Accidental Crimes [M][DragonSong]

[Lowen Thorn]

Well she had him there. Primal magic would come in handy in a time like this, but that was not something he knew how to do. Never thought it would be something he would have to do.

Well, no time for regrets.

He was now kneeling right across from the girl, his eyes hallow as he tried to make sense of it all. He quickly placed his hands on her cheeks. "Come back to us," he whispered harshly.

[DragonSong]

She gasped, her spine arching as her body suddenly jackknifed upright. "Help me, Help me I'm so cold I can't find them the fire I can't see I'm cold, it's so cold, I just want to see my mother, please, I want my mama, help me help me help me—!"

She jerked backward, her head slamming into the wall, and Idara cursed and darted forward to grab Aspen's shoulder, dragging him back. "What the fuck is going on?!"

Maka gasped again and suddenly pitched forward onto her hands and knees. She clenched her eyes shut, breathing hard as shudders ripples through her body.

"...Wh-what...what did you...do to me?"

[Lowen Thorn]

Not being able to see anything while this happened made the whole affair creepier than it needed to be. He sat on the floor after being dragged away by his colleague, mouth slightly open in shock as the woman came to.

"I.. I didn't do anything!" he said. "You were.. Well, I think your ghost girl took over your body."

[DragonSong]

“Still...here...” Maka gritted out, eyes clenched shut. She saw the ice mage’s eyes widen slightly. “She’s...still here. I can’t—“

She gasped again, then Elissa’s voice: “Please, please, why won’t anyone help me?”

No! A keening groan rose up in her throat and Maka felt her arms shake as she tried to keep holding herself up. Get our of my head, get out of me, get out—!

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

She jerked upright, eyes wide, and both voices screamed.

Cursing loudly, Idara all but threw herself forward to stand between the necromancer and her friend, Magic crackling at her fingertips.

[Lowen Thorn]

Aspen scooted back from the ground as the sound of two screams, eerily simultaneous but distinctly different, cut the air in the room. "Idara, hold her down!" he shouted over chaos, lunging himself forward to place his hands again on the girls cheeks.

His icy eyes turned completely white, rolling to the back of his head, and he muttered something under his breath that sounded like archaic gibberish. He was trying to pull the paranormal forces from the mercenary's body - a dangerous stunt that could leave him vulnerable.

[DragonSong]

Maka screamed again. It felt like she was tearing in two, veins pulsing with an ice so cold it burned as the spirit fought, then suddenly ripped away from her.

She collapsed on her side, breathing harsh and ragged, her vision flickering as she desperately clung to consciousness.

Idara swore colorfully. Just for a moment, when the necromancer pitched forward, she saw the flicker of an image, a girl, standing over her. Then it was gone.

"Aspen, snap out of it!" She shook her friend's shoulder rather harshly. "She's gone, stop the spell!"

[Lowen Thorn]

Aspen was still chanting the spell mindlessly and erratically under his breath after the girl's breath, hands tight on her face and eyes violently hallow. It was only Idara's touch that brought him back to reality.

He screamed. He jolted abruptly and scooted further away from them with his feet to the floor. His breathing was heavy that could be more considered a pant. He was shivering and his eyes remained white for several moments before they returned to the icy hue of a blind man.

He wrapped his arms around himself. "..So.. cold.." he muttered weakly. "So.. miserably cold.. W-What.. How.."

[DragonSong]

"Oh shit, Aspen?" Idara placed both hands on his shoulders, eyes searching his face as she knelt in front of him. "Please tell me it's just you in there..."

Behind her, Maka gradually seemed to be getting her breath back. She pushed herself slowly up onto her elbows, then her hands, then managed to sort of prop her side against the wall as she panted lightly, eyes half closed.

[Lowen Thorn]

Aspen took a deep breath before reaching out to grab Idara's arm. He was still shaking, but he was coming back down to a normal state of mind. "It's fine," he breathed. "I'm fine. I don't know what happened.. I, uh.. What happened exactly?"

[DragonSong]

"I have no bloody clue," Idara grumbled, sitting back. She glanced toward the door and added, "But none of it was very quiet—I'd put money on us having company in the near future."

Maka laughed dryly, still leaning most of her weight against the wall. "Oh good. Wonderful."

[Lowen Thorn]

Aspen cursed silently under his breath. Drawing attention to themselves was the last thing they needed, but apparently it was going to be the first thing they got. He hadn't even had the proper amount of time to register what just happened, more or less come up with a plan with Idara to figure out what exactly he was suppose to do.

He was a killer on the loose. What could he do?

"Can you help me?" he asked Idara, his voice soft with worry and desperation. "I can't ask you to go with me. I don't want to put you in any danger or them put a price on your head as well for abetting a criminal.  But.. I'm sorry.. Can something be arranged?"

[DragonSong]

"I--I can try, ASpen." Idara's eyes were tight, her mouth a worried line. "I can get you out of here and hopefully hide any signs you were here to begin with, but I'm not sure I can do anything else. They already have suspicions I'll be helping you because we're friends..."

Once upon a time she might have told him "To hell with it" and gone with him herself; but she had a duty here, a responsibility.

We all have to grow up sometime, I suppose.

Coughing raggedly, Maka attempted to push herself away from the wall again, then sank back with another curse. "So you're gonna set the blind murderer loose in the countryside?" she rasped. "Yes, that's a brilliant idea. I can see how you lot made professors."

[Lowen Thorn]

If his eyes could envey any sort of emotion, he would stare daggers at the nameless mercenary. "You're one to talk," he shot back. "You're far more dangerous than I am. And to think I just saved you from... whatever the hell that was, I'll trust you to lay off and not follow me anymore."

[DragonSong]

"Saved me?" She could have spat at him. She might have, if her mouth wasn't so dry. "You didn't save jack shit, professor. She's still here. You just pissed her off."

Her eyes were locked on the far wall, seemingly glaring at nothing.

Idara followed her gaze, then huffed and shook her head. Great. The ghost was still in her house.

She really didn't have time for this. "Just...clear off, alright?" the ice mage snapped as she looped an arm under Aspen's and tried to pull him to his feet.

Maka continued to glare. "I would, if your genius pal there hadn't just bound an angry ghost to my soul." Her voice shook, though this time it wasn't from exhaustion. It was fear.

[Lowen Thorn]

Again, if Aspen's eyes could have shown any emotion, they would be that of annoyance. He let Idara help him to his feet, his strength slowly come back to him after that little stunt he pulled. "Wonderful," he replied to the necromancer bitterly. "You get me out of here then," he said to her rather abruptly. "We'll deal with your problem together."

He let his hand land on Idara's for a moment, giving her fingers a little squeeze of appreciation, before walking over to the other woman's direction. He held his arm out for her to take it. "Come on, then. Let's go."

[DragonSong]

Idara squeezed his hand back, then gave him a little shove toward the back door, urging, "Go."

Maka scowled up at him, frantically trying to come up with another option. She turned up blank.

Fuck.

"Fine." She grabbed his arm and hauled herself to her feet, then quickly let go. "Let's move then."

At a much slower pace than she would have liked, the necromancer made her way back out of Idara's rooms and onto the Wyrdwood campus.

If they were very, very lucky, they'd have about three minutes to get off campus before anyone started coming after them.

[Lowen Thorn]

Aspen almost grinned at the woman's response. Almost, but not quite.

"Lead the way, then," he began to tease. "I can't see anything."

He raised his arm again as a suggestion for her to take it, though he was quite capable of moving around on his own when he really needed to.

[DragonSong]

Maka grunted, evidently uninterested in verbal replies. She eyed his arm for a moment, then swore softly under her breath and grabbed his arm, perhaps a bit more roughly than was necessary. "Come on," she growled, setting off at a steady jog.

Gods, she couldn't believe she was doing this.

But what choice did she have? She didn't know how, or even how she knew, but whatever Aspen had done trying to draw the ghost out of her body had succeeded, but somehow bound the damn thing to her. She could feel it.

Not to mention the girl--Elissa--was following them. Not saying anything now, not reaching out, just following at a steady distance, silent and watchful.

Creepy as fuck.

[Lowen Thorn]

Aspen kept up with her jog as they made their way out of the Wyrdwood. He didn't have much choice but to trust that she was leading them somewhere safe where they could figure things out and not straight into a jail cell.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood for most of the job. He felt the presence of the little girl too, and it was unsettling to say the least.

[DragonSong]

It was nearly dawn by the time Maka decided they'd got enough distance that it might be safe enough to stop. She would have liked to go further, but traveling in daylight didn't seem like the smartest idea just then.

Mind you, if I hadn't just been possessed I probably could have gotten us farther, she snipped to herself as she finally came to a stop and looked around. They were in a small clearing among a cluster of tall and rather gnarled trees. Oaks of some variety, she thought.

"Should be able to camp here for a bit at least," she grunted, shrugging away from Aspen's arm. "Can you do wards or something?"

Her magic had never exactly been useful for that sort of thing.