UNSINKABLE VIII’

...No. No, this couldn’t be...

Maka reread the name again and again, hoping that she was hallucinating, or that she’d find that the name was a misspelling or anything that could prove that this wasn’t their old ship. It couldn’t be, it had sunk long ago and they had been nowhere near an amphitheatre…

Maybe this was another ship with the same name. Yet, the sloppy handwriting matched Black Star’s perfectly, and the odds  of another ship being named something as ridiculous as ‘The Unsinkable VIII’ were as low as Maka’s current understanding of her situation.

Maka wasn’t wet, she had no wounds or no recollection of how she’d reached this place. She couldn't chalk it up to general Neath weirdness, there was always an explanation, some sort of internal logic, no matter how convoluted, behind it. The last thing she remembered was heading West, following the Brainwashed Captain’s directions in search of a Castle…

The name Kingeater’s Castle popped into her head like a moaning, shambling corpse. Maka shook her head in response, but the name persisted, like the carvings of a perished civilization.

Maka let out a groan and rubbed her eyes. If this place was Kingeater's Castle, and Maka was stranded here then… where was everyone else?

Her Soul Perception came up blank as Maka stepped away from the ship. She was the only one here. There was no other soul around her. She couldn’t help but recall the faces of her friends, of Soul and hope that they were safe-

Her foot pressed down on something soft.

Maka looked down and saw pale flesh and a white tuft of hair.

She bit back a scream and scrambled away from the corpse, away from its familiar frame. The body, it couldn’t have been...

There were other bodies around, all mutilated in some way, whether they were bloated or missing limbs, each one achingly familiar.

Maka ran, her chest burning, her cheeks hot and her breaths shallow. She reached the centre of the base of the amphitheatre and collapsed, holding on to the altar like a lifeline. The stone slab looked inviting...

“No!” Maka cried out loud. She couldn’t afford to do nothing, and she refused to! Even… even if the worst had happened, there was someone that would have survived this, someone who could at least explain what the hell had happened, if this was even real-

“Maka?”

A familiar voice. A firm hand on her shoulder.

Holding back tears, Maka looked up. A pale face with a blank expression stared back at her.

“Kid!”

Maka lurched forwards and held him tightly, not wanting to let go of a known presence, even if this was only Kid, even if that meant… “What the hell happened?”

“What do you mean?” His voice was as blank as what little she’d glimpsed of his expression.

Maka disengaged from the hug and blinked at him. “What do I- the ship! The others, their… you…!” She lifted her hand to point at the pile of bodies but froze.

In the area where she had seen the fleshy decaying remnants of her friends was now filled with bones. Old ones, judging by the lack of flesh. None of them human.

Maka looked back at Kid then at the bones. She repeated the gesture multiple times. “I saw them!” she yelled and pointed accusatively at the pile. “I saw them, I swear, these weren’t just bones-!”

Yet despite her shock, a wave of relief washed over her. It wasn’t them. That meant that they still were- that Soul still was...

Wiping her nose, Maka stood up and surveyed the area. Besides the bones and the shipwreck, the area was empty. “Is it just us on this island?” She looked at Kid, who was staring blankly at nothing. “Where is everyone else?”

“... I don’t know,” Kid replied. Again, blankly.

“How are you…?” Maka began in a false start. “I thought you’d been taken captive by the Dawn Machine! After we got separated I was so worried-”

“You were?

“Of course I was! When you…” the words died in her mouth. “We all woke up safe and you weren’t there and then we were arrested and found a way to escape and-”

“Sounds like quite the adventure.” Kid gave her a smile. “I’m sure when we find the others all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Maka frowned. That was… strange. Maybe he was trying to put up some sort of brave face?

“Do you think the others are on this island as well?” Maka asked, eager to change the subject. “My Soul Perception comes up empty…”

“We can always search,” Kid offered.

Maka nodded and brought herself up. She wanted some time alone, which was silly considering her aim was to find her friends.

She walked around the amphitheatre, careful to avoid the corpse-filled side. She went up a couple of stairs and looked down at the amphitheatre’s base. The candlelit altar stood out, it the rest of the amphitheatre was dark and Kid was… nowhere to be found.

Maka frowned and narrowed her eyes. She thought he’d followed after her silently, but…

“I have found it!” A high-pitched manic voice echoed around the amphitheatre. Maka looked at where the voice originated, up at the very edges of the amphitheatre where there was a person standing by the stone heart.

“The Heart of Frostfound!” the Doomed Scholar yelled. Their hands outreached at the false-stars of the Neath. “The Truth! The Secret! The History!”

They plunged down like a diver and Maka ran up the rest of the stairs, reaching the place where the Doomed Scholar once stood within seconds. When she looked over the edge and down at the Zee, there was no body, no waves to indicate anyone had fallen in…

“What…?”

Maka stood by the edge and rubbed her eyes. She looked back where she was met with the rotting, bloody and disfigured faces of Zaira and the Smiling Captain.

“All tragedies end here,” they sang in unison.

Maka screamed and took a step back, stumbling, her soles tittering over the edge of the amphitheatre. She fell to her knees, one of her feet slipping into the abyss, but her hands grabbed the nearest ledge and held it tight. She stood like that for a few agonizingly long moments, until she brought her leg up while taking deep calming breaths.

When Maka looked up, the dead-eyed corpses broke into a familiar skull-shaped shadows. That must mean that the creator of the illusion was…

Maka slowly got up and looked at the figure coming up the stairs. Kid’s expression was as calm as before, while hers was a combination of shock, disbelief and fear.

“Why...?”

Kid wouldn’t look her in the eye. “You’ve betrayed me Maka.” He gave her a sad smile. “As have I.”

Maka looked at Kid like he’d grown a second head. Betrayal? Had he hit his head or something?

“Tell me, do you truly want to find me so you could help me?" Kid continued.

Maka gulped but resisted the urge to take a step back. “Yes,” she answered. Why else would Maka want to find Kid?

Sure she was going to confront him about hiding things from her, but rescuing him was ultimately her goal.

Right?

"Are you lying to convince me, or yourself?" Kid spoke up, as if having read Maka’s thoughts.

Maka wanted to give Kid a flippant reply and tell him to get a hold of himself, but paused.

It wasn’t just the evasion. It was the hesitance, the gradual aloofness, the incident with the Devils, meeting with Salt, the…

...The black engulfing liquid at the Isle of Cats and Kid’s disappearance… Even then though...

They were left unharmed.

"I’m not lying.” Maka insisted.

"Of course, which is why you had to take several moments to form this simple sentence,” Kid nonchalantly said.

Maka’s frown deepened. Truth be told, Maka did have her reservations, her suspicions, but...

Maybe Kid wasn’t aware he wasn’t telling them things, maybe it was a subconscious act. Even then, even if Kid deliberately hid things from them, whatever reason he had couldn’t be malevolent. Maybe he wanted to deal with things on his own like he had done at Venderbight, or maybe even he wasn’t fully aware of what was going on and didn’t want to worry their group even further. These decisions were still short-sighted in Maka’s opinion, but Maka wouldn’t leave Kid out to dry or anything. Whatever the reason, Maka trusted Kid, and wanted Kid to trust her.

Kid sighed. “Again, no answer-”

“Enough!” Maka cut Kid off and gave him a pained look. “We can sort out whatever happened Kid, but for now let’s just get out of here, and find the others and go back home-”

“There is no place to return to-”

“You’re lying,” Maka shot back. “You have a home and-”

“A dead home-”

“I don’t understand a word you’re saying!” Maka cut him off. “Look, whatever’s going on, I don’t care! Just stop this and let’s work together like we used to.”

“Can’t…”

“Why not?”

“Trust has been broken-”

“Not mine!” Maka yelled, stomping right into Kid’s personal space and looking him straight in the eyes. “I trust you even if you make mistakes, dammit, so just trust me too!”

Her words echoed in the amphitheatre, followed by absolute silence.

Kid stared back with an empty look and Maka held his gaze with a glare of the ‘you’re my friend and I love you but you’re acting stupid’ variety.

Then Kid flickered, for a brief moment replaced by a shifting mass of muted colours and shapes, like a boiling unappetizing soup.

Maka blinked. Her vision returned to normal, Kid was still giving her the same blank look as before.

However that flicker… it wasn’t just Kid. Her whole environment, the sky, the floor, everything.

Maka took a step back, as if seeing her surroundings for the first time.

Something wasn’t right. Ever since she woke up on this silent wreck of an island, something was off, as if a veil had been put on her…

Maka used her Soul Perception again. This time, she expanded its reach looking for…

Maka opened her eyes and fixed the being in front of her with a glare it. “I knew it.” Her Soul Perception was still active, coming up blank, even if her reach could span an entire city.  “You’re not Kid,” she said as she looked around her with growing realisation.  The edges of the amphitheatre melted like putty, already giving up the ghost. “This isn’t real.”

When Maka looked back at the fake Kid, its form was engulfed in darkness, a slumping silhouette with two beady eyes staring back at her.

“That’s a bit of a relative term,” the figure said in a whispering smooth voice, “isn’t it my delicious friend?”

Maka punched the fake figure in the face, only for his frame to dissipate into nothing, leaving her alone and in silence.

“Come out you coward!” Maka yelled, her voice reverberating across her non-existent environment. “Whatever you’re doing it won’t work!”

She reached out with her Soul Wavelength once again, this time pouring all her aggression into the search.

A faint wavelength came up and Maka clutched it like a lifeline.

“Soul!”

The area was obscured by a cloud of fungal spores, with a small ogre-like figure casting a shadow. He lifted his head the moment he heard her voice.

“Maka?!”

She grabbed Soul’s arm and tugged him along. The room was already breaking apart, the floor and walls peeling away like cheap wallpaper.

They were in a new area now, on a room made up of ice, and figure standing in front of a mirror, with its reflection-

“Black Star!” Soul called out.

The mirror broke into a thousand pieces.

“I got him!” Soul yelled. “Keep going!”

The ice melted and Maka was in a damp prison cell, where a figure lay in chains.

“Tsubaki get up!” Black Star yelled, and held Tsubaki’s hand.

Tsubaki lifted her head, eyes wide. “Black Star?!”

“No idea what’s going on, but we’re getting out of here!”

The chains broke apart and Maka found herself in another cell, only this one was bloody and loud.

“I SAID GET ME OUT!”

“Liz!” Tsubaki called out and grasped Liz’s hand. “It’s ok, we’re here!”

The scenery changed once again, to be replaced by an open field covered by spider-webs. A lone mutilated body with long blonde hair hand from a tree in the middle, and a figure stared at it from below.

“Patty!” Liz shouted, her arm wrapping around her sister’s waist and holding her close. “It’s ok, big sis is here!”

Once again, a change. A room with a table lined with corpses, a small crate of heartmetal on the side, an empty bottle on the side...

“Get your butt up pal!” Patty yelled. “This ain’t over!”

A new room. This one filled with masks, and a pink-haired figure holding a multitude of them.

“Kim, you promised!” Jackie held out her hand and Kim hesitantly grasped it. “Now come along!”

A new area, this one in ruins, because of a mistake, a failure, a lack of…

“Stop moping around you big dummy!” Kim shouted as she grabbed Ox by the shoulder and dragged him along.

A different place, one that was and will be. Hissing serpents made up the floor, all of them conspiring, doubting-

“Harvar!” Ox yelled and held out his hand. “You know you can trust me.”

Drunk bodies strewn on the floor, a calendar with no dates on, unchanging yet lagging…

“Kilik,” Harvar called out. “Your journey is not over.”

Hell on Earth, fire ravaging the land while thunder cracked the sky, battling yet never connecting-

“Fire, Thunder!” Ox shouted. “It’s ok, it happens, it’s not over-”

Glowing rusted cogs, eyeless pale blue bloated bodies, a broken pillar of salt.

“What’s done before shall be done again.”

A sky of empty husks glimmering like diamond-studded corpses and at the very top…

“The cycle will repeat itself.”

A lone figure facing away, clad in black and with three white lines surrounding them.

“Are you sure you will not suffer the same fate?”

“Enough!” Maka called out. She had enough of these damned illusions. Motivated by pure anger and indignation, she ran head-first into the figure which it broke like water, giving way to….

She was back at the altar, only this time there were three masked figures around it, and on top was a bleeding, screaming, begging, betrayed creature with leathery wings and a voice so shrill her eardrums bled-

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

“Yes, Soul,” Maka said with a groan for what felt like the umpteenth time. “I’m just as good as I was the last time you asked me five seconds ago.”

Soul’s face appeared on his blade giving Maka a small pout. “I’m worried, sue me.”

“I’ll be fine,” Maka reassured him again. “I should be the one worried anyways, you’re the one maintaining the Team Resonance after all.”

“Sure, with your Wavelength.” Soul let out a sigh. “Just tell me if you start feeling tired, ok?”

“Yeah, if you collapse we’re all screwed,” Kim spoke up. “I don’t want a repeat of that for the third time.”

“Um, weren’t you the one who broke off the connection?” Tsubaki asked.

Kim crossed her hands. “It’s not like I knew I’d collapse again.” She glanced at Maka. “And thanks for re-establishing the connection, I guess. Place was just as bad as the first time.”

Maka nodded at her words, before bringing her attention to the rest of the group.

They were all gathered around a chart-filed table in the Captain’s room, sans Black Star with the former having loudly proclaimed he was going to make sure the engine didn’t run out of fuel. In order to make it easier to maintain the Team Resonance and save space, the Weapons that had a potential Meister around -ie everyone sans Tsubaki- had transformed.

“That’s all well and good, but do we have any idea where we are?” Liz asked, arms crossed and Patty’s Weapon form positioned so that she could see over the table.

“We should have Kingeater’s Castle within our sight any moment now,” Ox said as he circled the Southeast corner of the massive Unterzee map which took up most of the table. “I think…”

“And you’re sure that’s the place?” Liz asked again.

“Kid’s soul is in that direction,” Maka said, activating her Soul Perception once again. Kid’s soul came into view a small distance away. It was fainter than usual, but its size still made identifying it easy. “Which is where we were told he was taken…”

Kilik looked away from their group, towards the big pane glass on the front side of their ship and gulped. “Guys… Speak of the devil.”

Shaped formed on the horizon. Everyone held their breath as new shapes formed in the horizon, along with a faint faraway light.

Everyone kept holding their breath even when the objects came into focus.

“...Is that it?” Jackie let out, only for her voice to trail off and her question to go unanswered.

Maka looked at the scenery and held back a grimace. Her nightmares looked was more pleasant than this.

Hands. Countless broken marble hands reaching out from the zee, palms upwards and fingers outstretched. Moss grew in between the cracks and some of the hands had fingers or entire sections of their palm missing, like broken ancient remnants of defeated primordial titans. They stood like malevolent statues, as if clawing at the Neath roof or perhaps waiting to descend upon unsuspecting ships and drag them into the zee’s seemingly bottomless abyss.

Over the forest-like arrangement of marble hands stood the amphitheatre from Maka’s dreams, in the same desolate and half-collapsed state. Kingeater’s Castle. Dreadnoughts bathed in golden glow patrolled around it, their bright lights resembling lanterns of prison guards.

Yet that wasn’t the worst sight they were greeted with.

Halfway through the sea of marble hands and covering the entirety of Kingeater’s Castle was a massive dome-like projection, translucent and yellow-tinted, that stretched from below the zee-was it a sphere instead of a dome?- and whose highest point was above the amphitheatre.

“Is that…” came Soul’s hesitant voice, “a soul?”

Maka blinked, activated her Soul Perception and watched the towering orb with rising dread.

It wasn’t just any soul. This was Kid’s soul, somehow visible without the use of Soul Perception. It gave off a pale glow amidst the darkness, and its surface was covered in small but expanding colourless scab-like growths that felt oddly familiar.

“Hey,” Soul continued, his voice barely above the whispered. “Doesn’t this remind you of…”

“The Moon,” Maka whispered back.

Their final fight with Asura, when Maka and Soul had made Asura bleed, when Crona had activated Brew, only this time, instead of a bursting growth that covered the soul within seconds, the cocoon-like structure was made up of disparate growths, expanding slowly but steadily across the soul’s surface. When it occurred with Asura, the Kishin had been sealed away in the Moon. Did that mean that Kid would also be...

“We have to hurry!” Maka spoke up in alarm, causing people around her to jump in surprise.

“Have you seen the ships patrolling the area?” Kim asked and pointed at the golden dreadnoughts roaming in front of the Kingeater’s Castle crumbling entrance. “Think we can even reach the place before we get sunk?”

Maka looked over to Kingeater’s Castle again, surrounded by the Dawn Machine’s glowing fleet, at the multitude of massive armed-to-the-teeth ships. Maybe, with a well-thought-out plan they could manoeuvre around them with a drawn-out hit-and-run strategy.

But… Maka focused on Kid’s soul again. The void-like scabs kept growing more numerous on Kid’s soul with every passing second. With the rate they were growing, Maka doubted they had the time to enter a time-consuming battle. How else could they approach Kingeater’s Castle though?

Maka closed her eyes and recalled the Kingeater’s Castle from her dream. The only obvious opening was its collapsed side which formed a port at its base. However, the other walled areas around the amphitheatre had no other defences sans their height.

“What if we scale the back?” Maka muttered to herself.

With her Soul Perception, Maka saw that most of the Dawn Machine’s forces were concentrated at the entrance, as it was the easiest point of entry. Only a scant few were at the surrounding areas, and none were at the East side of Kingeater’s Castle.

As for scaling the back itself, an ordinary human wouldn’t be able to climb it. However, some within their group some had flight or flight-like abilities, which meant that as long as they coordinated properly, they could bring everyone up in a matter of minutes. Entering via the back side of Kingeater’s Castle was doable, not to mention that doing so would give them the element of surprise and the high ground.

“We're entering from the back,” Maka announced. "Turn off the lights and hug the shore,” Maka instructed Ox before turning to the others. “Everyone else, to your stations!”

Ox gave her a curt nod, gathered up the charts and, with Harvar in his grasp, headed to the very front of the room where the steering equipment was. The rest left the room with various degrees of enthusiasm, until the only ones left were Maka and Soul by the entrance, and Ox and Harvar at the front.

Maka looked at the door and gave Soul’s blade a soft knock. “Are you planning to give a look at the engines?”

Soul’s form appeared, leaning back and with his arms crossed. “They’ll be fine. As long as you don’t set them at ‘FULL POWER’, we won’t have any problems.”

Maka nodded, satisfied with his answer. Feeling like she had earned a moment of rest, Maka closed her eyes and listened to Soul’s soft melody resonating across everyone’s souls. It was calm and peaceful, unobtrusive like a portable radio at a summer campsite.

"Those were some nasty nightmares we had." Soul spoke up. “Not cool at all.”

Maka made an agreeing noise. From what little she had seen, Soul’s nightmare involved his soul’s room, its walls made up of thick red curtains, a checkered red and black floor, and a small imp-like figure with beady eyes...

“Do you ever think we’ll be safe?”

“What?” Maka asked distractedly, opening her eyes to look at Soul’s Weapon form. There was no reflection on the blade.

“Nothing,” Soul quickly said. “Forget I asked-”

Maka gave Soul a small frown. That didn’t sound like nothing. “I don’t know if we’ll ever be safe...” she began, and gave Soul a small smile. “but I think it’s worth it.”

Soul’s face appeared at his blade and raised an eyebrow at Maka. “Not being safe is worth it?”

Maka nodded. “Part of being safe means not taking risks, right?” Soul crossed his arms in thought but eventually gave her a small nod. “Well, sometimes, you have to take risks to protect the people you care about.” She looked from Soul, to Kingeater’s Castle, to Kid’s soul, unmoving as if it’d been suspended in ice. “You have to do things that are unsafe.”

Soul followed Maka’s gaze and frowned.

“So, we can choose to be safe,” Maka continued. “But the question then becomes, what to do we have to give up to do so? I don’t see myself giving up anything anytime soon, so…”

What followed was a long period of silence.

“Right,” Soul eventually said with a small smile. “Cool answer.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“Turn off the lights and hug the shore she said,” Ox murmured to himself, making sure his voice was low enough that Maka couldn’t hear him. “No lights and sailing right by the shore in unknown waters, what could possibly go wrong?”

“Ox,” came Harvar’s metallic voice through his Weapon form.

“Yes?”

“You appear to be stressed,” Harvar said in a perfect monotone.

“I’m fine, Ox said and ran a hand across his cranium. “Just… worried.”

“Why?”

“Why wouldn’t I be worried? I may be the one with the most experience in sailing, but this isn't exactly an easy manoeuvre.” Ox looked over the window and slightly adjusted the ship’s course.

“I mean in general.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Your confidence levels have… fallen.” Harvar’s form appeared on his Weapon form, however, because of its thinness, only a part of his face containing a nose and narrowed eye could be seen on it. “Is something bothering you?”

“Oh boy, for you to be asking me that....” Ox let out a sigh. “You’re right. I’m not as confident as I was before.”

“Why?”

Ox made several false starts. Leave it to Harvar to ask such a simple question for such a complex matter. “Look I messed up. Back at the Chelonate if… maybe if I hadn’t talked to that merchant, they wouldn’t have attacked and then…” he rambled, “not to mention I failed everyone when the attack happened.”

Harvar didn't respond and Ox continued steering the ship in silence. Harvar was like that, taking time to answer or ask questions. In this instance however, Ox didn’t think Harvar would have anything more to say.

“I don’t think you did.”

Ox was surprised by the answer, and by the presence of an answer itself, and almost let go of the spear. “What?”

“My memories are hazy,” Harvar began. “But from what I can gather, you surrendered, correct?”

“Yes…”

“That was not necessarily the wrong choice.” Harvar spoke evenly and with a sense of detachment, as if he was a chess commentator. “If you kept the fight going, I’m certain we would have suffered greater injuries. Their attack was swift and effective. They managed to take out our strongest fighters before we could even come up with a counter-attack. They didn’t kill any of us, but if we kept fighting… there are too many scenarios I can think of and the vast majority are… unpleasant.”

Ox blinked as Harvar continued his analysis. When his Weapon Partner put it like that… maybe Ox had dealt with an impossible situation in the safest manner possible.

“But I still got us captured-”

“You did not get us captured. We all let ourselves get captured,” Harvar said. “I’m sure if I look back in everyone’s action, I can spot at least one case where they made the wrong judgement. Such is human nature.”

Ox couldn’t help but agree with that, yet his reservations remained. “But if we hadn’t been captured then the events with the Red honey… none of that would have happened.”

“You, or anyone else, couldn’t have known about any of the things at the time. Hindsight is 20/20, as the saying goes.”

That was also true. Dammit, Ox was running out of reasons to blame himself.

“Well?” Harvar asked.

Ox sighed and put his free hand up. “You win, I have no arguments left.”

Harvar’s narrowed eye appeared on the spear once again. “My intention was never to win.” Upon seeing Ox’s relaxed expression, Harvar’s eye narrowed even further. “What?”

“Thanks,” Ox said with a smile. “You’ve put your trust on me, so I’d better not let you down, huh?”

Harvar’s eye slightly widened before disappearing altogether. “There is no need for reassurances,” he said after a few moments. “I know you won’t.”

The two stayed in relative silence for a few moments, with Ox making small adjustments to the ship’s course. Though the zee was as dark always, Ox felt like he could see better in the dark now.

“But the sentiment is appreciated,” Harvar murmured after a few minutes. While Ox didn’t answer, a small smile adorned his face.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Fire chased after Thunder as the twin ran across the deck. Upon running across the same spot Kim and Jackie were in for what Kim felt like was the third time, Fire stumbled and fell flat and fell on his face.

“Would you look at that,” Kim gestured at the twins, Thunder stopped in her tracks, looked back on her brother and, after a few moments, walked to Fire and helped him up. “They’re starting to get along again.”

“That’s nice,” Jacki said in a monotone.

Kim looked down on Jackie. As the ship’s official surgeon, Kim had no urgent duties -or any duties at all- to attend, so she had settled for sitting on the main deck. The scenery was unpleasant, what with the ship clad in darkness passing by giant marble hands that felt like they could move at any moment to snatch them up, but Kim figured it was better for her to get used to it now than when she was supposed to focus on the rescue.

“...By the way, do you think you can light up a little?” Kim asked Jackie, whose Weapon form was laid on her lap. “I feel a bit chilly,” she lied.

“Maka instructed to have no lights on the ship so as to remain undetectable,” Jackie responded in the same deadpan vice as before.

“Just a little then!” Kim insisted. “Please…~”

Jackie’s face appeared on her Weapon form, giving Kim a blank look. “...Ok.”

Kim felt Jackie warm up like a newly heated warm water bottle. Outwardly, she let out a small content smile, but on the inside, she was doing the mental equivalent of scowling.

Despite her warmth, Jackie felt… cold. She had become quieter than usual, barely speaking to Kim or anyone else. At first, Kim thought that Jackie was trying to deal with certain… recent events, so she had backed off and given her as much space as she needed -at least that’s what she told herself. But, Jackie’s cold attitude had persisted and now...

Now Kim was worried sick.

“Hey Jackie,” Kim spoke up.

Jackie’s face appeared on the lantern and looked up at her. Her expression was as blank as before. “Yes?”

Kim didn’t speak immediately. Initially, she wanted to ask Jackie what was wrong, but she figured she wouldn’t get a straight answer with such a simple question. However, the more she thought about possible approaches, the more one thought repeated in her head.

Was she truly worried about Jackie, or was Kim’s worry a manifestation of her guilt for almost…?

“Are you…?” No. “Is there…” Nope. “How do you…” Nada. No matter how Kim phrased her question, it always felt disingenuous. Maybe is she just...

“I’m sorry,” Kim eventually said in a whisper.

Jackie’s brow slightly furrowed. A flicker of emotion. “Huh?”

“I…” Kim looked away. It was too late to back out now, she had already given too much away. “I tried to break my promise.”

“Our promise?” Jackie repeated.

“Of not running away,” Kim continued and rubbed her eyes. “It’s been on my mind lately. Ever since the incident on the Isle of Cats, I’ve just been so… afraid and…” Kim looked down to see Jackie’s blank expression and paused. “You’re... awfully calm about this.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Jackie asked, with her being the one who was now looking away. “I don't blame you.”

Kim felt indignation bubble within her. “You should!”

“Why?” Jackie cut her off. “Because you thought you lied? Because you want to give up? What’s so wrong about that?”

Kim frowned in concern as Jackie’s frown deepened with each rhetorical question. Something was terribly wrong. “Jackie?”

“Because you couldn’t keep a stupid promise?!” Jackie yelled to herself, her frown having turned into a scowl.

“Stupid?” Kim blankly repeated.

Jackie let out a bitter laugh. “It was a stupid promise, wasn’t it? ‘Please stay?’ What am I, ten-?

“You dumbass.”

Jackie paused at Kim’s acidic tone, usually reserved for exceptionally stupid or annoying individuals. “Huh?”

“Why’d you think I told you?! I wanted you to chew me out, not go all Nietzsche on me! ‘Why does it matter’- because I made a promise to you dammit and it’s not stupid,” Kim rambled, “because I don’t make these things to anyone you know, so it’s a big fucking deal.”

Jackie’s scowl slowly shifted to a look of surprise. “Huh?”

“So, whatever’s going on -tell me if you want, don’t tell me if you don’t want, it’s your decision- just don’t give up dammit!” Kim continued, her cheeks red and eyes watery. Dammit, she was getting too emotional over this, and if it turned out to be nothing on Jackie’s side, Kim could rightfully be considered the biggest idiot in this already stupid world. “I was an idiot for almost giving up on you, and you’re supposed to be the smart one between us, so don’t you dare give up, ya hear?!”

Jackie blinked at Kim, seemingly lost at what to say. It might have been pure imagination or a desire not to be the only emotional wrack in this situation, but Jackie's eyes seemed watery as well -or maybe it was just the lantern’s metallic surface.

“I…” Jackie began hesitantly. “I won’t.”

“Is this a promise?”

Jackie opened her mouth and closed it multiple times, like a lost goldfish. “Yes.”

“Good,” Kim said with a sniff. “I didn’t break my promise so you’d better not break yours, you hear?!”

Jackie’s form grew warmer and Kim instinctively huddled around the lantern, as if it was an oversized pillow.

“Kim, after all this over,” Jackie began in a soft voice. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

“Sure thing.” Kim hugged the lantern, basking in its light and warmth. “Take your time. I won’t be going anywhere.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

As Liz watched over the horizon, trying her darndest to focus on the bright ships and not on the multitude of marble hands or Kid’s seriously messed up soul, the last person she expected to show up at the gunnery station appeared.

“Tsubaki?” Liz swivelled the chair embedded on a Victorian version of a cannon -which was as unwieldy and fickle as its description implied- to face the newcomer. “You’re free?”

“I’ve been keeping myself busy. I had already made enough meals for everyone to last us a couple of days, so I’ve been… wandering.”

Liz let out a low whistle “Nice.” She leaned forward on her chair. “Wanna hang out with us?” Liz looked over on the other side of the deck, where her sister was strewn on an identical chair-cannon complex. “Hey, Patty, Tsubaki’s gonna be here with us, ain’t that nice?”

“Yeah…” Patty said with all the excitement of a child who’d been instructed to eat a plate made up entirely of Brussel sprouts.

Tsubaki look at the younger Thompson’s slumped form and frowned. “Is Patty ok?”

“I don’t know.” Any joy in Liz’s face vanished into a slight scowl. “She’s been like that ever since she woke up. Actually now that I think about it, she got worse when she woke up. She’s been acting less energetic for a while.”

Tsubaki nodded and gave Patty’s form a once over. Liz doubted she’d get anything. She had been trying to figure out what was wrong but it was as if she’d hit a brick wall.

“I hate this,” Liz muttered, earning her a concerned look from Tsubaki.

“I’m sure you’re doing everything you can-”

“Apparently, I’m not good enough!” Liz snapped and immediately regretted it. “Sorry, didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just…” She looked up to see Tsubaki’s concerned look, only this time directed at her and grimaced. “I’ve been feeling more like a dead weight every day.”

“That’s not true,” Tsubaki said with a frown. “Liz, you’re a great help to everyone-”

“Yup, especially when we got attacked by pirates and I couldn’t even reach the goddamned guns to shoot back,” Liz said with rising frustration. “Or what about the time I got us captured by the Khanate? Or all the times-”

“Liz!” Tsubaki cut her off. “I won’t hear this, not from you. Your instincts put us on edge at Mutton Island and for good reason. If I wasn’t for you, I don’t know if I’d kept it together at Wisdom and, you saved your sister from the spiders!”

Liz scoffed. Tsubaki was just saying that to make her feel better. “I’m just a scaredy cat, you were the one who kept me sane in Wisdom and I forced all of you to save me from the spiders cause I wasn't good enough,” she listed off. “Doesn’t sound like much to me.”

Tsubaki looked like she was inches away from shaking Liz back and forth and telling her a polite equivalent of ‘get your shit together’. “I disagree but even so, it’s the small things that count Liz! Your humour, your perseverance, your bravado, these are all things that I…” Tsubaki hesitated and Liz frowned. What was the word she wanted to say? “These are all things I admire,” Tsubaki concluded. “I admire you, Liz, not only as a fellow Weapon but as a person as well.”

That gave Liz pause. Tsubaki, admiring her? Not only as a Weapon -which was ludicrous, considering Tsubaki’s abilities- but as a person as well? Liz, the street rat whose vocabulary was chiefly made up of curse words, who knew more ways to threaten people out of their belongings than to make a proper meal to feed herself and her sister? “That’s...”

“Besides, if it’s anyone here that’s not been of much help it’s me,” Tsubaki continued.

“Ok, now who’s the one talking bullshit?” Liz said before she could stop herself. “Tsubaki, first of all, you make sure none of us starves to death! I can’t even make pasta to save my life and I doubt Black Star fares any better.”

Tsubaki gave her a thankful look but did not look convinced, which only made Liz more frustrated.

“Also, you have wicked ninja skills! Before I fucked up and we were captured by the Khanate, you were dropping people left and right!”

“I’ve had years of training. It’s not-”

Liz gave Tsubaki a flat look. “Who’s not appreciating themselves now?”

“It’s not that…” Tsubaki’s gaze fell on Patty’s slumped form and she couldn't look away. “Sorry, do you mind if I...?”

Liz followed her gaze and let out a sigh. “She won’t talk but you’re welcome to try. Come,” she gestured and Tsubaki followed after her, until they reached the other cannon where the younger Thompson lifelessly watched the horizon.

“Patty.” Upon receiving a non-committal response, Liz rubbed her eyes but continued in the same soft voice as before. “Is there anything you’d like to tell us?”

Patty pouted and looked away. “No…”

Liz held her hands up and mouthed ‘every time’. Tsubaki gave her a patient look and Liz sighed and walked away from the two, plopping herself on the chair of the cannon she was in charge of.

“If you don’t want to talk to Liz, you can talk to me, Patty.” Tsubaki knelt down so she was at eye-level with the younger Thompson. “I’m here to help.”

Patty shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Mmh.”

“Liz and I are worried about you Patty,” Tsubaki continued.

Patty mumbled something under her breath.

“What was that?”

“I said sis shouldn’t worry,” Patty mumbled. “Worry makes wrinkles and turns hair grey.”

“Well, one way to stop Liz from worrying is to tell her, or me, what’s troubling you,” Tsubaki said with a smile. “That way we can both help each other.”

Patty gave her a suspicious look that bordered on threatening. For a moment, Tsubaki was glad her training involved keeping a straight face at all times.

“Fine,” Patty rescinded and slumped further into her chair. “I’ll talk.”

“You make it sound like I’m a gangster,” Tsubaki said under her breath before speaking up. “Should I call Liz over as well?”

Patty’s eyes darted to her sister then back at Tsubaki. “Yeah.”

Tsubaki gestured over to Liz, and the older Thompson walked over and sat cross-legged next to Tsubaki, facing Patty. “Hey.”

“Hey sis,” Patty lifelessly said and Liz’s expression fell.

“Now Patty,” Tsubaki began, “is there something you want to tell Liz?”

Patty shifted uncomfortably and looked everywhere but Liz. “...I’m sorry,” she eventually let out.

Liz frowned. “For what?”

“For making you worry,” Patty said, continuing to avoid eye contact. “And for the spiders.”

Liz’s frown deepened. “What?”

“The spiders,” Patty repeated. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Tsubaki asked.

“Sis had to rescue Patty from the spiders, and you were the one they dragged off to…” Patty’s voice trailed off. “But it’s ok now! Patty burned them all! Oh, and Kid helped.”

“So you two were behind the fires, of course,” Liz muttered under her breath. “Patty, you have nothing to be sorry about. I’m your older sis, I look after you-”

“But I put you in danger! Patty didn’t listen and the spiders attacked me and then…”

“If I may,” Tsubaki spoke up. Upon receiving a lost look from Liz and curious expression from Patty, Tsubaki continued, “Patty, I believe what Liz was trying to say is that you shouldn’t feel guilty about her choice to help you.”

“Huh?” Patty tilted her head. “I don’t get it.”

Tsubaki frowned. “Well, how to put this…”

The three all paused as the ship passed through the Grim Reaper’s soul. Liz whispered a curse their ship passed directly under one of the scab-like growths.

Tsubaki swallowed down the feeling of dread the sight filled her with and gave Patty a small smile. The sight had given her an idea. “Say, Patty, how are you feeling now? About what we’re about to do?”

“Eh? We’re gonna rescue Kid from the bad guys!” Patty said with some of her old enthusiasm coming back.

“Exactly. But, this is a dangerous mission. What if you get hurt -as in get a bruise or a small cut?” Tsubaki quickly corrected after Liz’s outraged expression.

“What if Patty does get hurt?” Patty repeated.

“Would you like Kid to feel guilty about you getting hurt?” Tsubaki asked.

“‘Course not silly! Patty’s the one doing the rescuing.”

Tsubaki nodded. “Exactly. The same way you don’t want Kid to feel guilty if you get hurt when trying to rescuing him, Liz doesn’t want you to feel guilty about her rescuing you.”

Patty spent a few moments in silence, her brow furrowed in thought. Eventually, her mouth formed a perfect ‘o’ and she looked at Liz as if she’d seen her for the first time.

“Sis!” Patty exclaimed as she lunged at Liz and wrapped her in a tight hug while Tsubaki watched with a smile. “I’m sorry!”

“Hey,” Liz gasped, “we just had a conversation about how you shouldn't be sorry.”

“Oh right! I take back my sorry then!”

“...I suppose that works,” Liz uttered before turning towards Tsubaki. “That was a miracle,” she said when given a small reprieve from Patty’s rib-crushing hugs. “Who’s the useless one again?” She continued in good humour, and Tsubaki failed to hold back a laugh.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Kilik walked aimlessly around the deck, having nothing to do. He wasn’t the only one; on his way here, he had passed Kim and Jackie, and could see Liz, Patty and Tsubaki talk on the front deck, where the weapons were.

Kilik eventually decided to sit by the stairs, which allowed him a nice vantage point -so he could see Fire and Thunder ran past him every now and then- and rest his head away from the others.

His rest was short-lived when someone went up the stairs, covered in soot and smelling like they’d come straight out of hell.

“Black Star,” Kilik greeted the newcomer. “You done shovelling?”

“Yup,” Black Star said, wiping away a layer of soot from his face. “Should last us a couple of minutes.”

“It’s good you came out,” Kilik said, trying to make small talk. “Fresh air helps.”

Black Star scoffed. “Ok, mom.”

Kilik gave him a light punch on the forearm, with Black Star reciprocating the gesture. “Shut it.”

After that, the two sat in relative silence. Kilik stole glances at Black Star who took in his surroundings for the first time. The assassin didn't even bother acknowledging the giant hand statues, and his eyes glanced part the golden fleet and the amphitheatre in the middle.

Black Star did take pause when he looked up and witnessed the Grim Reaper’s soul. He blinked a couple of times, and looked around its perimeter, pausing whenever he encountered the encroaching black growths that grew and expanded like tumours.

“Is this…?”

“Lord Death’s soul,” Kilik concluded. He knew Black Star preferred to call him Kid, and Kilik did prefer the informality ‘Kid’ held. However, considering the circumstances and potential graveness of the situation, Kilik felt some respect was due from his side. “Whatever’s going on, it’s made his soul visible without the use of Soul Perception.”

“It’s this bad, huh?”

“Apparently,” Kilik said, not knowing what else to add.

Black Star eventually tore his gaze away and focused on the golden fleet, sitting next to Kilik. “So you guys come up with a plan?”

“Yeah. We’ll be going incognito and scale the back of Kingeater’s Castle; that’s where Lord Death is kept,” Kilik said, pointing at the amphitheatre. “From there, we get Kid and we get out.”

“That’s all?” Black Star asked and frowned. “There’s an entire fleet out there.”

“I know,” Kilik said with a sigh. “I’m not exactly sure, but I think the more time we waste the worse this...” Kilik pointed upwards at a particular large scab-like growth that had covered a large portion of the topmost part of the Grim Reaper’s soul, “becomes.”

Black Star crossed his hands. “So it’s like…”

“Like what?”

“Nothing.”

Kilik gave him a dry look. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Black Star scoffed. “I don’t need to to win.”

“That’s encouraging,” Kilik muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Us having no clue what we’re doing is how we got this mess in the first place.”

Black Star shrugged. “Maybe. Doesn’t mean we can’t fight our way out of it too.”

Kilik rolled his eyes. “I suppose that is a viable alternative when you can punch gods willy-nilly.”

Black Star gave Kilik a look and shrugged. “...Maybe.”

Kilik let out a groan at the non-answer and rubbed his temples.

Black Star turned to face him. “Dude, what’s up with all this defeatist talk? You’re not thinking of giving up are you?”

“No, but I can’t go jumping into danger-”

“Jumping into danger is the best part!”

“Not if other people can get harmed because of your actions,” Kilik insisted, giving Black Star a small glare. “Or if you don’t know what you’re up against.”

Black Star gave him a blank confused look and Kilik felt like banging his head against the wall. “You ever been out of your element?”

Black Star grinned. “I am never out of my element because I transcend elements!”

Kilik took a breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Ok, let me rephrase… Have you ever gotten yourself into a situation you regretted? One that you wouldn't get yourself in again?”

Black Star paused and looked away. “...Yeah,” he eventually let out.

“That’s what I’m talking about. These things do happen, and I have no idea when it’s worth it or not-”

“But regretting things is better than not doing them in the first place!” Black Star caught him off with a grin.

Kilik gave Black Star a dry look. “You never know unless you try?”

Black Star nodded.  “But maybe you have a point,” he said with a shrug as he laid down and stared up, at Kids soul and at the nonexistent sky. “Maybe sometimes it’s better to stay back from something, and we should be more careful and all that.” He frowned. “Or maybe not… Gah, I’m no good at this talking stuff.”

Kilik shared his sentiment. Still… maybe Black Star had a point. Yeah, maybe people did have their limits. However, how would one know when they reached their limit unless they tried, again and again?

“Whatever way you go at things though,” Black Star continued, balled his fist and offered it to Kilik, “you can’t give up.”

Kilik reciprocated the gesture and gave Black Star a fist bump. “Yup.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

“Almost there,” Maka whispered as she lifted Kilik, who was wielding not only the twins, but Liz and Patty as well, up the East side of Kingeater’s Castle.

So far their plan was proceeding surprisingly well. They had evaded successfully the Dawn Machine’s forces, and made it to the east side of Kingeater’s Castle unseen.

Once Maka and her passengers reached the tip of Kingeater’s Castle, she slowed down and landed behind one of the giant heart statues. Kim and Jackie carrying Ox and Harvar followed up after them. With Black Star and Tsubaki making up the rearguard.

After landing, they all crouched behind one of the cable-like veins stretching out from the marble heart, which allowed them to get a clearer view of the amphitheatre’s base.

People moved from the base and to ships constantly, like ants. Some were dressed in heavy-looking gear and standing halfway up the steps, facing the base strangely enough.

The Northwest side of the base was taken up by a pile of discarded shards, all of them blackened and drained of their power, the pile spilling over into the zee. On the other side was another massive pile of neatly-stacked fresh shards, this one handled with the utmost care by people with thick leather gloves. The floor was covered in red and black liquid, which dribbled into the zee like an oil spill, with the liquids origins being...

The altar.

The person chained on top of it was still recognisable, somewhat. Even if far away, Maka could still make out Kid’s distinctive black and white hair.

 The same could not be said for any other part of him.

A woman in a red gown, the Bright-Eyed Sequencer Maka had briefly encountered at the Grand Geode, picked up a glowing blue shard with thick leather gloves and walked to the altar.

Maka flinched when the shard was hammered into Kid’s body. Even more disturbingly, no sound or movement came from Kid, the Grim Reaper remaining motionless, as if he was in a coma.

“Fucking bastards,” Liz hissed next to her.

Tsubaki gulped. “Are we too late-?”

Maka looked at Kid’s soul. About a quarter of it was now covered by the shifting crust, but the majority of it still was...

“No,” Maka said, getting up to her full height and gripping Soul so hard her knuckles turned white. “Let’s get these bastards!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Soul’s music travelled like wildfire between them. Kilik, Ox and Kim set up a defensive wall of fire and thunder, pushing the Dawn Machine’s troops at bay. Black Star zipped along the perimeter of Kingeater’s Castle, taking out anyone that dared approach them. Liz and Patty had each worn a pair of discarded leather gloves and were removing the still active fragments in Kid’s body, a gesture that seemed like removing the quills from a hedgehog.

Maka and Soul were dealing with all the people that remained within their perimeter, a task they had been mostly successful with one exception.

A red-gowned woman picked up a glowing blue shard the size of a construction beam as if it was a matchstick, and chucked it at Maka and Soul like a spear.

Maka dodged the shard, using Soul as support to get on her feet instantly, and closing the distance between her and the woman. The hard flew over their heads and embedded itself against the marble steps of Kingeater’s Castle.

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer’s eyes lit up with fury, her teeth bared into a feral scowl. “You are dooming us all!” She reached into the folds of her gown and took out a bulky object, resembling a revolver constructed by a clockwork enthusiast.

“Shut up!” Maka dodged the first gunshot by ducking, lunged towards the woman and swung Soul’s blade down to cut the gun in half. Maka used the inertia from her swing to catch the woman by the waist with Soul’s pole and sending her flying past the Spartoi’s defences and straight into the Unterzee.

Maka watched the Bright-Eyes Sequencer pass by the wall of fire and thunder, yelling something about ‘not being able to understand the consequences of their actions’ and couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

Truth be told, Maka doubted any of them had any idea what was truly going on, even...

Maka turned around to face the blood-drenched altar.

A small pile of half-active shards had formed behind Patty and Liz, the sisters pulling the last of the shads with grim determination, their hands slightly shaking and covered in blood and death knows what else.

When the last shard was gone, Liz swiped the sweat from her brow and reached out for a piece of half-burned clothed. She laid it out next to the altar like a sheet, gingerly lifted Kid by his head and what was probably his feet, placed him on the sheet and wrapped it around him. Within a few moments, the majority of the sheet had turned red. Maka guessed the sisters tried to make a stretcher of sorts since they couldn’t trust themselves to carry Kid back in one piece, a sentiment she shared.

“We got him!” Maka yelled, aware her voice would carry to everyone thanks to their Team Resonance. “Fall back!”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

A bedraggled Kim swung the room to the Captain’s Room open. “They’re catching up to us!” She looked out the room and at the back of their ship. “We got three dreadnoughts in pursuit, two other converging on out position and a… giant sea urchin?” Her eyes widened. “Everyone, cover your ears!”

They all did as instructed, just when the giant sea urchin's form glowed red and a shock wave of Correspondence hit their ship like battering ram. Parts of the hull flew off as if they were made of paper, and the ship rocked along newly-formed waves.

“We have to lose them now!” Ox yelled in the Captain’s Room, dashing at the ship’s steering equipment to get the ship back on track.

“We cannot,” came Harvar’s voice from his Weapon form. “Our ship is not fast enough.”

“Then it is time,” Soul said as Maka used him to get up. “For our ultimate plan.”

Maka paused and gave Soul a grim look. “You’re right. We have no other choice...”

Ox looked between the two. “Eh?”

Maka walked past the steering equipment, on a small cabinet-like structure with only one prominent characteristic on its top. A dust-covered big red button was at its centre, never having been touched before.

“The ship’s ultimate move…” With all the finality of a Judge administering a death sentence, Maka raised her free hand like a gravel.

“FULL POWER!”

Maka slammed the red button and the Unsinkable 9’s namesake characteristic was put to the test.

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

Hours later, a groaning Unsinkable 9 threw down its anchor within a massive uninhabited island complex right by the Elder Continent's shore.

The Spartoi was in the Captain’s Room again, this time gathered around Maka who was sitting the only chair in the room, eyes closed.

“It’s only us for miles,” Maka eventually said and everyone breathed out in relief. She opened her eyes, and fell back on the captain's chair, exhausted. Though they had ended the Team Resonance a while ago, Maka’s jittery state persisted. “We finally lost them.”

“And the engines only caught on fire two times!” Ox said with a grin. “Statistically speaking, we were lucky!”

A soot-covered Tsubaki coughed out a puff of smoke. Next to her, Black Star let out a booming laugh.

“Hah, a fire is nothing I can’t handle!” Black Star puffed his chest. “I just added more fuel!”

Tsubaki coughed again.

“Which is why this damned thing moved like jet-ski at one point,” a seasick Kim grumbled, clutching her head and stomach. “I can still feel the inertia.”

“We still have a problem,” Liz spoke up and everyone turned to look at her, kneeling along with Patty next to a couch-turned bed.

Liz turned to face the group, her expression grave. “Kid isn’t waking up.”

Chapter Text

Upon receiving Kid from the altar, they had placed him on a reclining deck chair which they had carried into the Captain’s room for extra protection against enemy fire -and any literal fire coming up from the engine room itself.

With the Dawn Machine’s fleet on their tail, Maka had put Kid in the back of her mind. She knew he was in a bad state, but Maka had expunged any other details or trains of thought in favour of evading the enemy ships. Now that they were ‘safe’ however…

Maka walked over to Liz and Patty, who had stayed back from the rest of the group, to the chair-made-bed Kid had been placed on. The area under the bed was covered in blood.

“He stopped bleeding a while ago,” Liz informed her.

Everything sans Kid’s head part of his neck was still covered by the blood-drenched cloth. The parts of Kid that were visible lacked any wounds, bruises or any other injuries, though they were covered in specks of dried blood.

Liz slowly undid the cloth and Maka had the urge to stop Liz. Kid’s condition at the altar was… bad, for lack of a better term.

A hand completely devoid of injuries slipped from the cloth, though, like Kid’s face and neck, was covered in dried blood.

“He’s healed?” Maka asked before she could stop herself. “Already?” She knew that Kid healed fast, yet to go from his… mangled state to fully healed within hours was absurd.

“It’s gotten faster ever since he became a full Grim Reaper,” Liz said, and her frown deepened. “Which is why he should have woken up by now. Not saying he’d be up and running, or even fully conscious, but he should be awake.”

“Maybe…” Tsubaki spoke up, “We were too late...?”

“No way!” Black Star with a huff. “He’ll be fine!”

“But what if-?”

Maka looked out the glass pane, at the horizon. Kid’s soul had disappeared from the visible realm about an hour ago, after all the scab-like surfaces had receded. With a frown, Maka closed her eyes and activated her Soul Activation.

“His soul looks fine,” Maka said and everyone fell silent. It was a bit less bright than usual, but exhausted souls did tend to appear dimmer.

Black Star let out a grin. “See? He’s just being lazy.” Black Star strutted to Kid, grabbed him by his ripped collar and shook him back and forth. “Oi, wake up-!”

“Cut it out!” Liz shoved him away before turning to Kim. “What about your magic?”

“My regeneration magic only turns back time. We don’t know how much time Kid was kept there, so unless you want to see him as he was on the altar I can’t do anything.” She let out a humourless laugh. “Don’t think my magic can fix... this.”

“Should we wait?” Soul offered. “It’s only been a few hours, give a guy a break.”

“He should have woken up at least once by now,” Liz repeated.

Maka looked over Kid’s body and frowned. Liz was right that Kid should have at least shown some signs of life by now. He had fully healed, his soul was back to normal… somewhat. What was missing?

“Maybe it’s not the body or the soul…” Maka muttered to herself. “Maybe it’s the mind...”

When they all ventured at Kingeater’s Castle for the first time they had fallen victim to its nightmares, and the way they had gotten out was by Maka initialising a Team Resonance with everyone. Kid’s circumstances were different, but perhaps...

“What if one of us goes in?” Maka spoke out loud.

Liz frowned at her words and gave her a confused look. “What if one of us does what now?”

“Soul,” Maka said as she turned to him. “I have a plan, but I need your help.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The Abyss. A void, with no concept of colour, direction, or even time. A vast blackness that contained nothing and everything.

“This is a Grim Reaper’s soul alright,” Maka muttered to herself.

“Maka?” came Soul’s echoing voice through their connection.

“I’m in,” Maka said as she looked around to see utter darkness. “I think. How are things on your end?”

“Eh, you kinda fell over. But don’t worry, I grabbed you before you could hit your head on something,” Soul said nonchalantly before adopting a more serious voice. “Let me know when you want to leave, alright? And don’t do anything stupid.”

With no way to tell which was up or down, or if there even was an up or down, Maka flailed in the dark like a fish out of water.

Without warning something pulled at Maka and she found herself falling, until she hit something soft, like a patch of thick grass.

“Oof.”

Lifting herself up, part of her glad that there now was an up and a down, Maka found herself standing on a barely illuminated field, its edges glowing faintly like a dying firefly.

Maka looked around her. The setting formed slowly, like an old-computer struggling to create a 3D render. The ground was uneven, with small blobs of matter shifting and coiling like snakes.

A thin path formed from the place Maka was sitting in a direction whose end she couldn’t see, yet if she narrowed her eyes she could make out the faintest glimmer of light. Was she in some sort of tunnel? Was the end of the path an exit?

“You should leave,” a voice said, airy, deep and familiar, coming from everywhere and nowhere.

“Kid!” Maka yelled after the voice spoke, looking anywhere but the path. “Where are you?”

Upon receiving no response, Maka crossed her hands and looked around with a frown. “I’m not leaving until I see you!”

After a few more moments of silence, the ground moved, small piles of matter forming and unforming. Upon settling down, Maka saw a lone figure hunched a distance away, illuminated by three white lines across his head.

Maka ran towards the figure and slowed down as she got closer. Though the figure was covered neck to toe with a black cloak whose edges melted into the scenery, Maka knew it was him.

“Kid?” Maka asked as she came to a halt, a few steps away from the figure. Three lines floated above the figure’s head, it and the faint faraway glimmer being the only sources of light for what appeared to be an infinitely dark universe. The figure’s head was downturned so Maka couldn’t Maka out any other distinguishing characteristics.

“That’s not the way to the exit,” Kid’s voice said and this time it was coming only for the figure in front of her, confirming Maka’s suspicions.

Kid inclined his head towards the distant glimmer. “You should follow the path and leave.”

“Not unless you’re coming with me,” Maka insisted.

There was a small period of silence, in which Maka and Kid stood still.

“I’m afraid I must decline your offer.” This time, Kid’s voice sounded disembodied, echoing in Maka’s mind. “Now, go.”

“No.” Maka plopped down and sat cross-legged, reaching Kid’s eye level. “I’m staying right here until you agree to come with me.”

Kid slightly lifted his head. Two brilliant gold eyes stared directly at Maka, and she bit her tongue to maintain her composure. Kid wasn’t trying to scare her, was he?

“I don’t know how long I can keep it open,” Kid slowly said. “So please, leave.”

“I can’t leave without you,” Maka insisted, remained in her cross-legged position. She was barely restraining herself from grabbing Kid and dragging him along with her, Grim Reaper or not.

“Can’t?” Kid repeated. “Oh, right. You need me to defeat the Dawn Machine-”

Maka grabbed Kid by where his shoulder should be. She ignored the part where Kid’s form gave in, as if it was made of play-doh. “Who cares about that stupid thing?! Let’s just get out of here ok?”

“I can’t,” Kid insisted. “If you want a full list of my reasons, I can summarize them in a small list of ten points. The first one is…”

Maka suppressed the urge to let out the longest groan of her life. Instead, she concentrated on the faint connection between her and her Weapon.

‘Maka?’ came Soul’s voice. ‘What’s up? Did you find Kid?’

‘Yes, but I can’t yet out yet. Make sure everyone else is with you. I want you to do something for me.’ She made a small pause. ‘It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise.’

‘...Ok.’

While Maka explained the details and coordinated her plan to Soul, Kid continued his monologuing, apparently unaware of Maka’s inattention. When Maka refocused on her surroundings, Kid, who had not moved an inch, was still talking in a low droning voice.

“My fifth point is…” Kid paused, as did everything else around him. Slowly, he lifted the rest of his head, as he looked around and frowned “What…?”

There was a tug at Maka’s soul and Maka grabbed hold of the connection and pulled, like a fisherman withdrawing his nets.

With a pop, Soul, Liz, Patty, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kilik, Fire, Thunder, Kim, Jackie, Ox and Harvar appeared right above Maka and fell on top of each other forming a small pile.

Maka coughed as she dug her way out of the pile. “Took you long enough.”

“The hell!” Black Star yelled. “I can’t see a damned thing!”

“Ow! That’s my rib!”

“And that’s my spleen you dolt-!”

Maka turned to look at Kid who looked at the newcomers like a man facing his doom. “Oh no.”

“Kid!” Patty exclaimed, flinging herself from the pile and glomping him as if he was a teddy bear. “There you are silly!” Her eyebrows rose in surprise and she gave Kid a light poke on his cheek. “Oh, you’re squishy~!”

Kid looked from Patty, to the pile, to Maka, his expression a mix of shock, incredulousness and slight despair. “How...?”

“We followed Maka’s soul -oi watch the hair!” Liz said as he disentangled herself from everyone else. She ran a hand through her hair and looked around the area with a frown. “Crying out loud, think you can make this place any darker?”

“You all need to leave,” Kid said in a strained voice, looking away.

“But-” Maka began.

“Now.”

The ground shook and the lines flickered, for a moment bathing the area with blinding light.

There were stars in Maka’s eyes, and when her vision adjusted she realised she was gotten up and taken several steps back, towards the path, towards the glimmer. Looking around, Maka realized it wasn’t just her; everyone else had done so as well.

Kid had moved as well, and was now floating above the path that led to the glimmer of light and giving each one of them a stern look.

Maka had to admit, he looked… intimidating.

“The hell did you just say?”

Maka was gently pushed away as Liz stomped her way towards Kid, a scowl on her face.

Kid’s eyes narrowed as she looked down on the elder Thompson. “Liz-”

“Come down from there, I ain’t gonna strain my neck to look ya in the eye.” Liz kept glaring at Kid until he reluctantly did so, the edges of his form touching the ground, his gaze at eye level with Liz. “You want us to leave? Do you have any idea the fucking stunts we had to pull to get you out, you ungrateful brat-?!”

“While they are appreciated,” Kid cut her off, “you need to leave,” he finished, the ground trembling with every word.

Liz scoffed and walked to Kid until their noses were almost touching. “Make me.”

Shadows rose from the ground, their ends forming skulls as they turned and twisted. Maka and the others took a step back as the ground below them moved. “Liz!”

Liz crossed her hands and straightened her back, gaining a few inches over Kid and looking down on him with a scowl. “Do your worst.”

Just as the shadows were about to touch her, they retreated back to the ground, as if they’d never appeared in the first place.

Kid’s form slumped and he looked away from Liz, whose expression had softened into a frown. “Please, just leave…”

“Not happening.” With a sigh, Liz sat cross-legged on the ground. “Now sit down and let’s talk.”

Reluctantly, Kid sat down, and everyone else followed suit. Patty sat next to Liz’s one side, Maka on the other. Soul sat next to Maka and everyone was a mixed-bag of sitting beside or behind people.

“Well?” Liz began after everyone had settled down.

Kid gave her a cautious look. “Well what?”

“How are you feeling?” Liz asked, any malice on her expression having been replaced by concern. “You never really look like the pinnacle of health, but when we got you, you were… well, I’ve seen roadkill that looked healthier.”

“I can imagine,” Kid answered, his expression remaining blank.

“Um, sorry if I’m interrupting but…” Tsubaki spoke up. “What was the Dawn Machine trying to do?” When Kid looked at her, she let out a worried smile and put her hands up in a calming gesture. “If you don’t want to tell us, that’s fine-”

“They were trying to seal me away,” Kid answered, his gaze fixed on the ground. “And succeeding.”

“Seal you away?” Harvar asked. “Is that… possible?”

“To put it simply, yes, but it requires an extraordinary amount of…” Kid glanced at Maka, “resources.”

‘It was what we did to Asura,’ Maka thought grimly.

“But you should be fine now, right? We stopped the bad guys!” Patty said.

Kid gave Patty a wide-eyed look. “Y-you stopped them?”

“‘Course we did. Except, you weren’t waking up, and Maka went in to drag you out,” Liz said. “And now we’re in… whatever this place is as well.”

“That’s… um… thank you,” Kid’s form slumped even further and he briefly resembled a melted marshmallow. “All this time I was thinking you’d been captured as well, and that… you’d be trapped.”

“We’re not, so get your butt up and let’s get out of here.” Liz made a gesture to sit up, but Kid didn’t move.

“This is pissing me off,” Black Star grumbled, and before Maka could even turn her head to see him, Black Star had caught a dispassionate Kid by the cloak. “Get your butt up Reaper! You owe me a fight!”

“That’s not… I can’t….”

“You can’t?” Maka asked. “Is there anything we missed, anything we can do to help-?

“That’s not the problem,” Kid cut her off.

Maka paused. Kid could get out? Then why...?

“Do you want to get out?” Liz eventually asked.

Kid didn’t respond.

Liz exhaled through her nose and rubbed temples. “Black Star, sit down.”

Black Star, who was still holding Kid by the cloak, gave Liz an incredulous look. “But he-!”

“Black Star,” Tsubaki’s voice was stern. “Sit.”

Black Star gave Tsubaki a betrayed look but eventually obeyed her with a grumble.

Liz let out a sigh and leaned closer to Kid. “Do you want us to talk privately?” Maka heard her whisper.

Kid shook his head, refusing to make eye contact. “No, it’s…” Kid made a false start.

“Kid,” Maka spoke up, earning his attention. “If there’s something you want to tell us… we’ll listen.”

What followed was a long period of silence, where Kid looked anywhere but them.

“I’m an idiot,” the Grim Reaper eventually said.

“Welcome to the club. Population, everyone,” Liz said with a small smile before sobering up. “Now, whatever it is you want to say, spill it out.”

“Right,” Kid said with a nod. “You need answers, and I’ve been keeping them away from you.” He frowned. “Oh dear, I am becoming like Father,” he muttered under his breath.

Maka gulped. Secrets? Hiding them like the Old Lord Death? The previous Grim Reaper had a propensity for hiding earth-shattering secrets, so what whatever Kid wasn’t telling them...

Maka mentally braced herself. Whatever explanation followed, it couldn’t be pleasant.

“But first, I believe I should also catch everyone up,” Kid said and looked at Kim, Jackie, Ox, Harvar, Kilik and the twins.

“Catch us up?” Kim crossed her hands. “On what?”

“About Asura. About…” Kid paused, “the Grim Reapers in general.”

“Not that I don’t approve of honesty and all that,” Liz said in a tone that implied the exact opposite, “but is this really a good time?”

“Wait, there’s something you guys know and we don’t?” Kilik asked.

“Yes on both counts,” Kid said. “Besides this is as good of a starting point as any.”

The Grim Reaper straightened his back, his form becoming more solid and defined, even if the majority of it was covered by a black cloak.

“Asura is a Grim Reaper,” Kid began, “and my sibling.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Maka couldn’t help but admire Kid on some level. Whatever point he wanted to make, he wasn’t going to mince his words about it.

“...What?” Ox asked in a voice that was a few pitches higher than normal.

“Asura and I were created from fragments from Father’s soul,” Kid continued, his face expressionless. “Asura was Father’s first… fragment. I was the second.”

Maka looked back to gauge everyone’s reactions. Those that knew mostly expressed discomfort, with Liz having crossed her hands, Tsubaki avoiding eye contact, and Soul having placed his hands in his pockets.

The ones that did not know however…

Jackie’s open-mouthed expression was somewhere between shock and disbelief. Next to her, Kim’s expression was awfully calm, sans for her rapid blinking. Ox’s eyebrows had shot up way above where his potential hairline, while Harvar had crossed her hands and had a frown whose depth could rival the Mariana Trench.

“Is this some elaborate joke?” Kilik let out a nervous laugh. “Cause, uh… It’s not funny-”

“Kid’s saying the truth,” Maka spoke up. If the truth was getting out, Maka might as well help Kid along.

Kilik stared at her with shock. “How do you...?”

“We were there when Asura revealed all… that,” Soul added. “It’s the truth.”

“And that’s not all,” Kid continued.

“Oh, there’s more. Wonderful,” a breathless Kim whispered.

“There is also the issue of the Madness…”

“If I may clear some things up,” Harvar spoke up. When Kid paused and looked at him expectantly, Harvar cleared his throat. “Asura... Grim Reaper or not, is considered a Kishin because he was consumed by madness. If you’re… related, then how…?” he hesitated.

Kid raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking why I haven’t followed the same route Asura did?”

“I think Harvar was trying to be polite, Lord Death,” Ox quickly said, sweating profusely.

“It’s alright, I understand you’re confused.” Kid calmly said. “The answer has to do with how Asura and I were created. Asura is... an amalgamation of Father’s fears. Because of that, Asura was doomed the moment he was created. My creation was… different,” he concluded in a tone that implied this was all he was going to say on the matter.

Ox nodded at the information, though his sweating brow revealed he had probably understood very little.

“However, Asura was the only one that carried the Madness of Fear,” Kid continued.

“I was not trying to accuse you Lord Death,” Harvar said. “Everyone has some amount of Madness within them.”

“If only it was that…” Kid let out a sigh. “This is all rather complicated, but in the simplest way I can put it, Grim Reapers belong in a category of beings called ‘The Great Old Ones’ and each Great Old One is the origin of a particular type of Madness.”

“Each one…?” Kilik repeated.

Harvar’s lips formed a thin line. “Does this mean that the Grim Reaper carries…  Madness?”

Kid nodded. “The Grim Reaper is the purveyor of the Madness of Order.”

“The Madness of Order?”

“Let’s cut the chit-chatter,” Kim cut him off, looking Kid straight in the eye. “What does it do?”

“As its name suggests, it can eclipse all human emotions and leave only a mechanical cycle of life and death.”

“That sounds like it could be a countermeasure to the Kishin’s madness...” Jackie said in a low tone.

“The opposite, actually. The Madness of Fear can, to some extent, counteract the Madness of Order. To give you an example, Arachne’s madness or the Madness of the Black Blood can be resisted,” Kid said and glanced at Maka. “Asura’s madness, in account of him being an incomplete Grim Reaper could be resisted by humans to an extent.” Kid looked up into the abyss. “The full extent of the Madness of a Great Old One cannot be resisted.”

“Uh…” Kilik hesitantly began. “you’re not planning to like… use it on us or something?”

“Of course not!” Kid said with indignation, causing Kilik to jump in place and let out a small yelp. “Father never used and neither will I!”

“So it hasn’t been…” Harvar let out a sigh. “That is reassuring.”

“Well, this is all rather enlightening,” Kim began with a casual tone. “I can see why you kept all of this a secret. Asura, The Madness of Order… The Witches would have a field day with this.” She scoffed. “Though they couldn't possibly have thought that their whole ‘the Kishin and Death are two sides of the same coin’ spiel was more literal than symbolic.”

“Kid is nothing like Asura!” Maka protested.

“They’re basically siblings ain’t they? That’s not nothing-”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same-”

“I didn’t claim that, did I?” Kim let out a groan. “Geez, learn to listen. ‘Sides, I know a thing or two about being associated with the nastiest elements of your group.” She looked at Kid and gave him a humourless smile. “So don’t worry, I ain’t saying anything.”

Kid frowned. “You’re not?”

“Nope. Do I look like I wanna start another war with the DWMA and the Witches?”

“And not just them…” Harvar whispered. “If these revelations became public, then the DWMA itself...”

“That’s good,” Kid said with a relieved sigh. “Of everyone here, you are the one I was most worried about.”

Kim gave Kid a mock hurt look. “Good to know I have your trust.”

“I have a question,” Jackie spoke up. “Is that why Asura was sealed away both times? Were his Grim Reaper origins the reason why he couldn’t be killed?”

“That… is a more complicated question. The only way Asura can truly die is the only way a Grim Reaper can die,” Kid carefully said. “That is, by having their power absorbed and their soul unified with another Grim Reaper.”

Ox gulped. “...Is that how the late Lord Death died?”

Kid nodded slowly. His face was blank. “Yes.”

“And let me guess, you didn’t know at the time?” Kim asked.

“…No.”

Kim nodded at the information. “Of course you didn’t,” she muttered with complete sincerity.

Maka looked at Kid. She wanted to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault, that he couldn't have known. However, with the way their conversation was going, it felt inappropriate. So Maka simply stayed silent along with everyone else, hoping Kid would understand.

“Absorb Asura’s soul, are you kidding me?” Kilik muttered. “Wouldn’t that drive you insane?”

“Honestly? I’m not sure.” Kid closed his eyes. “I’ve already been dealing with the Madness of Order. I’m already dealing with fears of my own. On one hand, it is possible Asura’s madness overwhelms me. On the other hand, it is possible Asura’s Madness is nothing I can’t deal with… After all, Asura is a being that only knows fear. Perhaps his fears are as pedestrian as the occasional existential dread humans get. Perhaps it’s something even more underwhelming.”

“So you believe leaving Asura sealed is the most prudent strategy,” Harvar concluded.

Kid nodded. “For the time being it’s certainly the less risky one. Currently, there is a great deal that needs to be done right now. Our ceasefire with the Witches opened up negotiations, bringing up the DWMA’s future, the Witches council’s future… I need to deal with all of that before I devise a solution to permanently get rid of Asura.”

“So he stays sealed at the moon,” Harvar said.

Kid nodded again. “For now.”

“You haven’t told me about this,” Liz muttered.

“Because there’s nothing to say, Liz,” Kid said with a sigh. “If I did seriously think about such a thing, I would tell you.” Kid looked at Maka, Black Star and the others. “All of you.”

“This is all… something,” Kim began. “But what does it have to do with us being flung into this world? Why did the Dawn Machine try to seal you?”

“I bet it’s because of the Madness Wavelength,” Ox said, his hand on his chin. “I bet it uses a similar Madness to brainwash people and doesn’t want any potential competition.”

“The Dawn Machine’s Madness is not as powerful,” Kid corrected him. “And that is not the main reason it, and many others I suspect, wanted to seal me.”

“What else could it be?” Maka asked.

“Uh, do we wanna know?” Kim added.

Kid gave them all a long look. “...You have a right to,” he eventually said, before taking a breath and straightening his back, the same posture he had adopted when he revealed the secret about Asura.  Maka mentally braced herself accordingly.

“The Dawn Machine is called an artificial Judgement,” Kid began.

“What’s a judgement?” Patty asked.

“A sun,” Kid replied. “A being of great power, which manifests itself as a star,” he continued and there was a slight hint of disdain in his voice. “For example, the Sun of the Earth of this world is a Judgement.”

“The Sun’s alive?” Maka let out before she could stop herself.

“Quite so. And not very happy to encounter us, I assume.”

Maka opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. “Then what I sensed back at Aestival…”

Kid nodded. “That was a Judgement, the Sun coming into contact with us.” Kid faced the rest of their group. “As Maka and I discovered, it was less than pleased to encounter us. We also caught a brief glimpse of the Judgments’ home when we opened the Gate at Avid Horizon.”

“The sunlight was the Sun’s Wavelength?” Maka asked herself in growing realisation. So what she had said at the Alarming Scholar wasn’t just paranoid speculation?

“Judgements work by enforcing their Laws and their Great Chain of Beings, essentially their Order and hierarchy, via their Soul Wavelength, which manifests as their light,” Kid said with a monotone voice, greatly contracting Maka’s frantic internal monologue. The little bits and pieces that didn’t make sense, the dangers the Surface held, the mere existence of Venderbight, the cryptic warnings and obscure clues…

 “It’s why the Neath is chaotic to the point where even the most basic laws of physics don’t always apply here,” Kid continued. “There is simply no one to enforce them.”

“And the Dawn Machine is an artificial Judgement that will enforce its Laws in the Neath,” Ox added.

“Wait, hold on,” Liz spoke up. “This doesn’t make sense. Our world doesn’t have Judgements but it’s not utter chaos!”

“Our Sun has a face…” Jackie murmured.

“Yeah, but it’s not alive or anything,” a nervous Kilik said and looked at Kid. “Is it?”

The Grim Reaper shook his head. “Judgements and their Great Chain of Being did exist in our world. But, all of them are long dead now, and their Chain has been long broken.”

Maka could hear a pin drop from the ensuing silence. “...Dead?”

“They were all killed,” Kid said blankly.

Tsubaki placed her hand over her mouth. “What could have done such a thing?”

Maka stared at Kid, who reciprocated the gesture. If she had to guess… “It was the Grim Reaper, wasn’t it?”

“It was before that name…” Kid began, looking away, “but yes.”

Kilik’s mouth had formed a perfect ‘o’. “...Oh,” was all he managed to say.

“That… makes sense I suppose,” Harvar hesitantly said.

“Is…” Liz cleared her throat. “Is that why the Machine tried to seal you away? Afraid you were gonna go Terminator on its ass?”

“But how could the Machine have known? We...” Kilik glanced at Kid who had his gaze fixed to the ground. “We only just learned about this stuff.”

“I have a few theories,” Harvar spoke up. “In Irem, I found myself in a strange place. Dream-like.” Harvar rubbed his head. “They took a drop of my blood and spoke about the past and memories and I saw stars dying and…” Harvar removed his glasses and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t remember it well but it fits what’s been said so far. It’s possible the news travelled, somehow.”

“Salt may also have understood when it took a careful look at me,” Kid added. “If my ‘name’ and lurking Madness hadn’t set off enough red flags already, my acts of guiding the souls through reincarnation should have made the fate of our world’s Judgements obvious.”

“Wait a sec,” Soul said. “What do souls have to do with this?”

“Oh boy, here we go again,” Kim muttered. “Can we pretend we don’t wanna know? I’ve had enough earth-shattering revelations to last me a lifetime.”

Kid tilted his head towards the path. “You could leave-”

“No one’s leaving unless you’re coming with us,” Liz cut him off. “Now what’s that about souls and Judgements?”

“Souls serve as the Judgement’s food.”

Maka blinked. Souls as… food?

No, that couldn’t be-

“Souls are used as power sources or Judgements, maintaining them or making them more powerful, depending on the volume of souls one consumes,” Kid continued upon encountering everyone’s silence. “It is why the Neath is filled with dead people’s souls. Their only option in this world is to be consumed, and the lack of Judgements means the souls here have nowhere to go-”

“This is bullcrap!” Black Star yelled. “My soul is the one who will surpass God’s, not be some food for a star!”

“It might be different for our world-” Tsubaki spoke up.

“Yeah, that can’t be right!” Liz joined along with a disbelieving smirk. “Isn’t that so, Kid?”

Kid’s grim expression made Liz’s smirk fall faster than a collapsing building.

“No. Their origins are the same-”

“I don’t wanna get my soul eaten when I die!” Patty cried.

“No one is going to eat your souls!” Kid protested looking at Patty with concern. “Remember, in our world, all the Judgements are dead. Thus, souls fall under the Grim Reaper's jurisdiction.”

“Yay!” Patty yelled and embraced Kid in a bone-crushing hug. “Thanks for killing all the stars so that they don’t eat my soul!”

“I doubt the Grim Reaper of the time had humans in mind when they exterminated the Judgements,” came Kid’s muffled voice. “But it is true. In our world, souls do not get consumed when their owner dies.It is the duty of the Grim Reaper to oversee its transition into a new… well...” Kid cut himself off.

“Is this why eating souls gives you power?” Soul asked in mute horror.

“And if someone consumes too many souls…” Harvar added. “Is Kishin just a different term for Judgements?”

Kid looked away. “Not… quite…”

“How long have you known?” Maka spoke up. All this information was a lot to take… Maka was still processing parts of it. Whatever, what also ate her away was for how long Kid had hidden these things away from them. Did Kid know he would be targeted? How long had he known about the Judgements, about the nature of souls, about…?

About everything?

Kid gave Maka a pained long look. “...I’ve been piecing together bits and pieces ever since we arrived here. Aestival is when I fully understood what a Judgement was and the full implication of me being brought here. Before that, the peculiar behaviour of Neath’s souls had me on edge.” He looked away. “And then at the… Isle of Cats...”

“Go on,” Maka said. With all these eldritch revelations, the events at the Isle of Cats felt like a distant dream.

“The Red Honey makes a person relive the target’s memories,” Kid hesitantly began, and Maka nodded along, not wanting to revisit that particular set of memories. “But apparently, it also can make the target remember old lost memories, even if said memories aren’t exactly theirs…”

That was true. Zaira and the Smiling Captain had consumed Red Honey with Kid’s blood mixed with it. “So, what happened there was…”

“I freaked out-” Kid cut her off. “... I woke up on an island, encountered the Dawn Machine’s fleet and then...” He gave them a rueful smile. “You can guess how it went from there.”

Maka flinched as she remembered Kid’s gruesome state at the altar.

“...Is that all?” Liz asked. “Any more truth bombs you want to drop on us?”

Kid shook his head. “No. This is all there is to be said.”

Liz gave him a slow nod. “Ok... This will take some time to process, but now that that’s all out of the way...” She stood up offered Kid her hand. “Come with us.”

Kid looked up at Liz and frowned. “Huh?”

“That’s why Maka came here in the first place, dummy,” Liz said and glanced at Maka. “To get you out.”

Liz was right. That as the reason Maka had ventured into Kid’s soul, out of worry for a friend. The secrets… Maka would have preferred to him to have never kept them a secret. But, now that she knew what they were, if she put herself in Kid’s shoes… She understood why Kid had made such a choice.

Besides, it was just as she had said at the fake Kid in Kingeater’s Castle. Kid was her friend, and sometimes, mistakes happen.

“After everything I’ve said, everything I’ve hidden,” Kid muttered to himself. “I’m not sure I can even be trusted...”

Apparently, now was Maka’s turn to make Kid understand as well. Besides, the reason she could trust Kid had been there all along. She just had to show him that too.

“Your Madness of Order,” Maka spoke up.

Kid gave her a confused look. “What of it?”

“You could have used it to get the Dawn machine’s people to stop,” Maka said, barely holding back her grin. “But you didn’t.”

Kilik snapped her fingers. “That’s right! It would work, right?”

“I suppose…” Kid frowned. “Strange. The thought didn’t even cross my mind.”

“Exactly,” Maka said with a small smile. “You made a promise to everyone at the Moon, that you would never use it no matter what. Even when you were put in a… horrific situation, you chose not to use it.”

Kid shook his head. “Or I was in too much pain to think properly.”

“Uh... that too,” Maka sheepishly said. “But back at the Isle of Cats as well…. Even if everyone else there was...” She trailed off. “None of us were harmed.”

“You... weren’t?”

“Yeah,” Soul added. “We woke up disoriented, but otherwise not a scratch.”

Kid exhaled, “Thank goodness.”

“See?” Maka asked with a smile. “You may have hidden things, but you haven’t broken our trust. So, let’s go back.” Maka stood up and extended her hand as well. “Together.”

“Come on Kid!” Patty exclaimed as he jumped around him. “I’ve missed you!”

“Same,” Liz said, her hand still extended towards the Grim Reaper. “And I don’t wanna hear any more of that bullshit about trust, you hear?”

“Yeah dude, you’re part of the team,” Soul added as he stood up as well. “It’s not cool to leave you behind.”

“Yeah, you still owe me a fight!” Black Star as he jumped up and would have thrown himself at Kid had Tsubaki not caught him by his belt.

“It’d be nice to have everyone back together,” Tsubaki said with a smile, pointedly ignoring Black Star’s cries of ‘put me down dammit!’

“Yeah, I mean, this all sounds like a B-cosmic horror movie plot, but with Cthulhu on humanity’s side!” Kilik paused. “...I meant that in the most respectful way possible.”

Fire and Thunder got up and skipped around Kilik, pulling at his trousers.

“Fire and Thunder agree,” Kilik translated with a smile.

“Exactly, we’re a team. And as a team, we must not falter!” Ox exclaimed while helping Harvar get up.

“Despite the secrets, I do not believe my judgement in trusting the Grim Reaper is misplaced,” Harvar said.

“I heard through the grapevines you’re one of the reasons I wasn’t killed by the DWMA, so I owe ya one I guess,” Kim nonchalantly said as she pushed herself up.

“And if there’s one thing that’s important, it’s not breaking a promise,” Jackie said with a small timid smile as she stood next to Kim.

Kid stared at them as if seeing them for the first time. He let out a smile, closed his eyes, breathed and reached out. As he grabbed hold of Liz and Maka’s hands and stood up, the world around them was filled with soothing darkness.

Chapter Text

“Augh!” Maka’s return to the real world was less ‘waking up after a long pleasant sleep’ and more like ‘jerking forwards due to inertia at the end of a rollercoaster ride’.

Looking around, Maka saw that everyone was waking up in a similar bewildered fashion. Soul had fallen asleep on top of her and was just getting his bearing, Black Star had somehow ended up on the rafters, Ox and Jackie were sprawled over Kim and Kid had somehow managed to wrap the blanket tightly around him like a cocoon and fall of the makeshift bed face first onto the bloody floor.

“Ow…” Kid moaned.

“Kid?” A disoriented Liz slurred.

“Everything’s sore and I need to take a shower,” The Grim Reaper let his head thump against the floor, but rescinded it upon touching the blood. “Ugh, is this all mine? Such a mess...” He began to disentangle himself from the sheet and grimaced when he saw the state his body in. “On second thought, maybe it’d be more efficient if I just jumped into the zee as is.”

After everyone regained their bearings, they had settled upon mostly sitting and generally staying inside the Captain’s room, talking to one another.

“Oi Captain,” Liz shouted, causing everyone else to go silent. “So, what’s the plan now?”

“Let me guess, we go kill the God?” Kim asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Quite so,” Maka answered. Now that the crew was back together.… “We set sail for the Dawn Machine.”

Kim gave her a blank. “Now just hold on a moment,” she said with a strained tone and a raised finger. “I was making a joke-”

“A very accurate one,” Maka continued, deriving a small amount of humor from the Witch’s discomfort. “It’s still our only option if we wish to return to our world.”

“Isn’t Salt the one who said would do that for us?” Liz asked, slowly bringing herself up from the chair she had collapsed on. “And don’t they kind of, like, hate our guts because we got a Grim Reaper in our midst?”

“Salt’s ultimate goal is to preserve the Neath as a Lawless place, while our goal is to return home,” Kid spoke up. “If they know what’s good for them, they will return us home the moment the Dawn Machine’s control of the Neath falters.”

“But how are we even gonna get close to it without being brainwashed?” Kilik asked. “We haven’t even figured that out.”

“I have an idea,” Kid said. “There is a way we can all evade the Dawn Machine’s control. But...” He paused and looked away. “You’ll have to trust me. With your souls.”

When Kid looked back at them, he was met only with approving smiles and grins.

Maka gave him a thumbs-up. “Always.”

\*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*/

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer stood at attention at the innermost circle of the perimeter. Her back was as straight as a broomstick, her frame composed as she faced the glorious light of the Machine.

Behind her, the entirety of the Dawn Machine’s forces awaited. Every single being was there, from the greatest and eldest of Lorn-Flukes to the lowliest mouse of the Grand Geode, and they had assembled on the Southwest corner of the Unterzee with baited breath.

“We are all here,” the Bright-Eyed Sequencer announced out of formality, even if she knew the Machine had access to their innermost thoughts, its reassuring cogs whispering the Bright-Eyed Sequencer to sleep every night. “And we await our orders.”

The Machine did not reach out to the Bright-Eyed Sequencer, its cogs ceaselessly turning and its light always overflowing, but the Bright-Eyed Sequencer did not mind the lack of attention. The Machine would instruct them what they would have to do when the time was due, as it always had.

So it was with some surprise that the Bright-Eyed Sequencer heard only a hungry mechanical growl when she found herself torn away from her body, her physical form collapsing on the deck of one of the many Glorious Dreadnoughts that made up the fleet. Her nonexistent heart skipped a beat, but as immediately calmed. This was one of the Machine’s Laws. All would be well. All would be well. All would be-

The thought repeated in her head like a mantra, even as bright red tendrils engulfed the spirits around her and their cries of anguish pierced her eardrums as they dissipated to nothing.

This was the Machine’s Will. The Machine’s Will was the Law. The Law was to be obeyed-

“No!”

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer ceased her thoughts and turned towards the origin of the unexpected sound. The moment she did, the Machine’s tendrils were pushed away by a wave of darkness, a pitch-black force that set the Bright-Eyed Sequencer on edge.

Then, she saw it. A battered, beaten ship that still sailed with all the force its overstrained engines could muster, its hull scratched and bent, but its name prominently displayed with sloppy red letters.

‘The Unsinkable IX’.

A group of children stood on its deck, each one of them equipped with Weapons that would put any parent on edge, and each one of them looking at the Dawn Machine’s fleet with utter horror.

Their expressions puzzled the Bright-Eyed Sequencer. Were they scared of the fleet’s sheer size? Were they captivated by the Dawn Machine’s overwhelming presence? Or perhaps...?

One of the children caught her eye and the Bright-Eyed Sequencer felt her knees go weak. On the deck, clad in the darkness that drove away the light, with three lines around it…

The Star-Eater.

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer knew little about the creature, other than it was not of this world, would not obey the Machine’s Laws and terrified not only the Machine but the other Gods of the Zee as well.

The Bright-Eyed Sequencer bit her lip. The creature’s escape at Kingeater’s Castle was her greatest failure. The reason they were all here, the reason… the Machine was about to eat the Bright-Eyed Sequencer...?

Where had that thought come from?

More tendrils shot out from the Machine, one of them wrapping around the Bright-Eyed Sequencer’s ankle, making her trip and dragging her along the deck of the ship. The Bright-Eyed Sequencer gasped and her hands reached for a railing she couldn’t even touch…

Wait, why was she resisting? This was the Machine’s will. She shouldn’t...

“Holy crap, it really is eating the souls!” The Bright-Eyed Sequencer heard one of the children on the Unsinkable yell.

“It’s its last stand alright!” another one shouted.

Another wave of darkness washed over the Bright-Eyed Sequencer and she found herself suspended, caught between the Machine’s tendrils at her ankle and a skull-like shadow that circled her wrist and sent chills down her spine.

“I’ve immobilised the souls, but that thing's got a good hold on them!” The Star-Eater yelled.

“We can’t let them get eaten!” The blonde pig-tailed girl yelled and looked at her Scythe. “Soul!”

The skull shadows vibrated and...

A… pleasant melody rang through the Bright-Eyed Sequencer’s ears. A melody that brought to her mind the image of a rich flower garden, the scent of roses and a name…

Anna.

Ann- The Bright-Eyed Sequencer looked down and yelled. The black shadow had now embedded itself in the centre of her chest. Upon looking around, she realised that this was the case for every other being on her plane, the tendrils connected with each other with the Star-Eater at its centre.

The Machine let out a bright glorious wave of light and Anna was gone and she was the Bright-Eyed Sequencer once again, as were everyone else-

“No!”

Anna screamed as a second force, the same one that had been embedded in her chest and made her recall bittersweet evenings spent in London’s boroughs, drinking tea and laughing with her sweetheart, washed over her like a tidal wave. There was a connection, a connection between Anna and the captives of the Dawn Machine, a connection with the children, a connection with the Star-Eater-

“It worked!” a boy on the Unsinkable -Kilik, Kilik was his name and he was from another world, one with dead gods and long summers- said with a whoop. “Go us!”

“Everyone, make sure you don’t break the connection!” the Star-Eater yelled.

Anna found that she could move again and scrambled to her feet. She was back in her body, her fleshy, fragile body with the scars she carried whenever since she fell into a wall of roses when she was a child and it was too much-

She didn’t want to let go of the scars, of her memories of Anna.  The Machine’s screeches hurt her ears and dug away at her like brain-eating parasites. The Machine’s screeches intensified, metal against a molten screaming core, echoing in her skull like war drums, yelling of theft, of breaking the Chain, of an attack...

“Look out!” Anna yelled, grabbing at the tendril embedded in her chest like a good-luck charm. Above her, the Machine’s energies coalesced into one massive tentacle, made of burning hot energy, fire and Laws-

“Yahoo!”

The tendril was cut in half and Anna’s eye barely caught a blue-haired boy -his name was Black Star, boisterous and energetic, and the sharp blade he carried was Tsubaki, calm and prudent- amidst the ensuing chaos, jumping from and to ships, Lorn-Flukes and the occasional wreckage, like a frog crossed with a cheetah.

The Machine let out a furious groan and everything in Anna’s brain turned red. Her eyes burned red but she could see all the attacks forming, like a thousand arrows raining down upon an ancient battlefield.

“There’s more!” She choked and the blonde girl -Maka, her name was Maka and she was the leader, she and her scythe Soul were the ones that directed the tendril at her, at all the other captives of the Machine- yelled and glanced at Anna, as if Maka could actually hear her.

Maka then turned to a group of other children -their names were Kilik, Fire, Thunder, Kim, Jackie, Ox and Harvar-  who positioned themselves next to each other and…

Anna’s jaw hung in awe as a trail of fire straight from the deepest pit of hell erupted from the group, accompanied by an array of thunderbolts that would make Zeus pause.

Their attack hit every single of the Machine’s attack with deadly accuracy, turning the Neath an array of bright red flames and yellow lightning, all of it chaotic and everything around Anna was moving.

“Now!” Maka screamed and the Unsinkable sailed right past her, its engines on fire like a ship straight out of Hell’s rumoured lava rivers. This was it, this was their attack, their derailed plan coming into play once again.

“Do it!” Anna cheered them as she saw shapes-the most prominent being the Star-Eater’s rise and head straight for the Machine. “Kill it-!”

Anna’s cries for blood turned to ones of shock when one of the Machine’s attacks went past the wall of fire and thunder and pierced right through the Star-Eater’s frame. It was bloody and gory, but this couldn’t be the end, the Star-Eater had suffered worse, Anna had inflicted worse-

“Good aim.” The Star-Eater -Kid, Death, Grim Reaper, Great Old One of Order, the names were many but the soul was one- let out a choked laughter, his lips dripping with blood, and Anna felt her smile turn feral. “Unfortunately for you, I’m the distraction.”

Above Anna, above Kid, above the Machine itself, Maka and Soul stared at the False Sun, swinging back their scythe and everyone’s soul pulsed in harmony as the piano’s melody reached a crescendo. Maka screamed, everyone else screamed and Anna was screaming too.

“KILL THE SUN!”

“KISHIN HUNTER!”

The Machine broke in half, the sigils cut in two. A bright core was revealed, glowing white and angry. The light was blinding but fading, and as Anna watched the sun die, she let out a mad, cackling laughter, and a single thought echoed in her now freed mind.

Wouldn’t it be a joy if the Machine's organic kin followed suit?

Among the light and destruction, the connection was severed and Anna collapsed on the demolished deck of the dreadnought, gasping for breath. A fog descended upon the battlefield, smelling strongly of Salt.

“I know you’re there!” That voice… Though it was hard to tell without the connection, Anna recognised it as the Star-Eater’s. “And you know what will happen if you don’t send us home!”

Home… Anna fell back on the deck letting her tears fall freely.

She could breathe again, she could remember, all the forgotten faces, the stolen memories, the lost years…

As Anna regained her footing she looked at the now dark horizon. It reeked of salt and was obstructed with fog, and the wind was filled with words and promise.

In the end, only two words remained, and only one promise was eternal.

“TRAVELLERS RETURNING.”

Chapter Text

Warm, dry air greeted Maka's nostrils. She sniffed. A feeling of Deja Vu washed over her.

She was laying on something hard and unmoving. Or at least part of her. Her hands were limply dangling from her sides, useless and stationary. The Deja Vu persisted.

Groggily, Maka opened her eyes. They were greeted by a blinding light, one that stretched forever and reflecting on the sparkling particles sand. Shapes could be made out on her right-hand side. On the other, there were only sounds of the desert. Hold up, she had definitely experienced this before-

“Gah…” With weakened hands, Maka propped herself up, realizing she had been laying on some sort of thin beam. She sat up, one of her legs on each side and rubbed the burning sand from her eyes. Slowly, her mind returned to working order -she had definitely had these thoughts before- her training taking over by instinct.

Questions about where she was and how she ended up here took a backseat. Instead she checked herself for injuries-

“It’s the Unsinkable 9!” came Black Star’s voice from somewhere below her. “It survived!”

“Stop calling it by that stupid name…” Maka muttered as she looked down to see… sand? And Black Star?

A part of the hull broke apart and fell on top of Black Star, lifting up a massive smoke of desert sand.

“No, the Unsinkable is dying!” came Black Star muffled voice. “Quick, where’s the nearest port?!”

“Ah, the desert...” Maka spotted Liz laying on the ground and forming the sand equivalent of snow angels. “I’m never eating seafood ever again.”

Maka rubbed her eyes, her eyes still adjusting to the harsh sunlight. In the distance, she could make out a city with a ridiculous-looking building dominating its skyline.

Maka realised she was seeing Death City from a distance and her eyes felt watery.  She was…

She was home. And everyone else...

“Is everyone else ok?” Tsubaki called out.

“Ew,” Liz said as she stopped rolling on the floor. “And now I got sand in places I didn't know I had!”

Next to Liz, Fire and Thunder chased after each other.

“Yay we’re back home, sis!” Patty exclaimed as she glomped on her sister, who reciprocated the hug.

“Ah the sun feels so nice!” Jackie said with a yawn as she straightened the clothes and brushed the sand off her.

Kilik crossed hands and looked up at the sky. “...Can’t believe the sun’s dead, man.”

“Who cares, it’s warm and nice,” Kim said as she sat and basked at the sunlight.

Ox looked around and let out a laugh. “It feels so good to be home again.”

“I agree,” Harvar added as he stretched and helped Ox up. “It’s… nice to be back to familiar grounds.”

“Guys, I think I might be stuck,” came Black Star’s muffled voice under the fallen part of the hull.

“Black Star?” came a second muffled voice. “Is that you?”

“Kid?! How’d you get in here?”

“...I think I might have woken up under the ship.”

“Oi, Maka,” Maka turned her head to see Soul approach her from the half-crumbling deck with a smile on his face “You finally woke up, sleepyhead.”

Maka let out a sniff. Everyone was here too.

“Woah,” Soul let out as Maka gave him a tight hug, burying her face on the crane of his neck. “Uh, you feeling alright?”

“Better than ever!” Maka announced and rubbed her eyes.

Maka looked down on the deck, where with the collective efforts of Tsubaki, Kilik and Patty, the broken part of the hull was lifted letting Black Star exit with a big yahoo, while black-cloaked Kid shielded his eyes from the light.

Soul craned his neck and looked at the horizon. “We’re still a distance away from Death City.”

“I see you’re rocking the cloak now,” Liz casually said as she walked up to Kid.

“If I don’t I’d be indecent,” Kid said with a wry smile. “My clothes were already ruined beyond recognition and the Machine’s attack did not help.”

“That means we get to go clothes shopping?” Patty put her hands in the air. “Yay!”

“Let’s have a race, losers!” Black Star announced. “Last one to reach Death City has to make everyone else dinner!”

“You’re on!” Patty yelled and started running with a mad cackle.

“There’s no need, I can...” Tsubaki trailed off as she saw Black Star and Patty race neck-to neck, leaving a small cloud of sand behind them. “Oh… They’re already gone.”

Jackie cleared her throat and turned to her Meister. “Kim?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to go on a date?”

Kim choked on her own spit.

“Jackie?!” Ox yelled and all colour drained from his face. “I have to worry about you too?”

“Worry?” Jackie clicked her tongue and flicked her hair. “That’d imply you ever stood a chance.”

“Oh, brutal,” Kim said with a flinch, but paused when Jackie took hold of one of her hands and stared her in the eyes. “Ah…” Kim trailed off, her cheeks flushed a bright red. “Sure...?”

“I can’t allow this happen!” Ox walked in front of Kim and held her other hand. “Kim, do you want to go on a date with me too?!”

“D-Double-dating?” Kim stuttered as Ox and Jackie sent death glares to each other. “What type of person do you guys think I am?!”

As Maka watched her friend’s antics, she couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“I guess we just walk home,” Soul said with a sigh.

“Yeah,” Maka looked at Soul and the others with a wide smile on her face. “But hey, all’s well that ends well, right?”