Author's Note- So... this is a conversation that probably happened at some point. Who knows, maybe it even happened in NOT!, but I wouldn't know since YEN PRESS HAS RESTRICTED ACCESS TO TRANSLATED ISSUES OF NOT! AFTER CHAPTER 13 GODDAMMIT. *deep breath*
This one goes out to Tumblr user sp00kys0uls, who inspired this fic.
Kim Diehl has amazing eyes. Neither green nor blue but rather some brilliant shade of turquoise that falls between the two, they light up like stars when she's happy.
Jacqueline has discovered, in the past month or so since discovering her secret, that Kim is not often happy. She's always poised, often superficially gleeful, but real, true happiness, the kind that makes those vivid gemstone eyes of hers shine... Jacqueline has only seen it a tiny handful of times. She wants to see it again.
"I want to be your partner."
She has said this before. She will say it again, if the look Kim gives her is any indication- that same kind of haughty look one might give to a squashed bug. But no matter how many times she has to say it, she will not be silent. She was silent for too many years, stifled for too long; for this one thing that she wants more than anything she has ever wanted before, she will keep speaking until she is heard.
Although Kim has given her this disbelieving look before, her verbal response, at least, is new, and that gives Jacqueline a spark of optimism.
"Why?"
Well, there are a lot of reasons. Because you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen is the first response that springs to mind. Saying that probably won't help her cause any, though. Because you're lonely and scared and I can't stand it is another that she probably won't ever let slip. No matter how much Jacqueline admires the pink-haired meister, no matter how certain she feels that this is right and that they're meant to be... they aren't actually that close. Kim is a hard person to get to know. Saying something like that out of the blue might be weird, and she doesn't want Kim to think she's weird.
So finally she settles on saying, "Because even though I'm in the EAT class, my weapon form is useless without a meister with the right skill set. Lantern weapons aren't exactly the easiest thing in the world to manage and I just... I know that you're the right partner for me. I can tell."
"What, you got soul perception or something?" Kim says, and there might be a bit of a sneer in her voice.
Jacqueline shakes her head. "No, there's something about you. I can't explain it. Maybe it's the witch thing, I don't know. I just think you and I could be really great partners. Maybe we could even..." It's a thought she's had before, and she's a little hesitant to voice it now because she always dismissed it as silly and impossible until she met Kim, who might be able to make it real. Implausible or not, though, it's a good card to play in this situation. And the lounge in the Shibusen girl's dormitory is empty except for the two of them, so it's safe to mention.
"Maybe we could even fly, with my power and your magic." She is definitely not blushing, no no NO.
Kim nibbles thoughtfully on her lower lip as she ponders that, and it's so cute Jacqueline feels like she might absolutely die. "You know something, Jackie? You might actually be onto something there."
She always calls her Jackie. Not Jacqueline, just Jackie, and she likes to think it's like a term of endearment. No one else shortens her name like that.
The witch meister isn't preoccupied with the nuance of nicknames, however, and she just continues on to say, "Between you and me, I've always had a little bit of difficulty with flying. It's just too far off my specialty for me to sustain it very long. But with a weapon to amplify my wavelength... You really might be right!"
And she smiles. God, she smiles.
"So, partners, then?"
The smile falls, so maybe not.
"Jackie... you gotta understand, I..." Kim fidgets and looks away. "The thing is, if you become my partner, you're never gonna be a death scythe."
"What?!"
The rare fit of awkward nervousness has passed and now Kim's composure is back in place. Those stunning eyes are fixed on Jacqueline's dark brown ones. "Jackie, you need a witch's soul to become a death scythe. And I may not fit in with the other witches, but I won't help Shibusen hunt my own kind. We're persecuted enough." Her expression is hard, cold, challenging. This is an absolute conviction that Kim holds, and Jacqueline knows instinctively that there is no changing her mind.
"So... being your partner means I won't ever-"
"Exactly."
Jacqueline wishes she could say it was an easy decision. She wishes she could say she didn't hesitate, that her affection for Kim outweighed her own ambitions a thousand times over. But either she's not as infatuated as she thought, or she's much more selfish than she could have believed before this moment. It's so stupid, too, because being a death scythe was never high on her list of ambitions. It's on there, of course. Every weapon in the EAT class has the thought somewhere in their mind, and she's no exception. The chances were always slim for her, because she wasn't lying when she said that her weapon form was a tricky one, not much good without exactly the right technician, but to give up the chance entirely...
That's a hard decision to make, spur-of-the-moment. She wants to be Kim's partner, wants to be close to her, be her friend (be more). To knowingly sign away any chance at the ultimate goal every weapon holds, though, is a big decision. And she knows intuitively that she needs to make her choice quickly. If she hesitates too long, if she asks for time to think it over, Kim will slip away again. She's made more progress tonight than in the last month of trying, and she doesn't know if she's going to get another opportunity like this, with Kim at least willing to consider it.
It takes her a minute or two to mull it over, during which time Kim sinks back into the cushions of the poofy lounge chair and tries not to look like she was expecting to be rejected.
And when Jacqueline looks at her, sees those eyes gone dim and jaded once more, her decision is made.
"Fine."
"What?" Sparks of turquoise flare up and the desperate hope Jacqueline sees there makes it both completely heartbreaking and completely worth it.
"I want to be your partner. I don't need to be a death scythe. I mean, most weapons never get there anyway. What is it, less than one percent, right? The odds that a weapon like me would ever get there..." She shakes her head. "Nah, I'll leave that to guys like Soul Eater. At least he's an actual scythe." She's rambling, she's nervous, she never talks this much, oh god Kim is so pretty she can hardly stand it...
The biggest smile Jacqueline has ever seen spreads across her new partner's face, and those turquoise eyes shine like stars.