Chapter 1: The Start of Everything- I Can Do This, Right?
The air was still and quiet, the majority of the residents in the small town still sleeping snug in their beds. The sun could be seen peeking up from beneath the waters, the sky cast in multiple rays of reds, pinks, and oranges through the dark of the night. The moon, on the opposite horizon, was sinking lower, and lower into the sky. It's time was done and now it was the sun's turn to fill the day with light.
A girl, no more than the age of fourteen, moved about her quiet apartment, gathering the last necessities before she headed out for the last time. She'd been up since early that morning (or late that night, depending on how you looked at it) packing a single bag. She was a fairly logical girl, only taking what she knew she would need and no more.
Placing a few more items in her bag she closed it back up, nodded to herself, and stood up.
Glancing around her apartment would be a sad sight to anyone else's eyes, it was empty (not that it had ever been filled), clear of any signs of humanity. For the last few years of her sad excuse of a life she'd been mostly alone. Her mother, traveling, hadn't set foot in the apartment for over six years. The girl's father, hardly ever home himself, was off at his job (she scoffed, he was probably flirting with more women) on a fishing boat that was gone for months at a time.
To her, the empty home meant opportunities, another chance, no anchors. Said girl grinned walking to the single mirror in the empty bathroom. Green eyes stared back at her as she fished out two clips from her pocket and fixed her ash blonde hair up into two high pigtails. Staring at the reflection, the girl glanced at her appearance. She wore tan capris, a plain white button-up, and a yellow vest. Nodding again she walked back out to the main room.
Picking up her brown shoulder bag, she took one last look at the placed she'd called home for the last fourteen years of her life.
It was time to move on.
The girl turned, opening the front door for the last time, and shutting it on her old life.
Walking down the street was when she really began to ponder her plan of action. She knew what she wanted to do; but wasn't quite sure how to go about achieving her goal.
Maka, for that was the girls name, stop. Her head tilted to the side. What was she going to do? She turned her head to the sky, squinting against the laughing sun. Well, she couldn't go back. That was out of the question (she'd already returned the key to the landlord, so couldn't go back either way). Finding her father was another 'no' on her list of things she needed to do (or not, depending on the item) he'd fuss over her and just end up getting on her nerves.
Now the true question was, where would one go if they wanted to travel around without an excess of attention? Where they could get a ride near anywhere, fairly cheap, no questions asked?
The wharf.
Maka nearly hit herself in the face. Of course! Why didn't she think of it before? If she could get a boat to take her around, and she could ask around at each port, it'd be perfect!
The blonde smiled, humming gently to herself. This would be a piece of cake! Why had she ever worried before? There was no way her plan could go wrong. If she explained her situation, they'd be understanding. There's no way they could say-
"No."
Maka's eyes widened a fraction. "W-what? But sir! All I need is-"
"No means no, girly. Now get outa my sight before I get angry." The large man pushed her aside as he picked up another crate, and started to carry back to his ship.
"Please!" Maka pleaded, rushing after him. "Please, if you would just understand!"
"I don't wanna understand, now get outa my way!" The gruff man pushed her roughly, causing her to fall in yesterday's produce. He glared down at her, "Ain't nobody gonna take a scrawny runt like yous anyhow. So git, ya hear me? Yer just in the way, ain't no place fer a girl." He turned, leaving her there, sitting in the garbage.
She sniffed. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. She thought like a mantra, Don't cry, don't cry. You're better than this!
A bark of laughter pulled her out of her revery Maka glanced up at the source of the offending noise. A dirty child stared down at her, giggling in all his audacity. Her cheeks flared, she averted her gaze from the boy and stood up swiftly. She brushed away as much as she could from her clothes. Keeping her gaze from the child she started walking. To where she had no idea. As long as it brought her away from the laughing child and the scene of her embarrassment. Much to her chagrin, the small figure trailed after her, eyes wide with interest, mouth open allowing small laughs to escape. Maka, trying to maintain what little pride she had left, continued walking, attempting to ignore the small rag pile.
The child, however, would have none of it. "Hey, hey, lady!" He called. Maka walked faster. "Hey!" he called again, catching up, "Lady!" Maka, yet again, walked faster. "Hey!" The boy shouted.
Maka turned on her heels. "What!" She hissed. "What could you possibly want?" The child grinned, Maka noted that he was missing quite a few of his teeth.
"I wan'ed ta ask yous some'in'." He stood there, Maka waited.
"Well?" She asked.
"Why yous be wa'in to hitch a ride anyhows?" His speech made Maka cringe. Did no one teach proper english anymore?
Green eyes narrowed, "I don't see how it's any of your business." The boy gave another toothy smile.
"'S not mum. I jus' thought you oughta know that there ain't no respec-ti-ble cap'n who'll let a girl a board 'is ship."
Maka sighed, "No? And why's that?"
The smile grew. "'Cuz ever'body know 't's bad luck to have a woh-man aboard a ship." With that the boy gave another hearty laugh before scampering off.
Maka stood there for a moment, pondering this bit of information, before realising that the small, rude child was correct. She nearly hit herself. All sailors were incredibly superstitious. If there was even the slightest possibility that something caused good or bad luck, they believed it.
One of these superstitions was that bringing a female aboard a ship caused extremely bad luck. Maka had always found the superstition stupid, and therefore never gave it a second thought.
She'd never even thought about the fact that she might not be let aboard a ship because she was a girl. The idea was stupid in itself. Who would ban certain people from a ship because of their gender?
Sailors, apparently.
Maka was stumped. She stood there with a thoughtful look on her face. How was she going to convince a crew to lug her around if they didn't allow females on their boats?
Maka watched the laughing sun continue its trek through the sky. She'd think of something. She always did.
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater; Atsushi Ōkubo does. This is written mainly for my own enjoyment and for anyone else who wants to read it.
Reviews would be nice. ^^