A/N: Hey first fic in forever. I don't really know where this is going. Reviews and constructive criticism are very much appreciated!
Wide eyes wandered the trees, passing over the dewy leaves and the incandescent green that hung in canopies above his head. What had started out as a hunt had turned into aimless circling as the man pushed through branch after branch. He let the branches brush his arms as he passed so that the sparkling droplets could seep through his clothes and cool his burning skin. The morning was humid, the sun relentlessly hot, but the day beautiful. He did not see that.
Inside him, underneath the peaceful exterior, waged a brutal war. His flesh thirsted for the dying souls surrounding him. The last breath of a rabbit was calling his body, the frantic fluttering of an injured bird tugged at his mind; even the last pulsing of a wasp's wings caught his attention. And though he was capable of sensing every dying thing in this vast forest, his focus was on something bigger. A human was dying, the human that was causing him such internal struggle. He could sense that the person was kind, gentle, benevolent, but so close to death that only an angel of death like himself could save it. He hated souls like these.
They were the sweetest souls, the nectar he craved the most. What his insatiable hunger called for every waking hour. Yet they were the hardest to eat. The evil ones, the ones that caused more harm than good, were light on the mind but heavy in the stomach, leaving him feeling queasy and dissatisfied. But this soul was particularly beautiful, one of God's masterpieces, and he was on his way to devour it.
Thus he stepped slowly through the brush, hoping that if he could delay he would get there after the actual death and not face guilt for not saving this damned human, but his primal instincts were beginning to cloud his judgement.
He turned sharply left, feeling its proximity. Tree branches snapped back as he passed, droplets flinging through the humid air. It's close. It's so close. So sweet. So very close to death. The angel pushed the final bunch of branches out of the way, breaking a few in his haste.
His internal battle failed to prepare him for the sight. Under sapphire heavens, under the greenest glistening green a forest could be, under soft pink petals hanging from branches, lay the most beautiful girl to ever grace the earth. Her skin was pale, but glowed like stars had implanted themselves just underneath her surface. The sprightly girl's hair was an ashy blonde, with sunshine trapped in her locks. Only her eyes betrayed her.
The man stared straight into the jade eyes, straight into what looked like the definition of death. He saw hopelessness, pain, total loss of any will to survive in her eyes. But she continued to breathe. To lay there, sprawled out with her white dress splayed all around her, continued to stare straight back at him. But she's dying.
He never let go of the urge to rip her soul from her body all throughout this time of observation, but he could not bring himself to mar that perfect skin. The girl smiled.
"You want to know what I am?"
He did not respond.
"You can smell my soul, right? It smells dead. But I'm very alive, right?"
He considered her smile, considered her scent, her soul. No obvious conclusions to be drawn yet.
"I feel dead though, that much is for sure," she smiled wider, "but I can't die. What a curse!" She giggled, her laugh akin to sweet bells or a lullaby played on a music box. "I hate being like this. Everything is so happy and sad and confusing," she propped herself up on her elbows. "It makes my head hurt. Could you kill me?"
It clicked. She's possessed. She's a human possessed by an insane spirit.
"Sure," He replied, stepping forward across the lush grass. Where he stepped, the grass died, but was green again within seconds. Their powers were at odds here, hers of life and his of death. His tried to combat such life by killing the plants around it, but she only grew them again; neither could win.
"At least my last sight will be handsome," She laughed again, the bells tinkling their way through the treetops.
He placed a hand on her stomach, tanned flesh contrasting in harsh lines with her startling white dress. "So thin," he thought, unsure of if he was thinking about her dress or her emotional state. He twisted his hand, and focused on her eyes. As he watched, they grew wider. Her back arched, screams pelted from her lips, obliterating the sweet melodies that her laughter had released into the forest. Her hands became claws, grabbing at the grass, at the dirt, anything, and all the while his hand stayed and he kept eye contact. Concentrating, he slowly moved his hand upwards, pulling an orb of light pink light with him. The orb swirled strangely, oscillating and pulsing at rapid and erratic speeds. The soul of an insane nymph. He dropped it down his throat, relishing its bitter sweetness, and once again looked at the girl on the forest floor.
Her skin glowed even then, but now from her own beauty. (Which was equally as breathtaking.) The dead eyes were alive, and watering as well. His hunger was temporarily satisfied, and he now appreciated the perfection that was in front of him. She was petite, innocent, utterly flawless, and with such long legs to boot. It was his turn to smile.
"Thank you," She met his glaze, ignoring the sharp teeth and the eyes that obviously saw her only as a piece of meat.
"It was my pleasure." He continued to kneel next to her.
"What was in me?"
"A crazed nymph spirit. The plant she was connected to probably died and she flung herself at the most substantial life form in the vicinity, which was you."
"I wanted to die."
"I couldn't kill a soul like that." Or a body like that.
"Thank you." He didn't want this girl to go away.
"Name?" He asked, his eyes roaming to her chest to concentrate on her soul.
"M-maka," She shivered under his gaze. He looked back in her eyes in response.
Her soul was tempting and continued to reek of death.
"Would you take a walk with me, Maka?"