Day 75 - A Stranger Enters

[dissectionislove]

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.]

Comments

[blackblooded]

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.]

[dissectionislove]

[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?

[unflattering]

...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.

[blackblooded]

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

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

Everything you said is wrong.