The Balance of Nature (Glob!)

[DragonSong]

"It's cold, so cold, I don't understand—

Not now, please, not now, not yet...

—in the sun, and she said...she said...

Mama, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please don't leave! Mama, Mama!

—of the battle in the west, we cannot—"

Maka didn't seem to hear the words that she babbled rapidly, eyes shut tight and her arms wrapped around her middle as though she was trying to hold herself together. Her voice changed subtly but quickly between each gasped protest, each lament. The dead of this place were so numerous that the entire Veil was weakened. Enough that her mere presence had ripped a thin tear into the fabric of it, and every voice she'd been shutting out for the last decade was suddenly clamoring to be heard.

Then there was a hand on her shoulder, reminding her of her body—she had a body, she had a life—and she sucked in a harsh, ragged gasp as the suffocating presence of death receded slightly.

With Seussal suppressing the sudden surge of lingering spiritual energy, her pendant seemed better able to shield her. That same warm, soft blanket of security settled around her magic—a presence she had not even realized was there until it suddenly wasn't—but when the faint pulses of light began to fade back to its usual, subtle shine, the tiniest crack could be seen in the stone.

Maka was too thoroughly distracted to notice. She'd fallen to her knees in the snow, keening quietly as the voices finally began to fade. And only then realizing that she had been the one speaking.

"I..." She drew in a painful breath, relishing the cold sting in her throat. "I didn't...that's never..."

She looked up at her undead companion, eyes vaguely glassy, as though with fever, but the sudden surge of magic at least seemed to have evened itself out, once more held at bay by whatever small power her pendant offered. She licked her lips; when she managed to speak again her voice was hoarse, but the tone and inflection were hers.

"Thank...you..." she whispered, too rattled by what had just happened to be embarrassed yet. In the wake of it, all she felt was relief. And gratitude. "That...that's never...happened before..."

[DaGlobster]

When she looked up at him, she'd see Seussal's eyes blazing with that ghostly, ice-blue energy that seemed to permeate from the joints in his armor. He was observing the Veil around them, watching as the restless dead here pressed and even clawed at the boundary.

They all had desperate, longing looks in their eyes, focused less on Maka and more on the mysterious amulet that dangled from her neck. He had seen that look before, knew what it felt like to drag your nails against the world of the living, wanting nothing but to feel air on your skin or something hard against your fingers.

His gauntleted hand tightened on the scabbard of his sword.

Go back. You will not find your escape here. He projected, his words rippling through the veil around them.

Sometimes, just the acknowledgement was enough. Those whose grasps on the living world were based solely on desire quickly receded back into the veil at that, and the remainder couldn't hope to stand against him as his anti-magic effect pushed the veil farther and farther back, no matter how tightly they held onto their unfinished business.

He had a feeling that Maka would not mind the veil's absence, at any rate.

"It's not common," he said, looking down at her as he more securely rest his gauntlet on her shoulder. She'd find that even through his armor, the natural paralyzing effects of a Wight's touch still shone through in the form of a slowly spreading numbness that was independent of the cold.

"The Veil here was patched, and I sealed this tomb myself after attending to the dead here. Something's wrong," he said, finally directing his vision back towards the circular door, sealed over with ice.

[DragonSong]

"Something's wrong," she repeated, groaning quietly as she forced herself back to her feet. "Lovely. Just what we need."

What in all hells just happened?!

She kept the frantic question to herself, trying to appear nonchalant as she dusted snow off her legs—then paused, frowning at his hand on her shoulder. Was the numbness...supposed to be happening?

With a sharp exhale, she gave her head a little shake and took a step back, shoulders hunching forward protectively as she adjusted and readjusted her grip on her staff. There was a sort of hunted quality to her eyes as she looked around the frozen land surrounding them once more, then back to the door.

"So...do we have a plan of some sort?"

[DaGlobster]

Seussal was quick to retreat his hand once he'd realized it lingered too long. He'd wanted to ensure she was steady enough on her feet, but of course he'd overdone it. He glanced down at his hand, and then gave his wrist a shake to dust off the snow gathering on his arm.

"We enter," he said with an air of grave finality and took several long steps towards the sealed tomb. "You may need a place to wait out this storm, and I may need assistance in mending this wrong."

He drew his sword, and held it down by his side. His grip tightened and ice formed around the blade. Seussal shouldered the pommel and thrust forwards, burying the blade into the ice covering the tomb's door. Flecks of magic spider-webbed across the ice's surface, and after a series of loud cracks the tomb's door rolled several feet to the side, allowing Seussal to duck slightly and peer into the darkness within.

He looked back to Maka, and gave a genteel wave of his hand into the tomb.

"Shall we?"

[DragonSong]

Maka quirked an eyebrow and waved her hand in a sweeping gesture toward both him and the door. "After you," she murmured, shaking away the last vestiges of discomfort from...whatever the fuck that nonsense with the Veil had been. She settled into a more comfortable, confidant stance, weight mostly in the balls of her feet and her staff loosely gripped in one hand, easily wielded should it be called for.

"So...what kind of help am I supposed to be giving you with this, exactly?" she muttered with a sidelong look at the Wight. "Not sure if you noticed, but I don't exactly have a lot of...practice with...all this...sorta thing."