SE: A Tainted Soul, A Pure Promise

Chapter 16: Rescue and Run-Out

"Hey, Cutie...watch out, or someone will get hurt...one day..." It was that girl from before...

Maka's stalker...was joining Noah...

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Easily infiltrating the Noah headquarters, we made it into the main first obstacle-- and not quietly, mind you.

"Blackstar! Be quiet!" Tsubaki whispered as she shrouded herself in the shadows.

The boy snorted, "NO WAY! I'M GONNA KILL THIS BASTARD!" Before he could go out in the open to get himself sniped, Maka struck his skull with one of her infamous Chops. He ended up faceplanting and giving a thumbs-up to shut his mouth for one second.

Maka spoke the plan with low audibilty, "alright, Blackstar and Tsubaki, you'll take down all the snipers since you can sneak up on them. Well...actually, Tsubaki, you can do that. Blackstar, you can take down the bulky minions when we get out to the clearing." She clenched her scythe and continued, "if we run into that one scrawny guy and the chainsaw guy, I'll take care of them. I don't sense the Deathscythe, so we don't have to worry about him, thankfully."

"NO WAY! A GOD LIKE ME SHOULD TAKE 'EM OUT!" Maka only shot the Big Star a glare and so he retreated, "fine, fine. But this is only one time, you got me? Your great god is being generous for you!"

"Yea, yea, whatever, Blackstar. Hey! Kilik, you and Fire and Thunder have our backs, got it? Liz, Patty, Ox and Harvar, stay close. You guys will go in with us."

Just before the said group of our friends could answer, a dark voice sighed from behind us. "You kids lose yourselves or something?" It was the chainsaw man, Giriko. He started up his weapon and sent us jumping back when he swung his blade.

"You guys go ahead! We'll take this bastard!" I yelled. Maka took her place at my side then charged at the insane man while everyone heeded the order and ran off ahead. Tsubaki faded into the dark and moments later, you could here the cries of the snipers as she took them down quickly and one by one.

"HEY, JACKASS!" The pigtailed girl sent red and black blade slicing into Giriko's right shoulder. "Stealing our friend was not a good idea. You've left us no other choice but to kill you if you don't surrender now."

"HELL, LIKE THAT'LL HAPPEN, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" He revved the motor of the saw and aimed to rip Maka apart; his offense was diverted by the scythe and while he was distracted by my partner, I released fire onto the crazed man.  "AND YOU! YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL COOL?! HAVE A PIECE OF THE THIRD GEAR!" Again, he set the chains into the next level of revolutions and focused his reckless assault toward me. "NOT SO COOL NOW WHEN I TEAR YOU TO PIECES, HUH?! YOU'RE NOT GONNA STOP US FROM GETTING THAT RANSOM! WE NEED IT FOR OUR HUGE DRUG BUSINESS!" Watching as each of my bullets merely pierced the surface of his skin, he raised his arms to ram the linked spikes down my skull and straight through my torso.

Alert and quick to react, Maka screamed out, "you're not touching him!" She then took her pistol and shot at the man's knees, immobilizing him momentarily; that gave us time to retreat a couple feet from the junkie. "Drugs. What exactly are you talking about?"

"It's like heroine~! Only it's effects make it harder to pierce my body, ya know? Black Blood, I think you already heard about that, was created by that Medusa lady; I think you know her kid." He grimly chuckled and bent his neck in such extreme angles. "Man, it's some great stuff. Really makes ya invincible." As he spoke and eventually cackled nonsense, he continuously bombarded strikes onto Maka with his shackle blades.

"Soul! I can't get an opening! Help me out!" The girl made an extreme effort to shield herself with the crimson-charcoal weapon. Then suddenly, Maka backed into a pile of stray metal poles strewn across the floor and nearly lost her footing; the man caught her off guard and took the chance to slice her from the right side of her abdomen and across. As the chainsaw tore her skin, her blood painted the air around her and decorated the rusted, filthy walls. "SHIT!" She dropped to the concrete floor of the warehouse and let the injury spill over with her bodily fluids.

"MAKA! GIRIKO, YOU BASTARD!" My wincing partner tossed over the scythe signaling me to use the basic skill I had with the weapon. With a confident nod, I set my loathe-drowned focus on the ginger spikes of the offender's head and sheered the red and black cutlass through the atmosphere and onto him. It was like trying to cut through a damned brick wall! With a roar, I pushed harder and pierced deep through his flesh, sending 'Black Blood' dripping to the ground. When the screams of agony left Giriko's lungs, I hustled over to my injured lover's side. "Oi, I'll get you taken care of, alright? You're too cool a girl to die by this guy."

The scratching sound of the communicator in my ear shot off. "Guys, it's Kim! How are things holding up?"

The first response was a whoop from Blackstar. "YAHOOO! WE KICK NOAH-ASS!" I could hear the rest of them hollering in victory as well.

"We've made it to the doors of Noah's 'office'. Now all that's left is waiting for Soul and Maka to finish with the chainsaw man." Ox specified.

Maka gathered her strength to bring her hand to her ear to press the 'talk' button. "We're not-- doing so hot, you guys. I-I'm injured by-- Giriko." With each pause, she huffed from the searing pain of the gash across her abdomen. As I acted as support to help her onto her feet, her eyes widened immensely, "SOUL, LOOK OUT!" On instinct, I dove to the ground while trying not to land on her with my all weight. Quickly, she gathered my M-16 which lay within arm's length of her and her wrist was sent to rest on my shoulder to be used as a stand. "You're ear might buzz from this..." She pulled the trigger and rained the man with a shower of ammunition at full velocity. I watched as each crinkle on her face appeared from the endurance of the recoil and the anger boiling though her veins. She coughed and red liquid spilled from her lips, but even so, she managed to smear a smirk on her face and curse, "heh, got the bastard in the face." And as she sighed those words, a loud thud barked behind me and I gave her my signature shark grin.

"You're really stupid for a nerd."

"Well, what can I say," she winked. "I'm reckless."

With a light chuckle, I set her steady and handed her the scythe. "Anyway, we can't let the rest of them get Kid back without getting in a couple of reckless hits at Noah, now can we?" With a reload to the military rifle, we set off to find the rest of Spartoi.


But not before being stopped by another enemy.


"DIIIIIIEEEE!" A squeaky voice descended from above us and bullets that appeared to be black feathers showered us with their violence.

"You again?!" Maka shouted.

It was that scrawny guy--the one who took Kid away. "My name is Gopher. And Maka Albarn, you're gonna have to die. Noah-sama said so." Again, he took his unknown artillery and shot his bullet feathers at us. "Noah-sama says you're valuable! Noah-sama says he wants to hold a goddamned ransom for you too!" The toothpick cried out in a mocking tone. Not ceasing fire, he continued to rant, "you should know, Maka Albarn, that you're a blessed little bitch! I wanna be held for ransom too! I wanna be special to Noah-sama! But it's all of you guys who are!" He lugged out a bazooka and shot it at us, "NOAH-SAMAAAAAAAAA!"

"WOAH!" We just barely dodged the blast and Maka went to charge at the hysterical man. His black scraggly hair was clipped just slightly when my partner swung the red and black blade at him. "What are you talking about?! You crazy jackass!" Stabbing the cutlass into the ground, she stood on the shaft and punched Gopher dead straight in the face. The man flew back a couple of feet howling 'NOAH-SAMAAAA!!!' and skid across the warehouse floor.

"I-I can't fight like this...Noah-sama~!" Gopher retreated toward his leader's lair but only made us follow him.

"COWARD! GET BACK HERE!" Maka screamed as she dashed ahead of me and after him.

"Oi! wait up! Don't continue to fight! Just follow the damn guy!" I caught up to my partner and pursued the man while staying at her side. As we rounded a corner, what came into view was  a wooden door, despite the metal work of the building, and displayed across it was a strange pattern. When we had finally caught up to Gopher, Maka kicked him from behind and knocked him into the door, causing him to fall into the next room.

"Wow, took ya long enough. What? Were you two making out or something?" Backstar teased. Maka blushed and a vein pulsed in her forehead as she pointed to the injury that had been inflicted by Giriko. "Pfft, that's nothin'. I would've taken that asshole down in one swing by my mighty fist! Kyahahahaha!" He threw his balled hand into the air in triumph.

Kilik interrupt, "well now that the lovebirds are here, let's get this party started!" He smashed his gaunlets together and hollered out a cheer.

"Fear the Lightning King!" Ox screamed. He pushed the talk button, "Kim, are you impressed by my manliness?"

We all heard her reply through our earpieces, "yea, yea, sweetheart, get going with your mission, will ya?"

"Alright, let's do this!" The whole group exclaimed--except for Harvar who simply adjusted his shades and nodded-- and charged at Noah.

"None of you children are worth a ransom." The gang leader hissed as he maneuvered himself to cause all our attacks to clash with one another. "You're not taking the young Shinigami back...I want that ransom..." He attacked with some kind of weapon that took the shape of giant worms. He whirled them around like octopus tentacles and whipped us all to the ground. "If I get that two million, then you can have your little friend here. My deepest apologies, but you're not getting what you want until I get what I want."

"I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUTTA YOU! HOW ABOUT THAT?!" Blackstar, with pure killing intent shown in his eyes, threatened. He dashed to the man and slashed him with the katana he wielded. "BE GLAD THAT YOU'RE DEATH WAS BESTOWED UPON BY A GOD!"

"Tch, if you were a god, I would've taken you in for ransom by now." The blue-haired boy froze in rage and was smacked away by one of Noah's worms.

"Don't mess with the Lightning King!" Ox stabbed at the leader with his lightning spear and electrocuted the man. "Are you underestimating my power? I may not look like much to you, but you can't judge me by that, naive one." Harvar, his silent usual self--even in battle, held his assault rifle to the man and fired.

Noah used his worm as a shield and then slapped the Ox's quiet partner away. "Lightning 'King' my ass. You're not worthy to me."

"IS THIS WORTHY ENOUGH FOR YOU, ASSHOLE?!" Maka, enraged, attacked from above and struck Noah hard with the scythe sending the man's blood gushing through the air. She stumbled back in a cringe from her own injury that was inflicted earlier.

"You're most definitely worthy, my young lady. But shit...I don't think I can handle all of this..." The captain signaled the rest of the gang, "NOAH! Withdraw! We can no longer sustain this fight."

"HELL NO!" I interceded, "you think you're getting away that easily?" I bathed Noah in bullets and blood sending an impulsive Gopher as his aid. All of the sudden, I felt my knees buckle, followed by the sight of all my comrades body slamming the ground as they lost control of their limbs. "What the fuck did you do, you bastard?!"

"Dirty mouth you have there, boy." Noah smirked.

It was the complete opposite for Gopher. He bit his upper lip and pulled the corners of his mouth into a deep frown; his eyes widened as if he had been purely petrified and appalled at something I had said to him. "YOU DON'T TALK TO NOAH-SAMA IN SUCH A MANNER!"

"Gopher." The leader darkly warned.

"My deepest apologies, Noah-sama..."

The severely injured enemy then called out to what seemed like no one. "Miss! Please come out, I'd like you to announce our departure now." As the rest of Noah appeared, there were no girls anywhere in sight. Well, at least, not until she was conjured from the shadows.

Her annoying, pink, curled pigtails bounced as she skipped toward my unmoving body. "Hey Cutie...watch out, or someone will get hurt...one day..." It was that girl from before...yes, it was Samata. The one who had been following Maka around. The one who told me I wasn't even supposed to be with Maka. The one who's throat Maka nearly ripped out. And now she was here?! What exactly is happening?

Maka's stalker...was joining Noah...?

"YOU AGAIN?! GODDAMMIT! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO, BITCH?! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Maka forced her screech, still in agony from the gash. "HOW DID I NOT SENSE YOUR PUTRID SOUL?"

"Oh, calm your ugly little head, Albarn. You're gonna get your friend back. But you better be careful about what you do with Soul...or how you talk to me or Noah-sama. Or something very, very bad will happen." She patted Maka's head which forced Maka's angry self to attempt a bite at the girl's hand. "Bad girl!" Samata slapped my partner across the face.

As if Maka couldn't get any more infuriated, this one girl managed to send her spiraling through a whole different level of rage. "BITCH! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD, I'M GONNA RIP YOU APART!"

"Don't make empty promises, Albarn." She knelt down and glared into Maka's eyes. "Really, Soul-sempai, you deserve way better than this. Come join Noah, and you can be with me. I'll take better care of you than this trash ever could."

"What...did you just say about Maka?" I growled. "YOU COULD NEVER AMOUNT TO HOW AMAZING MAKA IS! I'M DONE WITH YOU PISSING HER OFF AND TELLING ME THAT SHE DOESN'T BELONG WITH ME! HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW WHO I BELONG WITH?!" I began to regain feeling in my limbs again and attempted to pick myself up, though failing at first. Man, outbursting like this? Not cool. "You...don't know anything about me." At last, I got to my feet and stomped to where the girl was. Picking her up by the collar, my crimsons gleamed with fire to murder this stalker; Samata gave me her best pitiful look with her sly auburn eyes, but it didn't work with me.

"Sempai!" She cried out helplessly.

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT!" I raised a fist to her and caused Samata to flinch. Seeing that, I realized that this was truly uncool...more uncool than just screaming at her. So I roughly threw her to the concrete at the same time Maka regained her mobility. My fuming girlfriend picked the girl up by the throat and punched her with all her might, sending Samata flying then skidding a couple yards away. Maka began to fall to the ground, so I scurried to her side to catch her. I sat her down and tried to help the others up, but they were still claimed by the numbness of their appendages.

Noah spoke once more, "well, we bid you ado, children, until next time." A grim chuckle escaped him as Samata took her place at his side and held his hand. The Noah group disappeared ending the violence.

Maka sharply sucked a breath in. "What? Th-they're...I can't sense their souls anymore! I can't sense any of them! What the hell!" The girl screamed. Kneeling down next to her to help support her injured self, I set a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"It's over, let's help the others." I cooed. With a click of a button, I checked back in with Kim. "Yea, we got Kid back. We'll return to the Academy in a little bit."

At that moment, everyone else had regained their movements and began to unchain Kid.

"YO! KID! WE GOTCHA BACK, MAN! HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BATHED IN THE GLORY OF THE GREAT BLACKSTAR AGAIN?!" The Big Star bumped his knuckles with that of the young Shinigami's.

"Ahh, Blackstar, to my surprise, it's quite relaxing." Kid laughed and returned the friendly gesture.

Tsubaki offered the OCD child a companion's hug and warmly greeted him, "it's wonderful to see you again, Kid!"

"KIIIIIID~!" The two Thompsons ran up to embrace their partner--in the most asymmetrical way possible.

"You guys...do you mind hugging me a little more...symme--"

Liz cut him off by locking her lips to his. It caused the black and white-haired boy to flush a deep red. "Shut up, Kid." She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and sobbed joyously, relieved that she had her lover back.

"Loooooookie~! Kid's so red~! Awh, Onee-chaaaan, you make Kid so happy!" Patty rolled around giggling and bubbly as ever around the warehouse grounds.

"Patty, that's unsanitary! Who knows who else has stepped in here?! Get up right now, I don't want that filth in the mansion!" Kid flipped. We all chuckled at his rich-kid urges of keeping everything clean and tidy.

"Nice to have you back, man. How was the service here?" Kilik joked and pounded knuckles with the OCD child.

Kid replied in the same manner, "oh, it was quite wonderful, really. Getting a punch in the gut just to see that lovely face Gopher makes."

Ox was the next to greet the young Shinigami. "Hey, Kid-kun, welcome back!" The swirly-glasses the boy wore glint from the morning sun that had just begun to poke through a hole in the ceiling. Harvar gave a simple, 'good to see ya again' and a firm hand shake with Kid. Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder wrapped themselves around Kid's ankles and giggled their childish laughs into the air.

"Oh look at you two~! So perfectly in sync, symmetrical! So lovely~!" The boy let his eyes shine in the 'magnificence' of the toddlers' flawless unison. "It feels great to be back everyone. Well, how about we report back to my father and then get ourselves bandaged up? I believe we'll all be finished with that by lunch time. Does lunch at the mansion sound good to you guys?"

"Sounds awesome!" We all cheered.

"Great~! Let's get going!" And with that, we packed our weapons and headed back to the Academy.

When the first-aid treatment and the check-in with Lord Death had been completed, we headed back to the Shinigami mansion. It was much like the one I had lived in back in England, and had servants fluttering around to and fro when their master returned. The chefs finished preparing the meal about half an hour after we arrived--which was enough time for my stomach to digest itself.

"So, tell me what's happened over the week you guys." Kid set his intent, golden irises in the direction of Maka and I, who were holding hands.

I nervously chuckled, "well, just before we walked back into the chaos, Maka and I made it official out on the balcony." With a gentle kiss pressed to Maka's cheek by my lips, she blushed and smiled at me as she took her seat at the table.

"Oh~! How wonderful~! It's not like it was much of a surprise though."

"Shut up." Maka and I growled simultaneously, but blushed too, which caused the group to laugh.

Kilik had a mouthful of many expensive delicacies when he blurted out, "OHH YA, PAH-DY AN I AWR DATHING." A choir of 'HUH?' left the mouths of Spartoi. The gaunlet wielder swallowed his food and chugged down a glass of lemon-lime soda, then sighed in satisfaction. "I saaaaaaid, 'Oh yea, Patty and I are dating!'" Another 'HUH?' was sung by the voices of the elite group, only in an astonished manner this time. "Yup. Come 'ere, babe."

Patty giggled and hopped up to give Kilik a kiss near the lips. "Ewwie, no kissy on the lips~! You got food all in your mouth~!" She bounced back over to her chair and devoured her plate of fancy eats like a starved coyote.

"You have quite a woman to handle, my friend." Kid warned.

"Pfft, I can handle it."

"When the hell did you guys start dating?" Liz asked. That caused all our attention--even Harvar and the toddlers--to zero in on Kilik for an answer.

But Patty was the one who replied for him. "Sis~! We've been dating for two months~!"

"WHAT?!"

"YEEAAA~!" The girl giggled. Looks like they're good at laying low...

"Damn, you guys kept so quiet..." Liz murmured. "So anyway, Ox, you and Kim got it going on too? She called you 'sweetie' through the communicator."

"Oh, yes, she finally accepted my love for her~!" The spear wielder sang. His swirly glasses along with his bald head glinted from the chandelier above. "I have to grow a full head of hair for her, but it's a request that I'm willing to fulfill for my love~!" Ox reached over next to him to kiss his pink-haired girlfriend. She gladly took the gesture, but then pushed his face into his food and giggled. "Ahh...yea, you're a feisty one..."

"Thanks sweetheart. So Jaaacky~! I know you and Harvar have something going on, don't you?" Kim slyly pinned the gossip-hungry attention on the girl on the other side of her, who was now blushing madly. "Soo...?"

"Y-yes, Kim-chan. We're...we're taking it slow. We only go on dates, b-but we're not together." The lamp-wielder fidgeted around and stared into her food as a distraction.

Silent old Harvar finally spoke up, "well, I think it's appropriate that we make ourselves official, don't you think my darling?"

Jacky pretty much hit the ceiling when she jumped out of her chair. "O-okay."

"Awh, you're adorable when you get like that, Jacky-chaaan~!" Kim mocked. The brown-haired girl flushed a deeper red and got a calming hand on the shoulder from her new boyfriend.

"ALL OF YOUR RELATIONSHIPS ARE PATHETIC COMPARED TO MINE AND TSUBAKI'S! KYAHAHAHAHAH!" The egotistic boy used the table as a stage and cackled with a fountain of his chewed meal spraying everyone. "YOU GUYS MUST BE JEALOUS, BECAUSE WE'VE ALREADY HAD THE GODLIEST SEX EVER!"

If there was a contest to have the most chewed food spit out onto a dining table, I think we'd win the grand prize...

I softly stated, "Blackstar, maybe you should've saved that for after we ate..." I shut my eyes and palmed my face. "Or for your own brain to think about..."

Tsubaki was red all over and screamed in a whisper, "BLACKSTAR!" She hid her face behind her hands, but I'm sure she could feel the burning of Kid's perverted smirk aimed at her. Maka and the rest of the gang was jaw-dropped; I pushed Maka's chin back into place before it could touch the ground. Patty fell into her usually gait--cracking up on the floor and kicking her legs around like an infant would.

Blackstar victoriously chuckled once more, "TSUBAKI, YOU WERE REALLY LUSTY FOR MY DI--" A shurikan appeared in the boy's forehead. He descended to the ground in the most ungraceful way and conjured a huge thud from the landing. Showing a thumb in affirmation, he choked out, "gotcha...I won't talk about your lust..." That only gave him another ninja star to the face and a more-than-extremely embarrassed girlfriend.





When lunch was over, we left the mansion to Kid and Liz, and Patty and Kilik. Each of the newly found couples made their ways home, which included Maka and I. By the time my partner and I entered our apartment, it was two in the afternoon.

"Kid loves gossip..." Maka muttered as we plopped onto the sofa together.

I responded sarcastically. "No way, really?" With a smirk, she pushed my cheek and followed with a peck to my lips. I gave her a sly grin. "Come here..." I gave her a gentle pull at her hips and molded her to my body with her legs on either side of me. Our tongues instantly found each other and danced to an unheard melody.

She ceased the kiss and brought herself away. "Nuh-uh..." Maka smiled at me and pinched my nose. "No celebrating until we find Crona."

"Oh, c'mon, just a little?"I gave her a smirk. She brought her lips to mine once more and made a 'mwah' sound before lifting herself away off of me. She held her stomach--where she had been injured--and grabbed the remote off of the coffee table.

"That's it," Maka declared. With that said, she turned on the T.V. and cuddled up against my ribs with my arm over her shoulder.