Chapter 1: Dance with the Devil
It's black. Too black. The darkness continued on forever and there was no light visible anywhere. But Soul had no exception to getting out of the darkness. He liked it. It suited his personality. He loved all things dark and mysterious. Why would he want to leave a place like this? He was floating in midair. His albino hair bobbing slightly. His arms and legs were at his sides and his back was straight and holding a horizontal position. He felt free to be himself, in the nothingness. He felt protected in his own world but knew he soon would have to wake. He had to help Maka, his partner, defeat the Kishen Anahi. While he was stuck in the nothingness of the Black Blood, Maka was still trying her hardest to fight while Soul was using this method to gain more power into their attacks. The Black Blood was so thick and dark that he felt like he had tons of weight put on his shoulders. He didn't mind it though, if it meant that he would be able to help his partner.
Soul finally opened his blood red eyes and glanced around. He let out a sigh and let him float downwards towards the light he managed to find through the darkness. He reached his hand down and touched what seemed to be the exit of darkness and to the light. He reached his hand through the cold, wet thickness of it.
"Why does it have to be so damn thick?!" He hissed as he struggled to get his hand through the thickness of the madness.
"SOUL!"
He heard the voice and it sounded exactly like his meister, Maka. He started pushing his hand further to grasp the sound of his meister. He needed to get to her quickly. He knew something was wrong and he could easily tell by the tone of her voice.
"I can't hold on much longer Soul! I'm losing it!"
"Just hang on a bit longer Maka! Wait until I get out of the Black Blood!" He shouted as he continued struggling to get out of the Black Blood. He was almost completely out of the madness, but it continued to hold him back. He struggled and struggled but the struggling made it worse for him as it dragged him further back into the madness.
"Uh Maka can you hold on for like maybe another half an hour or something?!"
"What?! Why, why do I need to wait 30 more minutes?!"
Soul bit his lip then said, "Well I'm kind of stuck in the madness."
"Then hall your ass out of there! I can't hold on much longer Soul, we'll both end up dead if you don't hurry it up!"
Soul sighed and shook his head before he started climbing out of the madness once again. The Black Blood was like an indestructible power that could only be used if the victim has been in contact with the Black Blood. It made the person infected with the Black Blood become insane, depending on the user. Soul, however, had to deal with the constant bribery of a little red demon to use the power of the Black Blood. Since Soul's and Maka's soul wavelengths were connected, Maka also had the Black Blood through Soul. Since having Black Blood some side effects included a crazed and demented euphoria when she used the Black Blood. Soul hated having Black Blood but at the same time he felt it was beneficial at times. Like now.
Soul continued pushing through the thickness till he finally had finally made it out. He was now back in the same dark room where the little red demon sat on a bench beside a black grand piano. Soul glanced down and noticed his clothes had changed from wearing his orange t-shirt and tan shorts to wearing a black and grey stripped suit with a red button down shirt underneath along with black dress shoes and a tie.
"Welcome back Soul, did you enjoy the madness?"
"Yeah, it was a pain in the ass."
"Mmm… good, good now are you willing to accept the madness now? Come on Soul, the madness is a part of you is it not? Why not use the madness as a way to increase your soul wavelengths? Or even better, use it to increase Witch Hunter and Genie Hunter?" Little Ogre said as he crossed his legs. Soul stared at the demon while shifting on his feet.
"Why would I do that? You'll only want to take over my body and basically kill me."
The demon sighed as he shook his head. "Oh Soul, my reason for being here is to help you realize that you need the Black Blood to improve your strength."
"I think we can manage without-"
"Soul don't deny the truth."
The comment hit Soul hard. It was true that Maka and Soul were still struggling to improve their strength.
"Well… um…"
"Admit it Soul. You're helpless without the Black Blood. You need it Soul, more than ever. If you want to become the ultimate Death Scythe and not lose Maka to that Kishen, I say you should accept my offer." He then pointed to the piano. "You can start by playing the piano."
Soul glanced behind him at the piano staring at the white keys. "I…" He whispered softly as his feet shuffled over to the piano. His fingers traced the keys a bit going from a flat key to a sharp then so on. He found a key that he liked and pressed lightly on it erupting a beautiful but mellow tone. The red demon smirked and watched Soul as he pressed a few other keys before sitting down on the stool. He placed his finger on the set of keys he wanted then started to play.
"Soul, what are you doing?!"
"I'm trying to increase our power Maka! We need a stronger resonance!" He shouted over the keys as he continued playing faster. The music came out more haunting but still made a beautiful sound.
"Soul please stop! You can't keep this up for long Soul; you're probably worn out by now!" She shouted back over the music and the fighting that was going on between her and the Kishen Anahi.
"I'm fine Maka. You just focus on the Kishen right now!" He said as his tempo started to die but pick back up the tempo again. He closed his eyes, now lost in his own world. The screaming pleads from Maka died away and now it was only him and his music. His fingers felt like they were on fire like there were sparks flying off the tips of them.
Maka continued screaming for him but there was no use in trying anymore so she stuck to the only option to getting Soul back. Maka flung Soul's scythe form around as the Kishen Anahi dodged the attacks. At some point Maka put down her guard long enough to give Anahi a perfect strike. Anahi smirked then dove for Maka as she stabbed her knife into Maka's back. Maka stood there for a moment in silence as she let her body shake in terror. When she looked down seeing the tip of the blade poking out of her chest, she let out a blood curling scream.
Soul who had gone into the darkness of his music heard the scream and froze. All he could think about was that his meister was hurt. He shook off his concentration of his piano playing and got some sense back into him. He finished the song and quickly stood.
"MAKA!" Soul shouted as he ran for the door. When he took hold of the doorknob the demon came behind him and grabbed his arm.
"Soul if you leave now-"
"SHUT UP! Soul shouted again then pushed the demon away before ripping the door open and charging out. He regained conscious in his scythe form and saw Maka lying on the ground whimpering and gasping for breath.
"MAKA! Dammit Maka wake up! MAKA!" Soul shouted when he turned into his human form and started shaking her. "Please don't die…"
"S…oul…"
"Maka?!"
"S…oul… d-de…feat… Ana…hi…"
Soul stared at Maka as she reached a shaky hand up to touch the side of his face. "For me…" She whispered. When she lost conscious, Soul made sure she was out of battle range before he approached Anahi.
"You hurt my meister… NOW I'LL KILL YOU!" Soul shouted as he charged at Anahi with his weapon arm raised.