Of Music and Meister Ch 12

Ch 12

"I entice people to insanity. I was born in this factory... as the contagion of insanity."

Covered in short hair like a spider, tattered and pieced together like a escaped specimen from Stein's laboratories; The Clown towered over Maka and Soul. It was a very good thing Kidd wasn't there at the moment. The asymmetry of the creature's face alone would have driven him into madness. Only one of the creature's appendages, the left arm, even resembled having been human in nature at one point. The legs were nothing more than lumps of what might be flesh stretching for the tile floor. About where the knees should be, the grey 'flesh' peeled back revealing black curved bone-like structures which glistened in the low light as they supported the frightening chimera.

The long sinewy twist of skin and bone forming the left arm protruded from under a large wrap of flesh that substituted for a shoulder and was the same color as rotted flesh. The hand adorning the tip was powder white. Its palm was small and almost perfectly circular. The fingers that extended out from palm's axis were slender and long like spider silk.  Its right arm seemed to be made from a single massive curved claw which ended with another spidery and pale hand that seemed to have been tacked on as an afterthought. This hand had shorter fingers but they were tipped with thick, wicked-looking claws.

The creature's torso was truly chimerical in nature. It only resembled a torso in the vaguest sense of the word. In fact, it appeared to be constructed of the remains of three other unfortunate creatures literally braided together. Short 'feelers' protruded from the Clown's left shoulder, but seemed to serve no purpose. They appeared to have once belonged to the unfortunate creature that now stretched and twisted around the Clown's neck.

The neck was very long, so much so it towered over the relatively bulky body. It was slender and pale white like its hands but was covered in square scales. A small, heart-shaped head was perched on the tip of the narrow neck. A perfectly round red nose sat in the center of the face. Just below the tomato nose, a wide toothy grin was positioned. It was so perfectly fixed that it almost seemed to be painted in place. The face was powdery white and cracked, as if it was just a mask. A curved slit adorning the right side and a tiny, almost circular punch on the left posed for eyes; the illusion completed by an eerie orange glow filling each slit. The wretched glow was brightened by the shade provided by the imitation jester's hat. The 'hat' sported bright colors but it was obviously not made from cloth.

This creature was truly the stuff of nightmares but oddly enough, it did resemble a clown. Soul made a mental note never to make fun of another Coulrophobe ever again as he forcibly tore his eyes away from the walking nightmare to check on Maka. She stood and stared unblinkingly at the creature. Soul couldn't blame her but she wasn't coming to.

Slowly and with creepy deliberation, the clown reached up to its face and tore off its nose. Almost immediately, a new one took the place of the removed nose. The clown lifted its hands and head as the removed orb began to circle its rotting head in a kind of mock juggling.

"Play… with me…"

Without warning the creature attacked, launching dozens of red orbs towards the young weapon and meister. Somehow, Maka and Soul blocked all of them, the first time.

"They're ricocheting back!" Soul warned but Maka couldn't move fast enough. Several connected with her back, each landing with a sickeningly audible thud but Maka was able to shake it off and keep fighting. There was only chaos until one of the bouncing balls collided with the Clown's jaw. Its face swayed back lazily with the force of the impact then rolled back forward. The mask on the right of its face was shattered, pieces falling to the floor, revealing smooth skin.

"W- What is that… a person?" Soul asked aloud.

"That's… me!?" Maka cried as she locked eyes with herself. She froze immediately and her body went limp but she didn't collapse. Slowly her arms fell to her sides, her unblinking eyes fixed on the Clown.

"Maka? What's wrong?" Soul asked not bothering to hide the worry in his voice. Maka didn't answer. She kept staring at the Clown for a while then she started to move forward.

"Oi?! What's wrong Maka?!" Soul tried again. This situation was going from bad to worse and he felt helpless to stop it. His worry was escalating and he was beginning to lose his temper because if it. Still Maka was silent as a doll. Soul was starting to notice that she wasn't even walking forward; she was being dragged like a puppet towards the creature.

"I guess a weapon wouldn't understand this situation." The Clown said to Maka with a smile in its voice. It had a firm grasp on her soul and was dragging her towards a waiting embrace, its form becoming more and more human as she was dragged closer. Maka couldn't move, she couldn't look away, she couldn't even speak. All she knew was terror. Tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled to speak.

"Soul…… No…." She whispered.

"Come… to where I am… I'll grant you true freedom… come…. Come!" Maka's doppelganger spoke, its words frighteningly silky and alarmingly comforting. Her fingers that were wrapped around Soul loosened and he fell to the ground with a loud clang.

"Maka!!" He cried, trying to snap her out of her trance. The clown reached out and took Maka's limp body lovingly into its arms. Soul felt something snap as he watched. The thought of another person laying their hands on Maka was enough to make him feel sick. The sight of someone touching her made his blood boil. Seeing the Clown putting its polluting hands on her body, defiling his meister heart, body, and soul was enough to drive him into madness. He transformed immediately.

"You bastard!!" He screamed at the Clown as he lunged forward, far too late to save Maka. More pipes flowed from the floor, surrounding and blocking Soul from his precious meister. The last thing he saw was her terrified eyes staring back at him, begging for his help and the clown grinning triumphantly at him before they disappeared together within an iron prison.

"MMAAAAAKKKAAAAA!!!!" Soul screamed as he grabbed the pipes and slammed his head against them, hard. Blood oozed from a cut on his forehead to stain the silvery pipe but it didn't matter. She was gone. He could have stopped this but he didn't. His eyes were wide and unblinking as he tried to take in the situation. He was going to kill that fucking clown. He had a reputation to protect. Nothing touched Maka and lived. NOTHING!! Madness was rising within him. He could feel it. It brought with it intense desire to slice apart the iron separating him from his meister and ripping the clown apart. He couldn't though. He fought back the madness with the knowledge that slicing through carelessly most likely meant harming Maka too. With this he was able to gather enough reason think. He had to think.

"Maka!!! Can you hear me!?" No answer. The madness was rising again but he had to resist. He was going to get her back he just needed to think. In desperation, he did the first thing he could think of.

"Maka!! Sense my presence!!" He leaned his head back against the piping and closed his eyes, praying this would work. "My soul wavelength…. Please… sense it…"