Chapter Four
Return Safely
The Hurt are the Strongest?
*Prima*
We all heard the scream. Everyone stops in their tracks. My heart stops beating. I knew that scream. It was Cleo. My mind goes racing with different possibilities. I see a figure move swiftly through the woods. It was Maka. "Cleo!" Professor Maka yells loudly. Her voice echoes throughout the area. "Cleo! Where are you!" I hear. I glance at Azure who trembled. Soul's red eyes were big. His hands shook as he froze in place. Spirit, who was looking down, snapped his head up. His blue eyes brimmed with tears. He was about to run but Stein held him back. "Soul. Go with Maka." Professor Stein says. His voice had no emotion to it. Soul nods and chases after Maka at neck breaking speed. The rest of us? We stood there and watched. Too scared to do anything. Too scared to go help. Too helpless to save our friend.
*Soul*
My only daughter could be hurt. Save her. Save her. Sav- "Soul. Go with Maka." Franken Stein commands me in a monotone voice. I nod my head and take off, faster than I ever have before in my life. I see Maka up ahead. She was standing in place. "Maka. What are you doing?!" I yell as I grab her hand. Maka lets out a whimper and points forward. What I saw made me sick. Cleo had her own weapon stabbed deep into her stomach. "You bastard!" I yell. I change into my scythe form. Maka grabs a hold of me tightly though her hands felt clammy and shaky. She runs forward to the boy. He wasn't facing us but he easily deflected the attack. "Don't! Hurt! My! Daughter!" Maka screams as she hits the blonde headed boy over and over. Each attack, he stopped. Finally Tamaki turns around. His eyes were bluer than the sky and clearer than the ocean. It was a crystal,icy blue. That wasn't his original eye color. "He's being manipulated. Don't hurt him." I exclaim. Maka nods. "Maka. Genie Hunter!" I exclaim. "Right!" Maka says. "Soul Resonance!" We yell at the same time. Our souls morph together. "Genie Hunter!" Maka exclaims.
*Third Person Point of View*
Soul changes into his Genie Hunter scythe. Maka swings down on Tamaki. The anti magic attack splits through the boy. Tamaki falls to the ground, as does Cleo. A blue snake withers on the ground. Maka swings her scythe and cuts the snake into pieces. The blue snake vanishes in thin air. Maka hurries to Cleo's side. Cleo was unconscious and bleeding badly. Tamaki was slumped against a tree. His eyes were fading into their normal blue green. Maka lifts up Cleo carefully. Soul grabs Tamaki. The rest of the group caught up. "We have to go to DWMA now!" Maka exclaims. Stein leads the way.
*At DWMA Infirmary*
Cleo was on the bed, still unconscious. Tamaki, on the other hand, was awake and not pleased with himself. Soul and Maka were in the room with Tamaki and the unconscious Cleo. "I-I. I would never hurt Cleo. It was that blue snake!" Tamaki exclaims. He moves his arm but winces in pain. Two fang marks were on his right shoulder. A blue tint was around the marks. "Was it Aquaria?" Maka asks. She had her fist clenched together tightly. "I-I think so. I'm so sorry about Cleo. I- You know I wouldn't hurt her! She's my meister!" Tamaki exclaims. He held his head in his hands. "It's okay. Professor Stein did everything he could to help her and she is doing way better now. Her wound is healing faster than we thought it was." Maka says. She gets up. "I hope you feel better." She mumbles before leaving. Soul mutters something under his breath before following Maka. Tamaki stares at Cleo and then at his own hands. "I did this to her. I did this to my meister. I hurt her." He says over and over and over again.
*The Next Day*
*Crystal*
Prima lead Hikari and I to the infirmary where Professor Stein was. "How is Cleo?" I ask. My fingers tremble slightly but I clench them tightly. "She's doing a lot better actually. Her wound is healing faster than I thought it would. It's amazing!" Stein exclaims as he twirls around in his chair. I see a figure stir in the spare bed. Tamaki. I feel a bunch of emotions flood through me. "You hurt her! You aren't suit to be her weapon if you attacked her! You disgraceful little bastard!" I finally lash out at him. He looks appalled at my reaction but sinks deeper into the pillow with tears dotting his eyes. "It wasn't me. It was Aquaria." Tamaki whispers. He clenches his fist tightly. I walk over to him slowly. My fingertips touch his right shoulder. He winces. I immediately draw back. "I-I'm sorry." I say in a silent tone. Tamaki nods. "It's fine. I don't blame you. A stupid witch controlled my body with a snake. It's ice fangs sinking into my skin. I should've treated it somehow. I-" Tamaki get cut off. "It was witch magic. There was no way you could singlehandedly treat it yourself." A different voice says gruffly. We all look at the doorway except Cleo, of course, and Professor Stein. "Sid. When did you come in?" Stein asks. "You already knew I was in here." Sid says. He walks into the room. "How many more days until she can leave?". "Not many. At the rate she's healing, she'll be out in two or three days.". "That's good. I don't want to miss many more of Mom's classes. She'd chew off my head for getting one bad grade.". At this, we all look up. Cleo looked at us with her bright green with tints of red eyes. A smile spread across all our faces. "Cleo!" Hikari and Prima squeal as they hug her tightly. Cleo smiles. "I've been keeping up with your work you know." I say with a smile as I go up to hug her. "I see. I have a lot to do. I'll be busy the whole time I'm here." Cleo replies with a hearty smile. Tamaki looked away. "I hurt her." He whispers so quietly that I could barely hear him despite me being the closest to his bed. Soon, one by one, everyone filed out the room, leaving Tamaki and Cleo to discuss and take matters into their own hands.
*Cleo*
I yelled at him. He looked away but never raised his voice to me even when I interrupted his sentence. "I'm sorry Cleo. You know I'd never hurt you." Tamaki speaks. I turn away and look at my stomach. A crescent shaped scar would most likely stay with my forever. "But you did hurt me." I whisper. I traced the scar. I push lightly on it and feel pain course through my entire body. Gosh was I really going to deal with this forever!? "It was Aquaria. You have to believe me. The snake was blue, made of hardened water, and had fangs of ice." Tamaki explains. I look at him. Tears dotted his eyes. I spoke one word and one word only. That word determined where we stood. That word could crumple his life.....
*One Week Later*
*Kyoya*
"Kyoya. You should study for Professor Maria's weapon exam." Prona tells me as he grabs his notebook from his book bag. "Ugh! I'll be fine. I'm Kyoya Star! I will surpass the gods!" I yell with my hands thrown up in a high V. "You'll be surpassing the gods in the same grade next year." Prona mumbles. I frown. "Your talk leaves a distasteful flavor in my mouth." I say. "I'll be gone. I'll see if Tamaki or Azure wanna go play some basketball." I say once I figured Prona wouldn't reply. He mumbles a simple bye. I huff and walk out the apartment. I make my way to Azure and Tamaki's apartment.
*Prona*
Finally. I could study for my meister test that's going to be given by Professor Maka. "Let's see. Where was I? Oh here! Meisters and Weapons share a connection that symbolizes their re-". Someone busts through the door. "Prona!" Prima screams. Oh god. "What happened this time?" I ask. I close my notebook and set it aside. On the cover was a drawn picture of Ragnarok, my father's weapon. Crona loved Reggie, my nickname for him, but sometimes they quarreled a lot like Prima and I. "Crystal is going to-" Prima starts but Crystal barrages in. "Prima! I know you did not break my hair straightener!" Crystal yells at Prima. Prima hides behind me. "Prima did you break Crystal's hair item thing?" I ask. "It's a hair straightener! Without it my hair is going to go all frizzy!" Crystal shrieks. I shiver with fear. "P-Prima. Go take Crystal to fix her hair straightener or b-buy her a new one." I stutter. Crystal sent death glares at both Prima and I. I shudder. "O-okay." Prima mumbles. Crystal drags her out the room, excited that she'll get a new hair item thing. "Straightener!" Crystal yells. I jump. Did I say that out loud?
