thebastion | Day 75 - A Stranger Enters

Entry tags:

Day 75 - A Stranger Enters

Who: Stein and YOU
When: Day 75, evening-ish
Where: The entrance of the Bastion, just off the Skyway
What: After an untold time searching, Stein arrives (intro post, pretty much)
Style: Action, but will adopt other styles
Warnings: None that I can see; will change if needed
Status: OPEN.

The place I’m supposed to be…

[He’s been searching for it for hours, at least; days, more likely. It wasn’t exactly clear to him how long. Funny how the Madness could distort everything beyond recollection. His vision is foggy, clouded by the shattered left lens of his glasses, and the sweat dripping into his eyes. All he’s got to go on is this sensation driving him onward, even with thousand pound legs, a spinning head, and a heart that feels like it’s ready to burst.

Yes, he knows he’s in bad shape. Stein is at least that self-aware still. But the rest is a blur; where he’s been, who he’s been with, what he’s done…
…he especially doesn’t want to think about that last bit.

He staggers forward, a shaky hand out before him, sweat dripping off his chin. He’s so close to it now…so close to the answer. So close to the end.]

The place I’m supposed to be…

[He pants, breathless and spent, and trudges onward into Bastion.
This was it – where he was supposed to be. At once, the Madness dissipates, releasing its brutal, tormenting hold on his mind. Stein takes a final step forward…and collapses.

At last, he can sleep.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If I don't have anything else, I have optimism. [And even that's tenuous at best.]

I think for now we can put him in Miss Marie's room, if she happens to come back it's not like she'd care. I'll just tell him that he can pick his own room officially when he wakes up.

[He looks down at Stein and cringes.]

I wonder if he doesn't need food, too. He feels a lot...lighter than he should be.

... yeah.

[Rin used to think that, too, but lately...

In a really messed up way, it's almost easier to not think about that, too, but it's also turning to a habit of "just don't think about it".

Ugh... no, she needs to focus on what's going on right now. Later. She can deal with that later.]

Alright.

[Crap, that's not good.]

... really? I just figured-- I mean, it's not like weight is an issue with me, y'know? But uh... I'll see what we got in the kitchen once we put him down in there.

[aaaand taking him to the room now because demon strength or not, this is kind of killing her shoulder]

...I know he doesn't look like much, but Professor Stein is the strongest adult Meister at the Academy and is educated in various forms of fighting. So yeah. He's a lot stronger than he looks.

[Dude's ripped, man.]

So if he's feeling light, that's not very good.

[Heeeere we go, Professa, have a nice lie-down on Marie's bed. This isn't awkward or anything.]

Professor? [Maka casts a dubious glance at Rin.] I don't know what I'm doing, he probably won't recognize me either.

I couldn't really tell under the jacket, and I wasn't 'bout to cop a feel on an adult that just passed out on me. But you're right, that ain't good. Hopefully he ain't picky.

[Nope not awkward just two teenagers tending to an unconscious man.]

He's pretty out... but didn't Crona say somethin' 'bout the soul bein' the important thing? Not that I understand what you two were talkin' about but hey...

Oi, I didn't say anything about feeling him up! Yeesh, what is it with people and jumping to that conclusion?

...Besides, he'd probably dissect you for that. Or anything else. He likes dissecting things.

[HUFF.]

Hnn...we'll see. I've never seen him eat, to be honest, but I doubt he's picky.

I'm a closet pervert~

[Even if her optimism was starting to wane, she could still make jokes. Bad ones. And even stick her tongue out at him.

But it only lasted enough for hear that part about dissection and--

Geez Maka is everyone from your world slightly unhinged?]

Fine, whatever, I'll bring back a coupla things. Just... stay here, okay?

I'm sure Bon will be happy to hear that.

[oh no he didn't.

Nope he totally didn't say anything, just going to wait with Professa over here, yep.]

You're gettin' punched when I get back!

[She heard that, Maka.]

[SEE THIS IS WHY OPTIMISM IS HELPFUL.

YOU CAN TROLL YOUR FRIENDS.]

[DAMN YOU, ALBARN.

Yeah Rin is going to get that food now.]

[He will wait. Not like Fry's dog.

After a moment, Maka reaches out and--]

Don't wake up right now, Professor, I don't feel like dying.

[Ratchets his screw back until it clicks. Then pulls his hand away.

...He's always wanted to do that. Maybe he really is insane.]

[clickclickclickclick…snap.
The sound echoes in Stein’s mind, crystal clear amid a rush of other vaguely discernible noises…people calling his name, someone referring to him as ‘Professor’…one of his students? Was it possible..?

His breathing hitches and he shifts in the bed as he fights through a fatigue so thick it felt like drowning. Against its pull, he struggles toward the surface, until at last light breaks through his eyelids and he begins to come to. His head is pounding, and every last muscle he can feel in his body is stiff and sore from overexertion…but the overwhelming Madness Wavelengths that had devoured his sanity seem to be gone. A fair trade. He’ll take it.

As his fuzzy vision begins to blink into focus, the first thing he catches sight of is a figure in a long black coat. He squints, and through the cracked lens of his glasses he can see a pair of green eyes staring back at him. Even though the rest is unfamiliar, he knows those eyes. He reaches out with his soul, and…]

…Maka?

[Maka, you should really a. knock before barging into a room and b. ask people before you touch them like that.

Crona stands from the corner behind the door, stepping carefully forward to watch Maka and the Professor interact.

It's going to be bad, you know? Miss Marie's gone now.

Shut up, moron.]

Crona.

[No, Maka, it's Stein you're talking t--

Oh, he knows that Crona is there.]

Professor Stein is here.

[They already know, Maka.]

Yes, it's me, Professor. You don't have to worry, Rin is going to bring you back some food to eat.

[Stein perks a brow at the male voice that answers him. Last time he checked, Maka was senpai’s “little daughter”, not son. But, souls did not lie - that was indeed Maka; there was no denying it. From the corner of an eye, he could also see what appeared to be Crona creeping in closer, wary and anxious as ever. The Professor feels a twinge of relief knowing the two of them are safe, but…

He brings himself to a sitting position and swings his legs over the edge of the bed, ignoring various complaints from body; he’d always made a better doctor than a patient, after all.

Ever a curious mind, he’s got more than just a few questions to ask; the most pressing of which being…]

What happened to the kishin?

[Someone had to have defeated it; it was the only plausible reason why he could no longer sense its madness wavelengths.]

[A few steps closer. Crona's concerned. The professor looks exhausted, tired. Looks like he did in Medusa's lair.]

The kishin died, you know? Maka killed him.

...Uh, well I wouldn't say that.

[Really Crona, what universe did you come from.]

But at this point, I think it's safe to say that the Kishin is certainly dead. Along with the rest of our world.

[ Stein doesn’t visibly display the shock he feels with Maka’s response. In fact, it doesn’t seem to affect him at all. He casually pulls his glasses off and places them in the breast pocket of his lab coat. They’re of little use to him now, with the state they’re in; he’ll have to find a way to replace them at some point. Again.]

So the Kishin was destroyed, along with Death City.

[It takes a moment for him to make eye contact with Crona, then Maka. His gaze is severe – possibly even intimidating – though he doesn’t intend it to be. Stein just has a bad habit of coming across that way.]

What of Shinigami-sama?

[A universe where characterization makes sense, Maka.]

No, that's not wha--- [Crona goes quiet, stops speaking mid-word because Ragnarok snarls an annoyed shut up, nobody cares into his meister's mind and he's right. Nobody cares because everybody's gone.

(Stein doesn't actually like Crona, does he? Because Crona drove him insane with that snake inside Miss Marie, Miss Marie who's gone now. Dead, probably. Crona's fault.)]

...I don't know.

[At the moment he focuses on laying a hand on Crona's shoulder gently. The unsettled feeling in his friend is evident (besides how they usually are, anyway) and that outweighs any exposition he could be giving to Stein.]

The last thing I remember was Kid was about to connect all three of her Sanzu lines...then I woke up on the Skyway. I don't know what's happened to anybody else.

[And Maka wants to pretend so hard that the "statues" others have spoken of don't belong to any of his companions.]

[Stein’s eyes turn down to the floor, and he almost looks solemn for a moment.]

I see.

[Even though it wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear, it was one less question left to eat at him. There’s a brief pause before he returns his same scrutinizing stare back to the demon swordsman.]

What were you going to say?

I... Maka and I aren't from the same place, you know? Unless you're from the place Maka's from.

Maka I know isn't a boy. She defeated the Kishin and killed L-lady Medusa. Maybe this Maka didn't. [Yeah, Crona's rambling.]

[Call it what you want - a Professor's instinct, or just sheer luck - but Stein had known the information Crona had withheld would be useful. And sure enough, the demon swordsman had answered yet another burning question on Stein's mind...if not simultaneously raising countless more.

His eyes travel from Crona's face over to the hand on his shoulder, and finally to the owner of said hand. Indeed, that person was most definitely Maka; still a scythe meister - same soul - just a different gender. With the bleariness gone from his sight, he could even see some definite physical similarities. Still, that only served to puzzle the scientist further. Nobody just up and completely switches genders overnight ~~trust me, he's tried that~~; and even so, the soul belies all that.

If his head wasn't throbbing, he'd swear it was a dream; if he could sense Madness anywhere, he'd blame it on that. None of this made any sense at all. But, as a man of science, he'd get his answers...one way, or another.

It's his turn to question Maka, then.]

Where exactly are you from?

...My name is Maka Albarn, I forged my partner Soul Eater into a Death Scythe. She's troublesome, but she's the only partner I will ever have. My mom is a great scythe Meister and my father is Lord Death's personal weapon.

[It seems silly to introduce himself like that, but being formal helps his stomach from twisting around so much...he hasn't shared what's been going on in his version of the universe with Crona. Or anyone, for that matter.]

I defeated the witch Arachne, though Medusa escaped after possessing Arachne's corpse to rebirth herself after possessing the body of a young girl and leading us to her in the first place. At that point, Kid had been abducted by a collector that was interested in rare and unusual specimens, and the fact that she's a reaper, so after Soul became a Death Scythe we mounted a rescue operation for her. The mission was as successful as it could be, though the collector escaped. We...

[Crona, please forgive him.]

We learned that Black*Star had run into and fought with Crona, so I tried to look for him with my Soul Perception. That's when I found out that the Kishin was on the moon. The group was split up, one going on the moon mission and the other looking for Crona. We found him in the church where we had first met, but he--

[His throat feels tight suddenly, his body tenses and Maka looks away from them though he continues his story in a very dry tone.]

Was insane. Barely recognized me. At that point, he flew off to the moon to join with the Kishin, when we followed we learned that he had killed Medusa. Crona absorbed the Kishin, though he reversed that and reemerged himself. So we fought him. I was trying to get close enough so that I could reach where Crona is, but not having much luck...that's when we learned that Asura was born from Lord Death, too. He's Kid's brother. ...However, I wasn't going to let her stop and lose faith in herself because of that. Before I woke up here, Kid was connecting her third Sanzu line.

... that... that's all wrong.

[Maka your world is more screwed up than Crona realized.]

Everything you said is wrong.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 75 - A Stranger Enters

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

AKA "Why is the madness gone?!" XD

yes good

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject