Rome. It all started in Rome. The city was ancient spanning most of mankind's civilized history. It was a city of beauty and a city of long forgotten horror. Modern buildings butted against buildings built in the times of the empire over two thousand years ago.
It was in one of these age old buildings – a church dating to the earliest days of roman Christendom – that the plan was brought together. Two conspirators met in the old chapel surrounded by the blasphemous remains of of the church's former glory. All around them signs of decay and age were apparent. The once ornate columns had long ago faded from their pristine white into a tarnished sooty black. The wooden banisters and pews had cracked and crumbled decades ago. Once rich tapestries hung in moth eaten rags and some collapsed under their own weight with dry rot. The crucifix had long ago been salvaged and moved to a newer church, in its place was only a slightly less discolored outline on the wall above the broken alter. A once great organ sat in a sorry state of neglect and dereliction, the old pipes sang out an eerie tune as the nights chill wind blew through their broken and tarnished lengths,like demonic accompaniment to the echoes of the later coming conspirator's footsteps. The scent of mold filled the air with an unwholesomeness nearly beyond words.
One of the conspirators, the late comer, took in all of this with a trained eye before approaching the shadow of a broken stair. Deep in the shadow they could make out the outline of their co-conspirator seated atop a throne like jumble of broken wood and shattered marble.
"I see you have made it." the seated figure remarked "Have you seen them? What are your thoughts? Will the plan move forward?"
The second conspirator was silent for a long while, so long the first was on the verge of asking if something was wrong, but answered first "I have. They are young yet but their skill is impressive, far better then anyone save perhaps Stein at their age. And yes, the plan is moving forward, Lord Death knows about everything."
The shadowed figure exhaled slowly at the news. "Very well then. Which one will it be then?" they inquired
"I think you will have to find that there is only one that will work. But, they will work perfectly." the second person sighed "I don't like this part of the plan, you know. But that will not dissuade you will it?" after a second lengthy pause the late comer turned to go. "If that is the way of it then... I will go and get everything else ready."
The seated shadow watched their co-conspirator leave before rising. "I do not like it anymore then you do, but... The red moon will shine soon and then..." the figure moved to where the crucifix had once stood. "Forgive me the sin I am about to commit. Guide my hand in this and watch over those who are soon to take up my path, oh Lord. Grant me the strength to do what must be done."
Death City, home of the Death's Weapon Miester Academy was an architectural marvel for many reasons. It was a city f tiers build one atop the other and crowned by the massive grounds of the DWMA. It was here that students from around the world came to be trained, in the unique teams of weapon and Miester, with the ultimate goal of obtaining the Death Scythe. To this end the students attend classes and take part in various training regimes and extracurricular activities. Not the least of these is the hunting of evil souls that have become Kishin eggs to prevent their retuning.
Not too long ago the academy and its students managed to stop the Kishin Ashura. The conflicted, complicated by the meddling and scheming of witches turned into a long and bloody conflict, yet in the end, peace was finally restored. Now, everyone was settling back into their old routines and piecing back together their normal lives.
Of course normal is strictly a relative term.
Tsubaki let out a tired sigh. She had gotten little sleep the night before. She and her Miester had spent several hours chasing down a particularly troublesome kishin soul. It had had been well past four before they had finally managed to get to sleep. Tsubaki had awoke at five thirty and got ready for class at seven. She bathed, dressed and ate breakfast all in a lethargic haze very much out of character for her. But she was going to be on time for class. Black*Star, he miester refused to get up and would most likely not come to classes today.
The pair of them could not be more different. Tsubaki was a tall young woman with long black hair pulled back in a high tail. She was punctual and orderly, with humble personality and spoke in soft tones and seldom raised her voice. She was well liked on the campus and a fairly good student. Black*Star however was a terrible student, often skipping class and fighting with other students. He was fairly short for his age and let his blue hair run wild atop his head. Where Tsubaki was quiet and reserved Black*Star was boastful, arrogant, and loud.
"Hey Tsubaki!" someone called from behind her. Tsubaki turned to find Maka Albarn waving to her as the younger girl ran up the academy stairs. Like Black*Star Maka was a miester. Perhaps the best in the school. Behind Maka came her own weapon, Soul. Soul waved lazily at Tsubaki as the two of them finally reached the top of the stairs.
"You look beat Tsubaki. Black*Star keep you up late talking about how great he is?" Soul wondered aloud.
"Soul don't be rude!" Maka chided "But you know you do look tired Tsubaki maybe you should have stayed home and got some sleep."
"Oh no, we just had a tough job last night is all, and I really need to get the notes from Prof. Stien's class." Tsubaki shrugged in a hopeless fashion but gave them both an exhausted smile "Besides Black*Star snores when he's been up really late. Well, I need to run. I'll see you in Prof. Stien's calls later Maka! Bye Soul!"
Maka and Soul watched the weapon woman rush to class. "Poor Tsubaki." Maka finally said as she and Soul began to make their own way to class. "she has to put up with that loud mouthed brat Black*Star all the time. He's running her ragged."
Soul shrugged and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. "Weapons love unconditionally." he replied after a bit of thought. "We both know Black*Star will be a great miester, right? But no weapon other then Tsubaki would ever put up with him long enough to see that happen. The way he treats her is not cool at all. Not from where we see it anyway."
Miester and weapon walked in silence for a time before Maka had to inquire "What do you mean 'from where we see it' Soul?"
"If Black*Star treated Tsubaki half as bad as we always say he is, Tsubaki would'a found another miester a long time ago. No, she sees something in him we don't. That's pretty cool."
"Yeah I guess so..."
"On top of that, I would never want to be the guy who ever hurts Tsubaki. What Black*Star would do to a person like that would be uncool as hell."
Maka did not say anything. She knew Soul was right, about both Black*Star and Tsubaki. She thought about the battle with the Kishin as she found her seat in class. Black*Star had been one of the three Miesters to fight Asura at the very end. He and Tsubaki, along with Death the Kid and Liz and Patty were willing to rick their lives for each other as well as for Maka and Soul. Yes, Black*Star was a loud mouth Brat, but he always came through when you needed him.
As for weapons loving unconditionally... Maka glanced at Soul beside her and thought about everything he had done for her. Yes, weapons did love unconditionally, but then, so did miesters.
Maka gave Soul's questioning look a small smile before she turned her attention to the teacher.
Meanwhile, deep in the heart of the academy, Maka's father Spirit stood before Death's mirror watching the scene playing across its surface over and over. "I don't know about this Lord Death."
"Neither do I Spirit, but you have to admit everything adds up." The Death God sipped his tea as the death scythe rewatched the scene again. "Even if most of the information is wrong there is enough there to worry about."
"But, this gathering is... What is it?"
"Well, I suppose you could say that it is..."
"... A convergence of certain soul wave length, emanating from the Moon, that for whatever reason draws out those who's soul have become Kishin eggs or on the verge of it, and causes them to gather together. We do not know what the point of this really is or what they hope to accomplish if such rational thought is even a part of this." Prof. Stien gave the screw in his head a few brief twists as he spoke. "This has only happened once since the founding of this school, and at that time the school did not have the ability to study this phenomenon, what we do know is that kishin related happenings will be on the rise around the place of gathering."
"Eh, Prof. Stien, what exactly is the school going to do about this?" Ox asked with his hand raise. "Is it going to mobilize like with the Kishin?"
"An excellent question, but the answer is no, we will not mobilize." the teacher replied in his usual matter of fact tone. He let the students shout their questions and demands for an explanation for several minutes,as he gave his head screw several more lazy turns. Finally he slammed the palm of his hand on his desk to get their attention back. "We are planning on sending several top miesters and weapons to the location and allowing them to enter into the quarantine zone to deal with the matter."
"Quarantine zone?" Maka asked aloud
"Yes. You see we know where the gathering will be and there will be a stone wall placed around the area to prevent the kishin souls from leaving. Civilians will be evacuated to safety before hand. The matter is really quite simple."
Death the kid took this all in silently, One of his weapons, the Thompson sisters Liz and patty however did not. Liz gave him a side long glance at the mention of the stone wall. They had seen that before, during the battle to stop the kishin Asura. An entire town had been wiped out and so had the search parties sent to discover what had happened. In a final act the DWMA erected a massive wall around the town to stop others from meeting the same fate. Kid and the sisters had managed to find the cause and put an end to it as a side effect of another mission, but the implications did not bode well in Kid's mind.
"So, professor Stien, when is this event supposed to happen, and how long is it going to last?" Kid finally inquired. "What would be the point of simply closing them in?"
Stien gave the screw in his skull a few counter clockwise twists before responding. "there would be no point in simply locking them away. Several three and two star misters will enter into the quarantine zone as I believe I just said. Their job will be to collect as many of these kishin souls as possible for the seven days this convergence will last. It is our hopes that a new Death Scythe will emerge from the fray. However, it is also possible that no one will return, and that the kishin souls will begin to devour each other until only one reborn kishin is left. Of course we hope that will not happen, naturally."
"Er, right sir..."
"So, as of right now, Miesters Maka, Black*Star, and Death the Kid, you are to report to the death room." the head screw clinked a few more times. "It looks like you have extracurricular activities coming up. Enjoy Rome kids." The teacher then shooed them out of class, the door closing behind them made an ominous thud as it slammed to.
"Now what?" Maka wanted to know as the seven of them started down the hall.
"How should I know?" Soul shrugged "but some thing cool is about to start and we're getting extra lessons, man that is so uncool."
"Ha! I bet they are gonna send us to this clairvoyance thing and just don't want everyone else to know about it1" Black*Star began. He grinned wide as he thought of being sent on such an important mission.
"But why would they send us Black*Star?" Tsubaki queried her miester with a worried tone. "We're only one star and they said only two and three star miesters were going."
"Well, of course its because I'm so big! With a guy as big as me on the mission they know there is no way we could lose. Ha ha! Tsubaki will be a death scythe for sure after this! When I kill all those..." Black*Star's self important rant was cut off by a chop to the head from Maka with her special book.
Soul shook his head at the laid out form of Black*Star as Maka put her book back in her pack. "He just never knows when to shut up." he commented watching Tsubaki trying vainly to awaken her miester.
"He can be annoying true, but he may be on to something." Kid said slowly. "Prof. Stine never said when this convergence will take place, and then conveniently sends us to see father? That is a little much for mere coincidence don't you think?"
Everyone stopped to think about that. Finally Liz broke the mood "Nah, Kid. That seems a little far fetched. Maybe we should just go see your dad and let him tell us whats going on. I mean its not like all the speculation is making anything happen or not happen. Right?"
Kid thought about what Liz said for a bit then took a deep breath. "That, would be for the best, yes. But we had better hurry on then, come on." The young grim reaper strode ahead quickly, with Liz and Patty a step behind. Maka and Soul glanced at one another briefly, then followed after Kid and the sister.
Tsubaki sighed as she tried to keep up burdened by Black*Star's dead weight. "Hey wait up you guys!" she called out to her friends as they turned a corner ahead of her. "Aw geez Black*Star."