notes: written mostly because i love black star and because i like writing him. the idea is from "five tims that weren't" by iesika on livejournal.
Cutting out a different path
or five black star's that never were
01
"You know," he begins, licking the meister's blood off Tsubaki's demon steel, "You actually look more fucked than me; weird, huh?"
The white-haired weapon—Soul, she'd called him, he thinks—stares disbelieving as Black Star pokes the dead girl with the toe of his boot. She wasn't much of a challenge. The Witch Hunter was a nice technique, sure, but Tsubaki's techniques were better by far. And they hadn't practiced for so long to be undone by two fucks from Shinigami's academy.
"Hey Tsu?" He asks, extending his arm outward toward the other weapon. "You want to finish him off on your own?"
Tsubaki transforms in a quick ray of light, leaving Black Star blinking stars from his eyes—almost literally—and then she is whole, hand clenched around his. For several moments they stare at the other weapon, at the way he shakes, or how his pupils are so wide his eyes are practically black (and they can both smell the black blood on him, in him, around him—Black Star wants nothing more than to tear him apart and taste it). And then, "You don't mind?"
"'Course not, babe," he shrugs, dropping her hand and stepping back, grabbing the meister (Maka Albarn, Scythe Meister-) by her hair so he can stare into her face. Her heart is still beating faintly, and her open green eyes scan his face slowly. He wonders if her weapon knows that. Whatever.
It only takes him a second to break through her chest cavity, pulling her soul out slowly. It's a grigori soul, Tsu's favorite, and Black Star will be only too happy to feed it to her later. In front of them, the weapon screams, guttural and crazed and his soul gets louder and louder with each second, pulsing and sending shocks through both Black Star and Tsubaki.
"Your soul is marvelous," Tsubaki breathes, and in a second she is only a shadow. Black Star drops the broken girl to the ground, turning and walking away. Tsubaki will catch up soon.
02
Soul burns his hand the first three times Black Star wields him, but after that it's all a piece of cake. He learns to align his soul to Soul's, learns to ignore the pain. Soul is lazy and whines a lot, but it's better than having no weapon. And besides, Soul is way fuckin' better than that lantern chick or the shy girl with the great tits.
Plus, Maka had looked at him like he put the stars in the sky so Black Star had to have him, if only to spite her.
Their souls pulse in synch, cutting through kishin like a knife through butter. Several feet away, Maka is slicing through her own batch, what looks like shadows crawling up her body.
We gotta beat Maka, man, Soul's voice echoes in Black Star's mind, and uh yeah, no shit, he's already on it.
"Eight!" He calls out, growling at Maka's cheery shout of, "Eleven!"
With a breath, Black Star initiates Witch Hunter, and can't help but grin at the way Maka scowls.
03.
"You can't have him," the woman says, and they can't oh no, not her baby not after what they did to White Star and the others, oh gods the others all the blood and the souls, the souls the souls the souls—
Her boy shrieks in her arms, hungry and tired and she hunches over him, thinks abuot the pain of death and how much she wishes they would all go away and leave because it's not her fault no no no it's White Star's it's just a taste and they're good and we're good—
"He lied," she raises a hand to her hair and tugs, ripping out clumps because White Star lied to her and where was he? Why wasn't she with him—she's his weapon his sword his heart his soul—
The meisters from the academy tear through her home, looking for her and her boy won't stop crying and they'll find them and kill them or take him and kill her and oh, oh no, please don't take my baby, not my boy—
Her nails drag across his throat, "shh, boy," she murmurs, digging deeper when he screams louder and deeper when they get closer and deeper because he's bleeding everywhere and why in the world is he doing that?
They find her laughing, blood coating her fingers and her son's soul between her teeth.
04
Mifune stares down at him, and Black Star barely registers the sound of Tsubaki screaming in the distance. He's cold. He's freezing and he's numb and Jesus, did this guy ever beat the shit out of him. Next time, Black Star decides. Next time he'll kick Mifune's ass.
Blood trickles down his chin when he attempts to speak, and it's coating his throat, thick and nasty and warm. He tries to stand taller but can't because—because—
"I can't feel my legs," he coughs, eyebrows drawing together. Tsubaki is sobbing and screaming and he thinks he understands why now. He's angry, now. Angry and scared and dying. Dammit, he thinks, and he tries to think of other things like Tsubaki and Maka and Soul but his head is full of stuff that doesn't make sense like maybe smoke or something—
The sword shifts when Mifune does, and the Black Star is being let down on his back and Tsubaki is there, tears wetting his face, looking livid and so disappointed.
"You followed the path of the demon," Mifune murmurs on his other side. Tsubaki growls and snaps at him but doesn't move away. "I did the world a favor."
"No," Tsubaki seethes and Black Star wants to tell her it's okay and he's sorry and she's a really cool weapon but
05
She's super fucking hot, Black Star notes, dipping low enough that only a bit of his hair is sheared off his head from the blonde's scythe. The weird looking guy with the stripes in his hair aims his cool looking guns at him, but Black Star's eyes are on the hot chick and his mind is more focused on how the fuck these stupid academy idiots found out he was coming here. It might have been Sid, but that's definitely Black Star's fault for trusting the old man with something big like this.
"Hey," he calls out when Stripes manages to hit his shoulder. It knocks him off balance and burns like a mother fucker but he's a man with a goal and not much can deter him. "Hit me again and I'll shove one gun up your ass and the other down your throat, ya hear me?!"
He hears a few outraged yells from the one gun, while the other cackles madly. Black Star is so done with these fucks, really he is. That scythe wielder keeps coming at him too, so he trips her at his first chance and—
Where the fuck did that chick go?
"Fuuuucck," he groans when he realizes she's gone. It took him forever to find her and with his luck she'll be on a different continent by noon tomorrow. "You fucking people—jumping Jesus on a pogo stick!" he yells when the chain scythe lands between his (thankfully) spread legs, inches from his junk. He stares at that for a moment, feeling the tense silence around him, and then follows the chain, the black hair it extends from, and the cool features of the girl wielding it. Wielding her hair.
She is perfect.
"Marry me?" Black Star asks, rolling backward and pushing to his feet, grinning at her. The academy dicks are all watching, and that's fine with him. He wants to fight her first, to see if she's the right weapon for him. He's looked for her for ages, the shadow weapon.
She doesn't answer him, but the slight upward curl of her mouth is enough.