Here There be Witches

Untitled Part 27

The huge doors of the ballroom slammed open loud enough for Kid and Anara to hear even on the balcony. Sid the zombie collapsed to the floor on the threshold, clutching his shoulder. The two boys rushed into the main room. "STEIN!" Sid called. "Hurry! Get everyone out of here immediately!"

Understandably, everyone was bewildered, but to Anara it was clear. There was an enemy approaching rapidly. "Professor Sid?" Maka asked. The boys ran to him, meeting the rest of their friends and Stein at the zombie's side. "What happened!? Are you ok!?" Grabbing his arms gently, the doctor inspected him quickly.

"Yeah...but I'm not sure how. We ran into an ambush. I dove underground right before the blast but I barely got away. What we need to do now is get everyone out of here!" Even Dr. Stein looked stunned. So why are we still standing around like bumps on a log!? The man came in beat up and told us to run, now is not the time for this! He knew the blue professor was hurt, but he did all that to get them away safely. We shouldn't let his efforts be all for naught, come on! But if he said that he would sound like an asshole, so they let everyone check on Sid first. "It's a trap! This is the day they've been waiting for! When Lord Death leaves his mirror and all of the students and teachers are in one place!"

That brought the group's attention back to the rest of the party. Anara and their father whipped around in unison.

"Medusa!"

"Well!? What are you all standing around for!? GO!" By Death this whole school is useless. We're wasting time!

But no one moved. An incredible soul flashed through the young witch's senses and he jumped. He felt a pang from the would in his side and he breath hitched. "Time to go! Now!" He commanded again, this time more to himself and his friends. The ground rumbled.

"It's starting...Hang on kids, I'll get you guys out." Sid said, blocking them and Kid who's hand they were still holding from the door. "Come on Naigus, we need to get these guys out!" The redundancy of it all made him want to hurl. All around them cries of "what's happening!?" and "What's going on?!" echoed, partially drowned out by the building's terrible shaking.

"I can feel a spatial warping...That's it!" His dad declared. "They're locking us in!"

"Here we go-Forced Burial!"

And then they were falling, screams of their friends fading in the darkness. Anara cursed and flipped themself around on instinct. While they barely had any conscious idea which way was down, the adrenaline rush they loved so much did it for him. Moments later the balls of their feet hit the ground, sending a sharp jolt of pain up their body. He straightened and took in his new surroundings. Half the group was on the floor, half also standing around him. Stein was there as well.

"The meisters landed on their feet ad the weapons didn't...guess we really are different." Soul muttered.

Kid looked back up to the coffin shaped holes in the ceiling that they had fallen from. "I'm sensing some witch souls up there...One, two...eight of them!" Anara could feel them too. His skin crawled. Eight witches!? All at once!? And the demon sword...what are they doing!? Fear for his home struck him like lightning.

Suddenly, the room lurched again, causing Maka and Blackstar to stumble. "What's that!? What are they doing up there!?"

Anara looked to their father as he stepped forward. "Listen up kids...we've got an emergency on our hands." Yeah no shit! "Below the DWMA sleeps a Kishin: the source of all madness in the world. You should know, our school nurse Medusa is a witch." He paused to look pointedly at Anara.