Part One: Role Reversal


The mind of Patty Thompson was a very strange place, and general consensus held that she was at least a little bit crazy.

Of course, most people would have also blamed this peculiarity on the fact that she partnered with a death-god. But, if that had been the case, then it should have followed that Liz Thompson would be just as eccentric as her sister.

Even the most cursory glance, however, would reveal that Liz was still completely normal.

Thus, contrary to general opinion, Patty's particular brand of insanity was entirely of her own making.

And she reveled in it.

"Yay!" said Patty, "Boom!"

Behind her, an old building exploded. The pieces of rubble, which had once been an art museum, fell heavily to the ground. If Patty had had hands, then she would have clapped them in delight. But, since she happened to be a weapon at that precise moment, she had to content herself with giggling maniacally.

"Patty!" chided, Liz. "That museum was important!"

"But Kid's the one who blew it up!" Patty pointed out. "I just think it's funny!"

Their meister, Death the Kid, paused at this. He was a short guy who wore expensive clothes, aristocratic bling, and who possessed three unnatural white lines on one side of his hair. Currently, he was slumped in misery. That building had been perfectly symmetrical, and he'd accidentally leveled it.

Suddenly, another voice called out to them; it was female, but not excessively feminine.

"Kid!" said the voice, "Come on, we have to go!"

Patty's meister looked up to see a thin girl with green eyes and dark blonde hair wielding a gigantic scythe. The weapon was Soul Eater Evans, the Demon Scythe, and his meister was Maka Albarn, the Kishin KIller.

Patty liked the Scythe Duo. Of course, since they were her teammates, it would have been unfortunate if they couldn't at least get along. But, even outside the realm of school-requirements demanding that all Eat Class partnerships be part of a team, she really did respect them. Next to Kid, those two, along with her other teammates, definitely made the list of Patty's favorite people in Shibusen.

Plus, it didn't hurt that Soul was already a Death Scythe, one of the first of their generation, second only to Justin Law (who was usually put together with the older Death Scythes, regardless of the fact that Law was only two years older than they were). As the saying went, it was good to be king... and it was equally enjoyable to be colleagues and friends with the big man on campus.

Admittedly, though, now probably wasn't the best time to reminisce. Their group had just gotten the bus-load of kids that they were escorting to the safe point, and away from the group of Laotian Witches who had been trying to kidnap them. It was an unusual mission, in that they were facing Witches rather than pre-Kishin, but the humanitarian aspect outweighed normal mission conventions, it seemed.

Thus far, their battle had escalated to include the destruction of an art museum under construction, as well as a parking garage. Currently, the Spectacular Seven that comprised Team Albarn were fighting for their lives against the Witches who they had deprived of their prey, while standing on the roof of a corporate building. The midday sun shone into their eyes, giving their opponents advantage, but Team Shibusen still had the Witches outnumbered, seven to two.

Now Patty didn't admit it—because life was so much more fun when people thought you were insane—but she did know when to take things seriously—unlike a certain blue-haired meister that she knew.

"Whoo!" screamed The Great Black-Star, a massive grin plastered across his face.

The loud-spoken, boundless well of exuberance—who was currently trying to take on both Witches single-handedly—was both meister to Patty's friend, Tsubaki, and arrogant wannabee-god.

Now that their mission was accomplished, and the civilians had locked themselves inside the safe-house, the entire team wanted nothing more than to make a retreat, while they were all still uninjured.

Unfortunately, the Witches seemed to have other things in mind and had them all cornered against the edge of a rooftop.

There were two Witches, though they'd yet to see them as humans. For, just as Medusa had been able to turn into a snake due to her title of 'Snake Witch,' the same logic could also be applied to the two they were fighting—meaning they should be the Hawk Witch and the Chimera Witch.

...which meant that, when they weren't keeping their eyes from being pecked out by the one, they were avoiding a snake-head-tail and fangs of the other.

More terrifying than this, however, was the fact that they were losing.

"This isn't working," Kid told them all, silently, through their chain resonance-link. "On my signal, be prepared to smash and run."

"Okay," acknowledged Maka, her eyes roving, already scouting out the best escape route.

"Are you sure? I think we can take these guys—"

"Black-Star..." thought Tsubaki in a weary voice, remembering many missions-gone-by when her partner had failed to appreciate the better part of valor.

"All right, fine," said the Assassin, catching her annoyance through their resonance, or possibly just her tone of 'voice.'

"—Now!" yelled Kid.

Maka and Soul let loose a Witch Hunter and were over the edge and headed for cover before the dust had settled; Black-Star shot off one of his Big Wave soul attacks and appeared to hesitate for a moment or two, before following Maka; Kid hung back and activated his Death Cannon, and then followed suit, bringing up the rear in their little retreat.

The next few minutes consisted of running like heck. Not the most dignified of exits, but, for a few minutes at least, it seemed to work.

At least, it did until the Hawk Witch dropped down in front of them, turned human, and hit them all with a spell that flashed everything a sickly shade of saffron.

As soon as the attack was completed, the Witch flew off again—but this went unnoticed, as Kid, Maka, and Black-Star were down for the count. Rather than getting up, like they normally would after any attack less damaging than a mortal blow, the technicians remained motionless, splayed out on the asphalt of the roadway that had, until recently, been their escape-route.

"Kid!" screamed Liz, reverting to human form to check on her fallen meister. Patty followed, not even a heartbeat behind.

Next to them, Tsubaki and Soul were doing the same.

"Maka!"

"Black-Star, wake up!"

But the three just lay there: bodies limp and unconscious, minds dead to the waking-world.


A few hours later, the four weapons had brought their meisters back to the DWMA, their ridiculously extravagant home. They'd gone to a local hospital first, of course, but the doctors there hadn't been able to do much for the injured). According to Stein, the academy expert on Witches, it would likely be another few hours before they woke again.

In the meantime, the four weapons hung around the infirmary, pestering Stein for details.

"Professor, what happened to them?" asked Liz. "What exactly was that spell?"

Patty wasn't listening to the explanation. Instead, she was in the corner, making paper dolls out of the silken bed sheets of the overly-opulent school hospital.

Kid would wake up soon, she was sure. They all would: Maka and Black-Star, too. And then things would be back to normal. Or as normal as things ever got at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, at least.

Sure, Patty could listen to the 'hows' and the 'whys' of it, but she, personally, felt it more important to deal with her own stress over the issue, so that she could offer a stable shoulder to Kid, once he woke.

And so, she continued using her scissors on the cloth and listened to time tick by, noted by the tolling of the pink clock tower at campus center.


It was Maka who woke first, and it was Tsubaki who noticed it.

"Soul," said the Shadow Weapon in an undertone, nodding her head at the blonde scythe meister, as she began to stir.

"Maka." The Death Scythe sighed in relief, moving over to hold her hand.

"Soul?" Maka asked, confused at the concern in his voice. "Is everything all—"

At that point, she seemed to remember why she was asleep.

"Soul!" She brought her other hand over to grip his, pulling herself to a sitting position, wearing a worried expression. Maka met Soul's eyes, briefly, before checking to see who else was in the room, frowning as she noticed the other two unconscious meisters. "Are Black-Star and Kid all right?" she asked.

"No worse than you, we think," answered Liz. "Although, you're the first to wake."

Maka nodded, slowly, in acknowledgment. "What happened?"

"The Witches hit us with spell," said Patty. "We don't know if it did anything besides knock you out—"

"—but it's very suspicious that it only affected the meisters," finished Liz.

"Do you feel sick?" asked Soul, trying to play it cool, now that it was unlikely that his partner was in any real danger.

"No," said Maka, "not really. But I do feel... strange."

That caught their attention.

"Strange how?" asked Tsubaki, her eyes going wide with worry.

"Like... like I've got all this pent-up energy, but I can't get rid of it..." she began, before trailing off in dissatisfaction. She tried again. "No... that's not exactly it." She shook her head in frustration, giving up for the moment on fully articulating her feelings.

There was silence. That didn't sound good. They spent a few moments in fretful contemplation before another of the meisters regained consciousness.

"...Maka?" said a weak voice. "Is that you?"

"Kid!"

The young Shinigami was immediately glomped by Patty and a very relieved Liz—though the elder sibling had the presence of mind to let go, once she realized that Kid might be injured. Patty either didn't realize or didn't care and continued to hold onto her meister like he was a teddy bear... or possibly a giraffe.

Kid, looking over Patty's shoulder, returned the hug and slowly took in the scene of the infirmary. "I take it I was injured?" he asked.

"We don't know," said Liz, miserably. "They cast that spell at all of us, but only you three passed out. Maka says she feels 'strange'," Liz finished.

Kid thought about it. "I feel... different," he decided, "but not wrong. It's new, but not new."

"What is?" asked Patty.

"My powers have somehow changed," Kid answered.

"What?" The others had no idea what to make of such a statement.

"That's it," agreed Maka. "Before there was never this... potential. Or this vulnerability." She met Soul's eyes. "It's not that I feel different, so much as I am different... my strengths and weaknesses have been rearranged... but I'm not sure just how, yet."

She and Kid continued to debate possibilities until, after a few minutes, they all heard a strangled sort of groan. They turned to find Black-Star, awake, and staring in shock at his own hand, which currently looked less like a human appendage than it did a metal cylinder.

"Black-Star?" cried Tsubaki, in alarm, hastening over to get a get a closer look.

"Why am I a weapon?" asked the Assassin, eyes glazed over in disbelief as the gun barrel on his arm turned back into his hand.

The other six teammates were well and truly in shock by this point, so it took a few moments before any of them could reply.

Finally, Tsubaki took it upon herself to explain. "...the Witches attacked us before we got away," she said, "Remember, Black-Star?

He frowned. "Yeah," he said, "but, why would they turn us into weapons? Seems like killing us would be less effort..."

"Maybe the spell switched weapon and meister powers," suggested Tsubaki; then she realized what this might mean, and panicked. She transformed her hair to a chain to make sure she still possessed weapon abilities.

Patty hastily transformed into a pistol and was caught by Liz; then, they switched roles so Liz could check. When they were finally both in human form again, the Thompson sisters breathed a sigh of relief.

Soul surreptitiously transformed one of his arms to a blade, before coolly shaking his head at his concern.

After that scare, the weapons... the original weapons, were eager to move on to a new topic.

"So, then..." said Tsubaki, "are Maka and Kid weapons, too?"

"Perhaps," mused Kid, who was halfway convinced that he was dreaming, regardless of the fact that death-gods didn't sleep. "Black-Star," he asked, "how did you transform?"

"You just do it," he said, with a shrug. "It's like hitting someone with your soul-wavelength, or like soul-resonance. Although, it may only be easy for me because I'm so awesome..."

"Noted," said Kid, ignoring the backhanded insult, instead closing his eyes in concentration.

A moment later, light flashed and a pistol spun through the air. Liz and Patty reached out simultaneously to catch it.

"Kid?" asked Liz, wide-eyed at the contrast between the familiar weapon form in her hands, and the entirely unprecedented sight of her meister's reflection on the surface of said form.

"You look just like us!" Patty said, grinning a mile wide, snatching the pistol, and shooting off a few rounds of blue wavelength at what quickly ceased to be a vase of flowers.

"Well, of course..." said the newly-turned weapon, his reflection wearing an expression of utmost sincerity as he continued to speak, "...I couldn't possibly have any other form, because this is the only way to maintain complete symmetry!"

For a few moments after this proclamation, there was silence.

"... what?" said Kid, upon seeing the incredulous looks directed his way, particularly from Soul and Tsubaki, who had some inkling of just how unusual it was to have identical weapon forms, even among family.

The Thompson Sisters, they were well-aware, possessed a improbable degree of similarity for non-twins, though even sharing the day of birth didn't always speak of similarity. The fraternal twins, Fire and Thunder, for example were only identical in appearance, not in weapon attributes...

In other words, although familial affections could easily produce surfacial similarity of blood-relatives' weapon forms... Kid's symmetry obsession went soul-deep, ensuring complete alignment with his partners, both in his weapon form's appearance and its function. On a technical level, it was a sheer impossibility... but, considering that this was Kid, it honestly wasn't even that big of a surprise.

... and though they were all scared, on some level, about what this new development might mean, in that one moment, the seven of them couldn't do anything but laugh. Their roles as weapons and meisters might not have been as clear-cut as they'd been before this whole mess came about... but, whatever else had changed, they were still the same people, and they were still the same team.


That being said, things got a lot worse before they got better.

"You want us to do what?" Kid asked, staring at his father in horror.

"Find new partners," said Lord Death, looking around at the shocked faces of the rest of Kid's team, who stood before him in the Death Room.

"But, father..." protested Kid, "we're a team!"

"Kid, I didn't want to do this..." began Shinigami-sama, with an air of regret, "...but you do realize that seven is an asymmetrical number?"

Kid froze. Apparently, he hadn't ever realized before that their team had seven members: one short of the sacred number 8. However, after staring blankly ahead in horror for a few moments, as he wrestled with his internal revulsion, the younger Shinigami shook his head and faced his father, announcing, "I don't care."

Lord Death sighed. "Yes, but there's a reason weapons pair up with meisters, Kid-kun:" he began, "any training a weapon undergoes strengthens their weapon form, not their human one," Lord Death continued, taking in the stubborn expressions of the children of Team Albarn, "And your transformation into weapons seems to have transferred your meister powers into your weapon selves."

He paused a moment, considering that this might be considered an upside to this situation. "Now, this means that you'll probably make exceptionally powerful Death Scythes..." he allowed, "but, for now at least, you're much weaker than you were. You won't be able to act as meisters to your weapons," he said, trying to break the news as gently as possible, but still drive the point home. "It would be better for you all to find meisters who are able to bring out your potential."

"But," protested Kid, "we don't care about being meisters. We just want to keep our partnerships." Maka and Black-Star nodded in agreement, fiercely determined not to give up so easily.

"But what about your weapons?" asked Lord Death, glancing at the four in question. "Would you ask them to put themselves in danger, by acting as meisters when they haven't been trained for it?"

Kid looked stunned. Maka and Black-Star exchanged a worried glance. Truth be told, this wasn't something they'd considered. Though that wasn't surprising, taking into account the fact that the three had only learned about the possibility of having to switch partners a few minutes ago.

For more than a minute, Maka and Kid were silent, furiously trying to think of a way around this new dilemma. Black-Star was also silent, although his thoughts were more along the lines of hoping that the other two would have a sudden flash of inspiration, because he had nothing.

"I... guess you're right," Kid said, eventually, heaving a sigh. "We'll..." he grimaced, "start looking for new partners."

Black-Star was stoic, and Maka looked as though she might start crying, but they both prepared to follow Kid from the room, when the young death-god looked like he was about to leave.

"Wait," said Soul, breaking Maka's increasingly pessimistic train of thought "Don't we get a say in this?"

The three meisters stopped in their tracks.

"I mean," he continued, "I'm a Death Scythe. Surely I'm at least more powerful than a beginning meister? Why can't I keep my partner?"

Lord Death thought it over, reluctantly. "You are experienced enough to learn the ways of a meister, Soul Eater," he admitted, "but it would not be easy. For the both of you," he said, glancing from Soul to Maka, "this would be like starting over. You would be dropped down to one star, you would be removed from Spartoi, and the two of you would join the Not Class," he said, laying out possibilities like a judge sentencing a guilty party to prison-time.

"Knowing all this," Lord Death continued, "do you still wish to remain partners?"

This wasn't a trivial matter for either of them.

Though, supposedly, the only difference between the 'Eat' Class and the 'Not' Class was the level of rigor and responsibility, there were quite a few talented meister-weapon pairs in the Not Class, while some of the kids in the Eat Class were incompetent to the point of incredulity. Although, there was an unofficial dividing line which made a good deal more sense when compared to the evidence. Namely: kids in the Eat Class almost all came from wealthy backgrounds, while those in the Not Class were generally middle-class or lower.

Indeed, though the teachers tried to quash the practice, the unofficial name of the Not Class was the "Commoners' Class." And, like it or don't, the Not Class had much less prestige associated with it. Transferring was the social equivalent of swallowing cyanide.

Still, you wouldn't have known it from the way Maka's partner was talking.

"For me," said Soul, "there's no question: yes."

"Soul, you're already a Death Scythe," said Maka. "You don't need to stay partners with me anymore—"

The Demon Scythe raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Maka?" he said. "Not to rain on your parade, but... technically? It's not like I ever needed to stay partners with you. I mean, Justin Law didn't have a meister, and he made Death Scythe at thirteen: It would definitely have taken me longer, but I could have done something similar, if the Death Scythe ambition was really my only reason for enrolling. I didn't agree to be partners just because I 'needed' a meister to drag me up through the ranks. I also did it because I 'wanted' a friend who would help make me stronger, and who I could help in return." Here, he folded his arms. "Why would that change just because I became a Death Scythe?"

"Soul..." said Maka, unaccustomed to hearing him speak with so little sarcasm.

"Besides," continued the white-haired weapon, "we may not have a Kishin running around loose anymore, but there's still a lot of nasty stuff out there... and nothing and nobody is going to keep you from going after it," he gave her a somewhat exasperated look. Ah yes, there was the bantering partner she remembered. "Someone's gotta keep you alive, until you're powerful enough to stand on your own again, at least..."

He shrugged. "So stop feeling guilty. I wanna do this."

The Kishin Killer smiled, and then she hugged him.

"Maka! Seriously—uncool!" Soul's tone was one of annoyance, but, since Maka couldn't see his face, he allowed himself a small smile.

Liz and Patty moved to stand beside Kid. "Who needs training?" Liz asked, looking coolly at Lord Death, some of the street-punk that she used to be shining through. "Patty and I fought as both meister and weapon for years before we met Kid," she said, flipping her hair. "Besides, we're very nearly Death Scythes already."

Tsubaki took a breath. "I would like to stay with Black-Star," she said, sounding surprisingly assertive on the matter.

Lord Death sighed. He was silent for a long moment, before he finally answered them.

"I concede that Soul is capable of acting as a meister," Lord Death began, "and he may maintain his partnership, if he so desires. However," he paused, "Liz, Patty, Tsubaki, you simply aren't powerful enough to train as technicians yet, and I cannot in good conscience allow you to remain partners with Black-Star and Kid."

Kid sighed. Black-Star just nodded, because he didn't want Tsubaki to get hurt. The Shadow Weapon, on the other hand, was heartbroken.

"But—" Tsubaki began.

Before she could say another word, she and Black-Star were surrounded by their not-quite-former teammates. "Excuse us for a minute," said Soul, before drawing Black-Star and Tsubaki off into a group huddle with Kid, Liz, Patty, and Maka.

After a few minutes of hurried whispering, they turned to face Lord Death.

Soul stepped forward. "Shinigami-sama," he said, "what if Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki were to become Death Scythes? Would they be able to keep their old partnerships?"

"How do you propose to do this without finding new partners?" asked Lord Death, tilting his head as he considered this.

"Power of friendship," said Liz immediately.

"Not the way I would put it," said Soul, "but, yeah. Our team is a very close one. You gave permission for me to act as meister. So I will: I'll partner with Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki, until they all make Death Scythe."

"The three of us will find temporary partners," supplied Kid, indicating himself, Black-Star, and Maka.

"Once we're strong enough," continued Soul, "we'll act as meisters to our three new weapons."

Shinigami-sama sighed. "You guys never could do things the easy way, could you?" he asked.

Soul grinned a grin that was full of razors. "Of course not," he answered.

"... fine then," said the death-god. "If you're so dead-set on this, I can't stop you." Lord Death shook his head, already feeling a bit weary from the paperwork and gossip that this would surely cause.

"Yes!" said Black-Star, pumping his fist towards the sky in victory. Then, he hugged Tsubaki, and everyone else soon joined in to form a group hug.


AN: Right, here's the game-plan. The first eight chapters are part one of a larger three-part story (Part 1: Role Reversal. Part 2: Death and Madness, Part 3: Oh the Shinigamity...) I have the whole thing outlined, it's just a matter of writing it down.

As of 8-21-14, the fic is complete.

Ah yes, and if you're annoyed by massive cross-overs, just be warned that that's where this is headed. In terms of spoiler warnings for Part 1, pretty much all of Soul Eater and Ouran (both manga and anime), but eventually (for parts 2 and or 3) probably for Portal and Portal 2, Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Trigun, and a few others that have yet to be decided.