Wings of Freedom
Soul Eater/Shingeki no Kyojin Crossover Fanfiction
Catherine Grey
Life is hard. It's not beautiful, or romantic, or breathtaking, or pristine. It's cold and harsh, thrusting responsibilities and duties upon you that you're not ready for, and you're prematurely aged in these dark times. There is no happiness. Everyone lived in fear of the unknown, and no one made a stand for what they believed in.
At least, they used to.
My name is Alouette Way. My mother said that when I was born, she had heard a lark sing in the tree next to our window. It was the first lark that had sang in a while, since she was a child. They seemed to be silent these days. She remembered the old song about the lark, and so named me for it. It sounds really cliché and silly, but I really like my name as it is. I feel like there's something that the lark was singing for. I want to know what it is.
I attend a school in northern France, in a walled-in city where my mother was born. It was built around 100 years ago, after the titans attacked Germany. My father was American, and came to France for their wedding before the attack. However, he had to move back to America due to work. I barely see him anymore. I'm an eleventh year, and I turn sixteen in a few months, September 26th. I'm not particularly excited for it, because all I see in birthdays is a year closer to death. But I appreciate the acknowledgement of my existence on that day.
My alarm clock finally goes off, in a tinkling default alarm that I decided to set it for. I mark another day off the calendar after I climb out of bed. Last day of school, thank heavens. My uniform was laid out on my desk, neatly folded and awaiting. I eagerly pulled on the white collared blouse and black pleated skirt over my white thigh-high socks. We were allowed to pick out our own socks, however, I was boring and chose the simplest socks there were. My long, slightly wavy, strawberry blonde hair felt silken as I wove it into a fishtail braid, over my dark red hipster-esque glasses. My black ballet flats easily slipped onto my feet and I trotted down the stairs leading to the kitchen.
"Hi, dear," my mother said sweetly. She stopped spreading cream cheese on her toast for a moment to come over to me and kiss my head. I smiled and went over to the cupboard to grab a plate. "You look very pretty today, with your hair like that. You should wear it back more often. I can see your lovely eyes this way." I blushed and shook my head.
"Thanks, mum," I said as I grabbed a bagel off the counter. I chewed on it quietly as I tapped my toes on the floor. "Last day of school, finally."
"You excited?" she asked, smiling at me. I nodded, a smile breaking out on my face as I nodded excitedly. "I assumed as much," she laughed. "Just don't blow it on the last day, alright, sweet?"
I nodded as I grabbed an apple from the fridge and a cup of peanut butter, along with my water bottle. "I won't!"
Mum smiled again and waved at me as I grabbed my black messenger bag, containing the few supplies I still needed for school. I always left in time to get to school fifteen minutes early, including the twenty minute walk to school. I closed the door behind me and immediately felt a warm summery breeze wash over me, making my skirt flutter. Starting on the walk to school in a fantastic mood, due to the end of the school year, I walked on. I barely noticed other people starting to appear across the street and on the same trails as I did. Usually, I avoided them, since I seem to be somewhat of a target for bullying, but in my daze I forgot to take my normal "detours", or methods of avoiding passing their houses.
When I was about five minutes away from school, happily listening to music on my iPhone, I stopped. I realized that someone was following me. I paused my music and casually dropped one earbud. Slowly, I turned my head around, still walking. There were four people, all older than I, following me in a pack like hungry wolves. I knew them, of course. They also walked to school and were graduating this year. They were the 13th years that everyone hated, and who always pushed the younger kids around and made them give up their lunch money.
"Hey," I heard one of them call. I walked slightly faster, plugging my other earbud back into my ear and turning up the volume. "Hey, kid," another called, louder this time. "We're talking to you!" I felt a firm hand on my shoulder, and stopped walking. I took out my earbuds and slowly turned around, sweat starting to bead on my forehead already.
"Oh," I said quietly as I caught a glance of my attackers for the first time. "Adrien, Éric, Jean, Luc." I regarded them nervously as they loomed over me, menacing and mature. I stepped back a little, knocking pebbles backwards.
"So," Jean, the ringleader or sorts, drawled as he stepped forward. "You are aware that the four of us are graduating this year and getting out of this hellhole, yes?" I was silent, but he continued anyways. "As fantastic as that is, we realized that since you've been avoiding us this whole year, we never got our dibs on you. We hit everyone else we needed to this year except you." He grinned devilishly, and my eyes widened slightly in fear.
"You always seem to be at school early and avoid us by taking different routes." Éric stepped forward as well and I noticed that he was slightly taller than Jean. "Clever little shit, isn't she?"
"Why are you so unfriendly?" Adrien said tauntingly, also stepping forward, the shortest of the bunch, but closest to my height. "All we want is to play with you for a bit, right?"
"Yeah," Luc chimed in, stepping forward, the least menacing and most normal of the bunch, but still terrifying nonetheless. "We have time before school, right boys? We won't make her late to her precious classes, will we?"
"No," Jean grinned. "Of course we won't." I felt something hard against my back, and I realized that they had backed me into a wall, into the alleyway a little out of the way from the school. My white-painted nails scratched against the brick wall as they advanced on me. Their faces slipping into early morning shadow.
I was too scared to say anything, but a part of me knew that this was inevitable. Eventually, they would catch up to me, and I would have to pay a price for evading them. They were notorious troublemakers that rarely got caught. And when they got caught, they were only minor things. I've heard terrible rumors about the things they do to people, especially girls.
Jean leaned towards me and took off my glasses. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. They were stuck in the small space in the back of the throat where all your unsaid words are stored. "What pretty grey eyes," he cooed, his voice dripping with venom honey as he set my glasses on the ground. He looked around quickly, then pushed me into the shadows and sprang.
I hit the ground hard, bruising my legs and arms as I did so. I felt a deep emerge on my cheek and scrapes form on my limbs. The boys' fists and shoes hit me hard. I curled up in a ball on the ground, trying not to let the pain show and give them satisfaction.
"Come on, girlie," Luc growled. "We like it when they make a fuss. How about we move on, gentlemen?" The others stopped for a moment, feet still pinning my small frame down, and nodded in unison. They kicked me further, into a dark corner, and crouched down to me.
"Get her," Luc snarled, and one of the boys tore off my shoes and socks with a harsh motion. I clamped my legs together, all of a sudden, realizing that the rumors were true. I yelped and drove my fists into their arms, despite the pain, but it was useless. A small girl like me was no match against these muscled behemoths.
The others held me down as one of the boys tried to force off my top, and I felt my mind start to pound. I fought, my hands wrestling with his as they tried to grope my skin. This was by far not how I imagined the day was going to go. My vision started to blur as they tore my blouse off and wrestled with my skirt. I felt oddly calm, despite the situation, but I was still terrified. My skirt slipped a little, and the gang's pants started to drop, one by one, as they gathered around me. I could feel their hot breath on my exposed, lightly freckled skin.
"Finally, boys, some excitement," Jean snarled fiercely. Suddenly, I felt a jolt go through me, and I felt something materialize in my hands. I didn't bother to look down, because I saw a long, metal blade extending from myself, impaling Jean in the arm. Shocked, he was still for a moment, before falling to the ground, unconscious.
"What the fuck?" Luc exclaimed. I trembled as I looked down slowly, in shock. To my surprise, I was not in fact, holding the blades, but my hands were the blades. I felt another jolt, this time slightly painful, as I looked down. Two metal blast-propeller-type-things were protruding from my hips. I gasped as Éric tapped it apprehensively. In response, the propeller came to life, sending me forward and crashing into the remaining three boys. I fell on top of them hard and fast, knocking them to the ground.
Adrien hit the ground head-first and blacked out with Jean. "Dude, let's get the hell out of here," Éric whimpered to Luc. "This girl's fucking creepy. I don't wanna mess with her. Little bitch." Luc nodded, panicked, as they both fled after a moment of hesitation. That left me alone in the alley except for the two unconscious boys.
I took a long trembling breath as I lay on the asphalt, missing the majority of my clothes and bleeding, with sword-things coming from my hands and blasters from my hips. I shakily grabbed my glasses and put them on. At that point it hit me that something had literally grown out of me and I felt my head start to whirl. I took one more look and I let out a scream in horror.
I heard footsteps coming towards me and I curled up into a ball. A figure ran into the alley that I recognized as the headmistress of my school, Mme. Belcourt. "Aloutte?" She called. "Are you alright? I heard you screaming and I saw boys running from here. Is everything all right?" She came closer and saw my condition. "Oh, my word," she gasped.
"What's happened to me?" I asked, my voice shaking as Mme. Belcourt gathered my clothes from the ground. "Why…" My voice faded away.
"Let's just get you inside for now, and get you cleaned up," she said gently. She handed me her coat and I took it hurriedly. She rushed me into the back entrance of the school, rarely used, and straight to the nurse's office through the still-empty halls. I felt goose bumps on my skin.
The nurse took one look at me and gasped, rushing me into her office. After a little while, I was cleaned up and dressed again, still wearing the headmistress' coat. She and the nurse were conversing intensely inside her office, casting glances at me occasionally. Eventually, they picked up the phone and made a few phone calls. I waited patiently, watching the clock tick and the first arrivals to school trickle through the hallways through the window in the door.
After a while, the two women were finished. The headmistress came out first and waited for me at the door. The nurse approached me. "Can you tell me who did this?" she asked me gently. I told her and she nodded, writing the names down. "Thank you dear, and I'm so sorry. Do you need to go home?" I shook my head no. "Well, Mme. Belcourt would like to speak with you in her office. If she needs to, she'll give you a pass to first period." I nodded and walked out numbly, without another word.
I followed Mme. Belcourt hrough the hallway and to her office. She closed and locked the door behind her and motioned for me to take a seat. I sat down, and we were silent for a little bit of time. I listened to the clock ticking on the wall.
"Alouette," Mme. Belcourt said. "Are you familiar with the terms 'Meisters' and 'weapons'?" I shook my head no. "Well, there are a few special people that were born with a certain ability to transform themselves into a weapon. The weapon you transform into can be most anything and the weapon must be handled by a meister. Alouette, it seems that you discovered that you can turn into a weapon. Your transformation in the alley was most likely not a full one, so that's not what your future transformations will be like."
"Future?" I questioned. "What do you mean? And how can I control this power?"
"There's a special school where meisters and weapons go," the Headmistress said kindly. "It's in America, and since I know that English is your second language, it would be fairly easy for you to adjust going there. However, it's a boarding school, which is different from this one. But considering you are a weapon, your best chance is to transfer to that school. I've already called the principal of the school, and he'd be delighted to accept you. Your mother has been alerted, and we will discuss this further with your parents. But I'm sure you'll do very well in the new school, and you will surely do great things with this power."
I was silent, trying to absorb all this new information. I nodded mechanically, and Mme. Belcourt smiled. "I'm sure this is a lot to take in, but you'll be fine. If you want, you aren't required to be at school today, and we can call your mother over, discuss this, then send you home. How's that sound?"
"Fine," I whispered. She smiled and nodded and picked up the phone. I faintly heard the conversation as my mind went blank. Sometime on the walk to the school, when I felt better, the sword-hands and company had gone. I stared at my hand wonderingly as the world continued to run around me, oblivious to the eventful last ten minutes I just experienced. This new responsibility was thrust upon me, and nobody cared. I was such a small part of the world, and such a big thing was mine now. Amazing.
The world faded around me as my eyes closed and I blocked out everything and retreated within the depths of my mind. I heard my heartbeat sounding in my ears as I proceeded to, miraculously, fall asleep.
A week later, I was on a plane, getting sent to Death City, Nevada. I watched the ocean fly underneath me, only a few clouds mottling the great cerulean expanse. The last week was a blur for me. I vaguely recalled getting interrogated by students about the gang-rape indecent and their apologies, but mostly about my new ability to transform into a weapon. They were in shock that I was going to America, and they tried to get me to show off my new ability. But I was too tired and shocked to even try.
The sunset over the water made it look like the sun was bleeding out, into the ocean, its orange, red, pink, yellow, and purple blood mixing with the deep blue, making a watercolor-like display. The scene calmed my jumping nerves a little bit, and it was stunning to watch it from slightly above the normal eye. Birds soared across the warm hues of the sky, and I thought of how free they were. I wanted to be like that. But I was trapped, set on a course I couldn't stay from.
The plane ride was long and boring, even with my phone. There's only so much you can do with roughly 600 songs, after all. I began to wonder what it was like in America. I spoke English well enough, but were the people different? Who would I meet? I was blessed with a fresh, brand-new start from my old life, yet I had no idea what to do with it. I hoped nothing bad came to me in America, so far away from home.
But most of all, I wanted to control my power. I was useless if I could only partly transform, and I still had no idea what my full form was. I prayed that my meister was a good one. I wanted someone who respected me for who I was, and didn't mind my shyness or my submissiveness. I just hoped that someone that great would choose me.
I missed my mother, back at home, praying for my safety. But in my heart, I knew that I couldn't rely and be with her forever. I needed to be on my own eventually, and this would be a great opportunity for me. But that didn't change the fact that I was terrified of going to a strange country, by myself, not knowing anyone, to fight evil. And in times like these, it's extra hard, with the titans. Were they in America?
I tried to wipe all the negative thoughts from my head and look at the person sitting next to me. He was a young man, late twenties maybe. American, no doubt, since the magazine he was reading was in English. A young woman, presumably his girlfriend or wife, was sleeping next to him, her head resting on his shoulder. He glanced over at me and smiled a little.
"Flying alone?" he asked softly. His voice was soft and comforting. I nodded, pausing my music form him to speak. He nodded and flipped the page on his notebook.
"New to America?" he asked. I nodded again. "Don't be nervous," he reassured me, seeing the worried expression I carried. "You'll be fine, I'm sure. You seem smart enough, and it's not so bad." He smiled at me, and I smiled back.
"Thank you, sir," I said carefully, trying not to let my accent show that much. I realized that it wasn't that prominent anyways, but I was always self-conscious about it. "I'm just nervous. I've never really been far from home before."
"Alex, honey," a groggy voice said softly. I turned a little and saw the woman sleeping start to wake up. "Who are you talking to?" She blinked sleepily, her brown eyes golden in the light.
"Just this girl, Bella," the man, Alex, reassured her quietly. "Go back to sleep." She nodded sleepily and closed her eyes again. Alex shot me a quick smile as he put a finger to his lips. I nodded and smiled back, playing my music again.
I want someone like him to be my meister, I thought as I watched the sea pass beneath me. I hope I find someone like that. And if I don't, I'm not sure if I'll make it.